《旧制度与大革命·卷二·第十四章·十八世纪法国人的非宗教情绪及其影响》第3节
It must first be acknowledged that the Church was not more open to attack in France than elsewhere. The corruptions and abuses which had been allowed to creep into it were less, on the contrary, there than in most other Catholic countries. The Church of France was infinitely more tolerant than it had ever been previously and than the Church still was in other nations. Consequently, the peculiar causes of this phenomenon must be looked for less in the condition of religion itself than in that of society. For the thorough comprehension of this fact, what was said in the preceding chapter must not be lost sight of--namely, that the whole spirit of political opposition excited by the corruption of the Government, not being able to find a vent in public affairs, had taken refuge in literature, and that the writers of the day had become the real leaders of the great party which tended to overthrow the social and political institutions of the country. This being well understood, the question is altered. We no longer ask in what the Church of that day erred as a religious institution, but how far it stood opposed to the political revolution which was at hand, and how it was more especially irksome to the writers who were the principal promoters of this revolution. The Church, by the first principles of her ecclesiastical government, was adverse to the principles which they were desirous of establishing in civil government. The Church rested principally upon tradition; they professed great contempt for all institutions based upon respect for the past. The Church recognised an authority superior to individual reason; they appealed to nothing but that reason. The Church was founded upon a hierarchy: they aimed at an entire subversion of ranks. To have come to a common understanding it would have been necessary for both sides to have recognised the fact, that political society and religious society, being by nature essentially different, cannot be regulated by analogous laws. But at that time they were far enough from any such conclusion; and it was fancied that, in order to attack the institutions of the State, those of the Church must be destroyed which served as their foundation and their model.
注释摘要
在这段著名的论证里，托克维尔断然推翻了一个常识性的假设：法国大革命前夕反宗教情绪狂飙，是因为法国教会特别腐败。恰恰相反，他直截了当地说，当时法国教会的弊端比大多数天主教国家还要轻，也比它自己的过去更宽容。这个判断是关键转折——既然病因不在宗教肌体本身的溃烂，那一定在社会。于是他把读者引回前一章的核心论点：在绝对君主制彻底清空了一切有组织的政治反对渠道之后，…