第64章 世俗的影响
§1
第64章 世俗的影响
§2
Chap. 64—Worldly Influences
§3
亲爱的G姐妹：我的爱心和同情都在你的身上。你家中的现状乃是你实行自己错误想法的必然结果，而且还没有结束。你一直没有看出如此随便地与你的亲戚们交往的危险。他们对你的影响远远大于你对他们的影响。他们既是你的亲戚，就对你的属灵福利造成了不小的阻碍，他们也成了违背上帝神圣律法的人。他们的行为是完全得罪上帝的，就象任何其他拒绝亮光和真理，不愿意听真理见证的人一样。有害的印象已印在你心中，影响了你的行动方针。上帝已作了全备的供应，使我们人人可得救恩，但祂不会违背我们的愿意将救恩强加给我们。祂已在圣言中规定了条件，我们应该全心全意殷勤无私地学习这些条件，免得我们犯错误，得不到住在天上的资格。{5T542.2}[1]
§4
Dear Sister G,My heart is drawn out in love and sympathy for you. The present state of things in your family is the sure result of following out your mistaken ideas, and the end is not yet. You have not seen the danger of associating so freely with your relatives. They have had a far greater influence over you and yours than you have had over them. Their being your relatives makes them no less a hindrance to your spiritual welfare and no less transgressors of God’s holy law. Their course is fully as offensive to God as that of any?others who refuse light and truth, and will not listen to any evidence in its favor. Injurious impressions have been made upon your mind and have influenced your course of action. God has made every provision to bring salvation within our reach, but He will not thrust it upon us against our will. He has laid down conditions in His word, and we should diligently, interestedly, with heart and mind, set about the task of learning these conditions, lest we make some mistake and fail to secure our title to the mansions above.?{5T 542.2}[1]
§5
我们决不能同时又事奉上帝，又事奉世界。我们不可将情意集中于无意研究真理之世俗亲友的身上。当我们与他们交往时，固然可以在各方面尽力发光；但我们的言语、行为、习尚和举动，在任何方面都不该受他们的思想和习尚所薰染。在与他们的一切交往中，我们务须表彰真理。我们若不能如此行，则为了自己的灵性着想，我们愈少与他们交往愈妙。我们若置身于那些带有足以使我们忘却主在我们身上所有崇高要求的影响力的友伴中间，便无异乎是自己去招惹试探，而道德力必渐趋弱化，以至无法抗拒试探。我们便会在不知不觉间感染友伴的习气，重视他们的意见，却将神圣永恒的事物置于朋友的意念之下。简言之，我们便恰如众义之敌所愿地备受其影响。{5T543.1}[2]
§6
We cannot serve God and the world at the same time. We must not center our affections on worldly relatives, who have no desire to learn the truth. We may seek in every way, while associated with them, to let our light shine; but our words, our deportment, our customs and practices, should not in any sense be molded by their ideas and customs. We are to show forth the truth in all our intercourse with them. If we cannot do this, the less association we have with them, the better it will be for our spirituality. If we place ourselves among associates whose influence has a tendency to make us forgetful of the high claims the Lord has upon us we invite temptation and become too weak in moral power to resist it. We come to partake of the spirit and cherish the ideas of our associates and to place sacred and eternal things lower than the ideas of our friends. We are, in short, leavened just as the enemy of all righteousness designed we should be.?{5T 543.1}[2]
§7
青年人倘若落在这种影响之下，必比年长的人更易受其感染。每一样事物都会在他们的心版上留下一个印象──包括他们所见到的面容，所听到的声音，所参观的地方，所结交的朋友，以及所阅读的书籍。关于我们为自己，特别是为我们的儿女，选择今世与来生的友伴这件事的重要性，无论如何重视也决不为过。{5T543.2}[3]
§8
The young, if brought under this influence, are more easily affected by it than those who are older. Everything leaves its impress upon their minds, the countenances they look upon, the voices they hear, the places they visit, the company they keep, and the books they read. It is impossible to overestimate the importance for this world and the next of the associations we choose for ourselves and, more especially, for our children.?{5T 543.2}[3]
§9
人生的初期比其它时期都更为重要，必在或对或错的方向上做出决定性的进步。一方面，可能或多或少得了无关紧要的成就；而另一方面，则可或多或少获得实际生活的纯正有价值的知识，变得与上帝熟识，学习如何加强上帝已委托给我们的各项才能。对我们今生和永恒的利益来说，最重要而且必要的乃是在上帝的圣言中所启示的神圣真理的知识。{5T543.3}[4]
§10
The first years of life are more important than any other period. Decided progress will be made either in a right?direction or a wrong one. On one hand, any amount of frivolous attainment may be gained; and on the other, any amount of solid, valuable knowledge for practical life, in becoming acquainted with God, and in learning how to strengthen every faculty that God has entrusted to us. Most important and essential for our present and eternal good is the knowledge of divine truth as revealed in the word of God.?{5T 543.3}[4]
§11
我们是生于一个高举一切虚伪和肤浅之事物过于那真实、自然，与持久之事物的时代。应当防止那引诱心思趋入歧途的各种事物。我们的心思不宜为那毫无价值而不能使智力加强的小说所害。我们供给心灵的养料的品质如何，我们思想的品质也必如何。花在不必要不重要之事上的时间，更好是花在默想救恩计划奇妙的奥秘上及用天赐的每一分能力学习主的道路上，好使我们的脚可以不绊跌在阴森森的疑惑大山上，不偏离由无限的牺牲所筑成、为使主的赎民行在其中的正路。坚强的智力，纯正的知识，乃是俄斐的纯金所不能购买的，其价值远胜过金银。这种教育并非青年通常会选择的教育。他们坚持自己的欲望，自己的好恶，自己的嗜好与意愿；然而作父母的若对于上帝、真理、和那应当环绕其儿女的种种感化力与交游，有正确的见解，则必体认到自身负有上帝所赐的责任，须慎重引导那无经验的青少年在正路上，知道他们种什么，也必收什么。{5T544.1}[5]
§12
We are living in a time when everything that is false and superficial is exalted above the real, the natural, and the enduring. The mind must be kept free from everything that would lead it in a wrong direction. It should not be encumbered with trashy stories, which do not add strength to the mental powers. The thoughts will be of the same character as the food we provide for the mind. The time devoted to needless, unimportant things would better be spent in contemplating the wonderful mysteries of the plan of salvation and in using every God-given power to learn the ways of the Lord, that our feet may not stumble upon the dark mountain of unbelief or stray from the path of holiness which was cast up by infinite sacrifice for the ransomed of the Lord to walk in. The strength of intellect, the substantial knowledge gained, are acquisitions which the gold of Ophir could not buy. Their price is above gold and silver. This kind of education the young do not usually choose. They urge their desires, their likes and dislikes, their preferences and inclinations; but if the parents have correct views of God, of the truth, and of the influences and associations which should surround their children, they will feel their God-given responsibility to firmly guide the inexperienced youth in the right away, knowing that what they sow they will also reap.?{5T 544.1}[5]
§13
假若我的声音能达及全地的父母，我就要警告他们不要任凭儿女们随意拣选朋友或伴侣。一般作父母的很少考虑到：青年人接受有害的印象比接受神圣的印象容易得多；因此他们的社交活动应有利于他们在恩典中长进，并使上帝圣言所启示的真理能在他们的心中扎根。孩子们若常与惯谈无足轻重的属世事物之人在一起，他们的思想必降至同一水平。他们若听见宗教的原理被轻视，我们的信仰被藐视，他们若听见人们对于真理发表狡诈的反对，这些话语必紧附于他们的思想之中，而形成他们的品格。他们的心中若充满了故事，无论是真实的还是编造的，就没有地方存留本该占据他们心意的有用的信息和科学知识了。对这种肤浅读物的喜爱给人的心智造成了何等严重的破坏啊！它已破坏了那为匀称品格之根基的真诚的原则和真实的敬虔。它就象已经吸入体内的一种慢性毒药，迟早必显出其苦毒的作用。何时在青少年的心中留下了一个错误的印象，一个印记就已印下，不是印在沙土上，而是印在永久的岩石上。{5T544.2}[6]
§14
Could my voice reach the parents all through the land, I would warn them not to yield to the desires of their children in choosing their companions or associates. Little do parents consider that injurious impressions are far more readily?received by the young than are divine impressions; therefore their associations should be the most favorable for the growth of grace and for the truth revealed in the word of God to be established in the heart. If children are with those whose conversation is upon unimportant, earthly things, their minds will come to the same level. If they hear the principles of religion slurred and our faith belittled, if sly objections to the truth are dropped in their hearing, these things will fasten in their minds and mold their characters. If their minds are filled with stories, be they true or fictitious, there is no room for the useful information and scientific knowledge which should occupy them. What havoc has this love for light reading wrought with the mind! How it has destroyed the principles of sincerity and true godliness, which lie at the foundation of a symmetrical character. It is like a slow poison taken into the system, which will sooner or later reveal its bitter effects. When a wrong impression is left upon the mind in youth, a mark is made, not on sand, but on enduring rock.?{5T 544.2}[6]
§15
你的儿女所结交的友伴，其具有的性质会吸引他们远离每一种会干扰或打破那些毁坏他们健康的种种恶习的影响。他们若不能一意孤行，就不耐烦。基督徒们的忠告不合他们的口味。他们正行在宽路上走向灭亡，任何试图把他们带到相反方向的影响都激起他们心中最强烈的敌意。他们是环境的俘虏。早年形成的这些对宗教印象不利的关系，对他们接下来的每一步都有一种有力的控制性影响。要使青少年处于最有利的情形之下；因为他们所结交的友伴，所采取的原则，以及所养成的习惯，无疑必断然地决定有关他们本身在此世的贡献，以及来世永恒的福惠的问题。父母不应依从儿女的倾向，乃当遵循上帝所指明的本分的道路，以仁慈的心管束儿女，坚定而确切地，却又满有爱心地拒绝他们一切不正当的欲求，并且怀着诚意，常常祷告，以恒切的努力导引他们的脚步转离世界而向天国迈进。不可容许儿女随心所愿地向任何方向飘去，或走上那充满引离正路之危险的途径。再没有比那等不怕任何危险，而且不肯听受管束与劝告之人更为危险的了。{5T545.1}[7]
§16
The associations of your children are of a character to draw them away from every influence that would interfere with, or break up, their health-destroying habits. They are impatient if they cannot have their own way. The advice of Christians is distasteful to them. They are traveling the road to ruin, and any influence which seeks to lead them in an opposite direction stirs the worst impulses of their hearts. They are creatures of circumstances. The formation of these early ties which are unfavorable to religious impressions has had a powerful, controlling influence over them at every subsequent step. Let the youth be placed in the most favorable circumstances possible; for the company they keep, the principles they adopt, the habits they form, will settle the question of their usefulness here, and of their future, eternal interests, with a certainty that is infallible. The parents should not concede to the inclinations of their children, but should follow the plain path of duty?which God has marked out, restraining them in kindness, denying with firmness and determination, yet with love, their wrong desires, and with earnest, prayerful, persevering effort leading their steps away from the world upward to heaven. Children should not be left to drift into whatever way they are inclined, and to go into avenues which are open on every side, leading away from the right path. None are in so great danger as those who apprehend no danger and are impatient of caution and counsel.?{5T 545.1}[7]
§17
我的姐妹啊，我因为看到你的危险，现在才写信给你。虽然有许多人奉承你，享受你的款待，而不设法藉着正确的劝勉予人福气，但我必须警告你未见的危险，那危险会危害你今生和来生的幸福。我们正在接近暴风雨的时代，我们应该研究我们信仰的真实根基。我们需要查考律法书，看看我们承受不朽基业的资格是否毫无瑕疵。{5T546.1}[8]
§18
It is because I see your danger, my sister, that I write you now as I do. While there may be many to flatter you and enjoy your hospitality without seeking to impart a blessing by right counsel, I must warn you of unseen danger, which will imperil your present and eternal happiness. We are approaching stormy times, and we want to study the true foundation of our faith. We need to search the Lawbook to see if our title to the immortal inheritance is without a flaw.?{5T 546.1}[8]
§19
我们这班人向来被视为太微不足道的，然而这种情形终必有所改变。目前基督教界正在发起的运动，必使守诫命的人引起人的注意。现今上帝的真理不断受到人为的异端邪说的排挤。人们发起许多的运动，使忠于上帝之人的良心受到束缚。许多立法当局将与上帝的子民作对。每一个人都要经受试验。但愿我们作为一班子民，为自己作聪明人，藉着言传身教把那种智慧传给我们的儿女！我们信仰的每一个立场都要受审查；我们若不充分研究圣经，蒙建立，得坚固，就必被世上伟人的智慧带入歧途。{5T546.2}[9]
§20
Our people have been regarded as too insignificant to be worthy of notice, but a change will come. The Christian world is now making movements which will necessarily bring commandment-keeping people into prominence. There is a constant supplanting of God’s truth by the theories and false doctrines of human origin. Movements are being set on foot to enslave the consciences of those who would be loyal to God. The lawmaking powers will be against God’s people. Every soul will be tested. Oh, that we would, as a people, be wise for ourselves, and by precept and example impart that wisdom to our children! Every position of our faith will be searched into; and if we are not thorough Bible students, established, strengthened, and settled, the wisdom of the world’s great men will lead us astray.?{5T 546.2}[9]
§21
世人是忙乱、焦虑、专心致志的。人们急于从恶似是行义，急于犯错似是真理，急于犯罪似是圣洁。黑暗遮盖大地，幽暗遮盖万民。上帝的子民在这种时候岂能沉睡吗？那些持有真理的人岂可沉默好像瘫痪了一样吗？不信的人宣称，他们若是信了基督徒们所自称相信的，就会远比他们更热心。我们若是相信万物的结局近了，我们为人就“该当怎样圣洁，怎样敬虔”啊（彼后3:11）。{5T546.3}[10]
§22
The world is busy, anxious, and devoted. Evil is eagerly followed as though it were righteousness, error as though it were truth, and sin as though it were holiness. Darkness is?covering the earth, and gross darkness the people. And shall God’s people be asleep at such a time as this? Shall those who hold the truth be silent, as if paralyzed? Infidels declare that if they believed what Christians profess to believe, they would be far more in earnest than they. If we believe that the end of all things is at hand, “what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?”?{5T 546.3}[10]
§23
每一个真相信真理的人都必有相应的行为。所有的人都要诚恳严肃，在得人归向基督的事上不倦地努力。真理若先深深根植在他们自己的心里，他们就必寻求将其根植在别人心里。真理总的来说太多被存放在外院了，要使它进入心灵的内殿，使它登上心中的宝座，让它控制人生。应该研究并顺从上帝的话，然后心里才得安息平安与喜乐，志向才会朝向天国；但真理若与生活脱节，存放在外院中，内心就不会因上帝良善的炽热火焰而温暖。{5T547.1}[11]
§24
Every soul who truly believes the truth will have corresponding works. All will be earnest and solemn, and unwearied in their efforts to win souls to Christ. If the truth is first planted deep in their own souls, then they will seek to plant it in the hearts of others. The truth is kept altogether too much in the outer court. Bring it into the inner temple of the soul, enthrone it in the heart, and let it control the life. The word of God should be studied and obeyed, then the heart will find rest and peace and joy, and the aspirations will tend heavenward; but when truth is kept apart from the life, in the outer court, the heart is not warmed with the glowing fire of God’s goodness.?{5T 547.1}[11]
§25
耶稣的宗教被许多人保留在某些日子或某些场合中，在其它的时间就抛弃忽视了。真理的持久原则不仅适用于安息日的几个小时，或几个慈善的行为，而要将之带入内心，炼净并圣化品格。人若有一刻离开这种来自天上的特别亮光和力量而仍是安全的，那么他就无需上帝的真理了。圣经，就是上帝纯净圣洁的道，必须作人的策士和向导，成为支配人生的力量。我们若将它接到心里，它就必赐给我们它的教训。{5T547.2}[12]
§26
The religion of Jesus is, by many, reserved for certain days, or certain occasions, and at other times is laid aside and neglected. The abiding principle of truth is not merely for a few hours on the Sabbath, or for a few acts of charity, but it is to be brought into the heart, refining and sanctifying the character. If there is a moment when man is safe without this special light and strength from heaven, then he may dispense with the truth of God. The Bible, God’s pure, holy word, must be his counselor and guide, the controlling power of his life. It gives forth its lessons to us if we will take them to heart.?{5T 547.2}[12]
§27
亚伯拉罕是一个蒙上帝眷爱的人。主说过：“我眷顾他，为要叫他吩咐他的众子和他的眷属遵守我的道，秉公行义”（创18:19）。亚伯拉罕被上帝尊荣，是因为他培养了家庭的宗教，并使他全家都敬畏耶和华。上帝说：“我眷顾他，为要叫他吩咐”——他不会辜负上帝的委托，屈服除了上帝之外的任何人；有一部律法是亚伯拉罕愿意遵守的；他不容盲目的情感蒙蔽他的正义感，介入上帝和他孩子们的心之间；亚伯拉罕不愿被最残忍的放任带入歧途。{5T547.3}[13]
§28
Abraham was a man favored of God. The Lord said: “I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment.” Abraham was honored of God because he cultivated home religion and caused the fear of the?Lord to pervade his whole household. It is God who says: “I know him, that he will?command”—there will be no betraying of sacred trust on his part, no yielding to anyone but God; there is a law, and Abraham will keep it; no blind affection will cloud his sense of right and interfere between God and the souls of his children; that kind of indulgence which is the veriest cruelty will not lead Abraham astray.?{5T 547.3}[13]
§29
父母与儿女都是属于上帝的，应受祂的管辖。亚伯拉罕恩威兼施管理他的家。上帝的圣言已经给予我们指导的律例。我们若想要遵行主的道，这些律例乃是我们所不能偏离的标准。务要尊上帝的旨意为至上。我们所当发的问题并不是：别人所行的如何？我的亲戚将有何感想？或是，我若如此行，他们将怎样论断我呢？所当问的乃是：上帝怎样说呢？父母或儿女若非遵行主的道路，就别无真正兴盛之途。{5T548.1}[14]
§30
Parents and children alike belong to God to be ruled by Him. By affection and authority combined, Abraham ruled his house. God’s word has given us rules for our guidance. These rules form the standard from which we cannot swerve if we would keep the way of the Lord. God’s will must be paramount. The question for us to ask is not: What have others done? What will my relatives think? or, What will they say of me if I pursue this course? but, What has God said? Neither parent nor child can truly prosper in any course excepting in the way of the Lord.?{5T 548.1}[14]
§31
我很感恩，因为你有高贵的儿子。他们正在寻求行在主的道中。但关于他们的交游，我希望你更为清晰地看出本分的道路。这将决定你是不是在属灵上长进，或者说你是否成为宗教生活中的侏儒。必须听从良心的严厉指示，即使很困难；这会帮助你获得道德的力量。我们常常会面临必须负起的责任。若不经过一番挣扎，就不能始终向上帝献上祷告和赞美。我们若要抵达上帝之城的城门，路上必遭遇舍己和背负十架。耶稣已在前面领路；我们愿意跟从吗？{5T548.2}[15]
§32
I am thankful that you have noble sons who are seeking to walk in the ways of the Lord; but I hope you will discern more clearly the path of duty in respect to their associations. This will determine whether you are growing in spirituality, or whether you are dwarfed in your religious life. The stern dictates of conscience must be obeyed, even though it be difficult; and it will help you to gain in moral power. Duties are often crosses which we must lift. Prayer and praise to God are not always offered without a struggle. Self-denial and cross bearing lie directly in the path we must travel if we reach the gates of the city of God. Jesus has led the way; will we follow??{5T 548.2}[15]
§33
我们必须成为上帝的同工，不仅为我们自己得救，而且尽我们所能地救别人。这样我们就成为伟大救赎计划的合伙人，不久也必同享那极重无比永远的荣耀。上帝号召你奋力前进，“向着标竿直跑，要得上帝在基督耶稣里从上面召你来得的奖赏”（腓3:14）。愿主祝福你，乃是我的祈祷。但要记得，你若与基督联合，就必须与祂同工。除非我们每日与基督的精神有分，我们的虔诚和宗教义务就必变得狭隘，降为我们自己的兴趣爱好。关心他人的灵命适于使自己的基督徒品格加宽加深变得稳固。{5T548.3}[16]
§34
We must be workers together with God, not alone for our own salvation, but in doing all we can for the salvation of others. Thus we become partners in the great plan of redemption, and will be sharers in the eternal weight of glory by and by. God calls upon you to?press?your way “toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” May the Lord bless you, is my prayer. But remember, if you are?united with Christ, you must be a co-worker with Him. Our piety and religious duties will become narrowed down to our own interests unless we are daily partakers of the spirit of Christ. Interest for the souls of others is calculated to give breadth and depth and stability to Christian character.?{5T 548.3}[16]
§35
主就要来了。我们正在接近家乡，我们应该多多吸入属天的空气；然后我们才会认同救主的一切计划，得到提高并能提高别人，且在善工上有效率。{5T549.1}[17]
§36
The Lord is coming. We are nearing home, and we want to take large inspirations of the heavenly atmosphere; then we shall become identified with the Saviour in all His plans. We shall be elevated and able to elevate others, and shall be efficient in good works.?{5T 549.1}[17]