LESSON 121

THE NEW ENGLAND PASTOR

新英格兰牧师

Timothy Dwight, 1752-1817, was born at Northampton, Massachusetts. His mother was a daughter of the celebrated Jonathan Edwards. It is said that she taught her son the alphabet in one lesson, that he could read the Bible at four years of age, and that he studied Latin by himself at six. He graduated at Yale in 1769, returned as tutor in 1771, and continued six years. He was chaplain in a brigade under General Putnam for a time. In 1778 his father died, and for five years he supported his mother and a family of twelve children by farming, teaching and preaching. From 1783 to 1795 he was pastor at Greenfield, Connecticut. He was then chosen President of Yale College, and remained in office till he died. Dr. Dwight was a man of fine bodily presence, of extended learning, and untiring industry. His presidency of the college was highly successful. His patriotism was no less ardent and true than his piety. In his younger days he wrote considerably in verse. His poetry is not all of a very high order, but some pieces possess merit.

The place, with east and western sides,

A wide and verdant street divides:

And here the houses faced the day,

And there the lawns in beauty lay.

There, turret-crowned, and central, stood

A neat and solemn house of God.

Across the way, beneath the shade

Two elms with sober silence spread,

The preacher lived. o’er all the place

His mansion cast a Sunday grace;

Dumb stillness sate the fields around;

His garden seemed a hallowed ground;

Swains ceased to laugh aloud, when near,

And schoolboys never sported there.

In the same mild and temperate zone,

Twice twenty years, his course had run,

His locks of flowing silver spread

A crown of glory o’er his head;

His face, the image of his mind,

With grave and furrowed wisdom shined;

Not cold; but glowing still, and bright;

Yet glowing with October light:

As evening blends, with beauteous ray,

Approaching night with shining day.

His Cure his thoughts engrossed alone:

For them his painful course was run:

To bless, to save, his only care;

To chill the guilty soul with fear;

To point the pathway to the skies,

And teach, and urge, and aid, to rise;

Where strait, and difficult to keep,

It climbs, and climbs, o’er Virtue’s steep.

【中文阅读】

这个地方，东西两侧，

由宽阔和郁郁葱葱的大街分开；

这里房舍面向天空，

还有草坪美不胜收。

那里，角楼凸起，中央坐落着

上帝整齐和肃穆的房屋。

穿过街道，两株榆树

安静地摊开树阴，

布道者就在那里居住。

他的宅邸投射出礼拜天的恩泽；

四周的田野一片沉静，

他的花园俨然一块圣地；

连乡下情郎到附近也不再纵声大笑，

学童从不会到那儿玩耍。

在同样温暖和温和的区域，

二十年来他两度经过那里，

他的发髻已然银白，

头上象征荣誉的王冠依旧；

他的脸映出他的心思，

闪耀着庄重和岁月刻下的智慧；

天不冷；但是愉快和热情洋溢依旧；

然而，辉耀出十月的金辉：

随着夜晚融入美轮美奂的光束，

夜晚紧随艳阳高照的白天的脚步。

他的思绪只刻下了他的忧患：

对他们而言，他痛苦的人生历程已然走完：

祝福，挽救，他唯一的牵挂；

他那罪恶的灵魂因恐惧而变冷；

通往天堂的路上指明一条小路，

告诫，引领，帮助，升起；

海峡很难渡过，

灵魂攀爬啊，攀爬，越过道德陡峭的悬崖。