Old Mr Clare was a clergyman of a type which, within the last twenty years, has wellnigh dropped out of contemporary life. A spiritual descendant in the direct line from Wycliff, Huss, Luther, Calvin; an Evangelical of the Evangelicals, a Conversionist, a man of Apostolic simplicity in life and thought, he had in his raw youth made up his mind once for all on the deeper questions of existence, and admitted no further reasoning on them thenceforward. He was regarded even by those of his own date and school of thinking as extreme; while, on the other hand, those totally opposed to him were unwillingly won to admiration for his thoroughness, and for the remarkable power he showed in dismissing all question as to principles in his energy for applying them. He loved Paul of Tarsus, liked St John, hated St James as much as he dared, and regarded with mixed feelings Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. The New Testament was less a Christiad than a Pauliad to his intelligence - less an argument than an intoxication. His creed of determinism was such that it almost amounted to a vice, and quite amounted, on its negative side, to a renunciative philosophy which had cousinship with that of Schopenhauer and Leopardi. He despised the Canons and Rubric, swore by the Articles, and deemed himself consistent through the whole category which in a way he might have been. One thing he certainly was - sincere.
在最近二十年里，老克萊爾先生這樣的牧師都差不多在現(xiàn)代人的生活里消失了。他是從威克利夫、胡斯、馬丁·路德和加爾文一派傳下來的真正傳人，福音教派中的福音教徒，一個勸人信教的傳教士，他是一個在生活和思想方面都像基督使徒一樣簡樸的人，在他毫無人生經(jīng)驗的年輕時候，對于深奧的存在問題就拿定了主意，再也不許有別的理由改變它們。和他同時代的人，還有和他一派的人，都認為他是一個極端的人；同時在另一方面，那些完全反對他的人，看到他那樣徹底，看到他在傾注全部的熱情運用原理時對所有的疑問都棄之不顧，表現(xiàn)出非同尋常的毅力，也不得不對他表示尊敬佩服。他愛的是塔蘇斯的保羅，喜歡的是圣約翰，恨得最厲害的是圣詹姆斯，對提摩西、提多和腓力門則是既愛又恨的復雜感情。按照他的理解，《新約全書》與其說是記載基督的經(jīng)典，不如說是宣揚保羅的史書——與其說是為了說服人，不如說是為了麻醉人。他深深地信仰宿命論，以至于這種信仰都差不多成了一種毒害，在消極方面簡直就和放棄哲學一樣，和叔本華與雷奧巴狄的哲學同出一源。他瞧不起法典和禮拜規(guī)程，卻又堅信宗教條例，并且自己認為在這類問題上是始終如一的——這從某方面說他是做到了的。有一點肯定如此，那就是他的誠實。

To the aesthetic, sensuous, pagan pleasure in natural life and lush womanhood which his son Angel had lately been experiencing in Var Vale, his temper would have been antipathetic in a high degree, had he either by inquiry or imagination been able to apprehend it. Once upon a time Angel had been so unlucky as to say to his father, in a moment of irritation, that it might have resulted far better for mankind if Greece had been the source of the religion of modern civilization, and not Palestine; and his father's grief was of that blank description which could not realize that there might lurk a thousandth part of a truth, much less a half truth or a whole truth, in such a proposition. He had simply preached austerely at Angel for some time after. But the kindness of his heart was such that he never resented anything for long, and welcomed his son to-day with a smile which was as candidly sweet as a child's.
在瓦爾谷，他兒子克萊爾近來過的是自然的生活，接觸的是鮮美的女性，得到的是美學的、感官的和異教的快樂，假如他通過打聽或者想象知道了，按他的脾性對兒子是會毫不留情的。曾經(jīng)有一次，安琪爾因為煩惱不幸對他的父親說，假如現(xiàn)代文明的宗教是從希臘起源的，不是從巴勒斯坦起源的，結(jié)果可能對人類要好得多；他的父親聽了這句實實在在的話，不禁痛苦萬分，一點兒也沒有想到這句話里面會有干分之一的真理，更不用說會認識到里面有一半的真理或者是百分之百的真理了。后來，他不分青紅皂白地把兒子狠狠地教訓了好些日子。不過，他的內(nèi)心是那樣慈愛，對任何事情也不會恨得很久，看見兒子回家，就微笑著歡迎他，真誠可愛得像一個孩子。