第 49 节
作者:旅游巴士      更新:2021-02-20 14:19      字数:9322
  Testaments。
  It must be remembered that the year 1858 was the last of a term
  during which the peace of the Church of England was singularly
  unbroken。  Between 1844; when 〃Vestiges of Creation〃 appeared; and
  1859; when 〃Essays and Reviews〃 marked the commencement of that
  storm which raged until many years afterwards; there was not a
  single book published in England that caused serious commotion
  within the bosom of the Church。  Perhaps Buckle's 〃History of
  Civilisation〃 and Mill's 〃Liberty〃 were the most alarming; but they
  neither of them reached the substratum of the reading public; and
  Ernest and his friends were ignorant of their very existence。  The
  Evangelical movement; with the exception to which I shall revert
  presently; had become almost a matter of ancient history。
  Tractarianism had subsided into a tenth day's wonder; it was at
  work; but it was not noisy。  The 〃Vestiges〃 were forgotten before
  Ernest went up to Cambridge; the Catholic aggression scare had lost
  its terrors; Ritualism was still unknown by the general provincial
  public; and the Gorham and Hampden controversies were defunct some
  years since; Dissent was not spreading; the Crimean war was the one
  engrossing subject; to be followed by the Indian Mutiny and the
  Franco…Austrian war。  These great events turned men's minds from
  speculative subjects; and there was no enemy to the faith which
  could arouse even a languid interest。  At no time probably since the
  beginning of the century could an ordinary observer have detected
  less sign of coming disturbance than at that of which I am writing。
  I need hardly say that the calm was only on the surface。  Older men;
  who knew more than undergraduates were likely to do; must have seen
  that the wave of scepticism which had already broken over Germany
  was setting towards our own shores; nor was it long; indeed; before
  it reached them。  Ernest had hardly been ordained before three works
  in quick succession arrested the attention even of those who paid
  least heed to theological controversy。  I mean 〃Essays and Reviews;〃
  Charles Darwin's 〃Origin of Species;〃 and Bishop Colenso's
  〃Criticisms on the Pentateuch。〃
  This; however; is a digression; I must revert to the one phase of
  spiritual activity which had any life in it during the time Ernest
  was at Cambridge; that is to say; to the remains of the Evangelical
  awakening of more than a generation earlier; which was connected
  with the name of Simeon。
  There were still a good many Simeonites; or as they were more
  briefly called 〃Sims;〃 in Ernest's time。  Every college contained
  some of them; but their headquarters were at Caius; whither they
  were attracted by Mr Clayton who was at that time senior tutor; and
  among the sizars of St John's。
  Behind the then chapel of this last…named college; there was a
  〃labyrinth〃 (this was the name it bore) of dingy; tumble…down rooms;
  tenanted exclusively by the poorest undergraduates; who were
  dependent upon sizarships and scholarships for the means of taking
  their degrees。  To many; even at St John's; the existence and
  whereabouts of the labyrinth in which the sizars chiefly lived was
  unknown; some men in Ernest's time; who had rooms in the first
  court; had never found their way through the sinuous passage which
  led to it。
  In the labyrinth there dwelt men of all ages; from mere lads to
  grey…haired old men who had entered late in life。  They were rarely
  seen except in hall or chapel or at lecture; where their manners of
  feeding; praying and studying; were considered alike objectionable;
  no one knew whence they came; whither they went; nor what they did;
  for they never showed at cricket or the boats; they were a gloomy;
  seedy…looking conferie; who had as little to glory in in clothes and
  manners as in the flesh itself。
  Ernest and his friends used to consider themselves marvels of
  economy for getting on with so little money; but the greater number
  of dwellers in the labyrinth would have considered one…half of their
  expenditure to be an exceeding measure of affluence; and so
  doubtless any domestic tyranny which had been experienced by Ernest
  was a small thing to what the average Johnian sizar had had to put
  up with。
  A few would at once emerge on its being found after their first
  examination that they were likely to be ornaments to the college;
  these would win valuable scholarships that enabled them to live in
  some degree of comfort; and would amalgamate with the more studious
  of those who were in a better social position; but even these; with
  few exceptions; were long in shaking off the uncouthness they
  brought with them to the University; nor would their origin cease to
  be easily recognisable till they had become dons and tutors。  I have
  seen some of these men attain high position in the world of politics
  or science; and yet still retain a look of labyrinth and Johnian
  sizarship。
  Unprepossessing then; in feature; gait and manners; unkempt and ill…
  dressed beyond what can be easily described; these poor fellows
  formed a class apart; whose thoughts and ways were not as the
  thoughts and ways of Ernest and his friends; and it was among them
  that Simeonism chiefly flourished。
  Destined most of them for the Church (for in those days 〃holy
  orders〃 were seldom heard of); the Simeonites held themselves to
  have received a very loud call to the ministry; and were ready to
  pinch themselves for years so as to prepare for it by the necessary
  theological courses。  To most of them the fact of becoming clergymen
  would be the entree into a social position from which they were at
  present kept out by barriers they well knew to be impassable;
  ordination; therefore; opened fields for ambition which made it the
  central point in their thoughts; rather than as with Ernest;
  something which he supposed would have to be done some day; but
  about which; as about dying; he hoped there was no need to trouble
  himself as yet。
  By way of preparing themselves more completely they would have
  meetings in one another's rooms for tea and prayer and other
  spiritual exercises。  Placing themselves under the guidance of a few
  well…known tutors they would teach in Sunday Schools; and be
  instant; in season and out of season; in imparting spiritual
  instruction to all whom they could persuade to listen to them。
  But the soil of the more prosperous undergraduates was not suitable
  for the seed they tried to sow。  The small pieties with which they
  larded their discourse; if chance threw them into the company of one
  whom they considered worldly; caused nothing but aversion in the
  minds of those for whom they were intended。  When they distributed
  tracts; dropping them by night into good men's letter boxes while
  they were asleep; their tracts got burnt; or met with even worse
  contumely; they were themselves also treated with the ridicule which
  they reflected proudly had been the lot of true followers of Christ
  in all ages。  Often at their prayer meetings was the passage of St
  Paul referred to in which he bids his Corinthian converts note
  concerning themselves that they were for the most part neither well…
  bred nor intellectual people。  They reflected with pride that they
  too had nothing to be proud of in these respects; and like St Paul;
  gloried in the fact that in the flesh they had not much to glory。
  Ernest had several Johnian friends; and came thus to hear about the
  Simeonites and to see some of them; who were pointed out to him as
  they passed through the courts。  They had a repellent attraction for
  him; he disliked them; but he could not bring himself to leave them
  alone。  On one occasion he had gone so far as to parody one of the
  tracts they had sent round in the night; and to get a copy dropped
  into each of the leading Simeonites' boxes。  The subject he had
  taken was 〃Personal Cleanliness。〃  Cleanliness; he said; was next to
  godliness; he wished to know on which side it was to stand; and
  concluded by exhorting Simeonites to a freer use of the tub。  I
  cannot commend my hero's humour in this matter; his tract was not
  brilliant; but I mention the fact as showing that at this time he
  was something of a Saul and took pleasure in persecuting the elect;
  not; as I have said; that he had any hankering after scepticism; but
  because; like the farmers in his father's village; though he would
  not stand seeing the Christian religion made light of; he was not
  going to see it taken seriously。  Ernest's friends thought his
  dislike for Simeonites was due to his being the son of a clergyman
  who; it was known; bullied him; it is more likely; however; that it
  rose from an unconscious sympathy with them; which; as in St Paul's
  case; in the end drew him into the ranks of those whom he had most
  despised and hated。
  CHAPTER XLVIII
  Once; recently; when he was down at home after taking his degree;
  his mother had had a short conversation with him about his becoming
  a clergyman; set on thereto by Theobald; who shrank from the subject
  himself。  This time it was during a turn taken in the garden; and
  not on the sofawhich was reserved for supreme occasions。
  〃You know; my dearest boy;〃 she said to him; 〃that papa〃 (she always
  called Theobald 〃papa〃 when talking to Ern