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Nor is it merely that we can discern in Christ that close union of personality with perfection which forms the real distinction between classical and romantic Art and makes Christ the true precursor of the romantic movement in life, but the very basis of his nature was the same as that of the nature of the artist, an intense and flamelike imagination. He realised in the entire sphere of human relations that imaginative sympathy which in the sphere of Art is the sole secret of creation. He understood the leprosy of the leper, the darkness of the blind, the fierce misery of those who live for pleasure, the strange poverty of the rich. You can see now一can you not?—that when you wrote to me in my trouble, “When you are not on your pedestal you are not interesting. The next time you are ill I will go away at once,” you were as remote from the true temper of the artist as you were from what Matthew Arnold calls “the secret of Jesus.” [95.1] Either would have taught you that whatever happens to another happens to oneself, and if you want an inscription to read at dawn and at night-time and for pleasure or for pain, write up on the wall of your house in letters for the sun to gild and the moon to silver “Whatever happens to another happens to oneself,” and should anyone ask you what such an inscription can possibly mean you can answer that it means “Lord Christ’s heart and Shakespeare’s brain.”
在基督身上还看得到个性与完美那种紧密的结合，这结合形成了古典和浪漫艺术的真正区别，也使得基督成为生活中浪漫运动的真正先驱；还看得到基督天性的根本基础与艺术家的完全一样，是一种热烈奔放、火一样的想象力。 他在人类关系的整个领域中实现了那种由想象引发的同情，而这在艺术领域中又是创作的唯一奥秘。他理解麻风病人的痛苦，失明之人的黑暗，为享乐而活者的巨大悲哀，富人不可思议的贫乏。现在你明白了吧——难道还不明白吗？——在我病痛之中你写信给我说，“你像尊偶像，没了底座就没意思了。 下次你要是病了我马上走开”，这样做距离真正艺术家的气质，同距离马修? 阿诺德所称的“耶稣的真谛”一样遥远。无论艺术家的气质还是耶稣的真谛，都会教你怎样对别人的遭遇感同身受。你如果需要一句座右铭好晨昏温习，好读着痛快或痛苦，那就把这一句写在你家墙壁上，让它日沐阳光夜被月华吧：“对别人的遭遇感同身受。 ”要是有人问起这样一句座右铭意味着什么，你就回答说，它意味着“主耶稣的心肠和莎士比亚的头脑”。
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