第43章 自我牺牲
§1
第43章 自我牺牲
§2
Chap. 43—Self-Sacrifice
§3
基督国度的律法是那么简明、细密，而同时全然的完备，以致任何人为的加添必造成混乱。就上帝的圣工而言，我们的工作计划越简单，则成效必越多。在上帝的工作上采用属世的方针，就是招惹灾难和失败。每一有效推进祂国度的努力，都必须以简单和谦卑为特征。{7T 215.1}[1]
§4
The laws of Christ’s kingdom are so simple, and yet so complete, that man-made additions will create confusion. And the more simple our plans for work in God’s service, the more we shall accomplish. To adopt worldly policy in the work of God is to invite disaster and defeat. Simplicity and humility must characterize every effective effort for the advancement of His kingdom.?{7T 215.1}[1]
§5
为了把福音传到各国各族各方各民，就需要保持克已牺牲的精神。负责工作的人应当在凡事上作忠心的管家，本着良心管好大家所积累的资金。要注意避免一切不必要的开支。在为圣工建造房屋增添设备时，要小心不要使准备工作过于铺张，以致无谓地把钱花掉，因为这样就无法为圣工在其他地方尤其在外国的发展提供资金。在国内建立机构不可以从库里提款，以妨碍真理在远方的传播。{7T 215.2}[2]
§6
In order that the gospel may go to all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples, self-sacrifice must be maintained. Those in positions of trust are in all things to act as faithful stewards, conscientiously guarding the funds that have been created by the people. There must be care to prevent all needless outlay. In erecting buildings and providing facilities for the work, we should be careful not to make our preparation so elaborate as to consume money unnecessarily; for this means in every case inability to provide for the extension of the work in other fields, especially in foreign lands. Means are not to be drawn from the treasury to establish institutions in the home field, at a risk of crippling the advancement of truth in regions beyond.?{7T 215.2}[2]
§7
上帝的钱不仅要用在附近，而且要用在遥远的国度和海岛之中。如果上帝的子民不从事这样的工作，祂就必撤消那没有正确利用的能力。{7T 215.3}[3]
§8
God’s money is to be used not only in your immediate vicinity, but in distant countries, in the islands of the sea. If His people do not engage in this work, God will surely remove the power that is not rightly appropriated.?{7T 215.3}[3]
§9
信徒中有许多人饭都吃不饱。他们虽然很穷，还是把十分之一和奉献纳入主的库中。许多人认识到在艰难试炼的环境中维持上帝圣工的需要，就把钱投在出版社中。他们甘心忍受艰苦贫困，为工作的成功警醒祷告。他们的奉献和牺牲表达了他们对那位召他们出黑暗入奇妙光明之主的由衷感激。他们的祈祷和奉献在上帝面前蒙纪念，他们的香气升到天上无比芬芳。{7T 215.4}[4]
§10
Many among believers have scarcely food enough to eat, yet in their deep poverty they bring their tithes and offerings to the Lord’s treasury. Many who know what it is to sustain the cause of God in hard and trying circumstances have invested means in the publishing houses.?They have willingly endured hardship and privation, and have watched and prayed for the success of the work. Their gifts and sacrifices express the fervent gratitude of their hearts to Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. Their prayers and their alms come up as a memorial before God. No incense more fragrant can ascend to heaven.?{7T 215.4}[4]
§11
然而上帝范围广大的工作乃是一个整体。所有的机构都应有同样的原则所控制。必须带有传道工作的见证。每一工作部门都是与福音园地的所有部分相关的，控制一个部门的精神必弥漫于整个园地。如果一部分工人得高工资，其他部门的另一些人也要求高工资，自我牺牲的精神就会消弱。其他的机构也会感染这样的精神。主的福惠就会离开他们。因为祂决不赞成自私自利。这样，我们的发展工作就会中止。要推进圣工，没有牺牲精神是不可能的。来自世界各地的呼声都在要求人力财力以推进圣工。我们岂可被迫说：“你们必须等待；我们库中没有钱吗？”{7T 216.1}[5]
§12
But the work of God in its wide extent is one, and the same principles should control in all its branches. It must bear the stamp of missionary work. Every department of the cause is related to all parts of the gospel field, and the spirit that controls one department will be felt throughout the entire field. If a portion of the workers receive large wages, there are others, in different branches of the work, who also will call for high wages, and the spirit of self-sacrifice will become feeble. Other institutions will catch the same spirit, and the Lord’s favor will be removed from them; for He can never sanction selfishness. Thus our aggressive work would come to an end. It is impossible to carry it forward except by constant sacrifice. From all parts of the world the calls are coming in for men and means to carry forward the work. Shall we be compelled to say: “You must wait; we have no money in the treasury”??{7T 216.1}[5]
§13
一些富有经验而敬虔的人，现在已经安睡在坟墓里了。他们曾领导这项工作。为了工作的成功，曾毫不犹疑克已牺牲。他们是上帝所指定的媒介和代表，通过他们向教会传达属灵生活的原则。他们的经验极有价值。他们是无价之宝，不能被收买也不能被出卖。他们的纯洁，献身，克已，以及与上帝的交往，曾给这项工作的创立带来福惠。我们的机构就是以自我牺牲的精神为特征的。{7T 216.2}[6]
§14
Some of the men of experience and piety, who led out in this work, who denied self and did not hesitate to sacrifice for its success, are now sleeping in the grave. They were God’s appointed channels, His representative men, through whom the principles of spiritual life were communicated to the church. They had an experience of the highest value. They could not be bought or sold. Their purity and devotion and self-sacrifice, their living connection with God, were blessed to the upbuilding of?the work. Our institutions were characterized by the spirit of self-sacrifice.?{7T 216.2}[6]
§15
在我们与贫困作斗争的那段日子里，那些看到上帝如何为圣工施行奇事的人，深感他们最大的荣誉，莫过于藉着与上帝相连的神圣纽带，把他们与圣工的利益联系在一起。他们会不会放下担子，与主讨价还价呢？不会。即使每一个随波逐流的人都离开了自己的岗位，他们也不会放弃圣工的。{7T 217.1}[7]
§16
In the days when we were struggling with poverty, those who saw how wondrously God wrought for the cause felt that no greater honor could be bestowed upon them than to be bound up with the interests of the work by sacred links which connected them with God. Would they lay down the burden and make terms with the Lord from a money point of view? No, no. Should every timeserver forsake his post, they would never desert the work.?{7T 217.1}[7]
§17
早年那些为了创立圣工而作出牺牲的信徒，也怀有这样的精神。他们感到上帝要求所有投身到祂事业的人，为了工作的成功，必须毫无保留地献出灵，智，体和一切才能精力。{7T 217.2}[8]
§18
The believers who in the early history of the cause sacrificed for the upbuilding of the work were imbued with the same spirit. They felt that God demanded of all connected with His cause an unreserved consecration of body, soul, and spirit, of all their energies and capabilities, to make the work a success.?{7T 217.2}[8]
§19
但在有些方面工作已经变质。尽管工作的范围和设施已经增长，敬虔却衰退了。{7T 217.3}[9]
§20
But in some respects the work has deteriorated. While it has grown in extent and facilities, it has waned in piety.?{7T 217.3}[9]
§21
在所罗门的历史上我们得到一个教训。这个以色列王的早年生活前途光明。他选择了上帝的智慧，而且他统治时期的荣耀令世界惊奇。他本可力上加力，德上加德，与上帝的圣德更加相近；但他的历史是何等可悲啊；他被高举到受了最神圣受托的地位，但他被证实是不忠诚的。他变得自恃，骄傲，自高。贪求政治权力和自我扩张导使他与外邦联合。他施的银子和俄斐的金子以昂贵可怕的价格获得，甚至牺牲了正直诚实，背叛了神圣的委托。与拜偶像之人的交往败坏了他的信心；一步错，步步错；上帝为保护祂子民安全所竖立的屏障被拆毁；他的人生被多妻制所败坏；最后，他陷入到敬拜假神当中。那一度坚定、纯洁并高尚的品格变得衰弱，显然没有道德能力了。{7T 217.4}[10]
§22
There is a lesson for us in the history of Solomon. The early life of this king of Israel was bright with promise. He chose the wisdom of God, and the glory of his reign excited the wonder of the world. He might have gone from strength to strength, from character to character, even approaching nearer the similitude of the character of God; but how sad his history; he was exalted to most sacred positions of trust, but he proved unfaithful. He grew into self-sufficiency, pride, self-exaltation. The lust for political power and self-aggrandizement led him to form alliances with heathen nations. The silver of Tarshish and the gold of Ophir were procured at a terrible expense, even the sacrifice of integrity, the betrayal of sacred trusts. Association with idolaters corrupted his faith; one false step led to another; there was a breaking?down of the barriers which God had erected for the safety of His people; his life was corrupted by polygamy; and at last he gave himself to the worship of false gods. A character that had been firm and pure and elevated became weak, marked with moral inefficiency.?{7T 217.4}[10]
§23
邪恶的谋士那时并不少见，他们使那曾经高尚、独立的人照他们所愿意的动摇了，因为他没有以上帝为自己的向导和谋士。他那敏锐的见识迟钝了；他早期作王时有良心体谅人的精神也改变了。自我放纵成了他的神；结果，他的行为就以严刑和暴政为特征了。在自私的放纵中所行奢华使得对穷人施以苛捐杂税成为必须。所罗门从一位执掌权杖的最贤明的君主变为一个暴君。作为国王他已成了全国的偶像，人们效法他的所言所行。他的榜样所发挥的影响力，其结果唯有在众人的行为都在上帝面前受审阅时才会完全知道，那时各人都要按自身的行为受审判。{7T 218.1}[11]
§24
Evil counselors were not wanting, who swayed that once noble, independent mind as they chose, because he did not make God his guide and counselor. His fine sensibilities became blunted; the conscientious, considerate spirit of his early reign was changed. Self-indulgence was his god; and, as the result, severe judgment and cruel tyranny marked his course. The extravagance practiced in selfish indulgence necessitated a grinding taxation upon the poor. From the wisest king that ever swayed a scepter, Solomon became a despot. As a king he had been the idol of the nation, and that which he said and did was copied. His example exerted an influence the result of which can be fully known only when the works of all shall come in review before God, and every man shall be judged according to the deeds done in the body.?{7T 218.1}[11]
§25
上帝怎能忍受那些人的罪行呢，他们拥有大光和特权，然而却随从自己选择的道路，招致永恒的损害！所罗门在献殿时曾庄严地嘱咐百姓说：“所以你们当向耶和华我们的上帝存诚实的心”（王上8:61），他却选择了自己的道路，心中远离上帝。他的心曾献给上帝，并受祂的灵感，写出最宝贵的智慧之言（箴言书）——不朽的真理，——那高尚的心灵，因与邪恶为伴并屈从试探，变得在道德力上无能、软弱了，所罗门羞辱了自己，羞辱了以色列，也羞辱了上帝。{7T 218.2}[12]
§26
Oh, how can God bear with the misdeeds of those who have had great light and advantages, and yet follow the course of their own choosing, to their eternal harm! Solomon, who at the dedication of the temple had solemnly charged the people, “Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God” (1 Kings 8:61), chose his own way, and in his heart separated from God. The mind that was once given to God and inspired of Him to write the most precious words of wisdom (the book of Proverbs),—truths which are immortalized,—that noble mind, through evil associations and yielding to temptation, became inefficient, weak in moral power, and Solomon?dishonored himself, dishonored Israel, and dishonored God.?{7T 218.2}[12]
§27
我们既观看这幅图景，就领会人类若冒险与上帝分离会变成什么样子。一步走错就为另一步走错做了准备，而且每一步都比前一步更容易迈出。这样，人们便跟从另一位领袖而非基督了。{7T 219.1}[13]
§28
Looking upon this picture, we see what human beings become when they venture to separate from God. One false step prepares the way for another, and every step is taken more easily than the last. Thus souls are found following another leader than Christ.?{7T 219.1}[13]
§29
凡在我们机构中任职的人都将受到考验。他们若以基督为榜样，祂就必赐予他们智慧和知识及悟性；他们必在基督的道路上在恩典和才能上长进；他们的品格也必按祂的样式得以塑造。他们若是没能遵守主道，另一个灵就会控制心智和判断力，他们就会制定计划而不寻求主，走自己的道路，离开他们所担任的职位。亮光已经赐给他们；他们若是偏离，谁也不要用贿赂劝诱他们留下来。他们将成为障碍和网罗。时候已到，凡能被震动的都要受震动，使那不能被震动的长存。每个案件都在上帝面前受审阅；祂正在量圣殿和其中的敬拜者。{7T 219.2}[14]
§30
All who occupy positions in our institutions will be tested. If they will make Christ their pattern, He will give them wisdom and knowledge and understanding; they will grow in grace and aptitude in Christ’s way; their characters will be molded after His similitude. If they fail of keeping the way of the Lord, another spirit will control the mind and judgment, and they will plan without the Lord and will take their own course and leave the positions they have occupied. The light has been given them; if they depart from it, let no man present a bribe to induce them to remain. They will be a hindrance and a snare. The time has come when everything is to be shaken that can be shaken, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Every case is coming in review before God; He is measuring the temple and the worshipers therein.?{7T 219.2}[14]