第36章 致J. 法戈
§1
第36章 致J. 法戈
§2
Chapter 36—To J. Fargo
§3
《信函》1889年第50号F-50-18891889年5月2日写于宾夕法尼亚州坎顿
§4
Canton, Penn. May 2, 1889
§5
亲爱的法戈弟兄：Dear Brother Fargo:
§6
我一直在读巴特勒长老所写的回信，就是他回复我在祷告周之前写给他的信。他在信中声明：我在总会上采取的立场几乎伤透了传道弟兄们的心，他认为那伤口没有愈合而且永远不会愈合。他告诉我，古德里奇长老和法戈长老以及我一些最好的朋友都向他作了这样的声明。{1888 294.1}
§7
I have been reading the letter of Elder Butler’s written in answer to the letter I wrote to him just before the Week of Prayer. In that letter he made the statement that the position I took at the General Conference nearly broke the heart of my ministering brethren, and he thought the wound was not healed and never would be healed. He stated to me that Eld. Goodrich and Eld. Fargo and some of my very best friends had made this statement to him. {1888 294.1}
§8
现在，法戈弟兄，要是你确实从那次会议回来之后对巴特勒长老作了这种声明，难道你没有什么证据要改变主意吗？你怎么能在巴特勒长老心智受损身患疾病、处在会夸大所说每一句话的状态时对他说这种话呢？上帝会怎么看我的传道好弟兄们做的这种事呢？你若因思想的盲目参与促使巴特勒弟兄留在欺骗之下，对他说了他病态的思维会作出最坏解释的话，上帝不会悦纳这种工作，因为假如你的这种工作是出于上帝的，祂就没有一直在带领我了。你在那次会议上难道没有看透，要是你的心智没有因明尼阿波利斯会议上盛行的影响而有了错误的印象，你就会知道上帝并不与那些对《加拉太书》中的律法如此兴奋的人同在吗？你难道没有证据看出控制那次会议的灵并不是耶稣的精神吗？你和那次会上的任何人有什么证据证明我在与上帝工作的关系上改变了，你在我对人们讲话时察觉出什么东西表明上帝赐给我的证言与以前的证言具有不同的等次和性质呢？当我来到波特斯维尔作同样的见证时，你在我所传的信息中听到什么内容是不确定的声音，会使你以为那不是真牧人藉着祂谦卑的信使讲话的声音呢？{1888 294.2}
§9
Now, Bro. Fargo, if you did go from that conference and make such statements to Elder Butler, have you had no evidence to change your mind? and how could you represent this as you did to Elder. B. who was broken in mind and diseased in body, who was in a condition to exaggerate every statement made? How can God look upon this work of my good ministering brethren? If you have acted a part because of blindness of mind in helping Eld. Butler to remain under a deception, making statements to him which his diseased imagination would construe into the worst possible light, God will not look on this work with any favor, for if this, your work, is of God, then He has not been leading me. Did not you see enough at that meeting if your mind had not been wrongly impressed by the prevailing leaven at work in that meeting at Minneapolis to know that God was not with those who were so stirred up over the Law in Galatians? Did you not have evidence that the Spirit that controlled at that meeting was not the spirit of Jesus? What evidence had you or any one at that meeting that I was changed in my relation to the work of God and what did you perceive in my speaking to the people when the testimonies God had given me were of a different order and character than they had been? When I came to Potterville I bore the same testimonies. Wherein did you distinguish in the message I bore, an uncertain sound that would lead you to suppose it was not the voice of the true Shepherd through His humble messenger? {1888 294.2}
§10
我希望你回顾往昔，察看一下明尼阿波利斯会议以后的事，然后想想你保持沉默并坚持你在那次会议上的立场是否职责所需，这种立场荣耀上帝吗？它给你带来什么力量或希望了吗？你已有证据，且会一直有证据表明在明尼阿波利斯的会议上，主给了我责任，要传信息给祂的子民。你有证据证明主在波特维尔与我同在，但你却没有改变你的情绪或态度。你既然坚持你在明尼阿波利斯的立场，就肯定不会有新的亮光临到你。你将被算为一个不愿睁眼看以便看见，不愿侧耳听以便听见的人。你既坚持你在明尼阿波利斯所采取的立场，黑暗肯定必临到你身上。我没有得到一点证据，表明你，霍华德.米勒弟兄，鲁伯特弟兄曾有丝毫的表示，承认你们在对我自己、对W.C.怀特、A.T.琼斯、或E. J.瓦格纳弟兄的看法和情绪上是错了。上帝既一直藉着我说话，我现在就明确地对你说，你受了欺骗。你来参加那次聚会受了欺骗。你对弟兄们有错误的想法，你和传道弟兄们在一种虚假印象之下行了事。你曾有一个机会试验那次会议上的精神。你要是没有盲目，原能看出和明白带到那次会议的精神并不是基督的精神。关于《加拉太书》中律法的不同见解无需导致这样的表现。我对那个问题一点负担都没有。对那个问题的这一切的情绪并非出自上帝。我惟一的烦恼在于出席那次会议的那些传道人的立场，他们很少表现基督的精神，却更多具有曾控制文士和法利赛人的精神。这种精神曾策划了背叛，并在基督受审，作假见证，指控基督，使人们对祂有最坏的印象上起了显著的作用。{1888 294.3}
§11
I want you to look over the past since that meeting in Minneapolis and 295then consider whether you are in the line of duty to maintain a silence and the same position as you did at that meeting, Is God glorified with this position? Does it bring to you any strength or hope? You have had evidence as much as you will ever have, that the Lord gave me the burden of message for His people while they were assembled at Minneapolis. You have evidence that the Lord was with me at Potterville, but you make no change in your feelings or your attitude, and just as surely as you stand where you did while you were at Minneapolis no additional light will come to you. You will be accounted as one who will not open their eyes that they may see and their ears that they may hear. Darkness will just as surely come upon you as you stand in the position you did at Minneapolis. I have no evidence that you, Brother Howard Miller, Bro. Rubert have made the least acknowledgments that you were wrong in your views and feelings in regard to myself, W.C.W., A.T. Jones or Brother E. J. Waggoner. If God has ever spoken by me I speak to you now decidedly that you were deceived. You came to that meeting deceived. You had wrong ideas of your brethren and you worked and our ministering brethren worked under a false impression. You had an opportunity to test the spirits at that meeting. If you had not been blinded you could have seen and understood that the spirit brought to that meeting was not the spirit of Christ. The different views in regard to the law in Galatians need not have produced any such exhibitions. I have not the slightest burden upon that subject. God has not inspired all this intense feeling over that subject. I have not a particle of burden on that subject. My only trouble is the position of those ministers who were at that conference who manifested so little of the spirit of Christ and possessed more largely the spirit which controlled the scribes and Pharisees which planned the betrayal and acted a prominent part in the trial of Christ, in false statements, in accusing of Christ and making Him appear before the people in the worst possible light. {1888 294.3}
§12
重述这些言论，就在人们的心思意念上起了作用，激起人未因真理而成圣的本性中最恶劣的成分。我在那次会议上意识到当时的事态时，便知道上帝不会光照如此被仇敌的精神所激动的头脑，因为它只能这样。上帝的真理无需这种精神来捍卫。我知道有些人虽在宣扬真理，却是不配的，他们的心是卑贱的器皿。{1888 295.1}
§13
Repeating these statements, they acted upon the human minds and hearts, stirring up the worst elements of the character of the natural heart, unsanctified by the truth. When I sensed at the conference the condition of things I knew God would not illuminate the minds thus inflamed, by what?—the spirit of the enemy, for it was nothing else. God’s truth needed no such a spirit to stand in its 296defense. I knew that there were men there who were proclaiming the truth who were unworthy and whose hearts were vessels of dishonor. {1888 295.1}
§14
我有督责的信息给一些人，但盛行的精神不是基督的精神，而是仇敌的精神，使我的言语没有产生效果。基督在祂亲友的家中受了伤（亚13:6）。那不是因我！基督不是因我受辱！而是因弟兄们没有正当理由就这样使我在那次会议上的工作失效。我即将离开会议去堪萨斯，因为我不能眼见我剩下的话仍会没有什么用处。基尔戈弟兄力劝我安息日讲道。我说：“不，我不会犯进一步浪费我的言语和力量在一班充满偏见和恶意猜测之人身上的罪，他们抵挡了我的工作，我无法使他们信服真理。我下午要向斯堪的纳维亚人讲道，因为他们很想听。”{1888 296.1}
§15
I had messages of reproof for some but the spirit that prevailed which was not of Christ but of the enemy made of no effect my words. Christ was wounded in the house of His friends. It was not by me! Not by me, that Christ was dishonored! It was by my brethren who had no just cause for thus making of none effect my labors at that meeting. I was about to leave the meeting for Kansas for I could not see that my remaining would do any good. Bro. Kilgore urged me to speak Sabbath. I said, “No, I will not be guilty of wasting my words and strength further for a people who are filled with prejudice and evil surmisings, who withstand my labors and whom I cannot convince of truth. I will speak in the afternoon to the Scandinavians because they desire it so much.” {1888 296.1}
§16
那天夜里主的使者站在我床边，对我说了许多事，我无意写在这里，但我奉命坚守工作岗位；因为有一种精神正在进来占据各教会，若是得到允许，就肯定会使他们与上帝隔绝，因为他们确实拒绝了上帝赐给他们的亮光，就是警告的信息和他们可以催促基督复临的亮光。{1888 296.2}
§17
That night the angel of the Lord stood by my bed and said to me many things which I will not attempt to write here, but I was commanded to stand at my post of duty; that there was a spirit coming in taking possession of the churches, that if permitted would separate them from God as verily as the churches who refused light that God sent them in messages of warning and of light that they might advance in regard to His second coming to our world. {1888 296.2}
§18
我一直蒙指示看到，上帝的子民对于他们将遭遇之无情仇敌的许多诡计还没有充分认识。那些应该很老练的人在很大程度上不晓得撒但的作为，而他正攻其不备。要有一个联合阵线向仇敌发起一次重大进攻。撒但已获得了很大的胜利，因为我们的队伍在一些并非至关重要的经文要点上有了意见分歧。我蒙指示看见，自称相信真理的人们会显露他们在上帝面前的真实立场。我的向导说过：“跟我来。”于是我就被带到我们的人所住的房间。我听到关于我自己的交谈和评论；在那次会议上所作的见证受到了评论。W.C.怀特也被说到了，显得非常可笑。我能从声音听出讲话的人是谁。A. T.琼斯以同样的方式受到了评论，E. J.瓦格纳也是一样。我的向导说：“哪里有恳切的祷告，以谦卑的心寻求上帝得亮光呢？”我在不同的房间听到人们讲风凉话，发表非基督化的评论，说出激动夸张的言论，这都是因为他们在《加拉太书》中律法的见解上有分歧。难道安息日复临信徒中间已经没有相容性了吗？在听了一段时间不受约束的、非基督化的言论之后，我得到了有关我工作的指示。{1888 296.3}
§19
I have been shown that the people of God are not fully enlightened in regard to the many devices of the relentless foe whom they will have to encounter. Those who should be well experienced are, in a large measure, ignorant of the workings of Satan and he is taking them unawares. There is a great, grand charge to be made by a united front against the enemy and Satan has great victories because there is a difference in views in our ranks upon some points of Scripture not (of) a vital character. Men who claim to believe the truth, I have been shown, will develop their true standing before God. My guide said, “Follow me.” I was then taken to the different houses where our people made their homes. I heard the conversation, the remarks, made in reference to myself; the testimonies borne at that meeting were commented upon. W.C.W. was talked of and presented in a most ridiculous light. I could define the speakers by their voices. 297A. T. Jones was commented upon in like manner, so was E. J. Waggoner, Said my guide, “Where is the earnest prayer, the seeking of God with humble heart for light?” I was listening in the different rooms to the sarcastic remarks, unchristian comments, the excitable, exaggerated statements made all because that there was a difference in the views of the law in Galatians. O consistency, hast thou departed from the midst of Seventh-day Adventists? After listening some time to the free, unchristlike words, then my work was appointed me. {1888 296.3}
§20
我被告知这种精神多年来一直在积蓄力量，其发酵的影响在起作用，属灵的生命正从各教会里消失。在他们的聚会里有轻浮、嘲弄、琐屑、玩笑、嬉戏，——一种令上帝不悦的精神。我蒙应许，要是我忠实地坚守我的工作岗位，主就会支持我去做上帝赐给我的工作。祂永久的膀臂就会支持我。但我必须传主赐给我的信息，不管人们愿不愿意听。我努力这么做了。我发话说我要在安息日上午讲道，也确实讲了，并且没有离开聚会，直到我工作结束。我在巴特尔克里克作了我的见证，但那里我的弟兄们没有一个人有道德勇气站在我旁边支持我，撤消或承认他们采取了错误的做法，错误判断了他们的弟兄也错误判断了我。{1888 297.1}
§21
I was told this spirit had been gathering strength for years and the leavening influence was at work and spiritual life was going out of the churches. In their gatherings for meeting there was lightness, trifling, jesting, joking,—a spirit that God frowns upon. I was promised that if I stood faithfully at my post of duty the Lord would sustain me to do the work given me of God. His everlasting arms would be beneath me, but I must bear the message the Lord gave me whether men would hear or forbear. I have tried to do this. I sent word that I would speak Sabbath forenoon and I did speak and I did not leave the meeting until my work was ended. I bore my testimony in Battle Creek but there was not one of my brethren who had the moral courage to stand by my side and take back or confess that they had pursued a wrong course and misjudged their brethren and misjudged me. {1888 297.1}
§22
我在波特维尔作了我的见证。主的灵伴随着我，但那些已经就饮于那种怀疑与质问的精神，已经收回了对我和上帝所委托给我的工作的信任的人，却没有一个承认他们的错误和他们曾受的欺骗。主在巴特尔克里克为祂的子民行了事，但尽管有上帝行事的证据，那些受了疑惑、猜疑和恶意猜测之精神影响的人，在见到曾被他们错误判断、贬低、歪曲和误表的人所传的信息给各教会带来了生命、自由和上帝的福气之后，竟没有一个人说一句忏悔的话。他们当时并没有承认自己错了，没有承认自己的错误并坚定地支持正义。难道他们太骄傲了不屑于这么做吗？是什么控制了我们的人呢？我有同样的见证要做，就是我过去四十五年来一直在做的。我恳劝我们传道的弟兄们在明尼阿波利斯行事应当有基督徒样子，那是他们许多人并没有做的。你很清楚上帝的能力伴随着我传给人们的信息，但这一切却被传闻、被曾激起的强烈的情绪和巴特勒长老的建议抵消了。那些建议是他无意在他给我的信中当面提出来的。我为基督的缘故告诉你，就像我已告诉其他人的，——要放弃你错误的想法，别再受骗了。{1888 297.2}
§23
I bore my testimony in Potterville. The Spirit of the Lord attended me, but not one of those who had drank in that spirit of doubt and questioning, who had withdrawn their confidence from me and the work God had entrusted to me, confessed their mistakes and the deception they had been under. The Lord wrought for His people in Battle Creek but notwithstanding the evidences of the work of God, not one who was leavened with the spirit of doubts and suspicion and evil surmisings after they saw that life and freedom and the blessing of God was brought in to the churches by the messages borne by the very ones they had misjudged and demerited and had misstated and falsified had any words of confession. They did not then admit their wrong and confess their errors and take their stand firmly for the right. Were they too proud to do this? What has come over our people? I have the same 298testimonies to bear I ever have borne during the last forty-five years. I did plead that our ministering brethren should act like Christians at Minneapolis, which many of them did not do. You are well aware that the power of God attended the messages I gave to the people but all this is neutralized by hearsay, by the strong feelings that had been worked up and the suggestions made by Elder Butler which suggestions he has no delicacy in making to my face in his letters to me. I tell you, for Christ’s sake, as I have told others,—give up your false ideas and be not deceived. {1888 297.2}
§24
关于在堪萨斯州的聚会，我第一夜看到事态的真相时还没有去过那里，明尼阿波利斯的酵从爱荷华州被带来，继续产生影响，要使A. T.琼斯长老和我的工作失效。第二天早上我明确地讲了这个问题，基本上清楚地说明了我在这封信中用文字描述的问题。堪萨斯州区会会长霍尔弟兄站起来说：“我对主赐给怀姐妹的见证信心坚定了。我曾在她所提到的那些房间中的一间，她对那些事件的描述比我自己能描述的还要清楚。明尼阿波利斯是我第一次参加的总会会议。我在真理上还只是个三岁的小孩。我曾绝对信仰我的传道弟兄们。我相信他们是本着良心做自己的工作的。我尊敬他们，信赖他们，敬重他们，但我日复一日听到的评论确实在我心上留下了印象。我厌烦这种谈论，认为必定如此，但这对我来说太厉害了，有一次我几乎要爆发了。我告诉了他们我对这种谈论和所表现的这种精神的想法。情况好了一小会儿，不过一有什么新料，那种精神就又出现而且更加过分。我说要是这就是带进总会的精神模样，我就决不想再参加总会了。”他谦卑地承认自己确实被当时的潮流冲走了，为此他衷心地悔改了。麦克雷诺兹弟兄作见证说，怀姐妹的描述句句真实。他很不幸与爱荷华州的弟兄们同住一个房间，痛苦了两周之久。他虽然没有被拉进去，但潮流太强了，他失去了方位，承认自己在某种程度上与那种精神联合了。他说就如怀姐妹所说过的，有两周之久房间里没有献上一次有声的祷告。他此前曾向我谦卑地供认了他在会上重述的这个问题。我们的聚会不得不先结束才能更深入。年轻的沃什伯恩弟兄和他的妻子来到我们的帐篷与我交谈，我与他们畅快地谈了话，并且告诉他们，要是他们没有来找我，我也会很高兴地向他们满意地解释一切的事。波特弟兄也来了。我直率地与他交谈，并告诉他们，当你们来到巴特尔克里克时，我所告诉你们的还不到一半，而这对他们的思想有帮助。星期五主又赐给我一个明确的见证要传，这个见证在人们心中留下了明确的印象。{1888 298.1}
§25
In regard to the meeting in Kansas I had not been there over the first night when I had opened to me the true condition of things, The leaven of Minneapolis was brought from Iowa and its work was being carried on to make of none effect the labors of Eld. A. T. Jones and my work. The next morning I spoke decidedly upon this matter and plainly stated in substance that which I have traced with pen and ink in this letter. Brother Hall, President of Kansas conference arose and said, “My confidence in the testimonies the Lord gives Sister White is confirmed. I was in one of the very rooms she mentions, the very statements made are more clearly pictured than I could possibly describe the incidents myself. Minneapolis was the first general conference that I ever attended. I was but a child in the truth, three years old. I had implicit confidence in my ministering brethren. I believed them to be conscientiously doing their work. I looked up to them, trusted in them, respected them, but the remarks I listened to day after day did make an impression upon my mind. I bore this talk, thinking it must be so but it became too strong for me and on one occasion I just boiled over. I told them just what I thought of such talk and the manifestation of such a spirit. For a little time it was better but whenever something fresh would come up all and more was repeated. I said if this was a sample of the spirit brought into the General Conference, I never desired to attend another.” He humbly confessed that he did become carried away with the current for which he heartily repented. Bro. McReynolds bore testimony that the description given by Sister White was true to the letter. He was unfortunate enough to be one of the number in the room with the Iowa brethren and he was 299distressed for two weeks. He was not drawn in but the current became too strong and he lost his bearings and confessed he united in the spirit to some degree. He said for two weeks as Sister White has said, there was not a vocal prayer offered in the house. He had before this made humble confessions to me of this matter which he repeated at the meeting. Our meeting had to close before we could go any farther. Young Brother Washburn and his wife came to our tent and talked with me and I talked with them freely and told them if they had come to me I would have gladly explained everything to their satisfaction. Brother Porter came. I talked with him freely and told them not half as much as I have told you when you came to Battle Creek and it helped their minds. Friday again the Lord gave me a decided testimony to bear which made as decided impression on minds. {1888 298.1}
§26
安息日波特弟兄得到了惊人的操练。他当时正在聚会。他说：“我以为我就要晕倒了。我觉得自己要死了。我的头垂到了我前面的座位上，而当我抬起头来的时候，我被彻底改变了。曾被黑暗笼罩的每一个要点因A.T.琼斯长老的讲解都清晰了。我把它写了下来，因为主已从亚当向下以清晰的线条向我显明了基督之义在律法里。”{1888 299.1}
§27
Sabbath day Brother Porter was wonderfully exercised. He was in meeting. He said, “I thought I was going to faint. I felt that I was dying. I dropped my head on the seat before me (and) when I raised my head, I was revolutionized. Every point which had been clouded with darkness was clear as Eld. A.T. Jones has presented it. I wrote it and as the Lord had presented it to me in a clear line from Adam down, the righteousness of Christ in the law.” {1888 299.1}
§28
星期日上午的聚会我就同一个要点作了一个见证，论到传道弟兄们在明尼阿波利斯所做违反基督精神的邪恶猜测和失实陈述。有了突破，感谢上帝！我的话对他们不象捏造的虚言。来自爱荷华州的波特弟兄起来说：“我在完全的黑暗中来参加这次聚会。撒但在对我作工，要唤起我好斗的精神，我正变得越来越黑暗，但我回头了。我看见了亮光。我没有在明尼阿波利斯。我要是在那里，恐怕会成为弟兄们中间最恶劣的人，但我因上帝而乐。我现在看清楚了。我现在决心要作工，与我迄今为止一直在做的截然相反。弟兄们，我希望你们饶恕我的盲目和顽梗。”年轻的沃什伯恩弟兄起来讲了相当长的时间。他说当在明尼阿波利斯的时候，他曾以为怀姐妹的见证不是真的，因为她说她在加利福尼亚没有与A.T.琼斯和E. J.瓦格纳交谈过。他虽没有说怀姐妹说谎了，但他也可以说是说了，因为他对别人说事情不可能这样。他不相信怀姐妹讲的是真话。但他说：“我羞愧地承认这一点。我已向怀姐妹认罪，也向上帝认了罪。我一直因此后悔。”他在主里自由了。维克哈姆弟兄也痛快地认了罪，他与康拉迪弟兄曾在住了许多传道人的那个房间，他也参与了谈论。他在过去的二十四小时享受的上帝福气比此前一生的福气还多。此后我们的聚会进行得更加释放，主的福气停留在人们身上。我写给你这些细节，以便你看明，你是否做了一切应该做的去消除你和你的传道弟兄们在巴特勒长老心中留下的印象，那种印象已经误导了他，他是一个身心俱病的可怜人，心智受损，却被当成一个心智健全的人来对待，把他想像出来的东西当成象上帝的意念那样正确。{1888 299.2}
§29
Sunday I bore in the morning meeting a testimony upon the same point in regard to the Christless wicked surmisings and misrepresentations that had been made in Minneapolis by my ministering brethren. The break came, thank God! My words were not to them as idle tales. Brother Porter, minister from Iowa, arose and said, “I came to this meeting in complete darkness. Satan was at work with me to raise my combative spirit and I was growing darker and darker but I am converted. I see the light. I was not at Minneapolis. If I had been, I fear I should have been the worst among my brethren but I rejoice in God. I see now clearly. I am now determined to work in an opposite direction from that which I have been hitherto working. I want you, my brethren, to forgive me for my blindness and for my stubbornness,” Young Brother Washburn arose and talked quite lengthily. He said when at Minneapolis he was one who thought Sister White’s testimony could not be truth when she stated she had had in California no 300conversation with A.T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner. He did not say that Sister White lied but he might as well said it for he stated to others it could not be so. And he did not believe that Sister White told the truth. But he said, “I confess this to my shame. I have confessed it to Sister White and I confess it to God. I repent of this everlastingly.” He was free in the Lord. Bro. Wakeham was also free to confess he with Brother Conradi were in that room where many ministers made their home and he acted a part in the talking. He had enjoyed more of the blessing of God in the last twenty-four hours than he (had) done in all his life before. Our meeting moved off after this much more freely and the blessing of the Lord rested upon the people. I write you these particulars that you may see if you have done all that you ought to do in regard to the removing the impression you and your ministering brethren have left upon Elder Butler’s mind which have misled him and he was, poor man, sick both in body and mind, broken in mind, yet treated as one who was sound and his imaginings as correct as the mind of God. {1888 299.2}
§30
可怜的奥斯特兰德弟兄去参加了那次聚会，心理失衡，与精神病人差不多。弟兄们却那么盲目，对《加拉太书》中的律法那么兴奋，一点没有意识到要看出他的真实状况，因为我关于奥斯特兰德弟兄的忠告，来看望我的委员会竟然很严肃地问了我这个问题：难道他不应该提名竞选总会会长吗？这个人离家以前在精神错乱的时候甚至在他自己的家里都是危险的，因为他的妻子已经对我讲了这事。但这个人却得到了巴特勒长老的完全信任，而他在虚弱的状况中心思受了这个人的强烈影响。照巴特勒弟兄所说的，我最好最有经验的传道弟兄们会告诉他，他们的心因怀姐妹在总会上采取的立场而几乎要破碎了。我希望为这些传道人的缘故，心碎会更加彻底，因为那样才会有革新，上帝的模子才能加在他们身上，取代人的模子。希望这些人会被上帝的灵光照，而不是继续行在他们自己所点火把的光中。他们在迷雾、疑惑、黑暗中谈论，却不向上帝已赐给他们要清除迷雾的亮光敞开心门。他们向上帝愿意赐给他们的知识关闭了心门，却向一切疑惑敞开心门，从一个疑惑漂向另一个疑惑。{1888 300.1}
§31
There was poor Brother Ostrander that went to that meeting, unbalanced in mind, little less than insane man. His brethren were in so great blindness they were so wrought up over the law in Galatians, they had no sense to discern his true condition and the question was gravely asked me by the committee who visited me, for my counsel of Bro. Ostrander. Would not he be one whose name should be put on the paper as one to run for the presidency of General Conference? This man was even dangerous in his home in his insanity before he left home, for his wife has told me in regard to it. But this man was fully in the confidence of Elder Butler and in his weak condition strong impressions from this man were made on his mind. As Brother Butler stated, my best and most experienced ministering brethren could tell him their hearts were nearly broken at the positions Sister White took at the General Conference. I wish for these ministers’ sake, the breaking of the heart would have been more thorough for then there would be reformation and the mould of God would be upon them in the place of the mould of men. Would that these brethren would be illuminated by the spirit of God rather than to 301continue longer walking in the sparks of their own kindling. They talk thru mist, thru doubts, thru darkness but do not open their hearts to the light that God has sent them to clear away the fog. They close their hearts to knowledge that God would give them but open them to all the doubts that are floating from one to another. {1888 300.1}
§32
应该做的工作他们没有去做，上帝就不会赐给他们比他们已经拥有的更大的亮光，直到他们承认祂已经赐给他们的亮光。他们已经把巴特勒弟兄绊倒了。他们得从他的道路上除掉绊脚石，并为自己的脚修平道路，免得瘸子差路。主不会原谅那些在我们的日子自称相信真理却拒绝亮光的人，正如祂不原谅犹太人拒绝主所指定的代表传给他们的亮光一样。在我们这个时代，拒绝行在光中总是使人留在黑暗里。{1888 301.1}
§33
The work they ought to do they do not do and God will give them no greater light than they have had until they acknowledge the light He has already given them. They have caused Brother Butler to stumble. They have to remove the stumbling blocks from his path and make straight paths for their feet lest the lame be turned out of the way. The Lord will no more excuse the rejection of light in any one of those who claim to believe in the truth in our day than He excused the Jews for their rejecting light that came from the Lord’s appointed agencies. In this our day the refusal to walk in the light leaves men in darkness always. {1888 301.1}