第69章 致M. 拉森
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第69章 致M. 拉森
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Chapter 70—To W. C. White
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《信函》 1890年第18d号L-18d-18901890年3月6日March 6, 1890.亲爱的拉森弟兄：
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Dear Brother [Matthew] Larson,—
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自从我们交谈过之后，我就感到主的灵敦促我写信给你。我曾希望我不会被迫在这次聚会上给出任何针对个人的证言，希望主会要求我只讲一般原则。在与你面谈的时候，我设法不说任何会激动你心思的话，也曾希望然传道人聚会上所讲的话会有不同的结果。我现在看出你拜访我是要向我抱怨。你说：“虽然我会接受你解释说无意针对我，但在我向你解释我当时为什么在笑时，就是你说‘如果这个例证合适你’时，你对我讲话的方式，和你的反应似乎留下的印象却是我做了什么不应该做的事，使你必须公开责备我，而且给当时在场的人心中留下相当尖锐的印象。”{1888 584.1}
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Since our conversation I have felt urged by the Spirit of the Lord to write to you. I had hoped that I should not be compelled to give any personal testimony in this meeting, but that the Lord would require me only to dwell upon general principles. In the interview with you, I sought to say nothing that would agitate or stir up your mind, and I had hoped that the words addressed to those assembled in the ministers’ meeting would have a different result than they have had. I now see that your call upon me, was to utter complaint against me. You say, “While I shall accept your explanation that you intended nothing against me, the manner in which you spoke to me, and the response you made, when I explained to you why I was smiling, i.e. that if the illustration fits you, take it’ seems to have left the impression that I had done something that I ought not to have done, and this made it necessary that you should give me a public rebuke, and in a rather keen manner upon the minds of those who were present.” {1888 584.1}
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我曾希望你在散会时会处于与来聚会时完全不同的精神状态。我就曾在明尼阿波利斯发生的事作了我的见证。我这么做是因为主的灵敦促我去做。但我所说的话和所宣读的文稿对你的心思有什么影响呢？有什么效果呢？——总之，并没有应有的效果。我在早晨的聚会中操劳是要帮助弟兄们。我摆明了上帝曾摆明在我面前的事态。我照着主向我显明的说明了我们应该居于的立场。我在那个早上对你说的话没有任何个人情绪。在我的工作战线上，我讲论主所赐给我的事。我在那次谈话中，自始至终不敢说主没有感动我说的话。我心里并不想伤害弟兄们的感情——一点也不想。我有话对你说，我希望你对你的表现作出说明。我请你这么做了，而当你解释说那是因为你赏识所说的话时，上帝的灵便使我作出了那个回答。你需要那些话，否则主就不会让我说出来。根据你追查我的路线，我十分确信你需要那些话。{1888 584.2}
§8
I had hoped when you left this meeting you would be in an entirely different spirit than that which you brought to it. I bore my testimony in regard to things which transpired in Minneapolis. This I did because it was urged upon me by the Spirit of the Lord. But what influence did the words and reading of the manuscript have upon your mind? What effect did it have?—Not that which it should have had, by any means. I labored in the morning meeting to help my brethren. I presented the state of 585things as God had presented them to me. I illustrated the positions we should occupy as they had been presented to me. I had no personal feelings in the remark made to you that morning. In the line of my work I speak the things the Lord gives me. And in my words to you I would no more dare to say that the Lord did not move me to make the remarks which I made in that talk all the way through. It is not in me to wish to hurt the feelings of my brethren—not the least or the greatest. I had a word for you, and I wanted you to explain the demonstrations that you made. I asked you to do so, and when you explained that it was because you appreciated the remarks, the Spirit of God brought that answer to my lips. You needed those words or they would not have been spoken. From the lines you have traced to me, I am thoroughly convinced that you needed those words. {1888 584.2}
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我看到你把我的工作和使命看作和你自己的工作同一个水平的。如今我显然看出你的表现实际上在说：“弟兄们，这就是你们所需要的，这可应用在你们身上。”但是你却远远没有想到把那些话应用在你自己身上。当我站在众人面前时，我并不是以我自己的精神站立。我的话不是我的，而是那差我来者的，祂已赐给我一道信息要传达。你若认为那些话是一个责备，就接受吧；因为主的意思就是这样。主并没有让我对一些弟兄带到这次聚会上的精神一无所知。那种精神不是出于上帝的灵。{1888 585.1}
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I see that you regard my work and my mission as on a level with your own work. It is now evident to me that the demonstration that you made in effect was, “Now, this is what you need my brethren, this applies to you. But to make an application of the word spoken to yourself was the farthest thing from your mind. When I stand before the people I do not stand in my own spirit. My words are not mine, but His who sent me, and has given me a message to bear. If you consider the words a rebuke, take them; for the Lord meant them to you as such. The Lord has not left me in ignorance of the spirit which some of my brethren have brought to this meeting. It savors not of the Spirit of God. {1888 585.1}
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我没有什么要解释的，也没有什么要道歉的。我对你说了主的话；我站在人前作了一个并非预谋，也并非我捏造的见证。你现在既已这么明显地开了路，我就忍不住进一步使你明白主给你的话。你若不谦卑自己的心象小孩子一样，并且乐于在主的门下领受祂要给你的教训，——心意谦卑，内心柔和谦逊的教训，——你就不会看见上帝的国。{1888 585.2}
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I have no explanation to make, no apologies to make. I 586have spoken to you the words of the Lord; I stand before the people bearing a testimony which is not premeditated, and which I do not manufacture. You have now opened the way so distinctly, that I can not forbear to further make known the word of the Lord for you. Unless you humble your heart as a little child, and are willing to receive the lessons which the Lord has for you in His school,—lessons of humility of mind, meekness, and lowliness of heart,—you will not see the kingdom of God. {1888 585.2}
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我曾希望不会被迫给你一个个人的证言，现在也不会做过于主的灵所敦促我的事；但我奉主的名对你讲话，祂差了我，并赐给我话语要我照着人们所需要的对他们讲说。你要自卑，服在上帝的手下，“当趁耶和华可寻找的时候寻找祂，相近的时候求告祂。恶人当离弃自己的道路；不义的人当除掉自己的意念。归向耶和华，耶和华就必怜恤他；当归向我们的上帝，因为上帝必广行赦免”（赛55:6,7）。我奉主的名对你讲话，你若不摆脱那种在这次会议上已经控制了你的精神，就决不会开始认识在耶稣里的真理，那种精神已经使你好为人师而不是为一个学习者。{1888 586.1}
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I hoped not to be compelled to give you a personal testimony, and shall not now, further than the Spirit of the Lord urges me; but in His name who has sent me and given me words to speak to the people as they need it, I speak to you. Humble yourself under the hand of God, “seek the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. I say unto you in the name of the Lord, You will never come to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, until you put away the spirit which has controlled you at this meeting, and has led you to take the place of teacher rather than that of a learner. {1888 586.1}
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我不会向你提到其他已经具有同样精神的人；但是我的拉森弟兄啊，我现在对你说，你不适合教导弟兄们真理，直到你有基督改变人心的恩典在你自己的心上运行。那时你才会坐在耶稣脚前，从祂学习教训，那些教训在今生和不朽的来生对你来说都具有极大的后果。你需要以一颗被上帝的灵所软化和折服的心开始查考圣经；你需要少而又少地讲话，多而又多地祈祷。你自视过高，以致听不见主的声音了。那些自称相信真理的人中，实际地将真理实行在自己品格中的人多么少啊。那具有基督化精神的人必具有象小孩子一样的信心。上帝的福气在那些听从和那些认出祂所赐亮光的人身上，他们注意看祂的脚踪并且听祂的声音。靠你自己你什么也不能做。可是你若在上帝手中，并且奉耶稣的名，在受上帝权威的委任时，你就凡事都能做，上帝亲自作你的力量。{1888 586.2}
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I will not to you refer to others who have had the same spirit; but now say to you, my Brother Larson, that you are not fitted to teach the truth to your brethren, until you have the transforming grace of Christ upon your own heart? Then you will sit at the feet of Jesus, and learn lessons from Him that will be of the highest consequence to you in this life, and in the future immortal life. You need to come to the searching of the 587Scriptures with a heart softened and subdued by the Spirit of God; you need to talk far less, and to pray far more than you do. You get such lofty ideas of yourself that the Lord’s voice is not heard. How few of those who claim to believe the truth carry it out practically in their characters. He who possesses the Christlike spirit will possess the child-like faith. God’s blessing is on those who hear and those who recognize the light which He sends, who behold the traces of His footsteps and hear His voice. Of yourself you can do nothing. Yet in God’s hands, and in the name of Jesus, when commissioned of divine authority, you can do all things, God Himself being your strength. {1888 586.2}
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你们没有属灵开悟的人会问：你为什么这么做呢？你为什么说这些话呢？人们或许希望让我说些不会使他们难堪的话，但上帝是我的盾牌；我在暴风雨中扬起头来，因为祂，我所属所事奉的主，不会让波涛漫过我。上帝若加给我力量，象祂在上个安息日和从那时以来每天所做的那样，我就感到自己得了坚固，有一种又勇敢又喜乐的精神；因为我里面体验到一种神圣的力量，藉着和通过这种力量，我才能完成祂所赐给我去做的工作。撒但的作为已经竖起障碍阻挡我和我的工作，不让我的信息传给人。他会很高兴使我处在软弱状态，看到我因见到包围着我的种种危险和高耸在我面前的困难的大山而战兢。我的本性要退缩，但我仍以圣洁的胆量前进，去对付一个又一个现出来要挡住我道路的困难；我仍然奉主的名前进，以单纯的信心去对付它们，倚靠那永远相近的主，祂必与我同去，也必在能荣耀祂名的时候，斥责洋海的波浪，击打众山，使之成为平原。{1888 587.1}
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You who have not spiritual enlightenment may ask, Why do ye so? Why do you speak these words? Men may want to put words in my mouth which would save them from any embarrassment, but God is my shield; I lift up my head in the storm, for He, the Lord, whose I am and whom I serve, will not allow the billows to go over me. If God strengthens me as He did on the last Sabbath and every day since then, I shall feel myself strengthened with a courageous and joyful spirit; for I experience within me a divine power by which and through which I can accomplish the work He has given me to do. Satan’s work has been to erect barriers against me and my work that would keep my message from coming to the people. He would rejoice to have me in weakness, and to see me trembling at the sight of dangers which surround me and mountains of difficulties which rise before me. My nature shrinks, but notwithstanding I advance with holy boldness to meet one difficulty after another which arises to obstruct my way; yet I move forward in the name of the Lord in simple faith to meet them, relying upon Him 588who is eternally near, and who will go with me, and who will, when it is for His name’s glory, rebuke with a word the ocean’s wave, and thresh the mountains that they shall become a plain. {1888 587.1}
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我的弟兄啊，我再一次告诉你，你不知道自己出于怎样的精神。你很有热心，但那不是上帝所赐的热心。那伟大的自有永有者对你说，要认识你自己。你用来查考圣经的精神正是犹太人在基督的日子所具有的精神。他们以为自己全懂圣经；他们既自以为聪明，就什么也学不了了。基督说过：“你有眼睛看不见，有耳朵听不见”（见 结12:2；可8:18）。你现在怀有的偏见、自负和内心的骄傲若不被上帝的灵消除，就会使你行在自己所点火把的火焰里，躺在悲惨之中（赛50:11）。能临到我们各区会的最大的灾难，莫过于人们以这种盲目的热心和高傲自负的精神到不同的教会去了。一些人在这次聚会上始终具有那种精神。我们的自我既是其中一员，我就奉主的名告诉你，要省察己心。自卑在上帝大能的手下，否则祂必使你降卑。要寻求主；跌在那磐石基督耶稣上，从而破碎你的心。{1888 588.1}
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Again, my brother, I tell you that you know not what manner of spirit you are of. You have great zeal, but it is not a zeal that God imparts. The Great I AM speaks to you, Know thyself. The spirit you have brought to the investigation of Scriptures is the very same spirit the Jews possessed in the days of Christ. They thought they knew it all; they thought they were wise and could learn nothing. Christ said, “Ye have ears, but ye hear not; ye have eyes but ye see not.” The prejudice, the self-esteem, the pride of heart which you now possess, unless it is removed by the spirit of God, will cause you to walk in the sparks of your own kindling, and lie down in sorrow. There can be no calamity greater that could come to our conferences, than for men to go to the different churches with such a blind zeal, and such a lofty self-sufficient spirit as some have carried through this meeting. Ourself being one of them, I tell you in the name of the Lord to search your own heart. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, else He will humble you. Seek the Lord; break your heart by falling on the Rock, Christ Jesus. {1888 588.1}
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我能对你讲许多事，但我要就此止笔了，并要再说一次，不要离开这个地方，直到你为工作做好了装备。你可以成为上帝圣工的一个福气，否则就会成为一个咒诅。你会成为哪样呢？我已向你指出那大有谋略的一位，祂曾给老底嘉教会一道信息，完全适用于这个时候。我愿意你把这封信给你所选择的任何一个人看。我希望这封信以别样的精神得到接受，不同于星期二早上对你讲话时你的精神。{1888 588.2}
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Many things I might say to you, but I stop right here, and again I say, Do not leave this place till you are fitted up for the work. You can be a blessing for the cause of God, or you can be a curse. Which will you be? I have to refer you to One mighty in counsel, who gave to the Laodicean church a 589message which is wholly applicable to this time. I am willing you should show this letter to anyone and everyone you choose. I hope it will be received in a different spirit than the words spoken to you Tuesday morning. {1888 588.2}
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主推翻凡胆敢依照他们自己的想法，在祂面前自行立足，以他们自己的方式、自己的力量看祂和事奉祂，或以他们自己的义在祂面前昂首的人。但是对于痛悔谦卑的人，祂却说：挺起身来；站在我面前；以安祥、确信和喜乐注视我的面；不要害怕。凡愿意在祂面前挺身昂首的人，必须先拜倒在髑髅地十字架的脚前。那时人们才能在基督耶稣里与上帝和好，并且穿上基督的义。站在主面前是什么意思呢？这意味着渴望主的道路超过一切，以便主的旨意可以随时清楚地向我们显明，使我们能时时刻刻都只做令祂喜悦并促进祂荣耀的事。自我被隐藏起来；我们要注意来自主的任何一个记号，专心听从祂的声音、祂的指示和祂的督责与命令，以便知道祂所吩咐的道路。这就是与上帝同行，这就是站在主面前。让自我在你里面死去吧；要对自己有谦卑的看法；你不适合作教师，除非你天天在主的事工中学习。{1888 589.1}
§24
The Lord casts down all who dare present themselves before Him on their own footing, according to their own ideas, and who behold Him and serve Him in their own way, and in their own strength or lift up their heads before Him in their own righteousness. But to the contrite and penitent and humble He says, Lift thyself up; stand before Me; behold My face with comfort and assurance and with joy; be not afraid. He who would lift himself up in His presence must first prostrate himself at the foot of the cross of Calvary. Then can men be reconciled to God in Christ Jesus, and be clothed with Christ’s righteousness. What is it to stand before the Lord? It means to desire His way above all things, that the will of the Lord many be at all time plainly manifested to us, and that we may do nothing from moment to moment but what shall please him and promote His glory. Self is put out of sight; we are to watch for any tokens from the Lord, listen attentively with our mind and heart to hear His voice, His directions and His reproofs and commands, that we may know the way of His commandments. This is walking with God, and this is standing before the Lord. Let self die in you; have humble ideas of yourself; you are not fit to be a teacher, unless you are daily a learner in the cause and works of the Master. {1888 589.1}