《latter-day pamphlets》

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latter-day pamphlets- 第14部分


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is all untrue; this other; contrary to the fact; not a tatter of it will hang together in the wind and weather of fact。  In brotherhood with the base and foolish I; for one; do not mean to live。  Not in brotherhood with them was life hitherto worth much to me; in pity; in hope not yet quite swallowed of disgust;otherwise in enmity that must last through eternity; in unappeasable aversion shall I have to live with these!  Brotherhood? No; be the thought far from me。  They are Adam's children;alas yes; I well remember that; and never shall forget it; hence this rage and sorrow。 But they have gone over to the dragons; they have quitted the Father's house; and set up with the Old Serpent:  till they return; how can they be brothers?  They are enemies; deadly to themselves and to me and to you; till then; till then; while hope yet lasts; I will treat them as brothers fallen insane;when hope has ended; with tears grown sacred and wrath grown sacred; I will cut them off in the name of God!  It is at my peril if I do not。  With the servant of Satan I dare not continue in partnership。 Him I must put away; resolutely and forever; 〃lest;〃 as it is written; 〃I become partaker of his plagues。〃

Beautiful Black Peasantry; who have fallen idle and have got the Devil at your elbow; interesting White Felonry; who are not idle; but have enlisted into the Devil's regiments of the line;know that my benevolence for you is comparatively trifling!  What I have of that divine feeling is due to others; not to you。  A 〃universal Sluggard…and…Scoundrel Protection Society〃 is not the one I mean to institute in these times; where so much wants protection; and is sinking to sad issues for want of it!  The scoundrel needs no protection。  The scoundrel that will hasten to the gallows; why not rather clear the way for him!  Better he reach _his_ goal and outgate by the natural proclivity; than be so expensively dammed up and detained; poisoning everything as he stagnates and meanders along; to arrive at last a hundred times fouler; and swollen a hundred times bigger! Benevolent men should reflect on this。And you Quashee; my pumpkin;(not a bad fellow either; this poor Quashee; when tolerably guided!)idle Quashee; I say you must get the Devil _sent away_ from your elbow; my poor dark friend!  In this world there will be no existence for you otherwise。 No; not as the brother of your folly will I live beside you。  Please to withdraw out of my way; if I am not to contradict your folly; and amend it; and put it in the stocks if it will not amend。  By the Eternal Maker; it is on that footing alone that you and I can live together!  And if you had respectable traditions dated from beyond Magna Charta; or from beyond the Deluge; to the contrary; and written sheepskins that would thatch the face of the world;behold I; for one individual; do not believe said respectable traditions; nor regard said written sheepskins except as things which _you_; till you grow wiser; will believe。  Adieu; Quashee; I will wish you better guidance than you have had of late。

On the whole; what a reflection is it that we cannot bestow on an unworthy man any particle of our benevolence; our patronage; or whatever resource is ours;without withdrawing it; it and all that will grow of it; from one worthy; to whom it of right belongs!  We cannot; I say; impossible; it is the eternal law of things。  Incompetent Duncan M'Pastehorn; the hapless incompetent mortal to whom I give the cobbling of my boots;and cannot find in my heart to refuse it; the poor drunken wretch having a wife and ten children; he _withdraws_ the job from sober; plainly competent; and meritorious Mr。 Sparrowbill; generally short of work too; discourages Sparrowbill; teaches him that he too may as well drink and loiter and bungle; that this is not a scene for merit and demerit at all; but for dupery; and whining flattery; and incompetent cobbling of every description;clearly tending to the ruin of poor Sparrowbill!  What harm had Sparrowbill done me that I should so help to ruin him?  And I couldn't save the insalvable M'Pastehorn; I merely yielded him; for insufficient work; here and there a half…crown;which he oftenest drank。  And now Sparrowbill also is drinking!

Justice; Justice:  woe betides us everywhere when; for this reason or for that; we fail to do justice!  No beneficence; benevolence; or other virtuous contribution will make good the want。  And in what a rate of terrible geometrical progression; far beyond our poor computation; any act of Injustice once done by us grows; rooting itself ever anew; spreading ever anew; like a banyan…tree;blasting all life under it; for it is a poison…tree!  There is but one thing needed for the world; but that one is indispensable。  Justice; Justice; in the name of Heaven; give us Justice; and we live; give us only counterfeits of it; or succedanea for it; and we die!


Oh; this universal syllabub of philanthropic twaddle!  My friend; it is very sad; now when Christianity is as good as extinct in all hearts; to meet this ghastly…Phantasm of Christianity parading through almost all。  〃I will clean your foul thoroughfares; and make your Devil's…cloaca of a world into a garden of Heaven;〃 jabbers this Phantasm; itself a phosphorescence and unclean!  The worst; it is written; comes from corruption of the best:Semitic forms now lying putrescent; dead and still unburied; this phosphorescence rises。  I say sometimes; such a blockhead Idol; and miserable _White_ Mumbo…jumbo; fashioned out of deciduous sticks and cast clothes; out of extinct cants and modern sentimentalisms; as that which they sing litanies to at Exeter Hall and extensively elsewhere; was perhaps never set up by human folly before。  Unhappy creatures; that is not the Maker of the Universe; not that; look one moment at the Universe; and see! That is a paltry Phantasm; engendered in your own sick brain; whoever follows that as a Reality will fall into the ditch。

Reform; reform; all men see and feel; is imperatively needed。  Reform must either be got; and speedily; or else we die:  and nearly all the men that speak; instruct us; saying; 〃Have you quite done your interesting Negroes in the Sugar Islands?  Rush to the Jails; then; O ye reformers; snatch up the interesting scoundrel…population there; to them be nursing…fathers and nursing…mothers。  And oh; wash; and dress; and teach; and recover to the service of Heaven these poor lost souls:  so; we assure you; will society attain the needful reform; and life be still possible in this world。〃  Thus sing the oracles everywhere; nearly all the men that speak; though we doubt not; there are; as usual; immense majorities consciously or unconsciously wiser who hold their tongue。  But except this of whitewashing the scoundrel…population; one sees little 〃reform〃 going on。  There is perhaps some endeavor to do a little scavengering; and; as the all…including point; to cheapen the terrible cost of Government:  but neither of these enterprises makes progress; owing to impediments。

〃Whitewash your scoundrel…population; sweep out your abominable gutters (if not in the name of God; ye brutish slatterns; then in the name of Cholera and the Royal College of Surgeons):  do these two things;and observe; much cheaper if you please!〃Well; here surely is an Evangel of Freedom; and real Program of a new Era。  What surliest misanthrope would not find this world lovely; were these things done:  scoundrels whitewashed; some degree of scavengering upon the gutters; and at a cheap rate; thirdly? That surely is an occasion on which; if ever on any; the Genius of Reform may pipe all hands!Poor old Genius of Reform; bedrid this good while; with little but broken ballot…boxes; and tattered stripes of Benthamee Constitutions lying round him; and on the walls mere shadows of clothing…colonels; rates…in…aid; poor…law unions; defunct potato and the Irish difficulty;he does not seem long for this world; piping to that effect?


Not the least disgusting feature of this Gospel according to the Platform is its reference to religion; and even to the Christian Religion; as an authority and mandate for what it does。  Christian Religion?  Does the Christian or any religion prescribe love of scoundrels; then?  I hope it prescribes a healthy hatred of scoundrels;otherwise what am I; in Heaven's name; to make of it?  Me; for one; it will not serve as a religion on those strange terms。  Just hatred of scoundrels; I say; fixed; irreconcilable; inexorable enmity to the enemies of God:  this; and not love for them; and incessant whitewashing; and dressing and cockering of them; must; if you look into it; be the backbone of any human religion whatsoever。  Christian Religion!  In what words can I address you; ye unfortunates; sunk in the slushy ooze till the worship of mud…serpents; and unutterable Pythons and poisonous slimy monstrosities; seems to you the worship of God?  This is the rotten carcass of Christianity; this mal…odorous phosphorescence of post…mortem sentimentalism。  O Heavens; from the Christianity of Oliver Cromwell; wrestling in grim fight with Satan and his incarnate Blackguardisms; Hypocrisies; Injustices; and legion of human and infernal angels; to that of eloquent Mr。 Hesperus Fiddlestring denouncing capital punishments; and inculcating the benevolence on platforms; what a road have we travelled!

A foolish stump…orator; perorating on his platform mere benevolences; seems a pleasant object to many persons; a harmless or insignificant one to almost all。  Look at him; however; scan him till you discern the nature of him; he is not pleasant; but ugly and perilous。  That beautiful speech of his takes captive every long ear; and kindles into quasi…sacred enthusiasm the minds of not a few; but it is quite in the teeth of the everlasting facts of this Universe; and will come only to mischief for every party concerned。  Consider that little spouting wretch。  Within the paltry skin of him; it is too probable; he holds few human virtues; beyond those essential for digesting victual:  envious; cowardly; vain; splenetic hungry soul; what heroism; in word or thought or action; will you ever get from the like of him?  He; in his necessity; has taken into the benevolent line; warms the cold vacuity of his inner man to so
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