第24章 压迫雇员
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第24章 压迫雇员
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Chap. 24 - Oppressing the Hireling
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亲爱的J弟兄：自从见到1868年6月12日星期五晚间的异象后，一种严肃的感觉一直压在我的心头。我蒙指示看到你不了解你自己。你觉得不甘心接受就你的情况所赐下的证言，也没有作彻底的改革工作。我蒙指示注意《以赛亚书》：“我所拣选的禁食，不是要松开凶恶的绳，解下轭上的索，使被欺压的得自由，折断一切的轭吗？不是要把你的饼分给饥饿的人，将飘流的穷人接到你家中，见赤身的给他衣服遮体，顾恤自己的骨肉而不掩藏吗”（58:6-7）？你若行这些事，那应许的福分就会赐给你。【2T.156.1】[1]
§4
Dear Brother J: A great solemnity has rested upon my mind since the vision given Friday evening, June 12, 1868. I was shown that you do not know yourself. You have not felt reconciled to the testimony given in your case and have not made thorough work to reform. I was referred to Isaiah: Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? If you do these things, the blessings promised will be given. {2T 156.1}[1]
§5
你或许会提出疑问：“我们禁食，你为何不看见呢？我们刻苦己心，你为何不理会呢”（赛58:3）？上帝已说明为什么你的祷告未蒙应允。你以为自己已经在别人身上找到了原因，并且归罪于他们。但我看到你有足够的理由责备自己。你要下一番工夫调整你自己的心。你应该认识到，工作必须先由你自己开始。你欺压穷人，利用他们的需要使你自己获益。在钱财方面，你一直既吝啬又不义。你没有基督门徒的生活总是应该具有的仁慈、高尚、慷慨的特征。你在工资上压榨那位给你作工的姐妹。在你面前的这位姐妹衣衫褴褛、工作勤勉。你也知道她善良本分、敬畏上帝；但你仍然仗着自己的势力盘剥她。我看到你忽略不看也不体谅这位姐妹的缺乏和你所付给她的菲薄薪水，这一切都在天庭的册子上被记载为你在耶稣的一个圣徒身上对耶稣做的。因为你既在基督门徒中最小的一个人身上做了这事，你就是做在基督身上了。天庭注意你对在你家中服务之人所有的吝啬行为，你若不悔改并作赔偿，这些记录就会按时间顺序如实地反对你。一个错误的举动造成的伤害多年都无法消除；如果作恶的人能够看到罪恶所波及的范围，就会心如刀绞，惨痛呼喊。你在钱财上是自私的。关于K弟兄的事，上帝的天使指着你说道：“这事你既作在基督的一个门徒身上，就是作在耶稣身上了。”【2T.156.2】[2]
§6
You may raise the inquiry, Wherefore have we fasted, and Thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge? God has given reasons why your prayers were not answered. You have thought that you had found reasons in others and have charged the fault upon them. But I saw that there are sufficient reasons in yourself. You have a work to do to set your own heart in order. You should realize that the work must begin with yourself. You have oppressed the destitute and have benefited yourself by taking advantage of their necessities. In regard to means, you have been close and dealt unjustly. You have not possessed that kind, noble, and generous spirit which should ever characterize the life of a follower of Christ. You have oppressed the hireling in her wages. You saw a poorly clad, hard-working person who you knew was conscientious and God-fearing; yet you took advantage of her because you could do so. I saw that the neglect of seeing and understanding her wants, and the small wages paid her, are all written in heaven as done to Jesus in the person of one of His saints. As you have done this unto the least of Christs disciples, you have done it unto Him. Heaven has regarded all your closeness to those who have served in your house, and it will stand faithfully chronicled against you unless it is repented of and restitution made. One wrong move does more harm than can be undone in years; if the wrongdoer could see the extent of the evil, it would wring from his soul cries of anguish. You are selfish in regard to means. In the case of Brother K the angel of God pointed to you and said: Inasmuch as ye have done this to one of Christs disciples, ye have done it to Jesus in His person. {2T 156.2}[2]
§7
我所提到的情况不只这些。我希望你能看清楚这些事，正如上天将其展开在我面前一样。人心受着一种可悲的欺骗。你需要基督的宗教。祂不求自己的喜悦，而是为有益于他人活着。你有一番工作要作，你应赶紧在上帝面前谦卑己心，藉着谦卑的认罪，除去你基督徒品格中的污秽。之后，你才能参加拯救他人的严肃工作而不犯那么多错误。【2T.157.1】[3]
§8
The cases I have mentioned are not the only ones. I would you could see these things as Heaven has opened them before me. There is a sad deception upon minds. It is the religion of Christ that you need. He pleased not Himself, but lived to benefit others. You have a work to do, and should lose no time in humbling your heart before God, and by humble confessions remove the blots from your Christian character. Then can you engage in the solemn work of laboring for the salvation of others without making so many mistakes. {2T 157.1}[3]
§9
你有多少时间花在了上帝没有吩咐你去作的事上了呢？你给人心留下的印象和经验需要为他们做许多工作才能消除。他们会在黑暗、困惑和不信中徘徊，其中有些人再也不能恢复了。你要藉着禁食和恳切的祈祷，深深地检查内心，严格地自我反省，暴露自己的灵魂，务要仔细审察自己的每一个行为。之后，让自我死去，将生命与基督一起藏在上帝里面，献上自己谦卑的恳求。你若在心里注重罪孽，主必不听你的恳求。祂若听了，你就会自高。撒但就在旁边站着，准备充分利用你。【2T.157.2】[4]
§10
What has your time amounted to, spent as it has been spent while engaged in a work which God did not set you about? Impressions have been made on minds, and experiences gained, which it will require much labor for them to efface. Souls will wander in darkness, perplexity, and unbelief, and some will never recover. With fasting and earnest prayer, with deep heart searching, stern self-examination, lay bare the soul; let no act escape your critical examination. Then, with self dead and your life hid with Christ in God, offer your humble petitions. If you regard iniquity in your heart, the Lord will not hear you. If He had heard your prayers, you would have been exalted. Satan has stood by, prepared to make the most of the advantage he has gained. {2T 157.2}[4]
§11
我们在表现我们生活特征的小事上忠心，在我们的一切行为中显示出真实的正直，始终记住上帝的使者正在受理我们的一举一动，这是多么重要啊！我们拿什么量器量给人，也必拿什么量器量给我们。你心中应始终敬畏上帝，免得你行事不义，自私自利。我们藉着压榨穷人所得到的钱财，上帝会藉着疾病和灾祸从我们挪去更多。公义的上帝必真实地衡量我们的一切动机和行为。【2T.158.1】[5]
§12
Oh, how important it is that faithfulness in little things characterize our lives, that true integrity mark all our course of action, and that we ever bear in mind that angels of God are taking cognizance of every act! That which we mete to others shall be meted to us again. A fearfulness should ever attend you lest you should deal unjustly, selfishly. By sickness and adversity the Lord will remove from us much more than we obtain by grinding the face of the poor. A just God truly estimates all our motives and actions. {2T 158.1}[5]
§13
我蒙指示看到L弟兄和姐妹的情况。贪爱世界已经大大侵蚀了我们真实的敬虔，麻痹了心智的能力，以致真理无法发挥改变生活和品格的影响力。对世界的贪爱使你们关闭了自己的心，不同情也不体谅别人的需要。爱世界的精神已使他们与上帝分离。弟兄和姐妹啊，你们有一番工作要作，要从这世界的垃圾下面挣脱出来；你需要付出最真诚的努力克胜自私、吝啬和爱世界的心。这些都是使上帝百姓遭受咒诅的罪恶。我蒙指示看到过去你们在搬来某地之前居住的社区。你们在那里就是吝啬苛刻的，但凡有机会，便会取利他人。我试图在你们的生活中找出高尚的自我牺牲和仁慈善行，却找不到，太少了。你们的光照在人前的方式使他们对你们和你们的信仰感到厌恶。你们在交易上的小气吝啬和巧取豪夺已使真理蒙羞受辱。愿上帝帮助你们看清这一切，并叫你们憎恨这种罪恶，像祂憎恨它一样。你们的光也当这样照在人前，叫他们看见你们的好行为，便将荣耀归给你们在天上的父。上帝一直不喜悦你们的做法，因其一直以自私自利为特征。上帝现在仍对此不悦，且要在审判中对付你们，除非你们除掉这种褊狭卑鄙的精神，并寻求藉着真理成圣。单有信心没有行为就是死的。信心若没有行为作证，就绝不能救你们。上帝要求你们在好事上富足，甘心施舍，乐意供给人，为自己积成美好的根基，预备将来，叫你们持定永生。【2T.158.2】[6]
§14
I was shown Brother and Sister L. The love of the world has so eaten out true godliness and benumbed the powers of the mind that the truth fails to have a transforming influence upon the life and character. The love of the world has closed their hearts to compassion and to a consideration of the wants of others; its spirit has separated them from God. Brother and sister, you have a work to do to get from beneath the rubbish of the world; you need to make earnest efforts to overcome your love of the world, your selfishness, and your penuriousness. These are sins which are cursing Gods people. I was pointed back to the community in which you lived previous to your moving to -----. You were close and exacting in deal there, taking advantage every time that you could well do so. I tried to find in your lives acts of noble self-sacrifice and benevolence, but could not, they were so rare. Your light has shone before others in such a manner that they have felt disgusted with you and your faith. The truth has been reproached by your closeness and overreaching in deal. May God help you to see all, and to have that hatred for this evil that He has. Let your light so shine that others by seeing your good works may be led to glorify your Father who is in heaven. God has been displeased with your course, for it has been marked by self-interest. He is still displeased with it, and will deal with you in judgment, unless you rid yourself of this spirit of littleness, and seek to be sanctified through the truth. Faith without works is dead, being alone. Faith will never save you unless it is justified by works. God requires of you to be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that you may lay hold on eternal life. {2T 158.2}[6]
§15
我蒙指示看到你们在工资的事上压迫你们的雇员。你们利用各种环境以最低的工价雇人帮忙。这使上帝不悦。你们应当慷慨地支付他们所挣得的全部工资。上帝鉴查万事，通晓一切。那鉴查人心的一位熟悉人心的每一思想、意图和目的。你用这种方式得来的每一块钱，若予保留，就会藉灾祸和痛苦被分散。世界，世界，世界，一直是你们的议事日程。灵魂的得救已属次要了。惟愿你们能根据永恒看待这些事，正如上帝看待它们一样。你们会受到警告，不得安息，直到你们作出归还。【2T.159.1】[7]
§16
I was shown that you have oppressed hirelings in their wages. You have taken advantage of circumstances and secured your help at the lowest figure. This has not been pleasing to God. You should have paid your help liberally, all that they earned. God sees and knows. The Searcher of hearts is acquainted with the thoughts, the intents and purposes of the heart. Every dollar that has been gained by you in this way, if retained, will be scattered through adversity and affliction. The world, the world, the world, has been the order of the day with you. The salvation of the soul has become secondary. Oh, that you could see, in the light of eternity, just how God views these things. You would be alarmed and would not rest until you had made restitution. {2T 159.1}[7]
§17
你们有健康改良的亮光，但你们却不接受，也不实行。你们不但满足自己的食欲，还纵容你们的儿子无论何时想吃什么就吃什么，教给他一门可悲的功课。你们既爱世界，就一直实行高压的计划。上帝的手已经撤开，你们便被弃于自己的软弱中了。于是你们二人便在坟墓的边缘摇摇欲坠，但是你们仍然没有学到上帝在许多事上希望你们学得的教训。你们依然贪恋这个世界。你并没有除去自私获利之心，也没有改正交易中的小气吝啬作风。你们并不欣赏那在你们病中照顾你们之人的同情、关怀、殷勤与温柔。否则这原会使你们表现出一种高贵的仁慈精神，而不是卑劣地对待那实心实意对待你们的人。你们搓磨了贫穷人的脸（赛3:15）；作事不公不义。“有施散的，却更增添，有吝惜过度的，反致穷乏”（箴11:24）。【2T.159.2】[8]
§18
You had light upon health reform, but you did not receive and live up to it. You gratified the appetite and taught your boy a sad lesson by indulging him in eating when and what he chose. In your love for the world you continued to work upon the high-pressure plan. The hand of God was removed, and you were left to your own weakness. Then you both tottered over the brink of the grave, yet you failed to learn the lesson in many things which God would have you learn. You retained your love for the world. Your selfish love for gain, your small, close dealing, was not put away. You did not appreciate the sympathy, kind care, and watchful tenderness of the one who had the care of you in your sickness. If you had, it would have led you to manifest a spirit of noble benevolence above any cheap dealing with her who had been true to you. You have ground the face of the poor; you have dealt unjustly. There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. {2T 159.2}[8]
§19
当主将这些事呈现在我面前时，我似乎看到撒但拥有藉着爱世界的心蒙蔽人心的能力，甚至连自称基督徒的人都忘记了，或者完全意识不到上帝活着，祂的使者正在记录着人类的一切行为；每一个吝啬的行为，每一项小气的交易，都被登记在人生的记录上。每一天都有未尽义务，疏忽，自私，欺骗，诡诈，巧取豪夺的记录。多少恶行积累着等候最后的审判啊！当基督来临之时，“祂的赏赐在祂那里，祂的报应在祂面前”（赛62:11），要按各人所行的报应他。那时将作何等的揭露啊！当一些人的生活记录在历史的篇章上显露出来的时候，他们的脸面将何等羞愧啊！【2T.160.1】[9]
§20
It seemed to me, as these things were presented before me, that Satan had possessed such power to blind minds through a love of the world, that even professed Christians forgot, or lost all sense of the fact that God lives and that His angels are making a record of all the doings of the children of men; that every mean act, every small deal, is placed upon the life record. Every day bears its burden of record of unfulfilled duties, of neglect, of selfishness, of deception, of fraud, of overreaching. What an amount of evil works is accumulating for the final judgment! When Christ shall come, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him, to render to every man according as his works have been. What a revelation will then be made! What confusion of face to some as the acts of their lives are revealed upon the pages of history! {2T 160.1}[9]
§21
“我亲爱的弟兄们，请听，上帝岂不是拣选了世上的贫穷人，叫他们在信上富足，并承受祂所应许给那些爱祂之人的国吗？你们反倒羞辱贫穷人”（雅2:5-6）。“我的弟兄们，若有人说自己有信心，却没有行为，有什么益处呢？这信心能救他吗？若是弟兄或是姐妹赤身露体，又缺了日用的饮食，你们中间有人对他们说，‘平平安安地去吧！愿你们穿得暖吃得饱，’却不给他们身体所需用的，这有什么益处呢？这样，信心若没有行为就是死的”（雅2:14-17）。你或许相信全部真理，但你却没有在生活中实行其原则，你的表白不会救你。撒但也信，却是战兢。他也作工，他知道自己的时候不多了，他已带着大能力下来，要按照他的信念作他邪恶的工作。然而自称是上帝子民的人却没有用他们的行为支持自己的信心。他们相信时日短暂，却仍热切地追求属世的财利，好像这世界还会照此存在一千年似的。【2T.160.2】[10]
§22
Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him? But ye have despised the poor. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. You may believe all the truth; yet if its principles are not carried out in your lives, your profession will not save you. Satan believes and trembles. He works. He knows his time is short, and he has come down in great power to do his evil works according to his faith. But Gods professed people do not support their faith by their works. They believe in the shortness of time, yet grasp just as eagerly after this worlds goods as though the world were to stand a thousand years as it now is. {2T 160.2}[10]
§23
许多人的行为都带着自私的记号。“凡有世上财物的，看见弟兄穷乏，却塞住怜恤的心，爱上帝的心怎能存在他里面呢？小子们哪，我们相爱，不要只在言语和舌头上，总要在行为和诚实上。从此就知道我们是属真理的，并且我们的心在上帝面前可以安稳。我们的心若责备我们，上帝比我们的心大，一切事没有不知道的。亲爱的弟兄啊，我们的心若不责备我们，就可以向上帝坦然无惧了。并且我们一切所求的，就从祂得着，因为我们遵守祂的命令，行祂所喜悦的事”（约壹3:17-22）。【2T.161.1】[11]
§24
Selfishness marks the course of many. But whoso hath this worlds good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. {2T 161.1}[11]
§25
要除去你们的自私，为永恒作彻底的工作。要弥补以往的过失。不要像过去那样在生活中误表你们所信奉的圣洁真理。要让你们的光照在人前，叫他们看见你们的好行为，便将荣耀归给你们在天上的父。要站在永恒真理的高台上，严格以上帝的话为准绳，管制你们今生的一切交易。【2T.161.2】[12]
§26
Divest yourselves of selfishness and make thorough work for eternity. Redeem the past and do not represent the holy truth you profess where you now live as you have where you have lived hitherto. Let your light so shine that others by seeing your good works may be led to glorify our Father in heaven. Stand upon the elevated platform of eternal truth. Regulate all your business transactions in this life in strict accordance with the word of God. {2T 161.2}[12]