第46章 早期的改革家
§1
第46章 早期的改革家
§2
Chap. 46 - Early Reformers
§3
在罗马教掌权的悠长时期中，全地都黑暗了，可是真理的光芒并不致全然消灭。每一个时代都有上帝的见证人。他们笃信基督为上帝与人类之间的唯一中保。他们以圣经为人生的唯一指南。他们也遵守真安息日为圣日。后代的人永不会充分赏识这些人对全世界所有的贡献。当时人竟诬告他们为叛教徒，侮辱他们的动机，破坏他们的名誉。他们的作品被禁止发行，或被诽谤和窜改。可是他们并不摇动，却世世代代保持自己信仰的纯洁，作为传给后代的神圣基业。{SR 335.1}[1]
§4
AMID the gloom that settled upon the earth during the long period of papal supremacy, the light of truth could not be wholly extinguished. In every age there were witnesses for God--men who cherished faith in Christ as the only mediator between God and man, who held the Bible as the only rule of life, and who hallowed the true Sabbath. How much the world owes to these men, posterity will never know. They were branded as heretics, their motives impugned, their characters maligned, their writings suppressed, misrepresented, or mutilated. Yet they stood firm, and from age to age maintained their faith in its purity, as a sacred heritage for the generations to come. {SR 335.1}[1]
§5
圣经所受到的摧残十分猛烈，故此有些时期圣经的册数极少；然而上帝并没有让人将祂的话完全毁灭。其中的真理也不能永远埋没。上帝从前怎样打开监狱的铁门，解救祂的仆人，祂也能很容易地将那束缚生命之道的锁链解开。在欧洲各国，都有人受上帝圣灵的感动去寻求真理，如同寻找埋藏的财宝。上帝先引导他们注意圣经，于是他们便以热烈的心情研究其中的圣言。他们愿意付出任何代价来接受真光。他们虽然未能洞悉其中一切的教训，但有许多埋没了多年的真理却被他们发现了。于是他们以天国使者的身份出去挣断谬论和迷信的锁链，并号召那些久受奴役的人起来争取自由。{SR 335.2}[2]
§6
So bitter had been the war waged upon the Bible that at times there were very few copies in existence; but God had not suffered His Word to be wholly destroyed. Its truths were not to be forever hidden. He could as easily unchain the words of life as He could open prison doors and unbolt iron gates to set His servants free. In the different countries of Europe men were moved by the Spirit of God to search for the truth as for hidden treasure. Providentially guided to the Holy Scriptures, they studied the sacred pages with intense interest. They were willing to accept the light at any cost to themselves. Though they did not see all things clearly, they were enabled to perceivemany long-buried truths. As Heaven-sent messengers they went forth, rending asunder the chains of error and superstition, and calling upon those who had been so long enslaved to arise and assert their liberty. {SR 335.2}[2]
§7
时候已到，必须把圣经翻译出来，使各地人民都能看自己方言的圣经。世界的午夜已过；黑暗的时辰渐渐消逝。各地已有清晨的曙光出现了。{SR 336.1}[3]
§8
The time had come for the Scriptures to be translated and given to the people of different lands in their native tongue. The world had passed its midnight. The hours of darkness were wearing away, and in many lands appeared tokens of the coming dawn. {SR 336.1}[3]
§9
【宗教改革的晨星】
§10
在第十四世纪有“宗教改革的晨星”在英国出现。约翰.威克里夫乃是宗教改革运动的先锋，不单是为英国，而也是为整个基督教世界。他是清教徒的先驱。他的纪元乃是荒漠中的绿洲。{SR 336.2}[4]
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【The Morning Star of the Reformation】
§12
In the fourteenth century arose in England the morning star of the Reformation. John Wycliffe was the herald of reform, not for England alone, but for all Christendom. He was the progenitor of the Puritans; his era was an oasis in the desert. {SR 336.2}[4]
§13
主依其美意曾将改革的工作委托给一个才学卓越的人，以便增进他工作的威信。这会使藐视的声音止息，并防止真理的敌人讥讽真理事业的倡导者是无知的，藉此使人不相信这项工作。威克里夫学业完成之后，便下手研究圣经。在圣经里他找到了过去所无法找到的真理。在圣经中他看明上帝所启示的救恩计划，并看明基督为人类惟一的中保。他看明罗马教已经离弃了圣经的道路，走在世人遗传的途径之中。于是他献身为基督服务，决心要宣传他所发现的真理。{SR 336.3}[5]
§14
The Lord saw fit to entrust the work of reform to one whose intellectual ability would give character and dignity to his labors. This silenced the voice of contempt, and prevented the adversaries of truth from attempting to put discredit upon his cause by ridiculing the ignorance of the advocate. When Wycliffe had mastered the learning of the schools, he entered upon the study of the Scriptures. In the Scriptures he found that which he had before sought in vain. Here he saw the plan of salvation revealed, and Christ set forth as the only advocate for man. He saw that Rome had forsaken the Biblical paths for human traditions. He gave himself to the service of Christ, and determined to proclaim the truths which he had discovered. {SR 336.3}[5]
§15
威克里夫一生最大的工作，乃是将圣经译成英文。这是有史以来第一部完整英译本的圣经。那时印刷术尚未发明，所以要发行圣经，必须用手抄的方法慢慢誊写。虽然如此，这项工作仍然完成，英国人民得到了用他们自己的语言译出来的圣经。如此上帝圣言的光芒开始射在黑暗之中。上帝的手正在为伟大的宗教改革运动预备道路。{SR 336.4}[6]
§16
The greatest work of his life was the translation of the Scriptures into the English language. This was the first complete English translation ever made. The art of printing being still unknown, it was only by slow and wearisome labor that copies of the work could be multiplied; yet this was done, and the people of England received the Bible in their own tongue. Thus the light of Gods Word began to shed its bright beams athwart the darkness. A divine hand was preparing the way for the Great Reformation. {SR 336.4}[6]
§17
威克里夫既凭公理讲话，众人就觉悟自己服从教皇的教条是错的了。一般上层阶级的人对圣经都表示欢迎，那时只有这一等人是受过教育的。他这时宣讲了改正教教义的特点，就是因信基督而得救，和惟有圣经是永无错谬的。许多神父也参加了他发行圣经和宣传福音的工作；这些人的工作和威克里夫之著作的影响非常大，以至几乎英国人民的半数接受了这新的信仰。黑暗之国发抖了。{SR 337.1}[7]
§18
The appeal to mens reason aroused them from their passive submission to papal dogmas. The Scriptures were received with favor by the higher classes, who alone in that age possessed a knowledge of letters. Wycliffe now taught the distinctive doctrines of Protestantism--salvation through faith in Christ, and the sole infallibility of the Scriptures. Many priests joined him in circulating the Bible and in preaching the gospel; and so great was the effect of these labors and of Wycliffes writings that the new faith was accepted by nearly one half of the people of England. The kingdom of darkness trembled. {SR 337.1}[7]
§19
威克里夫的敌人企图阻止他的工作并杀害他性命的努力都没有成功。他在六十一岁的时候在主领圣餐时平安去世。{SR 337.2}[8]
§20
The efforts of his enemies to stop his work and to destroy his life were alike unsuccessful, and in his sixty-first year he died in peace in the very service of the altar. {SR 337.2}[8]
§21
【改革运动的扩大】
§22
后来波希米亚的约翰.胡斯放弃了罗马教的许多谬道，着手改革的工作，也是因为看了威克里夫的作品。胡斯象威克里夫一样，是个高贵的基督徒，又是才学渊博坚定效忠真理的人。他所引证的经文和他对于僧侣们荒唐腐败生活的大胆谴责，引起了广泛的注意，结果成千上万的人接受了那更纯净的信仰。这事激怒了教皇、主教、神父和僧侣们，所以胡斯终于奉命出席康士坦茨的宗教会议去为倡导异端的罪名受审。德国的皇帝发给他通行护照，而且他到达康士坦茨之后，教皇还亲自向他保证不会有人伤害他。{SR 337.3}[9]
§23
【The Reformation Spreads】
§24
It was through the writings of Wycliffe that John Huss of Bohemia was led to renounce many of the errors of Romanism and to enter upon the work of reform. Like Wycliffe, Huss was a noble Christian, a man of learning and of unswerving devotion to the truth. His appeals to the Scriptures and his bold denunciations of the scandalous and immoral lives of the clergy awakened widespread interest, and thousands gladly accepted a purer faith. This excited the ire of pope and prelates, priests and friars, and Huss was summoned to appear before the Council of Constance to answer to the charge of heresy. A safe conduct was granted him by the German emperor, and upon his arrival at Constance he was personally assured by the pope that no injustice should be done him. {SR 337.3}[9]
§25
在长期审讯的过程中，胡斯一直坚持真理，最后他必须选择或是收回自己的教训，或是遭受死刑。他拣选了殉道者的终局，便在亲眼看见他所写的书籍被焚烧成灰烬之后，他本人也被捆在柱上被焚。上帝的这个忠仆在会场中，在教会和国家的许多显贵人物面前对罗马教会的腐败罪行，曾提出严肃而忠诚的抗议。他之被处死刑，无耻地违犯了最严肃而公开的保护的诺言，向全世界说明罗马教廷的卑鄙和残酷，所以事实上真理的敌人却在无意之中推进了他们所想要毁灭的运动。{SR 338.1}[10]
§26
After a long trial, in which he maintained the truth, Huss was required to choose whether he would recant his doctrines or suffer death. He chose the martyrs fate, and after seeing his books given to the flames, he was himself burned at the stake. In the presence of the assembled dignitaries of church and state, the servant of God had uttered a solemn and faithful protest against the corruptions of the papal hierarchy. His execution, in shameless violation of the most solemn and public promise of protection, exhibited to the whole world the perfidious cruelty of Rome. The enemies of truth, though they knew it not, were furthering the cause which they sought vainly to destroy. {SR 338.1}[10]
§27
逼迫的势力虽然强烈，但在威克里夫去世之后，对流行的腐败的宗教信仰，继续有人提出沉着、虔诚、恳切、而恒忍的抗议。许多人象使徒时代的信徒一样，为基督的事业慷慨地牺牲了他们属世的财物。{SR 338.2}[11]
§28
Notwithstanding the rage of persecution, a calm, devout, earnest, patient protest against the prevailing corruption of religious faith continued to be uttered after the death of Wycliffe. Like the believers in apostolic days, many freely sacrificed their worldly possessions for the cause of Christ. {SR 338.2}[11]
§29
罗马教作了拼命的努力，要巩固并推展他们的势力。但当教皇们依然以基督的代表自居时，他们的生活却极度腐化，令人民憎厌。借着印刷术发明之助，圣经的流传更为广泛，许多人因而看出罗马教的教义并没有圣经的根据。{SR 338.3}[12]
§30
Strenuous efforts were made to strengthen and extend the power of the papacy, but while the popes still claimed to be Christs representatives, their lives were so corrupt as to disgust the people. By the aid of the invention of printing the Scriptures were more widely circulated, and many were led to see that the papal doctrines were not sustained by the Word of God. {SR 338.3}[12]
§31
每当一个见证人被迫放下真理的火炬时，另一个人就把它接过来并以无畏的勇气高举起来。争战已经开始，其结果不但要恢复个人和教会的自由，也要恢复许多国家的自由。一百年之后，有人伸手和威克里夫时代的罗拉德派的人握手。在马丁路德的领导之下，改革运动在德国开始了，在法国有加尔文传扬福音，在瑞士有萨文黎。当“宗教自由”的口号从一国响到另一国时，全世界就从长期的昏睡中觉醒起来了。{SR 338.4}[13]
§32
When one witness was forced to let fall the torch of truth, another seized it from his hand and with undaunted courage held it aloft. The struggle had opened that was to result in the emancipation, not only of individuals and churches, but of nations. Across the gulf of a hundred years men stretched their hands to grasp the hands of the Lollards of the time of Wycliffe. Under Luther began the Reformation in Germany; Calvin preached the gospel in France, Zwingle in Switzerland. The world was awakened from the slumber of ages, as from land to land were sounded the magic words, Religious Liberty. {SR 338.4}[13]