Chapter 43: The Poor Man

Chapter 43 The Poor Man
When Arthur heard this, he seriously stared at the other party’s face for a while before he smiled and got up to bring a tea set from the table beside him.

He placed the teacup in front of Newman and spoke while pouring tea for him, ”Mr. Newman, you’d better drink some water first. Because I reckon this could be a long conversation.”

Newman looked up at the sky outside the window and nodded, “That’s all right, Mr. Hastings. If there’s not enough time, I can keep coming back tomorrow, no, even if it’s the day after tomorrow.”

Agareth took advantage of the fact that Newman’s attention was all on Arthur and touched a piece from the jar of candy and tossed it into his mouth.

The red devil sneered, “Arthur, do you know why I ended up in hell? It’s because heaven is full of such one-dimensional shit, and if he’s not in a hurry, I’m in a hurry.”

Arthur didn’t pay any attention to Agareth, just smiled and sat back in his seat.

With both elbows resting on his desk, he spoke, “Mr. Newman, it does seem that you would like to know the answer. A man like you shouldn’t have gone to Oxford in the first place.”

“Why?” Newman wondered, “Oxford offers the best education in England.”

Arthur shook his head, “Does it? But Cambridge says the same thing. The argument is just too contradictory, and just as a true Oxford priest could not have endorsed Thomas Paine, there can’t be two firsts in England at the same time.”

Newman looked a little bewildered as he asked, “Why couldn’t an Oxford priest have endorsed Thomas Paine?”

Arthur asked, “May I ask you then, what exactly is your opinion of Mr. Penn?”

Newman was stunned by Arthur’s question, and he pondered for a long time before hesitating.

“I can’t claim to dislike a part of his remarks, at most I feel that I disagree with him. And for the rest of his remarks, I express my high appreciation.”

Arthur warmed his hands with his teacup and said, “And have you ever wondered why this phenomenon occurs?”

“This ……”

Newman’s expression looked a little struggling, and his right hand, which was gripping the cross tightly on his chest, burst into bruises, but after a moment of silence, he looked as if he’d given up halfway through, and slumped backward in his seat with a weak, limp body.

“I am a devout believer, and I admire Penn, but he is an atheist, and I would rather die than betray God. If I lose my faith, then what difference is there between me and death?”

Arthur couldn’t help but smile a little at his words.

He waved his hand and enlightened, “Mr. Newman, you may have thought about the problem too seriously. Admiring Penn and betraying God, these two things don’t have any necessary connection.

Although Mr. Penn has always claimed that he is an atheist, but judging from what he has done, I think that instead of being an atheist, he is still a Protestant believer who perfectly meets the criteria.”

Newman looked a little surprised to hear this; his mouth opened slightly, and almost at the first moment he sprang up from his chair, looking as if he had seen a miracle manifested.

He pursued the question, “Mr. Hastings, what does that mean?”

Arthur shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile, “Perhaps it’s because I have a different standard than you for judging whether or not a person possesses faith, and I believe that judging whether or not a person possesses faith must be based on his behavior as well as the logic of his actions.

Just as you said, Mr. Penn is an idealist who is free from low tastes, free from any self-interest, and practicing the most arduous but also the most correct path.

But don’t you realize that those ideas he adhered to during his short but great life included both Calvinism and Lutheranism.

From my perspective as a Catholic fundamentalist, Mr. Penn was the very embodiment of all that is good about Calvinism and Lutheranism.

Calvinism is not concerned with materialism in life, but has high moral standards for its followers and a passion for social charity and poverty alleviation.

According to our Scotland Yard statistics, there are hundreds of spontaneous relief and help groups formed by Calvinists in the Greater London area alone.

It is also this group of Calvinists, most of whom are living in poverty themselves, who are the most active participants in collecting donations from the community.

They are the only light left in the darkest areas of London, and although this light may not be dazzling, it can give a glimmer of hope to those poor people who are about to fall into the abyss and are struggling on the edge of life and death.

In a way, these believers have contributed even more than Scotland Yard in lowering the crime rate in London, and they are an admirable group of people, just like Mr. Thomas Penn.

And Lutherans, they were staunch supporters of equality for all.

You should know better than I do that the Lutherans have always insisted on the spirit of ‘all laymen are priests’, and believe that every Christian has equal status and rights in the church, and that all can hold the priesthood and none should have any privileges.

Is this not the most important point emphasized by Mr. Penn in Human Rights?
And Calvinism and Lutheranism are equally in favor of ‘justification by faith’, believing that only with pure faith can a person become a true Christian and be saved. Mr. Newman, you know more about Mr. Penn’s life than I do, and could you find anyone with a purer faith than Mr. Penn?
You are only deluded by the name of Mr. Penn’s atheist, and think that he possesses nothing but ideals.

But it seems to me that ideals are not enough to carry him through the English countryside, the American meadows, and the French fields, and that it is only when ideals are purified into beliefs that they can give him such a resilient strength.

As a devout believer in God and a fundamentalist Catholic, I don’t care what Mr. Penn said in his lifetime, but I will equally glory in his attempts to redeem himself and redeem the masses in his lifetime, and I feel a heavy sadness at his passing.

His body is corrupt, but his soul will ascend to heaven along with his noble faith.

It is as if I had already seen, as he was swimming in his heavenly abode, the six-winged angels that were standing by his side, and the eternal and immortal light that blossomed from the depths of his soul.”

Newman listened quietly to Arthur as he finished his speech; at first, his eyes were a little dim, but by the time he reached the end, a glimmer of light had appeared in his pupils.

The rain on the street gradually ceased, and Reverend Newman looked out of the window, and through the water droplets, which shone with a multicolored light, he seemed to see between the receding clouds in the sky the solitary back of Thomas Paine standing, and the solid arm that would not be bent in a hundred directions.

Arthur looked up at him with a smile and simply drew his handkerchief from his pocket and handed it over.

It was only then that Newman realized that somehow the tears had already wetted his cheeks and were running down the high bridge of his nose, falling bit by bit on the Human Rights and Common Sense that lay on his desk.

“Mr. Hastings, I’m sorry …….”

Newman took the handkerchief and wiped the moist corners of his eyes as he said with tears in his smile.

“What you say is so very kind. I now finally understand why you were able to convince the judge and jury in court. It is almost as if your words are magic, and you can have people falling all over you at any time.”

Who knew that Arthur shook his head at his words as he spoke, “My words do not have magic power. The only reason my words can move people is because I have broken through what people are thinking in their hearts.

It is because you yourself think the same way that these bland words can evoke your thoughts and make you feel happy and sad.

The reason why you are confused is that what you have seen, thought and learned does not agree with what you think and recognize in your heart, and this is what has plunged you into the abyss of suffering.

That is why I say that Oxford cannot be considered the first university in England, and that the knowledge they teach, even if beautifully adorned, is torn away from the world.

Perhaps when students like you are in school, they are still mesmerized by their elaborate Babylonian gardens, but even the most beautiful of gardens is still a tower without a foundation.

When you graduate from school and enter society, all illusions will collapse, and if you do not break free in silence, you will gradually die in silence.

Don’t forget the point emphasized by Thomas Paine in his writings that times are changing and all matters must change accordingly.

Those good old days will eventually pass, and the prologue of a new century is just around the corner.

While I do not think that all the good old days that have survived in civilization will pass away, if they do survive, it must be in a new light before the eyes of the public.”

Arthur rose with a smile and held out his hand at the Reverend Newman, his eyes flashing with the characteristic pale red glow of the red devil.

“Mr. Newman, it has been a great pleasure to talk to you to-day.”

Newman, also in a trance, rose to his feet, and he shook Arthur’s hand.

“Mr. Hastings, I’ve had a very nice chat today as well. But I don’t think I shall come to-morrow, perhaps, or the day after, or the day after that, perhaps. If I come again, should it be next month? No, no, no, perhaps next month? I …… must think over what you have just said.”

There was a snap.

Newman walked out of the office, disoriented, taking the door to his room with him.

Agareth looked at his departing form and muttered, “What a lunatic.”

Arthur walked over to the window with a cup of tea in his hand, he heard Agareth’s words and just shook his head slightly.

“He’s not a madman. He’s merely a poor man who can’t find his place in the waves of the new age, just like I once was.”

(End of chapter)