Part 1 Book 1 Chapter 14 What he thought

One last word.

Since this sort of details might, particularly at the present moment, and to use an expression now in fashion, give to the Bishop of D---- a certain "pantheistical" physiognomy, and induce the belief, either to his credit or discredit, that he entertained one of those personal philosophies which are peculiar to our century, which sometimes spring up in solitary spirits, and there take on a form and grow until they usurp the place of religion, we insist upon it, that not one of those persons who knew Monseigneur Welcome would have thought himself authorized to think anything of the sort. That which enlightened this man was his heart. His wisdom was made of the light which comes from there.

No systems; many works. Abstruse speculations contain vertigo; no, there is nothing to indicate that he risked his mind in apocalypses. The apostle may be daring, but the bishop must be timid. He would probably have felt a scruple at sounding too far in advance certain problems which are, in a manner, reserved for terrible great minds. There is a sacred horror beneath the porches of the enigma; those gloomy openings stand yawning there, but something tells you, you, a passer-by in life, that you must not enter. Woe to him who penetrates thither!

Geniuses in the impenetrable depths of abstraction and pure speculation, situated, so to speak, above all dogmas, propose their ideas to God. Their prayer audaciously offers discussion. Their adoration interrogates. This is direct religion, which is full of anxiety and responsibility for him who attempts its steep cliffs.

Human meditation has no limits. At his own risk and peril, it analyzes and digs deep into its own bedazzlement. One might almost say, that by a sort of splendid reaction, it with it dazzles nature; the mysterious world which surrounds us renders back what it has received; it is probable that the contemplators are contemplated.

However that may be, there are on earth men who--are they men?-- perceive distinctly at the verge of the horizons of revery the heights of the absolute, and who have the terrible vision of the infinite mountain. Monseigneur Welcome was one of these men; Monseigneur Welcome was not a genius. He would have feared those sublimities whence some very great men even, like Swedenborg and Pascal, have slipped into insanity. Certainly, these powerful reveries have their moral utility, and by these arduous paths one approaches to ideal perfection. As for him, he took the path which shortens,-- the Gospel's.

He did not attempt to impart to his chasuble the folds of Elijah's mantle; he projected no ray of future upon the dark groundswell of events; he did not see to condense in flame the light of things; he had nothing of the prophet and nothing of the magician about him. This humble soul loved, and that was all.

That he carried prayer to the pitch of a superhuman aspiration is probable: but one can no more pray too much than one can love too much; and if it is a heresy to pray beyond the texts, Saint Theresa and Saint Jerome would be heretics.

He inclined towards all that groans and all that expiates. The universe appeared to him like an immense malady; everywhere he felt fever, everywhere he heard the sound of suffering, and, without seeking to solve the enigma, he strove to dress the wound. The terrible spectacle of created things developed tenderness in him; he was occupied only in finding for himself, and in inspiring others with the best way to compassionate and relieve. That which exists was for this good and rare priest a permanent subject of sadness which sought consolation.

There are men who toil at extracting gold; he toiled at the extraction of pity. Universal misery was his mine. The sadness which reigned everywhere was but an excuse for unfailing kindness. Love each other; he declared this to be complete, desired nothing further, and that was the whole of his doctrine. One day, that man who believed himself to be a "philosopher," the senator who has already been alluded to, said to the Bishop: "Just survey the spectacle of the world: all war against all; the strongest has the most wit. Your love each other is nonsense."--"Well," replied Monseigneur Welcome, without contesting the point, "if it is nonsense, the soul should shut itself up in it, as the pearl in the oyster." Thus he shut himself up, he lived there, he was absolutely satisfied with it, leaving on one side the prodigious questions which attract and terrify, the fathomless perspectives of abstraction, the precipices of metaphysics--all those profundities which converge, for the apostle in God, for the atheist in nothingness; destiny, good and evil, the way of being against being, the conscience of man, the thoughtful somnambulism of the animal, the transformation in death, the recapitulation of existences which the tomb contains, the incomprehensible grafting of successive loves on the persistent _I_, the essence, the substance, the Nile, and the Ens, the soul, nature, liberty, necessity; perpendicular problems, sinister obscurities, where lean the gigantic archangels of the human mind; formidable abysses, which Lucretius, Manou, Saint Paul, Dante, contemplate with eyes flashing lightning, which seems by its steady gaze on the infinite to cause stars to blaze forth there.

Monseigneur Bienvenu was simply a man who took note of the exterior of mysterious questions without scrutinizing them, and without troubling his own mind with them, and who cherished in his own soul a grave respect for darkness.

最后几句话。

由于这种详细的叙述，特别是在我们这时代，很可能赋予迪涅的这位主教一副泛神论者（暂用一个目下正流行的名词）的面貌，加以我们这世纪中的哲学流派多，那些纷纭的思想有时会在生活孤寂的人的精神上发芽成长，扩大影响，直到取宗教思想的地位而代之，我们的叙述，又还可以使人认为他也有他一套独特的人生观，无论这对他是指责还是赞扬，我们都应当着重指出，凡是认识卞福汝主教的人，没有一个敢有那样的想法。他之所以光明磊落，是由于他的心，他的智慧正是由那里发出的光构成的。

他不守成规，又勇于任事。探赜索隐，每每使他神志昏瞀；他是否窥探过玄学，毫无迹象可寻。使徒行事，可以大刀阔斧，主教却应当谨小慎微。他也许认为某些问题是应当留待大智大慧的人去探讨的，他自己如果推究太深，于心反而不安。玄学的门，神圣骇人，那些幽暗的洞口，一一向人大开，但是有一种声音向你这生命中的过客说“进去不得”。进去的人都将不幸！而那些天才，置身于教律之上（不妨这样说），从抽象观念和唯理学说的无尽深渊中，向上帝提出他们的意见。他们的祷告发出了大胆的争论。他们的颂赞带着疑难。这是一种想直接证悟的宗教，妄图攀援绝壁的人必将烦恼重重，自食其果。

人类的遐想是没有止境的。人常在遐想中不避艰险，分析研究并深入追求他自己所赞叹的妙境。我们几乎可以这样说，由于一种奇妙的反应作用，人类的遐想可以使宇宙惊奇，围绕着我们的这个神秘世界能吐其所纳，瞻望的人们也就很有被瞻望的可能。无论怎样，这世上确有一些人（如果他们仅仅是人），能在梦想的视野深处清清楚楚地望见绝对真理的高度和无极山峰的惊心触目的景象。卞福汝主教完全不是这种人，卞福汝主教不是天才。他也许害怕那种绝顶的聪明，有几个人，并且是才气磅礴的人，例如斯维登堡①和帕斯卡尔②，就是因为聪明绝顶而堕入精神失常的状态的。固然，那种强烈的梦想，对人的身心自有它的用处，并且通过那条险阻的道路，我们可以达到理想中的至善境界。可是他，他采择了一条捷径棗《福音书》。

他绝不想使他的祭服具有以利亚③的法衣的皱褶，他对这黑暗世界中人事的兴衰起伏，不怀任何希冀；他不希望能使一事一物的微光集成烈火，他丝毫没有那些先知和方士们的臭味。他那颗质朴的心只知道爱，如是而已。

①斯维登堡（Swedenborg，1688?772），瑞典通灵论者。

②帕斯卡尔（Pascal，1623?662），法国数学家，物理学家，哲学家。

③以利亚（Elie），犹太先知（《圣经·列王记》）。

他的祈祷具有一种不同于一般人的憧憬，那是极可能的，但是必须先有极其殷切的爱，才能作出极其殷切的祈祷，如果祈祷的内容越出了经文的规范，便被认为异端，那么，圣泰莉莎和圣热罗姆岂不都成了异端了？

他常照顾那些呻吟床褥和奄奄垂毙的人。这世界在他看来好象是一种漫无边际的病苦，他觉得遍地都是寒热，他四处诊察疾苦，他不想猜破谜底，只试图包扎创伤。人间事物的惨状使他具有悲天悯人的心，他一心一意想找出可以安慰人心和解除痛苦的最妥善的办法，那是为他自己也是为了影响旁人。世间存在的一切事物，对这位不可多得的慈悲神甫，都是引起恻隐之心和济世宏愿的永恒的动力。

多少人在努力发掘黄金，他却只努力发掘慈悲心肠。普天下的愁苦便是他的矿。遍地的苦痛随时为他提供行善的机会。

“你们应当彼此相爱”，他说如果能这样，便一切具足了，不必再求其他，这便是他的全部教义。一天，那个自命为“哲学家”的元老院元老（我们已经提到过他的名字）对他说：“您瞧瞧这世上的情形吧，人自为战，谁胜利，谁就有理。您的‘互爱’简直是胡说。”卞福汝主教并不和他争论，只回答：“好吧，即使是胡说，人的心总还应当隐藏在那里，如同珍珠隐在蚌壳里一样。”他自己便隐藏在那里，生活在那里，绝对心满意足，不理睬那些诱人而又骇人的重大问题，如抽象理论的无可揣摹的远景以及形而上学的探渊，所有那些针对同一问题的玄妙理论他都抛在一边，留给上帝的信徒和否定上帝的虚无论者去处理，这些玄论有命运、善恶、生物和生物间的斗争、动物的半睡眠半思想状态、死后的转化、坟墓中的生命总结、宿世的恩情对今生的“我”的那种不可理解的纠缠、元精、实质、色空、灵魂、本性、自由、必然，还有代表人类智慧的巨神们所探索的那些穷高极深的问题，还有卢克莱修①、摩奴②、圣保罗和但丁曾以炬火似的目光，凝神仰望那仿佛能使群星跃出的浩阔天空。

卞福汝主教是一个普普通通的人，他只从表面涉猎那些幽渺的问题，他不深究，也不推波助澜，免得自己的精神受到骚扰，但是在他的心灵中，对于幽冥，却怀着一种深厚的敬畏。

①卢克莱修（Lucrèce，前98?5），罗马诗人，唯物主义者，无神论者。

②摩奴（Manou），印度神话中之人类始祖。

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