If you have not already felt it, you will assuredly feel, that your lot is cast in a world which longs for nothing so much as to succeed in shaking off all belief in anything which cannot be tested by the senses, and
gauged1 and measured by the intellect, as the trappings[109] of a worn-out
superstition2. Men have been trying, so runs the new gospel, to live by faith, and not by sight, ever since there is any record at all of their lives; and so they have had to manufacture for themselves the faiths they were to live by. What is called the life of the soul or spirit, and the life of the understanding, have been in conflict all this time, and the one has always been gaining on the other. Stronghold after stronghold has fallen till it is clear almost to
demonstration3 that there will soon be no place left for that which was once deemed all-powerful. The spiritual life can no longer be led honestly. Man has no knowledge of the invisible on which he can build. Let him own the truth and turn to that upon which he can build safely—the world of matter, his knowledge of which is always growing; and be content with the things he can see and taste and handle. Those who are telling you still in this time that your life can and ought to be lived in daily communion with the unseen—that so only you can loyally control the visible—are either
wilfully4 deceiving you or are dreamers and visionaries.
So the high priests of the new gospel teach, and their teaching echoes through our literature, and colors the life of the streets and markets in a thousand ways; and a mammon-ridden generation,
longing5 to be rid of what they hope are only certain old and clumsy superstitions—which they try to believe injurious to others, and are quite sure make them uneasy in their own efforts to[110] eat, drink, and be merry—applauds as openly as it dare, and hopes soon to see the
millennium6 of the flesh-pots publicly declared and recognized.
Against which, wherever you may encounter them, that you may be ready and able to stand fast, is the hope and prayer of many anxious hearts; in a time, charged on every side with signs of the passing away of old things, such as have not been seen above the horizon in Christendom since Luther nailed his protest on the church-door of a German village.
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收听单词发音
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1
gauged
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| adj.校准的；标准的；量规的；量计的v.（用仪器）测量( gauge的过去式和过去分词 )；估计；计量；划分 |
参考例句： |
- He picked up the calipers and gauged carefully. 他拿起卡钳仔细测量。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- Distance is gauged by journey time rather than miles. 距离以行程时间而非英里数来计算。 来自辞典例句
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2
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 |
参考例句： |
- It's a common superstition that black cats are unlucky.认为黑猫不吉祥是一种很普遍的迷信。
- Superstition results from ignorance.迷信产生于无知。
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3
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 |
参考例句： |
- His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
- He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。
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4
wilfully
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| adv.任性固执地；蓄意地 |
参考例句： |
- Don't wilfully cling to your reckless course. 不要一意孤行。 来自辞典例句
- These missionaries even wilfully extended the extraterritoriality to Chinese converts and interfered in Chinese judicial authority. 这些传教士还肆意将"治外法权"延伸至中国信徒，干涉司法。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
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5
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 |
参考例句： |
- Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
- His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。
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6
millennium
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| n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世 |
参考例句： |
- The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
- We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。
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