第45章 自制的重要性
§1
第45章 自制的重要性
§2
Chap. 45 - Importance of Self-Control
§3
H姐妹：我不怎么了解你信奉基督之前的生活，但知道自从那时以来，你一直没有成为一个真正悔改归正的女人。你没有正确地表现你的主基督。你虽接受了真理的理论，却没能因真理成圣。你没有实行自制，却满足了自己的欲望和心愿，损害了健康和信仰。你容易恼怒生气，但你不但没有严防自己的言语和行为，反而放松了情欲的缰绳。人的心思要么受撒但控制，要么受耶稣控制。当你丝毫不实行自制时，撒但就控制你，引导你去做去说完全邪恶的事。你因常常这样行，已经成为习惯了。{4T 495.2}[1]
§4
Sister H: I know but little of your life before you professed Christ; but since that time you have not been a truly converted woman; you have not rightly represented Christ, your Master. You accepted the theory of the truth, but have failed to become sanctified through it. You have not practiced self-control, but have gratified your desires and wishes at the expense of health and religion. You are easily irritated, and, instead of putting a strict guard upon your words and actions, you have given loose rein to your passions. The mind is controlled either by Satan or by Jesus; and when you practice no self-control, Satan rules and leads you to do and say things that are wholly satanic. This has been repeated so often that it has become habitual. {4T 495.2}[1]
§5
自从你和现在的丈夫一起生活以来，你任由自己被极小的事激怒，在这种时候你似乎有一种疯狂的情绪，撒但则站在旁边嘲笑你给自己和那些你有责任使之幸福的人招致的不幸。你的孩子们遗传了你的品格特性，此外，他们还天天效法你盲目无理的感情发泄、不耐烦和焦躁的榜样。{4T 495.3}[2]
§6
Since you have been living with your present husband you have allowed yourself to become exasperated at very trivial matters; and at such times you seem to have a frenzied passion, while Satan stands by and laughs at the misery you are bringing upon yourself and those whom it is your duty to make happy. Your children have had transmitted to them your traits of character, and, besides this, they are daily copying your example of blind, unreasonable passion, impatience, and fretfulness. {4T 495.3}[2]
§7
人心中有生来的自私和败坏，是只有藉着最彻底的训练和最严格的约束才能克服的；即使这样也需要多年耐心的努力和恳切的抵制。上帝容许我们经历贫穷的烦恼，且将我们置于困难的处境，以便我们品格的缺陷可以暴露出来，磨平我们的粗糙之处。但在上帝赐下了种种特权和机会之后，在人深入理解了亮光和真理之后，人们若仍为自己品格的缺陷开脱，继续自私嫉妒，他们的心就会变得刚硬如花岗岩，若非由上帝的灵来砍凿、锤打和磨光，就不可能改革他们了。{4T 496.1}[3]
§8
In the human heart there is natural selfishness and corruption, which can only be overcome by most thorough discipline and severe restraint; and even then it will require years of patient effort and earnest resistance. God permits us to experience the ills of poverty, and places us in difficult positions, that the defects in our characters may be revealed and their asperities be smoothed away. But after privileges and opportunities have been given of God, after light and truth have been brought home to the understanding, if persons still make excuses for their deformity of character, and continue in their selfishness and jealousy, their hearts become as granite, making it impossible for them to be reformed, except by the chisel, the hammer, and the polishing of the Spirit of God. {4T 496.1}[3]
§9
我蒙指示回顾你初来某地之时的生活和经历。你的行为前后矛盾；你结交的人也不对。你和孩子们访问露天啤酒店的做法使别人对你的道德立场有了不好的印象。你的经验中有一些可悲的篇章。你虽有亮光和知识，但你的爱好和罪恶却使你与上帝隔绝。{4T 496.2}[4]
§10
I was pointed back to your life and experience when you first came to -----. Your conduct was not consistent; your associations were not right. Your course in visiting the beer gardens with your children did not make a favorable impression upon others in reference to your moral standing. These are sad chapters in your experience. You had light and knowledge, but your inclinations and follies separated you from God. {4T 496.2}[4]
§11
主指示我看到你住在某地时出现的许多情况。你顽强刚愎的意志使你玷辱了你所自称信奉的真理。你在世人面前的行为并非无可非议。你女儿在学校中因任性悖逆而受到的惩罚在你脑中被夸大，以致在你看来成了十分可憎的罪恶，使你去寻求法律的保护。你在那里实行的欺骗，你对事实的夸大，对道德来说是一个极其危险的教训。这些事记在天上的案卷中对你不利。你有一种顽梗的性情，不愿谦卑己心去承认一个错误，而愿在人前证明自己行事有理，不顾这事在上帝看来如何。在这种虚伪的训练之下，你女儿成了这个样子有什么奇怪的呢？这种训练过程除了使你女儿年轻的心认为谁也无权控制她刚愎的意志之外，还能对她有什么影响呢？你亲手所撒的种子已经开花结果了，这是极其痛苦的。{4T 496.3}[5]
§12
Many circumstances which occurred while you were living in ----- were shown me. Your strong, perverse will led you to disgrace the truth which you professed. Your conduct before the world was not justifiable. The punishment which your daughter received in school for willful disobedience was exaggerated in your mind till it became so heinous an offense as to lead you to seek the protection of the law. The deception you there practiced, your exaggeration of the truth, was a lesson most dangerous to morals. These things stand registered against you in the books of heaven. You have a stubborn disposition and will not humble your heart to confess a wrong, but will justify your course before men without reference to how it appears in the sight of God. Can you wonder that under such deceptive training your daughter has become what she is? What influence could such a course of training have upon the youthful mind but to make her feel that no one had a right to control her perverse will? The seed sown by your own hand has blossomed and borne fruit which is most bitter. {4T 496.3}[5]
§13
我因爱你的灵魂而现在写信给你。我受重大的责任所迫，亲自为你写这些话。按你自己的行径看来，你正在为你自己和你的儿女关闭天国之门；因你现在所有的品格缺点，你和他们绝不能进入天国。我的姊妹啊，你正在玩一场悲惨失败的生命游戏。圣洁的天使在守望着你，为你难过；而邪灵见到你迅速失去那些润饰基督徒品格的美德，而代以撒但种植的恶习性时，便甚为得意。{4T 497.1}[6]
§14
Love for your soul causes me to write at the present time. I am oppressed with the burden of responsibility which I now take upon myself in writing out these things for you. By your own course you are closing the gates of heaven against yourself and your children, for neither you nor they will ever enter there with your present defective characters. You, my sister, are playing a sad, losing game in life. Holy angels are watching you with sadness; and evil spirits are looking on with triumph as they see you losing, fast losing, the graces that adorn the Christian character, while in their place Satan is implanting his own evil traits. {4T 497.1}[6]
§15
你沉迷于阅读小说和故事，以致生活在一个虚构的世界里。这种读物的影响，贻害人的身体和心灵，削弱人的智力，并使体力惨受重负。有时你几乎神智不清，因为这些虚构的故事使你的想象力太兴奋和出了毛病。应当好好训练心智，使其一切能力均衡发展。有一种训练的课程，可使某些特别功能活跃，同时却不利用其他一些功能，因此它们的效用也就偏废了。不良的阅读使理智不平衡，使神经过敏，脑筋疲劳，全身衰弱，对记忆力也大有损害。人若不断地用虚构的文学来过分喂养和刺激想象力，想象力不久就会变成一个暴君，控制了心智中所有其他的功能，使人的胃口变坏，思想扭曲。{4T 497.2}[7]
§16
You have indulged in novel and story reading until you live in an imaginary world. The influence of such reading is injurious to both the mind and the body; it weakens the intellect and brings a fearful tax upon the physical strength. At times your mind is scarcely sane because the imagination has been overexcited and diseased by reading fictitious stories. The mind should be so disciplined that all its powers will be symmetrically developed. A certain course of training may invigorate special faculties and at the same time leave other faculties without improvement so that their usefulness will be crippled. The memory is greatly injured by ill-chosen reading, which has a tendency to unbalance the reasoning powers and to create nervousness, weariness of the brain, and prostration of the entire system. If the imagination is constantly overfed and stimulated by fictitious literature, it soon becomes a tyrant, controlling all the other faculties of the mind and causing the taste to become fitful and the tendencies perverse. {4T 497.2}[7]
§17
你的神经衰弱，思想中充满了各种知识──政治，历史，神学和轶事奇闻，但你滥用了的记忆力，只能记住其中的一部分。人的心智若受过良好的训练，即便知识不多，也会有更大的价值。你忽略了训练自己的心智进行活泼的运用，因此你的意志和爱好就约束了你，成了你的主人，而非你的奴仆。结果你的体力和智力就受了亏损。{4T 497.3}[8]
§18
You are a mental dyspeptic. Your mind has been crammed with knowledge of all sorts,--politics, history, theology, and anecdote,--only a part of which can be retained by the abused memory. Much less information, with a mind well disciplined, would be of far greater value. You have neglected to train your mind to vigorous action; therefore your will and inclination have controlled you and been your masters instead of your servants. The result is a loss of physical and mental power. {4T 497.3}[8]
§19
多年以来，你的思想犹如一条潺潺的小溪，几乎被乱石和野草所填满，以致清水溢流而糟塌了。你的能力若是一向由高尚的心志所约束，你就不至于象现在那样病弱无力了。你以为自己必须尽情变化口味和大量阅读。我见到你的房中，半夜还有灯光，你沉醉于一些迷人的小说，这就刺激你那已经过度兴奋的头脑。这种做法使你放松了对生命的把握，体力，智力和道德力都衰弱了。起居不按时使你的家杂乱无章。长此以往，你的思想就必沦为愚蠢。你滥用了上帝所赐的宽容时期，浪费了上帝所赐的光阴。{4T 498.1}[9]
§20
For years your mind has been like a babbling brook, nearly filled with rocks and weeds, the water running to waste. Were your powers controlled by high purposes, you would not be the invalid that you now are. You fancy you must be indulged in your caprice of appetite and in your excessive reading. I saw the midnight lamp burning in your room while you were poring over some fascinating story, thus stimulating your already overexcited brain. This course has been lessening your hold upon life and enfeebling you physically, mentally, and morally. Irregularity has created disorder in your house, and, if continued, will cause your mind to sink into imbecility. Your God-given probation has been abused, your God-given time wasted. {4T 498.1}[9]
§21
上帝赐给我们才干，是要我们善用，而不是要我们滥用。教育不过是一种准备的工作，训练我们的体力，智力和道德力，以便最佳地履行生活上的各种本分。不合宜的读物给人一种虚伪的教育。大脑的耐力，动力与活力，是按运用的方式而增强或减弱的。在你面前有一项工作要做，就是处理掉那些轻浮的读物，将它们从你家中除去。不要让这些试探摆在你面前，去败坏你的想象力，使你的神经系统失衡，并贻害你的儿女。你因为阅读太多，正使自己不配尽为妻为母的本分，事实上也使你不能在任何地方行善。{4T 498.2}[10]
§22
God bestows upon us talents for wise improvement, not for abuse. Education is but a preparation of the physical, intellectual, and moral powers for the best performance of all the duties of life. Improper reading gives an education that is false. The power of endurance, and the strength and activity of the brain, may be lessened or increased according to the manner in which they are employed. There is a work before you to dispose of your light reading. Remove it from your house. Do not have before you the temptation to pervert your imagination, to unbalance your nervous system, and to ruin your children. By much reading you are unfitting yourself for the duties of a wife and mother, and, in fact, are disqualifying yourself to do good anywhere. {4T 498.2}[10]
§23
你没有照你所当行地阅读圣经，因此缺乏圣经方面的智慧，没有作好充分的准备好去行一切善事。轻浮的读物迷惑了心思，使人对于阅读上帝的话索然无味。你设法叫别人以为你是精通经文，但这是办不到的，因为你的思想充满了垃圾。圣经需要思考和虔诚研究。肤浅的浏览是不够的。虽然有些段落是十分明白，不容误会，但也有些段落却较为复杂，需要仔细耐心地研究。正如宝贵的矿物藏在山野之间，我们也应当搜索圣经真理的珍宝，储于心中，以备后用。我巴不得大家能不断地运用思想时刻搜寻天上的黄金，象搜寻那能坏的黄金一样！{4T 498.3}[11]
§24
The Bible is not studied as it should be; therefore you do not become wise in the Scriptures and are not thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Light reading fascinates the mind and makes the reading of Gods word uninteresting. You seek to make others believe that you are conversant with the Scriptures; but this cannot be, for your mind is filled with rubbish. The Bible requires thought and prayerful research. It is not enough to skim over the surface. While some passages are too plain to be misunderstood, others are more intricate, demanding careful and patient study. Like the precious metal concealed in the hills and mountains, its gems of truth are to be searched out and stored in the mind for future use. Oh, that all would exercise their minds as constantly in searching for celestial gold as for the gold that perishes! {4T 498.3}[11]
§25
你若切心学习真理，查究圣经，上帝就要将祂的灵吹进你的心中，用祂圣言的光感动你的心思。圣经就是其本身的解释者，各段互相说明。你若认定一个题旨，将经文进行比较，就必发现其美妙与和谐，是你决不能梦想到的。人间没有别的什么书，能象这本书中之书那样，使人熟读之后，能加强，扩大，提高和纯炼人的思想。研究圣经会给人的心灵带来新的生机，使人与那些需经恳切思考的题目接触，祈求上帝赐下能力，以便了解主所启示的真理。人的思想若只接触平凡的题目，不追究艰深的难题，就必日见偏狭，沦落于所想事物的标准，最终会丧失其扩展的能力。{4T 499.1}[12]
§26
When you search the Scriptures with an earnest desire to learn the truth, God will breathe His Spirit into your heart and impress your mind with the light of His word. The Bible is its own interpreter, one passage explaining another. By comparing scriptures referring to the same subjects, you will see beauty and harmony of which you have never dreamed. There is no other book whose perusal strengthens and enlarges, elevates and ennobles the mind, as does the perusal of this Book of books. Its study imparts new vigor to the mind, which is thus brought in contact with subjects requiring earnest thought, and is drawn out in prayer to God for power to comprehend the truths revealed. If the mind is left to deal with commonplace subjects, instead of deep and difficult problems, it will become narrowed down to the standard of the matter which it contemplates and will finally lose its power of expansion. {4T 499.1}[12]
§27
关于你的行为，最可悲的是你的错误和过失正重现在你的儿女身上。I正变得全神贯注于阅读；她的智力正在受到损害，那是永久的损害，因为随从了你的榜样。她会不喜欢或不适合学习。在早期的生活中，心智是很容易受影响的。那时要将好种撒在好土里，就会结出永生的果实。{4T 499.2}[13]
§28
That which is the most to be deplored in regard to your course is that your errors and mistakes are being reproduced in your children. I is becoming absorbed in reading; her mental powers are receiving injury, permanent injury, from following your example. She will have no taste or aptitude for study. In early life the mind is impressible. Let the good seed then be sown upon good soil, and it will bear fruit unto eternal life. {4T 499.2}[13]
§29
幼年时养成的习惯，虽能在后来有所改良，也很少有根本的改变。你整个人生都受了你出生时遗传的品格所影响。你父亲刚愎的脾气在他的孩子们身上再现。上帝的恩典能克服这些错误的倾向；但是必须打一场怎样的仗啊。你的儿女们也是这样。你纵容他们象纵容自己一样。你没有能力拒绝自己的食欲，这样就给你的消化器官带来了可怕的负担。任何女人象你那样放纵自己的爱好，都不会拥有良好的健康。{4T 499.3}[14]
§30
The habits formed in youth, although they may in after-life be somewhat modified, are seldom essentially changed. Your entire life has been molded by the legacy of character transmitted to you at birth. Your fathers perverse temperament is seen in his children. The grace of God can overcome these wrong tendencies; but what a battle must be fought. Thus it is with your children. You indulge them as you indulge yourself. You have no power to deny the appetite what you desire, and you thus place terrible burdens upon your digestive organs. No woman can have good health and indulge her fancy as you do. {4T 499.3}[14]
§31
你的儿女也是这样。他们的母亲在能照顾他们的时候所施的错误管理，以及他们那么多时候被撇下，没有母亲照顾，几乎已经毁了他们。然而即使是现在，若采取一种坚决不离正道的做法，还可以在他们身上取得极大的进步。他们还没到不能控制的地步，虽然会很难使他们成为父母若是正确原会成为的样子。母亲若是愿意，就可以看到她的做法所造成的后果。她也可以进行改革，设法抵消所犯的错误。她的儿女现在正走上的道路要么导致德行，要么导致恶行，要么导致美名，要么导致恶名，要么通向天国，要么通向地狱。一位祈祷的、敬畏上帝的母亲的影响，会持续到永恒。她可能会逝世，但她的工作却会长存。{4T 500.1}[15]
§32
The same is true of your children. Their mothers wrong discipline when she has been able to care for them, and their being left so much of the time without a mothers care, have nearly ruined them. Yet even now a firm, undeviating course will make great improvement in them; they are not beyond control, although it will be most difficult to make them what they might have been had the parents been right. The mother can see the result of the course she has pursued if she wishes, or she can reform and try to counteract the wrong done. The path upon which her children are now entering may lead to virtue or to vice, to honor or to infamy, to heaven or to hell. The influence of a praying, God-fearing mother will last through eternity. She may die, but her work will endure. {4T 500.1}[15]
§33
H弟兄和姐妹，你们二人谁也没有认识到你们儿女的可悲状况。H弟兄疏于采取坚定的立场管制他们。你家的小男孩在很大程度上管辖了全家的人。你们对两个年长孩子的管理是完全错误的。H弟兄有时太严厉太苛求，对他们的要求是他不会要求自己的孩子们的，H姐妹，你的做法更糟糕。你当面支持孩子们，使他们的心燃烧着报复的情绪。你给了他们不顺从和在他们面前无礼地谈论你丈夫的教训。这种做法只能使他们藐视约束。这样就在他们的心中留下了难以磨灭的印象。{4T 500.2}[16]
§34
Brother and Sister H, neither of you realizes the sad condition of your children. Brother H has neglected to take a decided stand to control them. The little boy, to a great extent, rules the household. The management of your two elder children was entirely wrong. While at times Brother H was too severe and exacting, requiring of them that which he would not have required of his own children, your course, Sister H, was far worse. You took the part of the children in their presence and fired their young hearts with revenge. You gave them lessons of insubordination and talked disrespectfully of your husband before them. This course was just calculated to lead them to despise restraint. An indelible impression was thus made upon their minds. {4T 500.2}[16]
§35
你现在开始在你年长的孩子们身上看到这些训练的结果了；可是你却在很大的程度上和上帝所托你照管的儿女一起做同样的事。你前后矛盾、无法控制的精神，就象吃进身体里的一剂慢性的毒药，迟早会显出其恶毒的结果。它的记号不是留在沙土上，而是刻在石头上；它在后来的年月中，必定见证你的工作。{4T 500.3}[17]
§36
You are now beginning to see in your elder children the results of this training; yet you are doing the same work, to a great extent, with the children that God has since entrusted to your care. Your inconsistent, uncontrollable spirit is like an insidious poison taken into the system, and its bitter results will appear sooner or later. Its mark is being made, not on sand, but on rock; and in after years it will testify of your work. {4T 500.3}[17]
§37
我的姐妹啊，你有敏感的心。你必须认真考虑自己正在养成什么习惯，并恳切祈祷，使你堕落的品性可以在羔羊的血中洗净，脱离它的污秽。你的良心必须得到启迪，你的情欲必须受到抑制，你必须怀着爱真理的心，之后你才能看见上帝的国。{4T 501.1}[18]
§38
My sister, you have not a sensitive conscience. You must consider carefully what habits you are forming, and pray earnestly that your perverse character may be washed from its defilement, in the blood of the Lamb. The conscience must be enlightened, the passions restrained, and the love of truth cherished in the soul before you can see the kingdom of God. {4T 501.1}[18]
§39
你一生始终需要坚固稳定的原则。撒但仍在你的道路上。你现在唯一的指望就是彻底在上帝面前悔改。不要受欺，因为上帝是轻慢不得的。要是你的宽容时期今天就结束，我就不能指望你会得救了。你自己身体、心智和道德的健康，都有赖于适当地管理你的脾气。你无疑会遇到使你心情烦乱和受到严峻考验的事；但你可以靠着耶稣的力量实行自制。所罗门对一个能控制自己之人的评价高过对争战得胜之人的评价：“不轻易发怒的，胜过勇士；治服己心的，强如取城”（箴16:32）。{4T 501.2}[19]
§40
All through your life you have needed fixed and settled principles. Satan is still on your track. Your only hope now is in a thorough conversion to God. Do not be deceived, for God is not mocked. Should your probation close today, I could have no hope of your being saved. Your own health, physical, mental, and moral, depends upon a proper government of your temper. You will doubtless meet with things that will ruffle your spirit and severely test you; but self-control may be yours in the strength of Jesus. Solomon places the one who controls himself above him who conquers in battle: He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city. {4T 501.2}[19]
§41
你藉着让自己变得不适当地兴奋，已经在自己的身体系统中建立了一种事态，若不改变，就会要了你的命。你辱骂自己的丈夫；你对他说的话是作妻子的不应该说的有罪的话。你一次次支吾搪塞，并且走到了故意说谎以达成自己的目的这种罪恶的地步。决心冒一切的风险以实行自己的意愿，乃是你家的主要特征。{4T 501.3}[20]
§42
By permitting yourself to become unduly excited, you have established a condition of things in your system which will, unless changed, cost you your life. You abuse your husband; you say things to him which no wife should be guilty of saying. You have prevaricated again and again, and have gone so far as to be guilty of deliberate falsehoods to accomplish your ends. A determination to carry out their own will at all hazards is a leading characteristic of your family. {4T 501.3}[20]
§43
H弟兄的行径，不是他所当有的行径。他的爱好和厌恶非常强烈，而且他也没有把自己的感情置于理性的管制之下。H弟兄啊，你进食太多，进食的时间也不规矩，已大大损害了你的健康。这必引起血液涌到头脑，以致心思混乱，不能善加控制自己。你的表现，象是一个心思不稳定的人。你行事强硬，易受刺激且爱用夸张而歪曲的眼光来看待各种事物。你应当在户外多运动，饮食应有节制，这都是对你的健康所不可少的。你每天进食不应超过两次。你若觉得晚上一定要进食，喝一杯凉开水就好了，这样，到了早晨，你就会因为没有进食而觉得好过得多了。{4T 501.4}[21]
§44
The course of Brother H has not been what it should have been. His likes and dislikes are very strong, and he has not kept his own feelings under the control of reason. Brother H, your health is greatly injured by overeating and eating at improper times. This causes a determination of blood to the brain. The mind becomes confused, and you have not the proper control of yourself. You appear like a man whose mind is unbalanced. You make strong moves, are easily irritated, and view things in an exaggerated and perverted light. Plenty of exercise in the open air, and an abstemious diet, are essential to your health. You should not eat more than two meals a day. If you feel that you must eat at night, take a drink of cold water, and in the morning you will feel much better for not having eaten. {4T 501.4}[21]
§45
不可让你们的孩子在两餐之间乱吃糖饼、水果、硬壳果或任何此类的食品。每日两餐比三餐更佳。父母若偏离原则，立下了坏榜样，儿女不久就会照样而行。饮食没有规律，会破坏消化器官的健康状况，及至儿女来到餐桌时，不再爱好有益健康的饮食；他们的食欲贪求那对他们最有害的食品。你们的儿女往往因为不适当的饮食，而受发烧及寒颤的痛苦，其实他们的父母是当为这些疾病负责的。父母的责任是照顾儿女养成能促进健康的习惯，以便省去许多的疾苦。{4T 502.1}[22]
§46
Your children should not be allowed to eat candies, fruit, nuts, or anything in line of food, between their meals. Two meals a day are better for them than three. If the parents set the example, and move from principle, the children will soon fall into line. Irregularities in eating destroy the healthy tone of the digestive organs, and when your children come to the table they do not relish wholesome food; their appetites crave that which is the most hurtful for them. Many times your children have suffered from fever and ague brought on by improper eating, when their parents were accountable for their sickness. It is the duty of parents to see that their children form habits conducive to health, thereby saving much distress. {4T 502.1}[22]
§47
H弟兄有中风的危险，他若继续违背健康律，他的寿命就会突然缩短。你们这家人可以幸福也可以不幸。这在于你们自己。你们自己的行动方针会决定你们的将来。你们二人都需要磨平你们品格上尖锐的棱角，并且只说你们不会耻于在上帝的日子见到的话语。要使直走本分的正路成为你们人生的准则。不顾会袭击你的无数试探，忠于无亏的良心和上帝，你脚下的路就会平坦。你们可能会为不值得争论的小事吵起来，结果会很麻烦。直路是平安的道路。这条路是如此平坦，以致敬畏上帝的谦卑人，可以在其上行走，不至失足，也不需要走弯曲的小路。虽然路并不宽敞；但不同气质的人，却能在其上并肩行走，只要他们都跟随他们救恩的元帅。凡是要带上自己全部罪恶特性和自私习惯的人，不能行走这条路，因为这条路太直太窄了。{4T 502.2}[23]
§48
Brother H is in danger of apoplexy, and if he continues to disobey the laws of health, his life will be cut short suddenly. As a family you can be happy or miserable. It rests with yourselves. Your own course of action will determine the future. You both need to soften the sharp points of your characters and to speak such words only as you will not be ashamed to meet in the day of God. Make it the rule of your life to go straight forward in the path of duty. In defiance of numerous temptations which will assail you, be true to a good conscience and to God, and your pathway will be plain to your feet. You may contend about little things that are not worthy of contention, and the result will be trouble. The path of the upright is the path of peace. It is so plain that the humble, God-fearing man can walk in it without stumbling and without making crooked paths. It is a narrow path; but men of different temperaments can walk side by side if they but follow the Captain of their salvation. Those who wish to carry along all their evil traits and selfish habits cannot walk in this path, for it is too straight and narrow. {4T 502.2}[23]
§49
大牧者按着名叫自己的羊，召唤他们跟随祂的脚踪的时候，是多么耐心啊！祂寻找迷失的羊。祂从祂的圣言发出亮光，指出他们的危险。祂从天上向他们发出警告、斥责和请求，呼叫他们回到正路上来。祂谋求亲自帮助那些犯了过错的人，把他们从跌倒之处拉起来。然而许多人行走罪恶之路已经很久，以致不愿听从耶稣的声音。他们离开那能提供休息与安全的道路，把自己交给错误的向导，傲慢地、盲目自信地越走越远，离开了光亮与平安，快乐与休息。{4T 503.1}[24]
§50
What pains the Great Shepherd takes to call His sheep by name and invite them to follow in His footsteps. He seeks the wandering. He flashes light from His word to show them their peril. He speaks to them from heaven in warnings and reproofs, and in invitations to return to the right path. He seeks to help the erring by His presence and to lift them when they fall. But many have followed the path of sin so long that they will not hear the voice of Jesus. They leave all that can give them rest and security, yield themselves up to a false guide, and presumptuously hurry on in blind self-confidence, going further and further from light and peace, from happiness and rest. {4T 503.1}[24]
§51
我恳求你们留意上帝所赐的亮光，并实施改革。基督的十字架，是我们唯一的希望。它向我们显露了我们天父伟大的爱，以及天上的君王为了看到将要灭亡的生灵得救进入祂国中的欢乐，而忍受侮骂、嘲笑、羞辱和痛苦。你们若爱自己的儿女，就要致力于研究怎样使他们为不朽的来生作好准备。他们若带着现有的不快乐性情，就决不会见到上帝的乐园。要趁着白日作工，爱惜光阴，去赢得那不朽的荣耀冠冕。救你们自己和你们全家吧，因为生灵的得救是宝贵的。{4T 503.2}[25]
§52
I implore you to heed the light which God has given, and reform. The cross of Christ is our only hope. It reveals to us the greatness of our Fathers love and the fact that the Majesty of heaven submitted to insult, mockery, humiliation, and suffering for the joy of seeing perishing souls saved in His kingdom. If you love your children, let it be your chief study to prepare them for the future, immortal life. With the unhappy dispositions they now possess, they will never see the paradise of God. Work while it is day; redeem the time, and win the crown of immortal glory. Save yourself and your household, for the salvation of the soul is precious. {4T 503.2}[25]