天路历程 The Pilgrim's Progress | 十一、基督徒和忠信（2）

十一、基督徒和忠信（2）

FAITH. Yes, I met with one Discontent, who would willingly have persuaded me to go back again with him; his reason was, for that the valley was altogether without honour. He told me, moreover, that there to go was the way to disobey all my friends, as Pride, Arrogancy, Self-conceit, Worldly-glory, with others, who he knew, as he said, would be very much offended, if I made such a fool of myself as to wade through this valley.

忠信说：遇到的；我遇到一个叫做不知足的人，他很想劝我跟他一起回去，他的理由是：那山谷里根本就没有荣耀。他还对我说，到那儿去就是不听从我所有朋友的一种举动，因为要是我傻到如此地步，竟然拼命要走过这山谷，就像他说的，他知道骄傲、自大、自夸、虚荣以及别人都会非常生气的。

CHR. Well, and how did you answer him?

基督徒说：那么你怎么回答他的呢？

FAITH. I told him, that although all these that he named might claim kindred of me, and that rightly, for indeed they were my relations according to the flesh; yet since I became a pilgrim, they have disowned me, as I also have rejected them; and therefore they were to me now no more than if they had never been of my lineage.

忠信说；我对他说，虽然他所说的那些人都跟我认亲戚，而且他们那样做也没错（因为他们的确是我的骨肉至亲），但是自从我做了天路旅客，他们就不承认我，而且我也拒绝了他们，因此现在在我看来，他们跟我从来就不属于同一血统。

I told him, moreover, that as to this valley, he had quite misrepresented the thing; for before honour is humility, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Therefore, said I, I had rather go through this valley to the honour that was so accounted by the wisest, than choose that which he esteemed most worthy our affections.

我还告诉他，至于这个山谷，他完全把它误传了；因为“先谦卑，后荣耀”，“先骄傲，后跌倒（10）”。因此，我说，我情愿走过这山谷赢得最智慧的人所珍重的荣誉，我可不情愿选择他认为最值得我们喜爱的那些东西。

CHR. Met you with nothing else in that valley?

基督徒说：你在山谷里没有碰到别的事情吗？

FAITH. Yes, I met with Shame; but of all the men that I met with in my pilgrimage, he, I think, bears the wrong name. The others would be said nay, after a little argumentation, and somewhat else; but this bold-faced Shame would never have done.

忠信说：有的，我遇到知耻；不过我认为，我在旅途中碰到的所有人当中，要算他的名字跟他最不相称。其他的人经过一番辩论和别的什么情形以后，都会认错；可是这个厚脸皮的知耻却决不肯这样做。

CHR. Why, what did he say to you?

基督徒问：怎么，他对你说了些什么？

FAITH. What! why, he objected against religion itself; he said it was a pitiful, low, sneaking business for a man to mind religion; he said that a tender conscience was an unmanly thing; and that for a man to watch over his words and ways, so as to tie up himself from that hectoring liberty that the brave spirits of the times accustom themselves unto, would make him the ridicule of the times. He objected also, that but few of the mighty, rich, or wise, were ever of my opinion; nor any of them neither, before they were persuaded to be fools, and to be of a voluntary fondness, to venture the loss of all, for nobody knows what. He, moreover, objected the base andlow estate and condition of those that were chiefly the pilgrims of the times in which they lived: also their ignorance and want of understanding in all natural science. Yea, he did hold me to it at that rate also, about a great many more things than here I relate; as, that it was a shame to sit whining and mourning under a sermon, and a shame to come sighing and groaning home: that it was a shame to ask my neighbour forgiveness for petty faults, or to make restitution where I have taken from any. He said, also, that religion made a man grow strange to the great, because of a few vices, which he called by finer names; and made him own and respect the base, because of the same religious fraternity. And is not this, said he, a shame?

忠信说：说了些什么？他竟然反对宗教哩。他说，一个人信奉宗教是件凄惨、下流、卑鄙的事情。他说，一颗温柔的良心不是一个大丈夫所该有的东西；一个人对话语、行为要那样小心，以致使自己受到种种的束缚，不能像历代的英雄豪杰所习惯的那样为所欲为，这样做准会使他贻笑万世。他还说，过去也只有少数有权势、有钱或者聪明的人有跟我同样的见解；而且在他们还没有成为傻瓜的时候，他们中间没有一个人会愿意为了一个不明不白的目的而不顾一切地去冒险。此外，他主要是反对那个时代的朝圣者们的底层、低微生活条件：也反对他们对所有自然科学的无知和缺乏理解。是的，他也以这样的速度把我牵扯进来，比我在这里所涉及的事情要多得多；例如，在布道下坐着哀叹和哀悼是一种耻辱，在家里叹息和呻吟是一种耻辱；要求邻居原谅我的小过失，或者在我从任何地方得到补偿的地方，都是一种耻辱。他还说，宗教使一个人对伟大的人变得陌生，因为他有几个恶行，他用更好的名字称呼他，并使他拥有和尊重基地，因为同样的宗教兄弟会。“难道这不是一个耻辱吗？”他说。

CHR. And what did you say to him?

基督徒问：怎么，你对他说了些什么？

FAITH. Say! I could not tell what to say at the first. Yea, he put me so to it, that my blood came up in my face; even this Shame fetched it up, and had almost beat me quite off. But at last I began to consider, that "that which is highly esteemed among men, is had in abomination with God." And I thought again, this Shame tells me what men are; but it tells me nothing what God or the Word of God is. And I thought, moreover, that at the day of doom, we shall not be doomed to death or life according to the hectoring spirits of the world, but according to the wisdom and law of the Highest. Therefore, thought I, what God says is best, indeed is best, though all the men in the world are against it. Seeing, then, that God prefers his religion; seeing God prefers a tender conscience; seeing they that make themselves fools for the kingdom of heaven are wisest; and that the poor man that loveth Christ is richer than the greatest man in the world that hates him; Shame, depart, thou art an enemy to my salvation! Shall I entertain thee against my sovereign Lord? How then shall I look him in the face at his coming? Should I now be ashamed of his ways and servants, how can I expect the blessing? But, indeed, this Shame was a bold villain; I could scarce shake him out of my company; yea, he would be haunting of me, and continually whispering me in the ear, with some one or other of the infirmities that attend religion; but at last I told him it was but in vain to attempt further in this business; for those things that he disdained, in those did I see most glory; and so at last I got past this importunate one. And when I had shaken him off, then I began to sing--

忠信说：说什么？开头我不知道说什么好。不但如此，他使我非常为难，我的脸都涨红了；就是这个知耻使我这样，他几乎弄得我完全答不上话来了。但是最后我渐渐想到，人所尊贵的是上帝认为可憎恶的。我又想，这个知耻告诉我人类是怎么样的；他不告诉我上帝或者他的道怎么样。并且我想，在施行最后的审判那天，我们不是按照世界上那帮虚张声势的幽灵的意思，而是按照上帝的智慧和法律来定生死之罪。因此我想，上帝说的话是至善无比的，尽管全世界的人都反对它。上帝是爱他的教会的；上帝是欢喜温柔的良心的；那些为了天国而当了傻瓜的人是最聪明的（11），并且一个爱基督的可怜虫比一个恨基督的大人物更富有；因此我说，知耻，走开吧，你是我得救的阻碍！难道我会反对我至高的主来接待你吗？那样，在他来的那一天，我有什么脸面看他呢？要是我现在把他的道和他的仆人当作可耻的。但是，的确，这个耻辱是一个大胆的恶棍，我可以把他从我的生命里赶走，是的，他会缠着我，不断地在我耳边耳语，说出一些信奉宗教的问题，但最后我告诉他，在这件事上做进一步的尝试是徒劳的，因为那些他鄙视的事情，在那些确实是最光荣的事情上；所以，最后，我告诉他，在他所鄙视的那些事情上，我是最光荣的。我逃过了这个难缠的人，当我把他甩了之后，我开始唱歌-

The trials that those men do meet withal,

That are obedient to the heavenly call,

Are manifold, and suited to the flesh,

And come, and come, and come again afresh;

That now, or sometime else, we by them may

Be taken, overcome, and cast away.

Oh, let the pilgrims, let the pilgrims, then

Be vigilant, and quit themselves like men.

那些人所遭遇的试验，都是顺从天命的呼召。是多方面的，适合肉体，来吧，来吧，再来一次；现在，或者别的时候，我们也许会被他们带走，克服，抛弃。哦，让朝圣者警惕起来，让朝圣者警惕起来，像勇士一样除掉自己不益。

CHR. I am glad, my brother, that thou didst withstand this villain so bravely; for of all, as thou sayest, I think he has the wrong name; for he is so bold as to follow us in the streets, and to attempt to put us to shame before all men: that is, to make us ashamed of that which is good; but if he was not himself audacious, he would never attempt to do as he does. But let us still resist him; for notwithstanding all his bravadoes, he promoteth the fool and none else. "The wise shall inherit glory, said Solomon, but shame shall be the promotion of fools."

基督徒说：好弟兄，你这样勇敢地抗拒这个坏蛋，我真高兴；就像你所说的，我认为在所有的人当中，他的名字最不恰当（12）；因为他敢于在街上跟随我们，要使我们在众人面前受辱；也就是说，要使我们以上好的事情为耻（13）。要不是他自己脸皮厚的话，他决不会作出他所做的事（14）。不过我们还是抗拒他吧；因为，尽管他百般夸耀，他提升的是愚昧人，只是愚昧人。“智慧人必承受尊荣，”所罗门说：“愚昧人高升也成为羞辱（15）。

FAITH. I think we must cry to Him for help against Shame, who would have us to be valiant for the truth upon the earth.”

忠信说：我认为我们得求他来帮我们抵御知耻，他要我们在世上为真理奋勇斗争。

CHR. You say true; but did you meet nobody else in that valley?

基督徒说：你说得对；可是你在山谷里没碰到别人吗？

FAITH. No, not I; for I had sunshine all the rest of the way through that, and also through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

忠信说：没有，我没有；因为在后来的旅程中，并且在我走过死荫谷的时候，一路上天气都是晴朗的。

CHR. It was well for you. I am sure it fared far otherwise with me; I had for a long season, as soon almost as I entered into that valley, a dreadful combat with that foul fiend Apollyon; yea, I thought verily he would have killed me, especially when he got me down and crushed me under him, as if he would have crushed me to pieces; for as he threw me, my sword flew out of my hand; nay, he told me he was sure of me: but I cried to God, and he heard me, and delivered me out of all my troubles. Then I entered into the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and had no light for almost half the way through it. I thought I should have been killed there, over and over; but at last day broke, and the sun rose, and I went through that which was behind with far more ease and quiet.

基督徒说：那对你很好；我可倒霉呢。一走进屈辱谷，我就跟那个可憎的仇敌魔王恶斗了好长一段时间；是的，我真以为他会把我杀死哩，尤其是当他把我按在地上，把我压在下面，好像要把我压得粉碎的时候；因为他把我摔倒，我的剑从手里飞出去——他还对我说，我已经在他的手掌里了；可是我求告上帝，他听见了我，把我从灾难中救出来。然后我走进死荫谷，在那儿几乎有一半的路程是在一片乌漆麻黑中摸索前进的。我屡次以为自己会死在山谷里；可是终于天亮了，太阳出来了。在以后的路上，我就觉得容易走得多，心里也安宁多了——

10《旧约全书·箴言》第16章第18节：骄傲在败坏以先，狂心在跌倒之前。

11《新约全书·哥林多前书》第1章第26节：弟兄们哪，可见你们蒙召的，按着肉体有智慧的不多，有能力的不多，有尊贵的也不多。

《新约全书·哥林多前书》第3章第18节：人不可自欺。你们中间若有人在这世界自以为有智慧，倒不如变作愚拙，好成为有智慧的。

12《新约全书·约翰福音》第7章第48节：官长或是法利赛人岂有信他的呢？

《新约全书·腓立比书》第3章第7、8节：只是我先前以为与我有益的，我现在因基督都当作有损的。不但如此，我也将万事当作有损的，因我以认识我主基督耶稣为至宝。我为他已经丢弃万事，看作粪土，为要得着基督。

13《新约全书·路加福音》第16章第15节：耶稣对他们说：“你们是在人面前自称为义的，你们的心，神却知道；因为人所尊贵的，是神看为可憎恶的。”

14《新约全书·马可福音》第8章第38节：凡在这淫乱罪恶的世代，把我和我的道当作可耻的，人子在他父的荣耀里，同圣天使降临的时候，也要把那人当作可耻的。

15《旧约全书·箴言》第3章第35节。