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Revolving this project in my mind, as to be undertaken hereafter, when my circumstances should afford me the necessary leisure, I put down from time to time, on pieces of paper, such thoughts as occurr'd to me respecting it.
我打算在今后当我有必要的空闲时，来从事这一工作。但在筹划这一计划时，我不时地把我想到有关的思想记在纸上。
Most of these are lost; but I find one purporting to be the substance of an intended creed, containing, as I thought, the essentials of every known religion, and being free of everything that might shock the professors of any religion.
这些笔记大部分都遗失了，但是我找到一个原拟作为教条草案要旨的文件，其中包含当时我认为是各种教派的精髓，它摒弃了一切足以引起任何教派信徒反对的东西。
It is express'd in these words, viz.:
原文如下：
"That there is one God, who made all things.
天地间有一个创造万物的主宰。
That he governs the world by his providence.
上帝运用天道统治全世界。
That he ought to be worshiped by adoration, prayer, and thanksgiving.
人应当用崇拜、祈祷和感恩来敬拜上帝。
But that the most acceptable service of God is doing good to man.
但是上帝最喜悦的服役是对人行善。
That the soul is immortal.
灵魂不灭。
And that God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either here or hereafter."
不论是在今世或来世，上帝必赏善罚恶。
My ideas at that time were, that the sect should be begun and spread at first among young and single men only; that each person to be initiated should not only declare his assent to such creed, but should have exercised himself with the thirteen weeks' examination and practice of the virtues, as in the beforemention'd model;
当时我对这一教团有下面的一些主张：在初期它应当只在年轻的单身汉中间开始传布，每一个入教的信徒不但要宣布接受这些教条，而且应当按照前述方式对于那些美德经过十三个星期的考查与实践。
that the existence of such a society should be kept a secret, till it was become considerable, to prevent solicitations for the admission of improper persons, but that the members should each of them search among his acquaintance for ingenuous, well-disposed youths, to whom, with prudent caution, the scheme should be gradually communicated;
这一教团的存在应当暂时保密，直到信徒增加到相当人数时为止，以防止坏人申请入教，但是信徒们应当在友人中物色智力颖悟、性情温和的青年，逐步地审慎地告诉他们关于这一教团的计划。
that the members should engage to afford their advice, assistance, and support to each other in promoting one another's interests, business, and advancement in life; that, for distinction, we should be call'd The Society of the Free and Easy:
信徒们应当保证在各人的利益、事业和上进中相互劝告、协助和支持。这一教派将定名为“自由和富裕人会”。
free, as being, by the general practice and habit of the virtues, free from the dominion of vice; and particularly by the practice of industry and frugality, free from debt, which exposes a man to confinement, and a species of slavery to his creditors.
所谓自由，系指由于普遍地养成了实践美德的习惯以后人们能脱离罪恶的统治而言，特别是指在养成了勤俭美德之后人们可以避免负债，负债使人有遭受拘禁和成为债主奴隶的危险。
This is as much as I can now recollect of the project, except that I communicated it in part to two young men, who adopted it with some enthusiasm;
关于这一计划我现在所能记忆的仅仅就是这一点了，我记得我曾经把一部分的计划告诉过两个年轻人，他们相当热烈地赞成这样做。
but my then narrow circumstances, and the necessity I was under of sticking close to my business, occasioned my postponing the further prosecution of it at that time; and my multifarious occupations, public and private, induc'd me to continue postponing, so that it has been omitted till I have no longer strength or activity left sufficient for such an enterprise; though I am still of opinion that it was a practicable scheme, and might have been very useful, by forming a great number of good citizens;
但是由于我当时境遇困难，必须孜孜兀兀地从事业务操作，因此当时我不得不把这计划的进一步执行留待后日，以后由于千头万绪的公私事务羁身，使我一再延期，直到后来我已没有足够的精力和活动力来从事于这样的一种事业了，虽然迄今我还以为这是一个切实可行的计划，如果能够把许多好公民组织起来，可能是一件十分有益的事。
and I was not discourag'd by the seeming magnitude of the undertaking, as I have always thought that one man of tolerable abilities may work great changes, and accomplish great affairs among mankind, if he first forms a good plan, and, cutting off all amusements or other employments that would divert his attention, makes the execution of that same plan his sole study and business.
同时我也没有被这件事外表上的艰巨吓倒，因为我一向以为一个有相当才能的人可以造成巨大的变革，可以在人世间成就伟大的事业，假如他首先拟订一个良好的计划，摒绝一切足以分散他注意力的娱乐和其他工作，把执行计划作为他唯一的对象和工作。
