贝壳电子书 > 英文原著电子书 > lectures11-13 >

第3章

lectures11-13-第3章

小说: lectures11-13 字数: 每页4000字

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!


















The difference between willing and merely wishing; between having



ideals that are creative and ideals that are but pinings and



regrets; thus depends solely either on the amount of



steam…pressure chronically driving the character in the ideal



direction; or on the amount of ideal excitement transiently



acquired。  Given a certain amount of love; indignation;



generosity; magnanimity; admiration; loyalty; or enthusiasm of



self…surrender; the result is always the same。  That whole raft



of cowardly obstructions; which in tame persons and dull moods



are sovereign impediments to action; sinks away at once。  Our



conventionality;'147' our shyness; laziness; and stinginess; our



demands for precedent and permission; for guarantee and surety;



our small suspicions; timidities; despairs; where are they now? 



Severed like cobwebs; broken like bubbles in the sun







     〃Wo sind die Sorge nun und Noth



      Die mich noch gestern wollt' erschlaffen?



      Ich scham' mich dess' im Morgenroth。〃







The flood we are borne on rolls them so lightly under that their



very contact is unfelt。  Set free of them; we float and soar and



sing。  This auroral openness and uplift gives to all creative



ideal levels a bright and caroling quality; which is nowhere more



marked than where the controlling emotion is religious。  〃The



true monk;〃 writes an Italian mystic; 〃takes nothing with him but



his lyre。〃







'147' See the case on p。 69; above; where the writer describes



his experiences of communion with the Divine as consisting



〃merely in the TEMPORARY OBLITERATION OF THE CONVENTIONALITIES



which usually cover my life。〃















We may now turn from these psychological generalities to those



fruits of the religious state which form the special subject of



our present lecture。  The man who lives in his religious centre



of personal energy; and is actuated by spiritual enthusiasms;



differs from his previous carnal self in perfectly definite ways。







The new ardor which burns in his breast consumes in its glow the



lower 〃noes〃 which formerly beset him; and keeps him immune



against infection from the entire groveling portion of his



nature。  Magnanimities once impossible are now easy; paltry



conventionalities and mean incentives once tyrannical hold no



sway。  The stone wall inside of him has fallen; the hardness in



his heart has broken down。  The rest of us can; I think; imagine



this by recalling our state of feeling in those temporary



〃melting moods〃 into which either the trials of real life; or the



theatre; or a novel sometimes throws us。  Especially if we weep! 



For it is then as if our tears broke through an inveterate inner



dam; and let all sorts of ancient peccancies and moral



stagnancies drain away; leaving us now washed and soft of heart



and open to every nobler leading。  With most of us the customary



hardness quickly returns; but not so with saintly persons。  Many



saints; even as energetic ones as Teresa and Loyola; have



possessed what the church traditionally reveres as a special



grace; the so…called gift of tears。  In these persons the melting



mood seems to have held almost uninterrupted control。  And as it



is with tears and melting moods; so it is with other exalted



affections。  Their reign may come by gradual growth or by a



crisis; but in either case it may have 〃come to stay。〃







At the end of the last lecture we saw this permanence to be true



of the general paramountcy of the higher insight; even though in



the ebbs of emotional excitement meaner motives might temporarily



prevail and backsliding might occur。  But that lower temptations



may remain completely annulled; apart from transient emotion and



as if by alteration of the man's habitual nature; is also proved



by documentary evidence in certain cases。  Before embarking on



the general natural history of the regenerate character; let me



convince you of this curious fact by one or two examples。 The



most numerous are those of reformed drunkards。  You recollect the



case of Mr。 Hadley in the last lecture; the Jerry McAuley Water



Street Mission abounds in similar instances。'148'  You also



remember the graduate of Oxford; converted at three in the



afternoon; and getting drunk in the hay…field the next day;



but after that permanently cured of his appetite。  〃From that



hour drink has had no terrors for me:  I never touch it; never



want it。  The same thing occurred with my pipe。 。 。 。 the desire



for it went at once and has never returned。  So with every known



sin; the deliverance in each case being permanent and complete。 



I have had no temptations since conversion。〃







'148' Above; p。 200。  〃The only radical remedy I know for



dipsomania is religiomania;〃 is a saying I have heard quoted from



some medical man。















Here is an analogous case from Starbuck's manuscript



collection:







〃I went into the old Adelphi Theatre; where there was a Holiness



meeting; 。 。 。 and I began saying; 'Lord; Lord; I must have this



blessing。'  Then what was to me an audible voice said:  'Are you



willing to give up everything to the Lord?' and question after



question kept coming up; to all of which I said:  'Yes; Lord;



yes; Lord!' until this came:  'Why do you not accept it NOW?' and



I said:  'I do; Lord。'I felt no particular joy; only a trust。 



Just then the meeting closed; and; as I went out on the street; I



met a gentleman smoking a fine cigar; and a cloud of smoke came



into my face; and I took a long; deep breath of it; and praise



the Lord; all my appetite for it was gone。  Then as I walked



along the street; passing saloons where the fumes of liquor came



out; I found that all my taste and longing for that accursed



stuff was gone。  Glory to God! 。 。 。 'But' for ten or eleven long



years 'after that' I was in the wilderness with its ups and



downs。  My appetite for liquor never came back。〃







The classic case of Colonel Gardiner is that of a man cured of



sexual temptation in a single hour。  To Mr。 Spears the colonel



said; 〃I was effectually cured of all inclination to that sin I



was so strongly addicted to that I thought nothing but shooting



me through the head could have cured me of it; and all desire and



inclination to it was removed; as entirely as if I had been a



sucking child; nor did the temptation return to this day。〃  Mr。



Webster's words on the same subject are these:  〃One thing I have



heard the colonel frequently say; that he was much addicted to



impurity before his acquaintance with religion; but that; so soon



as he was enlightened from above; he felt the power of the Holy



Ghost changing his nature so wonderfully that his sanctification



in this respect seemed more remarkable than in any other。〃'149'







'149' Doddridge's Life of Colonel James Gardiner; London



Religious Tract Society; pp。 23…32。















Such rapid abolition of ancient impulses and propensities reminds



us so strongly of what has been observed as the result of



hypnotic suggestion that it is difficult not to believe that



subliminal influences play the decisive part in these abrupt



changes of heart; just as they do in hypnotism。'150' Suggestive



therapeutics abound in records of cure; after a few sittings; of



inveterate bad habits with which the patient; left to ordinary



moral and physical influences; had struggled in vain。  Both



drunkenness and sexual vice have been cured in this way; action



through the subliminal seeming thus in man

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0

你可能喜欢的