第16章 迟延的时期
§1
第十六章 迟延的时期
§2
Chapter 16—The Tarrying Time
§3
当1843年完全过去（见附录注释四），而耶稣没有复临时，那些凭着信心仰望祂显现的人曾一度被困在怀疑和彷徨之中。他们虽然失望了，但许多人继续研究圣经，重新检查自己信仰的根据，并仔细钻研预言，为要得着进一步的亮光。圣经对于他们的见解所提供的佐证是清楚而确凿的。许多不容误会的预兆都证明基督复临的日子已近。信徒虽然不能解释自己失望的原因，但他们总相信自己过去的一段经验乃是出于上帝的引领。{4SP 241.1}
§4
When the year 1843 [See Appendix, note 4.] entirely passed away unmarked by the advent of Jesus, those who had looked in faith for his appearing were for a time left in doubt and perplexity. But notwithstanding their disappointment, many continued to search the Scriptures, examining anew the evidences of their faith, and carefully studying the prophecies to obtain further light. The Bible testimony in support of their position seemed clear and conclusive. Signs which could not be mistaken pointed to the coming of Christ as near. The believers could not explain their disappointment; yet they felt assured that God had led them in their past experience. {4SP 241.1}
§5
他们因圣经中有关迟延时期的经文可以直接而有力的用在他们身上，就大大增强了信心。早在1842年，上帝的灵曾感动查理斐奇设计一幅预言图表。一般的复临信徒都相信这是应验了上帝所吩咐先知哈巴谷的话：“将这默示明明的写在版上，使读的人容易读。” 可是没有人注意到这同一段预言也指明一段迟延的时期。及至他们失望之后，这段经文的全部意义才显明出来。先知这样说：“将这默示明明的写在版上，使读的人容易读。这默示有一定的日期，快要应验，并不虚谎。虽然迟延，还要等候。因为必要临到，不再迟延”（哈2:2-3）。{4SP 241.2}
§6
Their faith was greatly strengthened by the direct and forcible application of those scriptures which set forth a tarrying time. As early as 1842, the Spirit of God had moved upon Charles Fitch to devise the prophetic chart, which was generally regarded by Adventists as a fulfillment of the command given by the prophet Habakkuk, “to write the vision and make it plain upon tables.” No one, however, then saw the tarrying time, which was brought to view in the same prophecy. After the disappointment, the full meaning of this scripture became apparent. Thus speaks the prophet: “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” [Habakkuk 2:2, 3.] {4SP 241.2}
§7
以西结的一段预言也使信徒得到力量和安慰：“耶和华的话临到我说，人子啊，在你们以色列地，怎么有这俗语说，日子迟延，一切异象都落了空呢？你要告诉他们说，主耶和华如此说，……日子临近，一切的异象都必应验。……我耶和华说话，所说的必定成就，不再耽延。”“以色列家的人说，他所见的异象，是关乎后来许多的日子，所说的预言，是指着极远的时候。所以你要对他们说，主耶和华如此说，我的话没有一句再耽延的，我所说的必定成就”（结12:21-25,27-28）。{4SP 242.1}
§8
A portion of Ezekiel’s prophecy also was a source of much strength and comfort to believers: “And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth? Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord God:” “The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.” “I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged.” “They of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off. Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done.” [Ezekiel 12:21-25, 27, 28.] {4SP 242.1}
§9
那些等候主的信徒因此就欢喜了。他们相信那从起初看到末后的主曾在古时预先看到他们的失望，而赐给他们这些鼓励和有希望的勉言。若是没有这几段经文说明他们是在正路上，他们就必在那考验的时辰失去信心了。{4SP 242.2}
§10
The waiting ones rejoiced that He who knows the end from the beginning had looked down through the ages, and, foreseeing their disappointment, had given them words of courage and hope. Had it not been for such portions of Scripture, showing that they were in the right path, their faith would have failed in that trying hour. {4SP 242.2}
§11
《马太福音》第二十五章里十个童女的比喻，用近东地区的婚礼来说明复临信徒的经验。“那时，天国好比十个童女拿着灯出去迎接新郎”。“新郎迟延的时候，他们都打盹睡着了”。童女出来迎接，代表那因第一道信息的传播而普遍开展的运动。新郎的迟延代表信徒所指望救主回来的日子过了期，以及随之而来失望和迟延。在那指定的时候过去之后，真心相信的人依然一致相信万物的结局已近。但他们很快就显明他们的热心和虔诚已多少也有所减退，以至陷入了比喻中童女在迟延时期中的那种打盹状态。{4SP 242.3}
§12
In the parable of the ten virgins, Matthew 25, the experience of Adventists is illustrated by the incidents of an Eastern marriage. “Then shall the kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.” “While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.” The wide-spread movement under the proclamation of the first message, answered to the going forth of the virgins, while the passing of the time of expectation, the disappointment, and the delay, were represented by the tarrying of the bridegroom. After the definite time had passed, the true believers were still united in the belief that the end of all things was at hand; but it soon became evident that they were losing, to some extent, their zeal and devotion, and were falling into the state denoted in the parable by the slumbering of the virgins during the tarrying time. {4SP 242.3}
§13
约在此时，狂热的风潮开始发作了。一些曾经表示热心相信基督复临的人不再以上帝的圣言为唯一绝无错误的向导，却声称自己受了圣灵的直接引领，结果就完全被自己的情绪、感觉和幻想所支配了。有一些人则表现一种盲目而偏执的热忱，并且排斥一切不赞同他们的人。他们狂热的见解和行动，是一般的复临信徒所不同情的。但这些狂热之徒终于使整个真理的事业受到羞辱。{4SP 243.1}
§14
About this time, fanaticism began to appear. Some who professed to be zealous believers in the message rejected the word of God as the one infallible guide, and, claiming to be led by the Spirit, gave themselves up to the control of their own feelings, impressions, and imaginations. There were some who manifested a blind and bigoted zeal, denouncing all who would not sanction their course. Their fanatical ideas and exercises met with no sympathy from the great body of Adventists; yet they served to bring reproach upon the cause of truth. {4SP 243.1}
§15
那时，撒但正在努力用这种方法反对并破坏上帝的工作。众人已经因复临运动而大受感动；成千的罪人已经悔改信主，并有许多忠诚分子献身宣扬真理。就在迟延的时期，也是如此。那时邪恶之君见自己的许多臣仆离开了他；为要使上帝的圣工蒙受羞辱，他就设法欺哄一些自称有信仰的人，驱使他们走向极端。于是他的爪牙就准备利用这等人的每一个错误，每一次的失败，和每一件不体面的事，加以夸大的宣传，使复临运动的信徒和信仰显为可憎。因此撒但竭力使他所控制的许多人表示相信基督的复临，而同时还让他控制他们的心。这样的分子越多，撒但就越能受益于指出这一等人为全体信徒的代表。{4SP 243.2}
§16
Satan was seeking by this means to oppose and destroy the work of God. The people had been greatly stirred by the Advent movement, thousands of sinners had been converted, and faithful men were giving themselves to the work of proclaiming the truth, even in the tarrying time. The prince of evil was losing his subjects; and in order to bring reproach upon the cause of God, he sought to deceive those who professed the faith, and to drive them to extremes. Then his agents stood ready to seize upon every error, every failure, every unbecoming act, and hold it up before the people in the most exaggerated light, to render Adventists and their faith odious. Thus the greater the number whom he could crowd in to make a profession of the Advent faith while his power controlled their hearts, the greater advantage would he gain by calling attention to them as representatives of the whole body of believers. {4SP 243.2}
§17
撒但是那“控告我们弟兄的”（启12:10），所以他的灵常鼓动人去窥伺并暴露上帝子民的错误和缺点。至于他们的善行，则一字不提。每逢上帝努力救人的时候，撒但也必活跃起来。每当“神的众子”来待立在耶和华面前时，撒但也必“来在其中”（伯1:6）。在每一次的奋兴中，他总要把一些内心不圣洁，思想不稳健的人带进来。当这样的人接受了真理的某几点并在信徒中得到地位之后，撒但便要利用他们传出一些理论来迷惑一般没有防备的人。一个人虽然和上帝的儿女来往，甚至进入礼拜堂并参加主的圣餐，这并不足以证明他就是一个真基督徒。撒但常爱参加最严肃的聚会。他露面的方式就是藉着他所能利用的爪牙工具。{4SP 244.1}
§18
Satan is an accuser of the brethren, and it is his spirit which inspires men to watch for the errors and defects of the Lord’s people, and to hold them up to notice, while their good deeds are passed by without a mention. He is always active when God is at work for the salvation of souls. When the sons of God come to present themselves before the Lord, Satan comes also among them. In every revival he is ready to bring in those who are unsanctified in heart and unbalanced in mind. When they have accepted some points of truth, and gained a place with believers, he works through them to introduce theories that will deceive the unwary. No man is proved to be a true Christian because he is found in company with the children of God, even in the house of worship and around the table of the Lord. Satan is frequently there upon the most solemn occasions, in the form of those whom he can use as his agents. {4SP 244.1}
§19
大骗子会不择手段地收罗爪牙。即使他自称悔改，进入天国，与天使交往，他的品格也不会改变。当真正的崇拜者在创造主面前恭敬屈身之时，他却要密谋危害上帝的圣工和祂的子民，设计俘获生灵，考虑用最有效的方法播撒稗子。{4SP 244.2}
§20
The great deceiver will profess anything, in order to gain adherents. But should he claim to be converted, should he, if it were possible, enter Heaven and associate with the angels, he would not be changed in character. While the true worshipers would be bowed in adoration before their Maker, he would be plotting mischief against God’s cause and people, devising means to ensnare souls, considering the most successful method of sowing tares. {4SP 244.2}
§21
撒但必要在上帝的子民向天城迈进的路程上步步与他们为难。在教会的全部历史中，没有一次的改革运动不是冒着严重的障碍前进的。在保罗的日子也是这样。这位使徒无论在什么地方兴起教会，就必有一些自称是接受这信仰的人带来一些异端邪道。这些异端如果被众信徒接受的话，就必把热爱真理的心排斥出去了。路德也曾因一些狂热之徒的作风而经受大困难和烦恼。这些人说有上帝直接藉着他们讲话，所以他们重看自己的感想和意见过于圣经的见证。许多缺少信心和经验的人反而会感觉十分自满。他们喜欢“说说听听”新奇的事，结果就受了这些新教师的迷惑，并帮助撒但的爪牙去破坏上帝感动路德所建立的圣工。卫斯理兄弟和其他以自己的影响和信心为世人造福的人，也都曾步步遭遇撒但之诡计所策动的过激、偏执和不圣洁的分子所发起的各等各式的狂热。{4SP 245.1}
§22
Satan contests every inch of ground over which God’s people advance in their journey toward the heavenly city. In all the history of the church, no reformation has been carried forward without encountering serious obstacles. Thus it was in Paul’s day. Wherever the apostle would raise up a church, there were some who professed to receive the faith, but who brought in heresies, that, if received, would eventually crowd out the love of the truth. Luther suffered great perplexity and distress from the course of fanatical persons who claimed that God had spoken directly through them, and who therefore set their own ideas and opinions above the testimony of the Scriptures. Many who were lacking in faith and experience, but who had considerable self-sufficiency, and who loved to hear and tell some new thing, were beguiled by the pretensions of the new teachers, and they joined the agents of Satan in their work of tearing down what God had moved Luther to build up. The Wesleys also, and others who blessed the world by their influence and their faith, encountered at every step the wiles of Satan in pushing over-zealous, unbalanced, and unsanctified ones into fanaticism of every grade. {4SP 245.1}
§23
威廉.米勒耳一点也不赞同那些造成狂热现象的影响。他像马丁.路德一样，声称每一个灵必须受上帝圣言的试验。他说：“魔鬼今日在某一些人的思想上是控制得非常有力的。而我们又怎能知道他们是出于什么灵的感动呢？圣经有回答说：‘凭着他们的果子，就可以认出他们来。’……世上有许多的灵已经出来了；而且有命令吩咐我们要试验那些灵。凡不使我们在今生自守、公义、敬虔度日的灵就不是基督的灵。我越来越相信这些狂热的运动和撒但有很密切的关系。……在我们当中有很多人自命完全圣洁，实际上却在随从人的遗传，况且他们同一些不如此自负的人一样不明白真理。” “错谬的灵必使我们远离真理；而上帝的灵能引领我们进入真理。但你或许要问，一个人可能是错了，但他总以为自己拥有真理，那么怎样呢？我们回答说，圣灵和圣经是一致的。如果一个人用圣经来审查自己，而发现自己能与全部圣经协调，他就可以确信自己拥有真理；但如果他发现那引领他的灵与上帝的律法或圣经一贯的教训不能符合，他就应当谨慎自己的脚步，惟恐陷入魔鬼的网罗”。“从人们眼中发光的神色，脸上的泪珠或富有感情的几句话里，我所能看出内心虔诚的表现，要比全基督教界所发出的狂呼乱喊更多呢”。{4SP 245.2}
§24
Wm. Miller had no sympathy with those influences that led to fanaticism. He declared, with Martin Luther, that every spirit should be tested by the word of God: “The devil has great power over the minds of some at the present day. And how shall we know what manner of spirit they are of? The Bible answers: ‘By their fruits ye shall know them.’” “There are many spirits gone out into the world; and we are commanded to try the spirits. The spirit that does not cause us to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world, is not the spirit of Christ. I am more and more convinced that Satan has much to do in these wild movements.” “Many among us, who pretend to be wholly sanctified, are following the traditions of men, and apparently are as ignorant of truth as others who make no such pretensions, and are not half so modest.” “The spirit of error will lead us from the truth; and the Spirit of God will lead us into truth. But, say you, a man may be in error, and think he has the truth. What then? We answer, The Spirit and word agree. If a man judges himself by the word of God, and finds a perfect harmony through the whole word, then he must believe he has the truth; but if he finds the spirit by which he is led does not harmonize with the whole tenor of God’s law or book, then let him walk carefully, lest he be caught in the snare of the devil.” “I have often obtained more evidence of inward piety from a kindling eye, a wet cheek, and a choked utterance, than from all the noise in Christendom.” {4SP 245.2}
§25
宗教改革运动的敌人曾把狂热派所惹起的祸患都归罪于那些最反对这种风潮的人。后来那些反对复临运动的人也用了这同样的手段。他们不满足于诬蔑并夸大极端主义者和狂热派的谬论，还要散布许多毫无根据的谰言。这些人是被偏见和仇恨所鼓动。他们曾因基督快要复临的信息而感到不安。他们惟恐这信息是真的，而又希望它是假的，这就是他们逼迫复临信徒和复临信仰的真原因。{4SP 246.1}
§26
The enemies of the Reformation charged all the evils of fanaticism upon the very ones who were laboring most earnestly against it. A similar course was pursued by the opposers of the Advent movement. And not content with misrepresenting and exaggerating the errors of extremists and fanatics, they circulated unfavorable reports that had not the slightest semblance of truth. These persons were actuated by prejudice and hatred. Their peace was disturbed by the proclamation of Christ at the door. They feared it might be true, yet hoped it was not, and this was the secret of their warfare against Adventists and their faith. {4SP 246.1}
§27
有一些狂热之徒钻进了复临信徒的团体，这并不足以证明这运动不是出于上帝。正如保罗和路德时代的教会中虽然发现有骗子和狂热之徒，也不足以否定或嘲笑他们的工作。只要上帝的百姓从睡梦中儆醒，并诚恳地从事悔罪和改革的工作；只要他们查考圣经，学习那在耶稣里的真理；只要他们完全献身于上帝，他们就必看到许多现象，说明撒但仍是活跃而警惕着的。他必利用一切迷人的方法来显扬他的能力，并发动他领域之内全部堕落的使者来帮助他。{4SP 247.1}
§28
The fact that a few fanatics worked their way into the ranks of Adventists is no more a reason to decide that the movement was not of God, than is the presence of fanatics and deceivers in the church in Paul’s or Luther’s day a sufficient excuse for discarding or ridiculing their work. Let the people of God arouse out of sleep, and begin in earnest the work of repentance and reformation, let them search the Scriptures to learn the truth as it is in Jesus, let them make an entire consecration to God, and evidence will not be wanting that Satan is still active and vigilant. With all possible deception will he manifest his power, calling to his aid all the fallen angels of his realm. {4SP 247.1}
§29
造成狂热和分裂状态的缘故，决不是因为基督复临的信息广为传开。这种不良的现象是在1844年的夏季，正当复临信徒对自己真实境遇惶惑不定的时候才出现的。1843年第一位天使的信息和1844年“半夜的呼声”的传讲，正足以抑制狂热和分裂的事。因为那些在这两次严肃的运动中有分的人是彼此十分和协的。他们彼此相爱，并热爱他们所希望快要看见的耶稣。同一的信仰和同一有福的指望成了他们抵御撒但的盾牌，并使他们超出一切属于血气的影响。{4SP 247.2}
§30
It was not the proclamation of the Advent message that created fanaticism and division. These appeared in the summer of 1844, when Adventists were in a state of doubt and perplexity concerning their real position. The preaching of the first message in 1843, and of the midnight cry in 1844, tended directly to repress fanaticism and dissension. Those who participated in these solemn movements were in harmony; their hearts were filled with love for one another, and for Jesus, whom they expected soon to see. The one faith, the one blessed hope, lifted them above the control of any human influence, and proved a shield against the assaults of Satan. {4SP 247.2}