第1438号 选择与品格优良的人交往..
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第1438号 选择与品格优良的人交往..
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MR No. 1438 - Choose Associates of Good Character; Jesus Our Example in All Things
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（1878年3月14日写于加利福尼亚州，希尔兹堡，致F.E.贝尔登，怀爱伦的外甥）
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自从我们上次与你交谈以来，我的心本能地被你吸引。我恳切地盼望你不要允许现在的机会溜走，而要做出坚决的努力使你摆脱魔鬼的网罗。你是我亲爱姐姐的孩子。我有几个想法想要提出来想供你考虑。{20MR 70.1}[1]
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(Written March 14, 1878, from Healdsburg, California, to F. E. Belden, Ellen Whites nephew.)
§6
Since our last conversation with you my mind has been drawn to you instinctively. I have earnest hope that you will not allow the present opportunity to slip, of making a determined effort to recover yourself from the snare of the devil. You are the child of my dear sister. I have a few thoughts I wish to present for your consideration. {20MR 70.1}[1]
§7
要当心你的同伴。你要是在这方面更加慎重，原不会处在现在的地步。你的同伴可能难免不完全或有罪。但在择友时，你应该把标准定得尽量高些。你的道德品质是按你选择的同伴来估计的。你应该避免与那些你不愿效法其榜样的人缔结亲密的友谊。这种友谊的影响和趋势会使你与他们的想法和观点同化，除非有一种不断抵消的影响，你不知不觉就有了他们的精神和习惯。{20MR 70.2}[2]
§8
Be careful of your associates. If you had been more circumspect in this, you would not now be where you are. Your associates may not be expected to be free from imperfections or sin. But in choosing your friends, you should place your standard as high as possible. The tone of your morals is estimated by the associates you choose. You should avoid contracting an intimate friendship with those whose example you would not choose to imitate. The influence and tendency of such friendship is to assimilate you to their ideas and their views, and unless there is a continual counteracting influence, all unrealized by you their spirit and habits have become yours. {20MR 70.2}[2]
§9
有些人可能生来就智力优秀，天资聪慧，他们却误用滥用了这些宝贵的天国恩赐，以致他们的标准低下，习惯放荡。出版社有一个员工就是这种人。我只知道他名叫格斯。我知道他死的时候既没有悔改也没有上帝。他的同事们对这个不幸的人原能发挥却没有发挥的影响要负多少责任，必须留待审判的时候才会显明，那时各人的作为都要现出原形。错误和罪恶都不再有掩饰。正义要清晰显著地站出来；忠诚和真实的正直将不再被称为狭隘或卑劣。不法和不忠也不再被称为慷慨、宽容和仁慈。疏忽和不忠将被称为疏忽和不忠。上帝必评价各人的品格。{20MR 70.3}[3]
§10
There may be those who have naturally a good intellect and a good, cultivated understanding, who have so misapplied and abused these precious gifts of heaven that their standard is low and their habits dissipated. This was the character of one employed in the Office. I knew him only by the name of Gus. I learn he died without repentance and without God. How much his associates are accountable for their influence which they might have exerted and did not, over this sad case, must be left for the judgment to unfold, when every mans work will stand for just what it is. There will be no glossing over of wrongs and sins. Right will stand out, clear and prominent, as right; fidelity and true integrity will not be called narrowness or meanness. Lawlessness and unfaithfulness will not be termed liberality, toleration, and benevolence. Neglect and unfaithfulness will be neglect and unfaithfulness. Gods estimate will be placed upon character. {20MR 70.3}[3]
§11
你最亲密的同伴若是具有道德价值的人，你与他们交往就会受益。你的同事若是既聪慧又有道德价值，就不会对你有毒害的影响，而会不知不觉地鼓舞你的心力和道德力。你若是与思想方式低劣的人作伴，他们受到智育与德育的机会一直狭隘低下，你就会在他人心中丧失对你的尊重，你的思想也会逐渐与你不断接触的愚蠢虚妄的人产生共鸣。{20MR 70.4}[4]
§12
If your most intimate associates are persons of moral worth, you may gain advantage in mingling in their society. Intelligence with moral worth in your associates will have no deleterious influence upon you, but will insensibly invigorate your powers of mind and your morals. If you are found in the society of those whose minds are cast in an inferior mold, and whose opportunities of mental and moral culture have been narrow and low, you will, in the minds of others, lose their respect, and your mind will gradually come to sympathize with the imbecility and barrenness with which it is constantly brought in contact. {20MR 70.4}[4]
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请你把我上次写给你的两封信寄给我。我不会写你可能希望我永远不要写的长信使你厌烦，然而我在结束前要说：决不要忽视你现在的机会和特权。要选择那些高度尊重信仰及其实际影响的人作你的同伴。要始终考虑来生。不要让你的同伴将这些思想从你心中驱除。与虚浮、粗心、无信仰的人交往，最能从心中有效地排除严肃的印象。不论这等人的知识有多高，假如他们以宗教为笑谈或对宗教漠不关心，就不该选为你的朋友。他们在其他方面越令人佩服，你就越要担心他们作为同伴的影响力，因为他们会在你周围营造无信仰、无上帝、无敬虔的气氛，再加上其他许多的诱惑，肯定会败坏品行。你若正确利用你的特权，就有理由在你的宽容时期结束时欢喜快乐，因为你最亲密的同伴都是上帝所爱的人，可作虔诚典范的人。要是你选择与相反品格的人作伴，就会有一个时期来到，那时你会有徒劳无益的后悔。{20MR 71.1}[5]
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Will you please send me the last two letters I have written you. I will not weary you with a long letter which you may wish I had never written, but I would say, before I close, in no case neglect your present opportunities and privileges. Choose for your associates those who hold religion and its practical influence in high respect. Keep the future life constantly in view. Let not your associations put these thoughts out of your mind. Nothing will more effectually banish serious impressions than intercourse with the vain, careless, and irreligious. Whatever intellectual greatness such persons may attain, if they treat religion with levity or even with indifference, they should not be your chosen friends. The more engaging their manners in other respects, the more should you dread their influence as companions, because they would throw around you an irreligious, godless, irreverent influence and yet combine it with so many attractions that it is positively dangerous to morals. If you rightly improve your privileges, you will have reason to rejoice, at the close of your probation, that your most intimate associates were persons whom God loved, persons of exemplary piety. Should you choose associates of an opposite character, there will come a period when on your side there will be unavailing regrets. {20MR 71.1}[5]
§15
弗兰克呀，我因关于你的异梦而不安。我知道你会立刻作决定，为现在和永恒作决定。你不久就会决定要作基督的仆人还是撒但的仆人。愿上帝帮助你作正确的选择。一个灵魂的失丧比一个世界的失丧后果更严重。你需要信仰。信仰既包含实践也包含信心；既管理生活也矫正内心。任何人没有真正的虔诚都不能成为正确的公民，真正的虔诚是最严格的正直与最纯洁的献身相结合。{20MR 71.2}[6]
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Frank, I have been troubled by dreams on your account. I know that you will make decisions at once, decisions for time and eternity. You will not be long in deciding whether you will be the servant of Christ or the servant of Satan. May God help you to choose rightly. The loss of a soul is of more consequence than the loss of a world. You need religion. Religion comprises practice as well as faith; the regulations of the life as well as the rectification of the heart. No man can be a correct citizen without true piety --the strictest integrity combined with the purest devotion. {20MR 71.2}[6]
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罪人在不住地喊叫：“你们是狭隘的，这么狭隘。”不法的人喊叫说：“自由主义，不要向我们提出你们律法的要求。”另一个人说：“基督的宗教太难了。我不能作一个基督徒；那牵涉的太多了。”{20MR 71.3}[7]
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Sinners are continually crying, You are narrow, so narrow. Liberalism, cry the lawless; bring not your claims of law upon us. The religion of Christ, says another, is too hard. I cannot be a Christian; it involves too much. {20MR 71.3}[7]
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我将伟大的榜样呈现在你面前。“大哉，敬虔的奥秘”（提前3:16）。要解释重生的道理是不可能的事。有限的人心无法高飞到足以明白它的深度，可是它却能被感觉到，尽管它所有的细节都是难以形容和无法明说的。耶稣将祂的利益与受苦的人类相认同，可是祂却是人类的审判者。祂曾是一个孩童，有孩童的经验，孩童的考验，孩童的试探。祂真真实实地遭遇和抗拒撒但的试探，和任何一个人一样。只有在这个意义上，祂才是世人完美的榜样。祂降卑成为人的样式，以便熟悉人类所要遭遇的一切试探，祂承受了亚当后代的软弱与忧患。{20MR 71.4}[8]
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I present before you the great Exemplar. Great is the mystery of godliness (1 Timothy 3:16). To explain the doctrine of regeneration is impossible. Finite minds cannot soar high enough to understand its depths, and yet it is felt, although inexpressible and unexplainable in all its particulars. Jesus identified His interest with suffering humanity, and yet He is mans judge. He was a child once, and had a childs experience, a childs trials, a childs temptations. As really did He meet and resist the temptations of Satan as any of the children of humanity. In this sense alone could He be a perfect example for man. He subjected Himself to humanity to become acquainted with all the temptations wherewith man is beset. He took upon Him the infirmities and bore the sorrows of the sons of Adam. {20MR 71.4}[8]
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祂“凡事……与祂的弟兄相同”（来2:17）。祂与他们休戚相关。祂的身体和你一样会感觉疲劳。祂的思想和你一样会愁烦困惑。你的困难祂遭遇过。你的斗争祂经历过。你需要鼓励，祂也需要。撒但能试探祂。祂的敌人们能骚扰祂。官长会折磨祂的身体。兵丁会将祂钉在十字架上。他们对我们所能行的，不会更多。耶稣经过了苦难、斗争与试探，像凡人一样。祂因所受的苦难而成为救赎我们的元帅。祂比我们更好地背负了自己的重担，因为祂背负时没有怨言、没有失去耐心，没有不信，没有抱怨；但没有什么能证明祂所受的痛苦比亚当的任何一个儿女轻省。{20MR 72.1}[9]
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He was made like unto His brethren (Hebrews 2:17). He felt both joy and grief as they feel. His body was susceptible to weariness, as yours. His mind, like yours, could be harassed and perplexed. If you have hardships, so had He. If you have conflicts, so had He. If you need encouragement, so did He. Satan could tempt Him. His enemies could annoy Him. The ruling powers could torture His body; the soldiers could crucify Him; and they can do no more to us. Jesus was exposed to hardships, to conflict and temptation, as a man. He became the Captain of our Salvation through suffering. He could bear His burden better than we, for He bore it without complaint, without impatience, without unbelief, without repining; but this is no evidence He felt it less than any of the suffering sons of Adam. {20MR 72.1}[9]
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耶稣是无罪的，不怕犯罪的后果。除此以外，祂的情况与你相同。你没有什么困难未曾以同样的分量压在祂身上，没有什么忧愁祂的心里未曾体验过。祂的情感由于自称为友之人的冷落和忽略而与你一样易受伤害。你的道路上有荆棘吗？基督道路上的荆棘是你的十倍。你感觉痛苦吗？祂也是如此。基督是我们多么合适的榜样啊！{20MR 72.2}[10]
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Jesus was sinless and had no dread of the consequences of sin. With this exception His condition was as yours. You have not a difficulty that did not press with equal weight upon Him, not a sorrow that His heart has not experienced. His feelings could be hurt with neglect, with indifference of professed friends, as easily as yours. Is your path thorny? Christs was so in a tenfold sense. Are you distressed? So was He. How well fitted was Christ to be an example! {20MR 72.2}[10]
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耶稣到三十岁才开始公开服务。祂的童年和青年时期比较不为人知，但非常重要。在这段隐居的时期，祂奠定了健全体魄和活泼心志的基础。祂“渐渐长大，心灵强健”（路1:80）。出现在我们眼前，奔走于犹大山地的，并不是一位被岁月的重荷所压倒的耶稣。祂那时正值盛年，身强力壮。耶稣曾一度像你现在的年龄。你此时人生的景况和想法，耶稣都经历过了。你处于这个关键时期，祂绝不会忽略你。祂看见你的危险，熟悉你所受的试探。祂邀请你效法祂的榜样。{20MR 72.3}[11]
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Jesus was thirty years old before He entered His public ministry. The period of His childhood and youth was one of comparative obscurity, but of the highest importance. He was in this obscurity laying the foundation of a sound constitution and vigorous mind. He grew, and waxed strong in spirit (Luke 1:80). It is not as a man bending under the pressure of age that Jesus is revealed to us traversing the hills of Judea. He was in the strength of His manhood. Jesus once stood in age just where you now stand. Your circumstances, your cogitations at this period of your life, Jesus has had. He cannot overlook you at this critical period. He sees your dangers. He is acquainted with your temptations. He invites you to follow His example. {20MR 72.3}[11]
§27
基督品德的优美是无可比拟的。凡清洁的、真实的、可爱的、有美名的，都蕴含其中。我们知道祂从来没有涉足狂宴或舞厅，然而祂是优雅完全、彬彬有礼的。基督并不是初出茅庐的人。祂甚至在早年生活中就表现出不凡的智慧。{20MR 72.4}[12]
§28
The character of Christ was one of unexampled excellence, embracing everything pure, true, lovely, and of good report. We have no knowledge of His ever visiting a party of pleasure or a dance hall, and yet He was the perfection of grace and courtly bearing. Christ was no novice; He was distinguished for the high intellectual powers He possessed even in the morning of His life. {20MR 72.4}[12]
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祂的青春没有浪费在闲懒上，也没有浪费在感官享受、自我放纵上，或消磨在无益的事物上。祂从童年到成年，没有一刻光阴是虚度或妄用的。{20MR 73.1}[13]
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His youth was not wasted in indolence, neither was it wasted in sensual pleasure, self-indulgence, or frittered away in things of no profit. Not one of His hours from childhood to manhood was misspent; none were misappropriated. {20MR 73.1}[13]
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圣经论到祂说：“耶稣的智慧和身量，并上帝和人喜爱祂的心，都一齐增长”（路2:52）。祂的年龄逐渐增长，知识也随着增长。祂过节制的生活。祂宝贵的时间没有浪费在放荡的娱乐中。祂具有真正健康的身体和真正的智力。祂的体力和智力能够得到培养和发展，像你或其他青年一样。上帝的圣言是祂研究的课程，正如应该作为你研究的课程一样。{20MR 73.2}[14]
§32
The inspired record says of Him: Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52). As He grew in years He grew in knowledge. He lived temperately; His precious hours were not wasted in dissipating pleasures. He had a truly healthy body and true powers of mind. His physical and mental powers could be expanded and developed as yours or any other youths. The Word of God was His study, as it should be yours. {20MR 73.2}[14]
§33
要以耶稣为你的标准。要效法祂的人生，爱上祂的品格，行祂所行的事。当你的才智与真正伟大优美的永恒事物有了活泼的接触时，你的智力必发现新的源头，思想的范围也必更加广大了。{20MR 73.3}[15]
§34
Take Jesus as your standard. Imitate His life. Fall in love with His character. Walk as Christ walked. A new spring will be given to your intellectual faculties, a larger scope to your thoughts, when you bring your powers into vigorous contact with eternal things, which are intrinsically grand and great. {20MR 73.3}[15]
§35
有关上帝与天国的思想是使人高尚的。你所能达到的高度并无止境，因为这就像是在无底的深水中游泳一般。有活力的宗教具有这种性质：它会扩宽悟性的范围，激励人的理解力。在基督纯洁的宗教中，毫无降低人格的事物。接受福音，会使人悟性的高傲俯首就范，并将人的傲慢击倒在地，惟独高举上帝。然而在这个过程中决不会阻碍智力，摧毁活力。它改造人，更新人心，改变人的品格，却不束缚人的智力。{20MR 73.4}[16]
§36
Thoughts of God and of heaven are ennobling. There is no limit to the height you may reach, for it will be like swimming in waters where there is no bottom. Vital religion is of such a character that it will widen the scope and stimulate the movements of the human understanding. There is nothing belittling in the pure religion of Christ. The gospel received will bow down the loftiness of human understanding and lay the haughtiness of man low, that God alone may be exalted. But in this it does not dwarf the intellect and cripple the energies. It transforms the man, renewing his heart, changing his character, and not cramping the intellect. {20MR 73.4}[16]
§37
真宗教必开启和调动心力。人只有比以前更有思想、更加睿智，才能体验认罪与悔改、弃绝自我和信靠基督宝血的功劳。没有一个人会因关注上帝而智力衰退。与上帝联系就是与一切真智慧联系。{20MR 73.5}[17]
§38
True religion unfolds and calls out the mental energies. Conviction and repentance of sin, renunciation of self, and trust in the merits of the blood of Christ cannot be experienced without the individual being made more thoughtful, more intellectual, than he was before. No one will become mentally imbecile by having his attention directed to God. Connection with God is connection with all true wisdom. {20MR 73.5}[17]
§39
不过我预料你会厌烦这封长信。确实，我开始的时候没想写这么长的信，但我却不停地写，因为我的思想紧逼着我写，直到你看到我写了这么多。{20MR 73.6}[18]
§40
But I expect you will become weary of this long letter. Indeed, I had no thought of writing this long letter when I commenced, but I have gone on and on as my thoughts have pressed upon me until you see them on paper. {20MR 73.6}[18]
§41
弗兰克啊，你现在愿意作一名基督徒吗？你愿意归顺上帝吗？要从你的退后折回，在上帝面前悔改。惟独你能挣脱撒但捆绑你的锁链。要完全来到主的一边。{20MR 74.1}[19]
§42
Frank, will you be a Christian now? Will you be converted to God? Return from your backsliding, and repent before God. You alone can break the chains of Satan that bind you. Come fully on the Lords side. {20MR 74.1}[19]
§43
我写得非常匆忙。你在阅读这封信之后，请与那两封信一并寄回。有一些思想我希望保存。（《信函》1878年17号）怀爱伦著作托管委员会1989年3月2日全文发表于美国首都华盛顿。{20MR 74.2}[20]
§44
I have written in great haste. After reading this letter, return with the other two. Some ideas I wish to preserve.--Letter 17, 1878. Ellen G. White Estate Washington, D.C. March 2, 1989. Entire Letter. {20MR 74.2}[20]