弗朗西斯·培根是英國文藝復興時期最重要的散文家、哲學家。他不但在文學、哲學上多有建樹，在自然科學領域里，也取得了重大成就。他的第一部重要著作《隨筆》最初發(fā)表于1597年，以后又逐年增補。該書文筆言簡意賅、智睿奪目，它包含許多洞察秋毫的經(jīng)驗之談，其中不僅論及政治而且還探討許多人生哲理。下面學習啦小編為大家?guī)砼喔?jīng)典散文隨筆，希望大家喜歡!

　　培根經(jīng)典散文隨筆：論宗教一統(tǒng)

　　Religion being the chief band of human society, it is a happy thing, when itself is well contained within the true band of unity. The quarrels, and divisions about religion, were evils unknown to the heathen. The reason was, because the religion of the heathen consisted rather in rites and ceremonies than in any constant belief.

　　宗教既是人類社會底主要維系，那末要是它本身能居于統(tǒng)一底真正維系之中，自然是一件很好的事。關于宗教的爭執(zhí)和分裂是異教徒所沒有的惡事。原因是異教徒底宗教并無任何固定不移的信仰而只有儀式和典禮。

　　For you may imagine, what kind of faith theirs was, when the chief doctors, and fathers of their church, were the poets. But the true God haul this attribute, that he is a jealous God; and therefore, his worship and religion will endure no mixture, nor partner. We shall therefore speak a few words, concerning the unity of the church; what are the fruits thereof; what the bounds; and what means?The fruits of unity (next unto the well pleasing of God, which is all in all) are

　　two; me one, towards those that are without the church; the other, towards those that are within. For the former, it is certain, that heresies, and schisms are of all others the greatest scandals; yea more than corruption of manners. For as in the natural body, a wound or solution of continuity is worse than a corrupt humour, so in the spiritual. So that nothing, doth so much keep men out of the church, and drive men out of the church, as breach of unity: and therefore, whensoever it cometh to that pass, that one saith, ecce in deserto; another saith, ecce in penetralibus; that is, when some men seek Christ in the conventicles of heretics, and others in an outward face of a church, that voice had need continually to sound in men\'s ears, nolite exire, go not out. The doctor of the gentiles (the propriety of whose vocation drew him to have a special care of those without) saith: If an heathen come in and hear you speak with several tongues will he not say that you are mad? And certainly, it is lime better when atheists, and profane persons, do hear of so many discordant and contrary opinions in religion; it doth avert them from the church, and maketh them to sit down in the chair of the scorners. It is but a light thing, to be vouched in so serious a matter, but yet it expressed! well the deformity.

　　他們教會中底主要宗師和長老乃是詩人，從這個就可以想到他們底宗教是什么樣的一種宗教了。但是真正的上帝有這種性質(zhì)，就是他是個“忌邪的神”;因此他底崇奉和宗教便決不容有混雜和伴侶。所以我們想關于教會底統(tǒng)一說幾句話，所說的是其結果如何;其界限如何;其方法如何。統(tǒng)一底結果(僅次于得上帝底喜悅，而得上帝底喜悅是至善至美的)有二，一是對教會以外的人的，一是對教會以內(nèi)的人的。對于前者，無疑地異端和分裂是各種丑事之最丑者;真的，這兩樁事甚至比傷風敗俗還壞。因為，如同在肉體上創(chuàng)傷或割裂是比一時不良的體液為劣，在精神上亦復如此。所以再沒有比“統(tǒng)一底破壞”更能使在外者不入教堂，在內(nèi)者急欲出外的了。因此，到這種情形的時候——就是，有的人說“看哪，他在曠野之中”。又有人說：“看哪，他在密室之內(nèi)”。那就是說，有的人在異端的秘會里找尋基督，又有人在教堂的外表上找尋基督——在這種時候我們底耳中須常有那話——“不要出去”。那“外邦人底宗師”(他底使命底特性使他對于在教會以外的人特別地在意)曾說：“假如一個異教徒進來，聽見你們七嘴八舌地說話，他難道不要說你們是瘋了么?”再者，那無神論者和世俗之人聽見宗教之中有如許沖突矛盾的意見，他們底意見比上面所說的異教徒底意見必然好不了多少;這種情形使他們要離開教堂，去“坐在褻慢人底座位之上”

　　There is a master of scoffing, that in his catalogue of books, of a feigned library, sets down this title of a book: the moms dance of heretics. For indeed, every sect of them hath a diverse posture, or cringe by themselves, which cannot but move derision in worldlings, and depraved politics, who are apt to contemn holy things. As for the fruit towards those that are within; it is peace; which containe infinite blessings: it establisheth faith; it kindleth charity; the outward peace of the church distilleth into peace of conscience; and it turneth the labours of writing, and reading of controversies, into treaties of mortification, and devotion.Concerning the bounds of unity; the true placing of them importeth exceedingly.

　　有一位“褻慢底大師”在他底幻想的叢書中間列了這樣的一本書名：《異端派的摩爾舞》。這件事在這樣嚴重的問題中提出為證，似嫌不莊，然而它把那過失之處表現(xiàn)得很好。因為異端諸派真是各有其不同的態(tài)度和卑鄙模樣，這些態(tài)度不能不使世俗輕薄兒和下流的政客心生譏笑，這些人本來就是易于污蔑神圣的事物的。至于宗教統(tǒng)一對教中人的結果，那就是和平;和平是有無限的福祉的。和平樹立信仰。和平燃起仁心。教會底外觀上的和平純化而為內(nèi)心的和平。它并且把寫讀爭論文章的工夫移到寫讀懺悔和敬神的著作方面去。關于統(tǒng)一底界限，這種界限底真正位置是極重要的。

　　There appear to be two extremes. For to certain zealants all speech of pacification is odious. Is it peace, Jehu? What hast thou to do with peace? Turn thee behind me. Peace is not the matter, but following and party. Contrariwise, certain Laodiceans, and lukewarm persons, think they may accommodate points of religion by middle ways, and taking part of both; and witty reconcilements; as if they would make an arbitrement, between God and man. Both these extremes are to be avoided; which will be done, if the league of Christians, penned by our saviour himself, were in the two cross clauses thereof soundly and plainly expounded; he that is not with us, is against us; and again, he that is not against us is with us: that is, if the points fundamental and of substance in religion were truly discerned and distinguished from points not merely of faith, but of opinion, order, or good intention.

　　在這個問題上好象有兩個極端。在某種激烈派看來，所有的調(diào)和的話都是可恨的。“耶戶，是和平么?你與和平有什么相干?你轉(zhuǎn)到我后面罷”這一派人是不問和平但問黨派的。反之，某種老底嘉派的人和不冷不熱的人們以為他們可以把宗教上的問題用不南不北，亦南亦北的手段和巧妙的調(diào)和來遷就解決;好象他們要在上帝與人類之間公斷似的。這兩種極端都是應當避免的;避之之道就在以基督自己為_手訂的盟約中那兩條相反相成的條文切實并清楚地解釋那盟約。這兩條條文就是“不幫助我們的就是反對我們的”和“不反對我們的就是幫助我們的”。所謂以這兩條條文解釋基督底盟約者，就是說，要把宗教中基礎的實際的要點同那些并不純粹屬于信仰的而是關于意見、教派、居心的問題的要點真實地辨別與分開也。

　　This is a thing may seem to many a matter trivial, and done already: but if it were done less partially, it would be embraced more generally. Of this I may give only this advice, according to my small model. Men ought to take heed, of rending God\'s church, by two kinds of controversies. The one is, when the matter of me point controverted is too small and light, not worth the heat and strife about it, kindled only by contradiction. For, as it is noted by one of the fathers;\'Christ\'s coat, indeed, had no seam: but the church\'s vesture was of divers colours;\' whereupon he saith, in veste varietas sit, scissura non sit; they be two things, unity, and uniformity. The other is, when the matter of the point controverted is great, but it is driven to an over-great subtlety, and obscurity; so that it becometh a thing, rather ingenious, then substantial.

　　這在許多人看起來也許是件小事，并且是已經(jīng)做到了的。但是這件事要是做的時候黨派之見少些，那末擁護它的人就要更為普遍了。關于這個我只可以小規(guī)模地貢獻這點意見。人們應該注意，勿以兩種爭論分裂上帝底教會。一種是當所爭之點過于微細，不值得那熱烈與爭執(zhí)，這些熱烈與爭執(zhí)都是因為有辯駁才引起來的。____中的早期著作家中有一位曾經(jīng)說過：“基督底外衣確是無縫的，但是教會底衣服卻是多色的”。因此他說：“讓這件衣服有變換之處，卻不要有分裂之處”。原來“統(tǒng)一”與“劃一”是兩件事啊。還有一種就是所爭之點是很重要的，然而爭論到了后來趨于過為微妙或幽晦，以致這種爭論巧慧而不切實了。一個有判斷力和了解力的人有時會聽見一些無知識的人表示不同的意見，然而他心里很明白這些人底意思其實是同一件事，但是他們自己是決不同意的

　　A man that is of judgement and understanding, shall sometimes hear ignorant men differ and know well within himself, mat those which so differ, mean one thing, and yet they themselves would never agree. And if it come so to pass, in that distance of judgement which is between man and man, shall we not think, that God above, that knows the heart, doth not discern that frail men, in some of their contradictions, intend the same thing, and accepteth of both? The nature of such controversies is excellently expressed by St Paul, in the warning and precept that he giveth concerning the same, devita profanas vocum novitates,et oppositiones falsi nominis scientiae. Men create oppositions, which are not; and put them into new terms, so fixed, as whereas the meaning ought to govern the term, the term in effect govemeth the meaning. There be also two false peaces, or unities; the one, when the peace is grounded, but upon an implicit ignorance; for all colours will agree in the dark: me other, when it is pieced up, upon a direct admission of contraries, in fundamental points. For truth and falsehood, in such things, are like the iron and clay in the toes of ebucadnezzar\'s image; they may cleave, but they will not incorporate.

　　一個有判斷力和了解力的人有時會聽見一些無知識的人表示不同的意見，然而他心里很明白這些人底意思其實是同一件事，但是他們自己是決不同意的。在人與人之間判斷力不同之處既有如此的情形，那末我們就不可以相信天上的上帝(他是明白世人底心的)能看出愚弱的世人在他們底爭論之中有時其實是意思相同的，因而接受雙方底意見的么?象這樣的爭論其性質(zhì)曾經(jīng)圣保羅在他底關于本題的警告和教訓中優(yōu)越地表現(xiàn)了。“避免世俗的新說以及敵視真道的似是而非的學問”。人們造出實際并無其事的沖突;并且把這種沖突裝入新的名詞之中，又把這些名詞定得以致本來應當意義支配名詞的，在事實上名詞反而支配意義了?！敖y(tǒng)一”亦有兩種假的：一種是以盲從的愚昧為基礎的，因為在黑暗之中所有的顏色都是一樣的。另一種是以干脆接受根本要義上矛盾之處為基礎而彌補成的。在這些事情里真理與偽說就象尼布甲尼撒王夢中所見的偶像底腳趾底鐵和泥一樣;他們也許可以互相依附，但是不會化為一體的。

　　Concerning the means of procuring unity; men must beware that in the procuring, or muniting, of religious unity, they do not dissolve and deface the laws of charity, and of human society. There be two swords amongst Christians, the spiritual, and temporal; and both have their due office, and place, in the maintenance of religion.

　　說到取得統(tǒng)一的方法，人們須要注意，不可在為了取得或增強宗教底統(tǒng)一的過程中，消滅和毀損了博愛底大義和人世底準則。_有兩口劍，精神的和塵世的;二者在護持宗教上都有相當?shù)呢熑魏偷匚弧?/p>

　　But we may not take up the third sword, which is Mohammed\'s sword, or like unto it; that is, to propagate religion by wars, or by sanguinary prosecutions, to force consciences; except it be in cases of overt scandal, blasphemy, or intermixture of practice against the state; much less to nourish seditions; to authorise conspiracies and rebellions; to put the sword into the people\'s hands; and the like; tending to the subversion of all government, which is the ordinance of God. For this is but to dash the first table against the second; and so to consider men as Christians, as we forget that they are men. Lucretius the poet, when he beheld the act of Agamemnon, that could endure the sacrificing of his own daughter, exclaimed; tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.

　　但是我們不可以拿起那第三口劍來，那就是謨罕默德底劍，或是它一類的劍。這話底意思就是不可以戰(zhàn)爭為傳教底工具，或者以流血的壓迫手段強迫人底良心，除非是遇見有明目張膽的丑事，褻瀆神明的行為，或者將宗教混于不利國家的陰謀的時候;更不可暗蓄異志;明助陰謀和反叛;授平民以刀劍。諸如此類，意在傾覆朝廷的舉動都應力避，朝廷者，天意所立也。如不避上述種種，就等于把紀錄上帝旨意的第一塊石牌與第二塊石牌猛撞;把人類當作_看，而忘了他們是人也。詩人盧克萊修見阿加曼木儂忍心以他底女兒為犧牲，遂嘆曰：“宗教能叫人為惡有如斯之大者”。

　　What would he have said, if he had known of the massacre in France, or the powder treason of England? he would have been seven times more epicure and atheist, than he was. For as the temporal sword is to be drawn with great circumspection, in cases of religion; so it is a thing monstrous, to put it into the hands of the common people.

　　假如他能知道法國底大屠殺和英國底火藥陰謀他又當作何語?恐怕他要變得比原來的他更要是七倍的享樂主義者和無神論者了。因為那口塵世的劍，在為了宗教而拔出的時候，既需極端審慎，所以把它放在一般平民底手里，就是一種荒.唐之極的舉動了

　　Let that be left unto the Anabaptists, and other furies. It was great blasphemy, when the devil said; I will ascend, and be like the highest; but it is greater blasphemy, to personate God, and bring him in saying; I will descend, and be like the Prince of Darkness; and what, is it better, to make the cause of religion to descend to the cruel and execrable actions of murdering princes, butchery of people, and subversion of states, and governments? Surely, this is to bring down the holy ghost, in stead of the likeness of a dove, in the shape of a vulture, or raven: and to set, out of the bark of a Christian church, a flag of a barque of pirates, and assassins. Therefore it is most necessary, that the church by doctrine and decree; princes by their sword; and all learnings, both Christian and moral, as by their mercury rod; do damn and send to Hell, for ever, those facts and opinions, tending to the support of me same; as hath been already in good part done. Surely in counsels concerning religion, that counsel of the apostle would be prefixed; ira hominis non implet justitiam dei. And it was a notable observation, of a wise father, and no less ingenuously confessed; that those, which held and persuaded pressure of consciences were commonly interested therein, themselves, for their own ends.

　　這種事情留給那些再洗禮論者和別的妖魔罷。當魔鬼說：“我要上升并且要和至尊一樣”的時候，那是很厲害的瀆神之言;但是把上帝安排成某種角色并使這角色登臺說：“我要下降并要和黑暗之王一樣”是更厲害的瀆神之言了。如使宗教底大義墮落到謀殺君主，屠戮人民，顛覆國家與政府的那些殘忍而可恨之極的行為上，那末比上述的瀆神的言行又有何較勝之處呢?這樣的行為真有如把圣靈底象不繪作鴿子模樣而畫成一只兀鷹或渡烏，把____會底船舶掛上一面海賊或兇徒底旗幟一樣了。因此必須教會借教義和教律，人君借威力，一切的學問界(屬于教會的及屬于倫理的)借誘導底力量(如接引神底桿杖一樣)把那些傾向于擁護上述諸惡的行為和意見明定其罪并投之地獄，和有一大部分已經(jīng)做到了的一樣。在關于宗教的言論中，無疑地那位使徒底話應當是為首的：“人底怒氣并不能成就上帝底正義”。又有一位明智的早期的教會作家說：“凡是施行或勸人壓迫他人底良心的人多半是為了自己底利益的”。這話很值得注意，并且說法也是很巧妙的。

　　相關閱讀：什么是宗教

　　宗教是人類社會發(fā)展到一定歷史階段出現(xiàn)的一種文化現(xiàn)象，屬于社會特殊意識形態(tài)。舊時由于人對自然的未知探索，以及表達人渴望不滅解脫的追求，進而相信現(xiàn)實世界之外存在著超自然的神秘力量或?qū)嶓w，使人對該一神秘產(chǎn)生敬畏及崇拜，從而引申出信仰認知及儀式活動體系，與民間神話一樣，其也有自己的神話傳說，彼此相互串聯(lián)，其是一種心靈寄托。

　　宗教之成立，其種類甚多，型態(tài)亦有種種不同，有現(xiàn)存者，亦有已衰微乃至不存者。其型態(tài)可大別為個人心理之宗教，與集團社會之宗教。個人心理之宗教，指個人獨自之宗教信念與體驗，而不論其是否參與特定之宗教組織，或具有何種特定之信仰型態(tài)。若經(jīng)由個人之虔誠信仰、深切體驗，而積極向他人弘傳，集合具有相同信仰之人群，即成為宗教團體，產(chǎn)生新興宗教，主倡者稱為此宗之開祖。若致力于對固有宗教之改革運動，則 稱改革者。