第25章 一个文字布道士
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第25章 一个文字布道士
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Chap. 25—A Literature Evangelist
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给一名女性文字布道士的劝勉——我收到了你的两封来信，我希望自己能尽力减轻你精神上的压力。你的工作岗位很不平常，上帝赐给我一道关于你的明确信息。根据所呈现的事实，我认为你的情况不是毫无希望的；但是你的是非观念非常淡薄，完全不适合外出旅行、售书、查经，将自己暴露在试探之前。你既任由一个男人玷污你的身体，就无法在上帝的圣言中看出何为罪，无论那个男人怎样表白，自称得到了赦免。我蒙指示看到这事在上帝眼中极为可憎，可是你的理智已被麻痹败坏，以致你犯着奸淫还愿继续售卖我们的宗教书籍和给别人查经。{TSB 163.1}[1]
§4
Counsel to a Woman Literature Evangelist—I have received two letters from you, and have a desire to relieve your mind if I can. Your position was a very remarkable one, and God gave me a decided message for you. I did not consider from the facts presented that your case was without hope; but your perception of what constituted right and wrong was so low in the scale that it was entirely unsafe for you to be traveling and be canvassing and giving Bible readings, and be exposed to temptations. [You are] one who could not distinguish in the Word of God what sin is, in giving your body to be polluted by a man, whatever may be his profession, and claim to be relieved [forgiven]. This matter was shown to me to be a heinous sin in the sight of God, and yet your senses were so benumbed and demoralized that you would continue to canvass for our religious books and give Bible readings, and you committing fornication.?{TSB 163.1}[1]
§5
来自上帝的谴责——上帝在西奈山上宣布了祂的律法，“不可奸淫，”可是你这样一个明显违背上帝律法的人竟然在给别人讲解圣经。上帝没有接受你的工作。你问给你的那封信是不是主赐给我的。我说是主给的。以色列圣洁的上帝不愿接受你有罪的侍奉。那是上帝所赐的信息。自从那道信息赐下以后，你若对何为罪有了新的认识，若是真悔改了，就不再是一个犯法的人而是上帝的孩子了，这世界上就没有比我更高兴的了。我不能用太强硬的措辞来向你说明你的罪。{TSB 163.2}[2]
§6
Reproof From God—The law of God proclaimed upon Mount Sinai, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” and yet you who transgressed that law in so marked a manner were teaching others the Bible. God did not accept your labors. You ask if the Lord gave me that letter to give to you. I say?He did. The holy God of Israel will not serve with your sins. That message was given of God. If you have had, since that message was given, a new sense of what constitutes sin, if you have become truly converted, a child of God in place of being a transgressor of His law, there is no one who will be more pleased than myself. I could not present your sin before you in too strong language.?{TSB 163.2}[2]
§7
对罪已经麻木——主曾向我显明几个居住在不同的州，曾从事售书工作的人已经不配再与上帝的工作有任何联系了。他们会羞辱上帝，也使真理受辱。他们会轻视罪。他们在玷辱自己的身体。但他们都象你一样，没有一人意识到什么是罪。凡象你一样行事并显然遮掩自己罪恶和堕落行为的人，都是很糟糕的。你一点儿没有意识到罪的严重性质。{TSB 164.1}[3]
§8
So Little Sense of Sin—I had presented before me several, living in different States, who were engaged in the canvassing work who were unfit to have any connection with the work of God. They would dishonor God, and bring the truth into reproach. They would make light of sin. They were dishonoring their own bodies. But not one among the number was having so little sense of what sin was, as you. Anyone pursuing the course you did, and belied apparently to the criminality and degradation of such a course, was just terrible. You had not a sense of the aggravated character of sin.?{TSB 164.1}[3]
§9
上帝忍耐罪人——约拿传信息给尼尼微，说它再过四十天就要毁灭。尼尼微人悔改了，于是上帝宽容了那座邪恶的城市。因为合城从王公大臣到平民百姓都在上帝面前极其自卑，因此耶和华赐尼尼微痛改前非的机会。我相信主也会凭着祂的大怜悯以类似的态度对待你，我要非常感恩。主既赐你宽容时期，是要你表现出不需后悔的悔改。你既看清并认识到罪的真相，就会因自己的罪而厌恶自己，也憎恶罪。上帝是有恩典、有怜悯的温柔和慈爱的。“我们若认自己的罪，上帝是信实的，是公义的，必要赦免我们的罪，洗净我们一切的不义”（约壹1:9）。{TSB 164.2}[4]
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God’s Patience With Sinners—The message was given Jonah to Nineveh, that in forty days it should be destroyed. Nineveh repented, and God spared the wicked city, because kings and nobles humbled themselves greatly before God, and the Lord gave Nineveh chance for repentance. If the Lord in His great mercy treats your case in a similar manner, oh, I shall be so thankful. If He grants you probation in which to manifest that repentance that needeth not to be repented of, because you see and sense the real nature of sin, that you abhor yourself because of your sin, and have an abhorrence likewise of the sin, the Lord is gracious, of pitying tenderness and loving kindness. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” [1 John 1:9].?{TSB 164.2}[4]
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我相信你已经承认了自己的罪；上帝必照祂的应许赦免你。然而我唯一担心的是你依然对何为罪没有认识，在出卖自己的身体，把它交给一个奸夫，一个嫖客去使用时，还参加上帝的事工，给人查经，好像主会接受你罪恶的侍奉似的，你在从事圣工的同时竟然甘愿向一个奸夫投怀送抱，这仍是你的弱点。{TSB 164.3}[5]
§12
I believe you have confessed your sin, and that God will pardon the sin as He has promised. The only drawback in?my mind is that the very same want of perception of what constituted sin, in the prostituting of your body, giving it up to the use of an adulterer, a whoremonger, and you connected with the work and cause of God giving Bible readings, as though the Lord would serve with your sins while you were engaged in His work and voluntarily seeking the embrace of an adulterer [is still a weakness with you].?{TSB 164.3}[5]
§13
上帝对尼尼微城的怜悯——我将那显给我的事摆在你面前，并且告诉你，上帝极其憎恨这类事情。如果你的道德观念变得灵敏，那是因为上帝使人悔改的能力。如果你的品格改变了，主都知道。如果你通过悔改达到了上帝崇高的标准，我不能说主不会以对待尼尼微人的方式对待你。{TSB 165.1}[6]
§14
Divine Mercy to the City of Nineveh—I presented you with the matter as presented to me, and tell you that God abhors all such things. If your moral sensibilities are quickened, it is through the converting power of God. If you are transformed in character, the Lord knows all about that. And if you have through repentance been uplifted to reach a high and holy standard, I cannot myself say the Lord will not regard your case in the same light He regarded Nineveh.?{TSB 165.1}[6]
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尼尼微王说：“人与牲畜都当披上麻布，人要切切求告上帝。各人回头离开所行的恶道，丢弃手中的强暴。或者上帝转意后悔，不发烈怒，使我们不至灭亡，也未可知。于是上帝察看他们的行为，见他们离开恶道，祂就后悔，不把所说的灾祸降与他们了”（拿3:8-10）。请你仔细阅读这段经文，如果主仍将祂的工作委托你，我没有一句反对的话。我能对你说的就是这些。{TSB 165.2}[7]
§16
Said the king of Nineveh, “Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not” [Jonah 3:8-10]. Read this over carefully, and if the Lord [should] trust you with His work, I have not a word of objection. This is all I can say to you.?{TSB 165.2}[7]
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现在，请将你的事情陈明在主面前，你若与祂联络，祂必听你的祷告，并引导你的判断。我很同情你。人第一次犯罪往往没有很多时间考虑，第二次犯罪是经过考虑，根据上帝的圣言思考，在第七条诫命之下犯的。你自愿将身体交给那个引诱你走上歧途的男人，还从事力求将诫命教导他人的工作，乃是十分明确的堕落表现，显明了一种不值得信赖的品性，就如呈现在我面前的一样，你不能辩明为何自己不能继续从事迄今所做的工作。{TSB 165.3}[8]
§18
Now, please take your case to the Lord, and if you are in communion with Him, He will hear your prayers, and will guide you in judgment. My heart pities you. The first time the sin was committed, it was done without so much time for meditation; the second sins were committed after time to meditate, after time to consider the matter in the light of the Word of God, in the face of the seventh commandment.?That you should voluntarily submit your body to the man who led you astray, and you engaged in seeking to enlighten other minds in regard to the commandments, is a most decided exhibition of depravity, and reveals a character as presented to me untrustworthy, and you were incapable of discerning why you should not go right on with the work as you had done.?{TSB 165.3}[8]
§19
公开认罪不一定最好——但我把这事留在目前的状况。我能对你说的就是去找区会中一些值得信赖的人（不是男人，而是女人），跟她们谈谈；但我倾向于认为，你若这么做，就会公开那些会使大家与你疏远的事；他们若不能正确地明白这事，就不会鼓励你或接受你参加教会的任何工作。我现在必须把这个问题留给你和你的上帝，并且请你不要再拿这件事来使我烦恼了。我无意向别人暴露你的事，而要把发展品格的事留给你去处理。我同情你，希望你谨慎行事，完全成为上帝希望你成为的人。——《怀爱伦信函》1893年第95号{TSB 166.1}[9]
§20
Public Confession Not Always Best—But I leave the matter where it is. I could say to you to go to trustworthy persons in the conference (not men, but women), and talk with them; but I am inclined to think that should you do this you would be giving publicity to those things which would cause all to be removed from you; and they would not encourage you or accept you to engage in any branch of the work, when they should understand the matter as it is. I must now leave this matter between you and your God, and please do not trouble me anymore with it. I have no disposition to expose you, but leave you to develop character. I pity you and hope that you will move in discretion, and become altogether that which God would have you.—Letter 95, 1893.?{TSB 166.1}[9]