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Yet the whole life of Christ—so entirely may Sorrow and Beauty be made one in their meaning and manifestation—is really an idyll, though it ends with the veil of the temple being rent, and the darkness coming over the face of the earth, and the stone rolled to the door of the sepulcher[98a]. One always thinks of him as a young bridegroom with his companions, as indeed he somewhere describes himself, or as a shepherd straying through a valley with his sheep in search of green meadow or cool stream, or as a singer trying to build out of music the walls of the city of God, or as a lover for whose love the whole world was too small. His miracles seem to me as exquisite as the coming of Spring, and quite as natural. I see no difficulty at all in believing that such was the charm of his personality that his mere presence could bring peace to souls in anguish, and that those who touched his garments or his hands forgot their pain: or that as he passed by on the highway of life people who had seen nothing of life’s mysteries saw them clearly, and others who had been deaf to every voice but that of Pleasure heard for the first time the voice of Love and found it as “musical as is Apollo’s lute:” [98.1] or that evil passions fled at his approach, and men whose dull unimaginative lives had been but a mode of death rose as it were from the grave when he called them: or that when he taught on the hillside the multitude forgot their hunger and thirst and the cares of this world, and that to his friends who listened to him as he sat at meat the coarse food seemed delicate, and the water had the taste of good wine, and the whole house became full of the odour and sweetness of nard[98b].
然而基督的整个生命——这生命可以如此完满地在意义和表现上将悲与美合而为一——真的是一首田园牧歌，尽管在结尾时殿里的幔子裂为两半，遍地都黑暗了，石头滚到墓穴前[98a]。人们总是把他看作是一位同友伴们相聚的年轻新郎，确实就像他自己在什么地方说的；或者是一个倘佯在山谷里的牧人，同他的羊群一道找寻绿草和甘泉；或者是一名歌者，要用歌声为上帝的城筑起城墙；或者是一个大爱之人，他的爱整个世界也装不下。对于我，他的神迹煦煦如冬去春来般顺心应时。我看一点也不难相信，这就是他人格的魅力：他一出现，就足以让在痛苦中煎熬的灵魂获得安宁；摸一下他的手或衣服，便能把痛楚忘却；他在生活之路上行过，那些对生活的玄妙视而不见的人便心明眼亮，而那些两耳充斥着享乐的靡靡之音的人，便第一次听到爱的声音，觉得那声音如“阿波罗的琴声般悦耳”；他走来，罪恶的情欲便遁逃无影，而那些生活暗淡想象力阙如的人们，便像死而复生一样，从坟墓中随他的召唤站立起来；他在山边讲道，众人听着便忘了饥渴和尘世的纷扰；他坐在餐桌边，聆听他教诲的朋友们便觉得粗茶淡饭也成了美味佳肴，白水喝着犹如美酒，整个屋子弥漫着甘松油的甜香[98b]。
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