By gaining independence from Great Britain, the former colonists created the United States of America and ushered in the modern age of international relations.
美洲殖民者由大英帝国独立出来，建立了美国，也迈入了国际关系的现代纪元。
By "modern age" I refer to the breakup of European colonial empires - a process begun in America even while the British Empire continued to expand elsewhere - and the formation of non-monarchial governments. Inspired by the American example, dozens of colonies or sections of empires have attempted to throw off the yoke of subservience to foreign governments and create a new, independent, and "republican" government.
所谓的「现代纪元」我指的是欧洲殖民帝国的瓦解(其过程开始于美国，虽然当时大英帝国仍然在其它地方扩展其殖民地)，以及非君主专制政府的出现。藉由美国独立的启发，数十个殖民地和帝国的属地致力于挣脱外国政府的枷锁，以建立崭新独立的「共和」政府。
We must, therefore, carefully examine the process by which British subjects in North America gained their independence and established a constitutional republic. At the same time, we need to engage in a rigorous critique of this epoch-making development. Otherwise, we shall misunderstand what happened and fail to learn the proper lessons.
因此，我们要仔细审视北美的英国属地独立及建造宪政共和体制的过程，同时我们要用严格的批判眼光来看待这项划时代的发展，否则我们将误解曾发生的事并无法学取正确的教训。
Spiritual Decline 属灵上的衰退
- The Half-Way Covenant 半路圣约
As the years passed, the Puritans and their neighbors prospered greatly. Perhaps because of growing comfort, the offspring of the original settlers lost their zeal for God and his kingdom. Many of them they became immersed in the quest for wealth and security. Soon, their religious leaders realized that the children of many Christians lacked evidence of true and saving faith in Christ. That posed a serious political and ecclesiastical crisis. Remember that only those who could give a "credible profession of faith" in Christ - one backed by a change in life - could become church members. Since the "Covenant" governing society included only church members, the pool of potential voters and office-holders was rapidly shrinking. Soon the state would have no one eligible to govern it!
经过一些年之后，清教徒与他们邻近的人有极繁荣的发展。或许因为他们过得越来越舒适，初期垦荒者的子孙们失去了对神以及牠的国度的热心，许多人沉溺于追求财富和金钱带来的安全感。不久之后，他们的宗教领袖了解到许多基督徒的子女缺乏对基督的真实及救赎的信心表现，这个情况造成一场政治及教会的危机。记得清教徒认为只有那些对基督有「可靠的信心」的人，也就是以生命的改变来证明其信心的人，可以成为教会的一员。既然以「圣约」治理的社会只能由教会成员组成，可能成为投票者及行政者的人就迅速的减少，很快地政府就会没有合法的人来统治了。
Over the protests of many pastors, in 1662 a compromise emerged (later called the Half-Way Covenant): Allow children of believers to remain as members of the church and therefore under its care and discipline. Their children, likewise, could be presented for baptism as infants but, like their parents, could not partake of the Lord's Supper until they had shown evidence of sincere faith in Christ. Thus, the church remained "pure" in the sense that only believers received Holy Communion, but the need of the society to be governed by "church members" was met.
在一六六二年，不顾许多牧师的抗议，他们达成一种妥协(后来被称为「半路圣约」)，允许教徒的子女保持教会成员的身份，也因此受教会的照顾与管教。子女们可以在婴孩时受洗，但是如同他们的父母一样，直到他们表现出对基督的真诚信心的凭证时才可以参加圣餐。因此，教会维持着只有信徒方可接受圣礼的「纯正」，另一方面符合了社会必须由「教会成员」来治理的要求。
How do we evaluate this development. Some believe that the harsh experiences of the first-generation Pilgrims and Puritans resulted in "dramatic" conversions, whereas the "steady state religious experiences" of their children lacked the same decisive stage (this is, they had no dramatic conversion experience). According to this theory, the second generation may have been as devout as the first, but their integrity kept them from claiming to have the same kind of crisis-type conversion their parents had undergone and thus required as evidence of true faith. If the Puritans had defined the nature of conversion and true faith differently, their children would perhaps have "qualified" for admission to Holy Communion.
我们如何评断这一种发展？有些人相信第一代新教徒和清教徒的艰苦经验导致「戏剧性」的信教经验，然而他们子女的「稳定宗教经验」缺乏同样的决定性阶段(亦即他们没有戏剧性的宗教信仰经验)。按照这样的理论，第二代也许如第一代同样虔诚，但是诚实性使他们不能宣称具有其父母所经历的危机形态信仰转变，和以此信仰转变作为真正信心的证据。如果清教徒当初所定义「接受信仰的本质和真正的信心」不是那样子的话，他们的子女也许就「有资格」参加圣礼(注：Ehcia之著作，42页)。
On the other hand, this writer believes that the Puritans suffered the consequences of two errors: (1) The belief that Christians could create a New Heaven and a New Earth in America (see below). (2) The practice of infant baptism, which makes the children of believers into "members" of the church of God. The first requires church members to govern society and the second declares (potentially) unconverted adult non-believers as church "members." Thus, the very foundational principle of the state - that it was a covenant between believers and their God - was quickly undermined by this "Half-Way Covenant." It would have been better for the Puritans to rely on the persuasive power of God's word and their own example to influence the political life of the colony. But that would come only later.
另一方面，本书作者相信清教徒犯了两个错误，结果使他们受其害:第一，他们相信可以在美洲建立一个新天新地(见下)；第二，他们实行对婴孩施洗以使信徒的孩子成为神的教会的成员。第一个错误使他们要求教会成员治理社会，第二个错误使他们宣称那些(有可能)不决志的成年非信徒为教会成员。因此，政府的最根本原则，也就是政府是信徒与神的圣约，很快地被这种「半路圣约」给破坏了。如果清教徒当初倚靠神的话之说服力和他们自己的榜样去影响殖民地的政治生活，情况就会比较好，但是到了后来他们才这么做。
- The Salem Witch Trials (1692) 沙仑镇(Salem)巫术案
We have already looked at this unhappy incident in one town of Massachusetts. The trials point towards the widespread use of various occult practices in the Colonies at this time - a most ominous development, for the Bible utterly forbade such activity. When the citizens and leaders of Salem realized that their haste had led to a number of innocent deaths, confidence in their entire religious outlook declined. Even though the religious leaders of the colony had opposed the proceedings, some citizens came to the conclusion that witches did not exist and that, therefore, the world view of the church's leaders was wrong.
我们已经看过这件发生在麻州一个小镇的不幸案例。这个案子针对的是当时在殖民地广泛流行的各种灵媒和巫术，由于圣经对此是绝对禁止的。当沙仑镇的居民和领袖了解到他们的草率导致许多无辜的人死亡后，他们对其整个宗教观点的信心就降低了。尽管殖民地的宗教领袖们曾经反对审判，一些民众则认定巫术不存在，所以教会领袖的世界观是错误的。
- Slavery 蓄奴
The first Africans were brought to American in 1619. Gradually, Africans became slaves and the institution of slavery developed. Before long, it had gripped the South, especially Virginia, so powerfully that slaves formed the basis of the economy, especially in the coastal areas. Colonists in the North and in the western areas, which were more mountainous, did not need slaves as much as did the owners of large plantations growing tobacco, cotton, and indigo.
第一批的非洲人于一六一九年被带到美洲。渐渐地，非洲人成为奴隶，蓄奴因此开始了。不久之后，蓄奴在南方尤其是维吉尼亚州变得非常重要，奴隶成为南方经济的基础，特别是在沿海各地。在北部和西部的地方由于多山，殖民者不像南部那些大片种植烟草、棉花和染料植物的地主需要许多的奴隶。
Slavery received support from most Christians for many years. Throughout the history of the Christian Church up to that time, slavery had not been opposed. Moses had allowed the Israelites to hold Gentile slaves. Christ had not spoken against slavery; Paul had given regulations for the proper relationships between slaves and masters. On the other hand, the Bible contains teachings which would ultimately undermine slavery: All men are created in the image of God - how can they be treated as inferior beings.
长久以来大部分基督徒支持蓄奴，纵观整个的基督教教会历史，直到当时为止蓄奴始终未曾被反对过。摩西曾允许以色列人蓄养外邦奴隶，基督耶稣未曾说过反对蓄奴的话，保罗也曾教导仆人和主人的正确关系。另一方面，圣经里有彻底瓦解奴隶制度的教导：所有的人都是按照神的形象造的，因此奴隶怎么可以被视为较低等的人？
God established marriage - how can Christians participate in a system that usually destroys marriages. Contrary to abolitionist propaganda, Christian slave owners tried to find ways to keep families together. The system as a whole, however, tended to break up marriages. God commands that the laborer be paid - but slaves have to work for nothing. God commands us to love our neighbor as ourself; no one wants to be a slave; no one, therefore, should enslave another.
神设立了婚姻，基督徒怎么会参与一个经常破坏婚姻的蓄奴制度？主张奴隶废除者宣传所有拥有奴隶的人都破坏奴隶的家庭，但拥有奴隶的基督徒其实为了保持奴隶家庭的完整而尝试各种办法。然而，奴隶制度整体而言是易于拆散奴隶的婚姻的。神命令要付酬劳给工作的人，但奴隶却必须工作却无酬劳。神吩咐我们要爱邻舍如爱自己，没有人想要当奴隶，因此没有人应该奴役他人。
A few colonial American Christians, mostly Quakers, began to realize the force of these (and other) truths and to speak out against slavery late in the seventeenth century. The Quakers finally eliminated slavery among their membership by 1775.
十七世纪末时，一些美洲基督徒殖民者，大部分是贵格教派的人(Quakers)，开始了解到这些(和其它的)真理的力量并大声疾呼反对蓄奴。贵格教派的人最后在一七七五年完全铲除了他们的成员中的蓄奴。
Many white Christians tried to allelviate the harshness of slavery by inviting slaves to participate in their worship , as in Williamsburg, Virginia. Clergymen often took the Christian message of God's love and the hope of eternal life to the Negroes.
许多白人基督徒，如在维吉尼亚的威廉斯堡(Williamsburg)的人，为了减轻奴隶所受的虐待之苦，邀请奴隶参加他们的崇拜。神职人员经常将神的爱和永生盼望的基督教信息传讲给黑奴。
Others either participated in slavery or condoned it; some went so far as to mistreat Negro Christians who tried to worship with them. This outrageous behavior led to the formation of separate Negro churches, as the gospel spread among the slave population. The Christian faith provided hope and the power to persevere under trial to many slaves in coming years.
其它的人或参与蓄奴或宽恕蓄奴，有的人过分到虐待与他们一起崇拜的哈黑奴基督徒。这种粗暴的行为导致黑奴组织自己的教会，将福音传播于黑奴之间。基督教信仰为许多黑奴带来希望和力量，在他们后来的困苦中能不屈不挠。
What can we say, however, about the moral state of Christians who allowed slavery to develop. On the one hand, we need to realize that they were creatures of their age, as we are of ours, and that they were partly blinded by the assumptions common to their time. On the other, they should have listened to the arguments of the anti-slavery Quakers and re-considered their practices. This writer believes that the growth of slavery indicates a decline in spiritual vitality among Christians. We know that some slave-holding Anglicans in Virginia forbade their preachers from properly ministering to slaves and from questioning the morality of the institution of slavery; we also know that many of these men seemed to attend church more for the social and economic benefits than for spiritual nourishment.
然而，我们如何说明那些允许蓄奴发展的基督徒他们的道德程度？一方面，我们要了解他们是那个时代的人，如同我们是所处这个时代的人，他们的部分看法受到当时普遍被接受的一些假设所蒙蔽。另一方面，他们当初应该听从贵格教会的人反对蓄奴的呼吁，重新考虑他们蓄奴的行为。我相信蓄奴的蔓延成长指明了基督徒信仰活力的衰退。我们知道一些蓄奴的维吉尼亚州英国国教徒禁止牧师以正当的方式传道给奴隶，也禁止牧师质疑奴隶制度的道德性；我们也知道他们当中的许多人似乎上教堂是为了社交和经济的目的，而非充实精神生活(注：Keillor所着之「This Rebellious House」，51页)。
Was there any alternative to slavery. Economically, the costs had been calculated and demonstrated that paid employees would cost more than slaves. On the other hand, other factors could have played a more prominent role:
是否有其它方式可以取代蓄奴？就经济的观点，曾有人计算及证明过雇用工人的花费要比蓄奴来得高(注：Keillor所着之「This Rebellious House」，44页)。但另一方面，其它的因素可能扮演更重要的角色:
- If it is wrong to enslave another, then God must be able to provide for those who follow him without resorting to slavery.
- Men work harder for profit; if Negroes had been paid, would they have produced more. Probably.
- The major crop requiring slave labor at that time - tobacco - was a luxury item. Did Christians need to oppress others in order produce such unnecessary goods.
- Christians may work for profit, but not if they have to violate God's laws to do so.
- 如果奴役他人是错误的，神一定会供应那些遵行祂的话不蓄奴的人劳力上的需要。
- 当有酬劳时，人会工作得更努力；如果黑奴当初工作有酬劳的话，他们是否会生产更多？大概有可能。
- 当时需要黑奴的劳力种植的主要作物─烟草，是一种奢侈品。基督徒有必要压榨他人去生产这种可有可无的产品吗？
- 基督徒可以为获取酬劳而工作，但是该工作是不可以违反神的律法的。
As the years progressed, slavery alienated North from South, black from white, and rich from poor in America. Not only so, but, as the great Booker T. Washington was to observe in the late nineteenth century, slavery alienated men from the satisfaction of manual labor, which came to be seen as degrading by both blacks and whites.
随着时间的演进，蓄奴使得美国的北方与南方分裂，黑人与白人不和，富人与穷人疏离。不仅如此，一如伟大的黑人布克华盛顿 (Booker Washington) 在十九世纪末所观察到的，蓄奴使得人无法体会到体力劳动中的满足感，这可以从黑人和白人都看不起体力劳动发现出来。
- Arminianism 荷兰的新教神学
Calvinists believe that salvation is not of ourselves, "it is the gift of God." They point to many scriptures which show that God chose those whom he would save even before he created the world, and that he brings them to faith in Christ according to his sovereign will. They insist also upon the responsibility of men to repent of their sins and believe in Christ. When the question comes, "Why do some repent and believe and others do not." Calvinists answer, "Because of God's sovereign grace."
加尔文教派的人相信救赎不是我们自己的，「而是神的恩典」(以弗所书二章九节)。他们指出许多教义说明神在创世以前拣选那些祂要拯救的人，并根据祂的主权将他们带到基督的信仰里(例如约翰福音一章十二至十三节；三章八节；六章三十七、三十九、四十四、六十五节；罗马书八章二十八至三十节；九章十四至十八节；以弗所书一章三至十二节；彼得一书一章二节等)。他们也坚持人悔改及相信基督的责任，当被问到:「为什么一些人悔改及相信而其它人没有？」加尔文教派的回答是:「因为神的主权恩典。」
Arminianism arose in response to Calvinism. Among other teachings, Arminians believe that man chooses God, not vice versa. They place the responsibility and the ability for salvation in man's will. This view of salvation sounds more democratic that Calvinism, and rapidly spread in the New World. Jonathan Edwards, considered the greatest thinker to be born in America, combated Arminianism in several sermons, including "God glorified in man's dependence." Although he and Whitefield (see below) preached the Calvininist view of salvation, the Wesleys and their followers strongly emphasized man's free will. This focus on man's ability, suited as it was to those who intended to conquer and new world and throw off all monarchies, became the dominant American form of Protestantism, and even influenced men like Thomas Jefferson. In fact, as we shall see, this focus on man's ability has stood near the core of American cultural values ever since.
荷兰新教神学(或称亚美尼亚教派 Arminianism)因反对加尔文教派而崛起，他们的教义里相信人选择神，而非神拣选人。他们把获得救赎的责任与能力放在人的意志之中，这样的救赎观听起来比加尔文教派来得民主，也很快地传播在新大陆上。被认为是美国最伟大的思想家约翰生.爱德华(Jonathan Edwards)在好几场讲道中对抗荷兰新教神学，包括了他著名的「在人的倚靠中被荣耀的神」那场讲道。虽然他和怀特菲尔德(Whitefield,见下)传讲加尔文教派的救赎观，卫斯理兄弟(Wesleys)和他们的跟随者却极力强调人的自由意志。这种对人的能力的强调正符合那些想要征服新世界并丢弃所有君主制度的人之想法，遂成为美国基督教的主流，甚至影响了汤姆士.杰弗逊等人。事实上，我们将要看到，这种对人的能力的强调从此就一直接近于美国文化价值观的核心。
I list this development under the sub-title "Spiritual Decline" because I think the Calvinist understanding does more justice to the Scriptures and gives greater glory to God. Many sincere Christians would disagree strongly with me on this, however.
我将荷兰新教神学在美洲的发展列入「属灵的衰退」标题之下，是因为我认为加尔文教派对圣经的理解比较恰当，也将较多的荣耀归给神。然而，许多真诚的基督徒可能强烈反对我的看法。
- Deism 自然神论
Early American settlers of New England had brought considerable education with them. Their children maintained that high standard, as did the wealthy planters in the South. Despite the Atlantic Ocean, American intellectuals kept up with intellectual developments in England and on the Continent. Seventeenth and eighteenth-century American leaders often read several languages, classical and modern, and eagerly discussed a wide range of issues, including theology, philosophy, political theory, economics, and agriculture.
早期在新英格兰的美国移民具有相当好的教育程度，他们的子女保持了同样的高教育水准，如同南方那些富有的殖民者所保持的。虽然有大西洋之隔，美国的知识分子并不落后于英国和欧洲大陆的知识发展。十七世纪与十八世纪的美国领袖常通晓多种古典和现代的语言，并热衷于讨论各样广泛的议题，包括神学、哲学、政治理论、经济、以及农业。
Isaac Newton, himself a devout Christian, awed the educated people of his time with his new explanations of the physical universe. It seemed as if scientific discoveries made sense out of the world. Was God's revelation in the Bible necessary. Was it true. Could man's unaided reason discern the laws that governed matter. Could reason go beyond that and penetrate the mysteries of the moral universe as well.
艾萨克.牛顿(Issac Newton)是个虔诚的基督徒，他对宇宙的新诠释使得当时受过教育的人对他感到敬畏。科学上的发现似乎可以解释这世界的一切。神在圣经里的启示有必要吗？神的启示是真实的吗？人是否可以不靠启示而用理性来了解物质的定律？理性是否可能超越对物质的了解，去探寻道德世界的奥秘？
Meanwhile, John Locke, in his Essay on Human Understanding, seemed to exalt human reason to a position higher than the Puritans had granted. Locke was willing to change his views if they could be disproved by the Bible; he himself was an Evangelical Christian, particularly in his old age. His writings, however, helped to fuel a movement towards greater autonomy for rational thought, unaided (or, some would say, "unfettered") by God's Word in the Bible.
与此同时，约翰.洛克(John Locke)在他的「人类理解力之评论」(Essay on Human Understanding)中，似乎将人类的理性抬举到高于清教徒所认定的地位。洛克认为如果他的看法可以用圣经证明是错误的，他愿意改变其观点。洛克是一位福音派基督徒，尤其是到他晚年的时候。然而他的文章助长了一种运动，可以不藉由神在圣经里的话之帮助(或者有人会说「束缚」)而达到理性思想较大的自主性。
Furthermore, his Two Treatises on Government offered an interpretation radically different from the covenantal concept of the Puritans. Instead of basing the authority of rulers upon the sovereignty of God and requiring both rulers and subjects to submit to God's law as revealed in the Bible, Locke held that the authority of rulers derives from the consent of the governed. The will of the people - however defined and expressed - effectively replaced the will of God.
此外，洛克的「政府论二篇」对政府的定义提出了根本上不同于清教徒的圣约观念之诠释。他不主张政府的权力建立在神的主权的基础上，也不要求治理者和被治理者服膺神在圣经里启示的律法，而是主张政府的权力来自于人民的同意。人民的意愿(无论怎么定义与表达)结果就取代了神的意愿。
Locke provided English Whigs with rhetorical ammunition against the idea of the Divine Right of Kings in their revolt against James II. He also influenced Rousseau and other French thinkers, who would themselves play a prominent role in the thought of men like Thomas Jefferson. In America, Locke "was the philosophical inspiration for the American Revolution, and, without him, the Declaration of Independence could scarely have been written."
洛克的理论为英国民权党员提供了华丽的武器，在他们抵抗英王詹姆士二世的革命中用以反对「天赋君权」的观念。他也影响了卢梭(Rousseau)和其它的法国思想家，这些人对美国独立时的重要人物如汤姆士.杰弗逊(Thomas Jefferson)的思想有重要的影响。在美国，洛克是「美国革命的哲学启蒙者，没有洛克，独立宣言就几乎不可能写成」(注：Singer所着「A Theological Interpretation of American History」，Nutley， New Jersey： The Craig Press， 1969，三十三页)。
Gradually, some aspects of the movement known as Deism gained influence among a few American intellectuals. Deists believed in the goodness and perfectibility of man, the power of human reason, and the universal benevolence of "God" - however he was to be defined. They rejected the authority of the Bible, miracles (including the incarnation of God's Son and the resurrection of Jesus), the deity of Jesus Christ, the necessity of repentance for sin and faith in Christ's sacrifice, and the return of Christ to judge the world and created a New Heaven and New Earth. They placed all their hopes in this world. Often, they saw Christianity not only as superstition but also as a hindrance to human progress. Like Thomas Jefferson, they may have admired the ethical teachings of Jesus, but that is all. Jefferson himself may not have been a full-fledged Deist, but he certainly shared some of the views held by Deists.
渐渐地，自然神论的某些方面在美国知识分子之中产生了影响力。自然神论者相信人类的良善与完美、人类理性的能力、以及无论什么定义之下的「神」的普遍慈善。他们否定圣经的权威性、神迹(包括神的儿子道成肉身和耶稣的复活)、基督耶稣的神性、认罪悔改和相信基督之牺牲的必要性、以及基督要再来审判世界并建立新天新地。他们将所有的盼望摆在这个世界，他们经常把基督教不仅视为迷信，也是人类进步的阻碍。一如汤姆士.杰弗逊，他们也许欣赏耶稣基督的道德教导，但仅只于此。汤姆士.杰弗逊本人也许并非彻底的自然神论者，但他的确与自然神论者有一些相同的看法。
As Deism gained influence among a few intellectuals, Americans, including some Christians unaware of the implications of what they were doing, began to shift their attention from pleasing God to enjoying this life; from obeying God's will to fulfilling their own will; from submission to God to personal freedom and autonomy; from reliance on the Bible for wisdom to trusting in their own ideas as to what was right. Rather than seeing themselves as in covenant with God, they saw only the "social contract," by which they imagined men had formed governments. In the words of the Declaration of Independence, they focussed on "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" rather than the pursuit of holiness so characteristic of the Puritans. Instead of seeing themselves as locked in a struggle with sin and Satan, they traced their problems to the government in England. Finally, instead of longing primarily for moral freedom, they concentrated upon recovering political freedom.
就当自然神论者在美国知识分子之间造成影响之际，美国人开始将他们的注意力从取悦神转变为享受今世的生活，从顺服神转变为追求个人自由与自主，从倚靠圣经的智能转变为相信自己的是非判断，其中也包括一些未察觉到其作法所带来的影响的基督徒。他们不再视他们与神之间有圣约，而认为只有「社会契约」，藉此他们认为人组成了政府。在独立宣言中，他们着重于「生命、自由、以及追求幸福」，而非如清教徒般追求圣洁的生活。他们不认为自己受制于罪恶和撒旦的捆绑，却将他们的问题视为来自于英国政府。最后，他们不再渴慕道德的自由，而是专注于恢复政治上的自由。
We must realize, however, that European Deism never took root in America. Perhaps the influence of the Bible prevented it. In any case, even a rationalist like Benjamin Franklin believed that God had personally intervened in American history. Thomas Jefferson, not an orthodox Christian by any standard, still thought that God worked out his justice in human events.
然而，我们必须了解，欧洲的自然神论从未在美国生根。也许是圣经的影响阻止了其生根。无论如何，即使是理性主义者如班杰明.富兰克林(Benjamin Franklin)相信神亲自参与了美国的历史。汤姆士.杰弗逊从任何标准来看都不是一个正统的基督徒，他却仍然认为神在人类的事件中执行祂的公义。
Furthermore, some scholars deny that Locke was a Deist or that the Declaration of Independence draws its inspiration from Deism or rationalism. They hold that concepts such as "inalienable rights" and 'Nature's law" trace their origin to the Middle Ages, when Christian thinking ruled the universities. They at least do prove that Christians had used terms like "natural law" to refer to that moral law which God had established in the universe and that operated among all men, Christian or pagan. Men of all cultures could discern this "law" through the use of their human reason, although the Bible presented God's full revelation of the perfect moral law.
此外，一些学者否定洛克是一个自然神论者，也否定独立宣言受自然神论或理性主义的启发。他们认为诸如「不能夺取的权利」和「自然律」的观念溯源于中世纪，当时基督教思想在大学里成为主流(参见Gray T. Amos所着「Defending the Declaration」，Charlottesville；Providence Foundation，1989)。至少他们的确证明了基督徒用过像「自然律」这样的名词代表神在宇宙中所建立的、运行在所有基督徒与非基督徒当中的道德律。任何一个文化的人都可以透过他们的理性来认识这个「律」，尽管圣经所呈现的是神对完美的道德律的全部启示。
We can say, therefore, that, although Deism began to influence the minds of some American intellectuals, so that leaders like Jefferson and Adams did not hold fully orthodox Christian beliefs, yet the "air" they breathed was so permeated with Christian assumptions that they could not fully escape reflecting Biblical ideas in their political writings.
因此我们可以说，尽管自然神论开始影响一些美国知识分子的思想，使得早期领袖如杰弗逊(Jefferson)和亚当斯(Adams)不具有完全的基督教正统信仰，但是他们所呼吸到的思想「空气」却渗入了许多基督教的假设，使得他们无法完全摆脱在政治文件里反映出基督教思想。
- Unitarianism 唯一神教派
That the currents of European thought reached the shores of the New World can be proved by the appearance of Unitarianism. Christians believe that there is only one God. He is revealed, however, in three "persons" - neither fully separate from each other so as to comprise three gods nor fully identical so as to lose their distinctions. The crucial question, actually, is whether Jesus is fully divine. Christians point to his miracles, his claims about himself to be the Son of God and to forgive sins, his resurrection from the dead, and the teachings of the apostles, and conclude that Jesus is God. They note that the Old Testament name of God - Yahweh in Hebrew, translated as Kurios ("Lord") in the Greek version of the Old Testament - was applied hundreds of times to Jesus. By saying "Jesus is Lord," the Biblical writers claimed that Jesus was equal to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
欧洲的思想潮流影响了新世界，可以由唯一神教派主义的出现得到证明。基督徒相信只有一位神，却是以三位一体显现，三个位格既非完全分开而构成三个神，也非完全相同以致于无法区别。实际上，最重要的问题是，到底基督耶稣是否具有完全的神性？基督徒指出耶稣基督的神迹、祂自我宣告是神的儿子并赦免罪、祂从死里复活、以及祂的门徒的教导而得到耶稣是神的结论。他们注意到旧约中神的名字─希伯来文「雅巍」(Yahweh)，在旧约希腊文译本中翻译为「主」(Kurios)，在新约中许多次被用来称呼耶稣。圣经作者说「耶稣是主」来宣称耶稣相同于圣父和圣灵。
European rationalists began to propose a different view: That God does not interfere in the world that he has made; by definition, therefore, there can be no miracles. The Deists began with this and then they and others began to move towards other conclusions: Jesus, obviously, could not have worked miracles, nor could he have been born of a virgin, nor could he have risen from the dead. He must have been only a good man, a moral teacher. Man, moreover, is basically good and reasonable; he needs no redeemer to pay for his sins.
欧洲理性主义者开始提出另一种看法，就是神不介入祂所创造的世界，因此根据这样的定义，不会有神迹发生。自然神论者由这种观点出发并与其它的人开始发展出他们的结论─显然地、耶稣未曾施行神迹、未曾由童贞女所生、也未曾由死里复活。祂必定只是一个好人，一个道德教师。此外，人类基本上是良善而有理性的，不需要救赎者为他们的罪付出代价。
Jefferson's teacher at The College of William and Mary taught these concepts; so did the faculty at the major New England universities. Thus, some of the ruling elite in America gradually began to see Jesus as merely a great teacher. The full expression of this type of thinking came when clergy like James Freeman renounced allegiance to the ancient Christian creeds and promulgated Unitarian beliefs in King's Chapel in Boston. Although his formal break with Anglicanism came in 1782, by 1776 the shift to Unitarianism had already taken place.
杰弗逊在威廉玛丽学院的老师教导上述这些观念；在新英格兰的主要大学的教授也是如此。于是，一些美国的领导菁英渐渐开始把耶稣看作只是一个伟大的教师。这样的思想被詹姆士福利曼(James Freeman)之类的神职人员充分地表达出来，他弃绝对古代基督教教义的忠诚并在波士顿的国王教堂(King's Chapel)宣传唯一神教派的信仰。虽然他与英国国教直到一七八二年才决裂，在一七七六年之前他就已经开始转移到唯一神教派。
Deism and Unitarianism share much in common. The former intended to reject Christianity. The latter, however, saw itself as a branch within the Christian faith (much like "liberal" theologians today.) The two combined to produce a new phenomenon: Some form of rationalism affected many gentlemen leaders in all thirteen colonies.
自然神论和唯一神教派有许多相同之处。前者意图拒绝基督教，后者却视自己为基督教信仰的一个支派(很像今天的「自由派」神学家)。两者的结合产生了一个新的现象─早期十三州的许多领袖都受到某种形式的理性主义的影响。(注：Keillor所着之「This Rebellious House」，79页)。
The Great Awakening 大复兴
Early in the eighteenth century, God began to do a mighty work in England and in North America. In England, George Whitefield, John Wesley, and John's brother Charles began taking the Christian message beyond the walls of church buildings and into the fields where common people could hear the Gospel. They taught that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory; that Christ has died for sinners; that all who confess their sins, repent, and turn to Christ in faith could find forgiveness. They also emphasized the necessity of being "born again," referring to Jesus' conversation with an educated Jewish leader.
十八世纪初期，神开始在英国和北美执行一项伟大的工作。在英国，乔治.怀特菲尔德(George Whitefield)、约翰.卫斯理(John Wesley)、和其兄查尔斯.卫斯理(Charles Wesley)开始把基督教的信息从教堂里传布到田野间，使一般的人都能听到福音。他们教导所有人都犯了罪并亏欠了神的荣耀；基督为罪人而死；所有认罪、悔改、回转相信基督的人都可以得到赦免。他们也强调「重生」的必要性，根据的是耶稣与犹太教师领袖尼哥底母的对话(约翰福音三章三节，五节)。
Thousands of ordinary people on both sides of the Atlantic responded to this new preaching with sincere sorrow for their sins and deep faith in God. As a result, men stopped getting drunk and beating their wives; husbands returned home to love their wives and children and went back to work as honest and hard-working laborers. Entire communities felt the transforming influence of God's Spirit. Although most converts came from the lower classes, some aristocrats believed also. They began to work for social reform in the government in an attempt to rid England of some of the horrible corruption and oppression that was threatening to produce a revolution, like the one brewing in France.
大西洋两岸数以千计的一般民众以真诚的悔改认罪与对神深刻的信心来响应这个新的布道。结果男人不再醉酒与殴打妻子；丈夫回到家庭中爱他们的妻子儿女，也回到工作中诚实而努力地工作。整个社会都感觉到圣灵改造的影响。尽管大部分悔改信主的人来自于中下阶层，一些贵族也信了主。他们开始在政府中实行社会改革，希望藉此拯救英国脱离一些可怕的腐败和压迫，这些问题有造成革命的威胁性，一如在法国蕴酿中的革命。
Whitefield traveled to America with the message of change. Meanwhile, a New England preacher named Jonathan Edwards had been telling his people that going to church was not enough; they must see their sinfulness, cry out to God for mercy, and trust anew in Christ's sacrifice for sin. Thus, what historians call The Great Awakening began in America. As in England, most of those who felt God's Spirit work in their hearts came from the working classes, although not a few members of the upper classes also joined the movement. As other preachers joined in the call for new birth, the Awakening spread to all the colonies. What had been cold, formal religion now became a passion that healed families and brought inner peace to thousands of people.
怀特.菲尔德将这个改变的消息带到美国。同时，一个名叫约翰生.爱德华的新英格兰传道人一直告诉他的会众，光是上教堂是不够的，他们必须看清楚自己的罪，呼求神的怜悯，重新相信基督为我们的罪所作的牺牲。于是历史学家所称的大复兴运动在美国展开了。像在英国的情形一样，大部分感受到圣灵在心里作工的人来自劳工阶层，虽然不少上流社会的人也参与了这个运动。当其它的传道人加入对重生的呼吁之后，大复兴运动传遍了所有的殖民地。以前被称为冷淡，严肃的宗教变成了一种修复家庭并带给千万人内心平安的热情。
With the preaching tours of George Whitefield and others in the eighteenth century, American Christianity began to undergo a major transformation. Previously, all Christian meetings took place in church buildings, under the oversight of local pastors and elders. The itinerant evangelists, however, often preached to large crowds outdoors. They were under the authority of no particular pastor or bishop. Their hearers may or may not have been regular churchgoers. The "congregations" thus overflowed the traditional "boundaries" of the "church."
随着乔治.怀特菲尔德和其它传道人在十八世纪的布道旅行，美国基督教开始进行一项大转变。之前，所有的基督徒聚会都是在教堂里举行，由教堂的牧师或长老来监督。这些旅行布道家们却经常在户外对广大群众讲道。他们不受任何特别的牧师或主教所管辖，他们的听众有经常上教堂的，也有不上教堂的。这些「布道会」因此跨越了「教会」的传统「界线」。
Since thousands either came to faith in Christ or were renewed in their devotion to God as a result of the First Great Awakening, many Evangelicals favored the movement. Others withheld approval, for several reasons:
既然数以千记的人因为第一次大复兴而相信基督或是重新把自己献身给神，许多福音派的人于是支持这个运动。其它的人持保留的态度，由于几个原因:
- Whitefield held Calvinistic views, but Wesley and his followers were militantly Arminian (that is, they stressed the "free" will of man as distinct from the sovereign grace of God.).
- 怀特菲尔德抱持加尔文教派的观点，但是卫斯理和其跟随者却是激进的荷兰新教神学支持者。(也就是说，他们强调人的「自由」意志而不是神的主权恩典)
- Church discipline of new converts at open air meetings was often difficult. No one could ascertain whether they had really been converted or had merely had an emotional experience. Incorporation into a stable congregation did not necessarily result from a profession of faith.
- 对于在户外布道会上得救信主的人加以教会的管束经常是困难的。没有人可以确定这些人是真的重生得救，或者只是情绪上的一时感动，宣称具有信仰并不一定会引导一个人加入某一个固定的宗教聚会。
- Emotional expression came to the fore. Jonathan Edwards' sermons, though scholarly and calmly delivered, provoked outcries of remorse for sin and joy over forgiveness. Whitefield, perhaps the greatest orator of all time, moved the crowds with his passionate preaching. In England, Wesley, though much more restrained in his delivery, began to expect and even to encourage emotional outbursts.
- 情绪性的表现居于首位。约翰生.爱德华虽然以学术性及平和性的方式讲道，却触发了听众对罪恶的懊悔和罪得赦免的喜乐所发出的呼喊。怀特菲尔德也许是历史上最伟大的演说家，他以其充满感情的讲道来感动听众。在英国，卫斯理尽管过去在其讲道中比较节制得多，却也开始期望甚至鼓励感情的宣泄。
Edwards proved that what he called "religious affections" were normal for the truly converted believer. In his massive and classic book of that title, he also warned against false assurance based merely on transient emotional experiences.
His warnings proved prophetic, as we shall see later.
爱德华证明他所谓的「宗教情操」对真的悔改信主的人是正常的。在他「宗教情操」(或「宗教情操真伪辨」)这本经典钜着中，他也对于只是基于一时感动而产生的虚假承诺提出警告。我们之后将要看到，他的警告是预知性的。
The Great Awakening, although primarily a religious and moral movement, exerted untold influence upon American politics. As preachers like Whitefield and Methodists traveled throughout America and as news of the revival spread from one region to another, the colonies found a new unity in their common faith. Distinctions between New England Congregationalists, Southern Presbyterians, Mid-Atlantic Lutherans, and Anglicans became blurred a bit; multitudes saw themselves now not primarily as members of a particular denomination but as re-born children of God and therefore members of the same family. Wesley's activities in England led to the formation of a new organization, nominally within the Anglican Church but practically independent of it, that spanned the distances and differences previously separating colonists as it spread to America.
大复兴虽然主要是一个宗教和道德的运动，却对美国的政治产生数不清的影响。当传道人如怀特菲尔德及其它布道人旅行到美国各地，以及宗教复兴的消息由一地传到另地之时，殖民地之间在共同的信仰上找到新的统一性。新英格兰的布道会信徒，南方长老会信徒，中部大西洋岸路德会信徒，以及英国国教会信徒之间的区别变得有些模糊;信徒们如今不把自己看作哪一个特别宗派的成员，而是神的重生儿女，也因此是同一个家庭的成员。卫斯理在英国的活动导致了一个新组织的形成，名义上是在英国国教派之下，但实际上是独立的。这个新组织在传播到美国后跨越了过去使殖民者分开的距离与差异。
Even more important, however, the Awakening re-introduced into American society a desire for personal righteousness and a deep faith in God. Historians have probed the causes of the huge differences between the French Revolution and the previous events in America. Many of them believe that the conversion of thousands of working-class folk in England spared that nation from the mass carnage and the tyranny that came with the revolution in France. Others think that the Great Awakening enabled Americans to demonstrate amazing patience during their protracted verbal conflict with England before the War for Independence; great restraint in the conduct of the war; and an almost bloodless transition to a new form of government that mostly protected the rights of individuals. The "conservative" character of the American liberation from English rule and establishment of a constitutional republic surely finds its source in the God-fearing attitude of multitudes of ordinary Americans at the time. We shall see how this unfolded.
然而，更重要的是，大复兴将对个人公义的渴慕及对神深刻的信仰重新注入美国社会。历史学家曾探寻是什么原因造成法国大革命和先前发生在美国的事件之间的巨大差异。他们之中有许多人相信，在英国数以千计的劳工阶级之悔改信主使英国免于遭受如法国大革命所造成的大屠杀和专制暴政。其它的历史学家认为大复兴使美国人在独立战争之前与英国的冗长谈判冲突中能表现出令人讶异的耐性;在独立战争中表现出巨大的自制;以及几乎不流血的政权转移，组成一个大多数方面能保障个人权利的新政府。美国由英国统治中得到解放并建立一个宪政共和体的「保守」特质的的确确是源自于当时多数美国一般民众敬畏神的态度，我们将看到这是如何显明出来的。
Some scholars also believe that aspects of American democracy received an impetus from the Great Awakening. For example, people of all classes confessed their sins and expressed faith in Christ. All men were seen as "created equal," equally sinful, and equally saved through faith in Christ, regardless of background. Slaves and their owners together confessed their sins and their faith in Christ, thus leveling a fundamental distinction in society. (Some slave owners opposed the revivals for this very reason.) Furthermore, in some meetings connected with the Awakening, the orderliness for which the Anglican Church was famous broke down as people wept or cried aloud under conviction of sin.
一些学者也相信美国民主的面貌受到大复兴运动的刺激。例如，各阶层的人忏悔他们的罪并信靠基督。所有的人都被视为「生而平等」，罪性平等，也平等地藉由相信基督而得蒙救赎，无论其背景如何。奴隶与其主人一起认罪悔改并信靠基督，因此在社会上铲平了一种基本性的地位差异。(有些蓄奴的人为了这个特别原因而反对宗教复兴)另外，在一些与大复兴有关的会议中，以秩序著称的英国国教因为群众悔改认罪的大声哭泣和呼喊而使会议中断。
Reaction to the Awakening 对大复兴的反应
Others see the Awakening as the precipitating cause of increasing secularism in American colonies. Those who believed in the innate goodness of man opposed the Evangelical preachers. This conflict led to a deeper split between two forms of "Christianity" - one that held to the Bible and another that exalted unaided human reason. Consequently, no religious belief could unify the colonists. They turned to the common desire for freedom to bring people of different faiths together against the actions of King and Parliament. Politics thus became "secularized." Stephen J. Keillor comes to this remarkable conclusion:
其它的人把大复兴看作是加速美国殖民地渐增的世俗主义的原因。那些相信人类天生具有良善性的人反对福音派的传道人，这个冲突导致两种型式的「基督教」更深的分裂─一种以圣经为依归，而另一种高举人类自己的理性。结果，没有任何一个宗教信仰可以联合所有殖民地的人。他们转向于诉求人们对自由的共同欲望，以使不同信仰的人能结合在一起抵抗英国国王和英国国会的行动，政治因此变得「世俗化」(注：Keillor所着之「This Rebellious House」，78-79页)。
司提反.凯勒(Stephen J.Keillor)获致这样值得注意的结论：
The Great Awakening's primary influence on the American revolution came through the secularizing of those who refused the revival... The refuserss increasingly turned to republicanism, partly out of disgust at religious dogmatism and emotionalism, partly out of dissatisfaction with religion's failure to integrate society, partly because fashionable European thinkers were turning to republicanism.
「大复兴运动对美国革命的主要影响来自于那些拒绝复兴的人的世俗化…拒绝者渐渐地变成共和主义者，部分由于厌恶宗教的教条主义和感情主义，部分由于不满宗教在整合社会方面的失败，部分由于时髦的欧洲思想家们正转向共和主义。」(注：Keillor所着之「This Rebellious House」，79-80页)。
Most of these refusers came from the ruling elite, the "gentlemen." Keillor quotes contemporary sources to portray these men as contemptuous of manual labor, ambitious for honor and fame, guilty of conspicuous consumption of luxury goods, and afflicted with a sense of superiority towards the "commoners." Their commanding position in society gave them influence beyond their numbers.
这些拒绝大复兴运动的人大部分是领导菁英，那些「绅士们」。凯勒引用当时的资料来描绘这些人，他们轻视劳力、热衷于荣耀和名声、刻意地使用奢侈品，并且具有一种高于「一般人」的优越感(注：Keillor所着之「This Rebellious House」，83页)。他们在社会中的领导地位使他们影响的人数远超过他们自己。
On the other hand, they kept much of their unorthodox thinking to themselves, confined to their private letters and personal diaries. Thus, we should overestimate the impact of their unbiblical notions upon the society as a whole. What we do need to be aware, however, that their personal beliefs often stood opposed to the teachings of the Bible. When they promoted revolution, they were careful to use terms acceptable to the majority of the population. Furthermore, their own reading tended to exclude the more radical European books; they retained a preference for moralistic works, not anti-Christian ones. They breathed the same religious air as did their fellow colonists, particularly after the Awakening. Thus, they would refuse to launch the kind of revolution which later erupted in France.
另一方面，他们并未把他们许多非正教的思想传播出去，反而只局限在他们的私人信件和日记当中，因此我们可能高估了他们的非圣经想法对整个社会的影响。然而我们必须要注意他们个人的信仰往往与圣经的教导是相对立的。当他们鼓吹革命时，他们谨慎地使用大多数人可以接受的词句。此外，他们的阅读倾向于排除那些比较激进的欧洲书籍；他们还是比较喜欢劝化方面的书，而不是反基督教的书。他们所呼吸到的宗教气息与其它的殖民者是相同的，尤其是在大复兴运动之后。因此，他们会拒绝去发起像后来在法国暴发的那种革命。
Radical Whig Ideology 急进民权党(？)之意识型态
Many of the gentlemen leaders of the Revolution subscribed to Radical Whig political thinking. Drawing upon earlier Protestant leaders who had supported the overthrow of the Stuart kings, Radical Whig thought also drank deeply from the springs of Greek and Roman political theory. The Radical Whigs believed that human nature tended towards evil; that power corrupts; that centralized authority thus tends to concentrate tyranny. Thus they often sounded quite Christian, even though many of them had jettisoned major Christian doctrines.
许多革命的菁英领袖赞同急进民权党的政治思想。除了接受清教徒领袖支持推翻史都华王朝国王的思想，急进民权党的思想也深受希腊罗马政治理论的熏陶。他们相信人类的本性是倾向罪恶的；权力使人腐败；因此中央集权容易形成专政。所以他们往往听起来相当具有基督教精神，尽管其中许多人扬弃了基督教的主要教义。
Protestant ministers could, therefore, support Whig theory because it overlapped with several key Biblical concepts.
因此清教徒的牧师们可能支持急进民权党的理论，因为该理论与一些圣经的关键思想是一致的。(注：Keillor所着之「This Rebellious House」，89-92页)。
Breaking with England 脱离英国
Countless books have described the process by which the American colonies achieved their independence from England. I shall not attempt to duplicate the work of competent historians. Instead, I shall try to point to some of the ways in which Christianity played a key role and offer what I hope will be a Biblical critique of the actions of the Americans during this period.
已经有无数的书描述美国殖民地由英国独立的过程，我在此不会重复那些称职的历史学家的工作。但是我将尝试指出一些基督教扮演着关键角色的行动，对美国人在这段期间的作法提出我希望是符合圣经观点的批评。
- Opposition to British Immorality 反对英国的道德沦丧
Moral repugnance towards the debaucheries of the ruling English aristocracy fueled a great deal of American resentment against British rule. Americans of all denominations recoiled in disgust at the sexual sins - both homosexual and heterosexual - of prominent British leaders. The flaunting of open immorality convinced them, as it had their Puritan forebears during the reigns of the Jacobean kings, that the English had lost the right to rule.
对英国贵族统治者放荡行为的道德厌恶感燃起美国人对英国统治的愤慨。美国所有教派的人厌恶地反弹显赫的英国领导人的性泛滥─同性与异性间的滥交之罪。当他们看到这种公然的不道德行为竟然成为一种夸耀之后，他们相信英国人已经失去统治的权利，情形正如他们的清教徒祖先们在詹姆士王朝时所见所为。
- Opposition to Roman Catholicism 反对罗马天主教
Protestant church leaders had suffered martyrdom under the harsh rule of "Bloody" Mary. Protestant England had barely escaped from conquest by Catholic Spain in 1588. Roman Catholic armies had almost succeeded in snuffing out both political and religious freedom in tiny Holland. The Inquisition had tortured thousands for their faith and had suppressed reform in several European nations. Americans, therefore, perceived Roman Catholicism as an instrument of both political and religious tyranny. When the English king tried to gain support in Canada by establishing the Roman Catholic Church as the official religion of Quebec and then extended the reach of that law to include the western parts of the American colonies, Protestants felt mortally threatened. They swore to resist to the death any encroachment upon freedoms for which their forefathers had died. Samuel Adams, a staunch Protestant, reacted strongly to the Quebec act and tried to warn his fellow colonists against the perils of what he called "Popery" (i.e., Roman Catholicism, which professes allegiance to the Pope).
基督教教会的领袖们在「血腥」玛莉残酷统治期间曾遭受殉道般的苦难(注:英国女王玛莉一世，于一五五三年至一五五八年在位，她恢复罗马天主教并迫害英国国教基督徒)。基督教的英国在一五五八年差一点被天主教的西班牙所占领，罗马天主教的军队几乎消灭了弱小的荷兰的政治和宗教自由。罗马天主教之宗教法庭所对许多信仰不同的人施以酷刑并压制一些欧洲国家的宗教改革，因此美国人把罗马天主教看作是一种政治和宗教暴虐统治的工具。当英国国王藉由建立罗马天主教教会为魁北克(Quebec)的正式宗教并接着将这法令延伸到美国殖民地西部各州，以试图在加拿大得到支持的时候(一七七四年)，基督徒感觉到受到致命的威胁，他们誓言对任何侵犯他们的祖先以死换得的自由之行动抵抗至死。一位忠诚的基督徒撒母耳.亚当斯(Samuel Adams)强烈地反对「魁北克法案」，并且尽力警告他在殖民地的同胞其所谓「教皇制度」(也就是罗马天主教，因其表明对教皇的拥护)的危险性。
- Opposition to the Anglican Church 反对英国国教
As the established church in England, the Anglican Church enjoyed special privileges. Its ministers received financial support from the government through tax revenues. It could - and had, in the not-too-distant past - cause the government to ban all other types of church gatherings. The Church of England had been thus "established" in several colonies, notably Virginia. Virginians' tax money paid the salaries of Anglican clergy while non-Anglicans had to support their own clergy through voluntary contributions.
英国国教享有特权。其牧师支领政府由税收拨出的财务供给；英国国教可以并曾经在前不久促使政府禁止所有其它教会宗派的集会。英国国教因此得以在几个殖民地，特别是维吉尼亚州，「建立」其教会为州政府支持的唯一宗派。维吉尼亚州用税捐付给英国国教神职人员薪俸，其它非英国国教的神职人员则必须依靠会众的志愿奉献。
Other Protestant groups criticized the Anglican Church on various grounds. Some disagreed with the practice of infant baptism. Others thought that the Anglican Book of Common Prayer restricted spontaneity in worship by prescribing certain set prayers. Most, however, strongly opposed the Episcopal system of government: That is, church rule by Bishops, who appointed Priests (Ministers) and Deacons. They saw government by all-powerful bishops as a threat to religious liberty, which it had indeed proven to be for long periods of British history. Furthermore, they connected the monarchial episcopate (that is, one bishop ruling over one diocese, or church district) with the monarchial system of government in England.
其它基督教团体在不同方面批评英国国教。有些不同意对婴儿施洗；有些认为英国国教使用「会众祈导书」来指定祈祷文，因此限制了在崇拜中发自内心的祷告;然而，大部分的团体强烈反对英国国教的管理制度，也就是教会由主教所掌管，牧师和执事由主教任命。他们把大权独揽的主教制度看作是宗教自由的一种威胁，在过去英国历史上这种威胁的确存在了很长的时间。此外，他们也把英国国教的君主制度(亦即一个主教统管一个教区)和英国政府的君主制度联想在一起。
As the King of England revoked the original charters for one colony after another, he simultaneously dis-established whatever denomination had enjoyed special rights in that colony and took steps to establish the Anglican Church as the official state religion. The heightening tension between the colonies and the King, therefore, included a fundamental clash over the right to worship according to one's conscience. Many settlers - not just those of New England - had made the perilous journey across the Atlantic for precisely this right and were not about to accept the revocation of that freedom without a fight.
当英国国王将各殖民地的特许状逐一取消时，他同时也废除了所有宗派在该殖民地曾享有的特别权利并设法建立英国国教成为法定的宗教。因此，殖民地与英王的紧张关系包含了一个根本性的抵触，就是个人根据其意识来崇拜的权利。许多殖民者，不仅是那些在新英格兰的人，冒险横越大西洋确实就是为了这权利，他们不会毫无抵抗地接受其自由被夺回。
- Patient Petition 耐性的请愿
The colonies had enjoyed virtual self-government and autonomy for almost one hundred years. After the French and Indian War, England needed money to refill its exhausted treasury, having spent vast sums to defend its colonies in America from the French. During the war, Englishmen had paid heavy taxes to support the military effort in the New World. The American colonists had helped only when offered compensation by the British government. Some had even hindered the war effort by smuggling vital goods to French-held islands in the West Indies while the British navy was attempting to subdue them through a blockade. Now it seemed only right to ask the colonists themselves to shoulder some of the burden.
美洲殖民地享受了将近一百年实质上的自主与自治。英国在「法国与印地安战争」(注:发生于一七五四到一七六三年间在北美洲英法殖民地的争夺战)之后需要金钱补充秏竭的国库，其经费有一大部分是用于保卫在美洲的殖民地免于落入法国人之手。在战争中，英国人民负荷着沉重的税捐以支持在新世界的军事行动，美洲殖民者只有在英国政府提供偿还的条件下施出援手，有些人甚至阻挠英军行动，当英国海军企图封锁法属西印度群岛迫使法国投降时，偷运重要物资进去。要求殖民地的人自己负担一些财税的重担似乎再正确不过了。
The colonists thought differently, for several reasons:
If the money was to pay for English troops to defend America from continuing attacks by French-inspired Indians on the frontier, why were all the troops stationed in coastal cities. The colonists could now take care of themselves; they didn't need British help. They had always raised taxes through the actions of their own freely-elected assemblies; why should they now have to pay taxes to a government in England in which they had no representation. Were not these new taxes also a means to re-establish the control of the Crown and Parliament over colonies which had enjoyed self-government for a century.
殖民地的人却有不同的想法，原因是:如果钱是付给英国军队在前线抵挡法国唆使的印地安人之连续攻击的话，为何所有的英军都驻扎在沿海的城市？殖民地的人已经可以照料自己的事务，不须要英国的帮助。他们一向都是透过他们自由选举产生的组织来征税，为何现在要付税给一个没有任何他们的代表在其中的英国政府？这些新的税不也是英国王室和国会的一种手段，重建对以经享有自主权一个世纪的殖民地的控制权？
The answer to the last questions was a definite Yes. Successive English governments did seek to reign in the nearly-autonomous colonies and make them just another part of England, revoking the privileges earlier monarchs had given in charters founding the colonies. This the colonial leaders saw clearly. They discerned the aim of the King and his Tory Parliament and they knew that profound constitutional issues were at stake.
对最后一个问题的答案是─完全正确。历届的英国政府的确企图要统治这些近几乎自治的殖民地并把它们变成不过是英国的一部分，收回前面的君王在建立殖民地的特许状中所付予的特权。殖民地的领袖们明白这一点，他们看出英王和他的保守党国会的目的，也知道宪法根本的议题正滨于险境。
As they voiced their opposition to one tax bill after another, they employed legal reasoning, appealing to the (unwritten) English Constitution. They acknowledged the sovereignty of the King, but not of the Parliament, which had played no part in their founding. They would obey the King in matters relating to defense and foreign trade, but would not allow Parliament to usurp powers granted over the years to their local elected assemblies. The pleaded with the King to change his policies. They did not advocate rebellion, revolution, or independence, despite the King's repeated accusations that they were.
当他们对一个接一个的税法表达反对的声音时，他们引用英国宪法(不成文法)作为他们论证的法源。他们承认英王对殖民地的统治权，却不承认国会的统治权，由于国会在建立殖民地的事上未曾扮演任何角色。他们在国防和对外贸易的相关事务上会服从英王，但不允许国会夺取已经付予他们的地方议会多年的权力。他们请求英王改变其政策，他们没有提倡叛乱、革命、或是独立，虽然英王一再指控他们鼓吹这些事。
For a period of ten years, the colonists tried every argument that they thought would persuade their English rulers, to no avail. This remarkably patient, persistent petition of their King reflected, I believe, a generally loyal and submissive spirit, one not bent on violent revolution until they thought it had been become necessary.
在十年的期间当中，殖民地的人用尽了所有他们认为可以说服英王的办法，均告无效。他们对其国王请愿的那种惊人的耐心和毅力，我相信反映出一种忠诚而顺服的精神，不诉诸暴力革命，直到他们认为真的有革命的必要。
- Non-Violent Opposition 非暴力反抗
Throughout those ten years, the Patriots (as they called themselves) acted mostly without violence. When the King ordered them to pay certain taxes on imports, they organized a continent-wide Non-Importation Agreement. They simply refused to buy English goods. They made their own clothes and necessary farm implements instead. This growing self-reliance would serve them well during the War for Independence, but it directly challenged the mercantile system of Europe, including England, about which we shall speak shortly.
在这十年当中，「爱国者」(他们这样称呼自己)的行动大部分是非暴力的。当英王下令要他们对进口商品缴某些税时，他们组织了一个全大陆性的非进口协议。他们拒绝买英国的货物，转而自己制造衣服和农具。逐渐茁壮的自给自足后来在独立战争中使他们获益匪浅，却直接对欧洲(包含英国)的贸易系统形成挑战，我们马上就会谈到这一点。
Most of the early opposition to England's growing oppression took non-violent form. Conservatives in American wanted nothing of mob rule and Christians shrank from armed rebellion against authority. Even at Lexington, the British fired the first shots of the war; the Patriots waited until they were fired upon to shoot back.
早期对英国渐增的压迫之反抗大部分是非暴力的，美国的保守人士不想要任何的暴民统治，基督徒不参与对英国当局的武装反抗。就连在麻州的雷克新顿(Lexington, MA)战役，也是由英国军队先开火，美国「爱国者」直等到他们受到攻击之后才回击。
- Loyalty to the Crown 对王室的忠诚
Christianity also influenced the Loyalists. About one-fourth of the entire population, these Loyalists came largely from the upper classes. They included all the clergy of the Church of England. Besides feeling that their closest ties were with England and fearing mob violence, these men believed that the Bible commanded obedience to the King.
基督教也影响了保皇党员，他们大约占总殖民地人口的十分之一，绝大多数来自上流社会，也包括了所有在美国的英国国教神职人员。除了觉得与英国的关系是最亲密的并害怕群众暴乱之外，他们也相信圣经命令所有人要服从国王。
They referred to passages like these:
他们引用的经节像是：
- Romans 13:1: "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities."
罗马书十三章一节：「在上有权柄的，人人当顺服他。」(注：请参照提多书三章一至二节)
- 1 Peter 2:13-14: "Therefore submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do good."
- 彼得前书二章十三、十四节：「你们为主的缘故、要顺服人的一切制度、或是在上的君王、或是君王所派罚恶赏善的臣宰。」
They further reasoned that Paul and Peter, who penned those words, referred to one of the worst of the Roman emperors, Nero, when they commanded submission. The Apostles backed their words with their own example; none of them either encouraged or participated in revolution. Likewise, Jesus had allowed himself to be handed over to corrupt Jewish leaders and then crucified by a wicked Roman governor.
他们更进一步论证保罗和彼得写下这些章节时，吩咐的是要顺服罗马帝国最凶残的皇帝之一─尼禄王(Nero)。使徒们以身作则来支持所说的话，没有任何一个使徒鼓励或参与革命。同样地，耶稣基督把自己交给腐败的犹太领袖然后被一个缺德的罗马省长彼拉多钉死在十字架上。
John Wesley, when he saw the rising tide of patriotic fervor in America and the trend towards revolution, expressed his strong disapproval. So did the Anglican clergy.
当约翰.卫斯理看到美国渐增的爱国热潮及革命趋势，他表明了强烈的反对。英国国教的牧师也是如此。
During the War itself, more than fifty thousand Loyalists fought on the British side. The others refused to join violent or treasonous acts, often at the risk of their property and their lives. Rather than being admired for their integrity, they suffered ridicule, abuse, and even violence from the Patriots.
在独立战争期间，超过五万的保皇党人为英国而战，其它保皇党人则经常冒着失去他们的生命和财产的危险，拒绝参加暴力或叛国的行动。他们的正直没有受到「爱国者」的钦佩，反而招致其嘲笑、辱骂、甚至暴力。
- The appeal to law 诉诸英国宪法
The Patriots responded to the arguments of the Loyalists with two types of reasoning, constitutional and Biblical.
「爱国者」对保皇党的论证以宪法及圣经两方面的推理来响应。
According to their understanding of the unwritten British Constitution, taxation without representation violated the law. So did other measures which the Crown began to impose, such as the right of a trial by jury in the area where the alleged crime was committed. Throughout their long debate with the representatives of the King, the colonists appealed to their constitutional rights as Englishmen. They argued with great force that these rights were inalienable - that is, that they could not be stripped from Englishmen, even by order of the King or Parliament. When they finally issued the Declaration of Independence, they claimed that the King, not they, had violated the Constitution and therefore had no proper jurisdiction over them. They appealed to a higher law, the law of Nature, to justify their defiance of the laws of Parliament. How much the Declaration depends upon Christian legal tradition and how much it draws upon Enlightenment concepts, has been vigorously debated in recent years. Perhaps we can say that some features of Christian political theory meshed with similar themes from the Age of Reason to give birth to a document that refers both to Nature and to Nature's God, the one who created all men equal.
根据他们对英国不成文宪法的理解，对没有议会代表的地区课税是违反宪法的。英国王室开始强加的其它措施，如取消陪审团在犯罪所在地区之审判权(亦即某人在一地犯罪可以不在该地受审而到其它地区包括英国接受审判)，也一样违反宪法。在与英王的代表冗长的辩论中，殖民地的人自始至终都诉诸他们作为英国人的宪法权利。他们极力主张这些宪法权利是不可剥夺的─也就是说，他们的英国国民身份是不可被废除的，即使英王或英国国会下令也是如此。当他们最后发表独立宣言时，他们声称是英王而不是他们违反了宪法，因此对他们没有正当的司法权。他们诉诸一个更高的法，自然法，为他们违抗英国国会的法律作辩护。近年来对于独立宣言当中有多少是依据基督教的法律传统及有多少是源自于启蒙运动的观念产生了激烈的辩论，也许我们可以说基督教政治理论的一些特色与理性纪元(Age of Reason)中相似的主题互相结合，产生了一份与自然及自然神(所有生而平等的人之创造者)两者皆有关的文件。
Their Biblical reasoning relied upon the definition of "governing authorities." Which ones should they obey. All the colonies had assemblies elected by the citizens. These assemblies acted on behalf of the people, with broad (although not unanimous) support. At no time did the mob take over. There was no anarchy, no rebellion against the local authorities or even the state governments. Elected representatives finally chose to declare independence from the King of England.
圣经方面的推理仰赖于对「在上有权柄者」的定义。他们该顺服哪些「有权柄者」？所有的殖民地都有经由人民选举产生的议会，这些议会代表人民并受到广泛的支持(虽然并非全体一致性的)。它们从未被暴民把持过，未曾有过无政府状态，也未曾反抗地方政府甚或是州政府。被选举出的议会代表最后选择对英王宣告独立。
They remained obedient to civil authorities and did not throw out their elected governments, to which also they continued to pay the taxes as they had for a hundred years.
他们依旧服从公民政府，不把藉由选举产生的政府废除，也继续如过去一百年一样缴税给该政府。
Furthermore, they considered it their Christian duty to resist tyranny. In other words, they believed that they possessed not only the right, but the obligation to stand firm against the encroachments of King and Parliament when these infringed upon their ancient rights as Englishmen. To submit would be to betray both their ancestors and their posterity.
此外，他们认为抵抗暴政是基督徒的责任。换言之，他们相信他们不但有权利，也有义务坚决反对英国国王和国会侵犯他们久远的英国公民权。屈服就是背叛他们的祖先与子孙。
Many came to America to enjoy freedom of religion. In addition to Pilgrims and Puritans in Massachusetts, Catholics in Maryland, Quakers in Pennsylvania, and Baptists in Rhode Island founded colonies for the express purpose of enjoying religious freedom. If they gave in to George III, they might have to live under the authority of Anglican bishops or even - in western portions of America - the Pope. These religious rulers would compel them to offer worship that - in their opinion - blasphemed God.
许多人到美国为的是享有宗教自由。除了在麻色诸塞州的新教徒和清教徒之外，马里兰州的天主教徒，宾州的贵格会教徒，以及罗得岛州的浸信会教徒都是为了享受宗教自由的明确目地而建立殖民地。如果他们对英王乔治三世投降，他们可能必须要生活在英国国教的主教或甚至是罗马天主教教皇(指在美国西部各州)的控制之下。这些宗教统治者会强迫他们作他们认为是亵渎神的崇拜。
Others had settled the new continent in order to possess land and enjoy the results of their labor. But the English mercantile system threatened to strangle their economy and deprive them of the right to earn money. How could they allow themselves and their children to comply with systematic stealing.
其它人定居在新大陆为的是拥有土地并享用他们劳动的成果，但是英国的贸易系统有扼杀他们的经济以及剥夺他们赚钱的权利之危险，他们怎么能容许自己和子孙们遵从这种系统性的盗窃？
God's Word gives husbands and fathers the responsibility to protect and care for their families. The British intended to quarter troops in homes. The colonists knew from long experience that British soldiers could be brutish, cruel, and vile. They feared for the purity of their wives and daughters. How could they expose these women to temptation and possible violation by acquiescing in the "Intolerable Acts" enacted by Parliament. They remembered the heroic defense by Protestant Holland against the ravaging, raping armies of Catholic Spain a century before and decided to imitate the courage of the Dutch in the face of British aggression.
神的话指示丈夫和父亲有保护及照顾家庭的职责。英国政府计划由家庭供养士兵，殖民地的人从长久的经验中知道英国士兵有些会是粗野的、残酷的、卑鄙的。他们为妻子及女儿的贞洁担心害怕，他们怎么可以默许英国国会所制定的「无可忍受的法案」，使得这些妇女处于诱惑与可能被强暴的环境中？他们记起一个世纪之前荷兰的清教徒奋勇抵抗西班牙天主教军队的蹂躏与强暴，遂决定效法荷兰人的勇气对抗英国的侵略。
The Bible says, "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free." The Puritans had always seen themselves as spiritual descendants of the Old Testament nation of Israel. God had ordered the Israelites to wage war on wicked, pagan nations, so they could possess the land he had promised them. Was not now the time for American Christians to take up the sword against wicked, pagan, England, so that they could possess the land God had give them.
圣经说：「基督释放了我们、叫我们得以自由、所以要站立得稳…」(加拉太书五章一节)清教徒一直把自己看为旧约以色列国的属灵后裔。神命令以色列人对败坏的人和外邦异教国家发动战争以取得神应许给他们的地，难道现在不正是美国基督徒拔剑对抗败坏的异教英国以拥有神所给与他们的地的时候？
With these and other arguments, the colonists persuaded themselves that nothing less then obedience to God commanded them to resist King George and his Tory-dominated Parliament.
根据这些和其它的一些论点，殖民地的人说服自己，抵抗英国乔治国王及保守党控制的国会完全是顺服神的命令。
- The conduct of the War 战争的进行
The War for Independence last eight long years. You can read about it in many stirring history books. My theme, however, allows me to mention only the ways in which Christianity affected the conduct of the war.
独立战争持续了八年，读者可以在许多扣人心弦的历史书籍中找到这段历史。然而，本书的主题只注重在基督教如何影响战争的进行。
George Washington possessed a strong Christian faith. He prayed and read his Bible daily. He provided chaplains for his army, and ordered the men to attend worship on Sunday. He forbade all swearing and cursing among the men - most unusual in any army. He regularly called on Providence (by which he meant God) to provide for and protect his men and their cause, and he gave glory to God for success.
乔治.华盛顿(George Washington)具有坚固的基督教信仰。他每天祷告读圣经，在其军队中安置了牧师，并要求属下在礼拜天参加崇拜。他禁止属下说亵渎神的话或诅咒，这在任何一个军队中都是最不寻常的。他定期地请求神的旨意来供养及保护他的属下和他们的争端，也把成功的荣耀归给神。
Although the British harshly treated their prisoners and allowed thousands to die of starvation, the Americans respected the rights of prisoners of war to human treatment. Only spies and traitors were hanged.
虽然英国人残酷对待美国战俘并使数千战俘饿死，美国人尊重英国战俘的权利并以人道对待，只有间谍和叛国者才被吊死。
One small incident highlights the difference between a "Christian" war and others with which we are all too familiar: When the British surrendered at Yorktown, Washington invited General Cornwallis to his headquarters for dinner. Seeing this example, Washington's staff and other officers imitated him: For several days, the Americans invited their British counterparts for the evening meal.
一个小事件可以彰显出「基督徒」的战争与其它我们再熟悉不过的战争之间的差异：当英军在约克镇(Yorktown, Virginia)投降时，华盛顿邀请英军的首领康华理斯(Cornwallis)将军到其指挥总部共进晚餐。当华盛顿的部属和其它的军官看到这个榜样后，他们群起仿效，在接下来几天当中邀请英军中与他们位阶相等的人共进晚餐。
On the other hand, the British, knowing that Reformed clergy had taken the lead in promoting independence (see below), targeted their churches for desecration: They would find the local Presbyterian (or Congregational) church and turn into a stable for their horses, thus "desecrating" it. Both they and their American opponents saw the religious component of the American cause and conceived of the war as, in part, a religious war.
另一方面，当英国人知道改革宗的牧师领导提倡独立(见下)之后，就以他们的教会为玷辱的目标；英国人寻找地方上的长老会(或公理会)的教堂，把这些教堂变为他们的马厩，藉此「玷辱」其教会。他们和美国的反对者皆看到美国独立原因中的宗教成份，并把独立战争想象为一部分是宗教战争。
A Biblical Critique of the Independence Movement 以圣经观点对独立运动的批判
As a descendant of several men who fought in the War for Independence, I hesitate to criticize my forebears. They lived in perilous times. The saw tyranny approaching like a tidal wave and chose to stand fast for liberty and justice. I admire their keen understanding of the constitutional issues; their long forebearance in the face of approaching despotism, their trust in God; their courage in defending themselves against the mightiest military and naval power in the world. I would have been hard-pressed to know what to do in their circumstances.
作为一个参与独立战争的一些人之后代，我对批评祖先感到犹豫。他们处在一个危险的时代，目睹暴政如海啸般逼进，选择了为自由与正义挺身而出。我钦佩他们对宪法议题的深刻了解；他们面对步步逼进的暴政的长期忍耐；他们对神的信靠；他们为保护自己而抵抗世界上最强的军事及海上强权的勇气。换成我处在他们的状况下，我将陷于不知该做什么的困境中。
Nevertheless, as a Christian I must use the Bible to evaluate their response to King George and his power-hungry ministers. Since I have already shown how Christian ideas played a part in their actions, I shall now concentrate on a negative critique of the Revolution, based on my understanding of the Bible.
虽然如此，身为一个基督徒我必须用圣经来评断他们对乔治王(King George)以及他手下那些充满权力欲的部长的作为之响应。既然我已经说明了基督教的思想如何在他们的行动中扮演一个角色，现在我就根据我对圣经的了解，将重点放在批判独立战争的负面性。
- Misunderstanding of Biblical liberty 误解圣经当中所指的自由
Many Patriots mistakenly identified political liberty with spiritual freedom. Citing Biblical passages dealing with deliverance from sin, they applied them to freedom from domination by the British crown. This was a major theological mistake and a serious misunderstanding of Christian liberty. For example, when Paul said, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ as made us free," he referred to freedom from the obligation to keep the Old Testament Law as a means of justifying ourselves before God. We find righteousness not by obedience to the law of God but by trusting in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins. The Patriots totally misconstrued this passage and ignored its context.
许多「爱国者」错误地将政治的自由认定为心灵的自由。他们引用圣经里关于罪得拯救的经文，应用在他们从英国王室的控制中的到自由。这是一个极大的神学错误以及对基督教自由思想的严重误解。譬如说，当保罗提到：「基督释放了我们、叫我们得以自由、所以要站立得稳」，他指的自由是我们不再有责任藉由遵守旧约律法在神面前称义(加拉太书五章一节)。我们称为义并不是藉由遵循神的律法，而是藉由相信耶稣基督为我们的罪而死。「爱国者」完全曲解这段经文并忽略其上下文。
- Confusing Old Testament Israel with the New Testament Church 将旧约中的以色列与新约中的教会混淆
The Puritans considered themselves spiritual descendants of Israel. In a sense, all Christians believe that, for the New Testament teaches that those who trust in Christ are "children" of Abraham, who believed God. But the Puritans went further: They believed they had entered into the same kind of covenant with God that the nation of Israel did after receiving the law of God at Mt. Sinai and then on later occasions. Their political state, in other words, could claim the same special treatment that the nation Israel enjoyed, as long as they kept the obligations of the covenant.
清教徒自认为是以色列的属灵后代。就某种意义来说，所有的基督徒相信如此，因为新约中说相信基督的人都是相信神的亚伯拉罕的「儿女」(罗马书四章十二节)。但是清教徒更进一步；他们相信他们与神所订的圣约，与以色列人在西奈山以及后来的一些场合接受神的律法之后所订的圣约是相同的。换言之，只要他们履行圣约的义务，其政治状态就可以向神要求以色列过去享有的特别待遇。
This Puritan idea blossomed into a full-fledged conviction that America was, in a sense, God's chosen nation, just as Old Testament Israel was. Therefore, Americans could go to war to defend their "promised land," assured of God's protection (.). We shall encounter this notion throughout American history and note its baneful effects.
这一个清教徒的思想的开花结果，使他们深信美国在某种意义上如旧约中的以色列，是神所拣选的国家。因此，美国人可以用战争来护卫他们「被应许之地」，有神的保护作保证。我们将在整个美国历史中遭遇这个观念并指出它的不良影响。
- Failure to understand the true nature of the Kingdom of God 未能了解神的国度的真正本质
In the opinion of this writer, the Patriots did not appreciate the radical nature of Christianity. Like the Jews of Jesus' day, they looked for God to grant them political liberation. They forgot the parables Jesus told about the gradual, almost secret, growth of the kingdom of God in this age; they seemed to ignore Jesus' patient endurance of injustice at the hands of both Jewish and Roman political leaders; they appeared to ignore the example of the Apostles, who were willing to suffer for the Gospel and only disobeyed the authorities when they were told not to preach about Jesus' resurrection; and they failed to deal with the explicit teaching of both Jesus and the Apostles concerning non-violence and submission to authority.
我个人认为，「爱国者」未能完全了解基督教的根本性质。就像耶稣基督时代的犹太人，「爱国者」期待神应允他们政治上的解放。他们忘记耶稣基督所说的比喻，就是关于这个时代神的国度之延伸是逐渐而几乎秘密的；他们好象忽略了耶稣基督被交在犹太人和罗马人的政治领袖手中时，对加诸于祂的不公平所表现的忍耐；他们似乎忽略了使徒们情愿为福音受苦而只有在被要求不可传讲耶稣之复活时才不服从执政者的榜样；他们未能遵守耶稣基督和使徒们关于反对暴力及顺服权威的清楚教导。
They believed that they could not worship their God without political freedom. Although I greatly appreciate the freedom to gather with Christians without fear of reprisal, we must insist that Christians do not need to be free in order to serve God. Untold millions of believers have served him faithfully under despotic governments.
他们相信没有政治的自由就无法敬拜他们的神。虽然我非常感激能自由地与基督徒聚在一起而不必惧怕遭受报复，我们必须坚决主张基督徒并不一定要有自由才能事奉神。数不清的信徒是在暴虐专横的政府之下忠心地服事主。
- Misunderstanding of Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 误解罗马书十三章和彼得前书二章
As one writer said, "The colonies were settled largely by emigrants who were discontented or rebellious in spirit - by people who had failed to adjust themselves to their harsh lot (.) in the Old World. ... Some of them were tired of taking off their hats and standing bareheaded in the presence of their 'betters.'" Thus, they tended to interpret the Bible differently from those who had remained in Europe.
就如一个作家说过：「定居在殖民地的人大部分是心灵上不满或是抵抗的移民，他们无法适应在欧洲的一些无理要求…他们有些人厌倦了在所谓「比他们有社会地位」的人面前要脱帽起立的规矩。」(注：参见Thomas A. Bailey所着「The American Pageant」，Boston:Little，Brown & Company，1956，84页)因此，他们会倾向于对圣经的诠释不同于那些留在欧洲的人。
Paul commanded, "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities..." and said, "Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men."
保罗吩咐：「在上有权柄的，人人当顺服他…」(罗马书十三章一节)他也说：「你要提醒众人，叫他们顺服作官的，掌权的，遵他的命，预备行各样的善事。」(提多书三章一节)
Peter, like Paul writing in the time of wicked Nero, said, "Submit yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do good." The Patriots, following earlier Reformed theologians, argued that they need obey only when a ruler carries out God's will by seeking justice. Evil rulers did not deserve obedience, they concluded.
彼得同保罗一样在乖戾的尼禄王(Nero)时代写道：「你们为主的缘故，要顺服人的一切制度，或是在上的君王，或是君王所派罚恶赏善的臣宰。」(彼得前书二章十三、十四节)「爱国者」遵循早期改革宗的神学家，主张只有当统治者以寻求公正来执行神的旨意之时，他们才需要顺服。他们的结论是，邪恶的统治者不配教他们顺服。
The flaw in this reasoning shows up in their teaching about the duty of children to submit to parents, wives to husbands, and slaves to masters. They never excused disobedience on the grounds that the one in authority acted unjustly. In fact, the Apostles commanded obedience to authority because they knew that we all tend to chafe under it. We find fault with those over us and use their faults to justify our insubordination.
这项立论的缺陷显现在他们教导孩子顺服父母，妻子顺服丈夫，以及仆人顺服主人的责任上。他们从未因为有权柄者的行为不公正而原谅孩子、妻子、或仆人的不顺从(也就是说，他们有双重标准)。事实上，使徒们命令我们要顺服有权柄者，乃是因为他们知道我们都容易对权威感到反感。我们找出那些上位者的过失，然后用他们的过失来为我们的不愿从作辨护。
Jesus could have raised a revolt against Rome by justly reminding the people that the Jewish High Priests were usurpers and that the Romans were cruel conquerors who had defiled the Promised Land; the Apostles could have fomented rebellion against both Jews and Romans on the grounds that they were persecuting Christians and misusing their authority by punishing good people.
耶稣当初并没有指出犹太人的大祭司是僭位者，及罗马人是玷污神所应许之地残酷侵略者，藉以举发革命推翻罗马帝国；使徒们也没有用犹太人和罗马人迫害基督徒及误用他们的权力虐待好人的理由煽动叛乱。
- Failure to pay taxes. 不付税
For a hundred years, England had levied taxies on the colonies. These were imposed upon imports and collected at customs houses in port cities. They were designed to regulate trade, as a part of the mercantile system by which the mother country controlled the economy of its colonies. The idea behind mercantilism was simple: The mother country controlled the economies of the entire empire. Colonies existed to enrich the mother country; they could not develop competing industries; they had to trade exclusively with England. They must be forever dependent upon England.
一百年来，英国在殖民地征税。这些税是针对进口商品在港口城市的海关征收，用以管制交易，是母国控制殖民地经济的贸易系统之一部分。该贸易系统背后的想法很简单：母国控制整个帝国的经济─殖民地存在的目的是要使母国富裕；殖民地不得发展与母国竞争的工业；殖民地只能与英国进行贸易；殖民地必须永远依赖英国。
Mercantilism both helped and hurt the American colonists. The tobacco-growing plantation owners in the South enjoyed a monopoly in the British Empire, but the manufacturers in New England were prohibited from making certain products for export. The Navigation Acts regulated colonial trade, always favorable to England. When they found these laws too restrictive, Americans either ignored them or engaged in wholesale smuggling, a practice in which John Hancock excelled. This smuggling continued throughout the period leading up to the Revolution, greatly provoking the British. Such flagrant violation of English law also transgressed Biblical law, but the Americans justified their disobedience by pointing to the inequities of the mercantile system.
商业主义既帮助又伤害美洲殖民地。在南方种植烟草的地主在大英帝国之下成了大富翁，但是在新英格兰的人被禁止制造某些产品外销。航海法限制殖民地的贸易，总是图利于英国。当美国人发觉这些法令太严苛，他们不是忽视法令就是参与大量走私，走私正是约翰汉库克(John Hancock)所擅长的。这种走私一直持续进行到美国革命，极度地激怒英国人。如此恶名昭彰的违反英国法律的行为也触犯了圣经的律法，但美国人以贸易系统的不公平来为他们的抗命作辩护。
In 1763, the English tried a tax on all official documents (the Stamp Tax). Americans responded vehemently. Unlike the import duties, this was a direct tax. Since they had no elected representatives in Parliament, they cried, "Taxation without representation is tyranny." In this they acted hypocritically: Members of churches other than those established in each colony had been taxed for the maintenance of the established churches for many years. Furthermore, the colonists did not want representation in Parliament, for "their" representatives would simply be outvoted.
英国在一七六三年试图将税加于所有的官方文件上(印花税)，美国人强烈地反弹。印花税是直接税，不像进口关税。既然美国人在英国国会中没有选举产生的代表，他们抗议道：「没有国会代表却被课税是专制暴政。」在这一点上他们是口里不一，那些不是殖民地正式设立的教会之成员多年来都被征税以供养那些正式设立的教会。尤其甚者，殖民地的人自己不想要有国会代表，因为他们认为其代表只会被其它地区的代表以多数胜过。
As part of their opposition to the Stamp Tax, the colonists formed a Non-Importation Agreement. In effect, they agreed to boycott English-made goods. Since America lacked industries, that entailed sacrifice. For long periods of time, ladies and gentlemen wore homespun garments in testimony to their patriotism and their resistance to what they considered to be unjust taxes.
殖民地的人组织了一个「非进口」协议，作为他们反对印花税的一部分，执行的方式就是抵制英国制的货品。由于美国缺乏工业，这样做需要牺牲。很长的一段时间当中，淑女和绅士扪穿著朴素的衣服以显示他们的爱国心和抵抗他们认为不合理的税。
As a Christian, I applaud the Non-Importation Agreements as a method of resistance. The Bible does not command us to buy or sell anything against our will. This boycott worked; England repealed most of the taxes. If that method had been adhered to, further trouble could possibly have been avoided.
作为基督徒，我赞扬他们以「非进口」协议作为抵抗的一种方式。圣经并未命令我们购买或出售任何不合我们心意的物品。这项抵制奏了效：英国废除大部分的税目。如果这种抵抗方式一直被采用的话，其它的麻烦可能就可以避免了。
On the other hand, the colonists' motive for non-payment of taxes was not altogether praiseworthy. They may have seen the constitutional issue clearly, but they were also shirking their responsibilities as beneficiaries of British protection against the French and Indians. England could not pay off its massive war debt without more revenue; the English had borne the brunt of taxation all during the long Seven Years' War. For Americans to help pay that debt seemed reasonable, since they had had the help of the British army and navy. Why did they not suggest that their own legislatures raise a tax to help repay England's debt and defray costs of defending the frontier. That might have helped persuade King George not to levy a tax directly on them.
另一方面，殖民者不缴税的动机并非全都值得赞扬。他们也许清楚明白宪法议题，但身为英国对抗法国和印地安人的受益人，他们却也逃避该有的责任。英国必须增加税收以偿还巨额的战争债务；英国人在长达七年的战争的所有税征中首当其冲。既然美国人接受英国陆军和海军的援助，要他们帮忙偿还这个债务似乎是合理的。为何他们没有建议自己的议会增加税收以帮助偿还英国的债务并支付英国在保卫美国边界时的开销？这么做可能有助于说服乔治王不要直接对他们课税。
To make matters worse, the Stamp Tax encountered some violent opposition. "Sons of Liberty" organized mobs that wrecked houses of unpopular officials, stole their money, and punished violators of the Non-Importation Agreements. The colonists also harmed the officials appointed to collect the tax. They used two methods to intimidate the King's representatives: Putting the man astride a wooden rail and carrying him out of town - an extremely painful procedure - and covering a man with tar and then putting feathers over the tar - a punishment both painful and potentially harmful.
教情况更糟的是，印花税遭遇到一些暴力式的反对。「自由之子」组织暴民破坏不受欢迎的官员的房子，偷他们的钱，而且惩罚违反「非进口协议」的人。殖民地的人也伤害那些被任命收税的官员。他们用两种办法来恫吓英王的税务代表：第一种要这些人跨骑在木头栏杆上然后把他们抬出城去，这种作法使人极端地痛苦；第二种是用柏油(沥青)浇在这些人身上然而放羽毛在柏油上，这种作法既使人痛苦又很危险。
This type of violence flies directly in the face of the Bible, which says Christians are to "be peaceable, gentle..."
这种暴力方式是直接地公然反对圣经，因为圣经说基督徒是「不要争竞，总要和平…」(提多书三章二节)
The response of the King may have been excessive, but rulers do not ordinarily deal leniently with those who violently rebel.
英王的反应也许过于激烈，但是统治者通常并不会宽大地处理用暴力反抗的人。
When Parliament passed new acts to tax various commodities, including tea, American shippers resorted to smuggling. They might justify their actions as legitimate resistance to bad laws, but a Christian can hardly approve of smuggling.
当英国国会通过新的法案对各种货品包括茶课税时，美国的船商就诉诸于走私。他们也许用「对恶劣法律的正当反抗」来为自己的行为辩护，但基督徒几乎不可能赞成走私的行为。
- Spreading lies and stirring up hatred 散播谎言及引发仇恨
With rising frustration over the disobedience of the colonists, the King sent two regiments of soldiers to Boston 1768. Many of these soldiers were guilty of drunkenness and profane language. One day in 1780, a crowd of sixty colonists began shouting insults at a squad of ten Redcoats. Verbal abuse turned to violence as the one soldier was hit by a club and another knocked down. Fearing for their safety, the soldiers opened fire at the crowd, wounding or killing eleven citizens. They had been provoked to the extreme; a later trial found only two of them guilty of manslaughter (not willful murder) and they were branded on the hand(.).
殖民地的人之抗命使英王的失望不断上升，他在一七六八年派遣两个军团到波士顿。这两个军团的许多士兵都有醉酒和言语污秽的毛病。一七七零年的某一天，一群六十个殖民地的人先开口辱骂一班十个红衫军(英国士兵)。当一个士兵被木棍击打以及另一个士兵被击倒时，言语的辱骂转变成暴力相向。英军顾虑到自己的安全，对滋事群众开火，打伤或打死了十一个市民。英国士兵被激怒到了极点；事后的审判裁定只有其中两个士兵犯了过失杀人罪(非蓄意谋杀)而且在他们手上烙印(注：一种刑罚)。
"Sons of Liberty" needed something to arouse anger against England, so they called this incident the "Boston Massacre" and greatly exaggerated the facts. People in other colonies thought that whole-sale slaughter had taken place and began to fear for their own safety. Anger intensified throughout America. Another step toward war had been taken.
「自由之子」要找一件事来提高对英国的愤怒，所以他们称这个事件为「波士顿大屠杀」并且极度地夸大事实。在其它殖民地的人认为大规模的屠杀已经展开了，并开始担忧自己的安全。愤怒在美国各地越来越强烈，战争之路又往前迈进一步。
None of that was necessary. Citizens should not have taunted soldiers. They should have known that soldiers are trained to shoot and kill, not to endure abuse from unarmed civilians. The propaganda campaign that followed this incident resulted from a bitter and hateful spirit and demonstrated that some of the Patriots valued political liberty more than moral integrity.
这些都是没有必要发生的。波士顿市民不应该嘲弄英国士兵，他们应该知道士兵的训练是射击和杀人，不是忍受非武装平民的辱骂。这个事件之后的宣传活动形成一种痛苦和仇恨的情绪，也证明了一些「爱国者」着重的是政治的自由而非道德的诚实。
- Destruction of property 破坏财产
In 1773, the British East India Company had a surplus of tea. The Parliament allowed them to control the tea trade with American colonies and to "dump" the tea in America at a very low price, but added a small tax. The Americans reacted strongly. They feared the monopoly and they saw that even a small tax violated the principle of "no taxation without representation." When ships loaded with tea appeared in several ports, colonists refused to allow them to unload their cargo. At Annapolis, the ship and the cargo were burned. In Boston, the Governor would not allow the ships to return without discharging the tea on the shore. He intended to have the tea landed, stored, and then sold, thus foiling the Patriots. Patriots, led by the fiery Sam Adams, decided to destroy the tea before it left the ships. Disguised as Indians, a group of them boarded the ships and threw the tea overboard.
在一七七三年，英国东印度公司有一批多余的茶。英国国会准许他们控制茶叶交易并将茶「倾销」到美国，但只加了一点点的税。美国人反应非常强烈，他们害怕垄断企业并且将即使很小的税看作违反「没有国会代表就不缴税」的原则。当载茶的船只在几个港口出现的时候，殖民地的人拒绝让他们卸下货物。在安那波理斯(Annapolis，马里兰州的一个港口，现为该州首府)，商船和货物被焚毁。在波士顿，麻州州长不肯让商船载着茶叶原船返回英国，他计划将茶运上岸，储存然后出售，因此他阻挠「爱国者」的行动。「爱国者」在暴烈的山姆.亚当斯(Sam Adams)的领导下，决定在茶卸下船之前予以消毁。他们其中一些人伪装成印地安人，登船把茶叶倒入海中。
- Steps toward War 发动战争
This wanton destruction of property by a few fanatics worried many American leaders and it enraged the British. They responded by sending more troops to Boston, the hotbed of rebellion, closing the harbor and abolishing many of the civil rights long enjoyed by Massachusetts. At the same time, the Quebec Act was passed. Not only did it establish the Roman Catholic religion in Canada (as we have seen); it also allowed French Canadians to govern without assemblies and without the right to jury trials, according to their French customs.
少数狂热份子无理性的破坏财物使得许多美国领袖担忧，也触怒了英国人。英国的响应是派遣更多的军队到波士顿这个叛乱的温床，关闭波士顿港，并废除许多麻州居民长久以来享有的公民权。在此同时，魁北克法案通过了，它不但在加拿大建立了罗马天主教信仰(如我们前面提到过的)，也允许法裔加拿大人根据其法国传统，在没有地方议会及陪审团审判的制度下统治该地。
These extreme acts frightened other colonists, who feared lest they point towards abolition of their own assemblies and the abrogation of fundamental rights as Englishmen. Spurred on by appeals from Boston, they rallied in support. A Continental Congress met to form petitions to the King and, at the same time, to prepare for war, should it come. They declared a complete boycott on all English goods. In some places, mobs tarred and feathered those who violated the boycott. Men collected muskets; militias drilled on the commons of many villages. Parliament foolishly rejected the American petitions.
这些极端的法案教殖民地其它的人惊吓，他们害怕这些法案会指向废除他们自己的议会及取消他们基本的英国公民权。他们受到在波士顿的上诉案之激励而联合起来支持上诉。他们组成一个「美洲大陆国会」来对英王请愿，在此同时也准备可能来临的战争。他们宣布对英国所有物品的完全抵制。在某些地方，群众对那些违反抵制行动的人施以浇柏油黏羽毛的暴行。男人囤积毛瑟枪(旧式步枪)；民兵在许多村庄的集合场操练军事。英国国会则不智地驳回了美国人的请愿。
Finally, British soldiers marched to Lexington to capture military stores that had been gathered by Americans. They ordered the American militia to disperse and opened fire when the order was disobeyed. Thus, as we have seen, England fired the first shot of the war and Americans justified their reaction as self-defense.
最后，英国士兵进军麻州的来克辛顿(Lexington)占领美国人储存军火的仓库。他们命令美国民兵解散并对不服从命令者开火。于是如同我们前面提到的，英国射出战争的第一发子弹，而美国人就以自卫的名义来为战争作辩护。
I see the matter differently, however: It seems to me that England was in the wrong for refusing to accept the petitions of the Continental Congress, but that the actions of the colonists up to that point and at Lexington constituted sinful rebellion. The citizens of Massachusetts, in particular, provoked the British. Both sides share the blame for the eight-year war that followed, but I place more of the blame on the colonists.
然而，我却有不同的看法。在我看来，英国拒绝接受「美洲大陆国会」的请愿固然是错误的，但殖民地的人在当时的行为以及在来克辛顿的作法都构成叛乱的罪。特别是麻州的居民，激怒了英国人。英美双方都该为继之而来的八年美国独立战争受到指责，但我将较多的责任归咎于殖民地的人。
- Consequences of the Rebellion against England 对英国革命所造成的后果
To begin with, Americans had to fight the British for eight long years. As glamorous as some highlights of that war may seem to us, they meant hardship and death for thousands.
首先，美国人必须与英国人八年抗战。战争当中虽然有些似乎看来吸引人的精彩之处，他们背后所代表的却是艰苦与数以千计的人丧生。
Moreover, the war failed to settle major differences between the Colonies and England, and thus led almost inevitably to a second conflict, the War of 1812, which the United States almost lost.
此外，战争并没有解决美洲殖民地和英国之间的歧异。因此不可避免地导致了第二次冲突：一八一二年之战，美国差一点输了这场战争。
More importantly, however, although the War for Independence succeeded ended with an American victory, I believe that this rebellion introduced a cancer into the American system that has now spread throughout the nation, causing grave distress to the entire society. The spirit of rebellion against authority immediately took deep root among some colonists. That attitude persists to this day, with devastating results both at home and abroad.
然而更重要的是，虽然独立战争的结果是美国获得胜利而独立成功，我相信这个革命在美国的体系当中植入了毒瘤，并且已经蔓延到整个国家当中，造成整个社会致命的危险。推翻掌权者的精神立即在一些殖民者心中扎根，那种态度持续到今天，带给美国国内和国外毁灭性的后果。
In our own time, the spirit of rebellion has led to a breakdown of authority in the home, the school, and the public life of this nation. With the Revolution pictured before us as a great and virtuous act, American leaders have no clear and obvious moral argument against what others consider to be legitimate disobedience to authority. The near-anarchy we see in large areas of our country today flows, in my opinion, from our fatal flaw: A commitment to violent revolt against authority we perceive to be unjust.
在我们这个时代，反叛的精神导致了这个国家在家庭、学校、以及公众生活中的威信之破坏。当革命以伟大而良善的图像呈现在我们眼前，使许多人认为不服从权威是正当合法时，美国的领袖们并没有对这些错误提出明确而显著的反驳。我们今天在美国许多区域所见到的一种半无政府状态，我认为是源自于一个致命的错误：固守一个信念，就是对我们觉得不公正的权威采用暴力革命来反抗。
Revolution-minded Americans have not only crippled themselves; they have also affected the rest of the world.
具有革命思想的美国人不仅使自己跛足，也影响了世界上其它的地方。
The success of the American Revolution emboldened French radicals to overthrow their monarchy and institute a "Republic." Without the Christian (that is to say, Evangelical Protestant) background enjoyed by the Americans, however, the atheistic French leaders soon plunged into an orgy of slaughter and anarchy that finally brought forth another absolute monarch, Napoleon Bonaparte. The wars which his power-hungry government caused devastated Europe for more than a dozen years and shattered France itself.
美国独立革命的成功鼓励了法国激进份子推翻他们的君主政体，组织一个「共和政体」。然而，不像美国人具有基督教背景(也就是福音派的基督教)，法国的无神论领导人很快地陷入屠杀和无政府状态的狂热活动中，最后引来了另一个绝对专制君王─拿破仑。拿破仑的嗜权政府发动的战争摧毁了欧洲十多年，也使法国自己体无完肤。
With the example of the French and Americans before them, leaders of hundreds of other revolutions have attempted to create better societies. Almost none of them has succeeded, despite claims to the contrary.
效法法国和美国的前例，数以百计的其它革命的领导人企图创造一个较好的社会。尽管许多人宣称革命成功了，其实几乎没有一个人是真正成功的。
Thus, the American Revolution can be indirectly charged with complicity in the massive destruction of property and deaths of untold millions of people in the past two hundred years of violent revolutions.
因此，美国革命该为引发过去两百年的暴力革命而造成无以数计的人生命财产的巨大损失负起间接的责任。
Could there not have been another way to achieve freedom and found a nation that would not contain within it the seed of its own destruction. Canadians believe there could have been, and point to their own history to prove it.
难道没有其它的办法，可以获得自由并建立一个国家而不把自我毁灭的种子放在其中？加拿大人相信是有其它的办法，并指出他们的历史可以证明这一点。
The Providence of God 神的旨意
A Christian believes that God controls all of human history. Thus, even though I question whether the American Revolution was right, I believe that God allowed it. The Lord allowed, for example, King George to behave in a stubborn and autocratic manner, thus provoking the Americans to fight. He had not learned from the example of Solomon's son, Rehoboam, whose high-handed attitude led to a rebellion that cost him much of his kingdom. God must have wanted the Revolution to succeed, for he providently protected the American forces on many occasions. He thus answered the prayers of George Washington and others and preserved the colonies from domination by England.
基督徒相信神支配人类所有的历史。因此，虽然我质疑美国独立革命的正确性，我仍旧相信是神允许它发生的。举例来说，神允许乔治王具有顽固而独裁的态度，因此激怒了美国人以暴力反抗。乔治王并没有从所罗门王的儿子罗波安(Rehoboam)的例子中学到教训，罗波安专横的态度导致了人民的反叛并使他的王国分裂(列王纪上十二章一至二十节)。神肯定想让美国独立革命成功，因为祂在许多场合都及时的保护美国的军队。他以此应允了乔治.华盛顿(George Washington)和其它人的祷告，保护殖民地免于受英国的控制。
Furthermore, the creation of a new kind of government, under the Constitution, has brought immeasurable benefit to the world. Dozens of constitutions have been modeled on the American one. American citizens themselves enjoy one of the best governments in the history of the world as a result of the formation of this new government.
此外，在美国宪法下所建立起来的新型态政府已经给全世界带来无可度量的益处，许多其它国家的宪法都是以美国宪法为蓝本。美国人民自己则因这个新政府的形成，得以享有世界历史上最好的政府之一。
In all this and much more, we can see the providential hand of God guiding the American colonists, despite their sins.
在这些以及更多的事实中，我们可以看到虽然殖民地的人犯了许多的罪，神旨意之手依然带领着他们。
Comparison with China 与中国的比较
Chinese have experienced two revolutions in the Twentieth Century. The 1911 revolution in some ways resembles the American War for Independence, in that it aimed to liberate China from the domination of the foreign Manchu dynasty. The followers of Sun Yat-Sen, a professing Christian, did not aim to dismantle the entire social structure; they merely wanted to change the central government. They hoped to drive out the Manchus and to grant greater power to provincial governments; they also established a Republican form of government to replace the imperial system.
中国在二十世纪经历了两次的革命。一九一一年推翻满清的革命在某些方面与美国独立战争相似，它的目的是要从外族满清的统治下将中国解放。孙中山先生(他自称是基督徒)的跟随者并没有企图拆毁整个社会结构；他们只是想改变中央政府。他们希望驱逐满清并赋予各省政府较多的权力；他们也建立了一个共和政府来取代帝国体制。
The Communist revolution, by contrast, sought to create an entirely new society. By eliminating the landowning and capitalist class, Communists thought they could remove oppression from their land. When this proved impossible, Chairman Mao launched one "movement" after another to purify the Party and the nation. Thus, the Communist revolution resembles the French revolution, both in its atheistic philosophy and in its utopian design to build a perfect society on earth under the leadership of an "enlightened" elite.
相对地，共产党的革命则寻求创造一个新的社会。共产党员认为藉由铲除地主和资产阶级，他们可以除去中国的阶级压迫。当这个想法被证明是不可能的时候，主席毛泽东发动一次又一次的「运动」来净化共产党和中国。因此，共产党的革命在两方面类似于法国革命——第一是无神论的哲学，第二是用乌托邦的思想来建立一个由「有见识的」菁英所领导的完美社会。
For reflection and discussion: 响应与讨论
1. Contrast the philosophy that led to the American War for Independence with Communist ideology.
1. 将导致美国独立战争的哲学与共产主义的意识型态作一对比。
2. Contrast the conduct of the American War for Independence with that conduct of the Communist Revolution. What were the different results.
2. 将美国独立战争的过程与中国共产党革命的过程作一对比。有哪些不同的结果？
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