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of a mutual interpreter。'305' So much for the aesthetic



diversities in the religious consciousness。







'305' Compare the informality of Protestantism; where the 〃meek



lover of the good;〃 alone with his God; visits the sick; etc。;



for their own sakes; with the elaborate 〃business〃 that goes on



in Catholic devotion; and carries with it the social excitement



of all more complex businesses。  An essentially worldly…minded



Catholic woman can become a visitor of the sick on purely



coquettish principles; with her confessor and director; her



〃merit〃 storing up; her patron saints; her privileged relation to



the Almighty; drawing his attention as a professional devote; her



definite 〃exercises;〃 and her definitely recognized social pose



in the organization。















In most books on religion; three things are represented as its



most essential elements。  These are Sacrifice; Confession; and



Prayer。  I must say a word in turn of each of these elements;



though briefly。  First of Sacrifice。







Sacrifices to gods are omnipresent in primeval worship; but; as



cults have grown refined; burnt offerings and the blood of



he…goats have been superseded by sacrifices more spiritual in



their nature。  Judaism; Islam; and Buddhism get along without



ritual sacrifice; so does Christianity; save in so far as the



notion is preserved in transfigured form in the mystery of



Christ's atonement。  These religions substitute offerings of the



heart; renunciations of the inner self; for all those vain



oblations。  In the ascetic practices which Islam; Buddhism; and



the older Christianity encourage we see how indestructible is the



idea that sacrifice of some sort is a religious exercise。  In



lecturing on asceticism I spoke of its significance as symbolic



of the sacrifices which life; whenever it is taken strenuously;



calls for。'306'  But; as I said my say about those; and as these



lectures expressly avoid earlier religious usages and questions



of derivation; I will pass from the subject of Sacrifice



altogether and turn to that of Confession。







'306' Above; p。 354 ff。















In regard to Confession I will also be most brief; saying my word



about it psychologically; not historically。  Not nearly as



widespread as sacrifice; it corresponds to a more inward and



moral stage of sentiment。  It is part of the general system of



purgation and cleansing which one feels one's self in need of; in



order to be in right relations to one's deity。  For him who



confesses; shams are over and realities have begun; he has



exteriorized his rottenness。  If he has not actually got rid of



it; he at least no longer smears it over with a hypocritical show



of virtuehe lives at least upon a basis of veracity。  The



complete decay of the practice of confession in Anglo…Saxon



communities is a little hard to account for。  Reaction against



popery is of course the historic explanation; for in popery



confession went with penances and absolution; and other



inadmissible practices。  But on the  side of the sinner



himself it seems as if the need ought to have been too great to



accept so summary a refusal of its satisfaction。  One would think



that in more men the shell of secrecy would have had to open; the



pent…in abscess to burst and gain relief; even though the ear



that heard the confession were unworthy。  The Catholic church;



for obvious utilitarian reasons; has substituted auricular



confession to one priest for the more radical act of public



confession。  We English…speaking Protestants; in the general



self…reliance and unsociability of our nature; seem to find it



enough if we take God alone into our confidence。'307'







'307' A fuller discussion of confession is contained in the



excellent work by Frank Granger:  The Soul of a Christian;



London; 1900; ch。 xii。















The next topic on which I must comment is Prayerand this time



it must be less briefly。  We have heard much talk of late against



prayer; especially against prayers for better weather and for the



recovery of sick people。  As regards prayers for the sick; if any



medical fact can be considered to stand firm; it is that in



certain environments prayer may contribute to recovery; and



should be encouraged as a therapeutic measure。  Being a normal



factor of moral health in the person; its omission would be



deleterious。  The case of the weather is different。 



Notwithstanding the recency of the opposite belief;'308' every



one now knows that droughts and storms follow from physical



antecedents; and that moral appeals cannot avert them。  But



petitional prayer is only one department of prayer; and if we



take the word in the wider sense as meaning every kind of inward



communion or conversation with the power recognized as divine; we



can easily see that scientific criticism leaves it untouched。







'308' Example:  〃The minister at Sudbury; being at the Thursday



lecture in Boston; heard the officiating clergyman praying for



rain。  As soon as the service was over; he went to the petitioner



and said 'You Boston ministers; as soon as a tulip wilts under



your windows; go to church and pray for rain; until all Concord



and Sudbury are under water。'〃  R。 W。 Emerson:  Lectures and



Biographical Sketches; p。 363。















Prayer in this wide sense is the very soul and essence of



religion。  〃Religion;〃 says a liberal French theologian; 〃is an



intercourse; a conscious and voluntary relation; entered into by



a soul in distress with the mysterious power upon which it feels



itself to depend; and upon which its fate is contingent。  This



intercourse with God is realized by prayer。  Prayer is religion



in act; that is; prayer is real religion。  It is prayer that



distinguishes the religious phenomenon from such similar or



neighboring phenomena as purely moral or aesthetic sentiment。 



Religion is nothing if it be not the vital act by which the



entire mind seeks to save itself by clinging to the principle



from which it draws its life。  This act is prayer; by which term



I understand no vain exercise of words; no mere repetition of



certain sacred formula; but the very movement itself of the soul;



putting itself in a personal relation of contact with the



mysterious power of which it feels the presenceit may be even



before it has a name by which to call it。  Wherever this interior



prayer is lacking; there is no religion; wherever; on the other



hand; this prayer rises and stirs the soul; even in the absence



of forms or of doctrines; we have living religion。  One sees from



this why 〃natural religion; so…called; is not properly a



religion。  It cuts man off from prayer。  It leaves him and God in



mutual remoteness; with no intimate commerce; no interior



dialogue; no interchange; no action of God in man; no return of



man to God。  At bottom this pretended religion is only a



philosophy。  Born at epochs of rationalism; of critical



investigations; it never was anything but an abstraction。  An



artificial and dead creation; it reveals to its examiner hardly



one of the characters proper to religion。〃'309'







'309' Auguste Sabatier:  Esquisse d'une Philosophie de la



Religion。 2me ed。; 1897; pp。 24…26; abridged。















It seems to me that the entire series of our lectures proves the



truth of M。 Sabatier's contention。  The religious phenomenon;



studied as in Inner fact; and apart from ecclesiastical or



theological complications; has shown itself to consist



everywhere;

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