登陆注册
19911200000094

第94章 MADAME SAND AND THE NEW APOCALYPSE(8)

Industrious and sober as they were, originally, they grow quickly intemperate and idle; and Hebronius, who does not appear among his flock until he has freed himself of the Catholic religion, as he has of the Jewish and the Protestant, sees, with dismay, the evil condition of his disciples, and regrets, too late, the precipitancy by which he renounced, then and for ever, Christianity."But, as he had no new religion to adopt in its place, and as, grown more prudent and calm, he did not wish to accuse himself unnecessarily, once more, of inconstancy and apostasy, he still maintained all the exterior forms of the worship which inwardly he had abjured.But it was not enough for him to have quitted error, it was necessary to discover truth.But Hebronius had well looked round to discover it; he could not find anything that resembled it.Then commenced for him a series of sufferings, unknown and terrible.Placed face to face with doubt, this sincere and religious spirit was frightened at its own solitude; and as it had no other desire nor aim on earth than truth, and nothing else here below interested it, he lived absorbed in his own sad contemplations, looked ceaselessly into the vague that surrounded him like an ocean without bounds, and seeing the horizon retreat and retreat as ever he wished to near it.Lost in this immense uncertainty, he felt as if attacked by vertigo, and his thoughts whirled within his brain.Then, fatigued with his vain toils and hopeless endeavors, he would sink down depressed, unmanned, life-wearied, only living in the sensation of that silent grief which he felt and could not comprehend."It is a pity that this hapless Spiridion, so eager in his passage from one creed to another, and so loud in his profession of the truth, wherever he fancied that he had found it, had not waited a little, before he avowed himself either Catholic or Protestant, and implicated others in errors and follies which might, at least, have been confined to his own bosom, and there have lain comparatively harmless.In what a pretty state, for instance, will Messrs.Dr--d and P--l have left their Newman Street congregation, who are still plunged in their old superstitions, from which their spiritual pastors and masters have been set free! In what a state, too, do Mrs.Sand and her brother and sister philosophers, Templars, Saint Simonians, Fourierites, Lerouxites, or whatever the sect may be, leave the unfortunate people who have listened to their doctrines, and who have not the opportunity, or the fiery versatility of belief, which carries their teachers from one creed to another, leaving only exploded lies and useless recantations behind them! Iwish the state would make a law that one individual should not be allowed to preach more than one doctrine in his life, or, at any rate, should be soundly corrected for every change of creed.How many charlatans would have been silenced,--how much conceit would have been kept within bounds,--how many fools, who are dazzled by fine sentences, and made drunk by declamation, would have remained, quiet and sober, in that quiet and sober way of faith which their fathers held before them.However, the reader will be glad to learn that, after all his doubts and sorrows, Spiridion does discover the truth (THE truth, what a wise Spiridion!) and some discretion with it; for, having found among his monks, who are dissolute, superstitious--and all hate him--one only being, Fulgentius, who is loving, candid, and pious, he says to him, "If you were like myself, if the first want of your nature were, like mine, to know, I would, without hesitation, lay bare to you my entire thoughts.I would make you drink the cup of truth, which Imyself have filled with so many tears, at the risk of intoxicating you with the draught.But it is not so, alas! you are made to love rather than to know, and your heart is stronger than your intellect.You are attached to Catholicism,--I believe so, at least,--by bonds of sentiment which you could not break without pain, and which, if you were to break, the truth which I could lay bare to you in return would not repay you for what you had sacrificed.Instead of exalting, it would crush you, very likely.

同类推荐
  • 莲邦消息

    莲邦消息

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 丹溪治法心要

    丹溪治法心要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • The Duchess of Padua

    The Duchess of Padua

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Posterior Analytics

    Posterior Analytics

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 明文衡

    明文衡

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 金蚕蛊

    金蚕蛊

    我告诉你,我们寨子里流传一个几千年的法宝,他叫金蚕蛊,有了这个基础,金蚕蛊天不怕地不怕就等于拥有了全世界,祭老祖宗几千年的成就啊,都在这个金蚕蛊的身上了。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 逆袭腹黑帝王

    逆袭腹黑帝王

    这是一个关于以整人闻名天下的恶女,将军,帝王三人之间的恶恋!一切将是以暴制暴,务必将狠狠地践踏,并且折磨到面目全非为目的的故事!他与她,青梅竹马,一墙之隔,却恶斗了十年!慕容御天,他是这个帝国的战神,战无不胜,权威战功震慑于天下他爱她吗?不爱为何又交缠了十年,十年又十年,还有以后数十年的思念呢?!总是让她有借口说他知此知彼,百战不殆呢?!又怎么会千方百计地安插眼线在她的四周,就想知道她一切的情况?!云彻,他是这个帝国的主宰,为了巩固他的帝国,他不惜牺牲一切,包括她,这个占据他的心的女人!不漂亮?!不温柔?!不知书达理?!这些有关系吗?呵呵,看着眼前滚滚蠕动的毛毛虫,她暗忖。
  • 掠捕光辉

    掠捕光辉

    简介:青年冷月本是一个游戏迷,但却在一次游戏中无意被带进未知的世界,他更惊骇的发现自己竟然成为了电影里的铁血战士,他该如何面对迷茫的未来生活……最重要的是...她为何却成为了敌人…然而作为一个冷酷的掠食者,必须要面对一又一个不断进化的敌人。未来是一片既困惑又神秘的,在之刻,除了异形,更有许许多多神秘的事式,甚至追溯到远古的尘封往事……所有的一切源头都指向那令人垂涎的兽之魂魄。然而,夺取兽魂的掠食者正是吾!
  • 面具爱情:落魄总裁深深爱!

    面具爱情:落魄总裁深深爱!

    曾经的你不懂得珍惜我,那么好啊。本宝宝不开森了!于是乎,上演了一幕幕追逐大战:情境一“宝贝儿,我错了,我给你煮吃的,好不好?不要饿着了。”甩都没甩他,直接离开。情境二“宝贝儿,你慢点,你肚子里还有一个小可爱呢!”冷哼一声,跑了。内心暗戳戳的骂他。情境三独自一人独守空房,“宝贝儿,你和小可爱哪儿去了?不要出事了,我会心疼的……”
  • 老庄人生

    老庄人生

    本书从做人的角度全新解读老庄,书中的故事与哲理双双吸引人。本书观点独特,文字脱俗,实是同类书的样板。
  • 斩枪

    斩枪

    《地下城与勇士》的知名玩家,来到阿拉德大陆之上,逆转的乾坤,斩破了苍穹。鬼神:让我成为您奴隶的随从,黑暗主宰在上。枪神:教给我技能,交给我技术,我们伟大的众神之主。大魔法神:求你了,不要离开我,不要。斗神:师傅,请受徒弟一拜。光明神:光明主宰在上,请赐予我无穷尽的光明之力,让他照耀阿拉德。木鸿:“我不是什么神,我是人。我不是一个喜欢惹事的人,当别人惹人,那就洗干净脖子等着挨杀吧。我是一个爱民的人,我不愿意让阿拉德大陆上的居民受到摧残,我不是一个帝王,更永远不会成为帝王。我有自己的理想,我追求巅峰,我追求任何事物的巅峰,明智的选择会让我知道,我会如何去做。我有灵魂,灵魂只会属于我,我有亲情,它永远属于我的亲人,我有功力,他只会让敌人绝望。”永远要记住:朋友永远是好于敌人。
  • 妃你莫属:王爷请娶我

    妃你莫属:王爷请娶我

    他是王爷了怎么了,只要她喜欢,他就得娶她,什么公主什么圣女,她都不要管,因为爱上了,谁也不能来阻止,哪怕是父王母后,哪怕是王公大臣,哪怕是三纲五常,只要她喜欢就够了,只要他答应就够了,爱是两个人的事,就算真的到了那个时候,她会嫁的,但那人必须是…
  • 语言艺术全书(1册)

    语言艺术全书(1册)

    语言是一门艺术,亦是通于人情世故大门的关键;换言之人情世故,大半蕴藏于语言中。然良好的口才并不是天生而是可以通过学习和训练塑造出来的。再者人不是孤立存在于世,都是在与他人的交往中生存,而语言则是我们用来交往的基本手段。故本书通过大量贴近生活的事例和精炼的要点,使读者认识到表达的重要性,以及如何才能让自己更会说话,能迅速练就“三寸不烂之舌”。
  • 有命

    有命

    世间本无仙,长生者自居而已。修道即人生,人生即修道。
  • 睡梦达人

    睡梦达人

    一个上海某大学的学生,平淡的过着普通的校园生活,某天他得到了一个机会,他参加了一个国家特殊安全选拔会,在众多的精英面前他显得如此无力。在偶然机遇下他得到了一种与梦相关的奇异修炼方法......