第33章 传道人的妻子
§1
第三十三章 传道人的妻子The Minister’s Wife
§2
1863年6月5日，我蒙指示，撒但一直在做工，使上帝所拣选传扬真理的传道人灰心丧气，走上歧途。他最有效的工作方法就是藉着家人的影响，藉着未献身的伴侣。他若能控制她们的思想，就能藉着她们更容易地接近其为救灵而劳苦传道教导人的丈夫。我蒙指示看到上帝屡次发出的警告，和所指出的属于传道人妻子的本分；可是这些警告没有持久的影响。所发的证言只生效很短的时间。所赐的亮光只得到了部分的遵从。许多人既忘记了顺从和献身上帝，漠视了那落在他们身上的神圣义务，没有善用所赐的亮光和特权，行事也不象光明之子。若是幔子能够揭开，大家都能看到自己的情形在天上看来如何，就会有一场觉醒，每一个人就会心怀恐惧地询问：“我当怎样行才能得救？” {GW92 209.2}
§3
June 5, 1863, I was shown that Satan is ever at work to dishearten and lead astray ministers whom God has chosen to preach the truth. The most effectual way in which he can work is through home influences, through unconsecrated companions. If he can control the mind of the wife, he can through her the more readily gain access to the husband, who is laboring in word and doctrine to save souls.... Many have disregarded the sacred obligation resting upon them to improve the light and privileges given, and walk as children of the light. If the vail could be parted, and all could see just how their cases are regarded in heaven, there would be an awakening, and each would with fear inquire, “What shall I do to be saved?” {GW92 209.2}
§4
传道人的妻子若没有献身，就对自己的丈夫没有帮助。当他思考背十字架的必要性，并提出舍己的重要性时，他妻子日常生活的榜样却往往抵消他的讲道并破坏其感化力。这样，她就成了一个极大的障碍，往往使她的丈夫离开自己的本分并且离开上帝。她并没有认识到自己在犯何等的罪。她没有追求做有用的人，没有追求真切爱人之心去帮助需要帮助的人，反而规避这项任务，宁愿过无用的生活。她没有受基督之爱的能力和无私圣洁原则的激励。她不选择遵行上帝的旨意，作她丈夫、天使及上帝的同工。当传道人的妻子陪伴自己的丈夫去传道救人时，她若藉着忧伤不满阻碍他的工作，这乃是一桩大罪。然而她不但不热忱地参与他的工作，寻求每一个机会使自己与他利益与共同工同劳，却往往考虑如何使自己更安逸或更快乐。周围的事物尽管常常不合她的心意，她也不该沉湎于思乡之情，或以苦恼和怨言烦扰她的丈夫，使他的工作更为艰难，或者因她的不满而离开他能行善的地方。她不该使自己的丈夫在救灵的工作上分心，去同情她的小病，满足她心血来潮的不满情绪。她若愿忘记自己并且作工去帮助别人，与可怜的人谈话并祈祷，行事好像他们的得救比任何其它需要考虑的事项都更重要一样，她就不会有时间想家了。她就会得到自由，天天享有美好的满足，作为她无私工作的一个回报；我不能称之为牺牲，因为我们传道的人妻子中有些人并不知道何为牺牲或为真理的缘故受苦。 {GW92 210.1}
§5
The minister’s wife who is not devoted to God is no help to her husband. While he dwells upon the necessity of bearing the cross, and urges the importance of self-denial, the daily example of his wife often contradicts his preaching and destroys its force. In this way she becomes a great hindrance, and often leads her husband away from his duty and from God. She does not realize what a sin she is committing. Instead of seeking to be useful, seeking with true love for souls to help such as need help, she shrinks from the task, and prefers a useless life. She is not constrained by the power of Christ’s love, and by unselfish, holy principles. She does not choose to do the will of God, to be a co-worker with her husband, with angels, and with God. When the wife of the minister accompanies her husband in his mission to save souls, it is a great sin for her to hinder him in his work by manifesting unhappy discontent. Yet, instead of entering heartily into his labors, seeking every opportunity to unite her interest and labor with his, she often studies how she can make it more easy or pleasant for herself. If things around them are not as agreeable as she could wish (as they will not always be), she should not indulge homesick feelings, or by lack of cheerfulness and by spoken complaints harass the husband and make his task harder, and perhaps, by her discontent, draw him from the place where he could do good. She should not divert the interest of her husband from laboring for the salvation of souls, to sympathize with her ailments, and gratify her whimsical, discontented feelings. If she would forget herself, and labor to help others, talk and pray with poor souls, and act as if their salvation was of higher importance than any other consideration, she would have no time to be homesick. She would feel from day to day a sweet satisfaction as a reward for her unselfish labor; I cannot call it sacrifice, for some of our ministers’ wives do not know what it is to sacrifice or suffer for the truth’s sake. {GW92 210.1}
§6
在从前的年月，传道的人妻子们经受了缺乏和迫害。当她们的丈夫被关押，有时甚至受死时，那些高贵、自我牺牲的女人们与他们同受苦害，她们的奖赏也将与所赐给她们丈夫的奖赏同等。博德曼夫人和贾德森夫人为真理受了苦难，与她们的伴侣同受苦难。她们实实在在地牺牲了家园与朋友，为要帮助自己伴侣的工作，光照那些坐在黑暗中的人，向他们显明上帝圣言隐藏的奥秘。她们的生命不断处在危险中。救灵乃是她们的大目标，为此她们能高高兴兴地忍受苦难。{GW92 211.1}
§7
In former years the wives of ministers endured want and persecution. When their husbands suffered imprisonment, and sometimes death, those noble, self-sacrificing women suffered with them, and their reward will be equal to that bestowed on the husband. Mrs. Boardman and the Mrs. Judsons suffered for the truth,—suffered with their companions. They sacrificed home and friends in every sense of the word, to aid their companions in the work of enlightening those who sat in darkness; to reveal to them the hidden mysteries of the word of God. Their lives were in constant peril. To save souls was their great object, and for this they could suffer cheerfully.{GW92 211.1}
§8
我蒙指示看到基督的生活。若将祂的舍己和牺牲与我们有些传道人的妻子所受的考验和苦难相比，她们所谓的牺牲就不值一提了。传道人的妻子若说不满和灰心的话，对丈夫的影响就是令人沮丧的，会削弱他的工作，尤其在他的成功依赖于周围环境影响的时候。上帝的传道人在这种情形下一定要被削弱拉离他的工作园地，去满足他妻子由于不愿服从本分而产生的情绪吗？妻子应该使自己的心愿和乐趣顺从本分，为基督和真理的缘故放弃自己自私的情绪。撒但有许多事可做，藉着自私、爱安逸之配偶的影响控制传道人的工作。 {GW92 211.2}
§9
I was shown the life of Christ. When his self-denial and sacrifice is compared with the trials and sufferings of the wives of some of our ministers, it causes anything which they may call sacrifice to sink into insignificance. If the minister’s wife speaks words of discontent and discouragement, the influence upon the husband is disheartening, and tends to cripple him in his labor, especially if his success depends upon surrounding influences. Must the minister of God in such cases be crippled or torn from his field of labor to gratify the feelings of his wife, which arise from an unwillingness to yield inclination to duty? The wife should conform her wishes and pleasures to duty, and give up her selfish feelings for the sake of Christ and the truth. Satan has had much to do with controlling the labors of the ministers, through the influence of selfish, ease-loving companions. {GW92 211.2}
§10
若是传道人的妻子陪伴丈夫出门旅行，她切不可将此行专为自己的娱乐，游历各地，受人服事，而要与丈夫一同工作。她当与丈夫同心行善。如无家事之累，她应甘心陪伴自己的丈夫，帮助他作救人之工。她应当用温柔谦卑而又高尚自立的精神，在四围之人的心中发挥领导的感化力，无论在会堂聚会，在家庭祭坛，或围炉谈话之时，都当尽自己的本分，背起自己的十字架并负起责任来。人们都期望她如此行，并且他们是有权利作这种期望的。如果这些期望落空了，她丈夫的感化力就必损毁过半了。传道人的妻子若是愿意，就可以作许多的工作。她若是有自我牺牲的精神和爱人的心，就可以与丈夫一同工作，并得到几乎同等的善果。{GW92 212.1}
§11
If a minister’s wife accompanies her husband in his travels, she should not go for her own special enjoyment, to visit and to be waited upon, but to labor with him. She should have a united interest with him to do good. She should be willing to accompany her husband, if home cares do not hinder, and she should aid him in his efforts to save souls. With meekness and humility, yet with a noble self-reliance, she should have a leading influence upon minds around her, and should act her part, and bear her cross and burden in meeting, and around the family altar, and in conversation at the fireside. The people expect this, and they have a right to expect it. If these expectations are not realized, the husband’s influence is more than half destroyed. The wife of a minister can do much, if she will. If she possesses the spirit of self-sacrifice, and has a love for souls, she can with him do almost an equal amount of good.{GW92 212.1}
§12
传道人所不能理解或帮助的有些情况，在真理的圣工中操劳的姐妹同工却可理解并帮助，在姐妹中间尤其如此。有一种不应也不能轻易推却的责任，落在传道人妻子的身上。上帝要本上加利地向她索取借给她的才干。她应当恳切，忠诚，同心协力地与她丈夫去作救人之工。她切不可强求自己心中所欲望的，也不可表示对丈夫的工作缺乏兴趣，或是常发思乡之情，常生不满之念。这一切自然的情感必须予以胜过。她的生活应当有宗旨，使她毫不犹豫地努力达到。但是在那宗旨与这些情感，宴乐和天生的嗜好相反之时，就当怎样呢？为了行善救人，应当立时欣然舍弃这一切。{GW92 212.2}
§13
A sister laborer in the cause of truth can understand and reach some cases, especially among the sisters, that the minister cannot. A responsibility rests upon the minister’s wife which she should not and cannot lightly throw off. God will require the talent lent her, with usury. She should work earnestly, faithfully, and unitedly with her husband to save souls. She should never urge her wishes and desires, or express a lack of interest in her husband’s labor, or dwell upon homesick, discontented feelings. All these natural feelings must be overcome. She should have a purpose in life which should be unfalteringly carried out. What if this conflicts with the feelings, and pleasures, and natural tastes? These should be cheerfully and readily sacrificed, in order to do good and save souls.{GW92 212.2}
§14
传道人的妻子应当过虔诚献身及殷勤祈祷的生活。但有些人却喜欢一种不用背十字架，也无需乎克己和尽本分的宗教。她们不但不独立自尊，求上帝赐力量，并负起自己的责任，反而时时依赖别人，分取其属灵的生命。她们若有象小孩子那样的信心，依赖上帝，专将爱情集中于耶稣，并从基督──活葡萄树──那里领受生命，她们就能收何等美好的效果，就能何等帮助别人，何等扶助丈夫；并且在末日可得何等的赏赐啊！她们耳中就会听到那如同最美妙的音乐般的声音说：“好，你这又良善又忠心的仆人。”“可以进来享受你主的人快乐，”这话就会千倍回报她们为拯救宝贵的生灵所经受的一切苦难与考验。 {GW92 212.3}
§15
The wives of ministers should live devoted, prayerful lives. But some would enjoy a religion in which there are no crosses, and which calls for no self-denial and exertion on their part. Instead of standing nobly for themselves, leaning upon God for strength, and bearing their individual responsibility, they have much of the time been dependent upon others, deriving their spiritual life from them. If they would only lean confidingly, in childlike trust, upon God, and have their affections centered in Jesus, deriving their life from Christ, the living vine, what an amount of good they might do, what a help they might be to others, what a support to their husbands, and what a reward would be theirs in the end! “Well done, good and faithful servants,” would fall like sweetest music upon their ears. The words, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,” would repay them a thousand times for all suffering and trials endured to save precious souls. {GW92 212.3}
§16
那些不愿善用上帝所赐才干的人，将会丧失永生。那些在世上用处很少的人，将照他们的行为得到回报。当凡事顺利时，他们随波逐流；然而当需要认真不倦地划桨时，逆风逆流而上时，在他们的基督徒品格中似乎就没有活力了。他们不会不怕麻烦去做工，而是放下桨，惬意地任潮流把他们带到下游。他们通常保持这种状况，直到有人负起担子，恳切而充满活力地作工，要把他们拉到上游。他们既每一次都屈服于这种惰性，就丧失了力量，更加不愿在上帝的圣工中作工了。只有忠心的得胜者才能赢得永远的荣耀。{GW92 213.1}
§17
Those who will not improve the talent which God has given them, will fail of everlasting life. Those who have been of but little use in the world will be rewarded accordingly,—as their works have been. When everything goes smoothly, they are borne along on the wave; but when they need earnestly and untiringly to apply the oar, and row against wind and tide, there seems to be no energy in their Christian character. They will not take the trouble to work, but lay down their oars, and contentedly let the current carry them down stream. Thus they generally remain until some one takes the burden, and labors earnestly and energetically to pull them up stream. Every time they yield to such indolence, they lose strength, and have less inclination to work in the cause of God. It is only the faithful conqueror who wins eternal glory.{GW92 213.1}
§18
传道人的妻子应该总是在她所交接之人的心中有一种领导的影响力，她要么会成为一个帮助要么成为一个大的障碍。她要么与基督同收聚，要么广为分散。我们传道人的配偶中缺乏自我牺牲的传道精神，而有自我第一，基督第二，甚至第三的精神。传道人决不应携妻子同行，除非他知道她能成为一位属灵的帮助者，她是一个能忍耐持久受苦行善，为基督的缘故造福于人的人。那些陪伴自己丈夫的人应该与他们同心协力作工。她们不可期待免受考验和失望，不应过多思想愉快的感觉。感觉跟本分有什么关系呢？ {GW92 213.2}
§19
A minister’s wife should ever have a leading influence on the minds of those with whom she associates, and she will be a help, or a great hindrance. She either gathers with Christ, or scatters abroad. A self-sacrificing missionary spirit is lacking among the companions of our ministers. It is self first, and then Christ secondly, and even thirdly. Never should a minister take his wife with him unless he knows that she can be a spiritual help; that she is one who can endure and suffer, to do good, and to benefit souls for Christ’s sake. Those who accompany their husbands should go to labor unitedly with them. They must not expect to be free from trials and disappointments. They should not think too much of pleasant feelings. What have feelings to do with duty? {GW92 213.2}
§20
我蒙指示看到亚伯拉罕的例子。上帝对他说：“你带着你的儿子，就是你独生的儿子，你所爱的以撒，往摩利亚地去，在我所要指示你的山上，把他献为燔祭”（创22:2）。亚伯拉罕顺从了上帝。他并没有请教自己的感觉，而是用高尚信心和对上帝的信任预备了自己的行程。他怀着一颗被痛苦撕裂的心，看着那自豪而亲爱的母亲慈爱地注视着应许之子。但他把爱子带走了。亚伯拉罕深受煎熬，可是他没有让自己的意愿反抗上帝的旨意。本分，严格的本分支配着他。他不敢咨询自己的感情，也不敢片刻屈服于自己的感情。他唯一的儿子行在这位严厉、慈爱、受苦的父亲旁边，忙着讲话，再三叫着慈父之名，然后问道：“燔祭的羊羔在哪里呢”（创22:7）？这对于那位忠心的父亲是何等的试验啊！众天使带着欣喜惊奇地观看着这幅景象。上帝的忠仆甚至把自己的爱子捆绑，放在柴上。刀举起来了，那时一位天使呼叫说：“亚伯拉罕！亚伯拉罕！……你不可在这童子身上下手”（创22:11,12）。{GW92 214.1}
§21
I was cited to the case of Abraham. God said to him, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” [Genesis 22:2, 11, 12.] Abraham obeyed God. He did not consult his feelings, but with a noble faith and confidence in God he prepared for his journey. With a heart rent with anguish he beheld the proud, loving mother gazing with fond affection upon the son of promise. But he led that loved son away. Abraham suffered; yet he did not let his will rise in rebellion against the will of God. Duty, stern duty, controlled him. He dared not consult his feelings, or yield to them for one moment. His only son walked by the side of the stern, loving, suffering father, talking engagingly, uttering over and over the fond name of father, and then inquiring, “Where is the sacrifice?” O, what a test for the faithful father! Angels looked with pleased wonder upon the scene. The faithful servant of God even bound his beloved son and laid him upon the wood. The knife was raised, when an angel cried out, “Abraham, Abraham, lay not thine hand upon the lad.” [Genesis 22:2, 11, 12.]{GW92 214.1}
§22
我看到作基督徒并非易事。自称为基督徒并不难；但是过基督徒的生活乃是一桩伟大而神圣的事。而今只有很少的时间去争取那不朽的冠冕，在天上的记录中有好行为和尽责的记录了。每一棵树都是凭着它的果子来判断的。每一个人也要按照其行为受审判，而不是按照其所自称的信仰或其信心受审判。问题决不会是，他自称信奉什么？而是要问，他结出什么果子？树若是坏的，果子也就是坏的。树若是好的，就不会结坏果子。—1T. 449-454. {GW92 214.2}
§23
I saw that it is no light thing to be a Christian. It is a small matter to profess the Christian name; but it is a great and sacred thing to lead a Christian life. There is but a little time now to secure the immortal crown, to have a record of good acts and fulfilled duties written in heaven. Every tree is judged by its fruit. Every one will be judged according to his deeds, not his profession or his faith. The question will never be asked, How much did he profess? but, What fruit did he bear? If the tree is corrupt, the fruit is evil. If the tree is good, it cannot produce evil fruit.—Testimonies for the Church 1:449. {GW92 214.2}
§24
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§25
何时这真理，就是那庄严而重大的真理，果真把握住她们，她们的自我就会死去，她们的口也不会说：“我一定要去那里，我一定不要留在这里”的话了，乃是要诚恳地询问说：“上帝要我去哪里呢？我在何处最能荣耀上帝呢？我们在何处能同心合意作出最好的工呢？”她们的意志也应被上帝的旨意所吞没。有些传道人的妻子，显出任性及缺乏献身的精神，挡住了罪人去就主的道路，这些人灭亡的血，要染在她们的衣裳上。有些传道人虽作了强有力的见证，提到教会的许多本分及错误，但却毫无预期的效果，这是因为他们自己的配偶正需要这一切忠直的见证，而且那些责备人的话，都要重重地反击在他们自己的身上。他们受了自己配偶的影响，把他们拖倒，使他们脑筋有成见，这样，他们的功效及感化力就丧失了。他们觉得忧伤失望，却又不知这场损害的真实原因何在。原来就在自己的家中。{GW92 215.1}
§26
When the truth, the solemn, important truth, gets hold of them, self will die; then the language will not be, “I will go there, I will not stay here;” but the earnest inquiry will be, “Where does God want me to be? Where can I best glorify him, and where can our united labors do the most good?” Their will should be swallowed up in the will of God. The willfulness and lack of consecration that some of the ministers’ wives manifest, will stand in the way of sinners; the blood of souls will be upon their garments. Some of the ministers have borne a strong testimony in regard to the duty and the wrongs of the church; but it has not had its designed effect; for their own companions needed all the straight testimony that had been borne, and the reproof came back upon themselves with great weight. They let their companions affect them, and drag them down, prejudicing their minds, and their usefulness and influence are lost; they feel desponding and disheartened, and realize not the true source of the injury. It is close at home.{GW92 215.1}
§27
若上帝已经呼召她们的丈夫去传扬现代的真理，这些姊妹们也就与上帝的圣工有了密切的关系。这些仆人若是真蒙上帝呼召，就必觉得真理的重要。他们是站在活人与死人之间，必须为人的灵性儆醒，并要为他们向上帝交账。他们的职务是庄严重大的，他们的配偶对于他们，可以成为一椿大福惠，也可以成为一椿大祸害。当他们绝望之时，她们可以鼓励他们；当他们颓丧之时，她们可以安慰他们；当他们信心退落之时，她们可以奋勉他们全心仰望信赖上帝。反之，她们也可以采取相反的行动，只看到阴暗的一面，只想起自己的处境艰苦；她们没有运用对上帝的信心，老是向自己的配偶谈论患难试炼及疑惑不信的话，放任一种怨天尤人的精神，以至成为一种死沉沉的重负，甚而成为他们的祸害。{GW92 215.2}
§28
These sisters are closely connected with the work of God, if he has called their husbands to preach the present truth. These servants, if truly called of God, will feel the importance of the truth. They are standing between the living and the dead, and must watch for souls as they that must give an account. Solemn is their calling, and their companions can be a great blessing or a great curse to them. They can cheer them when desponding, comfort them when cast down, and encourage them to lookup and trust fully in God when their faith fails. Or they can take an opposite course, look upon the dark side, think they have a hard time, exercise no faith in God, talk their trials and unbelief to their companions, indulge a complaining, murmuring spirit, and be a dead weight, and even a curse to them. {GW92 215.2}
§29
我看出传道人的妻子应当帮助自己的丈夫作工，并要严格留心自己所发的影响，因为许多人都在观察她们，并且对她们有所厚望，过于别人。她们的服装要作人的榜样。她们的生活及言行也要作人的榜样，成为叫人活的香气，而不是令人死的毒气。我看出她们应当采取一种谦卑，温和，而又不失其高贵的态度，在她们的言语上，绝不提及那些不能引导人的思想趋向天国的事。她们所发的重大问题应当是：“我怎样能救自己的灵性，并成为救人的工具呢？”我见到在这事上三心二意的工作，是不能蒙上帝悦纳的。祂所要的乃是全心全意的工作，否则完全不要。她们的影响所及，都要坚决而准确地令人爱护真理或是反对真理。她们若不是与耶稣收聚的，就是分散的。一个不成圣的妻子对于传道人，乃是万害之首。上帝的仆人若是已有及续有不愉快的情景，在家中的感化力枯萎不振，就应当加倍用功祈祷及儆醒，采取坚强决定的立场，切莫让黑暗乌云把他们压倒。他们应当更接近上帝，刚强而坚决，善理自己的家庭，要过一种能蒙上帝嘉许及天使照顾的生活。他们若是向自己不献身的配偶屈服，顺从她们的欲望，上帝就要不喜悦这个家庭。他们既然袒护恶行，上帝的约柜就不能留在这家庭中。—1T. 138，139.{GW92 216.1}
§30
I saw that the wives of the ministers should help their husbands in their labors, and be exact and careful what influence they exert; for they are watched, and more is expected of them than of others. Their dress should be an example. Their lives and conversation should be an example, savoring of life rather than of death. I saw that they should take a humble, meek, yet exalted stand, not having their conversation upon things that do not tend to direct the mind heavenward. The great inquiry should be, “How can I save my own soul, and be the means of saving others?” I saw that no half-hearted work in this matter is accepted of God. He wants the whole heart and interest, or he will have none. Their influence tells, decidedly, unmistakably, in favor of the truth or against it. They gather with Jesus or scatter abroad. An unsanctified wife is the greatest curse that a minister can have. Those servants of God that have been and are still so unhappily situated as to have this withering influence at home, should double their prayers and their watchfulness, take a firm, decided stand, and let not this darkness press them down. They should cleave closer to God, be firm and decided, rule well their own house, and live so that they can have the approbation of God and the watch-care of the angels. But if they yield to the wishes of their unconsecrated companions, the frown of God is brought upon the dwelling. The ark of God cannot abide in the house, because they countenance and uphold them in their wrongs.—Testimonies for the Church 1:138.{GW92 216.1}
§31
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§32
如果已婚男子出外工作，留下妻子在家照应儿女，这位为妻为母者所作的工作，其重大亦不下于为夫为父者的工作。虽然一个是在外面传道，一个是在家内传道，但她的劳心挂虑与重担，往往竟过于为夫为父者所有的。母亲的工作乃是一种严肃而重要的工作，就是要陶冶儿女的心思，培养其品格，训练他们在今生成为有用之才，且使之配得来生不朽的生活。丈夫在外面公开传道也许会受人的尊重，但那在家中辛劳的妻子，却可能得不到人对她操劳的夸奖。然而若她为家人的最高福利而工作，设法仿照神圣的模范来培养他们的品格，那掌簿的天使就要记下她的名，列为世上最大布道家之一。上帝看事物，不象人有限的眼光所看的一样。—5T.594. {GW92 216.2}
§33
If married men go into the work, leaving their wives to care for the children at home, the wife and mother is doing fully as great and important a work as is the husband and father. While one is in the missionary field, the other is a home missionary, whose cares and anxieties and burdens frequently far exceed those of the husband and father. Her work is a solemn and important one,—to mould the minds and fashion the characters of her children, to train them for usefulness here, and fit them for the future immortal life. The husband in the open missionary field may receive the honors of men, while the home toiler may receive no earthly credit for her labor. But if she works for the best interest of her family, seeking to fashion their characters after the divine Model, the recording angel writes her name as one of the greatest missionaries in the world. God does not see things as man’s finite vision views them.—Testimonies for the Church 5:594. {GW92 216.2}
§34
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§35
那些努力藉着顺从真理来顺从上帝并洁净自己心灵，却没有机会为基督和祂的圣工干一番大事，作出牺牲的人，若想到上帝所最重视的未必是殉道者的舍身；那些天天冒着危险和死亡的布道士在天国的记录册上也未必占有最高的地位，他们就会得到安慰了。一个基督徒若能在个人生活中，在每日与自我作斗争中，在控制自己的情感，在宗旨的清洁，思想的纯正，在刺激之下的温柔和忍耐，敬虔和献——在对上帝的圣洁信心和依赖上，以及在小事的忠贞上，并在家庭生活上都显示基督的品格，这样的人在上帝看来，可能要比到异邦作布道士或为信仰牺牲在刑柱上的人更为宝贵呢！ {GW92 217.1}
§36
Those who are trying to purify their souls through obedience to the truth, yet who have had no opportunity of making special efforts and sacrifices for Christ and his cause, should find consolation in the thought that it is not necessarily the self-surrender of the martyr that is the most acceptable to God; it may not be the missionary whose life has been one of trial and endurance, that stands highest in heaven’s record; but that the Christian who is such in his private life, in his daily struggle with self, in the control of his passions, in cleanness of purpose, in purity of thought, in patience, meekness, and long-suffering under the test of provocation, in piety, in devotion, in holy faith and trust in God, in faithfulness in little things, representing in the home life the character of Jesus,—that such a one may be more precious in the sight of God than the man who goes as a missionary to heathen lands, or ascends the scaffold to die for his faith.{GW92 217.1}
§37
上帝用来衡量品格的标准和人的标准有多大的区别啊！上帝看到在家庭和人心中许多受过抗拒的试探。这些试探是世人甚至知己的朋友也不知道的。祂也看到人的心灵因自己的软弱而存的自卑，以及因一念之差而产生的恳切悔改。祂看到人全心全意地献身为祂服务。祂注意到人与自我进行艰苦搏斗的时辰，就是那取得胜利的战斗。这一切上帝和众天使都知道。{GW92 217.2}
§38
O, how different are the standards by which God and man measure character! God sees many temptations resisted, of which the world, and even near friends, never know,—temptations in the home, in the heart; he sees the soul’s humility in view of its own weakness, the sincere repentance over even a thought that is evil; he sees the whole heart’s devotion to the upbuilding of the cause of God; he has noted those hours of hard battle with self—battle that won the victory. All this, God and angels know. {GW92 217.2}
§39
许多自以为是基督徒的人会失丧，许多其邻舍以为决不会在天国的人却会在那里。上帝判断人不象人判断人。人是按外表判断，上帝却按内心。主知道祂所允许的试探的力量。祂看到人内心的斗争，看到人因上帝的应许有力地把不可见的事呈现在他面前使他放弃可见之事时的剧烈挣扎。—MS.{GW92 218.1}
§40
Many will be lost who think themselves Christians, and many will be in heaven who their neighbors supposed would never get there. God judgeth not as man judgeth. Man judgeth from appearance, but God judgeth the heart. The Lord knows the strength of the temptations that he permits. He sees the inward conflicts, the severe struggles of him who gives up the visible on the strength of God’s promise that presents before him the invisible.—MS.{GW92 218.1}