But before we proceed to criticise16 Dr. Farrar's position, let us glance at his attack upon the literalists. He charges them with having opposed and persecuted17 every modern science, and with having manufactured the most absurd scientific theories from the text of the Bible; the said theories being not only ludicrous, but irreconcilably18 opposed to each other. Lactantius, with the Bible in his hand, ridiculed19 the rotundity of the earth. Roger Bacon and Galileo were imprisoned20 and tortured for teaching true science instead of the false science of the Church. John Wesley declared the Copernican astronomy to be in opposition21 to Scripture. Thomas Burnet's "Sacred Theory of the Earth," founded upon the Bible, was assailed22 by William Whiston, who based a different "Sacred Theory" upon the very same book. Buffon, the great French scientist, was compelled by the Sorbonne to recant, and to abandon everything in his writings that was "contrary to the narrative23 of Moses." Even when God (that is to say Dr. Simpson) gave to the world the priceless boon24 of anaesthetics, there were many Biblicists who declared that the use of chloroform in cases of painful confinement25 was flying in the face of God's curse upon the daughters of Eve. Catholic and Protestant have alike pitted the Bible against Science, and both have been ignominiously26 beaten.
But this is not all. The theologians have been disgraced as well as defeated. With respect to the Buffon case, for instance, Dr. Farrar writes as follows:—
"The line now taken by apologists is very different from that of previous centuries, and less honest. It declares that Genesis and geology are in exact accord. It no longer refuses to believe the facts of nature, but instead of this it boldly sophisticates the facts of Scripture."
John Stuart Mill said that every new truth passes through three phases of reception. At first, it is declared to be false and dangerous; secondly27, it is discovered that there is something to be said for it; lastly, its opponents turn round and declare "we said so all along." Dr. Farrar dots all the "i's" in Mill's statement. He asserts that "religious teachers" first say of every scientific discovery, "It is blasphemous28 and contrary to Scripture." Next they say, "There is nothing in Scripture which absolutely contradicts it." Finally they say, "It is distinctly revealed in Scripture itself."
Dr. Farrar puts the historic case against "orthodoxy"—which, of course, is not Christianity!—in the following fashion:—
"The history of most modern sciences has been as follows. Its discoverers have been proscribed29, anathematised, and, in every possible instance, silenced or persecuted; yet before a generation has passed the champions of a spurious orthodoxy have had to confess that their interpretations30 were erroneous; and—for the most part without an apology and without a blush—have complacently31 invented some new line of exposition by which the phrases of Scripture can be squared into semblable accordance with the now acknowledged facts."
Even in the comparatively recent case of Darwin this was perfectly32 true. Dr. Farrar, who preached Darwin's funeral sermon in Westminster Abbey, says that he "endured the fury of pulpits and Church Congresses." He did so with quiet dignity; not an angry word escaped him. Yet before Darwin's death not only was the scientific world converted, but leading theologians said that, if Darwinism were proved to be true, there was "nothing in it contrary to the creeds33 of the Catholic faith."
Darwin never answered the clergy34. He had better work to do. All he did was to smile at them. In one of his letters he said that when the men of science are agreed about anything all the clergy have to do is to say ditto. He understood that when science is victorious35 it will always have clerical patronage36. Had he been able to do it, he would have smiled, in that beautiful benevolent37 way of his, at Dr. Farrar's funeral sermon. The worthy38 Dean thought they had got Darwin at last; and the grand old philosopher might have said, "Why yes, my corpse39!"
So much for Dr. Farrar's impeachment40 of "orthodoxy" and its doctrine of plenary inspiration. Let us now examine his own position, and see whether it is logical as well as convenient.
Take the first chapter of Genesis. It is not a scientific revelation, though it seems to be. Whoever wrote it had only the science of his time. Nevertheless, it is of "transcendent value," according to Dr. Farrar. "Its true and deep object," he says, "was to set right an erring41 world in the supremely42 important knowledge that there was one God and Father of us all, the Creator of heaven and earth, a God who saw all things which he has made, and pronounced them to be very good."
This is very pretty in its way; but how absurd it is in the light of the fact that the Hebrew creation story is all borrowed! While the Jews were desert nomads43, long before the concoction44 of their sacred scriptures the doctrine of a Creator of heaven and earth was known in India and in Egypt, not to recite a list of other nations. If this is all the first chapter of Genesis teaches, we may well exclaim, "Thank you for nothing!" It is a curious "revelation" which only discloses what is familiar. Had the Bible never been written, had the Jews never existed, the "true and deep object" of the first chapter of Genesis would have been quite as well subserved. Wherever the Christian missionaries45 have gone they have found the creation story in front of them. Wherever they took it they were carrying coals to Newcastle.
We venture to suggest that if Dr. Farrar thinks that all things God has made are very good, there are many persons who do not share his opinion. It would be idle to read that text to a sailor pursued by a shark. We could multiply this instance a thousandfold; but why give a list of all the predatory and parasitical46 creatures on this planet, from human tyrants47 and despoilers down to cholera48 microbes? Dr. Farrar may reply that everything ends in mystery, that we must have faith, that it is our interest as well as our duty to believe. But that is exactly what the Catholic Church says, and Dr. Farrar laughs it to scorn. The truth is, that all theology is ultimately a matter of faith; and the quarrel about more or less is a domestic difference. The greater difference is between Faith and Reason. This was clearly seen by Cardinal49 Newman, who pointed50 out that every mystery of the Roman Catholic faith is matched by a mystery in Protestant theology.
Finally, we have to remark that Dr. Farrar overlooks a very important point in this controversy51. Having argued that the Bible was not intended to teach science, and has not in fact helped the world to a single scientific discovery; having also admitted that the Bible has all along been used to hinder the progress of natural knowledge, and to justify52 the persecution53 of honest investigators54; he seems to imagine that there is no more to be said. But there is much more to be said. We forbear to press the objection that Omniscience55 was very curiously56 employed in entangling57 a religious revelation with scientific blunders, which would necessarily retard58 the progress of scientific truth, and therefore of human civilisation59. What we wish to emphasise60 is less open to the retort that Omniscience is beyond our finite judgment61. We desire to urge that the Bible is not simply non-scientific. It is anti-scientific. Let us take, for instance, the story of the creation and fall of man. Even if it be not taken literally62, but allegorically, it is thoroughly63 antagonistic64 to the teachings of Evolution. At the very least it implies that man is something special and unique, whereas he is included in the general scheme of biology, and is but "the paragon65 of animals." Get rid of the actual garden and the actual tree of knowledge, as Dr. Farrar does, and there still remains66 the fact that the fall of man is a falsehood, and the ascent67 of man a verity68. The allegory does not correspond to the essential truth of man's history; and in spite of all the flattering rhetoric69 with which Dr. Farrar invests it—a rhetoric so inharmonious with its own consummate70 simplicity—there is something inexpressibly childish to the modern mind in the awful heinousness71 which is attributed to the mere eating of forbidden fruit. An act is really not vicious because it is prohibited, or virtuous72 because it conforms to the dictates73 of authority. When man attains74 to intellectual maturity75 he smiles at the ethical76 trick which was played upon his youthful ignorance. It is not sufficient to tell him that he must do this, and must not do that. He requires a reason. His intelligence must go hand in hand with his emotions. It is this union, indeed, which constitutes what we call conscience.
The truth is that the Bible is steeped in superstition77 and supernaturalism. Its cosmogony, its conception of man's origin and position in the universe, its infantile legends, its miracles and magic, its theory of madness and disease, its doctrine of the external efficacy of prayer, its idea that man's words and wishes avail to change the sweep of universal forces and the operation of their immutable78 laws: all this is in direct opposition to the letter and spirit of Science. The special pleading of clergymen like Dr. Farrar may afford a temporary relief to trembling Christians79, and keep them for a further term in the fold of faith; but it will never make the slightest impression upon sceptics, unless it fills them with contemptuous pity for a number of clever men who are obliged, for personal reasons, to practise the lowest arts of sophistry80.

点击
收听单词发音

1
Christian
![]() |
|
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2
anonymous
![]() |
|
adj.无名的;匿名的;无特色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3
mischief
![]() |
|
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4
doctrine
![]() |
|
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5
mince
![]() |
|
n.切碎物;v.切碎,矫揉做作地说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6
dealing
![]() |
|
n.经商方法,待人态度 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7
notably
![]() |
|
adv.值得注意地,显著地,尤其地,特别地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8
perilous
![]() |
|
adj.危险的,冒险的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9
scripture
![]() |
|
n.经文,圣书,手稿;Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》,《圣经》中的一段 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10
scriptures
![]() |
|
经文,圣典( scripture的名词复数 ); 经典 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11
irreconcilable
![]() |
|
adj.(指人)难和解的,势不两立的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12
mere
![]() |
|
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13
imposing
![]() |
|
adj.使人难忘的,壮丽的,堂皇的,雄伟的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14
consolatory
![]() |
|
adj.慰问的,可藉慰的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15
platitude
![]() |
|
n.老生常谈,陈词滥调 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16
criticise
![]() |
|
v.批评,评论;非难 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17
persecuted
![]() |
|
(尤指宗教或政治信仰的)迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 ); 烦扰,困扰或骚扰某人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18
irreconcilably
![]() |
|
(观点、目标或争议)不可调和的,不相容的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19
ridiculed
![]() |
|
v.嘲笑,嘲弄,奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20
imprisoned
![]() |
|
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21
opposition
![]() |
|
n.反对,敌对 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22
assailed
![]() |
|
v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 );困扰;质问;毅然应对 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23
narrative
![]() |
|
n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24
boon
![]() |
|
n.恩赐,恩物,恩惠 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25
confinement
![]() |
|
n.幽禁,拘留,监禁;分娩;限制,局限 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26
ignominiously
![]() |
|
adv.耻辱地,屈辱地,丢脸地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27
secondly
![]() |
|
adv.第二,其次 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28
blasphemous
![]() |
|
adj.亵渎神明的,不敬神的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29
proscribed
![]() |
|
v.正式宣布(某事物)有危险或被禁止( proscribe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30
interpretations
![]() |
|
n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 );表演;演绎;理解 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31
complacently
![]() |
|
adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32
perfectly
![]() |
|
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33
creeds
![]() |
|
(尤指宗教)信条,教条( creed的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34
clergy
![]() |
|
n.[总称]牧师,神职人员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35
victorious
![]() |
|
adj.胜利的,得胜的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36
patronage
![]() |
|
n.赞助,支援,援助;光顾,捧场 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37
benevolent
![]() |
|
adj.仁慈的,乐善好施的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38
worthy
![]() |
|
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39
corpse
![]() |
|
n.尸体,死尸 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40
impeachment
![]() |
|
n.弹劾;控告;怀疑 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41
erring
![]() |
|
做错事的,错误的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42
supremely
![]() |
|
adv.无上地,崇高地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43
nomads
![]() |
|
n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 );流浪者;游牧生活;流浪生活 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44
concoction
![]() |
|
n.调配(物);谎言 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45
missionaries
![]() |
|
n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46
parasitical
![]() |
|
adj. 寄生的(符加的) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47
tyrants
![]() |
|
专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 ); 暴君似的人; (古希腊的)僭主; 严酷的事物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48
cholera
![]() |
|
n.霍乱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49
cardinal
![]() |
|
n.(天主教的)红衣主教;adj.首要的,基本的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50
pointed
![]() |
|
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51
controversy
![]() |
|
n.争论,辩论,争吵 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52
justify
![]() |
|
vt.证明…正当(或有理),为…辩护 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53
persecution
![]() |
|
n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54
investigators
![]() |
|
n.调查者,审查者( investigator的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55
omniscience
![]() |
|
n.全知,全知者,上帝 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56
curiously
![]() |
|
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57
entangling
![]() |
|
v.使某人(某物/自己)缠绕,纠缠于(某物中),使某人(自己)陷入(困难或复杂的环境中)( entangle的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58
retard
![]() |
|
n.阻止,延迟;vt.妨碍,延迟,使减速 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59
civilisation
![]() |
|
n.文明,文化,开化,教化 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60
emphasise
![]() |
|
vt.加强...的语气,强调,着重 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61
judgment
![]() |
|
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62
literally
![]() |
|
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63
thoroughly
![]() |
|
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64
antagonistic
![]() |
|
adj.敌对的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65
paragon
![]() |
|
n.模范,典型 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66
remains
![]() |
|
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
67
ascent
![]() |
|
n.(声望或地位)提高;上升,升高;登高 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
68
verity
![]() |
|
n.真实性 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
69
rhetoric
![]() |
|
n.修辞学,浮夸之言语 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
70
consummate
![]() |
|
adj.完美的;v.成婚;使完美 [反]baffle | |
参考例句: |
|
|
71
heinousness
![]() |
|
参考例句: |
|
|
72
virtuous
![]() |
|
adj.有品德的,善良的,贞洁的,有效力的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
73
dictates
![]() |
|
n.命令,规定,要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 );口授;支配;摆布 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
74
attains
![]() |
|
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的第三人称单数 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
75
maturity
![]() |
|
n.成熟;完成;(支票、债券等)到期 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
76
ethical
![]() |
|
adj.伦理的,道德的,合乎道德的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
77
superstition
![]() |
|
n.迷信,迷信行为 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
78
immutable
![]() |
|
adj.不可改变的,永恒的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
79
Christians
![]() |
|
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
80
sophistry
![]() |
|
n.诡辩 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |