第31章 批评传道人
§1
第31章 批评传道人
§2
Chap. 31—Criticizing Ministers
§3
一个错误会导致另一个错误。我们的弟兄必须学会聪明行事而不随从心血来潮。不可以感觉为依据。若疏忽职守，放任不适当的同情心，随之而来的就必是另一个疏忽，不能适当地评价那些正在为推进上帝的圣工劳苦作工的人。耶稣说过：“我奉我父的名来，你们并不接待我；若有别人奉自己的名来，你们倒要接待他”（约5:43）。{5T298.1}[1]
§4
One mistake leads to another. Our brethren must learn to move intelligently and not from impulse. Feeling must not be the criterion. A neglect of duty, the indulgence of undue sympathy, will be followed by a neglect to properly estimate those who are laboring to build up the cause of God. Jesus said: “I am come in My Father’s name, and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.”?{5T 298.1}[1]
§5
讲道本是基督所指定的教导祂子民的方法，因此总应受到高度重视。但许多人却不这么看，他们不觉得讲道是主对他们讲话，也不用所讲真理的价值评价它；却象评判法庭上的律师的演讲一样评判它——按所展示的论证技巧及语言的能力和优美来评判。传道人并非不会出错的人，但上帝却藉着使他作祂的信使而尊荣他。你若是听他讲道好像他并非受命于天似的，你就不会接受他的话，也不会将之领受为上帝的信息。你的心灵就不会得到属天吗哪的供养；对某些生性不喜欢的事就会产生怀疑，于是就坐在审判席上，象论断一位讲师或政客的演讲一样评论所讲的道。聚会一结束，你就会随时准备说出抱怨或讽刺的话，从而表明所讲的信息无论多么真实而必要，也没能使你受益。你不尊重所讲的信息；养成了好批评爱挑剔的习惯，你挑挑拣拣，或许你所拒绝的正是你最需要的。{5T298.2}[2]
§6
Many do not look upon preaching as Christ’s appointed means of instructing His people and therefore always to be highly prized. They do not feel that the sermon is the word of the Lord to them and estimate it by the value of the truths spoken; but they judge it as they would the speech of a lawyer at the bar—by the argumentative skill displayed and the power and beauty of the language. The minister is not infallible, but God has honored him by making him His messenger. If you listen to him as though he were not commissioned from above you will not respect his words nor receive them as the message of God. Your souls will not feed upon the heavenly manna; doubts will arise concerning some things that are not pleasing to the natural heart, and you will sit in judgment upon the sermon as you would upon the remarks of a lecturer or a political speaker. As soon as the meeting closes you will be ready with some complaint or sarcastic remark, thus showing that the message, however true and needful, has not profited you. You esteem it not; you have learned the habit of criticizing and finding fault, and you pick and choose, and perhaps reject the very things that you most need.?{5T 298.2}[2]
§7
上哥伦比亚或北太平洋区会（见249页的说明）十分缺乏对神圣事物的尊敬。上帝所命定的媒介几乎完全被忽视了。上帝并未设立新的办法接触人。他们如果与上帝所指定督责他们罪恶，纠正他们错误，指出他们本分的媒介断绝关系，就没有办法使他们与上天交通了。他们就被丢在黑暗中，被仇敌诱捕捉去了。{5T298.3}[3]
§8
There is very little reverence for sacred things in either the Upper Columbia or the North Pacific Conference. [See footnote on page 249.] The ordained instrumentalities of God are almost entirely lost sight of. God has instituted no new method of reaching the children of men. If they cut themselves off from heaven’s appointed agencies to reprove their sins, correct their errors, and point out the path of duty, there is no way to reach them with any?heavenly communication. They are left in darkness and are ensnared and taken by the adversary.?{5T 298.3}[3]
§9
上帝的传道人奉命要“大声喊叫，不可止息；扬起声来，好像吹角。向我百姓说明他们的过犯；向雅各家说明他们的罪恶”（赛58:1）。主论到这些人说：“他们天天寻求我，乐意明白我的道，好像行义的国民”（2节）。这里提到的一班人自欺、自以为义、自我满足。传道人受命要大声喊叫，向他们说明他们的过犯。历代以来，都在为上帝的子民做这项工作，而且现在比从前更需要做这项工作。{5T299.1}[4]
§10
The minister of God is commanded: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” The Lord says of these people: “They seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness.” Here is a people who are self-deceived, self-righteous, self-complacent, and the minister is commanded to cry aloud and show them their transgressions. In all ages this work has been done for God’s people, and it is needed now more than ever before.?{5T 299.1}[4]
§11
主的话临到了以利亚。他并没有刻意要作主的使者，但主的话临到了他。上帝总有人可以受托传达祂的信息。祂的灵感动他们的心，促使他们发言。他们被圣洁的热情所激励，抱着强烈的神圣愿望，开始履行自己的职责，并没有冷静地考虑把主赐给他们的话传达给人的后果。但上帝的仆人不久就意识到自己是冒了险，发现自己和自己的信息成了人批评的对象。他的举止，他的生活，他的财产，都受到了检查和评论。他的信息也被肢解了。人们既照自己有限的判断行事，就以最狭隘最不圣洁的精神拒绝了他的信息。那信息完成了上帝原本要它完成的工作了吗？没有。它显然失败了，因为听到这信息的人心不圣洁。{5T299.2}[5]
§12
The word of the Lord came to Elijah; he did not seek to be the Lord’s messenger, but the word came to him. God always has men to whom He entrusts His message. His Spirit moves upon their hearts and constrains them to speak. Stimulated by holy zeal, and with the divine impulse strong upon them, they enter upon the performance of their duty without coldly calculating the consequences of speaking to the people the word which the Lord has given them. But the servant of God is soon made aware that he has risked something. He finds himself and his message made the subject of criticism. His manners, his life, his property, are all inspected and commented upon. His message is picked to pieces and rejected in the most illiberal and unsanctified spirit, as men in their finite judgment see fit. Has that message done the work that God designed it should accomplish? No; it has signally failed because the hearts of the hearers were unsanctified.?{5T 299.2}[5]
§13
如果传道人没有坚决的态度，不屈的信心和勇气，藉着不断与上帝交往产生刚强的意志，就会更改自己的见证，讨好听众不圣洁的心与耳。他尽量避免遭到批评，却与上帝隔绝了，失去上帝悦纳的感觉，他的见证变得没有生气和活力。他的勇气和信心消失了。他的工作没有能力。世界上充斥着谄媚和虚伪的人。他们喜欢奉承人；但是确实很少有忠心的人，不计个人得失，深爱他们的弟兄，不能忍受他们身上的罪。{5T299.3}[6]
§14
If the minister’s face is not flint, if he has not indomitable faith and courage, if his heart is not made strong by constant communion with God, he will begin to shape his testimony to please the unsanctified ears and hearts of those he is addressing. In endeavoring to avoid the criticism to which he is exposed, he separates from God and loses the sense of divine favor, and his testimony becomes tame and lifeless. He finds that his courage and faith are gone and his labors powerless. The world is full of flatterers and dissemblers who have yielded to the desire to please; but the faithful men, who do?not study self-interest, but love their brethren too well to suffer sin upon them, are few indeed.?{5T 299.3}[6]
§15
撒但定意切断上帝与祂子民之间的一切交往，以便使他的奸计得逞，而没有声音警告他们的危险。他知道，如果他能诱导人们不相信传信息的使者，或者使他们以为这信息并不具任何神圣性，他们就会觉得没有责任听从圣经对他们说的话。当亮光被当作黑暗而抛在一边时，撒但就心想事成了。{5T300.1}[7]
§16
It is Satan’s settled purpose to cut off all communication between God and His people, that he may practice his deceptive wiles with no voice to warn them of their danger. If he can lead men to distrust the messenger or to attach no sacredness to the message, he knows that they will feel under no obligation to heed the word of God to them. And when light is set aside as darkness, Satan has things his own way.?{5T 300.1}[7]
§17
我们的上帝是一位忌邪的上帝；祂是轻慢不得的。祂按照自己的旨意做一切事情，乐于把人放在不同环境中，根据他们所处的特定情况和时间，嘱咐他们应尽的责任和应遵守的规章。如果他们珍视所赐给他们的亮光，他们的才能就会大为扩展提高，他们对真理的见解就会愈加宽广。永生的奥秘，特别是上帝在救赎计划中所彰显的奇妙恩典，就会展现在他们心中；因为只有属灵的人才能看透属灵的事。{5T300.2}[8]
§18
Our God is a jealous God; He is not to be trifled with. He who does all things according to the counsel of His own will has been pleased to place men under various circumstances, and to enjoin upon them duties and observances peculiar to the times in which they live and the conditions under which they are placed. If they would prize the light given them, their faculties would be greatly enlarged and ennobled, and broader views of truth would be opened before them. The mysteries of eternal things, and especially the wonderful grace of God as manifested in the plan of redemption, would be unfolded to their minds; for spiritual things are spiritually discerned.?{5T 300.2}[8]
§19
我们决不要忘记，基督是藉着祂的仆人们教导人的。可能有些人不是藉着讲道悔改的，他们所在的地方使他们没办法蒙恩，于是上帝的灵就运行，使他们藉着阅读圣经信服真理；但上帝所指定的方法乃是藉着“愚拙的道理”拯救人。虽然人被软弱所困，却可做上帝的信使；当他们的工作收效甚微时，我们亲爱的救主就感到忧伤。每一个前往收割大田地的传道人，都要使他的职责发扬光大。他不该只设法使人认识真理，也该象保罗一样作工，“用诸般的智慧，劝戒各人，教导各人，”“把各人在基督耶稣里完完全全的引到上帝面前”（西1:28）。{5T300.3}[9]
§20
We are never to forget that Christ teaches through His servants. There may be conversions without the instrumentality of a sermon. Where persons are so situated that they are deprived of every means of grace, they are wrought upon by the Spirit of God and convinced of the truth through reading the word; but God’s appointed means of saving souls is through “the foolishness of preaching.” Though human, and compassed with the frailties of humanity, men are God’s messengers; and the dear Saviour is grieved when so little is effected by their labors. Every minister who goes out into the great harvest field should magnify his office. He should not only seek to bring men to the knowledge of the truth, but he should labor, as did Paul, “warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom,” that he may “present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”?{5T 300.3}[9]
§21
他只能得到上帝的使者应得的尊敬。赞美人并不讨上帝的喜欢。人所传达的信息要受圣经的检验。“人当以训诲和法度为标准；他们所说的若不与此相符，必不得见晨光”（赛8:20）。但主的道不可被人的标准衡量。那些思想照世俗的模子塑造的人，那些只有有限的基督徒经验，对上帝的事知之甚少的人，最不尊敬上帝的仆人，也最不尊重祂吩咐他们传达的信息。他们听了一次扎心的讲道，回到家便准备坐下来评判它，于是所受的感动就从他们心中消失了，如同朝露在太阳面前消失一样。如果讲道是出于一种情感的性质，就只会影响情绪，而不会影响心灵和良心。这种讲道没有持久为善的效果，往往只能哗众取宠，引发他们对喜欢之人的感情。他们忘了上帝的话：“你们休要倚靠世人。他鼻孔里不过有气息”（赛2:22）。{5T301.1}[10]
§22
The man is to be regarded and honored only as God’s ambassador. To praise the man is not pleasing to God. The message he brings is to be brought to the test of the Bible. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” But the word of the Lord is not to be judged by a human standard. It will be seen that those whose minds have the mold of earthliness, those who have a limited Christian experience and know but little of the things of God, are the ones who have the least respect for God’s servants and the least reverence for the message He bids them bear. They listen to a searching discourse and go to their homes prepared to sit in judgment on it, and the impression disappears from their minds like the morning dew before the sun. If the preaching is of an emotional character, it will affect the feelings, but not the heart and conscience. Such preaching results in no lasting good, but it often wins the hearts of the people and calls out their affections for the man who pleases them. They forget that God has said: “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils.”?{5T 301.1}[10]
§23
耶稣正等待着渴望在祂子民面前展开那伴随着祂复临的荣耀，带领他们进而注视天国的前景。有多少神奇的事需要揭开。毕生祷告研究的人仍有许多未查究也未解释的事情。然而我们现在不知道的，将来必向我们说明。现在开始的教育，将要延续直到永远。羔羊领着蒙救赎的大军，来到生命水泉的时候，要把祂丰富的经历告诉大家；祂还要把人从未明白的上帝的作为和意图，向大家阐明。{5T301.2}[11]
§24
Jesus is waiting with longing desire to open before His people the glory that will attend His second advent, and to carry them forward to a contemplation of the landscapes of bliss. There are wonders to be revealed. A long lifetime of prayer and research will leave much unexplored and unexplained. But what we know not now will be revealed hereafter. The work of instruction begun here will be carried on to all eternity. The Lamb, as He leads the hosts of the redeemed to the Fountain of living waters, will impart rich stores of knowledge; He will unravel mysteries in the works and providence of God that have never before been understood.?{5T 301.2}[11]
§25
我们永不能测透上帝。祂并不向好奇爱打听的人公布祂的计划。我们万不可用僭越的手，去揭开那蒙蔽着上帝威严的帘幕。使徒说：“深哉，上帝丰富的智慧和知识。祂的判断，何其难测！祂的踪迹，何其难寻”（罗11:33）！祂把祂的能力遮盖起来，正是证明祂的慈爱，因为祂隐蔽在神秘朦胧的威严云雾之中，揭开遮盖神圣所在的帷幕，就意味着死亡。没有人的头脑，能够测大能者居住和工作的奥秘。除了祂认为可以显示给我们的以外，我们不能明白祂对我们的所作所为及其动机。祂公正地安排一切。我们不应该焦躁不满，惶惑不信，却当屈身敬拜而顺服祂。凡有关我们利益的事，祂无不尽量地把祂的旨意向我们显明；至于在这范围以外的事，我们就当信赖祂全能的手和充满慈爱的心。{5T301.3}[12]
§26
We can never by searching find out God. He does not lay open His plans to prying, inquisitive minds. We must not attempt to lift with presumptuous hand the curtain behind which He veils His majesty. The apostle exclaims: “How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” It is a proof of His mercy that there is the hiding of His?power, that He is enshrouded in the awful clouds of mystery and obscurity; for to lift the curtain that conceals the divine presence is death. No mortal mind can penetrate the secrecy in which the Mighty One dwells and works. We can comprehend no more of His dealings with us and the motives that actuate Him than He sees fit to reveal. He orders everything in righteousness, and we are not to be dissatisfied and distrustful, but to bow in reverent submission. He will reveal to us as much of His purposes as it is for our good to know; and beyond that we must trust the hand that is omnipotent, the heart that is full of love.?{5T 301.3}[12]