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lectures11-13-第9部分
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intolerable。 All the mind's objects and occupations must be
ordered with reference to the special spiritual excitement which
is now its keynote。 Whatever is unspiritual taints the pure
water of the soul and is repugnant。 Mixed with this exaltation
of the moral sensibilities there is also an ardor of sacrifice;
for the beloved deity's sake; of everything unworthy of him。
Sometimes the spiritual ardor is so sovereign that purity is
achieved at a stroke we have seen examples。 Usually it is a
more gradual conquest。 Billy Bray's account of his abandonment
of tobacco is a good example of the latter form of achievement。
〃I had been a smoker as well as a drunkard; and I used to love my
tobacco as much as I loved my meat; and I would rather go down
into the mine without my dinner than without my pipe。 In the
days of old; the Lord spoke by the mouths of his servants; the
prophets; now he speaks to us by the spirit of his Son。 I had
not only the feeling part of religion; but I could hear the
small; still voice within speaking to me。 When I took the pipe
to smoke; it would be applied within; 'It is an idol; a lust;
worship the Lord with clean lips。' So; I felt it was not right
to smoke。 The Lord also sent a woman to convince me。 I was one
day in a house; and I took out my pipe to light it at the fire;
and Mary Hawkefor that was the woman's namesaid; 'Do you not
feel it is wrong to smoke?' I said that I felt something inside
telling me that it was an idol; a lust; and she said that was the
Lord。 Then I said; 'Now; I must give it up; for the Lord is
telling me of it inside; and the woman outside; so the tobacco
must go; love it as I may。' There and then I took the tobacco
out of my pocket; and threw it into the fire; and put the pipe
under my foot; 'ashes to ashes; dust to dust。' And I have not
smoked since。 I found it hard to break off old habits; but I
cried to the Lord for help; and he gave me strength; for he has
said; 'Call upon me in the day of trouble; and I will deliver
thee。' The day after I gave up smoking I had the toothache so
bad that I did not know what to do。 I thought this was owing to
giving up the pipe; but I said I would never smoke again; if I
lost every tooth in my head。 I said; 'Lord; thou hast told us My
yoke is easy and my burden is light;' and when I said that; all
the pain left me。 Sometimes the thought of the pipe would come
back to me very strong; but the Lord strengthened me against the
habit; and; bless his name; I have not smoked since。〃
Bray's biographer writes that after he had given up smoking; he
thought that he would chew a little; but he conquered this dirty
habit; too。 〃On one occasion;〃 Bray said; 〃when at a prayer…
meeting at Hicks Mill; I heard the Lord say to me; 'Worship me
with clean lips。' So; when we got up from our knees; I took the
quid out of my mouth and 'whipped 'en' 'threw it' under the form。
But; when we got on our knees again; I put another quid into my
mouth。 Then the Lord said to me again; 'Worship me with clean
lips。' So I took the quid out of my mouth; and whipped 'en under
the form again; and said; 'Yes; Lord; I will。' From that time I
gave up chewing as well as smoking; and have been a free man。〃
The ascetic forms which the impulse for veracity and purity of
life may take are often pathetic enough。 The early Quakers; for
example; had hard battles to wage against the worldliness and
insincerity of the ecclesiastical Christianity of their time。
Yet the battle that cost them most wounds was probably that which
they fought in defense of their own right to social veracity and
sincerity in their thee…ing and thou…ing; in not doffing the hat
or giving titles of respect。 It was laid on George Fox that these
conventional customs were a lie and a sham; and the whole body of
his followers thereupon renounced them; as a sacrifice to truth;
and so that their acts and the spirit they professed might be
more in accord。
〃When the Lord sent me into the world;〃 says Fox in his Journal;
〃he forbade me to put off my hat to any; high or low: and I was
required to 'thee' and 'thou' all men and women; without any
respect to rich or poor; great or small。 And as I traveled up
and down; I was not to bid people Good…morning or Good…evening;
neither might I bow or scrape with my leg to any one。 This made
the sects and professions rage。 Oh! the rage that was in the
priests; magistrates; professors; and people of all sorts: and
especially in priests and professors: for though 'thou' to a
single person was according to their accidence and grammar rules;
and according to the Bible; yet they could not bear to hear it:
and because I could not put off my hat to them; it set them all
into a rage。 。 。 。 Oh! the scorn; heat; and fury that arose! Oh!
the blows; punchings; beatings; and imprisonments that we
underwent for not putting off our hats to men! Some had their
hats violently plucked off and thrown away; so that they quite
lost them。 The bad language and evil usage we received on this
account is hard to be expressed; besides the danger we were
sometimes in of losing our lives for this matter; and that by the
great professors of Christianity; who thereby discovered they
were not true believers。 And though it was but a small thing in
the eye of man; yet a wonderful confusion it brought among all
professors and priests: but; blessed be the Lord; many came to
see the vanity of that custom of putting off hats to men; and
felt the weight of Truth's testimony against it。〃
In the autobiography of Thomas Elwood; an early Quaker; who at
one time was secretary to John Milton; we find an exquisitely
quaint and candid account of the trials he underwent both at home
and abroad; in following Fox's canons of sincerity。 The
anecdotes are too lengthy for citation; but Elwood sets down his
manner of feeling about these things in a shorter passage; which
I will quote as a characteristic utterance of spiritual
sensibility:
〃By this divine light; then;〃 says Elwood; 〃I saw that though I
had not the evil of the common uncleanliness; debauchery;
profaneness; and pollutions of the world to put away; because I
had; through the great goodness of God and a civil education;
been preserved out of those grosser evils; yet I had many other
evils to put away and to cease from; some of which were not by
the world; which lies in wickedness (I John v。 19); accounted
evils; but by the light of Christ were made manifest to me to be
evils; and as such condemned in me。
〃As particularly those fruits and effects of pride that discover
themselves in the vanity and superfluity of apparel; which I took
too much delight in。 This evil of my doings I was required to
put away and cease from; and judgment lay upon me till I did so。
〃I took off from my apparel those unnecessary trimmings of lace;
ribbons; and useless buttons; which had no real service; but were
set on only for that which was by mistake called ornament; and I
ceased to wear rings。
〃Again; the giving of flattering titles to men between whom and
me there was not any relation to which such titles could be
pretended to belong。 This was an evil I had been much addicted
to; and was accounted a ready artist in; therefore this evil also
was I required to put away and cease from。 So that thenceforward
I durst not say; Sir; Master; My Lord; Madam (or My Dame); or say
Your Servant to any one to whom I did not stand in the real
relation of a servant; which I had never done to any。
〃Again; respect of persons; in uncovering the head and bowing the
knee or body in salutation; was a practice I had been much in the
use of; and this; being one of the vain customs of the world;
introduced by the spirit of the world; instead of the true honor
which this is a false representation of; and used in deceit as a
token of respect by persons one to another; who bear no real
respect one to another; and besides this; being a type and a
proper emblem of that divine honor which all ought to pay to
Almighty God; and which all of all sorts; who take upon them the
Christian name; appear in when they offer their prayers to him;
and therefore should not be given to men;I found this to be one
of those evils which I had been too long doing; therefore I was
now required to put it away and cease from i
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