the soul rushed on to escape the ugly screams, but the huge black birds swept in circles, screaming out their vicious words louder and louder, as though they wished to be heard to the ends of the world.
灵魂像一只被追赶的雄鹿般逃窜，每走一步都被锋利的燧石绊倒，双脚被它们割得疼痛难忍。
the soul fled like a hunted stag, and at every step stumbled against sharp flint stones, painfully cutting his feet on them.
“这些锋利的石头怎么会在这儿？它们看起来就像只是散落在地上的枯叶。”
“how came these sharp stones here? they seem like mere withered leaves lying on the ground.”
“每一块石头都是你不经意说出的某句话，这些话对邻居内心造成的伤害远比此刻割伤你双脚的这些锋利燧石要深得多。”
“Each stone is some careless word you have spoken, which wounded your neighbor’s heart far more deeply than these sharp flints that now hurt your feet.”
“我从来没想过这些！” 灵魂喊道。
“I never thought of that!” cried the soul.
“你们不要论断人，免得你们被论断！” 这句话在空中回响。
“Judge not, that ye be not judged!” rang through the air.
片刻之后，灵魂从自我贬低中恢复过来。“我们都犯过罪。但我一直遵守律法和福音。我已经尽力而为了；我和其他人不一样。”
In a moment the soul recovered from its self-abasement. “we have all sinned. but I have kept the Law and the Gospel. I have done what I could do; I am not like the others.”
然后它就站在了天堂的大门前，守卫入口的天使问道：“你是谁？告诉我你的信仰，并在你的行为中向我展示出来。”
And then he stood at the gates of heaven itself, and the Angel who guarded the entrance asked, “who are you? tell me your faith, and show it to me in your works.”
“我一直忠实地遵守了所有的诫命。” 灵魂骄傲地回答道。
“I have faithfully kept all the mandments,” replied the soul proudly.
“我在世人面前一直保持谦卑。我憎恶并迫害邪恶以及行恶之人，要是我还有能力的话，我仍会用火与剑去这么做。”
“I have humbled myself in the eyes of the world. I have hated and persecuted evil and those who practice it, and I would do so still, with fire and sword, had I yet the power.”
“那么你是穆罕默德的追随者咯？” 天使说道。
“then you are a follower of mohammed?” said the Angel.
“我？绝不是！”
“I? Never!”
“‘动刀的必死于刀下’，圣子是这么说的。你所秉持的并非他的宗教。那你或许是以色列人的后裔，就是那些和摩西一起说‘以眼还眼，以牙还牙’的人吗？”
“ ‘he who strikes with the sword shall perish by the sword,’ thus spoke the Son. his religion you do not have. Are you then perchance one of the children of Israel, who with moses said: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth?’”
“我是一名基督徒。”
“I am a christian.”
“我在你的信仰和行为中都看不到这一点！基督的教义是宽恕、爱与慈悲！”
“I see it neither in your faith nor in your actions! the teaching of christ is forgiveness, love, and mercy!”
“慈悲！” 这声呼喊的回声在无垠的空间中回荡，天堂之门敞开了，灵魂朝着永恒的极乐之境飘去。
“mercy!” the echo of this rang through infinite space, the gates of heaven opened, and the soul hovered toward the realms of eternal bliss.
但从里面流淌而出的光芒是如此耀眼，如此具有穿透力，以至于灵魂像躲避双刃剑一样退缩了。而且那音乐之声是如此轻柔动人，世间凡人的口舌都无法描述。灵魂颤抖着，不断地俯伏得更低更低，那天堂之光穿透它，直到它前所未有地感受到了自身骄傲、残忍与罪恶的重负。
but the flood of light that streamed forth from within was so dazzling, so penetrating, that the soul shrank back as from a double-edged sword. And the sound of music was so soft and touching that no mortal tongue could describe it. the soul trembled and prostrated itself lower and lower, and the celestial light cut through it until it felt, as it had never felt before, the weight of its own pride and cruelty and sin.
“我在世上所做的任何好事，我做是因为我别无选择；但我所做的坏事 —— 那是出于我自己！”
“whatever good I have done in the world, I did because I could not do otherwise; but the evil that I did-that was of myself!”
灵魂愈发被天堂那纯净的光芒晃得眼花缭乱、不知所措；它似乎正坠入一个无底深渊 —— 那是它自身的赤裸与不配得的深渊。
And more and more the soul was dazzled and overwhelmed by the pure light of heaven; it seemed falling into a bottomless abyss-the abyss of its own nakedness and unworthiness.
灵魂蜷缩起来，深感谦卑，被摒弃在外，不配进入天国，一想到公正而神圣的上帝就瑟瑟发抖，几乎不敢喘息着说出：“慈悲！”
Shrunk into itself, humbled, cast out, unfit for the Kingdom of heaven, trembling at the thought of the just and holy God, hardly dared it to gasp, “mercy!”
而慈悲天使来到了他的身边 —— 这是他未曾料到的慈悲；在天堂那无垠的空间里，上帝永恒的爱填满了这个灵魂。
And the Angel of mercy came to him-the mercy he had not expected; and in the infinite space of heaven, God’s everlasting love filled the soul.
“犯错的人类灵魂啊，你将永远圣洁、慈爱、荣耀！” 天使们齐声歌唱道。
“holy, loving, glorious forever shalt thou be, o erring human spirit!” sang the chorus of angels.
就如同这个灵魂所经历的一样，我们所有人在尘世的最后一天，都会在天国那荣耀的景象面前谦卑地颤抖。
And as this soul did, so shall we all, on our last day on earth, humbly tremble in the glorious sight of the Kingdom of heaven.
但我们天父那无尽的爱与慈悲将会引领我们穿越其他领域，这样，经过净化和强化之后，我们便可以升入上帝那永恒的光辉之中。
but the infinite love and mercy of our heavenly Father will carry us through other spheres, so that, purified and strengthened, we may ascend into God’s eternal light.