第30章 自私自利的传道人
§1
第30章 自私自利的传道人
§2
Chap. 30 - Self-Caring Ministers
§3
F弟兄和姐妹：我蒙指示在上帝赐给你们另一次考验的事上，看到了祂的大怜悯和无限的爱。你们确实有必要持定那大能的医治者，以便拥有身体的力量和属灵的力量。你们的健康状况很差，但你们有以为自己的状况比实际更糟糕的危险。你们没有耐力，因为你们没有怀存忍耐、充满盼望和勇气的精神。你们屈服于疾病而不是超越它们。试探会左右攻击你们，但是你们可以藉着耐心地继续行善来克服你们品格的缺陷。我蒙指示看到你们的脚曾确实踏在灭亡的路上，但上帝没有完全离弃你们中的任何一个。祂无比慈怜地给了你们另一个机会，好证明你们对祂的忠诚，号召你们心存极大的谦卑而行，防备自我。你们太宠爱和纵容自己了，现在要在相反的方向下工夫。{4T 341.1}[1]
§4
Brother and Sister F: I have been shown the great mercy and infinite love of God in giving you another trial. There will be a positive necessity of your holding fast to the mighty Healer, that you may have physical and spiritual strength. You have poor health, but you are in danger of thinking that you are in a worse condition than you really are. You have not had power of endurance, because you have not cherished a patient, hopeful, courageous spirit. You yield to infirmities instead of rising above them. Temptations will assail you on the right hand and on the left, but by patient continuance in well-doing you may overcome the defects in your characters. I was shown that your feet had indeed taken hold on perdition, but God did not wholly forsake either of you. His matchless mercy in giving you another opportunity to prove your loyalty to Him calls upon you to walk with great humility and to guard self. You have petted and indulged yourselves so much that you need now to work in an opposite direction. {4T 341.1}[1]
§5
F弟兄，你向来很自私，而这在上帝眼中一直是可鄙的。你和你妻子已再三绊跌在这种罪恶上。你的能力因自我满足和自我放纵而大大削弱了。你们二人在正常的理智和判断上都是不足的。你们却随从了爱好而非本分的正路，没能压制错误的品性，加强软弱的道德力。{4T 341.2}[2]
§6
You, Brother F, have been very selfish, and this has been contemptible in the sight of God. You and your wife have stumbled again and again over this evil. Your powers have been greatly dwarfed by self-gratification and self-indulgence. Neither of you is deficient in natural reason and judgment; but you have followed inclination rather than the path of duty, and have failed to repress the wrong traits of character and to strengthen weak moral power. {4T 341.2}[2]
§7
F弟兄，你在家里自然不耐烦，焦躁而且苛求；在一个新地方熟悉一小段时间后，就会把这些品性表现出来。你常常以一种不耐烦的傲慢态度讲话。这是必须完全悔改的。你现在就可以重新开始。上帝本着祂无限的怜悯给了你另一次机会。你妻子自己也有很多仗要打，你要当心，不要把她抛到撒但的阵地上。恼怒、挑剔和疾言厉色都必须抛弃。你定出什么时间得胜自己刚愎的意志和品格缺陷了呢？按你现在的进度，你在付出必不可少的努力以战胜自我之前，你的宽容时期就会结束。在上帝的天意安排中，你会被安置在你的特性会受考验和显露出来的境遇中。你既没有看到也没有认识到你欠考虑、不耐烦、抱怨、牢骚话语的结果。{4T 341.3}[3]
§8
Brother F, you are naturally an impatient, fretful, exacting man at home; and after a short acquaintance you show this out in new places. You frequently talk in an impatient, overbearing manner. This must all be repented of. You may now begin anew. God has in His boundless mercy given you another chance. Your wife has much in herself to contend against, and you should be on your guard that you do not throw her upon Satans ground. Fretting, faultfinding, and making strong statements must be given up. What time have you set to gain the victory over your perverse will and the defects in your character? With the advancement you now make, your probation may close before you have made the determined efforts essential to give you the victory over self. You will, in the providence of God, be placed in positions where your peculiarities, if existing, will be tried and revealed. You neither see nor realize the effect of your thoughtless, impatient, complaining, whining words. {4T 341.3}[3]
§9
你和你妻子又有一个宝贵的机会为基督的缘故受苦。你们若是抱怨地做这事，就不会有任何奖赏；你们若是乐意地高兴地做，怀有彼得否认过主以后的那种精神，你们就会成为得胜者。彼得一生都想到自己对基督胆怯的否认；及至蒙召为他的信仰殉道时，这件羞辱的事仍在他眼前，他便请求不要以与他的主相同的受难方式被钉死，唯恐这在他否认主之后是太大的光荣了。他要求头朝下被钉死。彼得多么深切地意识到了自己否认主的罪啊！他经历了何等大的转变啊！此后他的生活一直是悔改和屈辱的生活。{4T 342.1}[4]
§10
You and your wife have another golden opportunity to suffer for Christs sake. If you do this complainingly you will have no reward; if willingly, gladly, having the same spirit which Peter possessed after his apostasy, you will be victors. He felt a sense of his cowardly denial of Christ throughout his lifetime; and when called to suffer martyrdom for his faith, this humiliating fact was ever before him, and he begged that he might not be crucified in the exact manner in which his Lord suffered, fearing that it would be too great an honor after his apostasy. His request was that he might be crucified with his head downward. What a sense did Peter have of his sin in denying his Lord! What a conversion he experienced! His life ever after was a life of repentance and humiliation. {4T 342.1}[4]
§11
你若通过上帝的律法看见上帝，就有理由战兢。摩西在这样看到上帝的威严时，便惊呼：“我甚是恐惧战兢”（来12:21）。律法宣布犯法的人必要死；于是那赎罪的牺牲便呈现在摩西面前。基督洁净的血被启示出来，要洁净罪人，摩西的恐惧便一扫而光了，就象晨雾在升起的太阳面前消散一样。他就这样看到罪人的前途。只要他向上帝悔改，相信我们的主耶稣基督，就能获得赦免，而那公义的日头也将祂明亮、医治的光线照在他身上，驱散笼罩心灵的疑惑和恐惧。摩西从他曾和上帝交谈的山上下来，他的脸发出天上的光彩，反射在百姓身上。他象一位直接来自荣耀的天使出现在他们面前。那种神圣的光辉对罪人来说是痛苦的；他们逃避摩西，请求遮盖那辉煌的荣耀使他们看不见，免得他们若是靠近他就被那荣光杀死。{4T 342.2}[5]
§12
You may have cause to tremble when you see God through His law. When Moses thus saw the majesty of God, he exclaimed: I exceedingly fear and quake. The law pronounced death upon the transgressor; then the atoning sacrifice was presented before Moses. The cleansing blood of Christ was revealed to purify the sinner, and his fears were swept away, as the morning fog before the beams of the rising sun. Thus he saw it might be with the sinner. Through repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, pardon is written, and the Sun of Righteousness sheds His bright, healing beams upon him, dispelling the doubt and fear that befog the soul. Moses came down from the mount where he had been in converse with God, his face shining with a heavenly luster which was reflected upon the people. He appeared to them like an angel direct from glory. That divine brightness was painful to those sinners; they fled from Moses and begged that the bright glory might be covered from their sight lest it slay them if they came near him. {4T 342.2}[5]
§13
摩西原为学者。他已通达埃及人的学问，但这并不是他预备自己去承当工作所需要的唯一资格。在上帝的天意安排中，他还要学习忍耐，锻炼自己的情操。他要在克己与辛苦的学校中领受那对他至为重要的教育。这种种试炼要预备他以慈父式的关怀照顾凡需要他帮助的人。对于一个为生灵时刻儆醒像将要交账的人而言，没有什么知识，研究，或口才，能替代这种经受试炼的经验。他在从事卑微牧羊的工作上，在忘记自我而关怀所交托他照管的群羊上，要准备成为适于承当那曾交托与世人最崇高的工作，就是作主草场上群羊的牧者。凡在世上敬畏上帝的人，务须与祂有联系。基督乃是有史以来最完美的教育家。摩西认为从祂那里领受智慧与知识，比埃及人的全部学问更有价值。{4T 343.1}[6]
§14
Moses had been a student. He was well educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, but this was not the only qualification which he needed to prepare him for his work. He was, in the providence of God, to learn patience, to temper his passions. In a school of self-denial and hardships he was to receive an education which would be of the utmost importance to him. These trials would prepare him to exercise a fatherly care over all who needed his help. No knowledge, no study, no eloquence, could be a substitute for this experience in trials to one who was to watch for souls as they that must give an account. In doing the work of a humble shepherd, in being forgetful of self and interested for the flock given to his charge, he was to become fitted for the most exalted work ever entrusted to mortals, that of being a shepherd of the sheep of the Lords pasture. Those who fear God in the world must be connected with Him. Christ is the most perfect educator the world ever knew. To receive wisdom and knowledge from Him was more valuable to Moses than all the learning of the Egyptians. {4T 343.1}[6]
§15
F弟兄和姐妹，我恳劝你们要认真，要藉着耶稣基督来到上帝面前。“不要自欺，上帝是轻慢不得的。人种的是什么，收的也是什么”（加6:7）。凡将自己的才干和钱财用在自我放纵和满足低级情欲上的人，必收获败坏。他的收成是确定的。他的心智会丧失敏感性和能力。他的智力会分散，他的寿命会缩短。上帝要你们作出更彻底的努力，好折服和控制自我。我蒙指示看到上帝和众天使正随时准备和等候着要帮助你们做这项重要的工作。你们若是拖延，若是拖拖拉拉，可能就会太迟了。你们的宽容时期延长了，你们的品格正在成形，我亲爱的弟兄和姐妹啊，你们的品格不久就会永远定型了。不彻底的工作不会使你们向天国前进一步。优柔寡断不久就会变成作出错误的决定。许多人决定侍奉自我和撒但，因为没有做出坚决的努力去克服自己品格的缺陷。许多人在宠爱自己有罪的倾向爱好时，却指望有一天会成为得胜者，他们正在作出导致灭亡的决定。F弟兄和姐妹啊，你们奉耶稣基督的名甚至现在“你在这日子”（路19:42）就可以得胜。不要为自己计划和学习。你们在鼓励任何程度的自私自利时，都无法完全属于主。救赎主向你们显示的这种大爱，你们应当以极大的谦卑领受并且不住地欢喜快乐。你们若要快乐，就必须控制自己的思想和言语。这需要你们付出纯熟的努力，然而你们若要被承认为上帝的儿女，就必须下这番工夫。不要在你们的努力中变得厌倦。撒但正在争夺你们的灵魂，务要让他失望。{4T 343.2}[7]
§16
Brother and Sister F, I entreat you to be in earnest and come to God through Jesus Christ. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He who spends his talents and his means in self-indulgence, in gratification of the lower passions, will reap corruption. His harvest is sure. His mind will lose its susceptibility and power. His intellect will be shattered and his life shortened. God requires you to make more thorough efforts to subdue and control self. I was shown that God and angels are ready and waiting to help you in this important work. If you delay, if you are even dilatory, it may be too late. Your probation is lengthened, your character is now forming, and soon, my dear brother and sister, it will be stereotyped forever. Halfway work with you will not advance you one step toward heaven. Indecision soon becomes decision in the wrong direction. Many decide to serve themselves and Satan by not making determined efforts to overcome their defects of character. While many are petting sinful propensities, expecting to be overcomers sometime, they are deciding for perdition. Brother and Sister F, in the name of Jesus Christ you may be victorious even now in this thy day. Do not plan and study for self. You cannot be wholly the Lords while encouraging any degree of selfishness. Such great love as the Redeemer has shown you should be received with great humility and continual rejoicing. In order to be happy, you must control your thoughts and words. It will require a masterly effort on your part; nevertheless it must be done if you are to be the acknowledged children of God. Be not weary in your efforts. Satan is battling for your souls, and he must be disappointed. {4T 343.2}[7]
§17
F弟兄，你最初开始在一个地方工作时，一般会拥有人们的信任；但在更加完全熟悉之后，你品格的缺乏就变得那么明显，以致许多人便对你的虔诚失去了信心。这样就把耻辱投在我们教会一切的传道人身上。你在一个地方稍作逗留不会损害你的名誉。你为对立的影响所迫，虽然会认真作工，全神贯注于所从事的工作，也没有时间或机会想到自己和反省。但及至工作结束，你就又开始想着自己了，因为对你来说这么做很自然，你宠爱自己，变得幼稚、尖刻、脾气乖戾，因而大大损害了上帝的工作。你在教会中表现出同样的精神，因而你的影响在团体中造成了极大的伤害，某些情形已无法补救。你常常表现出孩子气的争论，甚至在作工使人归向真理时也这样；给目睹的人留下的印象一直是很糟的。现在，有两件事，其中一件必须做成；你必须要么在本地作一个分别为圣的人，在你家中和教会里始终温柔忍耐，要么别在一个教会定居下来，因为你的缺陷会显而易见，而你自称敬爱和侍奉的救赎主会受到羞辱。{4T 344.1}[8]
§18
When you, Brother F, first commence to labor in a place, you generally have the confidence of the people; but after a more thorough acquaintance your defects of character become so apparent that many lose confidence in your piety. Reflections are thus cast upon all the ministers of the denomination. A short stay in a place would not injure your reputation. While engaged in earnest labor, pressed by opposing influences, your mind is absorbed in the work in which you are engaged, and you have neither time nor opportunity to think and reflect upon yourself. But when the work is over, and you begin to think upon self, as it is natural for you to do, you pet yourself, become babyish, sharp, and cross in temper, and thus greatly mar the work of God. You manifest the same spirit in the church, and thus your influence is greatly injured in the community, in some cases beyond remedy. You have frequently exhibited childish contention, even while laboring to convert souls to the truth; and the impressions made have been terrible upon those who were witnesses. Now, one of two things must be done; you must either be a consecrated man at home, in your family, and in the church, at all times tender and patient, or you must not settle down in a church; for your defects will be made apparent, and the Redeemer you profess to love and serve will be dishonored. {4T 344.1}[8]
§19
摩西的信心导致他仰望那些看不见的事物，就是那永恒的事物。他撇弃了宫庭生活中富丽堂皇的种种吸引人的事物，因为有罪恶在内。他放弃了眼前似乎美好而至终仅招致败坏与灭亡之物。在他看来，那实际吸引人的，永恒的事物，才是有价值的。摩西所作的牺牲，实际说来并不是牺牲。在他不过是撇弃眼前，看得见的，似乎是美好的事物，以换取那确实，高贵，不朽的福利。{4T 345.1}[9]
§20
The faith of Moses led him to look at the things which are unseen, which are eternal. He left the splendid attractions of court life because sin was there. He gave up present and seeming good that flattered only to ruin and destroy. The real attractions, the eternal, were of value to him. The sacrifices made by Moses were really no sacrifices. With him it was letting go a present, apparent, flattering good for a sure, high, immortal good. {4T 345.1}[9]
§21
摩西为基督忍受了凌辱，视这种凌辱比埃及的全部财物更为宝贵。他深信凡上帝所说的话，不让世界的任何凌辱诱使他偏离自己的正直。他以属上帝的自由人的身份在世上行事为人。他心中有基督的爱，这不仅使他成了一个尊贵的人，也给人的尊贵加添了真基督徒美德的光彩。摩西走了崎岖危险的道路，但他仰望那看不见的事物，并且毫不蹒跚而行。在他看来，那将要领受的赏赐乃是可羡慕的，对于我们也可能如此。他与上帝是非常亲密的。{4T 345.2}[10]
§22
Moses endured the reproach of Christ, considering reproach greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. He believed what God had said and was not influenced to swerve from his integrity by any of the worlds reproaches. He walked the earth as Gods free man. He had the love of Christ in his soul, which not only made him a man of dignity, but added the luster of the true Christian graces to the dignity of the man. Moses walked a rough and perilous path, but he looked to the things unseen and faltered not. The recompense of reward was attractive to him, and it may be also to us. He was familiar with God. {4T 345.2}[10]
§23
这在你面前的工作，是要善用你的余生，再次塑造和提升你的品格。新的生活开始于更新了的心灵。基督是住在心中的救主。那或许被视为很难放弃的，必须抛弃。那傲慢、独断的言语，必须留下不说；然后才会获得宝贵的胜利。真正的快乐必是每一次舍己，每一次钉死自我的结果。赢得一次胜利，使第二次的胜利更容易获得。要是摩西忽视了上帝给他的机会和特权，他就会忽略从天而来的亮光，成为一个失望可怜的人。罪是来自下面；一旦被放纵，撒但就被供奉在心灵里，在那里点燃地狱之火。上帝颁布律法，不是阻止生灵的得救，反而希望人人得救。人人都有亮光和机会，他若予以善用，就可得胜。你可以藉着得胜的人生，显出上帝恩典的能力。撒但企图将他的宝座设在人心的殿中。当他施行统治时，就会在使人忧伤且杀伤人的暴怒情绪和苦毒的言语中叫人听到和感受到他；然而，正如光明不与黑暗交通，基督不与彼列联合，人只能完全支持这一个，或者那一个。屈服于自我放纵、贪婪、诡计、欺骗，或者任何一种形式的罪，就是鼓励撒但的原则在他的心灵里，并自闭于天门之外。由于罪，撒但被逐出天庭；没有人可因放纵和助长罪恶，得以进入天国；若能，撒但将再立足天庭。{4T 345.3}[11]
§24
The work is before you to improve the remnant of your life in reforming and elevating the character. A new life begins in the renewed soul. Christ is the indwelling Saviour. That which may be regarded as hard to give up must be yielded. The overbearing, dictatorial word must be left unspoken; then a precious victory will be gained. True happiness will be the result of every self-denial, every crucifixion of self. One victory won, the next is more easily gained. Had Moses neglected the opportunities and privileges granted him of God, he would have neglected the light from heaven and would have been a disappointed, miserable man. Sin is from beneath; and when it is indulged, Satan is enshrined in the soul, there to kindle the very fires of hell. God has not given His law to prevent the salvation of souls, but He wants all to be saved. Man has light and opportunities, and if he will improve them he may overcome. You may show by your life the power of the grace of God in overcoming. Satan is trying to set up his throne in the soul-temple. When he reigns he makes himself heard and felt in angry passions, in words of bitterness that grieve and wound; but as light has no communion with darkness, and Christ no union with Belial, the man must be wholly for one or the other. In yielding to self-indulgence, avarice, deception, fraud, or sin of any kind, he encourages the principles of Satan in his soul and closes the door of heaven to himself. Because of sin, Satan was thrust out of heaven; and no man indulging and fostering sin can go to heaven, for then Satan would again have a foothold there. {4T 345.3}[11]
§25
人若天天认真地克服他品格上的缺点，便是在将基督怀存在他的心殿之中；基督的光也在他里面了。在基督圣容之光的灿烂光辉下，他整个的人都得蒙提拔而成为高贵的了。他的心灵中也有天上的平安了。许多人放松了对情欲、贪财、自私和欺骗的控制，总是为自己辩解，责备使他们受到考验的环境。你的情形就是这样。上帝允许你的环境存在，好显露你的品格。但你原可创造自己的环境；因为藉着抵抗试探或经受试探，可以奉耶稣的名用意志力支配环境。这就是在得胜象基督得了胜一样。“使我们胜了世界的，就是我们的信心”（约壹5:4）。{4T 346.1}[12]
§26
When a man is earnestly engaged day by day in overcoming the defects in his character, he is cherishing Christ in his soul-temple; the light of Christ is in him. Under the bright beams of the light of Christs countenance his entire being becomes elevated and ennobled. He has the peace of heaven in his soul. Many give loose rein to passion, avarice, selfishness, and deception, and all the time excuse themselves and lay the blame on the circumstances which brought around the trial to themselves. This has been your case. God permitted your surroundings to exist to develop character. But you could have made your surroundings; for by resisting or enduring temptation, circumstances are controlled by the might of the will in the name of Jesus. This is overcoming as Christ overcame. This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. {4T 346.1}[12]
§27
F弟兄啊，上帝对你是仁慈的。你的人生一直是一个错误，一点儿不象它可以而且应该成为的样子。你里面一直没有真正的男子气概，真正高尚纯洁的情操。你没有适当的自尊，所以对别人也没有适当的尊重。你没有崇扬基督和祂恩典的能力。你的人生一路上都需要保护人。你人生初期的行为中可以见到的轻薄浮躁，欠考虑和缺乏自制，自私自利和不耐烦，在你如今已过中年时显著地得到了发展。要是你放弃孩子气的情绪，孩子气的脾气，并且披戴上男人的坚稳，你原不必这样。你总的来说是优待自己以致害了自己。你的痛苦和软弱向来被夸大。你看着它们，抱怨地谈论它们，却不转脸仰望耶稣。要思想比起基督的苦难，你的痛苦多么小，你经受的多么少；而祂本是无罪的——义的为不义的受苦。{4T 346.2}[13]
§28
Brother F, God is merciful to you. Your life has been a mistake, nothing like what it might and should have been. There has not been in you genuine manliness, true elevation and purity of feeling. You have not had proper self-respect, and therefore have not had proper respect for others. You have not magnified Christ and the power of His grace. You have needed guardians all the way along through life. The same frivolity and fickleness, the same inconsideration and lack of self-control, the same selfishness and impatience, which were seen in your conduct at an early period of your life, are developed in a marked manner now that you are past the meridian. This need not have been, had you put away childish feelings and childish temper, and put on the firmness of the man. You have favored yourself altogether to your injury. Your pains and infirmities have been magnified. You look at them and talk complainingly of them, but do not look away to Jesus. Think how little you suffer, how little you endure, in comparison with the sufferings of Christ; and He was sinless--the Just suffering for the unjust. {4T 346.2}[13]
§29
好树不会结坏果子。好的谈吐必陪伴好的良心，就象好树必结好果子一样。如果一个人不仁慈，在家里脾气很坏，对与他联络的人也是这样，不用问就知道他会怎么在教会里进行管理。他必展示出他在家里表现的同样任性专横的性情。没有人能拥有基督的精神和心思，却不因而在人生一切的关系和责任上变得更好。抱怨、诉苦和烦躁的情绪并不是好原则结出的果子。你需要迫切地祷告，因为你没有加强高尚尊贵的道德品性。现在你要做成这事。这工作会很难，但绝对必要。{4T 347.1}[14]
§30
A good tree will not produce corrupt fruit. Good conversation will accompany a good conscience, as surely as good fruit will be produced by a good tree. If a man is unkind and churlish in his family and to others connected with him, no one need to inquire how he will manage in the church. He will exhibit the same petulant, overbearing disposition which he shows at home. No man can have the spirit and the mind of Christ without being rendered better by it in all the relations and duties of life. Murmuring, complaining, and fretful passion are not the fruit of good principles. You will need to be instant in prayer, because you have not strengthened the high, noble, moral traits of character. This is to be done now by you. The work will be difficult, but it is positively essential. {4T 347.1}[14]
§31
你在得克萨斯州时，曾经绝望，感到上帝和人都离弃了你；但现在你既已重新开始，就要让改革的工作做得彻底，你的悔改应当是那种无需后悔的懊悔。就健康和活力来说，你人生的最好日子已经过去了；但你可以用正确的习惯，愉快的心境，和关于目前行为的清白的良心，来转败为胜。你没有时间可以浪费。你的妻子可以帮助你在收割园地中的一切努力。她若因真理成圣，就能藉着与他人交谈和社交成为你和上帝圣工的福气。{4T 347.2}[15]
§32
While in Texas you were hopeless and felt yourself forsaken of God and man; but now that you again make a start, let the work of reformation be thorough, your repentance such as needeth not to be repented of. The best of your days, so far as health and vigor are concerned, are in the past; but with proper habits, a cheerful mind, and a clear conscience in reference to your present deportment, you may turn your defeat into victory. You have no time to lose. Your wife can help you in all your efforts in the harvest field. If she is sanctified through the truth she can be a blessing to you and to the cause of God by conversing with others and being social. {4T 347.2}[15]
§33
许多人踉跄跌倒，是因为放纵了刚愎的脾气。亚历山大和凯撒发现，征服一个王国比控制自己的情绪容易多了。在征服了多国之后，世人所谓的伟人倒下了，一个是因食欲的放纵，成了不节制的牺牲品，另一个是因自以为是和疯狂的野心。{4T 348.1}[16]
§34
Many falter and fall because of the indulgence of a perverse temper. Alexander and Caesar found it much easier to subdue a kingdom than to rule their own spirits. After conquering nations, the worlds so-called great men fell, one of them through the indulgence of appetite, a victim of intemperance, the other through presumption and mad ambition. {4T 348.1}[16]
§35
上帝号召你们放弃骄傲和顽梗，且要让祂的平安在你们心里作主。必须怀有温柔安静的心。要在你一切的工作中带有基督的柔和。激动的情绪和伤人的指责不会感动人或得到他们的同情。我们若拥有真理，就应该从容镇静。我们的语言就应当谦虚高尚。你们里面怀有的精神已在面容上留下了印记。基督若登上心殿的宝座，就会消除烦躁、易怒、不快乐的表情；而当多如云彩的见证人看到一个人反映出基督的形像时，他们就会认识到他是被愉快的气氛包围着。世人就会看到他象高高的雪松一样，在辱骂的暴风中屹立不动摇。那人是上帝的一个英雄。他胜过了自己。{4T 348.2}[17]
§36
God calls upon you to yield pride and stubbornness, and to let His peace rule in your hearts. A meek and quiet spirit must be cherished. Carry Christs meekness with you in all your labors. An excited temper and cutting censure will not impress the people or gain their sympathy. If we have the truth, we can afford to be calm and unexcited. Our language should be modest and elevated. The spirit you have cherished within has left its impression upon the countenance. Christ, enthroned in the soul-temple, will efface that fretful, peevish, unhappy look; and as the cloud of witnesses look upon a man reflecting the image of Christ, they will realize that he is surrounded by a pleasant atmosphere. The world will see that amid storms of abuse he stands unmoved, like the lofty cedar. That man is one of Gods heroes. He has overcome himself. {4T 348.2}[17]
§37
人生绝大多数烦恼、天天腐蚀人的忧虑、种种伤心的事、所有的刺激，乃是脾气未受控制的结果。家庭范围中的和谐气氛，往往会因急躁的话语和辱骂人的言词而致破坏了。要是那些话留下不说，该是多么地好呢。一次表示喜悦的微笑，一句以温柔的精神而说的安详嘉许的话语，会成为一种安抚、慰藉和祝福的能力。管制自我乃是世上最棒的统治。人若以温柔安静的心为妆饰，那使生活极度痛苦的烦恼，百分之九十九就可免除了。有许多人为自己急躁的话语和激怒的脾气辩白，说：“我过于敏感，我脾气急躁。”可是这种说法绝不会治好急怒话语所造成的伤害。有些人确实生来就比其他人更加性情暴躁；但这种精神决不能与上帝的灵和谐。原来属肉体的人必须死去，而那新人，就是基督耶稣，须占有人的心灵，以致跟从耶稣的人可以真实无伪地说：“现在活着的，不再是我，乃是基督在我里面活着”（加2:20）。{4T 348.3}[18]
§38
The largest share of the annoyances of life, its daily corroding cares, its heartaches, its irritation, is the result of a temper uncontrolled. The harmony of the domestic circle is often broken by a hasty word and abusive language. How much better were it left unsaid. One smile of pleasure, one peaceful, approving word spoken in the spirit of meekness, would be a power to soothe, to comfort, and to bless. The government of self is the best government in the world. By putting on the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, ninety-nine out of a hundred of the troubles which so terribly embitter life might be saved. Many excuse their hasty words and passionate tempers by saying: I am sensitive; I have a hasty temper. This will never heal the wounds made by hasty, passionate words. Some, indeed, are naturally more passionate than others; but this spirit can never harmonize with the Spirit of God. The natural man must die, and the new man, Christ Jesus, take possession of the soul, so that the follower of Jesus may say in verity and truth: I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. {4T 348.3}[18]
§39
自我是很难征服的。不容易使人性各种形式的堕落顺服基督的灵。然而人人都应铭记这一事实：若不靠赖基督获得这场胜利，他们就毫无希望。胜利是可以取得的；因为在上帝没有不可能的事。藉着祂助人的恩典，一切恶劣的性情，一切人性的败坏，都可以克服。每一个基督徒必须学基督的样式：“祂被骂不还口”（彼前2:23）。{4T 349.1}[19]
§40
Self is difficult to conquer. Human depravity in every form is not easily brought into subjection to the Spirit of Christ. But all should be impressed with the fact that unless this victory is gained through Christ, there is no hope for them. The victory can be gained; for nothing is impossible with God. By His assisting grace, all evil temper, all human depravity, may be overcome. Every Christian must learn of Christ, who, when He was reviled, reviled not again. {4T 349.1}[19]
§41
摆在你面前的工作不是轻松的任务，并非儿戏。你没能前进到完全，但你现在可以重新开始。你可以用自己的生活显明，在将属肉体的人于基督耶稣里转变成属灵的人这件事上，上帝的恩典和能力能做什么。你若愿奉基督的名果断地持定这工作，就可以作得胜者。{4T 349.2}[20]
§42
The work before you is no light task, no childs play. You have failed to go forward to perfection, but now you may begin anew. You may show by your life what the power and grace of God can do in transforming the natural man into a spiritual man in Christ Jesus. You may be overcomers if you will, in the name of Christ, take hold of the work decidedly. {4T 349.2}[20]
§43
有一句严肃的话，我希望你们把它写在自己的心上：当人们屈服于撒但的诡计，从而置身于他的境地时，他们若想藉着上帝的怜悯脱离他的网罗，就必须密切地与上帝联络，天天钉死自我，并且彻底改变，以便取得胜利，赢得永生。你们二人都离上帝很远。你们给祂的圣工带来了极大的羞辱。现在你们必须极其热心认真地去克服你们品格中的每一个缺点，带头过屈辱和信靠、恳求和祈祷的生活；凭着信心求上帝为基督的缘故删去以往，好使你们所撒的恶种不致被人扩散和珍存，积蓄上帝大日的忿怒。{4T 349.3}[21]
§44
There is one solemn statement that I wish you to write upon your hearts: When persons have yielded to Satans devices, and have thus placed themselves upon his ground, if they would then recover themselves from his snares through the mercy of God, they must come into close connection with Him, daily crucify self, and be thoroughly transformed, in order to gain the victory and win eternal life. You both went a long distance from God. You have brought great reproach upon His cause. Now you must be most zealously in earnest to overcome every defect in your characters and lead a life of humiliation and trusting, pleading prayer; in faith ask God for Christs sake to cancel the past, so that the seeds of evil that you have sown may not be extended and be treasured up as wrath against the day of wrath. {4T 349.3}[21]
§45
你们现在若我行我素，性情暴戾，宠爱自己，幼稚地谈论自己的软弱，详述自己的感受，细想黑暗面，就会软弱没灵性。正是这些事使你们容易中了撒但的诡计。你们若是开始走过去你们的脚步开始滑跌时所走的道路，你们的情形就会无望。你们若是藉着悔改断绝罪恶，以救主的代求为避难所，恳求上帝赐下祂的灵好带领、教导和鼓舞你们，藉以避免可怕的后果，你就可以收获永生。务要团结一致、谦卑地将你们无助的心灵本着信心投靠在基督的功劳上。{4T 349.4}[22]
§46
Now to go on in the same course, fractious in spirit, petting yourselves, babyishly talking of your infirmities, expatiating upon your feelings, and dwelling upon the dark side, will make you weak and spiritless. It was these things that made you easy subjects to Satans devices. If you begin the same course you were pursuing when your feet began to slip, your cases will be hopeless. If you break off your sins by repentance, and avoid the fearful consequences by taking refuge in a Saviours intercession, pleading with God earnestly for His Spirit that you may be led and taught and quickened, you may reap life everlasting. Do not fail to unitedly, humbly, cast your helpless souls in faith upon the merits of Christ. {4T 349.4}[22]