第31章 自恃的危险
§1
第三十一章 自恃的危险
§2
Danger in Self-Confidence
§3
（引自给个人的证言）
§4
[From a Personal Testimony.]
§5
我蒙指示，像你这样在现代真理的圣工中只有很少几年不完全经验的年轻人，并不是上帝托付重责、在这工作中担任领导的人。你们在采取与有成熟经验之人的判断和意见不同的立场时，应当表现出谨慎，因为他们从事上帝圣工的时间比你们的年龄还长，并且他们是从这项工作非常微小的时候就已经加入进来了。上帝决不会拣选那些只有很少经验并相当自负的人来领导这项神圣重要的工作。在这一点上关系重大。凡在使这工作达到现今兴盛状态的过程中所经历的苦难、考验、反对和缺乏中没有多少经验的人，应当小心提防自己。{GW92 202.1}
§6
I have been shown that young men like yourself, who have had but a few years of imperfect experience in the cause of present truth, are not the ones whom God will trust to bear weighty responsibilities, and to lead out in this work. Such should manifest a delicacy in taking positions which will conflict with the judgment and opinions of those of mature experience, whose lives have been interwoven with the cause of God nearly as many years as you have lived, and who have had an active part in this work from its small beginning. God will not select men of but little experience and considerable self-confidence to lead out in this sacred, important work. There is much at stake here. Men who have had but little experience in the sufferings, trials, opposition, and privations that have been endured to bring the work up to its present condition of prosperity, should be very jealous of themselves.{GW92 202.1}
§7
那些参与传扬真理的青年人应当培养质朴谦卑的精神。他们应当小心，不可自高，免得被打败。他们要为如今照在他们身上清晰的真理亮光负责。我看到上帝不喜悦有些人抱怨那些在信息初传、工作艰难的时候已为他们打过最艰难的仗，饱经苦难的人。{GW92 202.2}
§8
Young men who now engage in the work of preaching the truth should cultivate modesty and humility. They should be careful how they become exalted, lest they be overthrown. They will be accountable for the clear light of truth which now shines upon them. I saw that God is displeased with the disposition that some have to murmur against those who have fought the heaviest battles for them, and who endured so much in the beginning of the message, when the work went hard.{GW92 202.2}
§9
上帝重视富有经验的工人。他们曾在只有很少的人帮助支持的时候，在难以忍受的重任之下辛劳。上帝极其关怀那些已证明是忠心的人。祂不喜悦那些乐于挑剔责备在建立现代真理圣工的过程中变得须发斑白的上帝仆人的人。年轻人啊，你们的抱怨和责备，必在上帝的日子作不利于你们的证据。只要上帝没有将重责放在你们身上，你们就不要离开本位，倚靠自己独立的判断，负起你们还不配负的责任……你们需要培养警醒和谦卑，并要殷勤祈祷。你们越亲近上帝，便越能看清楚自己的软弱和危险。你们若能对上帝的律法有符合实际的看法，对基督的赎罪有清楚的认识，你们就会有自知之明，看到你们基督徒品格的不完全之处。……{GW92 203.1}
§10
The experienced laborers,—those who toiled under the weight and the oppressive burdens when there were but few to help bear them,—God regards; and he has a jealous care for those who have proved faithful. He is displeased with those who are ready to find fault with and reproach those servants of God who have grown gray in building up the cause of present truth. Your reproaches and murmurings, young men, will surely stand against you in the day of God. As long as God has not laid heavy responsibilities upon you, do not get out of your place, and rely upon your own independent judgment, and assume responsibilities for which you are not fitted.... You need to cultivate watchfulness and humility, and to be diligent in prayer. The nearer you live to God, the more clearly will you discern your weaknesses and dangers. A practical view of the law of God, and clear discernment of the atonement of Christ, will give you a knowledge of yourselves, and will show you wherein you fail to perfect Christian character....{GW92 203.1}
§11
你们在一定程度上忽视了不断保持神圣感化力的必要。时刻有这种神圣的影响同在，这在从事上帝的工作上是绝对必要的。你们若忽视这一点，自信自满地过日子，主就会任你们去犯大错。你们需要不断怀有谦卑的心和依赖的精神。那能感觉到自己软弱的人，眼光会超越自己，且会感到不断需要来自上面的力量。上帝的恩典会引导他操练并怀有始终感恩的精神。那最清楚自己弱点的人，会知道惟有上帝的无比的恩典才能帮助他战胜内心的叛逆。{GW92 203.2}
§12
In a degree you overlook the necessity of having a divine influence constantly with you. This is positively necessary in doing the work of God. If you neglect this, and pass on in self-confidence and self-sufficiency, you will be left to make very great blunders. You need constantly to cherish lowliness of mind and a spirit of dependence. He who feels his own weakness will look higher than himself, and will feel the need of constant strength from above. The grace of God will lead him to exercise and cherish a spirit of constant gratitude. He who is best acquainted with his own weakness will know that it is the matchless grace of God alone that will triumph over the rebellion of the heart.{GW92 203.2}
§13
你们需要熟悉自己品格中的缺点和优点，以便你们保持警惕，免得从事上帝从未要你们参加的事业，负起上帝从未让你们担负的责任。你们不应按照任何人的标准来比较你们的行动并衡量你们的生活，而应按照圣经中所显明的责任规则。…… {GW92 203.3}
§14
You need to become acquainted with the weak as well as the strong points in your characters, that you may be constantly guarded lest you engage in enterprises and assume responsibilities for which God has never designed you. You should not compare your actions and measure your lives by any human standard, but with the rule of duty revealed in the Bible.... {GW92 203.3}
§15
你过于倚赖环境了。若是听众很多，你就得意扬扬，很想对他们演说。但有时听众少了，你就意气消沉，无心工作。你确实有缺欠。你握住上帝还不够紧。…….{GW92 204.1}
§16
You are too dependent upon your surroundings. If you have a large congregation, you are elated, and you desire to address them. But sometimes your congregations diminish, your spirits sink, and you have but little courage to labor. Surely, something is wanting. Your hold upon God is not firm enough....{GW92 204.1}
§17
基督在世寻找人时，是到能找到他们之处去找的——在公共街道上，在私人家庭中，在会堂里，在海边。祂整天劳苦，向民众传道，医治带到祂面前来的病人；祂常常在打发众人回家休息睡觉之后，自己就整夜祈祷，到了早晨又出发重新作工。……你需要藉着恳切祈祷和活泼的信心，使你的心灵与上帝有更加密切的交往。每一次本着信心献上的祷告，都能使恳求者超脱令人灰心的疑惑和人类的情欲。祈祷能使人得到力量，重新去与黑暗的权势作战，作基督的精兵，耐心忍受百般的试炼和苦难。{GW92 204.2}
§18
Christ sought for men wherever he could find them,—in the public streets, in private houses, in the synagogues, by the sea-side. He toiled all day, preaching to the multitude, and healing the sick that were brought to him; and frequently, after he had dismissed the people that they might return to their homes to rest and sleep, he spent the entire night in prayer, to come forth and renew his labors in the morning.... You need to bring your soul into close communion with God by earnest prayer mixed with living faith. Every prayer offered in faith lifts the suppliant above discouraging doubts and human passions. Prayer gives strength to renew the conflict with the powers of darkness, to bear trials patiently, and to endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ.{GW92 204.2}
§19
你若深陷与自己的疑惑和恐惧之中，或在没有信心的时候试图解决自己无法看清楚的问题，你的困惑只会更多更深。如果你就近上帝，感觉自己无力且需要倚靠上帝的真实状况，并且谦卑信靠地祈求上帝，将自己的需要和缺乏向祂陈明，那位无所不知，在创造时就看明一切并用其旨意和话语统治万有的主，就必能够而且愿意注意你的呼求，使光明照进你的心里和你周围所有人的身上，因为藉着真诚的祷告，你的心灵可以与那位无限之主的心交流。你当时或许并无明显的证据表明你的救赎主的脸慈怜仁爱地垂顾你，但事实却是如此。你或许感觉不到祂明显的触摸，但祂的手确实在慈怜温柔地抚慰你。……{GW92 204.3}
§20
While you take counsel with your doubts and fears, or try to solve everything that you cannot see clearly before you have faith, your perplexities will only increase and deepen. If you come to God, feeling helpless and dependent, as you really are, and in humble, trusting prayer make your wants known to Him whose knowledge is infinite, who sees everything in creation, and who governs everything by his will and word, he can and will attend to your cry, and will let light shine into your heart and all around you; for through sincere prayer your soul is brought into connection with the mind of the Infinite. You may have no remarkable evidence at the time that the face of your Redeemer is bending over you in compassion and love; but this is even so. You may not feel his visible touch, but his hand is upon you in love and pitying tenderness.... {GW92 204.3}
§21
我们唯一的保障，乃在于时时刻刻蒙上帝的恩典庇佑，不消灭自己属灵的眼光，以致称恶为善，称善为恶。我们必须毫不迟疑，绝无异议地封闭并防护心灵的通路，以免罪恶侵入。{GW92 205.1}
§22
Our only safety is in being shielded by the grace of God every moment, and not putting out our own spiritual eyesight so that we call evil good, and good, evil. Without hesitation or argument, we must close and guard the avenues of the soul against evil.{GW92 205.1}
§23
我们要得永生，就必须出一番努力。只有藉着长期坚毅的努力，严格的训练，切实的奋斗，我们才能成为得胜的人。但是我们若是忍耐而坚决地奉着那为我们在旷野受试探得胜之主的圣名得胜，象祂得了胜一样，我们就要得到永恒的赏赐。我们的努力，我们的克己，我们的恒心，必须与我们正追求的无价之宝相称。……只付出少许软弱和断断续续的努力是不可能改正错误，也不可能改良品格的。成圣并非一日一年之工，而是一生之工。若无不断的努力和持之以恒的行动，我们在属灵生活上就不会有进展，也不能获得得胜者的冠冕。…..你需要时刻警醒，免得撒但用他的诡计欺骗，败坏你的心，把你领到彷徨无主和蒙昧黑暗的地步。你的警醒应当表现出谦卑倚靠上帝的精神，不要骄傲自恃，而要深感自己的软弱，并象小孩子那样信赖上帝的应许。{GW92 205.2}
§24
It will cost us an effort to secure eternal life. It is only by long and persevering effort, sore discipline, and stern conflict, that we shall be overcomers. But if we patiently and determinedly, in the name of the Conqueror who overcame in our behalf in the wilderness of temptation, overcome as he overcame, we shall have the eternal reward. Our efforts, our self-denial, our perseverance, must be proportionate to the infinitive value of the object of which we are in pursuit.... Wrongs cannot be righted, nor reformations in character made, by a few feeble, intermittent efforts. Sanctification is not a work of a day or a year, but of a lifetime. Without continual efforts and constant activity, there can be no advancement in the divine life, no attainment of the victor’s crown.... You have need of constant watchfulness, lest Satan beguile you through his subtlety, corrupt your minds, and lead you into inconsistencies and gross darkness. Your watchfulness should be characterized by a spirit of humble dependence upon God. It should not be carried on with a proud, self-reliant spirit, but with a deep sense of your personal weakness, and a childlike trust in the promises of God.{GW92 205.2}
§25
现在传扬第三位天使信息的真理已经轻松愉快的多了，当初开始传扬这道信息时，人数很少，我们被视为狂热分子。那些在这信息的发起和早期进展中负责工作的人，都知道争斗、忧患和心灵痛苦是什么滋味。他们昼夜负荷重担，毫不考虑休息或方便，甚至在病苦患难的压迫之下，还是这样。时日短促叫人不能不积极活动，而且当时的工人很少。{GW92 205.3}
§26
It is now an easy and pleasant task to preach the truth of the third angel’s message, in comparison with what it was when the message first started, when the numbers were few, and we were looked upon as fanatics. Those who bore the responsibility of the work in the rise and early progress of the message, knew what conflict, distress, and soul-anguish were. Night and day the burden was heavy upon them. They thought not of rest or convenience even when they were pressed with suffering and disease. The shortness of time called for activity, and the laborers were few. {GW92 205.3}
§27
往往到了山穷水尽的地步时，我们便整夜流泪迫切的哀求上帝帮助，求赐光亮以明白圣经。及至光来了，黑云便被驱散，我们这般急切恳求的人，就得到了何等愉快与感激的喜乐啊！我们满怀感谢上帝，正如我们热切渴求光亮之时一样。有几夜我们因为心中洋溢着爱与感谢上帝之乐，以致不能睡觉。{GW92 206.1}
§28
Frequently, when brought into strait places, the entire night has been spent in earnest, agonizing prayer, with tears, for help from God, and for light to shine upon his word. When the light has come, and the clouds have been driven back, what joy and grateful happiness have rested upon the anxious, earnest seekers! Our gratitude to God was as complete as had been our earnest, hungering cry for light. Some nights we could not sleep, because our hearts were overflowing with love and gratitude to God.{GW92 206.1}
§29
现在出去传扬真理的人一切都是现成的。他们现在无法体验前辈传扬现代真理所经历的艰难困苦。真理的查出，是一环扣一环，直到形成清楚完整的真理链环。如此清晰和谐地将真理表述出来是需要精心研究的。那最苦毒最坚决的反对，促使上帝的仆人亲近主，查考圣经。那从上帝而来的亮光，对于他们来说实在是宝贵。{GW92 206.2}
§30
Men who now go forth to preach the truth, have things made ready to their hand. They cannot now experience such privations as the laborers in present truth have endured before them. The truth has been brought out, link after link, till it forms a clear, connected chain. To bring the truth out in such clearness and harmony has required careful research. Opposition, the most bitter and determined, drove the servants of God to the Lord and to their Bibles. Precious indeed to them was the light which came from God.{GW92 206.2}
§31
我蒙指示，看到为什么有些人无法辨明是非，那是因为他们长久依恋仇敌。撒但与他们并肩作工，他们竟察觉不到他的力量。有时似乎难以忍耐等候到上帝的时间来到，伸张正义。但是我蒙指示，如果我们不忍耐，便会丧失宝贵的赏赐。作为上帝大禾场中的忠心农夫，我们必须怀着忍耐和希望流泪撒种。我们必会遇到患难和忧伤。我们的心灵会因试探和劳苦而伤痛，但是我们必须怀着信心忍耐，直到欢呼收割。在最后的胜利中，上帝不会使用那些在危难之时，就是正需要众人的能力，勇气和感化力向仇敌冲锋之时，不知所踪的人。那些坚立如忠心的精兵，与错误作战，维护正义，与执政的，掌权的，管辖这幽暗世界的，以及天空属灵气的恶魔争战的人，个个都会受主人嘉奖说：“好，你这又良善又忠心的仆人，……可以进来享受你主人的快乐”（太25:23）。—3T.320-327. {GW92 206.3}
§32
I have been shown that the reason why some cannot discern the right is that they have so long cherished the enemy, who has worked side by side with them while they have not discerned his power. It sometimes seems hard to wait patiently till God’s time comes to vindicate the right. But I have been shown that if we become impatient, we lose a rich reward. As faithful husbandmen in God’s great field, we must sow with tears, and be patient and hopeful. We must meet troubles and sorrows. Temptations and wearisome toil will afflict the soul, but we must patiently wait in faith to reap with joy. In the final victory, God will have no use for those persons who are nowhere to be found in time of peril and danger, when the strength, courage, and influence of all are required to make a charge upon the enemy. Those who stand like faithful soldiers to battle against wrong, and to vindicate the right, warring against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, will each receive the commendation from the Master, “Well done, good and faithful servant, ... enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” [Matthew 25:23.]—Testimonies for the Church 3:320. {GW92 206.3}