第 127 节
作者:套牢      更新:2021-02-20 15:35      字数:9322
  whence all the sweet visitings of the grace of God are withdrawn;
  and the man has not a chance; so to speak; of growing better。  In
  this hell of theirs they will even pamper his beastly body。'
  'They have the chaplain to visit them。'
  'I pity the chaplain; cut off in his labours from all the aids which
  God's world alone can give for the teaching of these men。  Human
  beings have not the right to inflict such cruel punishment upon
  their fellow…man。  It springs from a cowardly shrinking from
  responsibility; and from mistrust of the mercy of God;perhaps
  first of all from an over…valuing of the mere life of the body。
  Hanging is tenderness itself to such a punishment。'
  'I think you are hardly fair; though; Falconer。  It is the fear of
  sending them to hell that prevents them from hanging them。'
  'Yes。 You are right; I dare say。  They are not of David's mind; who
  would rather fall into the hands of God than of men。  They think
  their hell is not so hard as his; and may be better for them。  But I
  must not; as you say; forget that they do believe their everlasting
  fate hangs upon their hands; for if God once gets his hold of them
  by death; they are lost for ever。'
  'But the chaplain may awake them to a sense of their sins。'
  'I do not think it is likely that talk will do what the discipline
  of life has not done。  It seems to me; on the contrary; that the
  clergyman has no commission to rouse people to a sense of their
  sins。  That is not his work。  He is far more likely to harden them
  by any attempt in that direction。  Every man does feel his sins;
  though he often does not know it。  To turn his attention away from
  what he does feel by trying to rouse in him feelings which are
  impossible to him in his present condition; is to do him a great
  wrong。  The clergyman has the message of salvation; not of sin; to
  give。  Whatever oppression is on a man; whatever trouble; whatever
  conscious something that comes between him and the blessedness of
  life; is his sin; for whatever is not of faith is sin; and from all
  this He came to save us。  Salvation alone can rouse in us a sense of
  our sinfulness。  One must have got on a good way before he can be
  sorry for his sins。  There is no condition of sorrow laid down as
  necessary to forgiveness。  Repentance does not mean sorrow: it means
  turning away from the sins。  Every man can do that; more or less。
  And that every man must do。  The sorrow will come afterwards; all
  in good time。  Jesus offers to take us out of our own hands into
  his; if we will only obey him。'
  The eyes of the old man were fixed on his son as he spoke; He did
  seem to be thinking。  I could almost fancy that a glimmer of
  something like hope shone in his eyes。
  It was time to go home; and we were nearly silent all the way。
  The next morning was so wet that we could not go out; and had to
  amuse ourselves as we best might in…doors。  But Falconer's resources
  never failed。  He gave us this day story after story about the poor
  people he had known。  I could see that his object was often to get
  some truth into his father's mind without exposing it to rejection
  by addressing it directly to himself; and few subjects could be more
  fitted for affording such opportunity than his experiences among the
  poor。
  The afternoon was still rainy and misty。  In the evening I sought to
  lead the conversation towards the gospel…story; and then Falconer
  talked as I never heard him talk before。  No little circumstance in
  the narratives appeared to have escaped him。  He had thought about
  everything; as it seemed to me。  He had looked under the surface
  everywhere; and found truthmines of itunder all the upper soil
  of the story。  The deeper he dug the richer seemed the ore。  This
  was combined with the most pictorial apprehension of every outward
  event; which he treated as if it had been described to him by the
  lips of an eye…witness。  The whole thing lived in his words and
  thoughts。
  'When anything looks strange; you must look the deeper;' he would
  say。
  At the close of one of our fits of talk; he rose and went to the
  window。
  'Come here;' he said; after looking for a moment。
  All day a dropping cloud had filled the space below; so that the
  hills on the opposite side of the valley were hidden; and the whole
  of the sea; near as it was。  But when we went to the window we found
  that a great change had silently taken place。  The mist continued to
  veil the sky; and it clung to the tops of the hills; but; like the
  rising curtain of a stage; it had rolled half…way up from their
  bases; revealing a great part of the sea and shore; and half of a
  cliff on the opposite side of the valley: this; in itself of a deep
  red; was now smitten by the rays of the setting sun; and glowed over
  the waters a splendour of carmine。  As we gazed; the vaporous
  curtain sank upon the shore; and the sun sank under the waves; and
  the sad gray evening closed in the weeping night; and clouds and
  darkness swathed the weary earth。  For doubtless the earth needs its
  night as well as the creatures that live thereon。
  In the morning the rain had ceased; but the clouds remained。  But
  they were high in the heavens now; and; like a departing sorrow;
  revealed the outline and form which had appeared before as an
  enveloping vapour of universal and shapeless evil。  The mist was now
  far enough off to be seen and thought about。  It was clouds nowno
  longer mist and rain。  And I thought how at length the evils of the
  world would float away; and we should see what it was that made it
  so hard for us to believe and be at peace。
  In the afternoon the sky had partially cleared; but clouds hid the
  sun as he sank towards the west。  We walked out。  A cold autumnal
  wind blew; not only from the twilight of the dying day; but from the
  twilight of the dying season。  A sorrowful hopeless wind it seemed;
  full of the odours of dead leavesthose memories of green woods;
  and of damp earththe bare graves of the flowers。  Would the summer
  ever come again?
  We were pacing in silence along a terraced walk which overhung the
  shore far below。  More here than from the hilltop we seemed to look
  immediately into space; not even a parapet intervening betwixt us
  and the ocean。  The sound of a mournful lyric; never yet sung; was
  in my brain; it drew nearer to my mental grasp; but ere it alighted;
  its wings were gone; and it fell dead on my consciousness。  Its
  meaning was this: 'Welcome; Requiem of Nature。  Let me share in thy
  Requiescat。  Blow; wind of mournful memories。  Let us moan together。
  No one taketh from us the joy of our sorrow。  We may mourn as we
  will。'
  But while I brooded thus; behold a wonder!  The mass about the
  sinking sun broke up; and drifted away in cloudy bergs; as if
  scattered on the diverging currents of solar radiance that burst
  from the gates of the west; and streamed east and north and south
  over the heavens and over the sea。  To the north; these masses built
  a cloudy bridge across the sky from horizon to horizon; and beneath
  it shone the rosy…sailed ships floating stately through their
  triumphal arch up the channel to their home。  Other clouds floated
  stately too in the upper sea over our heads; with dense forms;
  thinning into vaporous edges。  Some were of a dull angry red; some
  of as exquisite a primrose hue as ever the flower itself bore on its
  bosom; and betwixt their edges beamed out the sweetest; purest; most
  melting; most transparent blue; the heavenly blue which is the
  symbol of the spirit as red is of the heart。  I think I never saw a
  blue to satisfy me before。  Some of these clouds threw shadows of
  many…shaded purple upon the green sea; and from one of the shadows;
  so dark and so far out upon the glooming horizon that it looked like
  an island; arose as from a pier; a wondrous structure of dim; fairy
  colours; a multitude of rainbow…ends; side by side; that would have
  spanned the heavens with a gorgeous arch; but failed from the very
  grandeur of the idea; and grew up only a few degrees against the
  clouded west。  I stood rapt。  The two Falconers were at some
  distance before me; walking arm in arm。  They stood and gazed
  likewise。  It was as if God had said to the heavens and the earth
  and the chord of the seven colours; 'Comfort ye; comfort ye my
  people。'  And I said to my soul; 'Let the tempest rave in the world;
  let sorrow wail like a sea…bird in the midst thereof; and let thy
  heart respond to her shivering cry; but the vault of heaven encloses
  the tempest and the shrieking bird and the echoing heart; and the
  sun of God's countenance can with one glance from above change the
  wildest winter day into a summer evening compact of poets' dreams。'
  My companions were walking up over the hill。  I could see that
  Falconer was earnestly speaking in his father's ear。  The old man's
  head was bent towards the earth。  I kept away。  They made a turn
  from home。  I still follo