第98篇		Paper 98
西方的麦基洗德教导		The Melchizedek Teachings in the Occident
98:0.1 (1077.1) 麦基洗德教导沿着许多路径进入了欧洲，但它们主要经由埃及到来，并在被彻底希腊化及后来基督教化之后而得以体现在西方哲学中。西方世界的诸多理念基本上是苏格拉底式的，后来的宗教哲学随着不断演进的西方哲学和宗教相接触而得以改良和折衷，变成了有关耶稣的宗教哲学，所有这一切以基督教教会而告终。		98:0.1 (1077.1) THE Melchizedek teachings entered Europe along many routes, but chiefly they came by way of Egypt and were embodied in Occidental philosophy after being thoroughly Hellenized and later Christianized. The ideals of the Western world were basically Socratic, and its later religious philosophy became that of Jesus as it was modified and compromised through contact with evolving Occidental philosophy and religion, all of which culminated in the Christian church.
98:0.2 (1077.2) 在很长时间里，撒冷传教士们在欧洲继续其活动，他们渐渐被吸纳到许多周期性兴起的教派和仪式群体中。在那些保留了最纯粹形式撒冷教导的人中间，必须要提及的是犬儒学派。这些宣扬信仰神和信任神的人在基督后第一世纪仍运作于罗马帝国治下的欧洲，后来则被纳入到了新形成的基督教中。		98:0.2 (1077.2) For a long time in Europe the Salem missionaries carried on their activities, becoming gradually absorbed into many of the cults and ritual groups which periodically arose. Among those who maintained the Salem teachings in the purest form must be mentioned the Cynics. These preachers of faith and trust in God were still functioning in Roman Europe in the first century after Christ, being later incorporated into the newly forming Christian religion.
98:0.3 (1077.3) 许多撒冷教义是经由犹太雇佣兵而得以在欧洲大陆传播的，后者在许多西方军事斗争中征战过。在古代，犹太人兼以神学特色和军事英勇而闻名。		98:0.3 (1077.3) Much of the Salem doctrine was spread in Europe by the Jewish mercenary soldiers who fought in so many of the Occidental military struggles. In ancient times the Jews were famed as much for military valor as for theologic peculiarities.
98:0.4 (1077.4) 希腊哲学、犹太神学以及基督教伦理学的基本教义，从根本上来说都是更早期麦基洗德教导的反响。		98:0.4 (1077.4) The basic doctrines of Greek philosophy, Jewish theology, and Christian ethics were fundamentally repercussions of the earlier Melchizedek teachings.
1. 希腊人中间的撒冷教 ^top		1. The Salem Religion Among the Greeks ^top
98:1.1 (1077.5) 若非因为撒冷传教士对其所授圣职之誓约的严格诠释，他们或许已在希腊人中间建立起一种伟大的宗教结构了，这一誓约是由麦基洗德所施加的，它禁止组织专事崇拜的集会，并要求每位导师许诺决不担当祭司，决不收取宗教服务费用，只接受食物、衣物和住所。当麦基洗德导师们深入到古希腊时代之前的希腊时，他们发现了一个仍抱有亚当森及安德族时代传统的民族，但这些教导极大掺杂了被大量带到希腊海岸的大群低劣奴隶所持的概念和信仰。这种掺杂造成了向一种带有血祭的粗陋万物有灵论的复归，更低阶层甚至通过处决死刑犯来营造仪式。		98:1.1 (1077.5) The Salem missionaries might have built up a great religious structure among the Greeks had it not been for their strict interpretation of their oath of ordination, a pledge imposed by Machiventa which forbade the organization of exclusive congregations for worship, and which exacted the promise of each teacher never to function as a priest, never to receive fees for religious service, only food, clothing, and shelter. When the Melchizedek teachers penetrated to pre-Hellenic Greece, they found a people who still fostered the traditions of Adamson and the days of the Andites, but these teachings had become greatly adulterated with the notions and beliefs of the hordes of inferior slaves that had been brought to the Greek shores in increasing numbers. This adulteration produced a reversion to a crude animism with bloody rites, the lower classes even making ceremonial out of the execution of condemned criminals.
98:1.2 (1077.6) 撒冷导师们的早期影响，几近被所谓的雅利安人从南欧和东方的入侵所摧毁了。这些古希腊时期的入侵者带来了类似于其雅利安同胞带到印度的拟人化神观念。这一输入开创了希腊男神及女神家族的演进。这一新的宗教部分基于到来的古希腊蛮族教派之上，但它也共享了旧有希腊居民的神话。		98:1.2 (1077.6) The early influence of the Salem teachers was nearly destroyed by the so-called Aryan invasion from southern Europe and the East. These Hellenic invaders brought along with them anthropomorphic God concepts similar to those which their Aryan fellows had carried to India. This importation inaugurated the evolution of the Greek family of gods and goddesses. This new religion was partly based on the cults of the incoming Hellenic barbarians, but it also shared in the myths of the older inhabitants of Greece.
98:1.3 (1078.1) 古希腊时期的希腊人发现地中海世界在很大程度上被母性崇拜所主导，他们将其男性神特尤斯-宙斯强加到这些民族身上，他如同单一主神教闪族人中间的雅威一样，已成为整个希腊包含了诸多从属神的万神殿之首。若非由于希腊人保留了命运之神的总体控制，他们原本最终会在宙斯概念上达成一种真正的一神教。一位具有最终价值之神，本身便是命运的仲裁者和天命的缔造者。		98:1.3 (1078.1) The Hellenic Greeks found the Mediterranean world largely dominated by the mother cult, and they imposed upon these peoples their man-god, Dyaus-Zeus, who had already become, like Yahweh among the henotheistic Semites, head of the whole Greek pantheon of subordinate gods. And the Greeks would have eventually achieved a true monotheism in the concept of Zeus except for their retention of the overcontrol of Fate. A God of final value must, himself, be the arbiter of fate and the creator of destiny.
98:1.4 (1078.2) 作为这些在宗教演进方面因素的一个结果，不久便发展出了奥林匹斯山逍遥自在诸神的民间信仰，更具人性而非神性的诸神智能的希腊人从未真正认真看待的诸神。他们并不极为热爱也不极为畏惧他们所造出的诸神。他们对宙斯及其半人半神的家族有一种家国情怀，但他们都不怎么敬畏和崇拜他们。		98:1.4 (1078.2) As a consequence of these factors in religious evolution, there presently developed the popular belief in the happy-go-lucky gods of Mount Olympus, gods more human than divine, and gods which the intelligent Greeks never did regard very seriously. They neither greatly loved nor greatly feared these divinities of their own creation. They had a patriotic and racial feeling for Zeus and his family of half men and half gods, but they hardly reverenced or worshiped them.
98:1.5 (1078.3) 古希腊人如此浸淫于较早期撒冷导师们反对祭司权术的教义，以致没有任何具有重要意义的祭司阶层曾在希腊兴起过。甚至连制造诸神雕像也更多变成了一件艺术工作，而非一件崇拜事务。		98:1.5 (1078.3) The Hellenes became so impregnated with the antipriestcraft doctrines of the earlier Salem teachers that no priesthood of any importance ever arose in Greece. Even the making of images to the gods became more of a work in art than a matter of worship.
98:1.6 (1078.4) 奥林匹斯诸神例示了人类典型的神人同形同性论。但希腊人的神话更具审美性，而非伦理性。希腊人的宗教是有益的，因为它描绘了一个由神祗团体统治的宇宙。但希腊人的道德、伦理和哲学不久便远超了神的观念，这种在智性与灵性发展之间的不平衡，对于希腊人来说是极为危险的，正如之前对印度所表明的那样。		98:1.6 (1078.4) The Olympian gods illustrate man’s typical anthropomorphism. But the Greek mythology was more aesthetic than ethic. The Greek religion was helpful in that it portrayed a universe governed by a deity group. But Greek morals, ethics, and philosophy presently advanced far beyond the god concept, and this imbalance between intellectual and spiritual growth was as hazardous to Greece as it had proved to be in India.
2. 希腊的哲学思想 ^top		2. Greek Philosophic Thought ^top
98:2.1 (1078.5) 一个不受注重的肤浅宗教无法持久，尤其当它没有祭司阶层去维持其形式，并用恐惧和敬畏来充满信徒的内心。奥林匹斯宗教并未承诺救赎，它也未缓解其信奉者的灵性饥渴；因此它注定要灭亡。在其发端的千年以内，它几近消亡了，希腊人没有了民族宗教，奥林匹斯诸神失去了他们对那些更优秀智者的掌控。		98:2.1 (1078.5) A lightly regarded and superficial religion cannot endure, especially when it has no priesthood to foster its forms and to fill the hearts of the devotees with fear and awe. The Olympian religion did not promise salvation, nor did it quench the spiritual thirst of its believers; therefore was it doomed to perish. Within a millennium of its inception it had nearly vanished, and the Greeks were without a national religion, the gods of Olympus having lost their hold upon the better minds.
98:2.2 (1078.6) 在基督前六世纪，东方和黎凡特经历了一场灵性意识的复兴，以及一场对一神论认知的崭新觉醒，这便是当时的情形。但西方并未共享这一新的发展；欧洲和北非也未广泛参与这场宗教复兴。然而，希腊人确曾从事过一场壮丽的智性进步。他们已开始掌控恐惧，不再寻求宗教作为对其的解药；但他们并未认识到真正的宗教是医治灵魂饥渴、精神不安及道德失望的良药。他们在对哲学和形而上学的深思中寻求灵魂的慰藉。他们从对自我保存 -- 救赎 -- 的沉思转向了自我认知和自我理解的沉思。		98:2.2 (1078.6) This was the situation when, during the sixth century before Christ, the Orient and the Levant experienced a revival of spiritual consciousness and a new awakening to the recognition of monotheism. But the West did not share in this new development; neither Europe nor northern Africa extensively participated in this religious renaissance. The Greeks, however, did engage in a magnificent intellectual advancement. They had begun to master fear and no longer sought religion as an antidote therefor, but they did not perceive that true religion is the cure for soul hunger, spiritual disquiet, and moral despair. They sought for the solace of the soul in deep thinking—philosophy and metaphysics. They turned from the contemplation of self-preservation—salvation—to self-realization and self-understanding.
98:2.3 (1078.7) 希腊人试图通过严谨的思考来达至那种担当续存信仰替代物的安全意识，但他们彻底失败了。只有希腊各民族较高阶层中间的较为智能者才能把握这一新教导；先前奴隶后裔所形成的平民没有能力接受这种新的宗教替代物。		98:2.3 (1078.7) By rigorous thought the Greeks attempted to attain that consciousness of security which would serve as a substitute for the belief in survival, but they utterly failed. Only the more intelligent among the higher classes of the Hellenic peoples could grasp this new teaching; the rank and file of the progeny of the slaves of former generations had no capacity for the reception of this new substitute for religion.
98:2.4 (1079.1) 哲学家们鄙视所有形式的崇拜，尽管他们实际上都约略持有对撒冷教义中“宇宙智能”、“神的观念”和“伟大源头”的信仰背景。就希腊哲学家对神者和超有限者给予的承认而言，他们坦率来说是一神论的；他们对奥林匹斯男女众神所形成的整个谱系给予了勉强的承认。		98:2.4 (1079.1) The philosophers disdained all forms of worship, notwithstanding that they practically all held loosely to the background of a belief in the Salem doctrine of “the Intelligence of the universe,” “the idea of God,” and “the Great Source.” In so far as the Greek philosophers gave recognition to the divine and the superfinite, they were frankly monotheistic; they gave scant recognition to the whole galaxy of Olympian gods and goddesses.
98:2.5 (1079.2) 第五和第六世纪的希腊诗人们，尤其是品达，试图改革希腊宗教。他们提升了它的理念，但他们更多是艺术家而非宗教家。他们未能发展出一种手段来培植和保存至高价值。		98:2.5 (1079.2) The Greek poets of the fifth and sixth centuries, notably Pindar, attempted the reformation of Greek religion. They elevated its ideals, but they were more artists than religionists. They failed to develop a technique for fostering and conserving supreme values.
98:2.6 (1079.3) 色诺芬尼教导过一神，但他的神祗观念过于泛神论，以致无法成为一个对于凡人来说的人格性之父。阿那克萨哥拉，除了他确实承认第一起因 -- 即一种最初的心智以外，是一名机械论者。苏格拉底及其继承者柏拉图和亚里士多德，教导美德即知识；美德即善，是灵魂之健全；教导宁可忍受不公而非犯下不公，以恶报恶不对，并教导诸神皆智善。他们的基本美德是：智慧、勇气、节制和公平。		98:2.6 (1079.3) Xenophanes taught one God, but his deity concept was too pantheistic to be a personal Father to mortal man. Anaxagoras was a mechanist except that he did recognize a First Cause, an Initial Mind. Socrates and his successors, Plato and Aristotle, taught that virtue is knowledge; goodness, health of the soul; that it is better to suffer injustice than to be guilty of it, that it is wrong to return evil for evil, and that the gods are wise and good. Their cardinal virtues were: wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice.
98:2.7 (1079.4) 古希腊民族和希伯来民族中间的宗教哲学演进，对教会作为塑造教化进步中的一种制度所起的作用，提供了一种对比例示。在巴勒斯坦，人的思想是如此受祭司所控制、受经书所主导，以致哲学和美学完全被湮没在宗教和道德之中。在希腊，祭司和“圣书”的几近完全缺席使得人的心智无拘无束，导致了一场在思想深度方面的惊人发展。但是作为一种个人体验的宗教，却未能与对自然和宇宙实相的智性探索保持同步。		98:2.7 (1079.4) The evolution of religious philosophy among the Hellenic and Hebrew peoples affords a contrastive illustration of the function of the church as an institution in the shaping of cultural progress. In Palestine, human thought was so priest-controlled and scripture-directed that philosophy and aesthetics were entirely submerged in religion and morality. In Greece, the almost complete absence of priests and “sacred scriptures” left the human mind free and unfettered, resulting in a startling development in depth of thought. But religion as a personal experience failed to keep pace with the intellectual probings into the nature and reality of the cosmos.
98:2.8 (1079.5) 在希腊，信仰从属于思考；在巴勒斯坦，思想则受制于信仰。基督教的大多长处是由于它大量借鉴了希伯来人的道德和希腊人的思想。		98:2.8 (1079.5) In Greece, believing was subordinated to thinking; in Palestine, thinking was held subject to believing. Much of the strength of Christianity is due to its having borrowed heavily from both Hebrew morality and Greek thought.
98:2.9 (1079.6) 在巴勒斯坦，宗教教导变得如此具化，以致危害了其进一步发展；在希腊，人的思想变得如此抽象，以致神的观念陷入了一种泛神论猜测的迷雾中，简直就像婆罗门哲学家们所提的非人格性无限者一样。		98:2.9 (1079.6) In Palestine, religious dogma became so crystallized as to jeopardize further growth; in Greece, human thought became so abstract that the concept of God resolved itself into a misty vapor of pantheistic speculation not at all unlike the impersonal Infinity of the Brahman philosophers.
98:2.10 (1079.7) 但这些时期的普通人却无法把握包含了自我认知和抽象神灵的希腊哲学，他们也不太感兴趣；他们宁愿渴求救赎的应许，外加一位能倾听他们祈祷的人格神。他们放逐了哲学家，迫害了撒冷教派的余民，这两种教义已变得如此混杂，以致为那种可怕迷陷于神秘教派的蠢行做好了准备，这些神秘教派后来传遍了地中海各地。厄琉西斯秘教从奥林匹斯众神中形成，一种希腊版本的丰产崇拜；狄俄尼索斯自然崇拜也兴盛起来；诸多教派之上乘者是俄耳普斯兄弟会，其道德说教和救赎应许对许多人产生了巨大的吸引力。		98:2.10 (1079.7) But the average men of these times could not grasp, nor were they much interested in, the Greek philosophy of self-realization and an abstract Deity; they rather craved promises of salvation, coupled with a personal God who could hear their prayers. They exiled the philosophers, persecuted the remnants of the Salem cult, both doctrines having become much blended, and made ready for that terrible orgiastic plunge into the follies of the mystery cults which were then overspreading the Mediterranean lands. The Eleusinian mysteries grew up within the Olympian pantheon, a Greek version of the worship of fertility; Dionysus nature worship flourished; the best of the cults was the Orphic brotherhood, whose moral preachments and promises of salvation made a great appeal to many.
98:2.11 (1080.1) 整个希腊都卷入了这些获得救赎的全新方法中，卷入了这些情感炽烈的仪式中。没有其他民族曾在如此短的时间内达到过如此充满艺术性哲学的高度；也没有其他民族曾创造出如此一个实际没有神灵、完全没有人类救赎应许的先进伦理体系；没有其他民族曾像这些冲向神秘教派疯狂漩涡中的希腊人这样，如此快速、深入而猛烈陷入这种充满智性停滞、道德堕落和灵性贫瘠的深渊中。		98:2.11 (1080.1) All Greece became involved in these new methods of attaining salvation, these emotional and fiery ceremonials. No nation ever attained such heights of artistic philosophy in so short a time; none ever created such an advanced system of ethics practically without Deity and entirely devoid of the promise of human salvation; no nation ever plunged so quickly, deeply, and violently into such depths of intellectual stagnation, moral depravity, and spiritual poverty as these same Greek peoples when they flung themselves into the mad whirl of the mystery cults.
98:2.12 (1080.2) 宗教没有哲学的支撑已存续了许久，但鲜有哲学能同样未与宗教形成某种认同而长久存续下来。哲学之于宗教，就如同观念之于行动一样。但理想的人类状态却是哲学、宗教和科学在这当中通过智慧、信仰和经验的联合作用而熔合成一个富有意涵的统一体中。		98:2.12 (1080.2) Religions have long endured without philosophical support, but few philosophies, as such, have long persisted without some identification with religion. Philosophy is to religion as conception is to action. But the ideal human estate is that in which philosophy, religion, and science are welded into a meaningful unity by the conjoined action of wisdom, faith, and experience.
3. 罗马的麦基洗德教导 ^top		3. The Melchizedek Teachings in Rome ^top
98:3.1 (1080.3) 拉丁人从较早期崇拜家族神的宗教形式转入到对战神玛尔斯的部落敬畏，自然而然地，其后来的宗教与希腊人和婆罗门的智性体系或是几个其他民族更为灵性的宗教相比，更多是一种政治惯例。		98:3.1 (1080.3) Having grown out of the earlier religious forms of worship of the family gods into the tribal reverence for Mars, the god of war, it was natural that the later religion of the Latins was more of a political observance than were the intellectual systems of the Greeks and Brahmans or the more spiritual religions of several other peoples.
98:3.2 (1080.4) 在基督前第六世纪期间麦基洗德福音伟大的一神教复兴中，撒冷传教士中很少有人深入到意大利，而那些深入的人也未能克服迅速扩张的伊特鲁里亚祭司阶层及其全新诸神和圣殿谱系的影响，所有这一切组成了罗马的国教。拉丁部落的这种宗教不像希腊人的宗教那样琐屑腐败，也不像希伯来人的宗教那样严酷暴虐；惯例中一大部分是由单纯的形式、誓约和禁忌组成。		98:3.2 (1080.4) In the great monotheistic renaissance of Melchizedek’s gospel during the sixth century before Christ, too few of the Salem missionaries penetrated Italy, and those who did were unable to overcome the influence of the rapidly spreading Etruscan priesthood with its new galaxy of gods and temples, all of which became organized into the Roman state religion. This religion of the Latin tribes was not trivial and venal like that of the Greeks, neither was it austere and tyrannical like that of the Hebrews; it consisted for the most part in the observance of mere forms, vows, and taboos.
98:3.3 (1080.5) 罗马宗教被来自希腊的泛文化输入极大影响了，最终奥林匹斯诸神中大多被移植并结合到了拉丁人的万神殿中。希腊人长期崇拜家庭炉灶中的火——即赫斯提是童贞女灶神；维斯塔则是罗马的女灶神。宙斯变成了朱庇特，阿芙洛荻特变成了维纳斯；依次类推，许多都是经由奥林匹斯神祗而来的。		98:3.3 (1080.5) Roman religion was greatly influenced by extensive cultural importations from Greece. Eventually most of the Olympian gods were transplanted and incorporated into the Latin pantheon. The Greeks long worshiped the fire of the family hearth—Hestia was the virgin goddess of the hearth; Vesta was the Roman goddess of the home. Zeus became Jupiter; Aphrodite, Venus; and so on down through the many Olympian deities.
98:3.4 (1080.6) 罗马青年的宗教入门，是他们庄严奉献于国家服务的时刻。宣誓及获得公民身份，实际上是宗教仪式。拉丁民族保留了圣殿、祭坛和圣堂，在危急之时便会求问神谕。他们保留了英雄的遗骨，以及后来基督教圣徒的遗骨。		98:3.4 (1080.6) The religious initiation of Roman youths was the occasion of their solemn consecration to the service of the state. Oaths and admissions to citizenship were in reality religious ceremonies. The Latin peoples maintained temples, altars, and shrines and, in a crisis, would consult the oracles. They preserved the bones of heroes and later on those of the Christian saints.
98:3.5 (1080.7) 这种正式而毫无情感形式的伪宗教爱国主义注定会崩溃，恰如希腊人高度智性的艺术崇拜在神秘教派炽烈而充满深情的崇拜之前衰落一样。这些压倒性教派中最伟大的一个，便是圣母教这一神秘宗教，在那些日子里它拥有一个总部，恰巧在当今罗马圣彼得教堂的建址之上。		98:3.5 (1080.7) This formal and unemotional form of pseudoreligious patriotism was doomed to collapse, even as the highly intellectual and artistic worship of the Greeks had gone down before the fervid and deeply emotional worship of the mystery cults. The greatest of these devastating cults was the mystery religion of the Mother of God sect, which had its headquarters, in those days, on the exact site of the present church of St. Peter’s in Rome.
98:3.6 (1080.8) 新兴的罗马国家在政治上征服了埃及、希腊和黎凡特，但反过来却被这些地方的教派、典礼、秘仪和神观念所征服了。这些输入的教派继续在整个罗马国家兴盛到奥古斯都时代，奥古斯都纯粹出于政治和民事原因，做出了英勇而大致成功的努力，去摧毁诸多秘仪，复兴旧有的政治宗教。		98:3.6 (1080.8) The emerging Roman state conquered politically but was in turn conquered by the cults, rituals, mysteries, and god concepts of Egypt, Greece, and the Levant. These imported cults continued to flourish throughout the Roman state up to the time of Augustus, who, purely for political and civic reasons, made a heroic and somewhat successful effort to destroy the mysteries and revive the older political religion.
98:3.7 (1081.1) 国教的一位祭司告诉奥古斯都，早前的撒冷导师们试图传播一神、即一位主掌所有超自然存有的最终神灵之教义；这一观念紧紧抓了这位皇帝，以致他建造了许多圣殿，令它们广存许多美丽的雕像，重组了国家祭司阶层，重建了国教，任命自己担当所有人的大祭司，作为皇帝他毫不犹豫宣称自己为至高神。		98:3.7 (1081.1) One of the priests of the state religion told Augustus of the earlier attempts of the Salem teachers to spread the doctrine of one God, a final Deity presiding over all supernatural beings; and this idea took such a firm hold on the emperor that he built many temples, stocked them well with beautiful images, reorganized the state priesthood, re-established the state religion, appointed himself acting high priest of all, and as emperor did not hesitate to proclaim himself the supreme god.
98:3.8 (1081.2) 这一包含奥古斯都崇拜的新宗教在他有生之年在整个帝国兴盛起来并得以遵行，除了在犹太人的故乡巴勒斯坦以外。这一包含人类诸神的时代，一直延续到官方罗马教派拥有了一个包含四十多位人类神祗的名册之时，他们都声称奇迹般的出身及其他超人的特质。		98:3.8 (1081.2) This new religion of Augustus worship flourished and was observed throughout the empire during his lifetime except in Palestine, the home of the Jews. And this era of the human gods continued until the official Roman cult had a roster of more than twoscore self-elevated human deities, all claiming miraculous births and other superhuman attributes.
98:3.9 (1081.3) 逐渐减少的撒冷信徒群体的背水一战是由一个最为热切的传道者群体犬儒派所做出的，他们劝诫罗马人放弃其狂野愚蠢的宗教仪式，回归到一种体现麦基洗德福音的崇拜形式中，因为它经由与希腊哲学相接触而被篡改和玷污了。但大多数人拒绝了犬儒派；他们宁愿陷入秘教的仪式中，后者不仅提供了个人救赎的希望，也满足了消遣、刺激和娱乐的渴望。		98:3.9 (1081.3) The last stand of the dwindling band of Salem believers was made by an earnest group of preachers, the Cynics, who exhorted the Romans to abandon their wild and senseless religious rituals and return to a form of worship embodying Melchizedek’s gospel as it had been modified and contaminated through contact with the philosophy of the Greeks. But the people at large rejected the Cynics; they preferred to plunge into the rituals of the mysteries, which not only offered hopes of personal salvation but also gratified the desire for diversion, excitement, and entertainment.
4. 神秘教派 ^top		4. The Mystery Cults ^top
98:4.1 (1081.4) 希腊罗马世界的大多数人失去了他们原来的家教和国教，由于不能或不愿去掌握希腊哲学的意涵，就将其注意力转向了来自埃及和黎凡特的引人入胜而又充满情感的神秘教派。普通人渴望救赎的应许 -- 即对今生的宗教安慰以及对死后不朽的希望保证。		98:4.1 (1081.4) The majority of people in the Greco-Roman world, having lost their primitive family and state religions and being unable or unwilling to grasp the meaning of Greek philosophy, turned their attention to the spectacular and emotional mystery cults from Egypt and the Levant. The common people craved promises of salvation—religious consolation for today and assurances of hope for immortality after death.
98:4.2 (1081.5) 变得最为流行的三种神秘教派是：		98:4.2 (1081.5) The three mystery cults which became most popular were:
98:4.3 (1081.6) 1. 弗里吉亚人对库伯勒及其子阿提斯的崇拜。		98:4.3 (1081.6) 1. The Phrygian cult of Cybele and her son Attis.
98:4.4 (1081.7) 2. 埃及人对欧西里斯及其母伊西斯的崇拜。		98:4.4 (1081.7) 2. The Egyptian cult of Osiris and his mother Isis.
98:4.5 (1081.8) 3. 伊朗人将密特拉作为有罪人类救赎者而崇拜的教派。		98:4.5 (1081.8) 3. The Iranian cult of the worship of Mithras as the savior and redeemer of sinful mankind.
98:4.6 (1081.9) 弗里吉亚人和埃及人的秘教教导神子（分别是阿提斯和欧西里斯）经历了死亡并凭借神力而复活，并进一步教导所有被适当引入秘教的人，以及所有虔诚庆祝神死而复活周年纪念的人，将会由此而成为其神性本质及其不朽性的分享者。		98:4.6 (1081.9) The Phrygian and Egyptian mysteries taught that the divine son (respectively Attis and Osiris) had experienced death and had been resurrected by divine power, and further that all who were properly initiated into the mystery, and who reverently celebrated the anniversary of the god’s death and resurrection, would thereby become partakers of his divine nature and his immortality.
98:4.7 (1081.10) 弗里吉亚人的仪式是壮观的，但却品位低下；他们的血腥节日表明了这些黎凡特人的秘教变得何等低下与原始。最为神圣的日子是黑色星期五，即“血日”，纪念阿提斯的自阉而死。在庆祝阿提斯之牺牲与死亡三天之后，节日忽又转向了欢庆其复活的狂欢。		98:4.7 (1081.10) The Phrygian ceremonies were imposing but degrading; their bloody festivals indicate how degraded and primitive these Levantine mysteries became. The most holy day was Black Friday, the “day of blood,” commemorating the self-inflicted death of Attis. After three days of the celebration of the sacrifice and death of Attis the festival was turned to joy in honor of his resurrection.
98:4.8 (1082.1) 崇拜伊西斯和欧西里斯的仪式，比弗里吉亚人崇拜的那些礼仪要更为精炼感人些。这一埃及人的仪式是围绕古时尼罗河神的传说建立起来的，尼罗河神死而复活，这种观念来自于对每年植物生长的往复停止，紧接着又万物复苏的观察。对这些神秘教派之遵行的迷乱，及其仪式的放荡，时常是令人厌恶的，而后者被认为可导向对神性实现所需的“热情”。		98:4.8 (1082.1) The rituals of the worship of Isis and Osiris were more refined and impressive than were those of the Phrygian cult. This Egyptian ritual was built around the legend of the Nile god of old, a god who died and was resurrected, which concept was derived from the observation of the annually recurring stoppage of vegetation growth followed by the springtime restoration of all living plants. The frenzy of the observance of these mystery cults and the orgies of their ceremonials, which were supposed to lead up to the “enthusiasm” of the realization of divinity, were sometimes most revolting.
5. 密特拉教 ^top		5. The Cult of Mithras ^top
98:5.1 (1082.2) 弗里吉亚人和埃及人的秘教最终在所有神秘教派中最伟大的密特拉崇拜面前让路了。密特拉教对广阔的人性产生了吸引力，并逐渐取代了它的两个前驱。密特拉教通过在黎凡特征召的罗马军团之宣传而传遍了罗马帝国，该教在帝国内十分流行，因为他们将这一信仰带到了他们所到之处。而这种新的宗教仪式较早先神秘教派而言，是一种极大的改进。		98:5.1 (1082.2) The Phrygian and Egyptian mysteries eventually gave way before the greatest of all the mystery cults, the worship of Mithras. The Mithraic cult made its appeal to a wide range of human nature and gradually supplanted both of its predecessors. Mithraism spread over the Roman Empire through the propagandizing of Roman legions recruited in the Levant, where this religion was the vogue, for they carried this belief wherever they went. And this new religious ritual was a great improvement over the earlier mystery cults.
98:5.2 (1082.3) 密特拉教兴起于伊朗，并在其故乡长久持续了下来，尽管受到了琐罗亚斯德追随者们的激进反对。但到了密特拉教到达罗马之时，它已通过吸收琐罗亚斯德的许多教导而得到了极大改进。主要是通过密特拉教，琐罗亚斯德的宗教才对后来出现的基督教施加了一种影响。		98:5.2 (1082.3) The cult of Mithras arose in Iran and long persisted in its homeland despite the militant opposition of the followers of Zoroaster. But by the time Mithraism reached Rome, it had become greatly improved by the absorption of many of Zoroaster’s teachings. It was chiefly through the Mithraic cult that Zoroaster’s religion exerted an influence upon later appearing Christianity.
98:5.3 (1082.4) 密特拉教描绘了一位战神诞生于一块巨大岩石之中，从事于勇敢的壮举，用他的箭射中一块岩石，使得水从中喷涌而出。有过一场洪水，有一个人乘一只特别建造的船从中逃出，有过一场最后的晚餐，密特拉在他升天前与太阳神一起庆祝。这位太阳神，无敌者索尔是琐罗亚斯德教阿胡拉•马兹达神祗概念的一种退化。密特拉被构想为太阳神与黑暗神争斗中幸存下来的勇士。通过承认他杀死了神秘的圣牛，密特拉得以变得不朽，并被提升到了人类与天上众神之间仲裁者的地位。		98:5.3 (1082.4) The Mithraic cult portrayed a militant god taking origin in a great rock, engaging in valiant exploits, and causing water to gush forth from a rock struck with his arrows. There was a flood from which one man escaped in a specially built boat and a last supper which Mithras celebrated with the sun-god before he ascended into the heavens. This sun-god, or Sol Invictus, was a degeneration of the Ahura-Mazda deity concept of Zoroastrianism. Mithras was conceived as the surviving champion of the sun-god in his struggle with the god of darkness. And in recognition of his slaying the mythical sacred bull, Mithras was made immortal, being exalted to the station of intercessor for the human race among the gods on high.
98:5.4 (1082.5) 该教的信徒在洞穴或其他秘密地点崇拜，唱诵诗歌、咕哝魔法，啖食祭献动物的生肉，饮食献血。他们一日崇拜三次，每周的太阳神日有特别的仪式，并在每年十二月二十五日的密特拉节有最为精细的庆祝。据信分享圣餐会确保永生，即在死后会立即前往密特拉的怀抱，在那儿逗留于极乐之中，直到审判之日。在审判之日，密特拉的天钥将会打开天堂之门迎接那些虔信者；届时，在密特拉重返世间之际，所有未受洗礼的生者和死者将会被毁灭。据教导，当人死时，他会到密特拉面前接受审判，在世界末日时，密特拉将会召唤坟墓中的死者去面临最后的审判。邪恶者会被火所毁灭，正义者会与密特拉永远统治下去。		98:5.4 (1082.5) The adherents of this cult worshiped in caves and other secret places, chanting hymns, mumbling magic, eating the flesh of the sacrificial animals, and drinking the blood. Three times a day they worshiped, with special weekly ceremonials on the day of the sun-god and with the most elaborate observance of all on the annual festival of Mithras, December twenty-fifth. It was believed that the partaking of the sacrament ensured eternal life, the immediate passing, after death, to the bosom of Mithras, there to tarry in bliss until the judgment day. On the judgment day the Mithraic keys of heaven would unlock the gates of Paradise for the reception of the faithful; whereupon all the unbaptized of the living and the dead would be annihilated upon the return of Mithras to earth. It was taught that, when a man died, he went before Mithras for judgment, and that at the end of the world Mithras would summon all the dead from their graves to face the last judgment. The wicked would be destroyed by fire, and the righteous would reign with Mithras forever.
98:5.5 (1082.6) 起初它只是一种针对男人的宗教，信徒们可被相继引入七个等级。后来，信徒的妻子和女儿们也被允许进入与密特拉圣殿相毗邻的大母神圣殿。女人的崇拜是密特拉仪式与弗里吉亚人的库柏勒（即阿提斯之母）崇拜典礼的混合。		98:5.5 (1082.6) At first it was a religion only for men, and there were seven different orders into which believers could be successively initiated. Later on, the wives and daughters of believers were admitted to the temples of the Great Mother, which adjoined the Mithraic temples. The women’s cult was a mixture of Mithraic ritual and the ceremonies of the Phrygian cult of Cybele, the mother of Attis.
6. 密特拉教与基督教 ^top		6. Mithraism and Christianity ^top
98:6.1 (1083.1) 在神秘教派和基督教到来之前，个人性宗教很难作为一种独立的制度在北非和欧洲的开化地中发展起来；它更多是一种家族性、城邦性、政治性和帝国性事务。古希腊时期的希腊人从未演进出一种集中化的崇拜体系；仪式是地方性的；他们没有任何祭司阶层，也没有任何“圣书”。正如罗马人一样，他们的宗教制度缺乏一种强有力的驱动媒介来保存较高的道德和灵性价值。尽管宗教的制度化通常会有损于其灵性品质是真实的，但还有一个事实是，迄今还没有任何一个宗教在没有或大或小某种程度制度性组织的协助下成功存续下来。		98:6.1 (1083.1) Prior to the coming of the mystery cults and Christianity, personal religion hardly developed as an independent institution in the civilized lands of North Africa and Europe; it was more of a family, city-state, political, and imperial affair. The Hellenic Greeks never evolved a centralized worship system; the ritual was local; they had no priesthood and no “sacred book.” Much as the Romans, their religious institutions lacked a powerful driving agency for the preservation of higher moral and spiritual values. While it is true that the institutionalization of religion has usually detracted from its spiritual quality, it is also a fact that no religion has thus far succeeded in surviving without the aid of institutional organization of some degree, greater or lesser.
98:6.2 (1083.2) 西方的宗教就这样逐渐凋萎，直至怀疑派、犬儒派、伊壁鸠鲁派和斯多葛派的时代，但最为重要的是，直至密特拉教与保罗新建基督教之间巨大竞争的时代。		98:6.2 (1083.2) Occidental religion thus languished until the days of the Skeptics, Cynics, Epicureans, and Stoics, but most important of all, until the times of the great contest between Mithraism and Paul’s new religion of Christianity.
98:6.3 (1083.3) 在基督后第三世纪，密特拉教和基督教的教堂在外表及其仪式特征方面都十分相似。这类崇拜地点大多都是地下的，二者都包含了祭坛，其背景各自描画了将救赎带给罪恶深重人类的救主之受难。		98:6.3 (1083.3) During the third century after Christ, Mithraic and Christian churches were very similar both in appearance and in the character of their ritual. A majority of such places of worship were underground, and both contained altars whose backgrounds variously depicted the sufferings of the savior who had brought salvation to a sin-cursed human race.
98:6.4 (1083.4) 密特拉教崇拜者在进入圣殿时，要将其手指浸入圣水之中，这一直是其做法。由于在某些地区有些人一度曾同属于上述两个宗教，因此他们便将这一习俗介绍进了罗马周围的大多数基督教堂中。两个宗教都采用了洗礼，并分享由饼和酒所组成的圣餐。密特拉教和基督教之间的一大差异，除了密特拉和耶稣的品性以外，在于一个是鼓励好战态度，而另一个则是极为和平的。密特拉教对其他宗教（除开后来的基督教）的容忍导致了其最终的毁灭。但在这两者斗争中的决定性因素在于，基督教信仰接纳女人进入全面会员资格当中。		98:6.4 (1083.4) Always had it been the practice of Mithraic worshipers, on entering the temple, to dip their fingers in holy water. And since in some districts there were those who at one time belonged to both religions, they introduced this custom into the majority of the Christian churches in the vicinity of Rome. Both religions employed baptism and partook of the sacrament of bread and wine. The one great difference between Mithraism and Christianity, aside from the characters of Mithras and Jesus, was that the one encouraged militarism while the other was ultrapacific. Mithraism’s tolerance for other religions (except later Christianity) led to its final undoing. But the deciding factor in the struggle between the two was the admission of women into the full fellowship of the Christian faith.
98:6.5 (1083.5) 最后，名义上的基督教信仰主导了西方。希腊哲学提供了具有伦理价值的观念；密特拉教则提供了具有崇拜惯例的仪式；而基督教就其本身而言，则提供了保留道德价值和社会价值的手段。		98:6.5 (1083.5) In the end the nominal Christian faith dominated the Occident. Greek philosophy supplied the concepts of ethical value; Mithraism, the ritual of worship observance; and Christianity, as such, the technique for the conservation of moral and social values.
7. 基督教 ^top		7. The Christian Religion ^top
98:7.1 (1083.6) 造物之子化身为凡人肉身之形，将他自身赠与到玉苒厦(Urantia)的人类身上，并非是为了使一个愤怒之神平息下来，反而是为了使全人类都能认识到上父之爱，认识到他们与神的子女关系。毕竟，即便是那位赎罪教义的伟大倡导者也意识到这一真理的某些内容，因为他曾宣称“神在基督里叫世人与自己和好”。		98:7.1 (1083.6) A Creator Son did not incarnate in the likeness of mortal flesh and bestow himself upon the humanity of Urantia to reconcile an angry God but rather to win all mankind to the recognition of the Father’s love and to the realization of their sonship with God. After all, even the great advocate of the atonement doctrine realized something of this truth, for he declared that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.”
98:7.2 (1084.1) 本篇的范围不是去探讨基督教的起源和传播。只说一点就够了，它是围绕拿撒勒的耶稣这个人而得以建立起来的，后者即内巴顿的迈克尔圣子之人性化身，在玉苒厦(Urantia)被称为基督、受膏者。基督教由这位加利利人的追随者们传遍了黎凡特和西方，他们的传教热情可比得上其著名前人塞特族人和撒冷族人，也可与其热切的亚洲同代人、佛教导师们相匹敌。		98:7.2 (1084.1) It is not the province of this paper to deal with the origin and dissemination of the Christian religion. Suffice it to say that it is built around the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the humanly incarnate Michael Son of Nebadon, known to Urantia as the Christ, the anointed one. Christianity was spread throughout the Levant and Occident by the followers of this Galilean, and their missionary zeal equaled that of their illustrious predecessors, the Sethites and Salemites, as well as that of their earnest Asiatic contemporaries, the Buddhist teachers.
98:7.3 (1084.2) 基督信仰作为一种玉苒厦(Urantia)的信仰体系，是通过以下诸多教导、影响、信仰、教派以及亲身个人态度的合成而兴起的：		98:7.3 (1084.2) The Christian religion, as a Urantian system of belief, arose through the compounding of the following teachings, influences, beliefs, cults, and personal individual attitudes:
98:7.4 (1084.3) 1. 麦基洗德教导，这是过去四千年中兴起的所有东西方宗教中的一个基本要素。		98:7.4 (1084.3) 1. The Melchizedek teachings, which are a basic factor in all the religions of Occident and Orient that have arisen in the last four thousand years.
98:7.5 (1084.4) 2. 希伯来人的道德、伦理、神学以及信仰天命和至高雅威的体系。		98:7.5 (1084.4) 2. The Hebraic system of morality, ethics, theology, and belief in both Providence and the supreme Yahweh.
98:7.6 (1084.5) 3. 琐罗亚斯德教关于宇宙善恶之争的观念，它已将其印记留在了犹太教和密特拉教之上。经由伴随密特拉教与基督教斗争中的长期接触，这位伊朗先知的教义成了决定耶稣教导希腊化和拉丁化版本所含教条、原则和宇宙论之神学与哲学框架结构的一个强有力因素。		98:7.6 (1084.5) 3. The Zoroastrian conception of the struggle between cosmic good and evil, which had already left its imprint on both Judaism and Mithraism. Through prolonged contact attendant upon the struggles between Mithraism and Christianity, the doctrines of the Iranian prophet became a potent factor in determining the theologic and philosophic cast and structure of the dogmas, tenets, and cosmology of the Hellenized and Latinized versions of the teachings of Jesus.
98:7.7 (1084.6) 4. 神秘教派，尤其是密特拉教，也包括弗里吉亚人教派中的大母神崇拜。甚至连耶稣在玉苒厦(Urantia)上降生的传说，也受到了伊朗救主兼英雄密特拉奇迹降生之罗马版本的熏染，后者的降赠与间据传仅被几个极有天赋的牧羊人所见证了，他们被天使们告知了这一即将到来的事件。		98:7.7 (1084.6) 4. The mystery cults, especially Mithraism but also the worship of the Great Mother in the Phrygian cult. Even the legends of the birth of Jesus on Urantia became tainted with the Roman version of the miraculous birth of the Iranian savior-hero, Mithras, whose advent on earth was supposed to have been witnessed by only a handful of gift-bearing shepherds who had been informed of this impending event by angels.
98:7.8 (1084.7) 5. 约书亚•本•约瑟夫的人世生活这一历史事实，拿撒勒的耶稣作为受享荣耀的基督、神之子的真实性。		98:7.8 (1084.7) 5. The historic fact of the human life of Joshua ben Joseph, the reality of Jesus of Nazareth as the glorified Christ, the Son of God.
98:7.9 (1084.8) 6. 塔苏斯的保罗之个人观点。应被记录下来的是，在他的青年时期，密特拉教是塔苏斯的主导宗教。保罗很少会想到，他对其皈依者出于善意的书信有朝一日仍会被后来的基督徒看作“神之话语”。这些出于善意的导师不应当为其作品被后世继承者们所利用而负责。		98:7.9 (1084.8) 6. The personal viewpoint of Paul of Tarsus. And it should be recorded that Mithraism was the dominant religion of Tarsus during his adolescence. Paul little dreamed that his well-intentioned letters to his converts would someday be regarded by still later Christians as the “word of God.” Such well-meaning teachers must not be held accountable for the use made of their writings by later-day successors.
98:7.10 (1084.9) 7. 古希腊民族的哲学思想。从亚历山大和安提阿，经由希腊而传到锡拉库萨和罗马。希腊人的哲学与保罗版本的基督教更为协调一致，好过与任何其他现存宗教体系的协调程度，这成了基督教在西方成功的一个重要因素。希腊人的哲学，加上保罗的神学，还形成了欧洲伦理学的基础。		98:7.10 (1084.9) 7. The philosophic thought of the Hellenistic peoples, from Alexandria and Antioch through Greece to Syracuse and Rome. The philosophy of the Greeks was more in harmony with Paul’s version of Christianity than with any other current religious system and became an important factor in the success of Christianity in the Occident. Greek philosophy, coupled with Paul’s theology, still forms the basis of European ethics.
98:7.11 (1084.10) 随着耶稣的原初教导渗入西方，它们便变得西方化了，它们开始失去了对所有种族及各种人的潜在普遍吸引力。今日的基督教已成了一种极好适应于白种人社会、经济和政治习俗的宗教。它很久以前便不再是耶稣的宗教了，尽管它仍英勇地向那些真诚寻求追随其教导之个人描绘了一个关于耶稣的美好宗教。它将耶稣荣耀化为基督，一位来自于神的弥赛亚受膏者，但在很大程度上却忘记了主的亲身福音：神的父亲身份和所有人的普遍兄弟情谊。		98:7.11 (1084.10) As the original teachings of Jesus penetrated the Occident, they became Occidentalized, and as they became Occidentalized, they began to lose their potentially universal appeal to all races and kinds of men. Christianity, today, has become a religion well adapted to the social, economic, and political mores of the white races. It has long since ceased to be the religion of Jesus, although it still valiantly portrays a beautiful religion about Jesus to such individuals as sincerely seek to follow in the way of its teaching. It has glorified Jesus as the Christ, the Messianic anointed one from God, but has largely forgotten the Master’s personal gospel: the Fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of all men.
98:7.12 (1085.1) 这便是关于玛可文塔•麦基洗德在玉苒厦(Urantia)上之诸多教导的漫长故事。自从这位内巴顿(Nebadon)的应急圣子将自身赠与到玉苒厦上已近四千年了，在那段时间里，这位“极高神埃尔•埃里昂之祭司”的教导已深入到所有种族和民众当中。玛可文塔成功实现了他非同寻常赠与之目的；当迈克尔准备好在玉苒厦上出现时，神的观念已存于男男女女的心中，这一同样的神观念随着万有之父多样儿女在诸多回旋的空间行星上度过其迷人现世生活而在其鲜活的灵性体验中历久弥新。		98:7.12 (1085.1) And this is the long story of the teachings of Machiventa Melchizedek on Urantia. It is nearly four thousand years since this emergency Son of Nebadon bestowed himself on Urantia, and in that time the teachings of the “priest of El Elyon, the Most High God,” have penetrated to all races and peoples. And Machiventa was successful in achieving the purpose of his unusual bestowal; when Michael made ready to appear on Urantia, the God concept was existent in the hearts of men and women, the same God concept that still flames anew in the living spiritual experience of the manifold children of the Universal Father as they live their intriguing temporal lives on the whirling planets of space.
98:7.13 (1085.2) [由一位内巴顿(Nebadon)的麦基洗德所呈献。]		98:7.13 (1085.2) [Presented by a Melchizedek of Nebadon.]