第73章 社交方面的需要
§1
第73章 社交方面的需要
§2
Chap. 73 - Our Social Needs
§3
上帝供给我们社交方面的需要——在供备选民之教育的事上，显明那以上帝为中心的生活，乃是完全的生活。他所培植的每一需要，他都准备使之满足；所赐的每一才能，他也力图使之发展。[1]
§4
God Made Provision for Our Social Needs.--In the arrangements for the education of the chosen people it is made manifest that a life centered in God is a life of completeness. Every want He has implanted He provides to satisfy; every faculty imparted He seeks to develop. {AH 455.1}[1]
§5
那位众美的创始者，他自己是爱美的，上帝也设法使他儿女爱美的心获得满足。他又供给他们社交方面的需要，以及和爱有益的结合，因为此种结合大可培养同情并促使生活愉快和美。[2]
§6
The Author of all beauty, Himself a lover of the beautiful, God provided to gratify in His children the love of beauty. He made provision also for their social needs, for the kindly and helpful associations that do so much to cultivate sympathy and to brighten and sweeten life. {AH 455.2}[2]
§7
友伴的影响——人人都要找朋友，或是作别人的朋友。而友谊的厚薄到何种程度，彼此之间所发挥的为善或为恶的影响力也必到何程度。人人都要结交友伴，并要互相影响。[3]
§8
The Influence of Association.--Everyone will find companions or make them. And just in proportion to the strength of the friendship will be the amount of influence which friends will exert over one another for good or for evil. All will have associates and will influence and be influenced in their turn. {AH 455.3}[3]
§9
上帝的圣言极其强调社交的影响，即使对于成年的男女也是如此。那么它对于正在发育中的青年与儿童的思想和品格，更有何等重大的影响啊！他们所交接的朋友，所采取的原则，以及所养成的习惯，都要决定他们在此世的效能与来生的命运。[4]
§10
Gods word places great stress upon the influence of association, even on men and women. How much greater is its power on the developing mind and character of children and youth! The company they keep, the principles they adopt, the habits they form, will decide the question of their usefulness here and of their future destiny. . . . {AH 455.4}[4]
§11
青年人有许多友伴是势所必然的事，而且也一定会感受其友伴的影响。有某些神秘而不可思议的链环将世人的心灵联系在一起，使之息息相通。一个人可以了解另一个人的思想、情绪和精神。这样的交往可能成为福惠，也可能变作咒诅。青年人很可以互相帮助，彼此鼓励，改善行为，革除恶癖，并增进知识；反之，若任凭自己成为轻率而不忠的人，就可能发挥败坏的影响。[5]
§12
It is inevitable that the youth will have associates, and they will necessarily feel their influence. There are mysterious links that bind souls together so that the heart of one answers to the heart of another. One catches the ideas, the sentiments, the spirit, of another. This association may be a blessing or a curse. The youth may help and strengthen one another, improving in deportment, in disposition, in knowledge; or, by permitting themselves to become careless and unfaithful, they may exert an influence that is demoralizing. {AH 455.5}[5]
§13
俗语说得真不错：“将你的友伴指给我看，我就可以将你的品格指给你看。”青年人不了解他们所选择的友伴是何等明显地影响着自己的品格与名誉。一般人自然而然地专拣与自己嗜好、习惯及作风相同的人交往，人若喜与愚妄邪荡之辈交往，拒绝与聪明良善的人为友，就表明他的品格并不健全。他的嗜好和习惯起初或与他所交往的人迥然有别；但是他既与这等人厮混，他的思想和感觉渐渐就有了改变，他便抛弃了正义的原则，而在不知不觉中便无可避免地堕落到他友伴的同一水平了。正如河川经常吸收其流域之土地的品质，同样的，青年人的原则与习惯一定也会习染他们所交接之人的性质。[6]
§14
It has been truly said, Show me your company, and I will show you your character. The youth fail to realize how sensibly both their character and their reputation are affected by their choice of associates. One seeks the company of those whose tastes and habits and practices are congenial. He who prefers the society of the ignorant and vicious to that of the wise and good shows that his own character is defective. His tastes and habits may at first be altogether dissimilar to the tastes and habits of those whose company he seeks; but as he mingles with this class, his thoughts and feelings change; he sacrifices right principles and insensibly yet unavoidably sinks to the level of his companions. As a stream always partakes of the property of the soil through which it runs, so the principles and habits of youth invariably become tinctured with the character of the company in which they mingle. {AH 456.1}[6]
§15
自然的趋势都是向下的——如果青年人肯听劝而与纯洁、慎思、和蔼的人交往，结果自必大得助益。如果他们选择与敬畏上帝之人为友，则影响所及，自必被引领而趋向真理、责任与圣洁。真正的基督徒人生乃是一股为善的力量，但从另一方面而言，凡与道德欠佳，习性卑劣的男女交往，不久就必同归沉沦。人心的自然趋势都是向下的。凡与怀疑者交往，不久自己也必变成多疑的人；凡与卑劣之徒为友，多数也必变成卑劣的人。人若顺从恶人的计谋，便踏上站罪人道路，坐亵慢人的座位的第一步了。[7]
§16
Natural Tendencies Are Downward.--If the youth could be persuaded to associate with the pure, the thoughtful, and the amiable, the effect would be most salutary. If choice is made of companions who fear the Lord, the influence will lead to truth, to duty, and to holiness. A truly Christian life is a power for good. But, on the other hand, those who associate with men and women of questionable morals, of bad principles and practices, will soon be walking in the same path. The tendencies of the natural heart are downward. He who associates with the skeptic will soon become skeptical; he who chooses the companionship of the vile will most assuredly become vile. To walk in the counsel of the ungodly is the first step toward standing in the way of sinners and sitting in the seat of the scornful. {AH 456.2}[7]
§17
就世俗的青年而言，对于社交和娱乐的爱好已摄夺了他们的心意。衣着、交友、放纵食欲和情欲周旋于社交的放荡活动中，显然乃是他们人生的最大目的。一旦被撇下而茕然独处，他们就不高兴了。他们主要的期望便是想博得人们的称羡，听到人们的奉承，并轰动整个社会；而万一这样的期望不能满足，他们的人生就似乎是不堪忍受的了。[8]
§18
With worldly youth the love of society and pleasure becomes an absorbing passion. To dress, to visit, to indulge the appetite and passions, and to whirl through the round of social dissipation appear to be the great end of existence. They are unhappy if left in solitude. Their chief desire is to be admired and flattered and to make a sensation in society; and when this desire is not gratified, life seems unendurable. {AH 457.1}[8]
§19
爱好社交的人往往放纵这种特性，以至它成了控制一切的欲望。他们对于读《圣经》，或默想属天的事物都感觉不耐烦。他们若没有什么新奇的刺激，心中便闷闷不乐。他们没有那种促使他们快乐的内在能力，却企图借着与自己同样轻浮且毫无思想的青年交往而求得快乐。那原可献为崇高目标而用的力量，却浪费于愚妄与心智的放荡行为中。[9]
§20
Those who love society frequently indulge this trait until it becomes an overruling passion. . . . They cannot endure to read the Bible and contemplate heavenly things. They are miserable unless there is something to excite. They have not within them the power to be happy, but they depend for happiness upon the company of other youth as thoughtless and reckless as themselves. The powers which might be turned to noble purposes they give to folly and mental dissipation. {AH 457.2}[9]
§21
基督化友谊之福——上帝的子民实在太缺少培养基督化的交谊了。那些闭关自守，不愿通过友谊的关系而加惠于同胞之人，必丧失许多的福分；因为借着相互的接触，人的心志才能得到温良而优雅的陶冶；借着社交方面的活动，彼此可以相识，结为友伴，而结果便产生了莫逆于心，而为上天所悦纳的友爱气氛。[10]
§22
The Blessings of Christian Sociability.--Christian sociability is altogether too little cultivated by Gods people. . . . Those who shut themselves up within themselves, who are unwilling to be drawn upon to bless others by friendly associations, lose many blessings; for by mutual contact minds receive polish and refinement; by social intercourse acquaintances are formed and friendships contracted which result in a unity of heart and an atmosphere of love which is pleasing in the sight of heaven. {AH 457.3}[10]
§23
凡尝过基督之爱的滋味之人，尤应培养自己的社交才干，因为这样行，他们便可以引人归向救主。不该将基督藏在心中，如守藏引人贪爱的珍宝一般，神圣而甜蜜地独自享受；而且也不应该只将基督的爱显示与自己所喜爱的人。要教导学生们效法基督的样式，向那些最有需要的人——也许这样的人并不是他们所乐意选择为友的——去表示亲切的关怀，以及社交的意向。耶稣随时随地都表现出关怀人类家庭的爱心，并向四围的人放射喜乐敬虔的光辉。[11]
§24
Especially should those who have tasted the love of Christ develop their social powers, for in this way they may win souls to the Saviour. Christ should not be hid away in their hearts, shut in as a coveted treasure, sacred and sweet, to be enjoyed solely by themselves; nor should the love of Christ be manifested toward those only who please their fancy. Students are to be taught the Christlikeness of exhibiting a kindly interest, a social disposition, toward those who are in the greatest need, even though these may not be their own chosen companions. At all times and in all places Jesus manifested a loving interest in the human family and shed about Him the light of a cheerful piety. {AH 457.4}[11]