第37章 传道工作的真正改进
§1
第37章 传道工作的真正改进
§2
Chap. 37 - True Refinement in the Ministry
§3
E弟兄：我打算写信给你已经有段时间了，但直到现在才找到机会。上个安息日给大家讲道时，你的事清晰地浮现在我心中，我不由自主地当着大家提到了你的名字。我现在写信给你，以便卸下心头的重担。我在上次的异象中蒙指示，看到那些自称劳苦传道教导人者的不足。我看到你没有善用自己的能力，反倒在教导真理的事上越来越没有效率。你需要彻底的改变。你有坚强固执的意志，甚至有些顽固。如果你少一些自信，多一些谦卑柔和的精神，现在原可更加适合传真理信息给别人的严肃工作。{3T 459.1}[1]
§4
Brother E: I have designed to write to you for some time past, but have not found an opportunity to do so until now. While speaking to the people last Sabbath, I felt so clearly impressed with your case that I could with difficulty refrain from calling your name in public. I will now unburden my mind by writing you. In my last vision I was shown the deficiencies of those who profess to labor in word and doctrine. I saw that you had not been improving your abilities, but had been growing less and less efficient to teach the truth. You need a thorough conversion. You have a strong, set will, even to stubbornness. You might now have been fitted for the solemn work of bearing the message of truth to others had you been less self-confident and more humble and meek in spirit. {3T 459.1}[1]
§5
你不喜欢勤奋刻苦，也厌恶不断努力的辛劳。你向来不是一个恒心研究圣经的好学生，也不是一个热心上帝圣工的好工人。你的生活远不能表现基督的生活。你没有辨别力。你不是一个明智审慎的工人。你没有照基督的每一个传道人都应该做的研究如何争取人归向基督。你有既定路线，就是你自己的标准，你还想让别人也接受；但你却失败了，因为他们不愿接受你的标准。你很顽固、常走极端，从而严重伤害了上帝的圣工，使人离开真理而不是争取他们归向真理。{3T 459.2}[2]
§6
You do not love close application nor the taxation of continued effort. You have not been a persevering student of the word of God, neither have you been a zealous worker in the cause of God. Your life has been far from representing the life of Christ. You are not discriminating. You are not a wise, judicious worker. You do not study to win souls to Christ, as every minister of Christ should. You have a set track, a standard of your own, to which you wish to bring the people; but you fail to do this because they will not accept your standard. You are bigoted and frequently carry things to extremes and thereby seriously hurt the cause of God and turn souls from the truth instead of winning them to it. {3T 459.2}[2]
§7
我蒙指示看到，你因不明智的工作态度，破坏了几个好机会，关于这件事，我对你说什么好呢？你在介绍真理时缺乏智慧，也没有用礼貌、仁慈和长久的忍耐来给你作福音传道人的恩召增光添色，许多人因此而失丧了。真基督徒的礼貌应该是基督传道人一切行为的特色。你是多么拙劣地代表了我们慈怜的救赎主啊，祂的生活乃是良善和真纯洁的体现。你那苛刻、挑剔、傲慢的精神已使许多生灵转离了真理。你的话语中没有基督的温柔，却有你自己的精神。你的生性粗鲁不雅，因为你从来没有感觉到真文雅和基督徒的礼貌有什么必要，所以你的人生没有得到应有的提高。{3T 460.1}[3]
§8
I was shown that you had spoiled several good openings by your injudicious manner of laboring, and what shall I say to you in regard to this matter? Souls have been lost through your lack of wisdom in presenting the truth and your failure to adorn your calling as a gospel minister by courtesy, kindness, and long-suffering. True Christian politeness should characterize all the actions of a minister of Christ. Oh, how poorly have you represented our pitiful, compassionate Redeemer, whose life was the embodiment of goodness and true purity. You have turned souls from the truth by a harsh, censorious, overbearing spirit. Your words have not been in the gentleness of Christ, but in the spirit of E. Your nature is naturally coarse and unrefined, and because you have never felt the necessity of true refinement and Christian politeness, your life has not been as elevated as it might have been. {3T 460.1}[3]
§9
你常处在习惯的固定套路中。你所受的教育和训练是不正确的，因此，你本应付出更加真诚的努力，提高自己，改良自己，作出坚决彻底的改变。你若不认识到自己几乎在所有方面都需要坚决彻底的改变，就完全不适合传讲真理；你若不在品格、态度和着装上有恰当合宜的提升，就会害多益少。你在推进真理方面做得不多，因为你太多逗留在各教会，其实你不能给他们带来任何益处，却只造成伤害。你的方式方法需要精炼和圣化。你不应再用自己的缺陷损害上帝的工作，因为你在成为上帝圣工的工人方面没有显出任何明确的进步。{3T 460.2}[4]
§10
You have remained in the rut of habit. Your education and training have not been correct, and therefore your efforts should have been the more earnest to improve, to reform, and make decided and thorough changes. Unless you realize a decided and thorough conversion in almost every respect you are entirely unfitted to preach the truth, and unless you can have a proper and becoming elevation of character, manners, and address, you will do more harm than you can do good. You have not done much in advancing the truth, for you have lingered about the churches too much, when you could do them no good, but only injury. Your ways and manners need refining and sanctifying. You should no longer mar the work of God by your deficiencies, since you have shown no decided improvement in becoming a workman in the cause of God. {3T 460.2}[4]
§11
你不可能带领别人超过你自己达到的标准。如果你不前进，又怎能带领上帝的教会向前达到更高的敬虔和圣洁标准呢？数年以来，所有像你这样的传道人，对于上帝的圣工不是祝福，而是咒诅；现代真理的事业越少有他们参与，便会越兴旺。{3T 461.1}[5]
§12
It is impossible for you to bring others up to any higher standard than that to which you yourself attain. If you do not advance, how can you lead the church of God forward to a higher standard of piety and holiness? All such ministers as you have been for several years are more of a curse than a blessing to the cause of God, and the fewer we have of them the more prosperous will be the cause of present truth. {3T 461.1}[5]
§13
你没有提高自己的思想，在传道上也没有更高的追求。你甘于平庸，作个低劣的传道人。你并不渴求基督徒品格的完全，也不希望达到基督要求祂所拣选的每一个传道人在工作中要达到的地步。若非不断在知识和对工作的献身上进步，天天改良自己的态度和性情，在真智慧上长进，就没有一个自称传真理给别人的人，能够适合担负这项责任重大的工作。对于每一位带领生灵归向真理的人来说，与上帝的亲密交通是必不可少的。那些带领生灵出本性黑暗、入奇妙光明的人应当始终记得，自己必须在那光明中前进，否则怎能带领别人呢？如果他们自己行在黑暗里，还擅自假装去教导别人那条路，就是极其可怕的责任。{3T 461.2}[6]
§14
You are not elevated in your ideas, or aspiring in your labors. You are content to be commonplace and to make a cheap minister. You do not aspire to perfection of Christian character and to that position in the work that Christ requires every one of His chosen ministers to attain. No one professing to bear the truth to others is fitted for the responsible work unless he is making advancement in knowledge and in consecration to the work, and is improving his manners and temper, and growing in true wisdom from day to day. Close communion with God is necessary for every man who would guide souls into the truth. It should ever be borne in mind by those who take upon themselves the burden of guiding souls out of natures darkness into the marvelous light that they themselves must be advancing in that light, else how can they lead others? If they are walking in darkness themselves, it is a most fearful responsibility which they assume in pretending to teach others the way. {3T 461.2}[6]
§15
你在一些地方从事的工作，是你没有能力去正确处理的。你没有明智审慎地进行工作。你为掩盖自己在真知识上的不足，便责备其它教派，数落别人，严厉苛刻地批评他们的行为和状况。你的心若因真理的灵而火热，你若将自已分别为圣献与上帝，且行在光中像基督在光中一样，你就会行动做事都有智慧，也会有足够的方式方法保持大家的兴趣，而不必离开正路，抛开当做之工，去揶揄攻击其他自称为基督徒的人了。{3T 461.3}[7]
§16
You have engaged in labor in places where you were not competent to do justice to the work which you undertook. You did not labor judiciously. You sought to make up for your lack of real knowledge by censuring other denominations, running down others, and making hard and bitter criticisms upon their course and condition. Had your heart been all aglow with the spirit of truth, had you been sanctified to God and walking in the light as Christ is in the light, you would have moved in wisdom and would have had enough ways and means at your command to maintain an interest without going out of your way and aside from your specific work to rail out against others who profess to be Christians. {3T 461.3}[7]
§17
不信的人已经厌烦了；他们以为安息日复临信徒都是你这样的，那就够了，他们不再想听这类道理了。我们的信仰充其量是不受世人欢迎的，且与其它教派的信仰和习惯有极大的差异。为了接触那些处在异端的黑暗和虚伪理论中的人，我们必须以极大的谨慎和智慧接近他们，在一切良心无愧的事上，都要力求与他们和谐一致。{3T 462.1}[8]
§18
Unbelievers have been disgusted; they think that Seventh-day Adventists have been fairly represented by you, and they decide that it is enough and that they want no more of such doctrines. Our faith is unpopular at best and is in wide contrast to the faith and practices of other denominations. In order to reach those who are in the darkness of error and false theories, we must approach them with the utmost caution and with the greatest wisdom, agreeing with them on every point that we can conscientiously. {3T 462.1}[8]
§19
我们应当向那些处在错误中的人表现出完全的体谅，全然公正地信任他们的诚实。我们应当尽可能地接近人，好使他们可以从我们的真理和亮光获益。但是E弟兄，你像我们的许多传道人一样，上去就攻击别人所珍视的错误，因而激起了他们好斗的精神和顽固的意志，使他们用自私偏见的盔甲把自己包裹起来，多少证据也说不动他们了。{3T 462.2}[9]
§20
All consideration should be shown for those in error and all just credit given them for honesty. We should come as near the people as possible, and then the light and truth which we have may benefit them. But Brother E, like many of our ministers, commences a warfare at once against the errors that others cherish; he thus raises their combativeness and their set wills, and this holds them encased in an armor of selfish prejudice which no amount of evidence can remove. {3T 462.2}[9]
§21
你用自己未经圣化的工作导致生灵远离真理，除了你之外，还能有谁为他们负责呢？你用自己欠考虑的工作建立起来偏见的高墙，谁能予以拆毁呢？人参与传福音的工作，只凭自己，不靠基督，我所知道的没有比这更得罪上帝的了。人视他们为基督的代表，他们的工作中却没有体现出基督的精神。他们没有看到或意识到，未献身于上帝、未真正悔改之人参加圣工所带有的危险。他们行动做事好像瞎子，几乎一无是处，却仍自信自足，他们自己行在黑暗里，每走一步都绊跌。他们是行在黑暗中的人。{3T 462.3}[10]
§22
Who but yourself will be responsible for the souls that you have turned away from the truth by your unsanctified labors? Who can break down the walls of prejudice which your injudicious labor has built up? I know of no greater sin against God than for men to engage in the ministry who labor in self and not in Christ. They are looked up to as the representatives of Christ, when they do not represent His spirit in any of their labors. They do not see or realize the dangers attending the efforts made by unconsecrated, unconverted men. They move on like blind men, deficient in almost everything and yet self-confident and self-sufficient, themselves walking in darkness and stumbling at every step. They are bodies in darkness. {3T 462.3}[10]
§23
E弟兄，你的观念狭隘，你工作的趋势不是高举真理，而是贬低真理。这并不是因为你没有能力。你原本可以成为一名好工人，但你过于懒惰，不肯付出必要的努力去实现目标。你宁愿下来在那些和你观点不同的人面前表现苛刻傲慢的态度，也不愿劳心费力提高自己的工作水准。你采取的立场受到质疑、被证明是错了的时候，你不够谦卑虚己，甘愿放弃自己的观点。当你必需让步也有责任让步时，你却一意孤行，坚持自己的想法。你顽固强硬地坚持自己的观点和判断以致牺牲了别人。{3T 462.4}[11]
§24
Brother E, you have narrow ideas, and your labor has a tendency to lower rather than to elevate the truth. This is not because you have no ability. You could have made a good workman, but you are too indolent to make the effort necessary to attain the object. You would rather come down in a harsh and overbearing manner upon those who differ with you than to take the trouble to elevate the tone of your labor. You take positions, and then when they are questioned you are not humble enough to yield your notions though they are shown to be wrong; but you stand up in your independence and firmly hold to your ideas when concession on your part is essential and is required of you as a duty. You have stubbornly and unyieldingly held to your own judgment and opinions to the sacrifice of souls. {3T 462.4}[11]
§25
E弟兄，你立场坚定，意志顽强坚决，为要不顾一切实行自己的观点，这一切你的妻子都感受到了，并为之哀叹不已，她的健康也因此而受害。你对上帝这个敏感的孩子一点儿也不文雅温柔。你那种强悍的精神压倒了她更为柔和的性情。她为许多事情感到伤心。如果你愿意努力，你本可使她的人生更加幸福。但你却力图让她也与你有一样的观点。你不是学习她温文尔雅的性情，而是千方百计地把她塑造成你那种粗鲁的性情和极端的想法。她的性情受到扭曲，不得释放。她像一棵植物，栽在不适宜的土壤里，渐渐地枯萎了。{3T 463.1}[12]
§26
Brother E, your set positions and your strong, determined will to carry out your points at all hazards were felt and deplored by your wife, and her health suffered in consequence. You were not gentle and tender to this sensitive child of God; your strong spirit overbore her more gentle disposition. She grieved over many things. You could have made her life happier had you tried; but you sought to have her see things as you saw them, and, instead of trying to assimilate yourself to her refined temperament, you tried to mold her to your coarser nature and your extreme ideas. She was warped in her nature and could not act out herself. She withered like a plant transplanted to an uncongenial soil. {3T 463.1}[12]
§27
你不应试图照着自己的样子塑造别人的思想和品格，而应照着那神圣的榜样塑造自己的品格。如果这个世界是由像你这样品格和性情的人组成的，那这世界就有祸了。你既然无论何往都会遇到同样的人，就会讨厌你的同伴，他们既都完全和你一样，你就会巴不得离开世界。{3T 463.2}[13]
§28
You should not seek to mold minds and characters after your pattern, but should allow your own character to be molded after the divine Pattern. If this world were composed of men like yourself in character and temperament, woe would be to it. As like would meet like whichever way you might turn, you would be disgusted with your associates, the exact patterns of yourself, and would wish to be out of the world. {3T 463.2}[13]
§29
你喜欢夸耀自己。但是，人太不适合这样做了，哪怕他具有最优秀的思想品质和最广大的影响。优秀的人之所以具有强大的影响力，正是因为他们不知道自己的价值，也不知道自己对世界有多少贡献。有你这样品格印记的人，自吹自擂，夸耀自我，实在是太不合适了。{3T 463.3}[14]
§30
You boast and glory in yourself. But, oh, how improper is this for any man, even if he have the finest qualities of mind and the most extended influence! Men of fine qualities have the greatest influence because they do not know their worth and how much good they do accomplish in the world. But it is all out of place for men of your stamp of character to be lifted up and boastful in self. {3T 463.3}[14]
§31
你在传道工作中，经常开局良好；你能提起大家的兴趣，让听众自知有罪，你的论据是他们所无法反驳的；但正当众人为是否赞同真理摇摆不定时，你的自我竟凸显出来，以致要是你的言谈举止彰显基督就可得到的果子都丧失了。{3T 464.1}[15]
§32
In your labors you frequently start out well; you raise an interest, and conviction rests upon minds that the arguments used cannot be controverted; but just at the time when souls are balancing in favor of the truth, self appears so plainly, is so prominent, that all which might have been gained, had Jesus shone forth in your words and deportment, is lost. {3T 464.1}[15]
§33
你缺乏为基督和真理赢得生灵的重要美德。你很会辩论，但你对上帝的旨意缺乏经验上的认识。你自己既缺乏宗教经验，就不能带领别人到活水的泉源。你自己的心灵与上帝并无交通，而是陷在黑暗里；对于那些在黑暗中摸索的生灵来说，除了真理的光以外，再没有什么能补足他们所认识到的缺乏。除非你彻底改变，你现在还是先暂停你传福音给别人的工作为好，因为你那狭隘顽固的思想，已经破坏并扭曲了我们的信仰标准。你对上帝的旨意并无经验上的认识；你看重自己的义，但其实它毫无价值。你在能效力于上帝的圣工之前，自己必须彻底改变。当你彻底转变的时候，你的劳苦才能得蒙悦纳。{3T 464.2}[16]
§34
You lack the very graces which are essential to win souls to Christ and the truth. You can argue well; but you have not an experimental knowledge of the divine will, and for want of a religious experience yourself you are unable to lead others to the Fountain of living waters. Your own soul is not in communion with God, but is in darkness; and nothing can supply the deficiency realized by souls groping their way in the dark, except the light of truth. Unless you are thoroughly converted, your efforts to convert others might as well cease now as for you to labor longer, mangling and perverting the religious standard by your narrow and bigoted ideas. You have not an experimental knowledge of the divine will; your own righteousness seems to you to be of value, when it is valueless. You need to be transformed before you can be of use in the cause of God. When you are converted then you can labor to acceptance. {3T 464.2}[16]
§35
你还不具有基督的信仰。你必须软化自己的心，并向自我死，必须有基督住在你心里；然后，你才能像基督一样行在光中，在自己身后留下一条光明的天路历程，照亮别人的路途。你对自己感到非常满意。你应当训练自己，克服你那顽梗狭隘、挑剔的精神。你需攻克己身，叫身服你，免得你传福音给别人，自己反被弃绝。{3T 464.3}[17]
§36
You do not possess the religion of Christ. You must soften your heart and die to self, and Christ must live in you; then you will walk in the light as He is in the light, and you will leave a bright track heavenward to lighten the pathway of others. You have felt too well satisfied with yourself. You should educate yourself and overcome your bigoted and fault-finding spirit. You need to keep the body under and bring it into subjection, lest, after you have preached to others, you yourself should be a castaway. {3T 464.3}[17]
§37
你对待事情斤斤计较、吹毛求疵，爱挑剔、置疑别人的行为；其实你最好去克服你自己的生活和品格中的缺点，从基督徒的立场开展工作，从上帝那里寻求亮光，预备与天国中纯洁的天使为伴。但照你现在的情形来说，你会损害全天庭。你缺乏教养，粗鲁不雅，心不圣洁。以你现在的品格来说，天国里是没有你立足之地的。{3T 464.4}[18]
§38
You take small views of matters, pick at straws, find fault, and question the course of others, when you might far better be overcoming the defects in your own character and life, working from a Christian standpoint, seeking light from God, and preparing to unite with pure angels in the kingdom of heaven. As you are, you would mar all heaven. You are uncultivated, unrefined, and unsanctified. There is no place in heaven for such a character as you now possess. {3T 464.4}[18]
§39
如果你愿意真诚地把握住上帝的工作，不为罪作任何辩解，就会在肉体中定了罪案，本着信心和盼望追求神圣的恩典和正确的判断，你就能克胜你品格中令你无法从事上帝圣工的那些缺陷。你已多年没进步或提高了。你今天距离福音传道人应有的基督徒品格完全的标准，比你接受真理只有数月时更远。{3T 465.1}[19]
§40
If you will take hold of the work earnestly and, without making any apology for sin, will condemn sin in the flesh and reach up in faith and hope for divine grace and right judgment, you may overcome those deficiencies in your character which disqualify you for laboring in the cause of God. You have not advanced or improved for many years. You are further today from the standard of Christian perfection, from possessing the qualifications which should be found in the minister of the gospel, than you were a few months after you had received the truth. {3T 465.1}[19]
§41
上帝不喜悦那些自己在基督徒的信仰上并不聪明，却还试图带领他人的人。你正好代表那自己眼中有梁木、却想去掉他弟兄眼中之刺的人。你要先把自己的心摆正，改革自己的品格；与上帝取得联系，获得日常的基督徒经验；之后，你才能为那些在基督之外的人背负重担。{3T 465.2}[20]
§42
God is displeased with those who are not intelligent in regard to the Christian religion and yet are trying to lead others. You are correctly represented by the man who sought to pull out a mote from his brothers eye when a beam was in his own eye. First set your own heart in order, and reform your own character; obtain a connection with God, and gain a daily Christian experience; then you may bear a burden for souls who are out of Christ. {3T 465.2}[20]
§43
弟兄中很少有人比你花更多时间读不同作者的书，但你在传道人教导真理所需的资格上仍很欠缺。你不能正确引用经文，甚至连读都读不准，这太不应该了。你在智力和文化上没有什么长进，你的言行也表明，你的心灵没有在恩典上长进。你没有感到追求更崇高更圣洁的造诣有什么必要。{3T 465.3}[21]
§44
There are but few of the brethren who have taken more time to read different authors than you have, and yet you are very deficient in the qualifications necessary for a minister teaching the truth. You fail to quote, or even read, the Scriptures correctly. This should not be. You have not advanced in mental culture and have not secured a growth of grace in the soul which would shine out in your words and deportment. You have not felt the necessity of reaching up for higher and holier attainments. {3T 465.3}[21]
§45
读书浮光掠影，囫囵吞枣，只会堵塞你的思想，导致你大脑里消化不良。你所读的东西，连一半也无法消化利用。如果你读书的目的是为了提高心智，就应量着自己的吸收和理解能力来阅读，你若恒心忍耐地这样阅读，就会收到良好的效果。你和其他传道人都需要入校学习，象小孩子一样开始掌握基本学科的知识。你既不会阅读拼写，也不会正确发音，可是你担负的担子和承担的责任却是没有几个人能够比得上的。{3T 465.4}[22]
§46
Chasing through books superficially clogs the mind and causes you to become a mental dyspeptic. You cannot digest and use one half that you read. If you should read with the one object in view to improve the mind, and should read only as much as the mind can comprehend and digest, and would patiently persevere in such a course of reading, good results would be accomplished. You, as well as other ministers, need to attend school and to commence like a child to master the first branches of knowledge. You can neither read, spell, nor pronounce correctly, and yet there are but few who have had less taxation and less burdens of responsibility to bear than yourself. {3T 465.4}[22]
§47
我们传道人的职责要求有健康的身体和智力的训练。良好健全的意识，坚强的意志以及愉快的性情会使传道人在各处都受欢迎。应该寻求和坚持培养这些气质。{3T 466.1}[23]
§48
The position of our ministers calls for health of body and discipline of mind. Good sound sense, strong nerves, and a cheerful temper will recommend the gospel minister anywhere. These should be sought for and perseveringly cultivated. {3T 466.1}[23]
§49
你的人生迄今为止仍无什么用处。你有一些很好的想法，但上帝的圣灵并没有住在你心里。你并没有受到祂能力的鼓舞，你也没有真实的信心、爱心和盼望。基督的灵若住在你心里，必能使你把握住上帝的事，并将其彰显给他人。你若不在心里更加尊重作为基督一名忠心传道人的工作，就无法对上帝的圣工产生任何益处。你需要在你的生活中定意行善，象耶稣行的一样。你若能在这工作中表现出舍己和爱心，就会影响别人的生命和品格。{3T 466.2}[24]
§50
Your life thus far has been unprofitable. You have some very good ideas, but the Spirit of God does not dwell in your heart. You are not quickened by His power, and you have not genuine faith, hope, and love. The Spirit of Christ dwelling in you will enable you to take of the things of God and reveal them to others. You can be of no benefit to the cause of God till the work of a faithful minister of Christ is more exalted in your mind. You want a purpose in your life to do good, as did Jesus. The self-denial and love which you manifest in this work will tell upon the lives and characters of others. {3T 466.2}[24]
§51
你应当尽快除掉自己冰冷僵化的拘谨客套。你需要在自己每日的生活中培养温柔与友爱的感觉。你应当表现出真谦恭和基督徒的礼貌。人若真的爱耶稣，也必爱那些祂为之而死的人。正如磁针指向磁极，基督的真门徒也必怀着认真作工的精神，力图拯救基督为之舍命的生灵。为罪人的得救而劳苦工作，会使基督的爱长久洋溢在心中，并使这爱适当地生长发展。若无有关上帝旨意的正确知识，基督徒品格就不会获得和谐的发展。{3T 466.3}[25]
§52
You should get rid of your cold, frozen formality as soon as possible. You need to cultivate feelings of tenderness and friendliness in your everyday life. You should exhibit true courtesy and Christian politeness. The heart that really loves Jesus loves those for whom He died. Just as truly as the needle points to the pole, so will the true follower of Christ, with a spirit of earnest labor, seek to save souls for whom Christ has given His life. Working for the salvation of sinners will keep the love of Christ warm in the heart and will give that love a proper growth and development. Without a correct knowledge of the divine will there will be a lack of harmonious development in the Christian character. {3T 466.3}[25]
§53
我的弟兄啊，我恳劝你和上帝熟识起来。“义人的脚步被耶和华立定”（诗37:23）。服役的天使将记录我们人生进程的每一个步骤。但你还未使你的意志顺服上帝；你的心思不圣洁。你在黑暗中蹒跚而行，不知何处落脚。凡真诚急切接受耶和华引导的，主必向他们显明自己的旨意。你之所以有缺欠，是因为你已放弃了要知道并遵行上帝旨意的想法，所以你不确知任何事情。你自己虽盲目，却试图给盲人带路。{3T 466.4}[26]
§54
I beseech you, my brother, to become acquainted with God. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Ministering angels mark every step of our progress. But your will is not surrendered to God; your thoughts are not holy. You go on, stumbling along in darkness, not knowing where to place your feet. The Lord reveals His will to those who are earnest and anxious to be guided. The reason for your inefficiency is that you have given up the idea of knowing and doing the will of God, therefore you do not know anything positively. Though blind yourself, you attempt to lead the blind. {3T 466.4}[26]
§55
你和其他许多传道人现在所处的是什么位置啊！你和他们既离弃上帝这活水的泉源，就为自己凿出了破裂不能存水的池子。我恳劝你要警醒回头归向主，以深切真诚地悔改获得祂的饶恕和祂持久的力量，使你可以确实被上帝的丰富所充满。上帝对你的行为感到不悦，因为你已经成为其他生灵的绊脚石。你倚靠自己的行为，想凭自己的义获得成功，不知道上帝的旨意。{3T 467.1}[27]
§56
Oh, in what a position are you and many other ministers! Having forsaken God, the Fountain of living waters, you and they have hewn out to yourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. I entreat of you to be alarmed and turn to the Lord with that deep and earnest repentance which will secure to you His forgiveness and the enduring strength of His might, that you may indeed be filled with all the fullness of God. He frowns upon your course, for you have been as a stumbling block to souls. You have depended on your own works and righteousness for success, and have not a knowledge of the divine will. {3T 467.1}[27]
§57
愿主将你真实的品格显明给你，使你看清自己真正的缺欠。当你蒙上帝圣灵的光照明白了这一点，你就会意识到自己有罪的疏忽和荒废的人生，心中惊恐不已，使你生出没有后悔的懊悔来。{3T 467.2}[28]
§58
May the Lord reveal to you your true character and let you see your real deficiencies. When you are enlightened by the Spirit of God to understand this you will have such a sense of your sinful neglect and unimproved life as will strike terror to your soul and cause you sorrow that will lead to repentance that needeth not to be repented of. {3T 467.2}[28]