评论
打印
I endeavoured to clear up this fraud to my man Friday; and told him that the pretence of their old men going up to the mountains to say O to their god Benamuckee was a cheat;
我竭力向我的仆人星期五揭发这一骗局。我告诉他，那些老人假装到山里去对贝纳木基说“O”，完全是骗人的把戏。
and their bringing word from thence what he said was much more so; that if they met with any answer, or spake with any one there, it must be with an evil spirit;
他们说他们把贝纳木基的话带回来，更是骗人的诡计。我对他说，假如他们在那儿真的听到什么，真的在那边同什么人谈过话，那也一定是魔鬼。
and then I entered into a long discourse with him about the devil, the origin of him, his rebellion against God, his enmity to man, the reason of it,
然后，我用很长的时间跟他谈论魔鬼，讲述魔鬼的来历，他对上帝的反叛，他对人类的仇恨及其原因，
his setting himself up in the dark parts of the world to be worshipped instead of God, and as God, and the many stratagems he made use of to delude mankind to their ruin;
他怎样统治着世界最黑暗的地方，叫人像礼拜上帝一样礼拜他，以及他怎样用种种阴谋诡计诱惑人类走上绝路，
how he had a secret access to our passions and to our affections, and to adapt his snares to our inclinations, so as to cause us even to be our own tempters, and run upon our destruction by our own choice.
又怎样偷偷潜入我们的情欲和感情，迎合我们的心理来安排他的陷阱，使我们自己诱惑自己，甘心走上灭亡之路。
I found it was not so easy to imprint right notions in his mind about the devil as it was about the being of a God.
我发现，让他对上帝的存在获得正确的观念还算容易，但要使他对魔鬼有正确的认识，就不那么容易了。
Nature assisted all my arguments to evidence to him even the necessity of a great First Cause, an overruling, governing Power, a secret directing Providence, and of the equity and justice of paying homage to Him that made us, and the like;
我可以根据许多自然现象向他证明，天地间必须要有一个最高主宰，一种统治一切的力量，一种冥冥之中的引导者，并向他证明，崇敬造物主是完全公正合理的，如此等等，不一而足。
but there appeared nothing of this kind in the notion of an evil spirit, of his origin, his being, his nature, and above all, of his inclination to do evil, and to draw us in to do so too;
可是，关于魔鬼的观念，他的起源，他的存在，他的本性，特别是他一心作恶并引诱人类作恶的意图等等，我却找不出现成的证明。
and the poor creature puzzled me once in such a manner, by a question merely natural and innocent, that I scarce knew what to say to him.
因此，有一次，这可怜的家伙向我提出了一个又自然又天真的问题，就一下子把我难住了，简直不知怎样回答他才好。
I had been talking a great deal to him of the power of God, His omnipotence, His aversion to sin, His being a consuming fire to the workers of iniquity;
在此以前，我一直跟他谈关于上帝的事：上帝的权威，上帝的全知全能，上帝嫉恶如仇的本性，以及他怎样用烈火烧死那些奸恶不义之徒。关于这些问题，我同他谈得很多。
how, as He had made us all, He could destroy us and all the world in a moment; and he listened with great seriousness to me all the while.
我还提到，上帝既然创造了万物，他也可以在一刹那间毁灭全世界和全人类。在我讲述的时候，他总是非常认真地听着。
After this I had been telling him how the devil was God's enemy in the hearts of men, and used all his malice and skill to defeat the good designs of Providence, and to ruin the kingdom of Christ in the world, and the like.
然后，我又告诉他，在人们心里，魔鬼是上帝的敌人。他一贯心存恶意，使尽阴谋诡计来破坏上帝善良的计划，试图毁灭世界上的基督天国等等。
"Well," says Friday, "but you say God is so strong, so great; is He not much strong, much might as the devil?"
于是，星期五说：“你说，上帝是强大的，伟大的，他不是比魔鬼更强大吗？”
"Yes, yes," says I, "Friday; God is stronger than the devil ? God is above the devil, and therefore we pray to God to tread him down under our feet, and enable us to resist his temptations and quench his fiery darts."
“是的，”我说，“星期五，上帝比魔鬼更强大，上帝高于魔鬼。因此，我们应该祈祷上帝，使我们有力量把魔鬼踩在脚下，并使我们有力量抵制他的诱惑，扑灭他的地狱之火。”
"But," says he again, "if God much stronger, much might as the wicked devil, why God no kill the devil, so make him no more do wicked?"
“可是，”星期五又问，“既然上帝比魔鬼更强大，为什么上帝不把魔鬼杀死，免得他再作恶呢？”
I was strangely surprised at this question; and, after all, though I was now an old man, yet I was but a young doctor, and ill qualified for a casuist or a solver of difficulties;
他这个问题大大出乎我意料之外。因为，尽管我现在年纪已很大了，但作为一个教导别人的老师，却资历很浅，不够资格辩难决疑。
and at first I could not tell what to say; so I pretended not to hear him, and asked him what he said;
我一时不知怎么回答他才好，就只好装作没听清，问他说的是什么。
but he was too earnest for an answer to forget his question, so that he repeated it in the very same broken words as above.
可是，星期五十分认真，当然不会忘记他的问题，所以又把刚才提的问题用英语结结巴巴地重复了一遍。
By this time I had recovered myself a little, and I said, "God will at last punish him severely; he is reserved for the judgment, and is to be cast into the bottomless pit, to dwell with everlasting fire."
这时，我已略略恢复了镇静，就回答他说：“上帝最终将严惩魔鬼，魔鬼必定受到审判，并将被投入无底的深渊，经受地狱之火的熬炼，永世不得翻身。”
This did not satisfy Friday; but he returns upon me, repeating my words, "'RESERVE AT LAST!' me no understand ? but why not kill the devil now; not kill great ago?"
这个回答当然不能使星期五满意，他用我的话回问我：“最终、必定，我不懂。但是，为什么不现在就把魔鬼杀掉？为什么之前不把魔鬼杀掉？”
"You may as well ask me," said I, "why God does not kill you or me, when we do wicked things here that offend Him ? we are preserved to repent and be pardoned."
我回答说：“你这样问我，就等于问为什么上帝不把你和我杀掉，因为，我们也犯了罪，得罪了上帝。上帝留着我们，是让我们自己有机会忏悔，有机会获得赦免。”
He mused some time on this. "Well, well," says he, mighty affectionately, "that well ? so you, I, devil, all wicked, all preserve, repent, God pardon all."
他把我的话想了好半天，最后，他显得很激动，并对我说：“对啦，对啦，你、我、魔鬼都有罪，上帝留着我们，是让我们忏悔，让我们都获得赦免。”
Here I was run down again by him to the last degree; and it was a testimony to me, how the mere notions of nature, though they will guide reasonable creatures to the knowledge of a God, and of a worship or homage due to the supreme being of God, as the consequence of our nature,
谈到这里，我又十分尴尬。他的这些话使我充分认识到，虽然天赋的观念可以使一般有理性的人认识上帝，可以使他们自然而然地对至高无上的上帝表示崇拜和敬礼，
yet nothing but divine revelation can form the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and of redemption purchased for us; of a Mediator of the new covenant, and of an Intercessor at the footstool of God's throne;
然而，要认识到耶稣基督，要认识到他曾经替我们赎罪，认识到他是我们同上帝之间所立的新约的中间人，认识到他是我们在上帝宝座前的仲裁者，那就非要神的启示不可。
