第78章 证道
§1
第78章 证道
§2
Chapter 80—To O. A. Olsen
§3
《文稿》1890年第2号Manuscript 2, 1890怀爱伦1890年3月16日
§4
Chapter 80—To O. A. Olsen
§5
(在密歇根州巴特尔克里克的证道)
§6
March 16th, 1890, Battle Creek, Michigan
§7
我想讲讲信心。弟兄姐妹们,我要说,我们不是自然就会信,而是非常自然地怀有不信。这就是缠累人的罪,也一直是缠累着上帝子民的罪。对我来说,我一直都不是自然亲自去信的,我在这一点上有过很严重的教训,直到我晓得了对我来说有片刻怀存疑惑都是不安全的。我从未怀疑真理,而是对我自己和我的工作心怀疑惑。{1888 636.1}
§8
I want to say a few words in reference to faith. I want to say, brethren and sisters, it is not natural for us to believe, but it is very natural for us to foster unbelief. This is the besetting sin, and has been the besetting sin of God’s people. It has not been natural for me to believe for myself, and I have had very severe lessons on this point until I know that it is not safe for me to cherish for one moment any doubt. I never doubted the truth; but to cherish doubt in regard to myself and my work. {1888 636.1}
§9
现在我心里非常忧伤——自从明尼阿波利斯会议以来,我几乎一直这样——我会告诉你们为何这样。因为上帝一直在向我讲话,就像祂过去四十五年来所做的一样,我已讲了这些事,弟兄们也知道并看见了果子,可是疑惑不信却径直进来了。但这是为什么呢?他们会接受别的某个人的见证,而且全都轻易相信之。现在,上帝之灵有了明显的活动时,他们心中若有圣灵,就会立刻认出它来。然而麻烦的是,圣灵不在他们里面。他们也决不愿意去查考这些事,看看是否确实如此。我之所以在明尼阿波利斯有这样的感受,是因为我看到每一个采取与在明尼阿波利斯同样立场的人,都会陷入最黑暗的疑惑不信中。我们难道没有看到这种情况一再上演吗?因而当我们看到基督来到地上时怎样受考验;当我们看到人心的刚硬;当我们看到仇敌能对人性做什么,将疑惑不信放入人心时,我就会想,我们的心灵应该感到这很恐怖,以致不敢向悲惨的疑惑不信敞开心门并住在那种气氛中,就像我们自从明尼阿波利斯会议以来所有的气氛。{1888 636.2}
§10
Now I have great sorrow of heart—I have had nearly ever since the Minneapolis meeting—and I will tell you why. Because God has been speaking to me as He has done for the last forty-five years, and I have presented these matters, and the brethren have known and have seen the fruits, and yet unbelief has come right in. But why? They will take the testimony of somebody else, and they will all be credulous in regard to that. Now when it comes to the manifest movement of the Spirit of God, if the Spirit was in their hearts they would recognize it in a moment. But the trouble is, the Spirit is not in them. And they never will search these things to see if they are so. The reason why I felt so at Minneapolis was that I have seen that everyone that has taken a position similar to the one they took in Minneapolis would go into the darkest unbelief. Have we not seen it acted over and over again? Then when we see just how Christ was tried, when He came upon earth; when we see the hardness of the hearts; when we see what the enemy can do with human nature, putting unbelief into the heart, I should think it would be such a terror to our souls that we would not dare to 637open the heart to the miseries of unbelief and dwell in that atmosphere, such as there has been since we were in Minneapolis. {1888 636.2}
§11
我们惊讶基督为何那么痛苦地祈祷。那不是为了祂自己,而是因为人心的刚硬。虽然祂就是道路、真理、生命,但人们却那么刚硬,以致看不见也不接受。你们步了他们的后尘,因此我很烦恼。他们怎样在当时迈步走上疑惑不信的道路,今日也有人在走同样的道路,我也就与基督同样忧伤。他们正在置身于上帝没有后备力量去感动他们的地步。祂箭袋中的每一支箭都射尽了。{1888 637.1}
§12
Well, we wonder why Christ prayed with such an agony. It was not for His own sake, but it was because of the hardness of hearts, that notwithstanding He was the way, the truth, and the life, yet people were so hardened that they could not see it and accept it. And as you took their steps, here was my trouble. As they took their steps in the path of unbelief that day, others are taking the same steps this day, and my grief is the same as Christ’s was. They are placing themselves where there is no reserve power that God has to reach them with. Every arrow in His quiver is exhausted. {1888 637.1}
§13
如今,我在每一次聚会中都感受到这一点。我感到有一种疑惑不信的压力。这种压力如它素常一样是明显的。我可以到不信的人中间(正如基督对那个撒玛利亚妇人讲话,撒玛利亚人都出来听一样);我可以到从未听过真理的人中间,他们的心比一直在真理里且有上帝工作证据的人更容易受感动。但后者却推脱得一干二净,说:“哎呀,我们不知道一些事原来如此如此。”当我们心中有上帝的灵时,祂必对我们说话。麻烦就在这里。当他们看到上帝正在某一路线作工时,他们就开始用全部脑力、全部心力、全部谈话的能力去阻止上帝的工作,就像这里的情况一样。让我告诉你们吧,证言将是这样:“哥拉汛哪,你有祸了!伯赛大啊,你有祸了!因为在你们中间所行的异能,若行在推罗、西顿,他们早已披麻蒙灰悔改了”(太11:21)。{1888 637.2}
§14
Now I feel this in every meeting where I have been. I have felt that there is a pressure of unbelief. It is just as evident as it ever has been. I can go among the unbelieving (just as Christ spoke to the Samaritan woman, and the Samaritans came out and heard); I can go among those that have never heard of the truth, and their hearts are more susceptible than those that have been in the truth and had the evidences of the work of God. But they excuse it all. “Why, we did not know that some things were so and so.” When we get the Spirit of God in our hearts, He will speak to us. There is the trouble. When they see that God is working in a certain line, they commence with all the power of brain, and all the power of thought, and all the power of talk, as it has been the case here, to stay the work of God. Let me tell you, the testimony will be this: “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.” {1888 637.2}
§15
我知道我正在说什么。我既不指望会有许多机会对你们讲话,就要再次对你们说:“要跌在那磐石上。”你们若不这样做,我对你们就不抱什么希望了。我很高兴——是的,我很感恩——因为有些人开始看到有亮光给我们了。我们若想留在地下室,是可以这么做的;但我们任何一个人惟一的出路就是打美好的信心之仗。这不是什么将会自然而然的事。我们必须打美好的信心之仗,而不是吸收疑惑不信的一切污秽。假如它是一个不信的暗示,就立刻被信以为真。你们决不会拥有比你们在这里所拥有的更大的亮光和证据了。你们若是等待直到审判的时候,你们在这里所拥有的就会定你们的罪。但上帝一直在讲话,祂的能力一直在你们中间,你们若还没有证据足以表明你们在哪里以及上帝在怎样行事,你们就决不会拥有这种证据了。你们必须收集你们已经拥有的光线,并且不再这样质疑。“但有一些事情还没有解释。”就算每件事都没有解释又怎么样呢?证据的分量在哪里呢?人心若是易受上帝的灵感化,上帝就会平衡人的心智,否则人心就会决定在另一边。他们就会来到犹大曾来到的地步。他们就会为三十块钱或别的什么东西出卖他们的主。他们会把一切都牺牲给疑惑不信。{1888 637.3}
§16
Now I know what I am talking about, and as I do not expect to have many opportunities to speak to you, I will say again: “Fall on the Rock.” I have 638no hope for you unless you do. I am glad; yes, I am so thankful that some are beginning to see that there is light for them. I was glad to hear Brother Larson’s testimony yesterday. Now there is light for us. If we want to stay in the cellar, we can do it; but the only way for anyone of us is to fight the good fight of faith. It is not anything that is going to come naturally; but we have got to fight the good fight of faith instead of absorbing all the filth of unbelief. If it is a suggestion of unbelief, credence is given to that at once. You will never have greater light and evidence than you have had here; if you wait till the judgment, what you have had here will condemn you. But God has been speaking and His power has been in our midst, and if you have not evidences enough to show you where and how God is working, you never will have it. You will have to gather up the rays of light that you have had, and not question so. “But there are some things that are not explained.” Well, what if everything is not explained? Where is the weight of evidence? God will balance the mind if it is susceptible for the influence of the Spirit of God; if it is not, then it will decide on the other side. They will come just exactly where Judas came; they will sell their Lord for thirty pieces of silver or something else. They will sacrifice everything to unbelief. {1888 637.3}
§17
我要告诉你们为什么这使我的心很难过。因为每一个象这样容易疑惑不信且受这人和那人的主张感染,行事反对自从明尼阿波利斯会议以来所提出的亮光和证据的人——我告诉你们,弟兄们,我非常担心他们终将跌倒。我非常担心他们决不会得胜了。然而羔羊的血和羔羊的见证必须在这问题正确的一边。当上帝正在行事时——他们却没得到一点亮光知道祂在行事,他们就置身于仇敌的权势之下并在那条路线作工——他们就找藉口说他们不知道。基督说过:“他们若知道那是光明之君,就不会钉死祂了。”他们为什么不知道呢?他们只要知道我们一直在奋力传讲的这些异议原不是异议,他们就不会那么做了。那是可以原谅的吗?他们为什么不知道呢?他们本有圣灵的证据,只是因为错误的推理,曲解的言语和立场,以及误会,才使他们陷入这种危险的境地。{1888 638.1}
§18
I will tell you why it makes my heart so sad. It is because every such mind that is susceptible to unbelief and the say-so of this one and that one, and that works against the light and the evidences that have been presented since the Minneapolis meeting—I tell you, brethren, I am terribly afraid that they will fall at last. I am terribly afraid that they will never overcome. But the blood of the Lamb and the testimony of the Lamb must be on the right side of the question. When God is working, and they have got no light to know that He is working, and they just place themselves right under the enemy’s power and work right in that line, then they make excuses and say, 639they did not know. “Oh,” said Christ, “if they had known that it was the Prince of light, they would not have crucified Him.” Well, why did they not know? Well, if they had only known that these objections that we have been fighting were no objections, then they would not have done it. Well, is that any excuse? Why did they not know? They had the evidences of the Spirit, and it was only the false reasoning, perversion of words and positions, and the misunderstanding, that has lead them to this position of danger. {1888 638.1}
§19
现在我告诉你们,上帝是轻慢不得的。上帝是忌邪的上帝,当祂照祂已显示的彰显祂的能力时,不信就几乎等于得罪圣灵了。上帝能力的显现一点没有感动人和激动人离开其疑惑和不信的立场。愿上帝帮助我们,使我们可以挣脱魔鬼的网罗!若有人需要挣脱,就是当时那些在明尼阿波利斯采取错误立场的人了。我们不能做什么事抵挡真理,而是要支持真理,这话是真的。上帝宝贵的真理必定得胜;它里面就有胜利,而且不是真理将要一败涂地,乃是某些人要跌倒,就像在基督的日子一样。他们有自己的界限和路线,上帝得照他们的路线行事。上帝很令人们失望。祂行事与他们的期望截然相反。犹太人当然期望自己将因弥赛亚蒙福。你看,没有给基督留地步。祂不得不做新瓶好装祂天国的新酒。祂在这里也要这样做。冠冕就在基督的手中,但许多人会失去它,为什么呢?因为他们没有赛跑。{1888 639.1}
§20
Now I tell you God will not be trifled with. God is a jealous God, and when He manifests His power as He has manifested it, it is very nigh unto the sin of the Holy Ghost to disbelieve it. The revealings of God’s power have not had any effect to move and to stir persons from their position of doubting and unbelief. God help us that we may remove ourselves out of the snares of the devil! If ever a people needed to be removed, it is those that took their position in Minneapolis at that time on the wrong side. It is a true saying that we cannot do anything against the truth, but for it. The precious truth of God will triumph; it has the triumph in it, and it is not going to fall to the ground, but somebody will fall, just as in the days of Christ. They have their boundaries and lines, and God has got to work in their line. God disappoints people a good deal. He works right contrary to what they expect. The Jews expected, of course, they were going to be blessed with a Messiah. You see there was no place for Christ. He had to make new bottles in order to put His new wine of the kingdom in. Just so He will here. The crown is there in the hands of Christ but many will lose it, and why? Because they have not run the race. {1888 639.1}
§21
我已看到仇敌是怎么行事的。他并不想放过这里的人。但愿没有一个人带着黑暗从这里出去,因为他无论何往都必成为一团黑暗。他到处散播黑暗的种子。他带着所有这样的种子,开始撒种,颠覆人们对上帝希望祂子民得到之真理的信任。我已再三告诉我们在这里的弟兄们,上帝已指示我看到祂在这里兴起人来,要把真理传给祂的子民,而且这就是真理。可是这对他们有什么影响呢?他们还是一样;对真理毫不重视。怎么回事呢?弟兄们,我再说,要跌在磐石上并且跌碎!不要设法开始找藉口。基督在这里说何时他们应当带礼物来并且承认自己的罪,他们后来若是想起别的事,即使只有一件事,也要因此来献礼物。{1888 639.2}
§22
Now I have seen how the enemy works. He doesn’t want to let go of the people here. But oh, let no soul go out from here with darkness, for he will be a body of darkness wherever he goes. He scatters the seeds of darkness 640everywhere. He carries all these seeds and he begins to sow them, and it unsettles the confidence of the people in the very truths that God wants to come to His people. I have told our brethren here again and again that God has shown me that He raised up men here to carry the truth to His people, and that this is the truth. Well, what effect did it have on them? They were just the same; so that it should not be made of any account. What is the matter? Brethren, I say again, Fall on the Rock and be broken! Don’t try to begin to make excuses. Well, here Christ says when they should bring their offerings and make confession of their sins, if afterwards they found that other things came to their remembrance, notwithstanding but one, they should come and make an offering for that. {1888 639.2}
§23
弟兄们,我们需要有基督的纯朴。我知道祂有一个福气要给我们。祂在明尼阿波利斯就有那个福气,祂在这次总会也有那个福气要给我们。可是却没有人接受。有些人领受了赐给人们的亮光,并且对此感到欢喜快乐。然后就有些人直往后站,他们的立场使别人有信心谈论疑惑,怀存不信。现在,弟兄们,你们若是期待每一个困难都以清晰的线条摆在你们面前,并且等候直到这种状况出现,你们就要直等到审判的时候,你们就要被称在天平里,显出亏欠。弟兄们,现在能不能确保有些措施能使我们有一段祷告的时辰呢?我的力量即将耗尽。若有可能,我希望在这里用尽最后一点力量之前离开。弟兄们,为何不向上帝祷告呢?为何不达到这样的地步,使你们能直接握住上帝的手呢?为何等着上帝来使我们降卑呢?如今上帝一直在等着那些挡在路上的人谦卑己心,但已经有话临到我说:“他们若不自卑,我就要使他们降卑。”上帝必行事。祂必为祂的灵预备好工作。要为最后的大日作预备的工作,我们应该达到能用强烈的热心与勇气为上帝团结一致地作工的地步。{1888 640.1}
§24
Now brethren, we want to have the simplicity of Christ. I know that He has a blessing for us. He had it at Minneapolis, and He had it for us at the time of the General Conference here. But there was no reception. Some received the light for the people, and rejoiced in it. Then there were others that stood right back, and their position has given confidence to others to talk unbelief, and cherish it. Now, brethren, if you expect that every difficulty is going to be laid out in clear lines before you, and you wait until it is, then you will have to wait until the judgment, and you will be weighed in the balances and found wanting. Now, brethren, can there not be some means insured by which we can have a season of prayer? My strength is about exhausted. If it is possible, I want to get away before the last atom of strength shall be gone here. Brethren, why not pray to God? Why not get in such a position that you can lay right hold of the hand of God? Why wait for God to humble us? Now God has been waiting for those men that have stood in the way, to humble themselves; but the word has come to me, “If they do not humble themselves, 641I will humble them.” Now, God will work. He will have the work prepared for His Spirit. There is to be a preparation for the last great day, and we want to come into a position where we can work unitedly with intense earnestness and courage for God. {1888 640.1}
§25
我希望这些人中有些人会再次聚会,然后我希望那些一直站在这里提问,即将放弃证言的人——我们想知道为什么这样;若有什么东西能清除出道路,愿上帝帮助我们这么做!我们想知道为何仇敌对人心有这种能力,象他在这里一样。这种事超过了自从我最初开始工作以来在我一切的经验中所见过的任何事。拥有亮光和证据的上帝子民竟站在了上帝不愿将祂的福气降在他们身上之处。{1888 641.1}
§26
I want that some of these shall assemble again, and then I want those that have been standing here and questioning, and been just about ready to give up the Testimonies,—we want to know why; and if anything can be taken out of the way, God help us to do it! We want to know why the enemy is having such power upon human minds as he has here. It is something beyond anything I ever saw in all my experience since I first started in the work. The people of God who have had light and evidences have stood where God would not let His blessing fall upon them. {1888 641.1}
§27
在礼拜堂里,上帝的能力早就准备好要降在我们身上。我有一会儿感到我好像能直接看进荣耀里了;但这里的精神把它赶走了。我们应该明白我们正在怎样行事。我说得这么明白是因为我知道别无它法可能起作用。我们设法鼓励信心。{1888 641.2}
§28
In the chapel hall the power of God was all ready to fall upon us. I felt for a little time as though I could look right into glory; but the Spirit that was there drove it away. We want to understand how we are working. I speak these plain things because I know that there is nothing else that will do. We have tried to encourage in regard to faith. {1888 641.2}
§29
有一位弟兄以为怀姐妹不明白她自己的证言。这是在明尼阿波利斯听来的。为什么呢?因为弟兄们不同意证言。好了,有些事我明白。我明白到足以承认上帝的灵并且听从那位牧人的声音。那是我很明白的。{1888 641.3}
§30
One brother thinks that Sister White doesn’t understand her own testimonies. Heard that in Minneapolis. Why? Because the brethren did not agree with them. Well, there are some things that I understand. I understand enough to acknowledge the Spirit of God and to follow the voice of the Shepherd. I understand that much. {1888 641.3}