770# 当问及神职人员和平信徒，是否坚定相信这一切：例如洪水以前的人连同亚当、夏娃，洪水以后的人连同挪亚及其众子，还有亚伯拉罕、以撒、雅各，以及众先知和使徒，像其余所有人的灵魂一样，至今仍被保留在地的中心，或在以太与空气中飘荡；又是否相信，灵魂将重新披上自己的身体，并与这些身体重新结合，而这些身体却早已成为尸骸，有的被虫、鼠和鱼啃食，有的如埃及木乃伊那样被人取食，有些不过是被太阳曝晒、化为尘土的骷髅；并且是否也相信，天上的众星那时将坠落到地上，然而地球其实比其中任何一颗星都小；这些岂不是悖理之论，理性自身会将其驱散，正如它惯常驱散自相矛盾之事一样？
然而对于这些问题，有些人默然不答；有些人说，这些都是信仰之事，“在信仰的顺服之下，我们使理智受约束”；还有些人说，不但这些事，甚至许多超越理性的事，也都属于神性全能。可是当他们一提到信仰和全能，理性便被放逐；于是健全的理性不是消失了，变得如同无物，就是成了幽灵一般，并被称为疯狂。他们又补充说：“这些岂不是合乎圣言吗？谁不会照着圣言这样思想、这样说呢？”
770# 我曾问神职人员和平信徒，他们是否真的相信这一切。他们真的相信所有这些灵魂，包括大洪水以前的人与亚当和夏娃，大洪水以后的人与挪亚和他的儿子，并亚伯拉罕、以撒、雅各，以及众先知和使徒，还有其他所有人类灵魂，仍被保留在地心，或在以太或空气中飞舞吗？他们真的相信所有这些灵魂将重新披上他们的身体，或与它们重新聚合吗？即便他们的身体是被虫子、老鼠或鱼吃掉的尸体，或被人们当作药物来服用的埃及木乃伊，或纯粹是被太阳烘烤，直到化为尘土的骷髅。他们真的相信那时，天上的星星会坠落于地，即便地球比这些星星小得多？当然，所有这些想法都是理性本身所弃绝或驱散的荒谬，就像它弃绝或驱散其它任何矛盾或毫无意义的想法一样。对于这些问题，有些人根本没有回答；有些人说，这些都是信仰的问题，我们要使理解力服从信仰；有些人说，不仅这些事，还有其它许多超越理性的事都属于神性全能，或是由神性全能完成的。当他们提到信仰和全能时，理性就被驱逐。正常的理性要么消失，变成乌有，或似乎不存在，要么变成一种幽灵，被称为疯狂。对此，他们补充说：“这些事难道不符合圣言吗？每个人不都必须基于圣言来思考和说话吗？”
770. I have asked the clergy and the laity whether they truly believe all that. Do they really believe that all those souls - the people who lived before the Flood, including Adam and Eve, and the people who lived after the Flood, including Noah and his children, as well as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets and apostles, and all other human souls - are still being stored in the center of the earth or are flitting around in the air or the ether? Do they really believe that all those souls are going to wear their bodies again and be reunited to them, even if their bodies were corpses that have been eaten by worms, rats, or fish, or were Egyptian mummies that people have taken as medicine, or were mere skeletons baked under the sun until they crumbled to dust? Do they really believe that the stars of heaven are going to fall onto the earth, even though the earth is much smaller than the stars? Surely all these thoughts are absurdities that reason rejects, just as it rejects any other thought that does not make sense.
To these questions some have no response at all. Others say that these are matters of faith, and that we need to hold our intellect under obedience to faith. Others say that these and many other things that transcend reason are accomplished by the divine omnipotence.
When they say the words "faith" and "omnipotence," reason is banished; by that point in the conversation sound reason either disappears and seems nonexistent or turns into a kind of ghostly apparition and is called insanity. To this they add, "Aren't our beliefs in strict accordance with the Word? Aren't we supposed to think and speak on the basis of what the Word says?"
770. What happens if you ask a clergyman or a layman whether they believe all these things for sure? For instance, that the people before the flood together with Adam and Eve, and the people after the flood together with Noah and his sons, as well as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob together with all the prophets and apostles, and likewise all the rest of human souls, are all still stored in the bowels of the earth or flit about in the ether or the air. Ask whether they believe that souls will be clothed again with their own bodies and coalesce with them, despite the fact that their corpses have been eaten by worms, rats or fish, and in the case of Egyptian mummies consumed by people 1 ; when some have been reduced to skeletons burnt clean by the sun or have dissolved into dust. Ask too if they believe that the stars of the sky will then fall upon the earth, although the earth is smaller than a single star. Ask whether such things are not paradoxes, which reason can explode as it does contradictions. To this some will have no answer to make. Some will say that this is a matter of faith, 'and we keep our understanding subject to faith.' Some will say that not only these things, but much else that is beyond the grasp of reason, are possible to God's omnipotence. When they mention faith and omnipotence, reason is banished. Sound reason then either disappears, and becomes as nothing, or becomes like a spectre and is called madness. 'Are not these things,' they add, 'what the Word says? Surely everyone thinks and speaks as the Word tells us.'
Footnotes:
1. i.e., as medicine.
770. When a clergyman or a layman is asked whether he firmly believes all these things, as that the antediluvians together with Adam and Eve, and the postdiluvians together with Noah and his sons, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, together with all the prophets and apostles, as well as the souls of all other men, are still reserved in the bowels of the earth or are flying about in the ether or air; as also whether he believes that souls will be re-clothed with their bodies or be reunited with them, when yet these dead bodies have been eaten up by worms and mice and fishes, and Egyptian bodies as mummies have been eaten up by men, and others are mere skeletons dried up in the sun and crumbled to dust; also whether he believes that the stars of heaven will then fall upon the earth, which, however, is smaller than a single one of them; and whether these things are not absurdities which reason itself dissipates, as it does anything contradictory; to these things some will make no reply; some will say, "These things are matters of faith, to which we keep the understanding in obedience;" some that not only these but many other matters that are above reason belong to the Divine omnipotence. And when they mention faith and omnipotence, reason is exiled, and sound reason either disappears and becomes as nothing, or becomes as a specter, and is called insane. They add, "Are not these things in accordance with the Word? Must not everyone think and speak from that?"
770. What is the answer when clergy and layman alike are asked whether they firmly believe that the antediluvians with Adam and Eve, and the postdiluvians with Noah and his sons, and also Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with all the prophets and apostles, as well as the souls of all other men, are still reserved in the middle of the earth, or are flying about in the ether or air; and whether they believe that their souls will again be clothed with their bodies and enter into union with them, when yet some are corpses, eaten by worms, mice and fish, or are Egyptian bodies, mummified by men and destroyed in the process, or mere skeletons, burnt up by the sun and reduced to dust; and also, whether they believe that the stars of heaven will then fall upon the earth, which yet is smaller than any one of them; and whether these things are not paradoxical, which reason itself dissipates, as it does all things that are contradictory? Some will make no reply, some will say that such things are matters of faith, to which the understanding must be kept in subjection; and some again will argue that not only these but also many other questions that are beyond the scope of reason, are matters of Divine omnipotence. And when they mention faith and omnipotence, reason is banished. It either disappears like something which ceases to exist, or it becomes like an apparition, and is regarded as madness. To this they add: "Are not these things in accordance with the Word? Surely one must think and speak from it."
770. Cum interrogatur Clericus et Laicus, num omnia illa firmiter credant, ut quod Antediluviani una cum Adamo et Eva, et Postdiluviani una cum Noacho et ejus filiis, tum Abrahamus, Isacus et Jacobus una cum omnibus Prophetis et Apostolis, similiter ac reliquorum hominum Animae, adhuc reserventur in meditullio terrae, aut volitent in aethere aut aere; tum etiam Numeri credant, quod Animae reinduiturae sint corpora sua, et cum his coaliturae, quae tamen sunt cadavera exesa a vermibus, muribus et piscibus, et Aegyptiaca ut mumia ab hominibus exesa, et quaedam modo sceleta exusta sole et dilapsa in pulverem; et quoque Numeri credant, quod stellae Coeli tunc delapsurae sint super terram, quae tamen minor una illarum est; numne talia sunt paradoxa, quae ipsa ratio dissipat, sicut solet contradictoria. Sed ad haec quidam nihil respondent; quidam quod illa sint fidei, sub cujus obedientia captamus intellectum; quidam quod non modo haec, sed etiam supra rationalia plura sint Divinae Omnipotentiae; et cum nominant Fidem et Omnipotentiam, exulat ratio, et tunc sana ratio vel disparatur, et fit sicut nihil, vel fit sicut spectrum, et vocatur insania; addunt, suntne illa secundum Verbum; quis non ex illo cogitabit et loquetur.