英國語文第六冊(雙語):戰(zhàn)爭是什么?(2)
Speaking here, however, to such an audience—an audience probably, for its numbers, as intelligent and as influential as ever was assembled within the walls of any hall in this kingdom—I think I may put before you higher considerations even than those of property and the institutions of your country. I may remind you of duties more solemn, and of obligations more imperative. You profess to be a Christian nation. You make it your boast even—though boasting is somewhat out of place in such questions—you make it your boast that you are a Christian people, and that you draw your rule of doctrine and practice, as from a well pure and undefiled, from the lively oracles of God, and from the direct revelation of the Omnipotent. You have even conceived the magnificent project of illuminating the whole Earth, even to its remotest and darkest recesses, by the dissemination of the volume of the New Testament, in whose every page are written for ever the words of peace. Within the limits of this island alone, every Sabbath-day, 20,000, yes, far more than 20,000 temples are thrown open, in which devout men and women assemble to worship him who is the "Prince of Peace."
然而，說到這里，面對這樣一個聽眾(或許是一個觀眾)，他和曾經(jīng)在這個王國的任何大廳里聚集過的人一樣聰慧且有影響力。我想我可以在你面前提出甚至比你國家的財產(chǎn)和制度更高層次的考慮，我可以使你想起自己更莊嚴的責任，更迫切的義務(wù)。你們自稱是基督教國家，你們讓它成為夸耀的資本，即使在這種問題上夸耀有點不合時宜，你們夸耀自己是基督徒，夸耀自己已經(jīng)從純潔無瑕的井中、從生動活潑的神諭中、從全能的直接啟示中找到了教義和實踐法則。你甚至設(shè)想了一項宏偉的計劃，即通過傳播每一頁都寫著和平話語的《新約》來照亮整個地球，甚至照亮它最遙遠、最黑暗的深處。僅僅在這座島上，每一個安息日，共20000個，沒錯，共20000多座寺廟開放，供虔誠的男男女女聚集在一起敬拜這位“和平之王”。
Is this a reality? or is your Christianity a romance, and your profession a dream? No; I am sure that your Christianity is not a romance, and I am equally sure that your profession is not a dream. It is because I believe this that I appeal to you with confidence, and that I have hope and faith in the future. I believe that we shall see, and at no very distant time, sound economic principles spreading much more widely amongst the people; a sense of justice growing up in a soil which hitherto has been deemed unfruitful; and—which will be better than all—the churches of the United Kingdom, the churches of Britain, awaking as it were from their slumbers, and girding up their loins to more glorious work, when they shall not only accept and believe in the prophecy, but labour earnestly for its fulfilment, that there shall come a time—a blessed time—a time which shall last for ever—when "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
這是現(xiàn)實嗎？或者你的基督教是一種浪漫？或者你的入教是一場夢？不，我很確定你的基督教不是一種浪漫，同樣，我也確定你的入教不是一場夢。正因為我相信這一點，我才充滿信心地向你們呼吁我對未來充滿希望和信心。我相信，在不久的將來，健全的經(jīng)濟原則將在人們中間廣泛傳播；正義感將在一塊至今仍被貧瘠的土地上生長；并且，它們會比大不列顛聯(lián)合王國、比英國所有的教堂都要好，他們好像從沉睡中醒來，束緊腰帶準備做更榮耀的工作。當他們不僅接受和相信預(yù)言，而且為實現(xiàn)這個預(yù)言而認真勞作之時，總有這樣一天會到來，即幸福之時，永遠的幸福之時。到那時，“一國不會舉刀攻擊他國，各國也不再學習戰(zhàn)事?！?/p>
