LESSON 59

NECESSITY OF EDUCATION

教育的必要性

We must educate! We must educate! or we must perish by our own prosperity. If we do not, short will be our race from the cradle to the grave. If, in our haste to be rich and mighty, we outrun our literary and religious institutions, they will never overtake us; or only come up after the battle of liberty is fought and lost, as spoils to grace the victory, and as resources of inexorable despotism for the perpetuity of our bondage.

But what will become of the West if her prosperity rushes up to such a majesty of power, while those great institutions linger which are necessary to form the mind, and the conscience, and the heart of the vast world? It must not be permitted. And yet what is done must be done quickly; for population will not wait, and commerce will not cast anchor, and manufactures will not shut off the steam, nor shut down the gate, and agriculture, pushed by millions of freemen on their fertile soil, will not withhold her corrupting abundance.

And let no man at the East quiet himself, and dream of liberty, whatever may become of the West. Our alliance of blood, and political institutions, and common interests, is such, that we can not stand aloof in the hour of her calamity, should it ever come. Her destiny is our destiny; and the day that her gallant ship goes down, our little boat sinks in the vortex!

The great experiment is now making, and from its extent and rapid filling up, is making in the West, whether the perpetuity of our republican institutions can be reconciled with universal suffrage. Without the education of the head and heart of the nation, they can not be; and the question to be decided is, can the nation, or the vast balance power of it, be so imbued with intelligence and virtue as to bring out, in laws and their administration, a perpetual self-preserving energy. We know that the work is a vast one, and of great difficulty; and yet we believe it can be done.

I am aware that our ablest patriots are looking out on the deep, vexed with storms, with great forebodings and failings of heart, for fear of the things that are coming upon us; and I perceive a spirit of impatience rising, and distrust in respect to the perpetuity of our republic; and I am sure that these fears are well founded, and am glad that they exist. It is the star of hope in our dark horizon. Fear is what we need, as the ship needs wind on a rocking sea, after a storm, to prevent foundering. But when our fear and our efforts shall correspond with our danger, the danger is past.

For it is not the impossibility of self-preservation which threatens us; nor is it the unwillingness of the nation to pay the price of the preservation, as she has paid the price of the purchase of our liberties. It is inattention and inconsideration, protracted till the crisis is past, and the things which belong to our peace are hid from our eyes. And blessed be God, that the tokens of a national waking up, the harbinger of God’s mercy, are multiplying upon us!

We did not, in the darkest hour, believe that God had brought our fathers to this goodly land to lay the foundation of religious liberty, and wrought such wonders in their preservation, and raised their descendants to such heights of civil and religious liberty, only to reverse the analogy of his providence, and abandon his work.

And though there now be clouds, and the sea roaring, and men’s hearts failing, we believe there is light behind the cloud, and that the imminence of our danger is intended, under the guidance of Heaven, to call forth and apply a holy, fraternal fellowship between the East and the West, which shall secure our preservation, and make the prosperity of our nation durable as time, and as abundant as the waves of the sea.

I would add, as a motive to immediate action, that if we do fail in our great experiment of self-government, our destruction will be as signal as the birthright abandoned, the mercies abused, and the provocation offered to beneficent Heaven. The descent of desolation will correspond with the past elevation.

No punishments of Heaven are so severe as those for mercies abused; and no instrumentality employed in their infliction is so dreadful as the wrath of man. No spasms are like the spasms of expiring liberty, and no wailing such as her convulsions extort.

It took Rome three hundred years to die; and our death, if we perish, will be as much more terrific as our intelligence and free institutions have given us more bone, sinew, and vitality. May God hide from me the day when the dying agonies of my country shall begin! O thou beloved land, bound together by the ties of brotherhood, and common interest, and perils! live forever—one and undivided!

(Lyman Beecher)

【中文阅读】

我们必须接受教育！我们必须接受教育！如果我们仅凭自己的幸运和机缘的话，必定自取灭亡。倘若我们不接受教育，那么我们种族从摇篮到坟墓只是一瞬间的事情。假若我们急于想成为富人和大人物，超过了文学和宗教上的惯例和制度，那么这些梦想从来都不会突然降临到我们头上。只有在经过为自由而战失败后，在胜利的恩泽遭到损毁的同时，无情的专制统治为了永远奴役我们而诉诸于武力。

但是，当那些对形成广袤世界的心智、良知和核心来说必要的重要制度徘徊时，如果西方的繁荣促使形成这样一个强大势力的话，那么结果会怎样呢？必然是不被允许的。然而，要做的事情必须尽快做。因为人们不会慢慢等待，商业也不会原地搁浅，制造业既不会关掉生产线，也不会关上大门，由数以百万计自由民在他们肥沃的土地上耕作而得到推动和发展的农业，当然不会抑制它变得腐败的丰饶。

东方世界没有人对自己的境遇感到满意，梦想着自由，无论怎样都变成西方人。我们血脉、政治制度和共同利益上的联盟，确保我们在一旦出现灾难之时不会独木难支。一个国家的命运就是我们共同的命运；一个国家雄伟的战舰沉没之日，对我们来讲不过是一条小船沉在漩涡中而已！

现在形成的这一伟大的经验，从其广度和迅速累积的程度而言，就是西方的滥觞，不论我们的共和政体的恒久性是否能通过普选制度而达到和谐一致。没有教育这个大脑和国家的核心价值，不可能做到这一点。问题的关键在于，国家或者其巨大的平衡力量能否富有智慧和优点，并使之付诸于法律的制定和管理当中，以及具有恒久的保持自我的能力。我们清楚这是一个浩大的工程，面临巨大困难。但是，我们相信这个工程能够完成。

我知道我们最杰出的爱国者临渊而立，为暴风雨，为对不祥的预感和勇气的丧失所恼，这是基于对即将到来的麻烦的担心。我觉察到焦躁情绪正在积郁，不相信我们的共和政体能够恒久地保持下去。我可以肯定的是，这些担心完全有道理，欣然接受这些担心的存在。这是我们黑暗的地平线上升起的希望之星。担心是我们需要的，正如暴风雨过后在波涛汹涌的海上船只需要风才能防止船帆落下一样。但是，我们的担心和努力与我们面临的危险是共存的，而危险已经成为过去。

在面临威胁时，激起自卫本能是完全可能的，国家也并非不情愿为维持下去付出代价，正如她为我们的自由所付出的代价一样。这种自卫本能不被注意且没有给予考虑，被延长后直到危机成为过去。事关我们和平的诸多事宜，我们的眼睛被遮住了没有看到。多亏上帝，作为国家觉醒的象征，展现上帝仁慈的预兆，才得以连续降临到我们头上。

在最黑暗的时刻，我们不相信上帝之所以会把我们的先辈带到这块美丽的土地上，来奠定宗教自由，在他们保持共和政体的恒久性时成就了这样的奇迹，将他们的后代提升到公民和宗教自由这样的高度，只是为了推翻他的天道类比寓言，抛弃他的功业。

尽管现在仍然乌云密布，大海仍旧在咆哮呼号，人们缺乏勇气，但是我们相信乌云背后就是曙光，我们面临危险的迫近是上帝有意为之，目的在于引起和致力于东西方之间一种神圣的、兄弟般的伙伴关系。这种关系能确保我们的政体保持下去，使我们国家的繁荣像时间一样恒久，如大海的波浪一样丰富。

我还要补充一下，作为直接采取行动的动机，如果我们未能在自治上获得重要经验，那么我们的失败将如同放弃生育权，滥施仁慈一样，成了向仁慈的上帝挑衅的标志。沦落到被遗弃是与过去的提升相一致的。

对于滥施仁慈而言，没有什么比上帝的惩罚更严厉的了；在导致他们的原因中，没哪种施加的手段同人的愤怒一样骇人。没有什么样的痉挛堪比濒临死亡的自由所产生的痉挛，没有哪种哀号堪比对国家灾变的曲解。

罗马帝国历经三百年的痛苦才寿终正寝；如果我们消亡的话，我们的死差不多与我们的智慧和自由的体制所给予我们的骨骼、肌肉和生命力的消亡一样可怕。但愿上帝不让我看到，我的国家遭受的置她于死地的极大痛苦开始发作的那一天！啊，你们深爱的这片土地，由同胞之爱这个纽带和共同利益将大家连在一起的这片土地，处于极大的危险之中！永远屹立不倒——一个整体永不分开！

（莱曼•比彻）