《渴慕神》陶恕著
這一部偉大杰作寫自一顆渴慕神的心，這顆心熱切著至少要抓到神的道路的邊緣，至少要臨到神對罪人愛的深淵的淵面，至少要知道他那不可即的威榮的高度--而這竟是出于芝加哥一位忙碌的牧者之手！
誰能想象，大衛在芝加哥繁忙的街上寫詩篇二十三篇？或者一個中世紀神秘主義者，在縱橫交錯的馬路當中的一所小樓房的書室中，得著他的啟示和亮光？
這儿交匯著不同的生命方向
這儿嘈雜著不同血緣不同伙別的人的呼喊聲
在困苦与需要中折騰
在怕人的幽暗前駐足
以及在暗伏貪欲的路口躑躅
這是紐約的諾美新博士在他一篇不朽的詩章中所說的話。
在各圖已利的斗爭聲音中
神的儿子啊
我听見你的聲音
我与作者的認識，只不過是几次簡短的拜訪，和在他的禮拜堂中有過親切的交通。我發現他是一位自學成功的學者，他博覽群書，在書房中，收集了各种神學与靈修的書籍。他似乎是夜以繼日地在追求神，他的作品是經過長時間的默想与禱告而寫成的，所以他的作品不是一部講章的匯集，也不是為了說教或吸引听從而寫的，乃是為那些真正渴慕神的人而寫的，每一章的內容，可心用摩西的一句禱告「求你顯出你的榮耀給我看」（出33:18），或用保羅的話「深哉！神丰富的智慧和知識」（羅11:33）作為總括。這不是一种頭腦的神學，乃是屬心靈的神學。就全書內容而言，有深刻的觀察，活潑的筆調，和一种普遍新穎的格式。作者引用別人的話雖然不多，但對各時代的圣徒与屬靈偉人如奧古斯丁、庫薩的尼古拉、多瑪肯培、許格勒、芬尼、衛斯理，以及其他好些人都有深刻的認識。全書共有十章，都是精心佳作，每一章末后的禱告都不是說教者的禱告，乃是密室中的心聲。我每當誦讀時，就覺与神更加親近。總之這是一部寫給每一個牧師、傳教士，以及敬虔的基督徒的書，這書論到關于神的更深的一方面的事，和他丰盛的恩典。尤其可貴的，這本書為我們開啟了誠實与謙卑的門。—孫撒母耳
The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer
Introduction
Here is a
masterly study of the inner life by a heart thirsting after God, eager to grasp
at least the outskirts of His ways, the abyss of His love for sinners, and the
height of His unapproachable majesty--and it was written by a busy pastor in
Where cross the crowded ways of life –
Where sound the cries of race and clan,
In haunts of wretchedness and need,
On shadowed threshold dark with fears,
And paths where hide the lures of greed...
But even as Dr. Frank Mason North, of
`Above the noise of selfish strife
we hear Thy voice,
O Son of
My acquaintance with the
author is limited to brief visits and loving fellowship in his church. There I
discovered a self-made scholar, an omnivorous reader with a remarkable library
of theological and devotional books, and one who seemed to burn the midnight
oil in pursuit of God. His book is the result of long meditation and much
prayer. It is not a collection of sermons. It does not deal with the pulpit and
the pew but with the soul a thirst for God.
The chapters could be
summarized in Moses' prayer, `Show me thy glory,' or Paul's exclamation, `O the
depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!' It is theology
not of the head but of the heart. There is deep insight, sobriety of style, and
a catholicity of outlook that is refreshing. The author has few quotations but
he knows the saints and mystics of the centuries--Augustine, Nicholas of Cusa,
Thomas à Kempis, von Hagel, Finney, Wesley and many more. The ten chapters are
heart searching and the prayers at the close of each are for the closet, not
pulpit. I felt the nearness of God while reading them. Here is a book for every
pastor, missionary, and devouted Christian. It deals with the deep things of
God and the riches of His grace. Above all, it has the keynote of sincerity and
humility.
Samuel M. Zwemer
Preface
In
this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering gleam appears: within the
fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found increasing numbers of
persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself.
They are eager for spiritual realities and will not be put off with words, nor
will they be content with correct `interpretations' of truth. They are athirst
for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the
Fountain of Living Water. This is the only real harbinger of revival which I
have been able to detect anywhere on the religious horizon. It may be the cloud
the size of a man's hand for which a few saints here and there have been
looking. It can result in a resurrection of life for many souls and a recapture
of that radiant wonder which should accompany faith in Christ, that wonder
which has all but fled the
Current
evangelicalism has (to change the figure) laid the altar and divided the
sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and rearrange
the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire upon the top of
lofty
There
is today no lack of Bible teachers to set forth correctly the principles of the
doctrines of Christ, but too many of these seem satisfied to teach the
fundamentals oft he faith year after year, strangely unaware that there is in
their ministry no manifest Presence, nor anything unusual in their personal
lives. They minister constantly to believers who feel within their breasts a
longing which their teaching simply does not satisfy. I trust I speak in
charity, but the lack in our pulpits is real.
It
is a solemn thing, and no small scandal in the Kingdom, to see God's children
starving while actually seated at the Father's table. The truth of Wesley's
words is established before our eyes: `Orthodoxy, or right opinion, is, at
best, a very slender part of religion. Though right tempers cannot subsist
without right opinions,yet right opinions may subsist without right tempers.
There may be a right opinion of God without either love or one right temper
toward Him. Satan is proof of this.'
Thanks
to our splendid Bible societies and to other effective agencies for the dissemination
of the Word, there are today many millions of people who hold `right opinions,'
probably more than ever before in the history of the Church.Yet I wonder if
there was ever a time when true spiritual worship was ever a time when true
spiritual worship was at a lower ebb. To great sections of the Church the art
of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and
foreign thing called the `program.' This word has been borrowed from the stage
and applied with sad wisdom to the type of public service which now passes for
worship among us.
Sound
Bible exposition is an imperative must in the Church of the living God. Without
it no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term.
But exposition may be carried on in such way as to leave the hearers devoid of
any true spiritual nourishment whatever. For it is not mere words that nourish
the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in
personal experience, they are not the better for having heard the truth. The
Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and
satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may
delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God
Himself in the core and center of their hearts.
This
book is a modest attempt to aid God's hungry children so to find Him. Nothing
here is new except in the sense that it is a discovery which my own heart has
made of spiritual realities most delightful and wonderful to me. Others before
me have gone much farther into these holy mysteries than I have done, but if my
fire is not large it is yet real, and there may be those who can light their
candle at its flame.
A.
W.
（一）緊緊的跟隨
「我心緊緊的跟隨你，你的右手扶持我。」（詩63:8）
基督教神學中，有一條教義稱為「神恩先惠論」，簡單說來，就是一個人還不能尋找神的時候，神首先找到他。
一個罪人還不能對神有正确認識的時候，在他里面，必須先有靈里的光照；這或許是不完全的一步工作，然而卻是真實的工作，而且這步工作，也是這人以后渴慕神，尋求神，和禱告神的內在原因。我們追求認識神，唯一的原因，乃是由于神首先把尋求他的心放在我們里面，激起我們的追求，我們的主說：「若不是差我來的父吸引人，就沒有能到我這里來的。」（約6:44）由于是神先吸引我們，因此他就拿掉了我們自己能來到主面前的一切功勞。追求認識神熱切的心是源于神；而熱切的外在表現，就是緊緊的跟隨他。正當我們追求他的時候，我們就已經在他的手中了，因此說：「你的右手扶持我。」這樣，在神那一方面有「扶持」，在人這一方面有「跟隨」，二者之間并無沖突，一切都屬于神，正如許格勒（Hugel）所說的：「神總是在一切之先。」然而，在實行的時候（就是說神的工作先臨到人時人的反應），人必須追求認識神，既然神的吸引是為要造成与他合一的經歷，在我們方面就必須有積極的交互反應。在個人感覺中，描寫這种經歷最熱烈的，是詩篇四十二篇，這里說：「神啊，我的心切慕你，如鹿切慕溪水。我的心渴想神，就是永生神。我几時得朝見神呢？」（詩42:1-2）這是深處的呼求，凡是切慕神的人都明白這個道理。
因信稱義的道理--确是出自圣經的一种真理把人從無效驗的律法，和無益的自我努力中釋放出來--到我們這一時代，已經誤入迷途，而且被許多人誤解到一种程度，實際上只能阻止人認識神。整個宗教信仰所表現的生活是机械而無生命的。現在的信仰可以和天然生活互相協調，可以對自我老亞當的生活沒有妨礙。人可以「接受」基督，而在心靈中，沒有一點特別傾向于主的愛。有人是「得救」了，但對神不飢也不渴。其實他是被誤導，以為就此滿足。
現在的科學家，研究神所造的奇妙宇宙，卻失去了神；我們基督徒真正的危險，也是在領受神自己奇妙的話時卻失去神，我們几乎忘記了神是一位有位格的神，忘記他是如同任何人那樣，可以与之建立親密關系的神。我們當然曉得，一個人可以認識另一個人，但是一個若要完全被另外一個人認識，就不能單憑
一切人与人的社交往來，都是人与人的相互反應，從偶然的接触，漸漸進到人所能達到最完全而親密的交通。宗教既然是真實的，在本質上乃是被造的人對于創造者神的回應。「認識你獨一的真神，并且認識你所差來的耶穌基督，這就是永生。」（約17:3）
Chapter 1: Following hard
after God
My soul followeth hard after
thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. Ps. 63:8 .
Christian theology teaches the doctrine
of prevenient grace, which briefly stated means this, that before a man can
seek God, God must first have sought the man. Before a sinful man can think a
right thought of God, there must have been a work of enlightenment done within
him; imperfect it may be, but a true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of
all desiring and seeking and praying which may follow.
We pursue God because, and
only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit.
`No man can come to me,' said our Lord, `except the Father which hath sent me
draw him,' and it is by this very prevenient drawing that God takes from us
every vestige of credit for he act of coming. The impulse to pursue God
originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard
after Him; and all the time we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand:
`Thy right hand upholdeth me.' In this divine `upholding' and human `following'
there is no contradiction. All is of God, for as von Hugel teaches, God is
always previous.
In practice, however, (that is,
where God's previous working meets man's present response) man must pursue God.
On our part there must be positive reciprocation if this secret drawing of God
is to eventuate in identifiable experience of the Divine. In the warm language
of personal feeling this is stated in the Forty-second Psalm: `As the hart
panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul
thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before
God?' This is deep calling unto deep, and the longing heart will understand it.
The doctrine of justification
by faith--a Biblical truth, and a blessed relief from sterile legalism and
unavailing self-effort--has in our time fallen into evil company and been
interpreted by many in such manner as actually to bar men from the knowledge of
God. The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and
spiritless. Faith may now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and
without embarrassment to the Adamic ego. Christ may be `received' without
creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver. The man is
`saved,' but he is not hungry nor thirsty after God. In fact he is specifically
taught to be satisfied and encouraged to be content with little.
The modern scientist has lost
God amid the wonders of His world; we Christians are in real danger of losing
God amid the wonders of His Word. We have almost forgotten that God is a Person
and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in
personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one
personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter. It is only after
long and loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be
explored.
All social intercourse between
human beings is a response of personality to personality, grading upward from
the most casual brush between man and man to the fullest, most intimate
communion of which the human soul is capable. Religion, so far as it is
genuine, is in essence the response of created personalities to the Creating
Personality, God. `This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.' (John 17:3)
神是一個有位格的神，在他的全能神性的深處，他會思想、決定、享受、感覺、愛、要求，也會懮傷，如普通人一樣。為要使我們能認識他，他一直保持和人一般的性情，他通過我們的思想、意愿、感情，和我們交通。神和被救贖的人之間，有不斷而無阻隔的相愛、思想交流，這就是新約活潑宗教生活的核心。
与神交通，是有意識的，是個人的，那就是說，与神的交通并不是透過一群信徒的團體而產生，乃是從個別有此經驗的信徒，而及于這些信徒所組成的團體得知這經驗。与神交通是可以感覺到的；那就是說，它并不是藏在意識之外，不為人所能領會（如同有些人想嬰孩受洗的道理那樣），它乃是在我們意識的領域中，就如同人能感覺任何事物的經驗那樣。
凡是在你我方面是頂微小的，在神那一方面是大的（除罪以外）。我們既是神照著他的形像造的，里面就有認識他的能力。我們犯罪后，所失去的只是那种能力而已。但當圣靈重生了我們，我們整個人就与神有生命上的關系，我們因這种關系而涌起無限的喜樂。這就是從天而來的重生，若沒有這种重生，人就不能見神的國。但這不過是一個開始，而不是結局，因為從這時起，才算開始追求神的榮耀，心靈才有一种喜樂去探求認識無限的丰富。我說這只是起頭，至于究竟到那地步為止，還未有人發現過，因為在三而一的神那可畏而奧秘的深處，是沒有窮盡的。
你是無邊的海洋，誰能測透
你以永遠無窮作居所
你至尊、至高
找著神而又繼續追求認識神，乃是人心靈中愛的矛盾。那些易于自滿自足的教徒，輕看了這种愛，然而熱心追求的儿女們有過喜樂的經歷，就認識它的真价值。圣伯爾納把這种神圣而矛盾愛寫成一首四行詩，每一個真心敬拜的心靈都極容易了解其中的意義：
我們嘗了你這生命餅
乃渴慕飽餐你
我們喝了你活水的泉源
乃更干渴的把靈魂投進你里面求充滿
若你仔細研究以往那些男女圣人的生活，不久你就會覺得他們對于神的渴慕何等迫切。他們為神的緣故而懮傷，晝夜禱告為要尋求神，且是繼續不斷地尋求，當他們得著神的時候，那种甜蜜足以抵償從前尋求的代价。摩西把他對神的認識作為要更深一層認識他的理由，他說「我如今若在你眼前蒙恩，求你將你的道路指示我，使我可以認識你，好在你眼前蒙恩。」（出33:13）跟著他就大膽地向神作這樣的要求：「求你顯出你的榮耀給我看。」神顯然因他這樣熱心追求感到喜悅，于是第二天叫摩西到山上，在那里庄嚴地使他的榮耀從摩西面前經過。
God
is a Person, and in the deep of His mighty nature He thinks, wills, enjoys
feels, loves, desires and suffers as any other person may. In making Himself
known to us He stays by the familiar pattern of personality. He communicates
with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills and our emotions. The
continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and
the soul of the redeemed man is the throbbing heart of New Testament religion.
This
intercourse between God and the soul is known to us in conscious personal
awareness. It is personal: that is, it does not come through the body of
believers, as such, but is known to the individual, and to the body through the
individuals which compose it. And it is conscious: that is, it does not stay
below the threshold of consciousness and work there unknown to the soul (as,
for instance, infant baptism is thought by some to do), but comes within the
field of awareness where the man can `know' it as he knows any other fact of
experience.
You
and I are in little (our sins excepted) what God is in large. Being made in His
image we have within us the capacity to know Him. In our sins we lack only the
power. The moment the Spirit has quickened us to life in regeneration our whole
being senses its kinship to God and leaps up in joyous recognition. That is the
heavenly birth without which we cannot see the
Thine
own eternity is round Thee,
Majesty
divine!
To
have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love, scorned
indeed by the too-easily- satisfied religionist, but justified in happy
experience by the children of the burning heart. St. Bernard stated this holy
paradox in a musical quatrain that will be instantly understood by every
worshipping soul:
We taste
Thee, O Thou Living Bread,
And long
to feast upon Thee still:
We drink
of Thee, the Fountainhead
And
thirst our souls from Thee to fill.
come
near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel the heat of
their desire after God. They mourned for Him, they prayed and wrestled and
sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they had found Him
the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking. Moses used the fact that
he knew God as an argument for knowing Him better. `Now, therefore, I pray
thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know
thee, that I may find grace in thy sight'; and from there he rose to make the
daring request, `I beseech thee, show me thy glory.' God was frankly pleased by
this display of ardour, and the next day called Moses into the mount, and there
in solemn procession made all His glory pass before him.
大衛的生命是一條屬靈追求的河流，他的詩篇充滿著追求神的呼喊，和尋到了神的歡樂。保羅自認他生命中最主要的，是對于基督的熱烈追求。「使我認識基督」（腓3:10）就是他心中的目標，并且為此丟棄万事，他說：「不但如此，我也將万事當作有損的，因我以認識我主基督耶穌為至寶。我為他已經丟棄万事，為要得著基督。」（腓3:8）
對于一個追求神的人來說，唱詩是最甜蜜的事，因他知道，他也找著了詩人所尋找的那一位神。在上一個世代，我們先人唱著：「我看見他的腳蹤，我要緊緊的跟隨。」可是這种渴慕神的詩句，在今日的聚會中已不再听得見了。在這個黑暗的世代，我們的屬靈追求，竟讓我們的老師代替我們做，這是多么悲慘的事。我們只把目標放在初步的「接受」基督（在圣經中并沒有這個名詞），而再不求神更進一步的向我們顯現。我們受了一种假邏輯的欺騙，說我們只要找到了主就不用再追求。這种說法在教會中，說得堂皇極了，仿佛很正派，以至一般人都認為這話正确，也就沒有一個接受圣經教訓的人不相信這种說法，這樣，教會的追求、崇拜、培靈詩歌都被擱在一邊，先前那种滿有香气的古圣徒，注重經驗的心靈神學已遭摒棄，受人歡迎的是一套完整的解經，這种解經方法，叫以往的屬靈偉人如奧古斯丁、盧塞福或布銳內德听起來，一定覺得新奇不已。
在這种極冷淡的空气之中，我引為欣慰的，是仍有一些對于這种「邏輯」不感滿意的人。他們承認反對的勢力很大，在遭遇反對之后，他們就含著淚另外找個地方，自己向神禱告說：「神阿！求你顯出你的榮耀給我看。」他們希望嘗一嘗主，用心靈的眼睛去觀看奇妙的神。
我要尊重地鼓勵這种有力量的追求神的生活。因為缺乏追求之故，才使我們陷入今天這种虛淺光景。我們信仰生活死硬呆板，就是因為缺少屬靈的渴慕。自滿自足是屬靈長進的死敵。人必須有強烈的愿望，不然的話，基督就不會向他的子民顯示。最令他傷心難過的，就是他一直在等候我們，而且等了許久，仍得不到反應。
每個時代都有它特點，就現在來說，正是一個信仰混雜的時代。在基督里保持純朴的信仰的已很少見。所看到的，只是那些崇拜秩序、工作方法、教會組織，以及許多急急忙忙的活動，這些只能消磨時間吸引人注意而已，永不能滿足人心靈的渴慕。屬靈經驗的虛淺，崇拜生活的空洞，以及卑俗地模仿世界，這一切是促進教會事工所用种种的方法，證明在這時代中的我們，對于神的認識不夠完全，在心靈中根本少有神的真平安。
如果我們想要在宗教活動當中尋找神，首先要決定單找神自己，然后循著單純的路子走。既然神時常向嬰孩顯現，而向聰明和通達的人就隱藏起來，我們要把親近神的事予以簡單化。我們必須剝奪外面的一切，只留下簡洁單純的本質。我們必須努力使所做的不是去取得人的注意，如同一個嬰孩那樣的坦然無偽。若是我們如此做，毫無疑問，神會很快給我們回答。
David's life was a torrent of
spiritual desire, and his psalms ring with the cry of the seeker and the glad
shout oft he finder. Paul confessed the mainspring of his life to be his
burning desire after Christ. `That I may know Him,' was the goal of his heart,
and to this he sacrificed everything. `Yea doubtless, and I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom
I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I
may win Christ' (Phil 3:8).
Hymnody is sweet with the
longing after God, the God whom, while the singer seeks, he knows he has
already found. `His track I see and I'll pursue,' sang our fathers only a short
generation ago, but that song is heard no more in the great congregation. How
tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our
teachers. Everything is made to center upon the initial act of `accepting'
Christ (a term, incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not
expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We
have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have
found Him we need no more seek Him. This is set before us as the last word in
orthodoxy, and it is taken for granted that no Bible-taught Christian ever
believed otherwise. Thus the whole testimony of the worshipping, seeking,
singing Church on that subject is crisply set aside. The experiential heart-
theology of a grand army of fragrant saints is rejected in favor of a smug
interpretation of Scripture which would certainly have sounded strange to an
Augustine, a Rutherford or a Branierd.
In the midst of this great
chill there are some, I rejoice to acknowledge, who will not be content with
shallow logic. They will admit the force of the argument, and then turn away
with tears to hunt some lonely place and pray, `O God, show me thy glory.' They
want to taste, to touch with their hearts, to see with their inner eyes the
wonder that is God.
I want deliberately to
encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our
present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a
result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual
growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of
Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He
waits so long, so very long, in vain.
Every age has its own
characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The
simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are
programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy
time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The
shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and the
servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify
that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely
at all.
If we would find God amid all
the religious externals we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed
in the way of simplicity. Now as always God discovers Himself to `babes' and
hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify
our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found
to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the
guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly
respond.
在明白宗教理論之后，我們所需要的再沒有比神更重要的了。那些要找神同時也要找其他東西的惡習慣，是我們尋求神完全顯示的最大攔阻。在這「其他東西」除掉，就會很快找到神，而且在他里面，我們會得到生命所默默渴望的一切。
我們不用害怕，以為單單尋求神會限制我們寬闊的內心感情，使生活趨于狹隘，事實恰好相反。我們可以把神當作我們的一切，我們所著重、所犧牲的，都是為了要得著他。
英國古典名著「未識之云」的作者，教我們如何達到這個地步：「用柔和而激動的愛，把你的心獻給神；單單想他自己，而不想他的任何好處。此外還應當厭惡你自己，除神以外，別無任何事物是你所想念的。心中要毫無雜念，意志要化為烏有，單單剩下神自己。這种心靈修養功夫最能令神喜悅。」
他又教導我們在禱告中更進一步，抖空一切，甚至我們的神學觀念也當放棄：「這么就夠了，以一种赤露的心意向著神，不為別的原因，而單是為著神。」然而他的思想，是有新約真理基礎的，因為他在解釋時說到「他自己」，就是指「創造你，買贖你，以仁愛慈悲召你到蒙恩地位的那一位神」。簡化是他的心中思想，他認為如果我們要把宗教「歸結成為一個字，為了使人更容易抓住，就要用一個單音節的字表明出來；這比用雙音節的字更好，因為越簡短越好，且与圣靈的工作相謀合，而所用的字就是「神」（God），或是「愛」（love）」。
當神把迦南地分給以色列從支派的時候，利未支派沒有得到土地。神只對他說：「我就是你的分，是你的產業。」（民18:20）由于這些話，神使他比他的眾弟兄更富有，比世上歷來一切君王和王子更富足。這是一條屬靈的原則，這原則對每一位作圣高神的祭司的人都可以适用。
以神為財富的人，他一切所有的，都積蓄在一位神里面。許多平常的財物都与他無分，即使他能得到那些東西，他也不覺得必須有了它才會快樂；即使那些財物一一相繼失去，他也不覺得有什么損失，因為他已經有一切財富的總源頭--神；他已經非常滿足，極其喜樂和高興。無論失去甚么，他在實際上都毫無損失，因為現在他一切所有的，都在那一位神里面，他所擁有的是純洁的、合法的，也是永遠的。
禱告：神啊！我已經嘗到你的美善，你的恩惠使我滿足，也令我更渴慕你。我極其迫切要求更深的恩典，我因自己缺少此愿望而抱愧。神阿！我要更加渴幕你；我要一直仰望你，我渴望你給我渴慕的心。求你將你的榮耀顯給我看，使我認識你。求你動怜憫之心，在我里面用新的愛激動我，對我的心說：「我的佳偶、我的美人，起來，与我同去。」（歌2:10）然后給我力量，使我能夠從這盤桓已久的霧境中出來跟隨你。奉主耶穌的名，阿們。
When religion has said its
last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit
of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation.
In the `and' lies our great woe. If we omit the `and', we shall soon find God,
and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly
longing.
We need not
fear that in seeking God only we may narrow our lives or restrict the motions
of our expanding hearts. The opposite is true. We can well afford to make God
our All, to concentrate, to sacrifice the many for the One.
The author
of the quaint old English classic, The Cloud of Unknowing, teaches us how to do
this. `Lift up thine heart unto God with a meek stirring of love; and mean
Himself, and none of His goods. And thereto, look thee loath to think on aught
but God Himself. So that nought work in thy wit, nor in thy will, but only God
Himself. This is the work of the soul that most pleaseth God.'
Again, he
recommends that in prayer we practice a further stripping down of everything,
even of our theology. `For it sufficeth enough, a naked intent direct unto God
without any other cause than Himself.' Yet underneath all his thinking lay the
broad foundation of New Testament truth, for he explains that by `Himself' he
means `God that made thee, and bought thee, and that graciously called thee to
thy degree.' And he is all for simplicity: If we would have religion `lapped
and folden in one word, for that thou shouldst have better hold thereupon, take
thee but a little word of one syllable: for so it is better than of two, for
even the shorter it is the better it accordeth with the work of the Spirit. And
such a word is this word God or this word love.'
When the Lord
divided Canaan among the tribes of
The man who
has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be
denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so
tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see
them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the
Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight.
Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in
One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever.
O God, I
have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for
more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my
lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled
with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray
Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within
me. Say to my soul, `Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.' Then give
me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have
wandered so long. In Jesus' name, Amen.
（二）貧窮的福气
「虛心的人有福了，因為天國是他們的。」（太5:3）
耶和華神還未造人住在地上的時候，先在這世界為人預備好許多有用而且悅人的，為的是叫人類可以生存和享受，据創世記記載，神創造這些東西的時候，只稱這些東西為「物」（things）這些「物」都是為人類的需要而被造的，一直被看為屬于身外的，而且必須完全受人的支配。在人的內心深處有一個寶座，是除了神以外沒有別的東西配得占据的。在人的里面是神自己，在人的外面是神所傾福賜下的無數美物。
但是罪給這世界帶來極大的混亂，同時也是因為罪的緣故，使神所賜的美物，成了敗坏人靈魂一种潛伏的根源。
人類允許外面的「物」進入內心，而把神從內心的寶座上赶逐出去，就在這時候，我們的災禍就開始了。外面的心，根本沒有平安，因為神已不再留在他心中掌權，而是那些頑強凶暴的僭位之物，在昏暗的心中各自爭搶，奪取那心中寶座的首位。
上述所說的并非單單一种比喻的說法，乃是我們靈性上真正毛病的正确分析。在人類內心之中，有一條強韌的根，從墮落的生命發生出來，它的天性就是要占有，不斷的占有。它以極深而且激烈的情感貪求獲得外面的「物」。「我的」和「屬于我」這兩個詞，在字面上并不是罪，但若經常和無限制的使用它，就有很大的問題。這兩個詞所表示出的老亞當天性，比一千部神學著作所能告訴人的更清楚。它是我們靈性上病入膏肓的症候。我們的心向著那些「物」，一直在往下扎根，而且除非我們死了，我們都不敢把一條根撥起來。現在我們已到了不能擺脫這些「物」的地步，這是我們所始料不及的。如今，神所賜之「物」奪取了神的地位，由于這可怕的取代，整個自然的秩序都顛倒了。
我們的主耶穌曾經提到「物」對人的害處，他對門徒說了這樣的話：「若有人要跟從我，就當舍已，背起他的十字架，來跟從我，因為凡要救自己生命的，必喪掉生命；凡為我喪掉生命的，必得著生命。」（太16:24-25）
講得更清楚一點，這真理似乎是說，我們每個人里面有一個仇敵，我們竟冒著很大的危險認它居住，這個仇敵耶穌稱為「生命」和「已」，或者我們可以說，就是「已的生命」。它主要的特點，就是具有占有性，通常我們見到的「獲得」和「利益」等字眼，就含有這种意思。人若容讓這個仇敵住在里面，最后的結果就是一切都要失去。若是拒絕它，為主的緣故把一切都舍棄了，到最后卻是一無所失，反而積蓄一切，直到永生。在這里也給我們暗示毀滅仇敵的唯一有效方法，那就是籍著十字架，「背起他的十字架來跟從我」。
Chapter 2 : The
Blessedness of Posessing Nothing
Blessed are the
poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 5:3
Before the Lord
God made man upon the earth He first prepared for him by creating a world of
useful and pleasant things for his sustenance and delight. In the Genesis
account of the creation these are called simply `things.' They were made for
man's uses, but they were meant always to be external to the man and
subservient to him. In the deep heart of the man was a shrine where none but
God was worthy to come. Within him was God; without, a thousand gifts which God
had showered upon him.
But sin has
introduced complications and has made those very gifts of God a potential
source of ruin to the soul.
Our woes began
when God was forced out of His central shrine and `things' were allowed to
enter. Within the human heart `things' have taken over. Men have now by nature
no peace within their hearts, for God is crowned there no longer, but there in
the moral dusk stubborn and aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for
first place on the throne.
This is not a mere
metaphor, but an accurate analysis of our real spiritual trouble. There is
within the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to
possess, always to possess. It covets `things' with a deep and fierce passion.
The pronouns `my' and `mine' look innocent enough in print, but their constant
and universal use is significant. They express the real nature of the old
Adamic man better than a thousand volumes of theology could do. They are verbal
symptoms of our deep disease. The roots of our hearts have grown down into
things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become
necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God's gifts now take
the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous
substitution.
Our Lord referred
to this tyranny of things when He said to His disciples, `If any man will come
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For
whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life
for my sake shall find it.' (Matt. 16:24-25).
Breaking this
truth into fragments for our better understanding, it would seem that there is
within each of us an enemy which we tolerate at our peril. Jesus called it
`life' and `self,' or as we would say, the self-life. Its chief characteristic
is its possessiveness: the words `gain' and `profit' suggest this. To allow
this enemy to live is in the end to lose everything. To repudiate it and give
up all for Christ's sake is to lose nothing at last, but to preserve everything
unto life eternal. And possibly also a hint is given here as to the only
effective way to destroy this foe: it is by the Cross: `Let him take up his
cross and follow me.'
引我們達到認識神更深的路，是要經過靈里貧窮孤寂的幽谷和棄絕一切外物。這些擁有天國的有福之人（「因為天國是他們的」），乃是把一切身外之物都舍棄，又把心中占有欲的根統統拔掉的人，他們就是「靈是貧窮的人」（馬太福音五章三節「虛心」兩字英釋為「靈里貧窮」--譯者注）。他們內心的光景，是貧窮到像耶路撒冷街頭的乞丐那樣，一無所有。基督所用「貧窮」一詞的意義，實際就是如此。這种有福的「貧窮」人，再也不受外物的轄制，他們已經折斷那個暴君--「物」--所加在他們身上軛。他們是得以達到這步不是憑著爭戰，乃是憑著降服。雖然他們不再有任何占有的欲望，但是實在是得著了一切，「因為天國是他們的」。
請你鄭重地實踐這個教訓，因這教訓并不像一般圣徒教訓一樣，只求其了解；也不象其他呆板的教條一般，堆積在頭腦里。這乃是通到青草地去道路上的標志，是通到神的山上去的一條鑿出來的小徑。我們若是要走在這條追求成圣的道路上，就不能忽略這教訓。我們必須一步一步地走上去，如果拒絕一步，我們的行進就要宣告停止。
這個新約屬靈生活原則，通常都可以在舊約里找到最好的說明。從亞伯拉罕獻以撒的故事中，我們看到一幅描寫舍已生命的動人圖畫，也看到這第一位蒙大福者的經歷是怎么一回事。
以撒出生時，亞伯拉罕年紀已經很老了，照他的年紀，該作以撒的祖父，因此孩子一生下來，就立刻成為他心中的喜樂和偶像。老態龍鐘的他俯下身去，把孩子抱在手里，那時候起，他就成了熱愛儿子的一個奴隸。由于他過于愛儿子，以致在神那方面出了事，這本是可想而知的。那個小孩子代表著他父親心中一切神圣的東西：神的應許、神所立的約、日后的盼望，以及彌賽亞降臨的美夢。他看著孩子從嬰孩長成少年，他的心和他儿子的生命越連越緊，直到最后，這种關系臨到危險的邊緣。這個時候，神插進來要把父親和儿子從不洁的愛中解救出來。
神對亞伯拉罕說：「你帶著你的儿子，就是你獨生的儿子，你所愛的以撒，往摩利亞地去，在我所要批示你的山上，把他獻為燔祭。」（創22:2）寫圣經的人沒有描寫那一晚在別是巴附近山坡上，這位老人要忍受怎樣的痛苦。我們若閉目想象，就可以看見在星光之下，那場惊心動魄的掙扎，可以說直到那比亞伯拉罕更大的一位在客西馬尼園經歷的爭戰，一直再沒有人遭受這樣大的痛苦。假若是叫亞伯拉罕自己去死，恐怕要容易得多，因為他已經年老，對于這一位長久与神同行的人，要他死并不是太大的試煉。他還會覺得能最后以微弱的眼光注視他那有為的儿子，讓他活下去，作接續他的后嗣，使很久以前神在迦勒底的吾珥所應許的話得以應驗，這對他正是一种最后頂甜蜜的安慰。
The
way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty
and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the Kingdom are they
who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all
sense of possessing. They are `poor in spirit.' They have reached an inward
state paralleling the outward circumstances of the common beggar in the streets
of
Let
me exhort you to take this seriously. It is not to be understood as mere Bible
teaching to be stored away in the mind along with an inert mass of other
doctrines. It is a marker on the road to greener pastures, a path chiseled
against the steep sides of the mount of God. We dare not try to by-pass it if
we would follow on in this holy pursuit. We must ascend a step at a time. If we
refuse one step we bring our progress to an end.
As
is frequently true, this New Testament principle of spiritual life finds its
best illustration in the Old Testament. In the story of Abraham and Isaac we
have a dramatic picture of the surrendered life as well as an excellent
commentary on the first Beatitude.
Abraham
was old when Isaac was born, old enough indeed to have been his grandfather,
and the child became at once the delight and idol of his heart. From that
moment when he first stooped to take the tiny form awkwardly in his arms he was
an eager love slave of his son. God went out of His way to comment on the
strength of this affection. And it is not hard to understand. The baby
represented everything sacred to his father's heart: the promises of God, the
covenants, the hopes of the years and the long messianic dream. As he watched
him grow from babyhood to young manhood the heart of the old man was knit
closer and closer with the life of his son, till at last the relationship
bordered upon the perilous. It was then that God stepped in to save both father
and son from the consequences of an uncleansed love.
`Take
now thy son,' said God to Abraham, `thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and
get thee into the
然而，現在竟要他把孩子殺掉，這是多么不可思議的事！即使他那顆受傷而不順服的心可答應，但這种行為和神所應許的「從以撒生的，才要稱為你的后裔」（創21:12），怎能相符合？這是亞伯拉罕所受的火的試煉，他沒有在磨煉中失敗。點點星光在以撒睡覺的帳棚上空閃耀著，黎明的曙光還未從東方照射過來，這位年老的圣徒下了決心，他情愿照著神的指示把儿子獻上。他相信神必叫他從死里复活，据希伯來書的作者說，這就是他那顆沉痛的心，在黑夜之中所得到的答案。于是，他「清早起來」實行這個計划。值得欣慰的，他雖然誤解了神所用的方法，但到底是摸著了神的心。事情的解決恰好合乎新約中的那句話：「凡為我的緣故撇下的，必要得著」（太19:29）
神叫這位老人經歷痛苦，到了無可后退的地步，然后制止他在童子身上下手，或許他此時會對這位怀著奇异心情的先祖說：「好了，亞伯拉罕，我從來沒有意思要叫你殺掉童子，我只是把他從你心中深處挪去，好叫我可以絕對掌權在你里面。我要把你的愛的次序改正過來。現在你可以得回孩子，他完整無恙，把他帶回你的帳棚去，現在我知道你是敬畏我的，因為你沒有將你的儿子，就是你獨生的儿子留下不給我。」
那時，天開了，有一個聲音對他說：「你既行了這事，不留下你的儿子，就是你獨生的儿子，我便指著自己起誓說，論福我必賜大福給你，論子孫我必叫你的子孫多起來，如同天上的星，海邊的沙。你子孫必得著仇敵的城門，并且地上万國，都必因你的后裔得福，因為你听從了我的話。」（創22:16-18）
這位屬神的老人，抬起頭來傾听神的聲音，他站在山上，顯得堅強、洁白，和尊貴。這是一個被神分別出來，予以特別恩惠的人，是一個至高神所喜愛的密友。現在，他是一個完全降服的人，一個完全順從的人，也是一個一無所有的人。他曾經把一切心愿集中于儿子身上，現在神把他拿開了。神本來可以從亞伯拉罕生命的邊緣開始動工，漸漸往里面深入進去；但是，他宁可對于他的心臟正中開刀，很快利的一劈而完成了他的工作。神這樣做是最簡單而且節省時間的。這方法固然殘忍，可是是最見效的。
上面說過，亞伯拉罕是一無所有的。可是，這個貧窮人不是很富足么？他以前所有的一切仍然歸他享有--那些羊群、駱駝、牲畜，以及每樣財物。他仍然有妻子和朋友，其中還有最好的，就是他的儿子以撒在他身旁安然無恙。他雖然有一這一切東西，可是沒有一樣是屬于他的。這里就是一個屬靈的秘密。這最寶貴的神學功課，只能夠在「撇下」的學校里學習得到。系統神學的著作竟把這個忽略了，但是有智慧的人，自會明白這個道理。
How
should he slay the lad! Even if he could get the consent of his wounded and
protesting heart, how could he reconcile the act with the promise, `In Isaac
shall thy seed be called'? This was Abraham's trial by fire, and he did not
fail in the crucible. While the stars still shone like sharp white points above
the tent where the sleeping Isaac lay, and long before the gray dawn had begun
to lighten the east, the old saint had made up his mind. He would offer his son
as God had directed him to do, and then trust God to raise him from the dead.
This, says the writer to the Hebrews, was the solution his aching heart found
sometime in the dark night, and he rose `early in the morning' to carry out the
plan. It is beautiful to see that, while he erred as to God's method, he had
correctly sensed the secret of His great heart. And the solution accords well
with the New Testament Scripture, `Whosoever will lose... for my sake shall
find...'
God
let the suffering old man go through with it up to the point where He knew
there would be no retreat, and then forbade him to lay a hand upon the boy. To
the wondering patriarch He now says in effect, `It's all right, Abraham. I
never intended that you should actually slay the lad. I only wanted to remove
him from the temple of your heart that I might reign unchallenged there. I
wanted to correct the perversion that existed in your love. Now you may have
the boy, sound and well. Take him and go back to your tent. Now I know that
thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son,
from me.'
Then
heaven opened and a voice was heard saying to him, `By myself I have sworn,
saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld
thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying
I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is
upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast
obeyed my voice.'
The
old man of God lifted his head to respond to the Voice, and stood there on the
mount strong and pure and grand, a man marked out by the Lord for special
treatment, a friend and favorite of the Most High. Now he was a man wholly
surrendered, a man utterly obedient, a man who possessed nothing. He had
concentrated his all in the person of his dear son, and God had taken it from
him. God could have begun out on the margin of Abraham's life and worked inward
to the center; He chose rather to cut quickly to the heart and have it over in
one sharp act of separation. In dealing thus He practiced an economy of means
and time. It hurt cruelly, but it was effective.
I
have said that Abraham possessed nothing. Yet was not this poor man rich?
Everything he had owned before was still his to enjoy: sheep, camels, herds,
and goods of every sort. He had also his wife and his friends, and best of all
he had his son Isaac safe by his side. He had everything, but he possessed
nothing. There is the spiritual secret. There is the sweet theology of the
heart which can be learned only in the school of renunciation. The books on
systematic theology overlook this, but the wise will understand.
自從受了那次痛苦又蒙福的經驗之后，我想亞伯拉罕的心目中，「我的」和「屬于我」這些字眼，再也沒有原來那种意義了。它所包含「占有」的意義，已經從他心中失去了，所有的「物」（things）從他心中永遠清除出去。一切對于他都成為身外的東西，他的內心已從「物」的轄制下得了釋放。世人會說：「亞伯拉罕真富有。」但這位年老的先祖只是笑笑而已，他不能向世人解釋，因為他知道自己沒有一樣東西，他真正的財富是屬于里面的，也是能留永遠的。
無可怀疑的，在人的生命中最有害的事，就是受了對「物」的占有欲的捆綁。因為這是很自然的，所以很少人認識它的害處，然而它所造成的結局，卻是非常悲慘。
我們不肯把自己寶貴的東西交給主，是因為恐怕不安全，尤其是當我們以所愛的親戚朋友為寶貴的東西時，更是不肯交出來，其實我們用不著害怕，主來到世上不是要毀坏，乃是要保全。我們所交托給他的一切，都是頂安全的，反之，凡我們沒有交托給他的，沒有一樣是安全的。
我們的恩賜和才能也要獻給主，我們只能按它本身的价值來看它，以這些東西為神暫交給我們的，而不能看作是屬于自己。我們既沒有任何理由，把身體上的眼睛和臂力歸功于自己，也就不應把特殊的才干歸于自己，「使你与人不同的是誰呢？你有什么不是領受的呢？」（林前4:7）
一個生命活潑的基督徒，對他自己若稍有認識，就會很容易的覺察到這种占有欲的作祟，而且要盡量從心中把它挖出來。如果他對神的追求迫切，就愿意叫那件事情得到适當的解決。那么他該做什么呢？
首先，他應當放棄用理由作辯護，不論在自己眼中或在主面前，一點都不原諒自己。任何人若是辯護，總是拿自己來替自己辯論，但是，他若毫無幫助的來到主面前，就不能得到神自己作他一切的幫助。每一個追求長進的基督徒，當把心中一切詭詐的、反复無常的巧計，踐踏在自己腳下，并且堅持和主保持坦然和無阻隔的關系。
其次，他必須記住，這是神圣的工作。隨便應付一下或偶然來一次，并不能收到完滿的效果，他要來到神面前，下決心只听從神的話。他要堅持叫神接受他的一切，讓神把他心中的「物」完全取出去，使神可以居住心中掌權。很可能他需要神分別予以指示，把東西和人一個一個列舉出來，如果他肯忍心殘酷一點對付自己，他就可以把許多年的靈程道路縮短成几分鐘。他這樣的，要比那些溺愛自己、顧惜感情、与神慢慢交涉不大長進的弟兄們，更早進入美地。
After that bitter
and blessed experience I think the words `my' and `mine' never had again the
same meaning for Abraham. The sense of possession which they connote was gone
from his heart. things had been cast out forever.They had now become external
to the man. His inner heart was free from them. The world said, `Abraham is
rich,' but the aged patriarch only smiled. He could not explain it to them, but
he knew that he owned nothing, that his real treasures were inward and eternal.
There can be no doubt
that this possessive clinging to things is one of the most harmful habits in
the life. Because it is so natural it is rarely recognized for the evil that it
is; but its outworkings are tragic. We are often hindered from giving up our
treasures to the Lord out of fear for their safety; this is especially true
when those treasures are loved relatives and friends. But we need have no such
fears. Our Lord came not to destroy but to save. Everything is safe which we
commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed.
Our gifts and
talents should also be turned over to Him. They should be recognized for what
they are, God's loan to us, and should never be considered in any sense our
own. We have no more right to claim credit for special abilities than for blue
eyes or strong muscles. `For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what
hast thou that thou didst not receive?'
The Christian who
is alive enough to know himself even slightly will recognize the symptoms of
this possession malady, and will grieve to find them in his own heart. If the
longing after God is strong enough within him he will want to do something
about the matter. Now, what should he do?
First of all he
should put away all defense and make no attempt to excuse himself either in his
own eyes or before the Lord. Whoever defends himself will have himself for his
defense, and he will have no other; but let him come defenseless before the
Lord and he will have for his defender no less than God Himself. Let the
inquiring Christian trample under foot every slippery trick of his deceitful
heart and insist upon frank and open relations with the Lord.
Then he should
remember that this is holy business. No careless or casual dealings will
suffice. Let him come to God in full determination to be heard. Let him insist
that God accept his all, that He take things out of his heart and Himself reign
there in power. It may be he will need to become specific, to name things and
people by their names one by one. If he will become drastic enough he can
shorten the time of his travail from years to minutes and enter the good land
long before his slower brethren who coddle their feelings and insist upon
caution in their dealings with God.
我們總不要忘記這里的真理，不能像學習自然科學的知識那樣憑著默記。這道理必須親身經驗，才能真正明白。我們必須從心中經歷到亞伯拉罕那樣的殘酷對待与痛苦，才能得著跟著而來的福气。人類因犯罪所招來的咒詛，不會毫無痛苦地清除開去的；我們心中的那個吝嗇鬼，不會乖乖地听從我們的吩咐倒下死了。它必須像一棵樹從地里連根拔起那樣從我們心中拔出來。它要象拔牙一樣覺得劇痛，血淋淋地從牙床拔出來；它必須用激烈的行動，從我們的魂里面被逐出去，像基督驅逐兌換銀錢的人出圣殿一樣。同時，我們還要以冷酷的態度，拒絕它的哀求乞怜，要認定把自怜從心中轟出去，就是去掉人類心中一种最不可恕的罪惡。
若是我們要与神更親密更有認識，便必須照著這條「撇棄」的道路去走。若是我們已經開始了追求神的生活，他遲早要帶領我們經歷這樣的考驗。亞伯拉罕受考驗的時候，自己還不知道這考驗有這么重要的意義，可是若是他改取了其他的步驟，而不完全順服神，整個舊約歷史都要改變了。神還可以另外找到他所要的人，這是一定無疑的，但是亞伯拉罕所遭受的損失就無法細說了。我們一個一個都會被神帶到受考驗的地方，而且事前并不知道几時會來到那地方。在那受考驗的地方，并沒有給我們許多可能的選擇；你只能有兩個選擇，我們整個前途將根据我們的選擇而決定。
禱告：父親，我深愿更多認識你，但是我膽怯的心不敢放棄它所喜愛的東西。若不是經過里而的流血，我不能割棄它，我不向你隱藏离開它所帶來可怕的光景。我戰兢恐懼地來到你面前，我實在是來了。求你從我心中把一切我長久溺愛，与及和我屬已的生活連在一起的東西統統除掉，讓你進到我里面居住。沒有任何東西与你相爭，這樣你就使我立足之地，成為榮耀的所在。使我的心不再需要外面的陽光照射進去，因為有你作我心中的光，使我里面再也沒有黑暗。奉主耶穌的名祈求，阿們。
Let
us never forget that such a truth as this cannot be learned by rote as one
would learn the facts of physical science. They must be experienced before we
can really know them. We must in our hearts live through Abraham's harsh and
bitter experiences if we would know the blessedness which follows them. The
ancient curse will not go out painlessly; the tough old miser within us will
not lie down and die obedient to our command. He must be torn out of our heart
like a plant from the soil; he must be extracted in agony and blood like a
tooth from the jaw. He must be expelled from our soul by violence as Christ
expelled the money changers from the temple. And we shall need to steel
ourselves against his piteous begging, and to recognize it as springing out of
self-pity, one of the most reprehensible sins of the human heart.
If
we would indeed know God in growing intimacy we must go this way of
renunciation. And if we are set upon the pursuit of God He will sooner or later
bring us to this test. Abraham's testing was, at the time, not known to him as
such, yet if he had taken some course other than the one he did, the whole
history of the Old Testament would have been different. God would have found
His man, no doubt, but the loss to Abraham would have been tragic beyond the
telling. So we will be brought one by one to the testing place, and we may
never know when we are there. At that testing place there will be no dozen
possible choices for us; just one and an alternative, but our whole future will
be conditioned by the choice we make.
Father,
I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot
part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the
terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my
heart all Those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a
very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without
a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my
heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of
it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus' name, Amen.
（三）揭去帕子
「弟兄們，我們既因耶穌的血，得以坦然進入至圣所。」（來10:19）
在許多教父的名言中，有一句最好的話，就是奧古斯丁所說的：「你為自己造了我們，我們的心沒有安息，直到在你里面找到了安息。」
這位偉大圣徒只用几句話，就說明了人類起初的歷史，以及人內部的秘密。神為了自己而造我們。這是唯一能夠滿足一個有思想的人的答案，不管他曾經推想過什么其他的理由。人如果依從錯誤的教育和的執拗的理解，作了其他的推斷，任何基督徒都不能對他有所幫助。對于這樣的人，我沒有信息可以給他。我的呼吁是針對那些已經被神的智慧開導的人，我的話也是對著那些心靈中飢渴的人而說，他們的內心已經被神喚醒過來，因此他們不需要什么理由作證明。他們心中的切慕就證明了。
神為他的緣故造就我們。韋斯敏斯特會議所訂定的「教義小問答」及「新英格蘭教義初階」仿照古老的方式，所提出「是什么」和「為什么」的問題，并用最簡短的字句作答，都是普通世上的文字所不能做到的。問：「人的主要目的是什么？」答：「人的主要目的乃是榮耀神，并欣賞和享受神，直到永遠。」二十四位長老俯伏在那活到永永遠遠者的面前敬拜，如此說：「我們的主，我們的神，你是配得榮耀、尊貴、權柄的，因為你創造了万物，并且万物是因你的旨意被創造而有的。」（啟4:11）
神因他的喜悅造了我們。他造我們的目的，是叫我們与他，他与我們，能在屬天的交通里，享受親屬般，神秘的甜蜜。神的意思是要我們在靈里得以見他，和他同住，并從他的笑臉中得到生命。但是我們触犯了米爾頓所描寫，撒但和他的使者背判神的那种惡行，我們和神決裂了。我們不再順服他和愛他，在背逆和惊恐中，從他面前逃避。
然而，他是天和天上的天所不能「局促」的神，誰能躲避他的面的呢？所羅門的智慧見證說：「神的靈充滿全地。」神的無所不在是一件事實，而且是形成他的完全神性中所不可少的。然而享受他的同在，又是一回事。我們原是像從他面前逃走了亞當一樣，躲藏在園里的樹木中，或像彼得一樣，怀著懼怕的心情喊著：「主阿！离開我，我是個罪人。」（路5:8）所以人在地上的生活是一种离開神的面的生活，我們已經從正常美好的地位上跌落下來，再也保不住原來的地位。因為失去了這种地位，遂造成我們永無止息的不安。
Chapter 3: Removing the Veil
Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
Heb.
10:19
Among
the famous sayings of the Church fathers none is better know than Augustine's
`Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find
rest in Thee.'
The
great saint states here in few words the origin and interior history of the
human race. God made us for Himself: that is the only explanation that
satisfies the heart of a thinking man, whatever his wild reason may say. Should
faulty education and perverse reasoning lead a man to conclude otherwise, there
is little that any Christian can do for him. For such a man I have no message.
My appeal is addressed to those who have been previously taught in secret by
the wisdom of God; I speak to thirsty hearts whose longings have been wakened
by the touch of God within them,and such as they need no reasoned proof. Their
restless hearts furnish all the proof they need.
God
formed us for Himself. The shorter catechism, `Agreed upon by the Reverend
Assembly of Divines at Westminister,' as the old New-England Primer has it,
asks the ancient questions what and why and answers them in one short sentence
hardly matched in any uninspired work. `Question: What is the chief End of Man?
Answer: Man's chief End is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.' With this
agree the four and twenty elders who fall on their faces to worship Him that
liveth for ever and ever, saying, `Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory
and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure
they are and were created.' (Rev 4:11)
God
formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we as well as He can in
divine communion enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of kindred
personalities. He meant us to see Him and live with Him and draw our life from
His smile. But we have been guilty of that `foul revolt' of which Milton speaks
when describing the rebellion of Satan and his hosts. We have broken with God.
We have ceased to obey Him or love Him and in guilt and fear have fled as far
as possible from His Presence.
Yet
who can flee from His Presence when the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him?
when as the wisdom of Solomon testifies, `the Spirit of the Lord filleth the
world'? The omnipresence of the Lord is one thing, and is a solemn fact
necessary to His perfection; the manifest Presence is another thing altogether,
and from that Presence we have fled, like Adam, to hide among the trees of the
garden, or like Peter to shrink away crying, `Depart from me, for I am a sinful
man, O Lord.' So the life of man upon the earth is a life away from the
Presence, wrenched loose from that `blissful center' which is our right and
proper dwelling place, our first state which we kept not, the loss of which is
the cause of our unceasing restlessness.
神的整個救贖工作，就是要消除因那一次背叛所造成的悲慘結果，使我們和他自己再一次建立正常而永遠的關系。這就必須把我們的罪孽予以圓滿的處理，使雙方完全協調，打開一條活路，使我們与神再有交通，并能在他面前過生活。同時，由于他恩惠的工作感動我們的心到他面前來，這恩惠的工作，第一步就是使我們對于神渴慕的心，叫我們心中如同浪子說：「我要起來，到我父親那里去。」（路15:18）這是第一步，正如中國古人据說的話：「千里之行，始于足下。」
舊約時代的會幕，是一個靈魂由罪惡的曠野回到神面前的路程的最好說明。歸回的罪人先進入會幕的外院，在銅祭壇上獻血祭，又到洗濯盆把自己洗淨；然后經過一層幔子，進到圣所，那里沒有天然的光能夠射進里面，只有金燈台發出溫和的亮光照耀一切，表明耶穌是世上的光；那里又有陳設餅，表明耶穌是生命的糧，和香壇代表無止息的禱告。
敬拜的人雖然享受了這許多的東西，然而還是沒有進到神的面前，因為還有一層幔子，把至圣所隔開。在至圣所里面有施恩座，神自己住在上面，顯出他的威嚴和榮耀，只有大祭司可以進到里面去，而且一年只有一次，還要帶著血，為他們自己和百姓贖罪。這最后一層的幔子，當我們的主耶穌在各各他山斷气的時候已裂開了，寫圣經的人解釋說，這幔子破裂，就是為每一位敬拜神的人，開了一條又新又的路，直接來到神面前。
新約中每一件事物和舊約是互相吻合的。被救贖的人不必再害怕不敢進入至圣所。神愿意我們進到他面前，并且一生都在他面前生活。這是實際的經驗，不止是一种應當遵守的道理，乃是每一天，每時刻可以享受到一种生活。
与神同在，乃是一切事奉神程序的中心。全部利未記，如果沒有這件事，會幕中一切的設備，都如同一种不成文字的字母，對于以色列人和我們都沒有意義。會幕中最重要的事實，就是神在那里，他在幔子里面等候著。同樣，神的同在乃是基督教的中心。基督教的信息，就是神等候他所救贖的儿女知道神的同在。現在流行的基督教，對于神的同在，不過知道它的理論，并未曉得這是基督徒現今可以實得的權利。
根据目前基督教的說法，我們只在地位上來到神面前，從沒有說到我們可以經驗實際到与神同在的事實，像馬子賢那樣動人的火熱，現今是完全找不到了。這一代的基督徒，就這樣用這不完整的說法來量度自己，自足的心，代替了火熱的情緒。我們停留在稱義的地步，就覺得滿意了，不注意到缺少個人靈性生活的經驗。
The
whole work of God in redemption is to undo the tragic effects of that foul
revolt, and to bring us back again into right and eternal relationship with
Himself.This required that our sins be disposed of satisfactorily, that a full
reconciliation be effected and the way opened for us to return again into
conscious communion with God and to live again in the Presence as before. Then
by His prevenient working within us He moves us to return. This first comes to
our notice when our restless hearts feel a yearning for the Presence of God and
we say within ourselves, `I will arise and go to my Father.' That is the first
step, and as the Chinese sage Lao-tze has said, `The journey of a thousand miles
begins with a first step.'
The
interior journey of the soul from the wilds of sin into the enjoyed Presence of
God is beautifully illustrated in the Old Testament tabernacle. The returning
sinner first entered the outer court where he offered a blood sacrifice on the
brazen altar and washed himself in the laver that stood near it. Then through a
veil he passed into the holy place where no natural light could come, but the
golden candlestick which spoke of Jesus the Light of the World threw its soft
glow over all. There also was the shew bread to tell of Jesus, the Bread of
Life, and the altar of incense, a figure of unceasing prayer.
Though
the worshipper had enjoyed so much, still he had not yet entered the Presence
of God. Another veil separated from the Holy of Holies where above the mercy
seat dwelt the very God Himself in awful and glorious manifestation. While the
tabernacle stood, only the high priest could enter there, and that but once a
year, with blood which he offered for his sins and the sins of the people. It
was this last veil which was rent when our Lord gave up the ghost on Calvary,
and the sacred writer explains that this rending of the veil opened the way for
every worshipper in the world to come by the new and living way straight into the
divine Presence.
Everything
in the New Testament accords with this Old Testament picture. Ransomed men need
no longer pause in fear to enter the Holy of Holies. God wills that we should
push on into His Presence and live our whole life there. This is to be known to
us in conscious experience. It is more than a doctrine to be held, it is a life
to be enjoyed every moment of every day.
This
Flame of the Presence was the beating heart of the Levitical order. Without it
all the appointments of the tabernacle were characters of some unknown
language; they had no meaning for Israel or for us. The greatest fact of the
tabernacle was that Jehovah was there; a Presence was waiting within the veil.
Similarly the Presence of God is the central fact of Christianity. At the heart
of the Christian message is God Himself waiting for His redeemed children to
push in to conscious awareness of His Presence. That type of Christianity which
happens now to be the vogue knows this Presence only in theory. It fails to
stress the Christian's privilege of present realization.
According
to its teachings we are in the Presence of God positionally, and nothing is
said about the need to experience that Presence actually. The fiery urge that
drove men like McCheyne is wholly missing. And the present generation of
Christians measures itself by this imperfect rule. Ignoble contentment takes
the place of burning zeal. We are satisfied to rest in our JUDICIAL possessions
and for the most part we bother ourselves very little about the absence of
personal experience.
住在幔子后面，顯出烈火威嚴那一位是誰呢？不是別人，乃是神自己，就是「獨一的神，全能的父，創造天地的，并造有形無形的万物的主，」「獨一主耶穌基督，神的獨生子，在万世以前為父所生，出于神而為神，出于光而為光，出于真神而為真神，首生而非被造，与父一體」，和「圣靈，賜生命的主，從父和子出來，与父、子同愛敬拜，同受尊榮。」然而這神圣的三位，又屬一體；「我等敬拜一體三位，而三位一體之神。其位不紊，其體不分。父一體，子一位，圣靈亦一位。然而父、子、圣靈同一神圣，同一榮耀，亦同一永恒之尊嚴。」
在幔子的后面是神，世界對他的感覺是：「或者我們可以找到他。」他籍著大自然把自己的一部分顯示出來，又籍著道成肉身把自己更完全地彰顯出來；如今他正等候著要向謙卑和清心的人來一個奪取心魂的完全顯現。
這個世界因為缺乏對神的認識而趨向滅亡，同樣地，教會因為沒有神的同在而瀕于生命枯干。我們大部分靈性疾病的緊急療治方法，是要在經驗上進到神面前去，使我們猛然覺得我們是在神里面，神也在我們里面。這要救我們脫离狹隘的心思，使我們的胸怀開廣；這會把我們生命中不洁淨之物，統統燒掉，如同在荊棘中的火焰，會臭虫和霉菌燒掉一樣。
我們主耶穌基督的父神，是一個多么廣大任我們漫游世界，多么壯闊讓我們浮游的大海。他是永在的神，這就是說，他是在万古之先就有了的。而且超越時間的限制。時間從他開始，也要在他里面終止；對于時間他無所要求，也不因時間的變換而受虧損。
他是永不改變的，這就是說，他從來沒有改變過，也不會有任何一點頂小的改變。若是有改變，就是說他必須由好的變為不好的，或由不好的變成為好的，但他不能有任何一种的改變。他既是完全的，就不能夠變為更完全；若是他會變為更完全的，那他本來就不夠成為神。他是無所不知的神，這就是說，他一下子很自由而不費力地知道一切的物、一切的靈、一切關系、一切事情。在他沒有過去，也沒有將來。他是，此外就沒有其他形容活物的名詞，可以應用在他身上。
慈愛，怜憫和公義，都是屬他的。他的圣洁無法形容，沒有任何比喻或數字可以把它表明出來的，只有火能把它略略加以描寫。他曾經在燒著的荊棘中顯現；他住在火柱中，一直經過那漫長的曠野道路。在圣所中的基路伯翅膀中間名叫「舍吉那」的火焰，在以色列民族繁榮的年日曾顯現過。舊約過去，新約來臨，他又在五旬節降監，如同火焰，分開落在門徒的頭上。
Who is this within the veil who dwells in fiery manifestations? It is
none other than God Himself, `One God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and
earth, and of all things visible and invisible,' and `One Lord Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God; begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of
God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God; begotten, not made; being of one
substance with the Father,' and `the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life,
Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, Who with the Father and the Son
together is worshipped and glorified.' Yet this holy Trinity is One God, for
`we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the
Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father,
another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the
Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one: the glory equal and the
majesty co- eternal.' So in part run the ancient creeds, and so the inspired
Word declares.
Behind the veil is God, that
God after Whom the world, with strange inconsistency, has felt, `if haply they
might find Him.' He has discovered Himself to some extent in nature, but more
perfectly in the Incarnation; now He waits to show Himself in ravishing
fullness to the humble of soul and the pure in heart.
The world
is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God and the Church is famishing for
want of His Presence. The instant cure of most of our religious ills would be
to enter the Presence in spiritual experience, to become suddenly aware that we
are in God and that God is in us. This would lift us out of our pitiful
narrowness and cause our hearts to be enlarged. This would burn away the
impurities from our lives as the bugs and fungi were burned away by the fire
that dwelt in the bush.
What a
broad world to roam in, what a sea to swim in is this God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He is eternal, which means that He antedates time and is
wholly independent of it. Time began in Him and will end in Him. To it He pays
no tribute and from it He suffers no change.
He is
immutable, which means that He has never changed and can never change in any
smallest measure. To change He would need to go from better to worse or from
worse to better. He cannot do either, for being perfect He cannot become more
perfect, and if He were to become less perfect He would be less than God.
He is
omniscient, which means that He knows in one free and effortless act all
matter, all spirit, all relationships, all events. He has no past and He has no
future. He is, and none of the limiting and qualifying terms used of creatures
can apply to Him.
Love and
mercy and rightousness are His, and holiness so ineffable that no comparisons
or figures will avail to express it. Only fire can give even a remote
conception of it. In fire He appeared at the burning bush; in the pillar of
fire He dwelt through all the long wilderness journey. The fire that glowed
between the wings of the cherubim int he holy place was called the `shekinah,'
the Presence, through the years of Israel's glory, and when the Old had given
place to the New, He came at Pentecost as a fiery flame and rested upon each
disciple.
斯賓諾沙寫過關于神的理智之愛，也說出了一點真理；但是神最高的愛并不是屬于理智的，乃是屬靈的。神是靈，只有重生的人的靈才能真實的知道神。在人的心靈深處必須燃著這种靈火，不然的話，他的愛就不是神的真愛。天國里最大的人，就是那些愛神比別人愛得更多的人。他們事奉的敬虔，深而且誠，備受敬仰。只要默想一會儿，他們的名字就會在我們腦際一個一個的浮現，而且都帶著象牙的天宮里，發出來沒藥、乳香和桂皮的馨芳。
費伯是一位渴慕神如鹿切慕溪水的人。由于他的渴慕，神向他特別的顯現，使他整個人生燃起火熱的愛焰，可以与寶座前的撒拉弗相比。他對神的愛用在同一神性的三位一體其中的每一位，是無分彼此的，而且似乎他對于每一位，都有一种特別的愛情，單單為他存留的。三位一體神的第一位就是圣父，弗伯這樣歌頌他。
就這樣坐下思想神, 啊何其快樂!
思想你的思想呼吸你的名字, 地上更無再高福樂
愛的酬報竟就是父神, 啊我心喜悅難鳴
俯身你座前伏下, 凝視复凝視!
他對于基督的愛極其熾烈，熾烈的程度几乎要把自己吞滅了。這种愛在他里面燃燒，如同一种甘甜而圣洁的狂熱，又如同熔解的黃金液一般，從他口中流了出來。在他的一篇講章中他這樣說：「我們在神的教會中，無論面向那一個地方，都是耶穌。他之于我們，是一切事物的起始，中間以及終結。他是他仆人的一切，凡是良善的。圣洁的、美麗的、可喜樂的，主耶穌就是。任何人都不必貧窮，他若愿意，可以把耶穌作他的產業，為他所占有。任何人都不必沮喪灰心，因為耶穌是天上的喜樂；他最樂意進入懮傷的人的心中。我們對于好多事情都都曾言過其實，但是說到對于主耶穌的感謝，或者說到耶穌對于我們的丰盛慈愛和怜憫，便從來不曾言過。
其實。我們即使把一生的時間用來講說耶穌，對于應當說的甘甜事情，還是述說不完。永遠無究的時間，都不足夠叫我們認識他的一切，或是稱頌他的一切作為，不過，這些都不要緊，因為我們可以時常与他在一起；此外，我們沒有其他愿望。」當他直接和我們的主傾談時，他這樣說：
我是如此愛你我不知
約束的途徑
你的愛似一團燃燒著的火
燒在我靈深處
弗伯向著圣靈，也是一樣的熱愛。他不只是在神學上承認圣靈具有神性，和圣父、圣子同等，而且經常在歌唱和禱告中，也不住的頌揚他。他真正的俯伏下來，前額触地，以表示他對第三位神那种熱烈而又虔敬的崇拜。在一首頌贊圣靈的著名詩歌中，可以見到他那种熱烈而虔敬的心意：
Spinoza wrote of the intellectual love of God, and
he had a measure of truth there; but the highest love of God is not
intellectual, it is spiritual. God is spirit and only the spirit of man can
know Him really. In the deep spirit of a man the fire must glow or his love is
not the true love of God. The great of the Kingdom have been those who loved
God more than others did. We all know who they have been and gladly pay tribute
to the depths and sincerity of their devotion. We have but to pause for a
moment and their names come trooping past us smelling of myrrh and aloes and
cassia out of the ivory palaces.
Fredrick Faber was one whose soul panted after God as the roe pants
after the water brook, and the measure in which God revealed Himself to his
seeking heart set the good man's whole life afire with a burning adoration
rivaling that of the seraphim before the throne. His love for God extended to
the three Persons of the Godhead equally, yet he seemed to feel for each One a
special kind of love reserved for Him alone. Of God the Father he sings:
Only to sit and think of God,
Oh what a joy it is!
To think the thought, to
breathe the Name;Earth has no higher bliss.
Father of Jesus, love's
reward!What rapture will it be,
Prostrate before Thy throne
to lie, And gaze and gaze on Thee!
His love for the
Person of Christ was so intense that it threatened to consume him; it burned
within him as a sweet and holy madness and flowed from his lips like molten
gold. In one of his sermons he says, `Wherever we turn in the church of God,
there is Jesus. He is the beginning, middle and end of everything to us.
...There is nothing good, nothing holy, nothing beautiful, nothing joyous which
He is not to His servants. No one need be poor, because, if he chooses, he can
have Jesus for his own property and possession. No one need be downcast, for
Jesus is the joy of heaven, and it is His joy to enter into sorrowful hearts.
We can exaggerate about many things; but we can never exaggerate our obligation
to Jesus, or the compassionate abundance of the love of Jesus to us. All our
lives long we might talk of Jesus, and yet we should never come to an end of
the sweet things that might be said of Him. Eternity will not be long enough to
learn all He is, or to praise Him for all He has done, but then, that matters
not; for we shall be always with Him, and we desire nothing more.'
And addressing our
Lord directly he says to Him:
I love Thee so, I know not
how
My transports to control;
Thy love is like a burning
fire Within my very soul.
Faber's blazing
love extended also to the Holy Spirit. Not only in his theology did he
acknowledge His deity and full equality with the Father and the Son, but he celebrated
it constantly in his songs and in his prayers. He literally pressed his
forehead to the ground in his eager fervid worship of the Third Person of the
Godhead. In one of his great hymns to the Holy Spirit he sums up his burning
devotion thus:
神的靈啊美麗复可畏
我心不得不為你而裂
你愛情溫柔備至
全為我們這些可怜罪人
我恐怕引用的句子已經太多，不如把要說的，用直截了當的話說明出來。所說的就是，神如此的偉大而奇妙，又是如此的全然可愛，他不用加上任何別的東西，只有他自己，就能滿足我們一切的需要。像費伯（他不過是屬于數不過來的一大群人中的一個）所認識到對神的敬拜，決不是單從神學的知識中產生出來的，凡為愛神而至于「心裂」的，是到神面前的人，他們的眼目也仰望過神的威榮。
「心裂」，是另一個心情，為普通人所不知道，也不明白的。這些人常帶著屬靈的權柄說話。他們到過神的面前，并且向人說他們到過那里。他們是神的先知，不是受教的文士，國為文士只把他所讀的告訴人，而先知卻把他所看見過的告訴人。
這二者之間的區別不是抽象的，只讀過圣經的文士，和親自看見過神的先知，二者的差距就如同海洋那么寬闊。我們現今的世代、充斥著正統派的文士，先知到底在哪里呢？文士們生硬的聲音，充滿了福音信仰的團體，但是神的教會卻等候著要听那曾進入幔子里面，用心靈眼睛看見過奇妙圣者的人的柔和聲音。像這樣的往深處里去追求神，和從實際生活經驗上進到神的面前，乃是每一位神的儿女可以享受的特殊權利。
由于耶穌的肉身受死，已使幔子為我們裂開了。在神那方面，沒有什么東西攔阻我們進到他面前去，為什么我們還在外面滯留呢？為什么我們竟讓自己一直在至圣所外面過日子，從來不進去朝見神呢？我們听見新郎的聲音說：「求你容我得見你的面貌，得听你的聲音，因為你的聲音柔和，你的面貌秀美。」（歌2:14）我們覺得這人呼聲是為我們發的么？然而我們還是不走進去，于是歲月如梭，我們漸成衰老，而且疲倦，到底還留在會幕的外院。究竟是什么攔阻我們親近神呢？
通常見到的答案，只是因為我們太冷談了。這并不是以解釋全部的事實。還有比內心冷淡更加重的問題，在冷談的背后必定有東西，必定另有使冷談得以存在的原因，我們要把它找出來。這到底是什么呢？豈不是我們心中存留著一層「帕子」嗎？這「帕子」未曾像會幕的幔子已經被拿掉，乃是還存留著，阻擋神的面的神的光，使我們不能看見他，這就至今還活著的敗坏性情构成的肉體的「帕子」，它生長在我們里面，還沒有被交出來接受審判，還未被釘死，也還未予以舍棄。這就是我們從來未真正認識的自我生命所組成的堅韌「帕子」。我們曾經暗中為它而慚愧，而且就因這個緣故，我們從來沒有把它交給十字架予以審判。這暗昧的帕子，并不是如何的神秘不可捉摸，也并不難以辨識。我們只要向自己心里察看，就會看見它--組得好好的，或許還有過修補的痕跡；然而，它就是我們生命中的大仇敵，也是我們靈程長進中的一個最有力的攔阻。
O Spirit, beautiful and dread!
My heart is fit to break
With love of all Thy tenderness
For us poor sinners' sake.
I
have risked the tedium of quotation that I might show by pointed example what I
have set out to say, viz., that God is so vastly wonderful, so utterly and
completely delightful that He can, without anything other than Himself, meet
and overflow the deepest demands of our total nature, mysterious and deep as
that nature is. Such worship as Faber knew (and he is but one of a great
company which no man can number) can never come from a mere doctrinal knowledge
of God.
Hearts
that are `fit to break' with love for the Godhead are those who have been in
the Presence and have looked with opened eye upon the majesty of Deity. Men of
the breaking hearts had a quality about them not known or understood by common
men. They habitually spoke with spiritual authority. They had been in the
Presence of God and they reported what they saw there. They were prophets, not
scribes, for the scribe tells us what he has read, and the prophet tells us
what he has seen.
The
distinction is not an imaginary one. Between the scribe who has read and the
prophet who has seen there is a difference as wide as the sea. We are today
overrun with orthodox scribes, but the prophets, where are they? The hard voice
of the scribe sounds over evangelicalism, but the Church waits for the tender
voice of the saint who has penetrated the veil and has gazed with inward eye
upon the Wonder that is God. And yet, thus to penetrate, to push in sensitive
living experience into the holy Presence, is a privilege open to every child of
God.
With
the veil removed by the rending of Jesus' flesh, with nothing on God's side to prevent
us from entering, why do we tarry without? Why do we consent to abide all our
days just outside the Holy of Holies and never enter at all to look upon God?
We hear the Bridegroom say, `Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice;
for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely.' (Song of Sol 2:14) We
sense that the call is for us, but still we fail to draw near, and the years
pass and we grow old and tired in the outer courts of the tabernacle. What doth
hinder us?
The
answer usually given, simply that we are `cold,' will not explain all the
facts. There is something more serious than coldness of heart, something that
may be back of that coldness and be the cause of its existence. What is it?
What but the presence of a veil in out hearts? a veil not taken away as the
first veil was, but which remains there still shutting out the light and hiding
the face of God from us. It is the veil of our fleshly fallen nature living on,
unjudged within us, uncrucified and unrepudiated. It is the close- woven veil
of the self-life which we have never truly acknowledged, of which we have been
secretly ashamed, and which for these reasons we have never brought to the
judgment of the cross. It is not too mysterious, this opaque veil, nor is it
hard to identify. We have but to look in our own hearts and we shall see it
there, sewn and patched and repaired it may be, but there nevertheless, an
enemy to our lives and an effective block to our spiritual progress.
這「帕子」并不是一樣好看的東西，也不是我們平常愛談論的事情。我在此是要對那些心靈中渴慕神，決志跟從神的人說話。我知道他們不會回頭，雖他們所走的要經過死蔭的幽谷，里面仍有對于神的切慕，使他們繼續的往前追求。縱面臨任何痛苦，總為著將來的福樂，情愿忍受十字架。因此我大膽地把這一層帕子的內容作一個介紹。
這「帕子」是用「已」的生命的細紗組成的，它是人類天性中的罪惡。它并不是我們的所為，乃是我們的所是。在它里面還隱藏著他們的狡猾和力量。
明白地說來，「已」的罪就是以下這些東西：自義、自怜、自信、自滿、自足、自我欣賞、自愛，以及其他一大堆類似的東西。這些罪住在我們里面深處，是我們天性中的一部分，使我們不會注意到它們的存在，除非神的光照到它們。這些罪性若有更露骨的表現，就成為自尊自傲、自我表現、高抬自己等等，基督教領袖中也有這些罪，真是令人惊异。但更令人惊奇的，就是人認為非此不足為偉人，這些并不妨礙他們的見證，与所傳的福音。這不是故意諷刺，事實上有些教會團體，為了要孚從望，這些罪惡竟然成為必須有的；在高舉基督的偽裝之下，人高舉了自己，這在目前已是非常普遍的事，甚至到了不再有人去注意的地步了。
有人以為明白了人類墮落，和必須籍著基督才能稱義的教理，就可以救我們脫离「已」的罪惡權勢；可是事實上并不如此。那個「已」可以在祭壇上生長，它會眼睜睜地看著神的羔羊流血至死，而一點都不受感動。它會為更正教的信仰而奮斗，會大聲宣揚靠恩典得救的道理，同時因工作而心志增強，總而言之，它接受正統神學的培養，它對圣經的討論，比起閑雜的談話要高明得多。甚至我們對于神的渴慕，會為它造成一個頂好的環境，讓它蔓延和生長。
「已」就是這一層不透明的帕子，把神的面遮住了。不是知識可以把它除掉，乃要屬靈的經歷。這就如大麻瘋不會因著教訓而离開我們的身體。我們得自由之前，必須讓神做一步拆毀的工作。我們必須讓十字架在我們里面作致命的對付。我們要把一切「已」的罪惡帶到十字架面前去接受審判；我們必須准備經歷一种最劇烈的痛苦，如同我們的救主在本丟彼拉多的手下所受的痛苦一樣。
我們要記住這個：我們談論裂開「帕子」的時候，只是在想像中說話。我們的思想、意念，會以為這是很愉快的事，但是實際上，這是沒有一點愉快可言的。在人的經驗中，這一層「帕子」是活的，有生命的纖維物，是用我們身上有感情、有知覺的東西造成的，触到它，就是摸到我們的痛處，把它撕掉，就是叫我們受傷流血。若不是這樣，那十字架就不成為十字架，那种死，根本就不算是死了。死并不是一件儿戲的事，把我們天然生命中一种驕養而柔嫩的東西撕破了，那不是別的，乃是叫我們經歷最深的痛苦。然而這乃是十字架對主耶穌所作成的事，也是十字架對每一個信徒所要作的，為的是要使我們得到自由和釋放。
This
veil is not a beautiful thing and it is not a thing about which we commonly
care to talk, but I am addressing the thirsting souls who are determined to
follow God, and I know they will not turn back because the way leads
temporarily through the blackened hills. The urge of God within them will
assure their continuing the pursuit. They will face the facts however
unpleasant and endure the cross for the joy set before them. So I am bold to
mane the threads out of which this inner veil is woven. It is woven of the fine
threads of the self-life, the hyphenated sins of the human spirit. They are not
something we do, they are something we are, and therein lies both their
subtlety and their power.
To
be specific, the self-sins are these: self-righteousness, self-pity,
self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love and a host of
others like them. They dwell too deep within us and are too much a part of our
natures to come to our attention till the light of God is focused upon them.
The grosser manifestations of these sins, egotism, exhibitionism,
self-promotion, are strangely tolerated in Christian leaders even in circles of
impeccable orthodoxy. They are so much in evidence as actually, form any
people, to become identified with the gospel. I trust it is not a cynical
observation to say that they appear these days to be a requisite for popularity
in some sections of the Church visible. Promoting self under the guise of
promoting Christ is currently so common as to excite little notice.
One
should suppose that proper instruction in the doctrines of man's depravity and
the necessity for justification through the righteousness of Christ alone would
deliver us from the power of the self-sins; but it does not work out that way.
Self can live unrebuked at the very altar. It can watch the bleeding Victim die
and not be in the least affected by what it sees. It can fight for the faith of
the Reformers and preach eloquently the creed of salvation by grace, and gain
strength by its efforts. To tell all the truth, it seems actually to feed upon
orthodoxy and is more at home in a Bible Conference than in a tavern. Our very
state of longing after God may afford it an excellent condition under which to
thrive and grow.
Self
is the opaque veil that hides the Face of God from us. It can be removed only
in spiritual experience, never by mere instruction. As well try to instruct
leprosy out of our system. There must be a work of God in destruction before we
are free. We must invite the cross to do its deadly work within us. We must
bring our self-sins to the cross for judgment. We must prepare ourselves for an
ordeal of suffering in some measure like that through which our Saviour passed
when He suffered under Pontius Pilate.
Let
us remember: when we talk of the rending of the veil we are speaking in a
figure, and the thought of it is poetical, almost pleasant; but in actuality
there is nothing pleasant about it. In human experience that veil is made of
living spiritual tissue; it is composed of the sentient, quivering stuff of
which our whole beings consist, and to touch it is to touch us where we feel
pain. To tear it away is to injure us, to hurt us and make us bleed. To say
otherwise is to make the cross no cross and death no death at all. It is never
fun to die. To rip through the dear and tender stuff of which life is made can
never be anything but deeply painful. Yet that is what the cross did to Jesus
and it is what the cross would do to every man to set him free.
我們要當心，不要希望籍著修補里面的生命就可以自己去撕裂「帕子」，要讓神親自給我們作為一切；在我們方面，只要信靠和順服。我們必須承認，舍棄，拒絕那「已」的生命，算它是釘死了。但是我們還要把那种懶惰的順受性情，和神實在的工作分別清楚。我們要堅決非達到目的不可。我們不可單單靠一套自我釘死的理論，就停下步來，以為滿足了，那就是效法掃羅，把最好的羊羔和牛牲留起來。
十字架是殘忍的，也是致命的，但也是頂有功效的。它不叫你一直挂在那里。時候到了，它的工作要告成，受釘者要斷气，此后就是复活的榮耀和權能--痛苦忘記，喜樂來到，并且帕子揭去了；我們在屬靈的實際經驗中，進到神的面前來。
禱告：主啊！你的道路何等完美，人的道路又是多么邪僻与黑暗，求你指示我們怎樣叫自己死去，好叫我們再活過來，得著生命的更新。求你把我們「已」的生命的帕子從頂上裂開，如同你裂開圣殿的幔子一樣，我們要憑完全真實信心，与你親近。我們要在這地上，在經驗中与你同在，好叫我們到天上与你同住的時候，不怕看見你的威榮。奉主耶穌的名，阿們。
Let us beware of
tinkering with our inner life in hope ourselves to rend the veil. God must do
everything for us. Our part is to yield and trust. We must confess, forsake,
repudiate the self-life, and then reckon it crucified. But we must be careful
to distinguish lazy `acceptance' from the real work of God. We must insist upon
the work being done. We dare not rest content with a neat doctrine of
self-crucifixion. That is to imitate Saul and spare the best of the sheep and
the oxen.
Insist that the
work be done in very truth and it will be done. The cross is rough, and it is
deadly, but it is effective. It does not keep its victim hanging there forever.
There comes a moment when its work is finished and the suffering victim dies.
After that is resurrection glory and power, and the pain is forgotten for joy
that the veil is taken away and we have entered in actual spiritual experience
the Presence of the living God.
Lord, how
excellent are Thy ways, and how devious and dark are the ways of man. Show us
how to die, that we may rise again to newness of life. Rend the veil of our
self-life from the top down as Thou didst rend the veil of the Temple. We would
draw near in full assurance of faith. We would dwell with Thee in daily
experience here on this earth so that we may be accustomed to the glory when we
enter Thy heaven to dwell with Thee there. In Jesus' name, Amen.
（四）与神親近
「你們要嘗嘗主恩的滋味，便知道他是美善。」（詩34:8）
遠在二十五年以前，印度的荷爾姆斯曾說過，每個人在推理上都有相信神的天性。對于大多數的人，神只是一個推理的結論，并不是真空的；他是一般人所列舉出來，認為有足夠的證据，歸納而得的結果，但是對于神的本身，還是一無所知。「他必定是神，」他們說：「所以我們相信他是神。」另有一些人連這個也沒有思想過，他們所知道的神，不過是風聞而已。他們從來不去自己思想這個問題，只是從別人那里听見關于神的事，在腦子里相信了神，另加上一些零零碎碎的資料來建立起他們的信仰。對于另外的許多人，神不過是一种理想，是至善的別名，或者就是美，就是真理，或者說，他就法律生命，是目前所存在的自然現象背后的一种創造力。
這些關于神的概念有許許多多，而且各自不同，但持這些概念的人，卻有一點是相同的：他們在個人經驗上，并不認識神。在他們的思想中，沒有認為人是可以与神親密相識的。他們承認神的存在，卻想不到他是可以被我們認識，如同許多的物和人可以被人認識一樣。
當然基督徒比這些人要高明一點，至少有理論上如此。他們的信仰，要求他們相信神的位格，他們這樣的禱告：「我們在天上的父。」（太6:9）這种有位格的對父親的稱呼，使人有一种觀念，認為他可以与人互相認識。然而這是在理論上如此接受的，實際上有成千上万的基督徒，神對于他們并不比對于非基督徒更顯得實在；他們一生不過是愛上了一個理想，和僅僅忠于一种教義而已。
遠在一切模糊的理論之上的，有很清楚的圣經真理，就是人可以在個人經驗中去認識神。一位慈愛而有位格的神，統管整本圣經；他在園中的樹木間行走，向著每一美景吐露芬芳的香气。他常常以一個活的位格出現，他說話，辯論，施愛、作工，并在每個時候每個地方，向需要他的子民顯現。
圣經認定一個不辯自明的事實，就是人可以認識神到一個親密的程度，就如同認識任何其他的人和物一樣。在圣經中那用以表明對神認識的詞句，就如同用以表明對自然界事物認識的詞句一樣：「你們要嘗嘗主恩的滋味，便知道他美善。」（詩34:8）「你的衣服都有沒藥、沉香、肉桂的香气，象牙宮中有絲弦樂器的聲音，使你歡喜。」（詩45:8）「我的羊听我的聲音。」（約10:16）「清心的人有福了，因為他們必得見神。」（太5:8）這四句話是從圣經中無數同類的話語中抽出來的。整要圣經都以這個信念為中心，這是尤為重要的。
Chapter 4 :
Aprehending God
O taste and see. Ps. 34:8
It was Canon
Holmes, of India, who more than twenty-five years ago called attention to the
inferential character of the average man's faith in God. To most people God is
an inference, not a reality. He is a deduction from evidence which they
consider adequate; but He remains personally unknown to the individual. `He
must be,' they say, `therefore we believe He is.' Others do not go even so far
as this; they know of Him only by hearsay. They have never bothered to think
the matter out for themselves, but have heard about Him from others, and have
put belief in Him into the back of their minds along with the various odds and
ends that make up their total creed. To many others God is but an ideal,
another name for goodness, or beauty, or truth; or He is law, or life, or the
creative impulse back of the phenomena of existence.
These notions
about God are many and varied, but they who hold them have one thing in common:
they do not know God in personal experience. The possibility of intimate
acquaintance with Him has not entered their minds. While admitting His
existence they do not think of Him as knowable in the sense that we know things
or people.
Christians, to be
sure, go further than this, at least in theory. Their creed requires them to
believe in the personality of God, and they have been taught to pray, `Our
Father, which art in heaven.' Now personality and fatherhood carry with them
the idea of the possibility of personal acquaintance. This is admitted, I say,
in theory, but for millions of Christians, nevertheless, God is no more real
than He is to the non-Christian. They go through life trying to love an ideal
and be loyal to a mere principle.
Over against all
this cloudy vagueness stands the clear scriptural doctrine that God can be
known in personal experience. A loving Personality dominates the Bible, walking
among the trees of the garden and breathing fragrance over every scene. Always
a living Person is present, speaking, pleading, loving, working, and manifesting
Himself whenever and wherever His people have the receptivity necessary to
receive the manifestation.
The Bible assumes
as a self-evident fact that men can know God with at least the same degree of
immediacy as they know any other person or thing that comes within the field of
their experience. The same terms are used to express the knowledge of God as
are used to express knowledge of physical things. `O taste and see that the
Lord is good.' (Ps 34:8) `All thy garments smellof myrrh, and aloes, and cassia,
out of the ivory palaces.' (Ps 45:8) `My sheep hear my voice.' (Jn 10:27)
`Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' (Mt 5:8) These are but
four of countless such passages from the Word of God. And more important than
any proof text is the fact that the whole import of the Scripture is toward
this belief.
除非在我們心中有一個可以認識神的「器官」，如同我們用所熟悉的五种官能來認識物質東西那樣确實、否則這一切的話便沒有什么意思。我們籍著所給我們的官能，去了解神和靈界的事物，只要我們順從神的靈的感動，并且開始運用我們屬靈的官能。說到這里，先要肯定的是，得救的功夫在人的心中已經完成了。一個未重生的人，他的屬靈官能是沉睡的，他從來沒有使用過它，它的一切作用也是死的，那是由于罪所加于我們的打擊。那些官能會因為圣靈的重生，再變成活動而有生命的，這乃是基督十字架的救贖工作所賜給人的一种無限福气。
然而被神所救贖的儿女們，為什么對于圣經所說那种經常与神自覺的交通知道得那么少呢？唯一的答案，就是我們的靈性遲鈍，和怀著不信的惡心。信心可以使我們屬靈的官能發生作用。什么地方信心有了缺陷，結果必定是靈里變成無感覺，對于許多屬靈事情麻木了。這是今天大多數基督徒的光景。這种說法不需要更多的證明，我們只要隨便和一個基督徒談話，或是隨便走入一間教堂，就可以發現我們所需要的事實，證明我所說的這种光景。
一個屬靈的國度擺在我們的周圍，這個國度一直包圍我們，怀抱我們，我們可以籍著里面的生命接触到它，再進一步去認識它，神自己就在那里等候我們与他相交。我們開始認定它的實有，這個永恒的世界對我們就成為活的了。
上文我用了兩個特別的詞，必須加以注解；可能的話，給它下了定義。這兩個詞就是「認定」和「實有」。「實有」是什么意思呢？就是說一個東西，它的存在不依附于對它所存的任何意念、思想；即使沒有任何人承認它的存在，它仍然是存在的。它之所以真實，乃在于它的本身，它并不倚靠觀察者的觀念而存在。
有些人喜歡嘲笑人所持的「實有」的觀念。唯心論者引證無窮的事例，來證明在思想觀念之外，沒有實在的東西存在。相對論者喜歡指出，在宇宙之間沒有任何固定的點，可作為供我們衡量事物的標准。他們坐在知識界的高位上，向我們投以輕蔑的微笑，自滿自足地把「絕對論者」的名號加在我們身上。基督徒是不會被這种輕蔑所嚇倒，弄得不知所措的，我們對那些學者也報以微笑作答，因為我們知道只有一位是絕對的，就是神。我們也知道這唯一絕對的神創造了世界，給人享用，固然言語都不足以准确的說明人生中活動的目的，就如言語不能准确地說明神一樣，但我們卻可以依照那些目的而活。一個人如果不是神經病者，他都會如此過活。不錯，神經病者對「實有」也出現問題，不過他們卻是能夠一致，他們的表現，顯明他們是堅持著一种与自己觀念相符的生活。他們是誠實的，而且因為這种誠實，使他們在社會上成為有問題的人。
What can all this mean except
that we have in our hearts organs by means of which we can know God as
certainly as we know material things through our familiar five senses? We
apprehend the physical world by exercising the faculties given us for the
purpose, and we possess spiritual faculties by means of which we can know God
and the spiritual world if we will obey the Spirit's urge and begin to use
them. That a saving work must first be done in the heart is taken for granted
here. The spiritual faculties of the unregenerate man lie asleep in his nature,
unused and for every purpose dead; that is the stroke which has fallen upon us
by sin. They may be quickened to active life again by the operation of the Holy
Spirit in regeneration; that is one of the immeasurable benefits which come to
us through Christ's atoning work on the cross.
But the very ransomed children
of God themselves: why do they know so little of that habitual conscious
communion with God which the Scriptures seem to offer? The answer is our
chronic unbelief. Faith enables our spiritual sense to function. Where faith is
defective the result will be inward insensibility and numbness toward spiritual
things. This is the condition of vast numbers of Christians today. No proof is
necessary to support that statement. We have but to converse with the first
Christian we meet or enter the first church we find open to acquire all the
proof we need.
A spiritual kingdom lies all
about us, enclosing us, embracing us, altogether within reach of our inner
selves, waiting for us to recognize it. God Himself is here waiting our
response to His Presence. This eternal world will come alive to us the moment
we begin to reckon upon its reality.
I have just now used two words
which demand definition; or if definition is impossible, I must at least make
clear what I mean when I use them. They are `reckon' and `reality.' What do I
mean by reality? I mean that which has existence apart from any idea any mind
may have of it, and which would exist if there were no mine anywhere to
entertain a thought of it. That which is real has being in itself. It does not
depend upon the observer for its validity.
I am aware that there are
those who love to poke fun at the plain man's idea of reality. They are the
idealists who spin endless proofs that nothing is real outside of the mind.
They are the relativists who like to show that there are no fixed points in the
universe from which we can measure anything. They smile down upon us from their
lofty intellectual peaks and settle us to their own satisfaction by fastening
upon us the reproachful term `absolutist.' The Christian is not put out of
countenance by this show of contempt. He can smile right back at them, for he
knows that there is only One who is Absolute, that is God. But he knows also
that the Absolute One has made this world for man's uses, and, while there is
nothing fixed or real in the last meaning of the words (the meaning as applied
to God) for every purpose of human life we are permitted to act as if there
were. And every man does act thus except the mentally sick. These unfortunates
also have trouble with reality, but they are consistent; they insist upon
living in accordance with their ideas of things. They are honest, and it is their
very honesty that constitutes them a social problem.
唯心論者和相對論者是神經健全的。足以證明他們神經健全的，就是他們也過著一种和實有觀念相符的生活。可是這种觀念，恰是他們在理論上予以摒棄的。若是他們真正依照自己的觀念過活的話，還會獲得更大的尊崇，然而他們并不如此做。他們有深刻的思想，但沒有深刻的生活。什么時候實際的生活碰上他們，就得摒棄自己的理論，過著和其他人一樣的生活。
基督徒的誠實，使他們不為自己的緣故而玩弄觀念的把戲。他對于純理論上的細膩分析并不感興趣。他的一切信仰都是切合實際的，他的信仰和生活是打成一片的。無論在今世或將來，以至永遠，他憑著這种信仰而生活，無論是生是死，是站立或是跌倒，他都如此。他不和那些不誠實的人同流合污。
一個普通誠實的人，誰知道這世界是實有的。當他悟性清醒時，便發現這個世界是确實存在的，他知道自己不是根据臆想而承認它的存在。當他生下來的時候，這世界就已經存在，并且等候他的來臨。他也知道，當他准備要离開這個世界的一切的時候，這世界仍然存在。他比一千個疑惑者都聰明，他站在大地上，臉上感覺到有風有雨，他就知道風雨是真實的。他白日看見太陽，夜晚看見眾星。他看見從黑云中閃亮了強烈的電光，他听得見自然界的聲音，也听見人類喜樂与痛苦的聲音。這些他知道都是真空的。在夜里他躺下來，在陰涼地上并不害怕。到第二天早上，那堅硬的大地還在他的腳下，藍色的天空還留在他頭頂上，石頭、樹木仍然在他周圍，和他昨晚閉上眼睛之前的一樣。他乃是在一個實有的世界中生活著，十分喜樂。他和這個實有的世界接触，是籍五种感官性能。凡他生存所需要的一切，他都籍著創造他并安置他在這個世界上的神，所賦予他的各种官能，和它們接触。
因此，照我們所下的定義，神是實有的。他是絕對的實有，而且是自始自終的實有，可以說實有到沒有其他任何東西可以与他相比。一切其他東西的實有性都是依附于神的實有而存在。最偉大的實有就是神自己，他是那包括人類与其他受造之物的實有世界的創造者。神是客觀存在的，不依附我們對他所存的任何概念。我們的心靈并沒有創造一個敬拜的對象。重生的那一天，它從沉睡中轉醒過來，就發現在自己面前有一位神。
另外有一個必須加以解釋的詞，就是「認定」。這不是想像或空想，因空想沒有信心。這二者之間不止有分別，乃是彼此對立的。空想是先從思想中造出不是實有的東西來。然后設法把真實性加上去；信心并沒有創造出任何東西，它不過是「認定」那已經存在的東西而已。神以及屬靈的世界都是實有的，我們能夠「認定」它的存在，就如同我們認定周圍所熟悉的世界那樣。屬靈的事物确實就在那里（或不如說在這里），要我們注意它，并且向我們的信心挑戰。
The idealists and relativists are not mentally sick. They prove their
soundness by living their lives according to the very notions of reality which
they in theory repudiate and by counting upon the very fixed points which they
prove are not there. They could earn a lot more respect for their notions if
they were willing to live by them; but this they are careful not to do. Their
ideas are brain-deep, not life- deep. Wherever life touches them they repudiate
their theories and live like other men.
The Christian is too sincere to play with ideas for their own sake. He
takes no pleasure in the mere spinning of gossamer webs for display. All his
beliefs are practical. They are geared into his life. By them he lives or dies,
stands or falls for this world and for all time to come. From the insincere man
he turns away.
The sincere plain man knows that the world is real. He finds it here
when he wakes to consciousness, and he knows that he did not think it into
being. It was here waiting for him when he came, and he knows that when he
prepares to leave this earthly scene it will be here still to bid him good-bye
as he departs. By the deep wisdom of life he is wiser than a thousand men who
doubt. He stands upon the earth and feels the wind and rain in his face and he
knows that they are real. He sees the sun by day and the stars by night. He
sees the hot lightning play out of the dark thundercloud. He hears the sounds
of nature and the cries of human joy and pain. These he knows are real. He lies
down on the cool earth at night and has no fear that it will prove illusory or
fail him while he sleeps. In the morning the firm ground will be under him, the
blue sky above him and the rocks and trees around him as when he closed his
eyes the night before. So he lives and rejoices in a world of reality. With his
five senses he engages this real world. All things necessary to his physical
existence he apprehends by the faculties with which he has been equipped by the
God who created him and placed him in such a world as this.
Now by our definition also God is real. He is real in the absolute and
final sense that nothing else is. All other reality is contingent upon His. The
great Reality is God who is the Author of that lower and dependent reality
which makes up the sum of created things, including ourselves. God has
objective existence independent of and apart from any notions which we may have
concerning Him.The worshipping heart does not create its Object. It finds Him
here when it wakes from its moral slumber in the morning of its regeneration.
Another word that must be cleared up is the word reckon. This does not
mean to visualize or imagine. Imagination is not faith. The two are not only
different from, but stand in sharp opposition to, each other. Imagination
projects unreal images out of the mind and seeks to attach reality to them.
Faith creates nothing; it simply reckons upon that which is already there. God
and the spiritual world are real. We can reckon upon them with as much
assurance as we reckon upon the familiar world around us. Spiritual things are
there (or rather we should say here) inviting our attention and challenging our
trust.
我們的毛病，就是已經形成了一种不良的思想習慣。我們往往以那看得見的世界是實有的，而對其他看不見的東西的實有性都表示怀疑。我們不否認屬靈世界的存在，可是卻對于認定它具有實有性，老是遲疑著。
屬感覺的世界在我們一生中，每日每夜都吸引著我們的注意。這世界是喧鬧的、顯明的，而且富有自我表現性的。這不必訴諸我們的信心，因為一切都推在眼前，与我們五种感覺性能有接触，它始終認為是實有的。但是罪把我們心中的靈眼弄瞎了，以致看不見另外一個實有的世界，就在我們周圍有著光輝的神的圣城。因此，感覺的世界得胜了，看得見的与看不見的彼此敵對起來，暫的世界与永遠的世界成為仇敵。這就是每一個亞當的后裔，代代遺傳下來的咒詛。
基督徒的生命根深之處，相信那看不見的世界。基督徒信心的對象，就是那看不見的實有世界。我們因為生來靈眼失明，又由于到處都有可見之物影響著我們，遂形成一种錯誤的思想，喜歡把屬靈的事物和實有的東西作對比，然而實際上這种對比并不存在。其他事物都可以作對比，例如：實有与空想、屬靈的与屬物質的、暫時的和永遠的；但是屬靈的与實有的，永不能成為對比，因為屬靈的本來就是實有的。
若是我們信從圣經的真理，走在它的亮光之中，就必須除去忽視屬靈實有性的惡習。我們必須把興趣從看得見的提高到看不見的，因為那最偉大的看不見的實有就是神。「因為到神面前來的人必須信有神，且信他賞賜那尋求他的人。」（來11:6）這乃是信心生活的基礎。從這個起點，我們可以升到無限的高處。「你們信神，」我們的主耶穌基督如此說：「也當信我。」（約14:1）若沒有第一個「信神」，就不可能有接著的第二個「信我」。
如果我們真正要跟從神，便須有屬于另外一個世界的樣子。我十分知道，今世之子曾經輕蔑地用這句話責備基督徒。事實正是如此，每一個人必須選擇他的世界。若是我們這跟從基督的人，由于面臨自己的一切事，和知道我們所信的是什么，因而審慎的選擇神的國，把我們興趣放在上面，我看任何人都沒有理由反對我們。如果我們如此做遭受什么損失的話，那也是我們自己的損失；如果我們賺得了什么，我們也不是奪取別人的。那「另一個世界」是這個世界所污蔑的對象，是醉酒者漫歌譏笑的主題，卻成為我們謹慎選擇的目標，和我們神圣冀望的對象。
Our trouble is
that we have established bad thought habits. We habitually think of the visible
world as real and doubt the reality of any other. We do not deny the existence
of the spiritual world but we doubt that it is real in the accepted meaning of
the word.
The world of sense
intrudes upon our attention day and night for the whole of our lifetime. It is
clamorous, insistent and self- demonstrating. It does not appeal to our faith;
it is here, assaulting our five senses, demanding to be accepted as real and
final. But sin has so clouded the lenses of our hearts that we cannot see that
other reality, the City of God, shining around us. The world of sense triumphs.
The visible becomes the enemy of the invisible; the temporal, of the eternal.
That is the curse inherited by every member of Adam's tragic race.
At the root of the
Christian life lies belief in the invisible. The object of the Christian's
faith is unseen reality. Our uncorrected thinking, influenced by the blindness
of our natural hearts and the intrusive ubiquity of visible things, tends to
draw a contrast between the spiritual and the real; but actually no such
contrast exists. The antithesis lies elsewhere: between the real and the
imaginary, between the spiritual and the material, between the temporal and the
eternal; but between the spiritual and the real.
The spiritual is real.
If we would rise into that region of light and power plainly beckoning us
through the Scriptures of truth we must break the evil habit of ignoring the
spiritual. We must shift our interest from the seen to the unseen. For the
great unseen Reality is God. `He that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.' (Hebr 11:6) This
is basic in the life of faith. From there we can rise to unlimited heights. `Ye
believe in God,' said our Lord Jesus Christ, `believe also in me.' (John 14:1)
Without the first there can be no second.
If we truly want
to follow God we must seek to be other-worldly. This I say knowing well that
that word has been used with scorn by the sons of this world and applied to the
Christian as a badge of reproach. So be it. Everyman must choose his world. If
we who follow Christ, with all the facts before us and knowing what we are
about, deliberately choose the Kingdom of God as our sphere of interest I see
no reason why anyone should object. If we lose by it, the loss is our own; if
we gain we rob no one by so doing.
但是我們要謹防一种常見的錯誤，就是把那個「另一個世界」推到將來。這并不是將來的事，乃是現在的事。它与我們所熟悉的自然世界相并行，而且這兩個世界之間的門是敞開的。希伯來書的作者說（所用的動詞是現在式的）：「你們乃是來到錫安山，永生神的城邑，就是天上的耶路撒冷。那里有千万的天使有名錄在天上諸長子之會所共聚的總會，有審判眾人的神，和被成全之義人的靈魂，并新約的中保耶穌，以及所洒的血；這血所說的，比亞伯的血所說的更美。」（來12:22－24）這一切是与「那能摸的山」，和能听得見的：「角聲，与說話的聲音」（來12:18-19）互相對比。我們豈不是可以如此說，西乃山是靠感覺接近的，錫安山是籍心靈触到的嗎？這并不是一种空想的玩意，乃是全然真實的事。心靈有眼睛可以看見東西，有耳朵可以听見聲音，只因為長久不使用的緣故，它可能變成衰弱的，但是一旦被基督徒摸到，就立刻得著生命，又活過來，而且能極敏銳地看見景物，听見頂微小的聲音。
我們開始注視神的時候，里面的眼就會看見靈界的東西。遵守基督的命令，就會使神在人里面向人顯現（參約14:21-23）。這能使人張開靈眼，正如神應許的，清心的人必得見神。一种新的屬神的意識會抓住我們，我們就開始嘗到神，并在里面感覺到，神已經成為我們的生命和我們的一切。在那里就會看見真光，照亮一切世上的人。漸漸地，我們這种官能會繼續增長，益見敏銳，越來越确實，神便成為我們最偉大的一切，因他的同在，我們的生命便有榮耀和奇异的改變。
禱告：神啊，求你使我里面每一分力量立刻活起來，使我能抓住一切永恒的東西。求你明亮我心中的眼目，使我看得清楚；給我敏銳的屬靈觀察力，使我能嘗到恩典的滋味，并且知道它是美善；求你使天上的一切對于我，比地上的一切更真實。阿們。
The `other world,'
which is the object of this world's disdain and the subject of the drunkard's
mocking song, is our carefully chosen goal and the object of our holiest
longing. But we must avoid the common fault of pushing the `other world' into
the future. It is not future, but present. It parallels our familiar physical
world, and the doors between the two worlds are open. `Ye are come,' says the
writer to the Hebrews (and the tense is plainly present), `unto Mount Zion, and
unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which
are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just
men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood
of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel' (Hebr 12:22-24)
All these things are contrasted with `the mount that might be touched' and `the
sound of a trumpet and the voice of words' that might be heard. May we not
safely conclude that, as the realities of Mount Sinai were apprehended by the
senses, so the realities of Mount Zion are to be grasped by the soul? And this
not by any trick of the imagination, but in downright actuality. The soul has
eyes with which to see and ears with which to hear. Feeble they may be from
long disuse, but by the life-giving touch of Christ alive now and capable of
sharpest sight and most sensitive hearing.
As we begin to
focus upon God the things of the spirit will take shape before our inner eyes.
Obedience to the word of Christ will bring an inward revelation of the Godhead
(John 14:21-23). It will give acute perception enabling us to see God even as
is promised to the pure in heart. A new God-consciousness will seize upon us
and we shall begin to taste and hear and inwardly feel the God who is our life
and our all. There will be seen the constant shining of the light that lighteth
every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9) More and more, as our
faculties grow sharper and more sure, God will become to us the great All, and
His Presence the glory and wonder of our lives.
O God, quicken to
life every power within me, that I may lay hold on eternal things. Open my eyes
that I may see; give me acute spiritual perception; enable me to taste Thee and
know that Thou art good. Make heaven more real to me than any earthly thing has
ever been. Amen.
（五）神的無所不在
「我往哪里去躲避你的靈？我往哪里逃避你的面？」（詩139:7）
在基督教的教義中，有某一些真理，在某些時候是隱藏起來，好象成為一种想象而不是确說，但卻与整個真理是不分開的，正如一幅已完成的圖畫中，那些基本顏色是不可分開的一樣。這种真理就是神無所不在。
神住在他所創造的宇宙中，而且在他所造之物中的任何地方。古時先知和使徒都是大膽地如此教導人，而一般的基督教神學，承認此种說法，不過這只是在書籍中如此說，而在每一個信徒的心中，為著某种原因，還沒有使這种道理深入地成為他信仰的一部分。基督教的教師們，躲開這個丰富的道理，而且即使提到的話，也只是輕輕一說，使人覺得它并沒有什么重大意義。我猜想他們所以如此，乃是因為恐怕受人抨擊，說他們是泛神論者，但是，關于神無所不在的教理，實在不是一种泛神論。
泛神的錯誤非常明顯，不足以欺騙人，它把神看作一切受造之物的總和。「自然」和「神」同為一體，所以不論何人，摸到一片樹葉或一塊石頭，就是摸著了神，這就很自然地把那位永不朽坏的神的尊榮降低了，并且企圖把一切東西都當作神，把真正神性，從這個世界完全排斥出去。有神論是說神住在他所創造的世界中，他和世界之間，有一條永遠無法通過的鴻溝，他和他的手所造成的工程，無論多么一致，那些工程必須是在他以外的東西，而神自己必須是在一切所造之物之先，并且不附屬于所造之物。雖然他內在于所造的万物中，然而他是超越在這一切之上的神。
那么，在基督徒的經驗中，神的內在性是什么意思呢？簡單地說，就是「神在這里」，無論我們在哪里，也可以說：「神在這里。」沒有一個地方（不可能有任何一個地方），沒有神在那里。一千万個有才能的人，盡其所能分散到不同的地點，盡可能距离到不可想象的遙遠，每一個人仍然能夠同樣真實地說：「神在這里。」沒有任何一點的位置，會比其他一點的位置与神更接近。任何一個地方与神距离，和任何其他一個地方与神的距离是一樣的；沒有一個人在距离上，會比別人离神更遠或更近。
這些都是基督徒所相信的真理。只是這個真理還需要我們多加思想，并且多多禱告，使之能在我們里面發出亮光。「起初神」這句話，不是說到物質，因為物質是不會自己發生的。在物質以先必先有一個先存的因，而神就是那個因。這句話也不是說到定律，因為定律只是一切受造之物所服從的原則；原則需要一位設計者，而那個設計者就是神。這句話也不是說到思想，因為思想的背后還需要一位創造者。「起初神」他是物質、思想和定律的「無因之因」。我們一切必須從他作開始。
Chapter 5 : The
Universal Presence
Whither shall I go
from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? Ps. 139:7
In all Christian
teaching certain basic truths are found, hidden at times, and rather assumed
than asserted, but necessary to all truth as the primary colors are found inane
necessary to the finished painting. Such a truth is the divine immanence.
God dwells in His
creation and is everywhere indivisibly present in all His works. This is boldly
taught by prophet and apostle and is accepted by Christian theology generally.
That is, it appears in the books, but for some reason it has not sunk into the
average Christian's heart so as to become a part of his believing self.
Christian teachers shy away from its full implications, and, if they mention it
at all, mute it down till it has little meaning. I would guess the reason for
this to be the fear of being charged with pantheism; but the doctrine of the
divine Presence is definitely not pantheism.
Pantheism's error is too palpable to
deceive anyone. It is that God is the sum of all created things. Nature and God
are one, so that whoever touches a leaf or a stone touches God. That is of
course to degrade the glory of the incorruptible Deity and, in an effort to make
all things divine, banish all divinity from the world entirely. The truth is
that while God dwells in His world He is separated from it by a gulf forever
impassable. However closely He may be identified with the work of His hands
They are and must eternally be other than He, and He is and must be antecedent
to and independent of them. He is transcendent above all His works even while
He is immanent within them.
What now does the
divine immanence mean in direct Christian experience? It means simply that God
is here. Wherever we are, God is here. There is no place, there can be no
place, where He is not. Ten million intelligences standing at as many points in
space and separated by incomprehensible distances can each one say with equal
truth, God is here. No point is nearer to God than any other point. It is
exactly as near to God from any place as it is from any other place. No one is
in mere distance any further from or any nearer to God than any other person
is.
These are truths
believed by every instructed Christian. It remains for us to think on them and
pray over them until they begin to glow within us. `In the beginning God.' (Gen
1:1) Not matter, for matter is not self-causing. It requires an antecedent
cause, and God is that Cause. Not law, for law is but a name for the course
which all creation follows. That course had to be planned,and the Planner is
God. Not mind, for mind also is a created thing and must have a Creator back of
it. In the beginning God, the uncaused Cause of matter, mind and law. There we
must begin.
亞當在犯罪之后，便在恐怕之中，妄圖做一件一可能的嚴陣以待，就是躲避耶和華的面。大衛也必定有此狂想，要躲避神，他在詩篇中曾有這們的話：「我往那里去躲避你的靈？我往哪里躲避你的面？」（詩139:7）接著他在這首頂美麗的詩中，頌揚神無所不在的榮耀。「我若升到天上，你在哪里；我若在陰間下榻，你也在那里。我若展開清晨的翅膀，飛到海極居住，就是在那里，你的手心引導我，你的右手了也必扶持我。」（詩139:8-10）他又知道神的存在，和神的看見是同樣的事。神看見乃是在他出生之前，就已經有了，要察看他一生要怎樣發展。所羅門如此說：「神果真住在地上么？看哪，天和天上的天，尚且不足你居住的。何況我所建的這殿呢？」（王上82:7）保羅對雅典人說：「他离我們各人不遠，我們生活、動作、存留，都在乎他。」（徒17:27-28）
既然是每一處空間都有神存在，我們就不能找到一個沒有神的地方。為什么神的存在不被普世稱頌呢？先祖雅各在荒漠曠野中，答复了這個問題。他看見了神异象，就惊异地呼叫說：「耶和華真在這里，我竟不知道。」（創28:16）雅各在此之前，從沒有一秒鐘脫离了充滿万有神的范圍，但是他竟不知道。這就是他的苦惱，也是我們的苦惱。人們竟不知道神就在這里，如果知道的話，情形是多么兩樣啊！
神的存在和神的顯現并不是一回事。神的存在，是在我們完全不注意的時候，神的顯現，卻必須待我們注意到他的存在才覺察到。在我們這一方面，必須順服神的靈，因為他的工作是把父和子顯示給我們。若是我們有歡喜順服神的心与神聯合，他就向我們顯現，而這种顯現，就形成那些有名無實的基督徒的生活，和那些与神親近、有神榮耀光輝的基督徒生活的差別。
每一個地方每刻都有神的存在，而且他不斷的找机會向人顯現。對于每個人他的顯現不只叫人明白他的自有，也叫人明白他是什么？他向摩西顯現；「耶和華在云中降臨，和摩西一同站在那里，宣告耶和華的名。」（出34:5）他不但在口頭上宣告他的神性，更是把自己顯示給摩西看，以致摩西的臉皮發出超出自然的亮光。如果我們相信神的自我顯現是真實的，那將是一件大事情，因為神不但對人有許多應許，而且所有的應許都要成就。
我們對于神的追求不會落空，乃是因為他永遠在找尋机會向我們顯示他自己。神向一個人顯現，并不是好象從很遠的地方來到，向人的靈魂作一次重要而短暫的訪問，如果這樣想的話，就是完全錯了。神与人的心靈親近，或人的心靈与神親近，并不是指空間而言。這里面并不含有自然界距离的概念，因為這不是距离的問題，乃是經驗的問題。
Adam sinned and, in his panic,
frantically tried to do the impossible: he tried to hide from the Presence of
God. David also must have had wild thoughts of trying to escape from the
Presence, for he wrote, `Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I
flee from thy presence?' (Ps 139:7) Then he proceeded through one of his most
beautiful psalms to celebrate the glory of the divine immanence. `If I ascend
up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art
there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of
the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.'
(Ps 139:8-10) And he knew that God's being and God's seeing are the same, that
the seeing Presence had been with him even before he was born, watching the
mystery of unfolding life. Solomon exclaimed, `But will God indeed dwell on the
earth? behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee: how
much less this house which I have builded.' (1 Kings 8:27) Paul assured the
Athenians that `God is not far from any one of us: for in him we live, and
move, and have our being.' (Acts 17:27-28)
If God is present at every
point in space, if we cannot go where He is not, cannot even conceive of a
place where He is not, why then has not that Presence become the one
universally celebrated fact of the world? The patriarch Jacob, `in the waste
howling wilderness,' gave the answer to that question. He saw a vision of God
and cried out in wonder, `Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.'
(Gen 28:16) Jacob had never been for one small division of a moment outside the
circle of that all-pervading Presence. But he knew it not. That was his
trouble, and it is ours. Men do not know that God is here. What a difference it
would make if they knew.
The Presence and the
manifestation of the Presence are not the same. There can be the one without
the other. God is here when we are wholly unaware of it. He is manifest only
when and as we are aware of His Presence. On our part there must be surrender
to the Spirit of God, for His work it is to show us the Father and the Son. If
we co-operate with Him in loving obedience God will manifest Himself to us, and
that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and
a life radiant with the light of His face.
Always, everywhere God is
present, and always He seeks to discover [uncover] Himself. To each one he
would reveal not only that He is, but what He is as well. He did not have to be
persuaded to discover Himself to Moses. `And the Lord descended in the cloud,
and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.' He not only
made a verbal proclamation of His nature but He revealed His very Self to Moses
so that the skin of Moses' face shone with the supernatural light. It will be a
great moment for some of us when we begin to believe that God's promise of
self-revelation is literally true: that He promised much, but promised no more
than He intends to fulfill.
Our pursuit of God is
successful just because He is forever seeking to manifest Himself to us. the
revelation of God to any man is not God coming from a distance upon a time to
pay a brief and momentous visit to the man's soul. Thus to think of it is to
misunderstand it all. The approach of God to the soul or of the soul to God is
not to be thought of in spatial terms at all. There is no idea of physical
distance involved in the concept. It is not a matter of miles but of
experience.
我們和神距离的遠近，其實應該可以用人与人之間的關系來說明。一個人會說：「我覺得我的儿子越長大，就越和我接近。」其實他的儿子有生以來，就在他的身邊，從來沒有一天离開家庭。那么這父親的話究竟是什么意思呢？很明顯地，他所說的是指經驗而言。他的意思是說，孩子因為對于他有更深的了解，和他更加親密，兩人之間，思想和感覺上的隔膜逐漸消失，父親和儿子在心靈和思想上，形成更密切的聯合。
所以當我們歌唱說「引我親近，親近我的恩主」，我們所想的，并不是地方上的接近，乃是關系上的接近。我們所禱告祈求的，是更多的自覺，對于神的存在有更完全的經驗。我們不必通過空間，向看不見的神呼喊，他与我們比我們与自己的靈魂更接近，比与我們最親密的思想更貼近。
為什么有的人用一种方法「尋找神」，而其他的人又不如此呢？為什么神向有些人顯現，而讓其他多數的人，停留在不完全的基督徒生活經驗中糊涂摸索呢？無疑的，神向所有的人所定的旨意是一樣的。在神的家中，他沒有特別寵愛的人。過去他曾經為自己儿女們所做的，他現在也要為一切的儿子做。所不同的，不在于神，乃在于我們。
我們隨便舉出一些偉大圣人，他們和生活和見證，為眾人所共知的。我們隨便提一提圣經中的人物，或在圣經成典以后的著名圣徒，你會立刻想到那些圣徒彼此很不相同，有時他們之間的不同，會形成尖銳的對比。例如說摩西和以賽亞是多么的不同；以利沙和大衛是多么的不相同；又如約翰和保羅；圣法蘭西斯和路德；芬尼和多瑪肯培，他們之間各自又是多么的不同。那些不同點就如他們的种族、國籍、教育、習慣，以及個性，那么繁多。然而他們一生都走在一條屬靈生活的大道上，遠胜于有一般生活方式的人。
他們之間的不同只是偶然的，且在神的眼中看為是不關重要的；他們必須在某种最重要的關系上彼此是相同的，這到底是什么呢？
我大膽說，他們所共有的一种特性，就是「屬靈的感受性」。在他們里面有個地方向著天是敞開的，有個東西催迫他們趨向神。不用作任何深奧的說明，我只要簡單地說，他們是有著一种屬靈的醒覺性，而且他們一直在培養這個東西，直到它在他們生活中成為最重要的東西。他們和普通人所不同的，就是當他覺得里面有渴慕的時候，他們就有所行動。他們養成畢生在心靈中對于神有反應的習慣。他們沒有違背天上的异象，如同大衛很簡捷地向神說：「你說，你們當尋求我的面；那時我心向你說，耶和華阿，你的面我正要尋求。」（詩27:8）
各人生命中一切的長處都是出于神。「屬靈感受性」的背后，乃是神。神的至高主權就在這里顯明，即使是那些對這道理沒有在神學上加以研究的人，也察覺得有神的主權。敬虔的安其祿在他的短詩中，也承認這個事實：
To speak of being near to or
far from God is to use language in a sense always understood when applied to
our ordinary human relationships. A man may say, `I feel that my son is coming
nearer to me as he gets older,' and yet that son has lived by his father's side
since he was born and has never been away from home more than a day or so in
his entire life. What then can the father mean? Obviously he is speaking of
experiece. He means that the boy is coming to know him more intimately and with
deeper understanding, that the barriers of thought and feeling between the two
are disappearing, that father and son are becoming more closely united in mind
and heart.
So when we sing, `Draw me
nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,' we are not thinking of the nearness of place,
but of the nearness of relationship. It is for increasing degrees of awareness
that we pray, for a more perfect consciousness of the divine Presence. We need
never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul,
closer than our most secret thoughts.
Why do some persons `find' God
in a way that others do not? Why does God manifest His Presence to some and let
multitudes of others struggle along in the half-light of imperfect Christian
experience? Of course the will of God is the same for all. He has no favorites
within His household. All He has ever done for any of His children He will do
for all of His children. The difference lies not with God but with us.
Pick at
random a score of great saints whose lives and testimonies are widely known.
Let them be Bible characters or well known Christians of post-Biblical times.
You will be struck instantly with the fact that the saints were not alike.
Sometimes the unlikenesses were so great as to be positively glaring. How
different for example was Moses from Isaiah; how different was Elijah from
David; how unlike each other were John and Paul, St. Francis and Luther, Finney
and Thomas à Kempis. The differences are as wide as human life itself:
differences of race, nationality, education, temperament, habit and personal
qualities. Yet they all walked, each in his day, upon a high road of spiritual
living far above the common way. Their differences must have been incidental and
in the eyes of God of no significance. In some vital quality they must have
been alike. What was it? I venture to suggest that the one vital quality which
they had in common was spirital receptivity. Something in them was open to
heaven, something which urged them Godward. Without attempting anything like a
profound analysis I shall say simply that they had spiritual awareness and that
they went on to cultivate it until it became the biggest thing in their lives.
They differed from the average person in that when they felt the inward longing
they did something about it. They acquired the lifelong habit of spiritual
response. They were not disobedient to the heavenly vision. As David put it
neatly, `When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face,
Lord, will I seek.' (Ps 27:8)
As with
everything good in human life, back of this receptivity is God. The sovereignty
of God is here, and is felt even by those who have not placed particular stress
upon it theologically. The pious Michael Angelo confessed this in a sonnet:
我的無援的心是干涸貧瘠的土
天然本質不得种以飽人
一切美善敬虔之果惟靠你作子粒
你話出之處生机隨現
你若不指示你真空的道路無人尋得著
父阿！你定要指引
這些話可以見證一個偉大圣徒深刻和嚴肅的生命是怎樣的。
承認神在我們里面作工固然重要，但是我卻要提醒大家，對這個觀念若先存太大的成見，定會領人到毫無生气的死路上去。神不一定要我們明白關于揀選、預定、以及神的主權這一類奧秘的事，對于這些真理，最好的處理方法就是舉起我們的眼目，以最恭敬的態度向神說：「神阿，是的，你知道。」這些事物都是屬于神無所不知的奧秘世界的，仔細研究下去，可能成為神學家，卻永無不會成為圣者。
屬靈的「感受」并不是簡單，而相當的复雜的，是由于靈魂深處几种不同性質的東西結合而成的；它有親切的作用，有傾向、有交感，而且有渴慕的欲望。因此我們可以培植它，它也能有不同程度的表現，全看我們個人的情況而定。如多有操練就會使它增長，若是疏忽了就會把它摧毀。這自然是出于神的一种恩賜，但是人若要實際得到這种恩賜的益處，就必須如同其他的恩賜那樣，憑信心接受，并且注意培養它。
現代的福音派一种極可怕的墮落，就是忽視這方面的工作。古時圣徒珍視培養靈性和操練敬虔，在今天整個基督教的生活中，這些都沒有地位，一切都顯得太遲慢，太平淡，我們現在都盼望有奇特、動人、快速，而有戲劇性的動作。這世代用急促和机械的方法產生出來的基督徒，總是太性急，對于較遲慢和不太直接去達到目標的追求方法，會覺得不耐煩。我們一直是用机械的方法去促進与神的關系。我們讀讀圣經，作短短的禱告，就匆忙而去。我們到別處參加布道會，或去听一些在遠方宣教歸來的人，講富有刺激性的故事，為了補救內心深處屬靈生活的破產。
這种屬靈生活的悲慘結果，到處可以看見。浮汪的生活，空洞的宗教哲學，用娛樂大眾的手法舉辦傳福音聚會，注重人的榮耀，信賴外表的宗教活動，組織有名無實的宗教團契，應用商人的手法，把人的作為當作圣靈的能力。這一切的一切，都是屬靈惡疾的病症，終至形成靈性生活中一种嚴重痼疾。
My unassisted heart is barren
clay,
That of its native self can
nothing feed:
Of good and pious works Thou
art the seed,
That quickens only where Thou
sayest it may:
Unless Thou show to us Thine
own true way
No man can find it: Father!
Thou must lead.
These words will
repay study as the deep and serious testimony of a great Christian.
Important as it is
that we recognize God working in us, I would yet warn against a too-great
preoccupation with the thought. It is a sure road to sterile passivity. God
will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of election,
predestination and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with
these truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence say, `O Lord,
Thou knowest.' Those things belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God's
omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians, but it will never make
saints.
Receptivity is not
a single thing; it is a compound rather, a blending of several elements within
the soul. It is an affinity for, a bent toward, a sympathetic response to, a
desire to have. From this it may be gathered that it can be present in degrees,
that we may have little or more or less, depending upon the individual. It may
be increased by exercise or destroyed by neglect. It is not a sovereign and
irresistible force which comes upon us as a seizure from above. It is a gift of
God, indeed, but one which must be recognized and cultivated as any other gift
if it is to realize the purpose for which it was given. Failure to see this is
the cause of a very serious breakdown in modern evangelicalism. The idea of
cultivation and exercise, so dear to the saints of old, has now no place in our
total religious picture. It is too slow, too common. We now demand glamour and
fast flowing dramatic action.
A generation of
Christians reared among push buttons and automatic machines is impatient of
slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals. We have been trying to
apply machine-age methods to our relations with God. We read our chapter, have
our short devotions and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward
bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another
thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar.
The tragic results
of this spirit are all about us. Shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies,
the preponderance of the element of fun in gospel meetings, the glorification
of men, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships,
salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the
Spirit: these and such as these are the symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and
serious malady of the soul.
這一种嚴重的屬靈病症形成的原因，不能叫那一個單獨的個人負其責任的，但是也沒有哪一個人可以完全推卸責任。我們每一個人，直接和間接地對這种可悲的結果都有一分責任。我們的眼太瞎，以致看不清楚；我們太膽怯，以致不敢講話；我們自滿自足，以致一般人所認為已經滿意的我們便領受，也不希望再求更多更好的供應，說得更清楚一點，就是我們只接受別人的概念、摹仿別人的生活，把別人的經驗當作自己的模范，我們沒有自己的體驗，于是整個時代的屬靈空气日趨下流。現在我們到了一個又荒涼，又枯干，又低沉的地步，更可怕的，就是我們把圣經硬和我們空洞的生活經驗連成一起，于是把這种可怜的光景，就當作神所賜福的青草地。
我們要脫离這個時代的捆綁，回到圣經的道路去；如果有堅強的決心，与夠大的勇气，這不是不可能的事。以前的圣徒都是如此。歷史記載了多次偉大的复原運動，由圣法蘭西斯、馬丁路德、弗克斯這些人起來領導的，不幸在今天，好象還沒有路德和弗克斯這一類的人興起來。是否在基督再來之前，還有另外一個复原運動興起，這問題基督徒的見解還會完全一樣，不過對于今天的我們，似乎還不是最重要的事。
我不想知道，神憑著他那統管万有的權柄，要在這世界上興起什么事，但是神要怎樣對待尋求他面的儿女，這是我所知道，也能夠告訴人的事。任何人只以誠實的心靈歸向神，只要開始操練敬虔的生活，只要籍著信靠，順服和謙卑的態度，發展這种屬靈感受性，他所得到的，必定超過他在貧乏軟弱中，所盼望得到的福分与喜樂。任何人只要悔改，誠實歸向神，就會沖破他被拘限于其中的模式，進入圣經中，找到他所需要的屬靈真理，他會因他所得著的感到莫大的喜樂。
我們再說：神的存在乃是一個事實，整個宇宙因他的生命而活著。這一位神不是生疏的，或外來的神，乃是我們救主耶穌基督所愛的父親，而主耶穌基督的愛在這二千年來遮蓋著人類的罪。我們的主常叫我們注意他，他自己向我們顯現，他常愿意与我們有交通。如果我們肯對他的感動有反應的話，在我們里面就有一种能力，使我們認識他。（這在我們就叫做尋求神！）我們屬靈的感受性可以籍著信心、愛心和行道，使我們對于他的認識漸漸增多。
禱告：父神啊！我的心被看得見的世界占据得太多了，我要向你悔改這罪。這世界与我的關系太深了，使我竟不知道你就在我面前；我看不見你的存在。求你明亮我的眼目，使我能看見你就在我里面，在我的身旁，奉基督的名祈求，阿們。
For this great
sickness that is upon us no one person is responsible, and no Christian is
wholly free from blame.We have all contributed, directly or indirectly, to this
sad state of affairs. We have been too blind to see, or too timid to speak out,
or too self-satisfied to desire anything better than the poor average diet with
which others appear satisfied. To put it differently, we have accepted one
another's notions, copied one another's lives and made one another's
experiences the model for our own. And for a generation the trend has been
downward. Now we have reached a low place of sand and burnt wire grass and,
worst of all, we have made the Word of Truth conform to our experience and
accepted this low plane as the very pasture of the blessed.
It will require a
determined heart and more than a little courage to wrench ourselves loose from
the grip of our times and return to Biblical ways. But it can be done. Every
now and then in the past Christians have had to do it. History has recorded
several large- scale returns led by such men as St. Francis, Martin Luther and
George Fox. Unfortunately there seems to be no Luther or Fox on the horizon at
present. Whether or not another such return maybe expected before the coming of
Christ is a question upon which Christians are not fully agreed, but that is
not of too great importance to us now.
What God in His
sovereignty may yet do on a world-scale I do not claim to know: but what He
will do for the plain man or woman who seeks His face I believe I do know and can
tell others. Let any man turn to God in earnest, let him begin to exercise
himself unto godliness, let him seek to develop his powers of spiritual
receptivity by trust and obedience and humility, and the results will exceed
anything he may have hoped in his leaner and weaker days. Any man who by
repentance and a sincere return to God will break himself out of the mold in
which he has been held, and will go to the Bible itself for his spiritual
standards, will be delighted with what he finds there.
Let us say it
again: The Universal Presence is a fact. God is here. The whole universe is
alive with His life. And He is no strange or foreign God, but the familiar
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ whose love has for these thousands of years
enfolded the sinful race of men. And always He is trying to get our attention,
to reveal Himself to us, to communicate with us. We have within us the ability
to know Him if we will but respond to His overtures. (And this we call pursuing
God!) We will know Him in increasing degree as our receptivity becomes more
perfect by faith and love and practice.
O God and Father,
I repent of my sinful preoccupation with visible things. The world has been too
much with me. Thou hast been here and I knew it not. I have been blind to Thy
Presence. Open my eyes that I may behold Thee in and around me. For Christ's
sake. Amen.
（六）永恒不止的聲音
「太初有道，道与神同在，道就是神。」（約1:1）
一個稍稍有思想的人，即便是沒有接受過基督教真理的教導，看到了以上一節經文，也會想約翰寫這句話，是要告訴人神的本性是會說話的（編者注：「道」字原文是「話」字），會把他的思想傳遞給別人的。這想法很對。「話語」乃是用以表明思想的一种媒介，這個詞語今用在永生神子的身上，使我們相信神是具有自我表過的本性的，并且神一直是對著他所創造的万物，說出他自己，整部圣經都可以作為憑据。神不斷地說話，不是已經說了話，而是神：「正在」說話。他的本性是繼續不斷表達他自己，他的聲音充滿著世界。
我們所當注意的許多偉大東西，其中一樣就是神向他所創造的世界發出的聲音。宇宙起源說中，最簡單也是唯一能叫人滿意就是：「他說有，就有。」（詩33:9）自然界一切定律的因由，就是神在他所創造的万物中所貫注活活的聲音，而這籍以形成諸天万物的神的話，不能直指為圣經，因為這里所指的并不是寫下來或印出來的話，乃是指神說進万物的底顯示他心意的話。這神的話乃是神所吹的气，它帶著活潑的潛力，充滿了這個宇宙。神的聲音乃是自然界中最有能力的東西，也是自然界中唯一力量，因為一切自然界的能力所以存在，乃是由于神曾經發出那种滿有能力的話。
圣經是寫下來的神的話，因它是寫下來的，所以受著寫作的必需品墨水、紙張、皮卷的限制和拘束。然而神的聲音永遠是活的，而且像神本身那樣，是非常自由的：「我對你們所說的話就是靈，就是生命（約6:63）就是存在于永恒不止的話中。圣經中神話所以有力量，只是因為它和宇宙中神的話呼應。是存在著的聲音，使那寫下來的話語變成全能，不然的話，在圣經中那些話，只是死沉沉躺在書皮里的東西而已。」
我們想像神怎樣創造宇宙万物時，常會用一种很低層面、很雛形的觀念來想，以為神好象木匠那樣，与所需用的東西作物理上的接触，切鋸、裝嵌、建造。但是，圣經告訴我們卻不是如此：「諸天籍耶和華的命而造，万象籍他口中的气而成。因為他說有，就有，命立，就立。」（詩33:6,9）「我們因著信，就知道諸世界是籍神的話造成的。」（希11:3）再一次我們必須記住，神在這里所指的，不是寫出來的話，乃是指著他口中所出的不止息的聲音。他那充滿宇宙的聲音，就是在圣經以前成千百年，已經有了的聲音，就是從創世的起頭至今都沒有止息過，并繼續在宇宙所及最遠的地方發出的聲音。
Chapter 6 : The
Speaking Voice
In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
An intelligent
plain man, untaught in the truths of Christianity, coming upon this text, would
likely conclude that John meant to teach that it is the nature of God to speak,
to communicate His thoughts to others. And he would be right. A word is a
medium by which thoughts are expressed, and the application of the term to the
Eternal Son leads us to believe that self-expression is inherent in the
Godhead, that God is forever seeking to speak Himself out to His creation. The
whole Bible supports the idea. God is speaking. Not God spoke, but God is
speaking. He is by His nature continuously articulate. He fills the world with
His speaking Voice.
One of the great
realities with which we have to deal is the Voice of God in His world. The
briefest and only satisfying cosmogony is this: `He spake and it was done.' The
why of natural law is the living Voice of God immanent in His creation. And
this word of God which brought all worlds into being cannot be understood to
mean the Bible, for it is not a written or printed word at all, but the
expression of the will of God spoken into the structure of all things. This
word of God is the breath of God filling the world with living potentiality.
The Voice of God is the most powerful force in nature, indeed the only force in
nature, for all energy is here only because the power-filled Word is being
spoken.
The Bible is the
written word of God, and because it is written it is confined and limited by
the necessities of ink and paper and leather. The Voice of God, however, is
alive and free as the sovereign God is free. `The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life.' The life is in the speaking words. God's
word in the Bible can have power only because it corresponds to God's word in
the universe. It is the present Voice which makes the written Word all-
powerful. Otherwise it would lie locked in slumber within the covers of a book.
We take a low and
primitive view of things when we conceive of God at the creation coming into
physical contact with things, shaping and fitting and building like a
carpenter. The Bible teaches otherwise: `By the word of the Lord were the
heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. ...For he
spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.' (Ps 33:6,9) `Through
faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.' (Heb 11:3)
Again we must remember that God is referring ere not to His written Word, but
to His speaking Voice. His world-filling Voice is meant, that Voice which
antedates the Bible by uncounted centuries, that Voice which has not been
silent since the dawn of creation, but is sounding still throughout the full
far reaches of the universe.
神的話是活潑而有功效的。在太初神對「無」說話，一切就「有」了。混沌听見了，于是變成秩序井然；黑暗听見了，于是變成光明。「神說，事就這樣成了」。（創1:4）在創世記的創造過程中，這兩個句子出現多次，前句是原因，后句結果。「說」解釋「成了」的原因，「成了」是「說」擺進了永恒不止的結果。
神是永在的，神的聲音也是永恒不止的--這是圣經中一切真理背后的真理；若沒有這些背后的真理，就根本不可能有神任何的啟示。神不是就只寫好一本書，差遣他的使者給人遠遠的誦讀，而不給人幫助去了解這些話。他吐出話語，成為一本書，而他自己就住在所說的話語中，不斷地說話，不斷地使那些話的能力維持下去。神向泥土吹气，泥土就變成人；他向人吹气（譯者注：即說話之意），他們又歸回塵土。他對墮落犯罪的人，只說了一句話：「你們世人要歸回。」（詩90:3）他命定了人人都有一死，此外不需要再說什么，人類從出生到死亡，在地上所經歷的悲慘過程，就證明他講過的那句話已經夠清楚了。
在約翰福音中有一句話含有極深刻的意義，我們卻未加以特別留意，那就是第一章第九節所說的：「那光是真光，照亮一切生在世上的人。」我們把這一句的重點略加變換，還是不失其中的真理；「神的道，在人的心中生效如同光一樣，照亮人的靈魂。」在一切的人心中都有這個真光的照射，都有神的話的聲音，沒有一個例外。如果神是活的，并且住在他所創造的宇宙中，便必會如此，正如約翰所說的。對那些從未听見圣經真理的人，也有机會讓他們清楚明白神的事，使他們永遠沒有一個理由可以推諉。「這是顯出律法的功用刻在他們心里。他們是非之心同作見證，并且他們的思念互相較量，或以為是，或以為非。」（羅2:15）「自從造天地以來，神的永能和神性是明明可知的，雖是眼不能見，但籍著所造之物，就可以曉得，叫人無可推諉。」（羅1:20）
神這种充滿于万有的聲音，古希伯來人常稱之為「智慧」，并說它是在地上到處呼喊尋找，要從人方面得著反應。箴言第八章的開頭這樣說：「智慧豈不呼叫？聰明豈不發聲？」接著作者把智慧描寫成一個美麗的婦人，「在道旁高處的頂上，在十字路口站立。」她從每一個角落發出聲音，使沒有一個人不听見。「眾人哪！我呼叫你們，我向世人發聲。」于是，她招呼那愚蒙人和愚昧人都要听她的話。在此神的智慧所要求的是靈里的領悟，她常常要尋找這种反應卻很少有人明白。我們永遠的福分就是系于我們听不听這种招呼，但我們的耳朵竟習慣不听這种聲音，這是真正的悲劇。
The Word of God is quick and powerful. In the beginning He spoke to
nothing, and it became something. Chaos heard it and became order, darkness
heard it and became light. `And God said - - and it was so.' (Gen 1:9) These
twin phrases, as cause and effect, occur throughout the Genesis story of the
creation.
The said accounts for the so. The so is the said put into the
continuous present. That God is here and that He is speaking--these truths are
back of all other Bible truths; without them there could be no revelation at
all. God did not write a book and send it by messenger to be read at a distance
by unaided minds. He spoke a Book and lives in His spoken words, constantly
speaking His words and causing the power of them to persist across the years.
God breathed on clay and it became a man; He breathes on men and they become
clay. `Return ye children of men,' (Ps 90:3) was the word spoken at the Fall by
which God decreed the death of every man, and no added word has He needed to
speak. The sad procession of mankind across the face of the earth from birth to
the grave is proof that His original Word was enough.
We have not given sufficient attention to that deep utterance in the
Book of John, `That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh
into the world.' (John 1:9) Shift the punctuation around as we will and the
truth is still there: the Word of God affects the hearts of all men as light in
the soul. In the hearts of all men the light shines, the Word sounds, and there
is no escaping them. Something like this would of necessity be so if God is
alive and in His world. And John says that it is so. Even those persons who
have never heard of the Bible have still been preached to with sufficient
clarity to remove every excuse from their hearts forever. `Which show the work
of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and
their thoughts the mean while either accusing or else excusing one another.'
(Rom 2:15) `For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal
power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.' (Rom 1:20)
This universal Voice of God was by the ancient Hebrews often called
Wisdom, and was said to be everywhere sounding and searching throughout the
earth, seeking some response from the sons of men. The eighth chapter of the
Book of Proverbs begins, `Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her
voice?' The writer then pictures wisdom as a beautiful woman standing `in the
top of the high places, by the way in the places of the paths.' She sounds her
voice from every quarter so that no one may miss hearing it. `Unto you, O men,
I call; and my voice is to the sons of men.' Then she pleads for the simple and
the foolish to give ear to her words. It is spiritual response for which this
Wisdom of God is pleading, a response which she has always sought and is but
rarely able to secure. The tragedy is that our eternal welfare depends upon our
hearing, and we have trained our ears not to hear.
這种充滿宇宙的聲音是自始就響著，它常常攪擾著人--甚至在人還不知道恐懼從何而來的時候。有史以來，人類不知為何緣故，心中老是沒有平安，老是渴望長生不死，是否因為神的聲音，凝聚成迷霧，在他們的心門外，不住的飄散著呢？我們用不著害怕去面對，神的聲音永恒不止，乃是一個不移的事實，人怎樣去回應事實，才是應該注意的事。
神從天上發出聲來，与我們的主耶穌說話的時候，那些以自己為中心的人听了，卻以自然現象來解釋之。他們說：「打雷了。」（約12:29）人習慣于用自然律來解釋神的聲音，乃是根源于現代的科學。在這個滿有生气的宇宙，有個東西是極其奇妙，極其可畏，沒有任何人的頭腦能夠了解它的，凡是相信的人都不要求了解，他只是跪下來低聲地說：「神」屬地的人也跪下來，但卻不是為著敬拜，他乃是伏下來從事于研究，要找出事物的因由和真相。現今我們是生活在一個浮俗的世代中，我們思想的習慣是如同那科學家一般，而不象敬拜神的人。我們不喜歡敬拜，而喜歡理解。我們說：「打雷了。」于是我們走向屬世的道路去了。可是，神的聲音仍然在響，在尋找，整個世界的秩序和生活，都由那個聲音來決定，然而人大都是只顧忙碌，一味倔強，從來不予注意。
我們每一個人都曾經有過一些不能解釋的經驗，例如：一种突然間來到的孤單感覺，或是一种面對著偉大宇宙而生出惊奇敬畏的感覺，或者心中突然透進一線亮光，如同從別的星照射來的那樣，叫我們覺得自己是從別處而來的，相信我的始源，是神圣的。在那一刻，我們所聞所見和感覺到的，都和我們在學校中所學習的，以及我們因此得來的一切信仰和思想都似乎不同。不一會儿，云霧又重新卷回，我們又去听，去看自己所喜好的，于是我們只有被迫得將一度有過的惊疑擱置。若依我們的解釋，我們對這事無法作公正的判斷，除非我們肯承認這种經驗，可能是由于這宇宙中有神的存在，并且他一直竭力要与人類有交通。我們不要太輕率地拋開這种想法吧。
我自己如此相信（如果沒有人同意也不打緊），這世界上人類所生產的每一樣不在基督里的好東西，都是人類犯罪阻擋了神向万有所發出的聲音的結果。那些道德哲學家，夢想他們道德的美夢；宗教思想家，思索關于神以及不朽的事；詩人和藝術家，用平凡的材料，創造純洁而永恒的美，這些叫我們如何解釋呢？我們如果只說：「這乃是天才。」這顯然是不夠的。那么，再問「天才」到底是什么呢？能不能說「天才」，就是一個人心中常有神那种永恒不止的聲音，但他努力追求的，卻只是達到模糊不清的目標呢？即使有偉大人物在一生工作中不信神，甚至還用言語及文字去反對神，這都不足以動搖我這种信仰与思想。
This universal Voice has ever sounded, and it has often troubled men
even when they did not understand the source of their fears. Could it be that
this Voice distilling like a living mist upon the hearts of men has been the
undiscovered cause of the troubled conscience and the longing for immortality
confessed by millions since the dawn of recorded history? We need not fear to
face up to this. The speaking Voice is a fact. How men have reacted to it is
for any observer to note.
When God spoke out of heaven to our Lord, self-centered men who heard
it explained it by natural causes: they said, `It thundered.' This habit of
explaining the Voice by appeals to natural law is at the very root of modern
science. In the living breathing cosmos there is a mysterious Something, too
wonderful, too awful [i.e. `awesome'] for any mind to understand. The believing
man does not claim to understand. He falls to his knees and whispers, `God.'
The man of earth kneels also, but not to worship. He kneels to examine, to
search, to find the cause and the how of things. Just now we happen to be
living in a secular age. Our thought habits are those of the scientist, not
those of the worshipper. We are more likely to explain than to adore. `It
thundered,' we exclaim, and go our earthly way. But still the Voice sounds and
searches. The order and life of the world depend upon that Voice, but men are
mostly too busy or too stubborn to give attention.
Everyone of us has had experiences which we have not been able to
explain: a sudden sense of loneliness, or a feeling of wonder or awe in the
face of the universal vastness. Or we have had a fleeting visitation of light
like an illumination from some other sun, giving us in a quick flash an
assurance that we are from another world, that our origins are divine. What we
saw there, or felt, or heard, may have been contrary to all that we had been
taught in the schools and at wide variance with all our former beliefs and opinions.
We were forced to suspend our acquired doubts while, for a moment, the clouds
were rolled back and we saw and heard for ourselves. Explain such things as we
will, I think we have not been fair to the facts until we allow at least the
possibility that such experiences may arise from the Presence of God in the
world and His persistent effort to communicate with mankind. Let us not dismiss
such an hypothesis too flippantly.
It is my own belief (and here I shall not feel bad if no one follows
me) that every good and beautiful thing which man has produced in the world has
been the result of his faulty and sin-blocked response to the creative Voice
sounding over the earth. The moral philosophers who dreamed their high dreams
of virtue, the religious thinkers who speculated about God and immortality, the
poets and artists who created out of common stuff pure and lasting beauty: how
can we explain them? It is not enough to say simply, `It was genius.' What then
is genius? Could it be that a genius is a man haunted by the speaking Voice,
laboring and striving like one possessed to achieve ends which he only vaguely
understands? That the great man may have missed God in his labors, that he may
even have spoken or written against God does not destroy the idea I am
advancing.
人要獲取得救的信心与神和好的話，就需要神在圣經中關于贖罪的啟示。若是從這個忙亂的人生最終要進入永生，和在神里面享受滿足的安息，我們需要信靠一位复活的救主。這是我從基督里所得到一個最好的合理解答，可是你若不能接受這种理論，仍然可做一個好的基督徒。
神的聲音乃是一种友愛的聲音，任何一個人，除非他已經決心拒絕神的聲音，就不必害怕听從它。耶穌的血不但遮蓋了全人類，也遮蓋一切受造之物。「既然籍著他在十字架上所流的血，成就了和平，便籍著他叫万有，無論是在地上的、天上的，都与自己和好了。」（西1:20）我們可以很放心地傳揚一個友善的天國，天上地上都充滿著那位住在荊棘里的神的美好心意，神子救贖的血，可以永遠保證。
凡是愿意聆听的，就必听見那天上的說話聲音。現今的确不是人們歡喜接受勸導要「聆听」的時代，因為現今流行的宗教，已經沒有聆听這回事了，我們和從前的世代是南轅北轍。宗教已經接受了那些可怕的邪說，籍著叫嚷聲、規模、活動、聲勢來促使人蒙神悅納。我們要小心。神對面臨最后一次大災難、懮焦如焚的以色列人這樣說：「你們要休息，要知道我是神。」（詩46:10）如今他仍然是這樣說，似乎他的意思是告訴我們，得力是在平靜安穩里，而不在噪嚷里。
我們安靜，等候神，十分重要。最好是單獨面對他，把圣經放在面前打開。如果我們如此做，我們便能靠近神，開始听到他在心中對我們說話。我想一般人大概會如此進展：首先听見好象有物在花園中行走的響聲；接著是一把隱隱可聞的聲音，但是仍然很不清楚；接著就是快樂的一剎那，圣靈解開圣經的奧秘，原先不過是響聲，或至多是說話聲音，如今卻變成完全可理解的話語，如同一位親愛的朋友說的話那么熱情、親切、和清楚；接著就是生命和光進入心靈里面，而能夠在靈里見到耶穌，在他怀里安息，緊緊擁抱他，以他為拯救者、主，我們的所有。
我們若不确信神在他所創造的宇宙中，清晰地說著話，圣經對于我們來說永遠不會是一本活的書。從一個死板無位格的世界，跳到一本教條式的圣經，對于大多數的人已是件極不容易的事。他們或會承認「理當」圣經當作神的話，并且這樣去思想它，可是他們仍覺得不能相信紙上的話，是真的對他們而說的。一個人可能口里說；「這些話是寫給我的。」但是在心中卻不這樣感覺和認識，他成了精神分裂的犧牲者。他在設想神只在圣經說話，而在其他地方則是啞巴。
God's
redemptive revelation in the Holy Scriptures is necessary to saving faith and
peace with God. Faith in a risen Saviour is necessary if the vague stirrings
toward immortality are to bring us to restful and satisfying communion with
God. To me this is a plausible explanation of all that is best outside of
Christ. But you can be a good Christian and not accept my thesis.
The Voice
of God is a friendly Voice. No one need fear to listen to it unless he has
already made up his mind to resist it. The blood of Jesus has covered not only
the human race but all creation as well. `And having made peace through the
blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say,
whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.' (Col 1:20) We may safely
preach a friendly Heaven. The heavens as well as the earth are filled with the
good will of Him that dwelt in the bush (Ex. 3). The perfect blood of atonement
secures this forever.
Whoever
will listen will hear the speaking Heaven. This is definitely not the hour when
men take kindly to an exhortation to listen, for listening is not today a part
of popular religion. We are at the opposite end of the pole from there.
Religion has accepted the monstrous heresy that noise, size, activity and
bluster make a man dear to God. But we may take heart. To a people caught in
the tempest of the last great conflict God says, `Be still, and know that I am
God,' (Ps 46:10) and still He says it, as if He means to tell us that our
strength and safety lie not in noise but in silence.
It is
important that we get still to wait on God. And it is best that we get alone,
preferably with our Bible outspread before us. Then if we will we may draw near
to God and begin to hear Him speak to us in our hearts. I think for the average
person the progression will be something like this: First a sound as of a
Presence walking in the garden. Then a voice, more intelligible, but still far
from clear. Then the happy moment when the Spirit begins to illuminate the
Scriptures, and that which had been only a sound, or at best a voice, now
becomes an intelligible word, warm and intimate and clear as the word of a dear
friend. Then will come life and light, and best of all, ability to see and rest
in and embrace Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord and All.
The Bible
will never be a living Book to us until we are convinced that God is articulate
in His universe. To jump from a dead, impersonal world to a dogmatic Bible is
too much for most people. They may admit that they should accept the Bible as
the Word of God, and they may try to think of it as such, but they find it
impossible to believe that the words there on the page are actually for them.
Aman may say, `These words are addressed to me,' and yet in his heart not feel
and know that they are. He is the victim of a divided psychology. He tries to
think of God as mute everywhere else and vocal only in a book.
我們許多許多不信的惡心，是由于對圣經真理成熟理解和錯誤感覺。我們以為那緘默的神忽然開始在一本書說話，書成后他又退回去成為一位永遠緘默的神，現在我們讀的圣經，只是神在他一時有興致說話時留存下來的記錄。我們腦子里存著這种概念，如何能叫我們相信神呢？事實上，神如今并不是緘默的，他也從未有過緘默的時候。神的本性就是要說話，三位一體神的第二位被稱為「話」（編按：即「道」）。圣經乃是神不斷發出言語的必然結果，是他思想意念完美無瑕的宣言，不過用我們所熟悉的語言表達出來罷了。
我想如果我們不把圣經看作是神曾經說過的話，而把它看作是神現在所說的話，就會從屬靈生活的迷霧中出來，進入一個新的世界。舊約中那些先知常常說：「耶和華如此說。」（「說」字英文釋本為現在式--編者。）他們的意思是叫听眾明白，神的說話乃是永恒性的存在著的。我們對于神所說的話，原可以用過去式動詞，表明那話是神在某個時候說過的一句話。
但是神的一句話既已經說了出來，就永遠是「說了出來」，正如一個小孩一旦出生，就一直活下去，又如同世界一次被造，就繼續存下去。這些只不過是不完全的解釋，因為小孩終久會死，世界最終也會趨于毀滅，惟有神的話永遠長存。
假如你要追求認識神，請立刻打開圣經，讓它向你說話。不要存著一种概念，以為這不過是一件可以隨處可以放置的東西，這不止是一件東西，這是一個聲音，一番話語--那永生神的話。
禱告：神啊！求你教導我怎樣聆听你的聲音。這世代是這樣喧囂，我的耳朵被千万哄亂的聲音吵得累了，求你賜給我像童子撒母耳那樣的靈，對你說：「請說，仆人敬听。」（撒上3:10）讓我听見你在我心中說話，叫我習慣能听得見你的聲音，當世界的聲音消失的時候，使我便熟悉你的音調，讓我心中只留下你的聲音所奏美妙的音調。阿們。
I believe that
much of our religious unbelief is due to a wrong conception of and a wrong
feeling for the Scriptures of Truth. A silent God suddenly began to speak in a
book and when the book was finished lapsed back into silence again forever. Now
we read the book as the record of what God said when He was for a brief time in
a speaking mood. With notions like that in our heads how can we believe? The
facts are that God is not silent, has never been silent. It is the nature of
God to speak. The second Person of the Holy Trinity is called the word. The
Bible is the inevitable outcome of God's continuous speech. It is the
infallible declaration of His mind for us put into our familiar human words.
I think a new
world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the
idea that it is not only a book which was once spoken, but a book which is now
speaking. The prophets habitually said, `Thus saith the Lord.' They meant their
hearers to understand that God's speaking is in the continuous present. We may
use the past tense properly to indicate that at a certain time a certain word
of God was spoken, but a word of God once spoken continues to be spoken, as a
child once born continues to be alive, or a world once created continues to
exist. And those are but imperfect illustrations, for children die and worlds
burn out, but the Word of our God endureth forever.
If you would
follow on to know the Lord, come at once to the open Bible expecting it to
speak to you. Do not come with the notion that it is a thing which you may push
around at your convenience. It is more than a thing, it is a voice, a word, the
very Word of the living God.
Lord, teach me to
listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary with the thousand raucous
sounds which continuously assault them. Give me the spirit of the boy Samuel
when he said to Thee, `Speak, for thy servant heareth.' Let me hear Thee
speaking in my heart. Let me get used to the sound of Thy Voice, that its tones
may be familiar when the sounds of earth die away and the only sound will be
the music of Thy speaking Voice. Amen.
（七）靈魂的注視
「仰望為我們信心創始成終的耶穌。」（來12:2）
我們試想想，第六章所提那個稍稍有思想的人第一次讀圣經的時候，是怎樣的光景。他對圣經中的一切事先是毫無所知。他一點沒有成見，在他心中沒有正面的意見，也沒有反面的意見。他不求證實什么，也不須要為什么作辯護。
像這樣的一個人讀圣經，不必經過多少時間，就會注意到一些在字句以外的真理。那就是，在記錄神人關系背后的那些屬靈法則，這些法則，滲透到「被圣靈感動」（彼后1:21）的圣人所寫的東西中。當他一路讀下去，會一一把它列出來，并且在每條之下，作一個簡明的摘要。這些摘要即將作為他的信條教義，再往下讀，他只能再擴大与加強這些信念。這樣的一個人，正在尋找圣經上實際所教導人的，到底是些什么東西。
在圣經的許多法則中，居于最高的，就是信心。他很容易便看到圣經對信心的重視，決不會把它忽略的。他很可能作如下的結論：信心是人生命中最重要的東西。除非有信，人便不能得神的喜悅。信心能使我們獲得任何一件東西，也能把我們帶到神國中任何一個地方。沒有信心，就不能親近神，得不到赦免，得不到釋放，沒有救恩，沒有靈交，根本也沒有屬靈的生命。當這個人讀希伯來書第十一章時，他看見對于有信心的人的贊美，也不會以為奇怪。他或已讀過保羅在羅馬書和加拉太書中，對因信稱義所作有力的辯護,如果他再讀教會歷史，就更明白到改教者教訓中那超奇的力量之所以產生，乃是由于他們以信心為基督教信仰的中心。既然知道信心如此的重要，它是我們追求認識神所必須有的東西。那么很自然地，我們極其關心自己，到底有沒有得著這件寶貴的恩賜。我們的頭腦會這樣一直想下去，不久，我們會問，信心的本質到底是什么。「信心是什么呢？」跟著我們還要追究下去：「我有信心嗎？」几乎一切講者和作者，說到信心所講的都是那一套東西。
他們說信心就是相信神的應許，把神的話當作實在的，把圣經看作真實的，并且站在神言語上。其他書籍，或講章，也是舉出某些人的禱告怎樣蒙了應允，來說明信心的果效。這些蒙應允的禱告，多半關于現實生活暫時性的直接恩典，例如健康、財富、身體得蒙保護，或事業獲得成功。如果遇到一個具有哲學思想的教師，他就用另外一种方式，把人領到形而上學的泥沼中，又或者用一大堆心理學的專門術語，為信心下了一個定義，又再下一個定義，把信心好象一根頭發絲的那樣分了又分，直到分成游絲那樣細，終至化為烏有。他說完之后，我們心中仍然不能滿意，又從我們原先進來的那道門走出去，我們還是沒有找到答案。事實上這個問題，必定有比這些更叫我們滿意的解答。
Chapter 7 : The Gaze of the
Soul
Looking unto Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith. Heb.12:2
Let us think of our
intelligent plain man mentioned in chapter six coming for the first time to the
reading of the Scriptures. He approaches the Bible without any previous
knowledge of what it contains. He is wholly without prejudice; he has nothing
to prove and nothing to defend.
Such a man will not have read
long until his mind begins to observe certain truths standing out from the
page. They are the spiritual principles behind the record of God's dealings
with men, and woven into the writings of holy men as they `were moved by the
Holy Ghost.' As he reads on he might want to number these truths as they become
clear to him and make a brief summary under each number. These summaries will
be the tenets of his Biblical creed. Further reading will not affect these
points except to enlarge and strengthen them. Our man is finding out what the
Bible actually teaches. High up on the list of things which the Bible teaches
will be the doctrine of faith.
The place of weighty
importance which the Bible gives to faith will be too plain for him to miss. He
will very likely conclude: Faith is all- important in the life of the soul.
Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). Faith will get me
anything, take me anywhere in the Kingdom of God, but without faith there can
be no approach to God, no forgiveness, no deliverance, no salvation, no
communion, no spiritual life at all.
By the time our friend has
reached the eleventh chapter of Hebrews the eloquent encomium which is there
pronounced upon faith will not seem strange to him. He will have read Paul's
powerful defense of faith in his Roman and Galatian epistles. Later if he goes
on to study church history he will understand the amazing power in the
teachings of the Reformers as they showed the central place of faith in the
Christian religion.
Now if faith is so vitally
important, if it is an indispensable must in our pursuit of God, it is
perfectly natural that we should be deeply concerned over whether or not we
possess this most precious gift. And our minds being what they are, it is
inevitable that sooner or later we should get around to inquiring after the
nature of faith. What is faith? would lie close to the question, Do I have
faith? and would demand an answer if it were anywhere to be found. Almost all
who preach or write on the subject of faith have much the same things to say
concerning it.
They tell us that it is
believing a promise, that it is taking God at His word, that it is reckoning
the Bible to be true and stepping out upon it. The rest of the book or sermon
is usually taken up with stories of persons who have had their prayers answered
as a result of their faith. These answers are mostly direct gifts of a
practical and temporal nature such as health, money, physical protection or
success in business. Or if the teacher is of a philosophic turn of mind he may
take another course and lose us in a welter of metaphysics or snow us under
with psychological jargon as he defines and re-defines, paring the slender hair
of faith thinner and thinner till it disappears in gossamer shavings at last.
When he is finished we get up disappointed and go out `by that same door where
in we went.' Surely there must be something better than this.
實際說來，在圣經中并沒有把信心下一個明确有定義。除了希伯來書第十一章第一節那短短十八個字的定義以外，我沒有找到其他在圣經里的定義，甚至在這一節經文中，對信心所下的定義，也只是屬于信心的作用一方面，而不是意義方面精辟的解釋；這就是說，這里只告訴人信心在效用上的意義，并不是說到它的本質。這里并不說明信心是什么，只是設想信心是存在的，并指出它的結果是什么。
我們最好只了解到這里為止，而不求更深的明白。我們只知道它從哪里來，以及它籍著什么方法來到我們里面：信心「是神所賜的」（弗2:8），還有「信道是從听道來的，听道是從基督的話來的」（羅10:17）。這已經足夠叫人明白的了，而且可以解釋多瑪肯培那句話：「我情愿操練信心，強于從它的定義里來明白信心。」
以下所提到的「信心是」或類似的話，我的意思乃是指是一個相信神的人信心的實行。現在讓我們拋開關于信心定義的概念，來思想信心在作用上的經驗。我們所思想的是實際方面的性質，而不是屬于理論方面的。
民數記中有一段戲劇性的故事，叫我們看到信心在作用方面的表現。以色列人因為道路難行，開始沮喪并且怨瀆神，于是耶和華使火蛇進入百姓中間。「蛇就咬他們，以色列人中死了許多。」（民21:6）摩西為百姓禱告，神垂听了就給他們一個救法應付火蛇的咬傷。他命令摩西制造一條銅蛇，挂在杆子上，叫所有的人都能看見，「凡被咬的，一望這銅蛇就活了。」（民21:9）
新約里這一段歷史，我們主耶穌作了一個權威性的解釋。他向听眾解釋，人怎樣得神的拯救。他告訴他們是籍著相信。接著他要解釋得更清楚，就引用在民數記中這段事實，他說：「摩西在曠野怎樣舉蛇，人子也必照樣被舉起來，叫一切信他的都得永生。」（約3:14-15）
In the Scriptures
there is practically no effort made to define faith. Outside of a brief
fourteen-word definition in Hebrews 11:1, I know of no Biblical definition, and
even there faith is defined functionally, not philosophically; that is, it is a
statement of what faith is in operation, not what it is in essence. It assumes
the presence of faith and shows what it results in, rather than what it is. We
will be wise to go just that far and attempt to go no further. We are told from
whence it comes and by what means: `Faith is a gift of God,' (Eph 2:8) and
`Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.' (Rom 10:17) This
much is clear, and, to paraphrase Thomas à Kempis, `I had rather exercise faith
than know the definition thereof.'
From here on, when
the words `faith is' or their equivalent occur in this chapter I ask that they
be understood to refer to what faith is in operation as exercised by a
believing man. Right here we drop the notion of definition and think about
faith as it may be experienced in action. The complexion of our thoughts will
be practical, not theoretical.
In a dramatic
story in the Book of Numbers faith is seen in action. Israel became discouraged
and spoke against God, and the Lord sent fiery serpents among them. `And they
bit the people; and much people of Israel died.' Then Moses sought the Lord for
them and He heard and gave them a remedy against the bite of the serpents. He
commanded Moses to make a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole in sight of
all the people, `and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten, when
he looketh upon it, shall live.' Moses obeyed, `and it came to pass, that if a
serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived'
(Num.21:4-9)
In the New
Testament this important bit of history is interpreted for us by no less an
authority than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is explaining to His hearers
how they may be saved. He tells them that it is by believing. Then to make it
clear He refers to this incident in the Book of Numbers. `As Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life' (John
3:14-15).
稍稍有思想的人讀到這里就會有一個重要的發現，他會注意到「望」和「信」是兩個同義的字。「望」那舊約中的銅蛇，就等于「信」新約中的基督。那就是說，「望」和「信」是同一回事。當以色列人用肉眼望的時候，心中就是相信了。我想他會如此下一個結論：信心就是靈魂注視著一位施行拯救的神。
他看了這些，就會聯想到已讀過的經文，并且其中的意義如同泉涌來到他的心中。「凡仰望他的便有光榮，他們的臉必不蒙羞。」（詩34:5）「坐在天上主阿，我向你舉目。看哪，仆人的眼睛怎樣望主人的手，使手的眼睛怎樣望主母的手，我們的眼睛也照樣望耶和華我們的神，直到他怜憫我們。」（詩篇123:1-2）在這里是求怜憫的人，一直望著那位發怜憫的神，他的眼睛從不离開神，直到他得著怜憫。連我們的主耶穌自己也常常望著神。「望著天，祝福，擘開餅，遞給門徒。」（太14:19）顯然耶穌在教訓人，他作為他的工作，是籍著用他里面的眼睛時時望著他的父。他的能力是在于他不斷的看，于是父所作的他才能作。（參約5:19－21）
神所默示的圣經的全部意旨，和我們以上所引圣經上的几處經文正相吻合。圣經中有一句概括性的話，教訓我們怎樣奔走靈程，那就是希伯來書中所說的：「仰望為我們信心創始成終的耶穌。」（來12:2）從這一切所說的，我們明白一個道理，就是信心并不是一次便成功的動作，乃是從心靈里不斷地注視著這三位一體的神。
相信，就是內心轉去望著耶穌。我們的思想注視著神的羔羊（參約1:29），并且在一生余下的時間，一直不斷地看著他。在起初可能會覺得困難，但若果我們堅持地望著奇妙的他，安靜而自然地望著他，漸漸就變成容易了。那些分心的事可能會攔阻我們，但是只要一次把心交托給他，每逢有一時誤入迷途，接著仍會回過來在他身上得安息，正像一只鳥儿飛去游玩，一陣又飛回到它的巢竄里一樣。
我要特別說到這個「望」的動作，這是一個偉大的意志的行動，建立在內心永遠仰望耶穌的意向。神讓我們自由選擇這個意向，并且為著在這污濁的世界上許多困擾的事，他保守我們免得分心。他知道我們的內心已經歸向耶穌，我們也知道這回事，我們的心滿有安慰，因此我們的靈魂正在形成一种習慣，不久之后，它就會成為一种心靈的自然反應，而不必由我們自覺地用什么力量去維持它了。
Our plain man in reading this would make an important discovery. He
would notice that `look' and `believe' were synonymous terms. `Looking' on the
Old Testament serpent is identical with `believing' on the New Testament
Christ. That is, the looking and the believing are the same thing. And he would
understand that while Israel looked with their external eyes, believing is done
with the heart. I think he would conclude that faith is the gaze of a soul upon
a saving God.
When he had seen this he would remember
passages he had read before, and their meaning would come flooding over him.
`They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed'
(Ps.34:5). `Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the
eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord
our God, until that he have mercy upon us' (Ps.123:1-2). Here the man seeking
mercy looks straight at the God of mercy and never takes his eyes away from Him
till mercy is granted. And our Lord Himself looked always at God. `Looking up
to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the bread to his disciples'
(Matt.14:19).Indeed Jesus taught that He wrought His works by always keeping
His inward eyes upon His Father. His power lay in His continuous look at God
(John 5:19-21).
In full accord with the few texts we have
quoted is the whole tenor of the inspired Word. It is summed up for us in the
Hebrew epistle when we are instructed to run life's race `looking unto Jesus
the author and finisher of our faith.' (Hebr 12:2) From all this we learn that
faith is not a once-done act, but a continuous gaze of the heart at the Triune
God.
Believing, then, is directing the heart's
attention to Jesus. It is lifting the mind to `behold the Lamb of God,' and
never ceasing that beholding for the rest of our lives. At first this may be
difficult, but it becomes easier as we look steadily at His wondrous Person,
quietly and without strain. Distractions may hinder, but once the heart is
committed to Him, after each brief excursion away from Him the attention will
return again and rest upon Him like a wandering bird coming back to its window.
I would emphasize this one committal, this
one great volitional act which establishes the heart's intention to gaze
forever upon Jesus. God takes this intention for our choice and makes what
allowances He must for the thousand distractions which beset us in this evil
world. He knows that we have set the direction of our hearts toward Jesus, and
we can know it too, and comfort ourselves with the knowledge that a habit of
soul is forming which will become after a while a sort of spiritual reflex
requiring no more conscious effort on our part.
Faith is the least self-regarding of the
virtues. It is by its very nature scarcely conscious of its own existence. Like
the eye which sees everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is
occupied with the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at
all. While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves--blessed riddance. The
man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated
failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and
looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ the very things he has
so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God
working in him to will and to do.
信心乃是最不需要注意自己的一种美德，它的本質就是不大覺得自己的存在，正好像我們的眼睛，可以看見在它面前的每一件東西，然而永遠看不見它自己。信心是只注意它所倚賴的東西，而對它本身則根本不予注意。當我們仰望神的時候，我們看不見自己。一個力求完全的人，努力了好久還是屢次失敗，一無所成；他停止用本身的力量來洁淨自己的行為，而仰望那位完全的基督的時候，就得到真正的安息。他仰望基督的時候，他長久想要完成的工作，就在他里面成功了。這乃是神在他里面工作，使他愿意，并為他作成。
信心本身并不是一個有功效的動作，功效乃是在于所望的那一位。信心是引導我們的視線歸正，叫我們視線的中心，罪惡扭轉我們的視線，誤向里面看，使我們注意到自己，不信的惡心就是把自己放在神的地位上，這個危險和撒但所犯的罪很相近。他說：「我要高舉我的寶座在神以上。」（參賽14：13）信心不是往里看，乃是往外看，這就可以使整個人生走上正軌。
這是頂簡單的，但我們竟自尋麻煩。神對于那些希望升到天上，或會下到地獄里去的人如此說：「這道离你不遠，就是我們所傳信主之道。」（羅10:8）這道引導我們舉目望著神，我們望的時候，信心的福气立刻就來了。
我們舉目注視神的時候，一定遇見神以慈愛的眼目回看我們，因為經上記著說，耶和華的眼目遍察全地。最寶貴的經驗是那句話：「神，你看見我。」人靈魂的眼睛向外看，并遇著神的眼睛向里看的時候，神的國就在這地方開始屬于人了。
四百年前，庫薩的尼古拉曾如此說：「因你的努力是為著我，我便把一切的努力都歸于你；因你不斷的慈愛圍繞我，我便以一切注視單單對著你，眼睛再不轉向別的地方；因為你本身就是愛，并且單單臨到我，我便把我的愛單單歸給你。神阿！若不是你以慈愛甜蜜包圍我，我的生命算得什么呢？」
我要再說一些關于這位屬神的老年人的事，在今天相信基督教的人當中，他是不為人所知道的，而且在現代基要派里面，根本不知道這個人。我覺得我們只要對具有他那种屬靈香气的人，以及對他們所代表的基督教思想有一點點認識，就能得到莫大的益處。現今福音派領袖們所接受并加以贊許的基督教作品，必須緊緊地跟從他們那一貫的思想，就是宗派的路線，若是离開了這個，總是沒有信心。在美國這半個世紀以來，此种發展把我們弄成徒有外表的整齊与自滿自足。我們互相效法著極其刻板的奉獻生活，極其努力地附和著在我們周圍那些人所說的話--我們找個理由原諒自己所說的，在共同認可的前提下只能有極少的變更，充其量只加上
Faith is not in
itself a meritorious act; the merit is in the One toward Whom it is directed.
Faith is a redirecting of our sight, a getting out of the focus of our own
vision and getting God into focus. Sin has twisted our vision inward and made
it self-regarding. Unbelief has put self where God should be, and is perilously
close to the sin of Lucifer who said, `I will set my throne above the throne of
God.' Faith looks out instead of in and the whole life falls into line.
All this may seem too
simple. But we have no apology to make. To those who would seek to climb into
heaven after help or descend into hell God says, `The word is nigh thee, even
in the word of faith.' The word induces us to lift up our eyes unto the Lord
and the blessed work of faith begins.
When we lift our
inward eyes to gaze upon God we are sure to meet friendly eyes gazing back at
us, for it is written that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout all
the earth. The sweet language of experience is `Thou God seest me.' When the
eyes of the soul looking out meet the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun
right here on this earth.
`When all my
endeavour is turned toward Thee because all Thy endeavour is turned toward me;
when I look unto Thee alone with all my attention, nor ever turn aside the eyes
of my mind, because Thou dost enfold me with Thy constant regard; when I direct
my love toward Thee alone because Thou, who are Love's self hast turned Thee
toward me alone. And what, Lord, is my life, save that embrace wherein Thy
delightsome sweetness doth so lovingly enfold me?' (So wrote Nicholas of Cusa
four hundred years ago. Nicholas of Cusa, The Vision of God, E.P. Dutton &
Co. Inc., New York, 1928. - This and the following quotations used by kind
permission of the publishers.)
I should like to
say more about this old man of God. He is not much known today anywhere among
Christian believers, and among current Fundamentalists he is known not at all.
I feel that we could gain much from a little acquaintance with men of his
spiritual flavor and the school of Christian thought which they represent.
Christian literature, to be accepted and approved by the evangelical leaders of
our times, must follow very closely the same train of thought, a kind of `party
line' from which it is scarcely safe to depart. A half-century of this in
America has made us smug and content. We imitate each other with slavish
devotion and our most strenuous efforts are put forth to try to say the same
thing that everyone around us is saying--and yet to find an excuse for saying
it, some little safe variation on the approved theme or, if no more,at least a
new illustration.
尼古拉是一位真正跟從基督的人，他熱愛神，獻身為主耶穌生活，滿有光輝。他的神學思想正統，而且如同一切從主耶穌而來的那樣滿有馨香与甘甜，例如他對于永生的觀念，就是非常美麗，假如我沒有說錯，是比我們現今所流行的思想，意義上更接近約翰福音第十七章第三節所說的。尼古拉說到永遠的生命是：「乃是你（神）施恩不斷地注視到我，啊！甚至深入到我靈魂的隱密處。在你來說，注視就是賜下生命，就是不斷地以你最甘甜的慈愛分給我。由于你所分賜的愛，叫我燃燒起對你的愛。你的愛不斷地在我里面燃燒，籍此培養我增添對你的渴慕，叫我得到喜樂的滋潤，籍著這种滋潤，使生命的泉源注入我們里面；因不斷地注入，使生命增長并且永存。」
這樣說來，信心是內心向著神的注視，這种注視只是舉起內里的眼睛，去接触神無所不見的眼睛，可知乃是一件最容易做得到的事情。這好象是神有意使這件最重要的事成為很容易，使一般最軟弱、最貧窮的人都能做得到。
照這一切說法，我們顯然可以得到以下結論。我們可說這是一件頂簡單易行的事，我們也可以說相信就是看見。既然如此，我們便用不著特別的設備，或宗教的附屬物。神已經知道，像這樣一种關系生死存亡的事，不能受反复無常的事物所支配，一切都會毀坏或失掉，記錄會被火燒掉，傳道人會因事情而遲延，教堂也會被燒毀。這一切身外之物，都要受偶然事故支配，或受必會發生的失敗所拘束。但是仰望是內心的動作，任何人都能極成功地做得到，不論他是站著，或是跪著，或是在教堂以外千里之遠的地方躺在病床上正受著臨終的痛苦。
既然相信就是仰望，這是任何時間都可以做的。這最甜蜜的動作，并不會在一個時期做得比另一個時期更好。神從來不根据月朔、節期或安息日而施行拯救，好比一個人在复活節的禮拜天，不會比他在
這一件有福的事--相信神，与地域沒有關系。只要你把心舉起來，讓它安息在耶穌里，即刻就進入至圣所，無論你所在的地方是一個頂舒服的車廂，或是一間工厂，或是一個廚房，只要你的思想是向著神，并且順服人，你就能在那個地方遇見神。
有人會問：「你這說法，豈不是為那些有更多時間從事于默想和靈交的修道士和牧師而講的嗎？我是個忙碌的工人，實在沒有獨自与神唔對的時間呀！」我愿意告訴你，我所描寫的那种生活，是屬于每一個神的儿女的，与他們的職業并沒有多大的關系。事實上每天有許多忙碌的工作者，都實行過這种生活。
Nicholas was a
true follower of Christ, a lover of the Lord, radiant and shining in his
devotion to the Person of Jesus. His theology was orthodox, but fragrant and
sweet as everything about Jesus might properly be expected to be. His conception
of eternal life, for instance, is beautiful in itself and, if I mistake not, is
nearer in spirit to John17:3 than that which is current among us today. Life
eternal, says Nicholas, is `nought other than that blessed regard wherewith
Thou never ceasest to behold me, yea, even the secret places of my soul. With
Thee, to behold is to give life; 'tis unceasingly to impart sweetest love of
Thee; 'tis to inflame me to love of Thee by love's imparting, and to feed me by
inflaming, and by feeding to kindle my yearning, and by kindling to make me
drink of the dew of gladness, and by drinking to infuse in me a fountain of
life, and by infusing to make it increase and endure.' (The Vision of God)
Now, if faith is
the gaze of the heart at God, and if this gaze is but the raising of the inward
eyes to meet the all-seeing eyes of God, then it follows that it is one of the
easiest things possible to do. It would be like God to make the most vital
thing easy and place it within the range of possibility for the weakest and
poorest of us. Several conclusions may fairly be drawn from all this. The
simplicity of it, for instance. Since believing is looking, it can be done
without special equipment or religious paraphernalia. God has seen to it that
the one life-and-death essential can never be subject to the caprice of
accident.
Equipment can
break down or get lost, water can leak away, records can be destroyed by fire,
the minister can be delayed or the church burn down. All these are external to
the soul and subject to accident or mechanical failure: but looking is of the
heart and can be done successfully by any man standing up or kneeling down or
lying in his last agony a thousand miles from any church.
Since believing is
looking it can be done any time. No season is superior to another season for
this sweetest of all acts. God never made salvation depend upon new moons nor
holy days or sabbaths. A man is not nearer to Christ on Easter Sunday than he
is, say, on Saturday, August 3, or Monday, October 4. As long as Christ sits on
the mediatorial throne every day is a good day and all days are days of
salvation.
Neither does place
matter in this blessed work of believing God. Lift your heart and let it rest
upon Jesus and you are instantly in a sanctuary though it be a Pullman berth or
a factory or a kitchen. You can see God from anywhere if your mind is set to
love and obey Him.
Now, someone may
ask, `Is not this of which you speak for special persons such as monks or
ministers who have by the nature of their calling more time to devote to quiet
meditation? I am a busy worker and have little time to spend alone.' I am happy
to say that the life I describe is for everyone of God's children regardless of
calling. It is, in fact, happily practiced every day by many hardworking
persons and is beyond the reach of none.
好多人得到了我所說的秘訣。他們并不注意他們里面的光景怎樣，只是內心經常仰望神。他們知道內心有個東西可以接触到神，甚至在他們必定要專注于屬世事務的時候，里面那种秘密的交通，仍然照常進行。他們的注意力只要從必須處理的事務上挪開，就立刻飛回神那里去。這已經成了許多基督徒的見證，我如此說，只因有此經驗的人數目之多，叫我無法特別列舉某一個人，也無法知道他們人數究竟有多少。
我并非企圖使人認為平常的崇拜沒有价值，我承認那些崇拜多半是有相當的价值的。每一個基督徒應有私人的禱告，長時間默想圣經，可使我們對神的注視更加清楚和單純，以及更加准确；參加禮拜堂的聚會，可以使我們的眼光擴大，也可以使我們對別人的愛心增長。崇拜和教會的工作以及其他活動，這一切都是好的，也是每一個基督徒所應當參加的，但是這些東西的基礎，就是能使它發生意義的原因，乃是從里面看見神。在我們外面的眼睛正觀看這個終歸趨于消滅的世界的時候，在我們靈里面，會有了一對新的眼睛（不妨如此說），使我們一直望著神。
有人會擔心，我們未免太著重于個人的宗教經驗而忽略其他的一切，使新約中的「我們」被一個自私的「我」替換了。試問你是否知道，當一百架鋼琴跟著一個調子響著的時候，它們自動地就彼此調和嗎？它們的響聲都照著一個音調，而不是彼此設法調和，然而就在那一個音調的標准下，每一架鋼琴必須個別地与它相和。同樣的道理，當有一百個信徒聚在一起，他們心里都是望著基督，他們心靈之間的距离，就自然地相近了，這比他們把眼睛离開了神，而竭力追求更親密的交通更來得容易。所以個人的靈交越是趨向于單純，大眾的崇拜就自然更加完美，一個身子上的各個肢體如果都健壯的話，整個身體也就健壯有力了。教會中所有的分子都追求更美，更高的靈性生活時，整個教會就大得長進了。
以上的話，乃是對已經真正悔改，并把生命完全奉獻給神的人而說的，這可以不必如此聲明，因為只有如此獻身為主的，才會留意到這种屬靈經驗。
我們形成一种從內心仰望神的習慣的時候，我們就被引導到更高一層的屬靈生活，我們就更能進入神的應許，和新約的精神。雖然我們的腳行走在世俗的道路上，我們仍然以三而一的神作我們的居所。我們真正的找到生命了。「這里是一切所能想望的喜樂的總源頭，不但超過了人或天使所能想像的，而且超過一切天地間的情境！因為這是一切理智想望的最高峰，是任何想望都不能与之比擬的境界。」
禱告：主啊，我已經听見一個美妙的道理，叫我把心轉向你而得到滿足。我的心多么愿意如此，但是罪遮住我的視線，使我只能模糊地看到你。求你用你的寶血洗淨我，使我里面得以洁淨，以致我可以在地上寄居的日子，一直用明亮無隔膜的眼睛仰望你。這樣我就可在那日得見你完全的光輝，就是當你降臨要在你圣徒身上得榮耀，又在一切信的人身上顯為希奇的日子，所要顯出來的，阿們。
Many have
found the secret of which I speak and, without giving much thought to what is
going on within them, constantly practice this habit of inwardly gazing upon
God. They know that something inside their hearts sees God. Even when they are
compelled to withdraw their conscious attention in order to engage in earthly
affairs, there is within them a secret communion always going on. Let their
attention but be released for a moment from necessary business and it flies at
once to God again. This has been the testimony of many Christians, so many that
even as I state it thus I have a feeling that I am quoting, though from whom or
from how many I cannot possibly know.
I do not
want to leave the impression that the ordinary means of grace have no value.
They most assuredly have. Private prayer should be practiced by every
Christian. Long periods of Bible meditation will purify our gaze and direct it;
church attendance will enlarge our outlook and increase our love for others.
Service and work and activity; all are good and should be engaged in by every
Christian. But at the bottom of all these things, giving meaning to them, will
be the inward habit of beholding God. A new set of eyes (so to speak) will
develop within us enabling us to be looking at God while our outward eyes are
seeing the scenes of this passing world.
Someone may
fear that we are magnifying private religion out of all proportion, that the
`us' of the New Testament is being displaced by a selfish `I.' Has it ever
occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are
automatically tuned to each other? they are of one accord by being tuned, not to
each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So
one hundred worshippers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in
heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become
`unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer
fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The
body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole Church of God
gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and higher life.
All the
foregoing presupposes true repentance and a full committal of the life to God.
It is hardly necessary to mention this, for only persons who have made such a
committal will have read this far. When the habit of inwardly gazing Godward
becomes fixed within us we shall be ushered onto a new level of spiritual life
more in keeping with the promises of God and the mood of the New Testament. The
Triune God will be our dwelling place even while our feet walk the low road of
simple duty here among men. We will have found life's summun bonum indeed.
`There is the source of all delights that can be desired; not only can nought
better be thought out by men and angels, but nought better can exist in any
mode of being! For it is the absolute maximum of every rational desire, than
which a greater cannot be.' (The Vision of God)
O Lord, I
have heard a good word inviting me to look away to Thee and be satisfied. My
heart longs to respond, but sin has clouded my vision till I see Thee but
dimly. Be pleased to cleanse me in Thine own precious blood, and make me
inwardly pure, so that I may with unveiled eyes gaze upon Thee all the days of
my earthly pilgrimage. Then shall I be prepared to behold Thee in full splendor
in the day whey Thou shalt appear to be glorified in Thy saints and admired in
all them that believe. Amen.
（八）与神和好
「神阿，愿你崇高，過于諸天，愿你的榮耀，高過全地。」（詩57:5）
一個頂明顯的道理，就是自然界中各樣的秩序，是靠著正常的關系來維持的。物与物之間的協調，有賴于各自有其正确的地位，以及互相保持正當的關系。人類的生活也不外乎這個原則。
我在本書的前几章已經暗示過，人類痛苦的起因，乃是道德倫理本末倒置，我們對于神，對于人的關系已經顛倒了。人類的犯罪墮落了，無可否認的，就是人与創造者之間的關系起了急劇的變化。人對于神采取了另一种態度，改變了人与神原來的關系，這种關系正是人生快樂的關鍵，但是人卻不知道。就本質上說，人的得救乃是恢复人与創造者之間的正常關系，把人從不正常的關系中帶回來，回复正常。
神与罪人之間的關系恢复正常之后，一种滿足的屬靈生活就要開始，這种改變不止是法律上的，乃是一种自覺而有的經驗上的改變，足以影響罪人的整個性格。主耶穌流血贖罪，使這种改變在法律上成為可能，而圣靈的工作，卻使人在感情上得到了滿足。圣經中浪子的故事把后半段的工作解釋得很完全。浪子給自己找來了一身的痛苦，都是因為他舍棄了原來作儿子的地位。最后他的歸回，恢复父子關系，這种父子關系乃是他出生之后就有了的，但在他犯罪离家出走之后，就改變了。這個故事沒有提到救贖工作在律法方面的意義，但對得救經驗方面，描寫得非常明顯，而且美麗動人。
任何關系該有一個起點，就是一個中心點，作為衡量一切事物的標准。這個中心點不用什么定律，就能夠确定它的「是」，亦不必用其他東西予以支持；這個中心就是「神」。神把他的名字告訴人類的時候，他找不出別一個字比「我是」來得更好。他站在第一人稱的身份說：「我是。」我們講到他的時候，說：「他是。」我們向著他禱告的時候，說：「你是。每一個人和每一件事物，都以這一個固定的點作為衡量的標准。我是我所是（I am that I am，編者按：中文圣經和合本譯作「我是自有永有的」，）（見出3:14）。」神如此說：「我不改變」。
水手以六分儀測量太陽的高度，可以算出自己在海中的位置，我們測定我們道德的方位，是憑著神，我們必須以神作為起點，只有在我們站在正确位置上，与神有正常關系的時候，我們才是對的；除了那個位置之外，任何地方，都是錯的。
Chapter 8 :
Restoring the Creator-Creature Relation
Be Thou exalted, O
God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth. Ps. 57:5
It is a truism to
say that order in nature depends upon right relationships; to achieve harmony
each thing must be in its proper position relative to each other thing. In
human life it is not otherwise.
I have hinted
before in these chapters that the cause of all our human miseries is a radical
moral dislocation, an upset in our relation to God and to each other. For
whatever else the Fall may have been, it was most certainly a sharp change in
man's relation to his Creator. He adopted toward God an altered attitude, and
by so doing destroyed the proper Creator-creature relation in which, unknown to
him, his true happiness lay. Essentially salvation is the restoration of a
right relation between man and his Creator, a bringing back to normal of the
Creator-creature relation.
A satisfactory
spiritual life will begin with a complete change in relation between God and
the sinner; not a judicial change merely, but a conscious and experienced
change affecting the sinner's whole nature. The atonement in Jesus' blood makes
such a change judicially possible and the working of the Holy Spirit makes it
emotionally satisfying.
The story of the
prodigal son perfectly illustrates this latter phase. He had brought a world of
trouble upon himself by forsaking the position which he had properly held as
son of his father. At bottom his restoration was nothing more than a
re-establishing of the father- son relation which had existed from his birth
and had been altered temporarily by his act of sinful rebellion. This story
overlooks the legal aspects of redemption, but it makes beautifully clear the
experiential aspects of salvation.
In determining
relationships we must begin somewhere. There must be somewhere a fixed center
against which everything else is measured, where the law of relativity does not
enter and we can say `is' and make no allowances. Such a center is God. When
God would make His Name known to mankind He could find no better word than `I
am'. When He speaks in the first person He says, `I am'; when we speak of Him
we say `He is'; when we speak to Him we say, `Thou art.' Everyone and
everything else measures from that fixed point. `I am that I am,' says God, `I
change not.'
As the sailor
locates his position on the sea by `shooting' the sun, so we may get our moral
bearings by looking at God. We must begin with God. We are right when and only
when we stand in a right position relative to God, and we are wrong so far and
so long as we stand in any other position.
基督徒大部分的難處，都是由于不愿意把神當作神看待，使我們的生活与他失調。我們限制他，要他來迎合我們。我們的肉體哭泣，埋怨神冷酷与固執的命令；我們裝出乞丐的模樣，要求一點怜憫，給肉體可以放縱一下，可是絲毫也沒有效果。我們只有接受神的命令，照他的旨意去愛他，凡事為了他才可以有好的開始。我們認識他更多的時候，就會有說不出的喜樂，因為神原來就是那樣一位能使我們的喜樂的神。我們所有最喜樂的時刻，就是對這三位一體神予以虔誠的敬拜，只要對他稍一轉念，就會難以忍受。
讓我們以神為起點，在一切的背后，在一切之上，在一切之前，只有神。在秩序上，他是首先的，在等級与地位上，他是最高的；在尊貴和榮耀上，他在一切之上。神是自存、自有的，他使一切得以存在，万有都是出于他，也是為他而存在。「我們的主，我們的神，你是配得榮耀、尊貴、權柄的。因為你創造了万物，并且万物是因你的旨意被創造而有的。」（啟4:11）
每個人都屬于神，而且是因他的旨意才能活著。神就是神，我們就是我們，神与我們之間，唯一可想像的關系，就是在他方面有完全統管的權柄，而在我們只能夠完全的順服。在我們力量范圍內，把每一分榮耀都當歸給他，我們要永遠覺得遺憾的，就是歸給神的太少了。
追求認識神，首要的是使我們的性情，和神的性情趨于一致。這并非在法律的地位上如此，實際上也要如此。在此我并不是指在基督里因信稱義而言。我所說的乃是一种自愿的高舉神，适當的把他放在管理我們的位置上，把我們整個人放在俯伏敬拜的位置上，達到創造者之間正常的關系。
什么時候我們決心高舉神在我們之上，就從世俗的行列中走出來，我們會發覺自己与世俗的生活很不調和，越是我們走向成圣之路，越不調和。我們會有一個新的觀點，一种不同的心理感覺，同時會有一种新的力量，它所表現的巨大變化与复興，會使我們大大惊异。
由于我們与神之間的關系恢复，直接造成我們与世界的決裂，因為世上已墮落的人們并不榮耀神。成千上万的人奉神的名聚集，這是不錯的，而且也對神表示了一點尊敬，但是稍微一試驗主可以看出，神真正被人尊重的委實太少。讓我們用「誰居首位」的問題試驗一下，神在人心中的真正地位，就立刻顯明出來。若人要作一次的選擇，神和錢財，神和人，神和個人志向，神和自己，神和人的愛，每一次神要屈居較次的地位，其他的東西都被放在神之上。不管他如何否認，在人的一生中，日复一日，他的選擇确實是如此。
Much of our difficulty
as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and
adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify Him and to bring
Him nearer to our own image. The flesh whimpers against the rigor of God's
inexorable sentence and begs like Agag for a little mercy, a little indulgence
of its carnal ways. It is no use. We can get a right start only by accepting
God as He is and learning to love Him for what He is. As we go on to know Him
better we shall find it a source of unspeakable joy that God is just what He
is. Some of the most rapturous moments we know will be those we spend in
reverent admiration of the Godhead. In those holy moments the very thought of
change in Him will be too painful to endure.
So let us begin
with God. Back of all, above all, before all is God; first in sequential order,
above in rank and station, exalted in dignity and honor. As the self-existent
One He gave being to all things, and all things exist out of and for Him. `Thou
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast
created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.' (Rev 4:11)
Every soul belongs
to God and exists by His pleasure. God being Who and What He is, and we being
who and what we are, the only thinkable relation between us is one of full
lordship on His part and complete submission on ours. We owe Him every honor
that it is in our power to give Him. Our everlasting grief lies in giving Him
anything less.
The pursuit of God
will embrace the labor of bringing our total personality into conformity to
His. And this not judicially, but actually. I do not here refer to the act of
justification by faith in Christ. I speak of a voluntary exalting of God to His
proper station over us and a willing surrender of our whole being to the place
of worshipful submission which the Creator-creature circumstance makes proper.
The moment we make
up our minds that we are going on with this determination to exalt God over all
we step out of the world's parade. We shall find ourselves out of adjustment to
the ways of the world, and increasingly so as we make progress in the holy way.
We shall acquire a new viewpoint; a new and different psychology will be formed
within us; a new power will begin to surprise us by it supsurgings and its
outgoings.
Our break with the
world will be the direct outcome of our changed relation to God. For the world
of fallen men does not honor God. Millions call themselves by His Name, it is
true, and pay some token respect to Him, but a simple test will show how little
He is really honored among them. Let the average man be put to the proof on the
question of who is above, and his true position will be exposed. Let him be
forced into making a choice between God and money, between God and men, between
God and personal ambition, God and self, God and human love, and God will take
second place every time. Those other things will be exalted above. However the
man may protest, the proof is in the choices he makes day after day throughout
his life.
「愿你被高舉」，這是成圣經驗中的秘訣。這是一把小小的鑰匙，可以開啟貯滿丰富恩典的大門。這該是人里面生命的中心，一個追求神的人口唱心和不斷地說：「愿你被高舉。」許多小問題便都迎刃而解，他的基督徒生命再不似以前那樣混雜，并且趨于單純。籍著他的意志的鍛煉，他走上正軌，而且在這一條正軌上，如同有一位自動的舵手在帶領著他。若是被一陣逆風吹离軌道，他會因心靈中有一种隱秘的傾向要再次轉回，圣靈暗中的幫助他，并且「星宿從其軌道」（士5:20）為他爭戰。他找到了生命問題的中心，其他的一切問題都照此安排而行。
人不要以為把一切都轉讓給神，會使他失去人間的尊貴。他如此做，并不減低他為人的地位，他恢复本來照著神的形像造出來的人的模樣。人的最大羞辱，乃是道德倫理的錯亂，和反常地侵奪神的寶座。他一交還所竊奪的寶座，就會再得榮耀。他高舉神在一切之上的時候，也高舉了自己。
不愿順服別人的意思的人，該記住主耶穌的話說：「所有犯罪的，就是罪的奴仆。」（約8:34）犯罪的人自夸他是獨立自由的，卻完全不知道，他事實上是在轄制眾人的罪惡權勢之下的一個頂懦弱的奴仆。凡歸服基督的人，是脫离一位殘暴的壓迫者，而另外找到了一位仁慈的主人，他的軛是容易的，他的擔子是輕省的。
我們既是照神的形像被造的人，本當把神作為我們的一切。神原先是我們的居所，每當我們的心回到那古老而美麗的住處，便會覺得舒服無比。
我希望人都認識神，知道神居一切之上是理所當然的，他應當保有那最高的位置。我們奪取了應屬于他的位置的時候，整個生活規律都會脫節，沒有別的法子能夠糾正這种脫節的生活，只有等到我們下了最大的決心說，神應當被高舉在一切之上，問題才得解決。
有一次神對以色列的一個祭司說：「尊重我的，我必重看他。」（撒上2:30）雖然年代過去，宗教的規條數經變易，這一條天國的古老定律，到今天仍無改變。全部圣經和每一頁歷史，都在說明使這一條定律永存不變的原理：「若有人服事我，我父必尊重他。」（約12:26）這是耶穌說的，他把舊約和新約連在一起，同時把他對待人的一貫原則宣示出來。有時觀察一件不的最好的方法，就是看它的反面。以利和他的儿子只須遵守所立的約，一生尊重神，就可以得到祭司的職分，但他們卻沒有遵守，所以神差遣撒母耳宣布事情的結局。雖然以利事前不知道，但是這個定律一直在暗中發生效力，現在宣告結局的時候來到了，何弗尼和非尼哈兩位墮落的祭司在戰陣上死了，非尼哈的妻在生產的時候死去，以色列人在敵人面前逃跑，神的約柜被非利士人擄去，年老的以利從他的位上跌倒，折斷頸項而死。這一連串可怖的慘劇，連著發生，都是由于以利不尊重神的緣故。
`Be thou exalted' is the language of victorious spiritual experience.
It is a little key to unlock the door to great treasures of grace. It is
central in the life of God in the soul. Let the seeking man reach a place where
life and lips join to say continually `Be thou exalted,' and a thousand minor
problems will be solved at once. His Christian life ceases to be the
complicated thing it had been before and becomes the very essence of
simplicity. By the exercise of his will he has set his course, and on that
course he will stay as if guided by an automatic pilot. If blown off course for
a moment by some adverse wind he will surely return again as by a secret bent
of the soul. The hidden motions of the Spirit are working in his favor, and
`the stars in their courses' fight for him. He has met his life problem at its
center, and everything else must follow along.
Let no one imagine that he will lose anything of human dignity by this
voluntary sell-out of his all to his God. He does not by this degrade himself
as a man; rather he finds his right place of high honor as one made in the
image of his Creator. His deep disgrace lay in his moral derangement, his
unnatural usurpation of the place of God. His honor will be proved by restoring
again that stolen throne. In exalting God over all he finds his own highest
honor upheld.
Anyone who might feel reluctant to surrender his will to the will of
another should remember Jesus' words, `Whosoever committeth sin is the servant
of sin.' We must of necessity be servant to someone, either to God or to sin.
The sinner prides himself on his independence, completely overlooking the fact
that he is the weak slave of the sins that rule his members. The man who
surrenders to Christ exchanges a cruel slave driver for a kind and gentle
Master whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.
Made as we were in the image of God we scarcely find it strange to take
again our God as our All. God was our original habitat and our hearts cannot
but feel at home when they enter again that ancient and beautiful abode. I hope
it is clear that there is a logic behind God's claim to pre-eminence. That
place is His by every right in earth or heaven. While we take to ourselves the
place that is His the whole course of our lives is out of joint. Nothing will
or can restore order till our hearts make the great decision: God shall be
exalted above.
`Them that honour me I will honour,' said God once to a priest of
Israel, and that ancient law of the Kingdom stands today unchanged by the
passing of time or the changes of dispensation. The whole Bible and every page
of history proclaim the perpetuation of that law. `If any man serve me, him
will my Father honour,' said our Lord Jesus, tying in the old with the new and
revealing the essential unity of His ways with men. Sometimes the best way to
see a thing is to look at its opposite. Eli and his sons are placed in the
priesthood with the stipulation that they honor God in their lives and
ministrations. This they fail to do, and God sends Samuel to announce the
consequences. Unknown to Eli this law of reciprocal honor has been all the
while secretly working, and now the time has come for judgment to fall. Hophni
and Phineas, the degenerate priests, fall in battle, the wife of Hophni dies in
childbirth, Israel flees before her enemies, the ark of God is captured by the
Philistines and the old man Eli falls backward and dies of a broken neck. Thus
stark tragedy followed upon Eli's failure to honor God.
現在再照此原則去看，圣經中几乎任何一個在一生中誠實地榮耀過神的人，神對他們都是不計較軟弱，不重視失敗，而把說不盡的恩典傾賜下來。例如亞伯拉罕、雅各、大衛、但以理、以利亞，或任何一個你所要舉出的人物，他們所得的榮耀，如同种子有百倍的收成一樣。屬于神的人，他的心把神高舉在一切之上；神悅納他的心意，也照樣地把他高興起來，使那人不同的不是他的完全，乃是他那种歸給神的意念。
在我們的主耶穌基督身上，這個原則更顯得單純而且完全。他降為人子的時候，自己謙卑下來，把一切榮耀都歸給在天上的父。他并不求自己的榮耀，只求差他來的父神的榮耀，有一次他說：「我若榮耀自己，我的榮耀就算不得什么。榮耀我的，乃是我的父。」（約8:54）驕傲的法利賽人离這個原則太遠了，以致不了解這個舍棄自己而榮耀神的主，耶穌對他們說：「我尊敬我的父，你們倒輕慢我。」（約8:49）
耶穌還有一种說法，是最令人扎心的，就是他用問話的方式說出一句話來：「你們互相受榮耀，卻不求從獨一之神來的榮耀，怎能信我呢？」（約5:44）若我對于這句話的了解不錯，主耶穌在此提出一個叫警惕的道理，就是人若求人中間來的榮耀，就不能相信神。是否這就是造成不信的罪的根源呢？人通常說造成不信是因為理智上的困難，其實只是掩飾真正的原因的煙幕而已。這种貪圖從人來的榮耀的心，叫人變成法利賽人，這就是隱藏在宗教徒心中的自義，和空洞的崇拜背后的秘密。我相信可能就是這樣，為了沒有把神放在應該屬于他的地位，使人整個生活的常軌破坏了。我們不高舉神而高舉了自己，因此咒詛就跟著臨到我們。
我們渴望得著神的時候，要常常記住，神也是一樣的渴望，他的渴望特別是對那些愿意一次完全高舉神在一切之上的人，這些人在神看來，比地上或海上一切財寶都可貴。在他們里面神有一個地方，可以籍著基督耶穌把超載一切的慈愛向他們顯現出來。神可以無攔阻地与他們同行，神對著他們可以照著自己的意思自由運行。
這樣說來，還有一事必須當心，就是我們會想先把理智說服，然后讓神得著我們的心。讓神居于一切之上并不是容易的事，理智可能同意如此做，但是卻不允許意志去實行。當腦子里想要跑到前頭去榮耀神，意志卻落后在后面跟不上去，那樣會使人的心不知要分散到什么程度，所以整個人必須先下決心，然后心靈才覺得滿足。神要得著我們的一切，而且他若未整個的得著我們，他就不停止工作，單單是一部分被神得著是不夠的。
Now set over
against this almost any Bible character who honestly tried to glorify God in
his earthly walk. See how God winked at weaknesses and overlooked failures as
He poured upon His servants grace and blessing untold. Let it be Abraham,
Jacob, David, Daniel, Elijah or whom you will; honor followed honor as harvest
the seed. The man of God set his heart to exalt God above all; God accepted his
intention as fact and acted accordingly. Not perfection, but holy intention
made the difference.
In our Lord Jesus
Christ this law was seen in simple perfection. In His lowly manhood He humbled
Himself and gladly gave all glory to His Father in heaven. He sought not His
own honor, but the honor of God who sent Him. `If I honour myself,' He said on
one occasion, `my honour is nothing; it is my Father that honoureth me.' (John
8:54) So far had the proud Pharisees departed from this law that they could not
understand one who honored God at his own expense. `I honour my Father,' said
Jesus to them, `and ye do dishonour me.'
Another saying of
Jesus, and a most disturbing one, was put in the form of a question, `How can
ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that
cometh from God alone?' (John 5:44) If I understand this correctly Christ
taught here the alarming doctrine that the desire for honor among men made
belief impossible. Is this sin at the root of religious unbelief? Could it be
that those `intellectual difficulties' which men blame for their inability to
believe are but smoke screens to conceal the real cause that lies behind them?
Was it this greedy desire for honor from man that made men into Pharisees and
Pharisees into Deicides? Is this the secret back of religious
self-righteousness and empty worship?
I believe it may be. Who will make the
once-for-all decision to exalt Him over all? Such are these precious to God
above all treasures of earth or sea. In them God finds a theater where He can
display His exceeding kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. With them God can
walk unhindered, toward them He can act like the God He is.
In speaking thus I
have one fear; it is that I may convince the mind before God can win the heart.
For this God-above-all position is one not easy to take. The mind may approve
it while not having the consent of the will to put it into effect. While the
imagination races ahead to honor God, the will may lag behind and the man never
guess how divided his heart is. The whole man must make the decision before the
heart can know any real satisfaction. God wants us all, and He will not rest
till He gets us all. No part of the man will do.
讓我們好好的為這事禱告，俯伏在神腳前，叫我們的心和口完全一致。凡是用這樣誠實的態度向神禱告的人，都不必再長久等待神悅納的憑据。神要在他仆人眼前揭開他的榮耀給他看，他要賜下他的一切珍寶，任他自由使用，因為他知道把榮耀賜給完全奉獻的人，是最妥當的。
禱告：神啊！讓我的心高舉你，在我一切所有之上，只要你在我生命中得榮耀，地上任何財寶都不足以令我珍愛。讓我的心高舉你，超過我一切的友誼。我立定主意，你必須在一切之上，即使因此遭人厭棄，成為地上一個孤單的人，也是我所情愿的。讓我的心高舉你，在我一切安慰之上，即使會使我失去肉身的慰籍，和要背負沉重的十字架，我也要守住在你面前所立的誓約。讓我的心高舉你，在我一切榮耀之上。求你使我渴望得你的喜悅，即或是令我降為卑微，和我的名字被人如夢一般地忘掉。我的主啊！求你在我里面興起。求你站在當得榮耀的地位，在我的意志、我的好惡、我的家庭、我的健康，甚至我的生命之上。讓我衰微，使你興旺，讓我降低，使你升高。求你騎在我的身軀上，如同騎著當日進入耶路撒冷那匹小小的驢駒，讓我听見孩子們向你的歡呼：「高高在上和散那。」（太21:9）阿門。
Let us pray over
this in detail, throwing ourselves at God's feet and meaning everything we say.
No one who prays thus in sincerity need wait long for tokens of divine
acceptance. God will unveil His glory before His servant's eyes, and He will
place all His treasures at the disposal of such a one, for He knows that His
honor is safe in such consecrated hands.
O God, be thou exalted over my
possessions. Nothing of earth's treasures shall seem dear unto me if only Thou
art glorified in my life. Be Thou exalted over my friendships. I am determined
that Thou shalt be above all, though I must stand deserted and alone in the
midst of the earth. Be Thou exalted above my comforts. Though it mean the loss
of bodily comforts and the carrying of heavy crosses I shall keep my vow made
this day before Thee. Be Thou exalted over my reputation. Make me ambitious to
please Thee even if as a result I must sink into obscurity and my name be
forgotten as a dream. Rise, O Lord, into Thy proper place of honor, above my
ambitions, above my likes and dislikes, above my family, my health and even my
life itself. Let me decrease that Thou mayest increase, let me sink that Thou
mayest rise above. Ride forth upon me as Thou didst ride into Jerusalem mounted
upon the humble little beast, a colt, the foal of an ass, and let me hear the
children cry to Thee, `Hosanna in the highest.'
（九）柔和与安息
「溫柔的人有福了，因為他們必承受地土。」（太5:5）
一個對于人類本性缺乏也解的人，若要正确地描繪人類的本相，只要把圣經中所指八种有福之人的品性，從反面去想一下，就可以說：「這就是你們人類的本性。」因為和那些有福的品性相反的，就是人類生命的本質。
在所有的人中，我們找不出一點和主耶穌登山寶訓相近的品性，我們所見到的不是虛心的人，乃是最驕傲的人；我們所找到的不是哀慟的人，乃是尋求宴樂的人；不是溫柔的人，乃是妄自尊大的人；所遇見的不是飢渴慕義的人，只听見人這樣說：「我是富足，已經發了財，一樣都不缺。」（啟3:17）我們沒有見到怜憫，只見到殘酷，沒有遇見清心的人，只遇見腐化雜亂的思想；沒有使人和睦的人，只有好爭吵、常憤怒的人；沒有見到人因受逼迫而歡喜快樂，只見人任意向人報复。
人類文明社會所包含的，就是這些東西，整個世界充滿著這种气氛，我們每天所呼吸的正是這個，我們從母腹里從下來，所吃的奶，里面也含有這种气味。對于這种敗坏的品性，文化与教育只能把它稍微改善一點，而它的根本還是完全不動。全世界的學問都承認，這种生活是合理的，而且認為是正常的，然而這些正常現象造成了我們生活上艱難和痛苦，這就不能不令人更加惊异了。所有我們心靈中的疼痛，以及許許多多身軀上疾病，都是由罪而來的，自夸、狂傲、憤恨、詭詐、惡毒、貪婪，這些所造成人類的痛苦，比起一切疾病所加害于身軀的痛苦，更加厲害。
對于這樣的一個世界，主耶穌的話足以令人惊奇，他的話如同一种從天上而來的光照。幸好他如此說了，因為再沒有別人能夠說得如此恰當；同時，我們也幸好听了他的話。他的話的本質就是真理。他并不是向人貢獻一种意見，主耶穌從來不表示什么意見。他從來不猜想，他乃是确實的知道了一切，他的話不象所羅門的話，只是智慧的總和及銳利的觀察。他所說的，是出自他的神性，他的話就是真理的本身。他是唯一能夠帶完全的權柄說「有福了」的一位，他就從天上來的賜福者，為要把福气賜給人類。他的話有行為作后盾，而那些行為，比這世界上任何一個人所作的更有權能，我們听從他的話，實在是最智慧不過的事。
Chapter 9 : Meekness
and Rest
Blessed are the
meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Matt.5:
A fairly accurate
description of the human race might be furnished one unacquainted with it by
taking the Beatitudes, turning them wrong side out and saying, `Here is your
human race.' For the exact opposite of the virtues in the Beatitudes are the
very qualities which distinguish human life and conduct.
In the world of
men we find nothing approaching the virtues of which Jesus spoke in the opening
words of the famous Sermon on the Mount. Instead of poverty of spirit we find
the rankest kind of pride; instead of mourners we find pleasure seekers;
instead of meekness, arrogance; instead of hunger after righteousness we hear
men saying, `I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing';
instead of mercy we find cruelty; instead of purity of heart, corrupt
imaginings; instead of peacemakers we find men quarrelsome and resentful;
instead of rejoicing in mistreatment we find them fighting back with every weapon
at their command. Of this kind of moral stuff civilized society is composed.
The atmosphere is
charged with it; we breathe it with every breath and drink it with our mother's
milk. Culture and education refine these things slightly but leave them basically
untouched. A whole world of literature has been created to justify this kind of
life as the only norm alone. And this is the more to be wondered at seeing that
these are the evils which make life the bitter struggle it is for all of us.
All our heartaches and a great many of our physical ills spring directly out of
our sins. Pride, arrogance, resentfulness, evil imaginings, malice, greed:
these are the sources of more human pain than all the diseases that ever
afflicted mortal flesh.
Into a world like
this the sound of Jesus' words comes wonderful and strange, a visitation from
above. It is well that He spoke, for no one else could have done it as well;
and it is good that we listen. His words are the essence of truth. He is not
offering an opinion; Jesus never uttered opinions. He never guessed; He knew,
and He knows. His words are not as Solomon's were, the sum of sound wisdom or
the results of keen observation. He spoke out of the fulness of His Godhead,
and His words are very Truth itself. He is the only one who could say `blessed'
with complete authority, for He is the Blessed One come from the world above to
confer blessedness upon mankind. And His words were supported by deeds mightier
than any performed on this earth by any other man. It is wisdom for us to
listen.
主耶穌常常用這种方式教訓人。他先用「溫柔」一詞說在一個簡短有力的句子里，然后予以解釋。在馬太福音中，他告訴我們更多關于「溫柔」的事，并且應用到我們的生活上來：「凡勞苦擔重擔的人，可以到我這里來，我就使你們得安息。我心里柔和（溫柔）謙卑，你們當負我的軛，學我的樣式，這樣，你們心里就必得享安息。因為我的軛是容易的，我的擔子是輕省的。」（太11：28-30）這時我們看見兩個互相對照的東西，一個是重擔，一個是安息。這重擔并不是局部的，不獨是那班初听耶穌講道的人所有的，乃是整個人類自始就背著。它所包含的并不是政治的壓迫，貧窮的生活，或勞苦的工作，乃是比這些更深重的。它給人類的痛苦，富足的人覺得，貧窮的人也覺得，因為它之為害于我們，不是錢財和教育所能解救的。
人類所負的是一种又重又絕望的擔子。主耶穌所說的那句話，意思是指著人背著笨重的擔子，或勞苦跋涉到了精疲力竭的地步。安息就是放下那個重擔。這不是說我們該作什么事，乃是我們身上已經有了重負，現今不必再承擔下去。他以自己的柔和作世人的安息。
讓我們仔細看看，我們所負的擔子，完全是里面的，它攻擊心靈和思想，以至于身體，都是由里面攻起的。第一种要卸去的，就是「驕傲」的擔子。自愛乃是一种極重的苦役，你自己想想，你的懮傷是否由于別人說及你，只要你把自己作為偶像，并且效忠于它，就會有人高興對你的偶像加以侮辱，如此，你怎能希望有內心的平安呢？由于心中全力抵抗每一個小小輕蔑，要保衛那顆易的自尊心，不受朋友或仇敵的惡意侵犯，因此，思想中就永無安宁；這种爭戰一年复一年持續下去，那擔子就會使我無法忍受得住。然而今世之子，還是繼續背著重擔往前走，對于每一句不利于他們的話，必予抗拒。對別人每一次所加的批評，畏縮掩飾；對想像中的冷待，傷心不已；若有比你更受尊崇的人出現在眼前，就會晝夜不安。
這樣的擔子是不需要的背的。主耶穌叫我們來得著他的安息，他的方法就是「柔和」。一個柔和的人根本不管誰比他大，因為他老早已經下定決心，把世人的尊重看作沒有价值的東西。他修養成一种仁慈的性格，并且會這樣說：「哦！有人竟這樣把你忽略了，把別人放在你上面么？他們私下議論說，你不過是小小的東西嗎？你自己曾經說你是如何的微小，現在世人如此說你的時候，你卻覺得難受嗎？昨天你向神說你是虛無，是塵土造出來的一條虫，這种心志，到哪里去了呢？來吧！自己謙卑下來，不要再理會別人如何思想和議論你。」
As was often so with Jesus, He used this word `meek' in a brief crisp sentence,
and not till some time later did He go on to explain it. In the same book of
Matthew He tells us more about it and applies it to our lives. `Come unto me,
all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find
rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.' (Mat
11:28-30) Here we have two things standing in contrast to each other, a burden
and a rest. The burden is not a local one, peculiar to those first hearers, but
one which is borne by the whole human race. It consists not of political
oppression or poverty or hard work. It is far deeper than that. It is felt by
the rich as well as the poor for it is something from which wealth and idleness
can never deliver us.
The burden borne
by mankind is a heavy and a crushing thing. The word Jesus used means a load
carried or toil borne to the point of exhaustion. Rest is simply release from
that burden. It is not something we do, it is what comes to us when we cease to
do. His own meekness, that is the rest.
Let us examine our
burden. It is altogether an interior one. It attacks the heart and the mind and
reaches the body only from within. First, there is the burden of pride. The
labor of self-love is a heavy one indeed. Think for yourself whether much of
your sorrow has not arisen from someone speaking slightingly of you. As long as
you set yourself up as a little god to which you must be loyal there will be
those who will delight to offer affront to your idol. How then can you hope to
have inward peace? The heart's fierce effort to protect itself from every
slight, to shield its touchy honor from the bad opinion of friend and enemy,
will never let the mind have rest. Continue this fight through the years and
the burden will become intolerable.
Yet the sons of
earth are carrying this burden continually, challenging every word spoken
against them, cringing under every criticism, smarting under each fancied
slight, tossing sleepless if another is preferred before them. Such a burden as
this is not necessary to bear. Jesus calls us to His rest, and meekness is His
method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long
ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort. He develops
toward himself a kindly sense of humor and learns to say, `Oh, so you have been
overlooked? They have placed someone else before you? They have whispered that
you are pretty small stuff after all? And now you feel hurt because the world
is saying about you the very things you have been saying about yourself? Only
yesterday you were telling God that you were nothing, a mere worm of the dust.
Where is your consistency? Come on, humble yourself, and cease to care what men
think.'
一個柔和的人，并不是因自卑而成為一個膽怯的人。毋宁說，在德性中他乃是如同獅子般的勇敢，和參孫一樣的有力，只是他不會干愚蠢的事情。他已經接受了神對于他生命的評价，他知道他就像神据說那樣的軟弱和無所倚靠。相反地，他同時知道自己在神的眼中比天使更重要，在他里面，他沒得著什么；在神里面，他有一切的一切。這就是他的座右銘。他清楚知道，這世界看他絕不會像神那樣看他，他也不再理會這世界如何看他。他非常滿意地安息下來，讓神來決定他的价值。他會忍耐等候到那一天，每一樣東西都要得到真空的標价，那時候義人要在他父的國里發出光來。他只愿意等候那日子的來臨。
同時，他得到了使他的心享受安息的地方，他以柔和的態度行事，他有喜樂的心情讓神來保衛他。以前那种為已的爭斗已經過去了，他得到柔和所帶來的平安。
其次，他要卸去「虛偽」的擔子。這里的「虛偽」，不是指假冒偽善而言，乃是指普通人所共有的一种欲望，就是要處處顯露自己的优點，而把內里真實的貧乏向世界隱藏起來，罪惡向我們玩弄各式各樣的詭計，其中一個詭計，就是叫我們誤解羞辱的意義。几乎沒有一個男人或女人，能有勇气保持自己本來面目，而不怕別人對他或她存不好的印象。他們心中有一种惟恐被人揭露本相的恐懼，像蛀虫一般嚙著他們。受過教育的人，常常害怕有一天遇見一個比他受更高教育的人。有學問的人，常常害怕遇見比他更有學問的人。富有的財主，害怕有一天他的衣服、汽車、洋房，和另一位財主比較起來不夠闊气。所謂上流社會，只不過是這一類動机在那里推動著，而那些較貧窮的階層，和他們比較起來就較為安分一點了。
這的确是不可忽視的事實，這些是實實在在的「擔子」，這擔子漸漸地會把過著這种几坏而又反常生活的犧牲都虐殺掉。由于這些反常現象已存在了許多年代，便造成普遍的心理，使柔和變成可望而不可即，如天上的星那樣高不可攀。主耶穌對一切被這种懼怕侵襲的犧牲者說：「你們要回轉，變成小孩子的樣式。」（參太18：3）因為小孩子不作与人比較的事，他們從自己所有的直接獲得快樂，不和別的東西或別的人相關，直到他們長大之后，心中惡念發動，才生出貪慕和嫉妒來，若有別人比他們所有的更大或是更好，就不能快樂。人幼年的時候，這种擔子就加在他脆弱的生命之上了，而且一直不肯离開，直等到主耶穌來解救他們。
還有一种擔子就是「虛飾」。我深知道，大多數的人都在暗暗害怕，他們有一天會不小心地，被敵人或朋友窺探得到他們生命的貧窮与空虛，以致本相被人知道。因此，他們的心境沒有一天是釋放的，聰明的人時常緊張警惕，只怕無意中誤說了庸俗或愚蠢的話。富有旅行經驗的人，害怕會遇見像馬可波羅那樣的人，對他們所沒有去過的遙遠的地方，能夠了然細說。
The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of his own
inferiority. Rather he may be in his moral life as bold as a lion and as strong
as Samson; but he has stopped being fooled about himself. He has accepted God's
estimate of his own life. He knows he is as weak and helpless as God has
declared him to be, but paradoxically, he knows at the same time that he is in
the sight of God of more importance than angels. In himself, nothing; in God,
everything. That is his motto. He knows well that the world will never see him
as God sees him and he has stopped caring. He rests perfectly content to allow
God to place His own values. He will be patient to wait for the day when
everything will get its own price tag and real worth will come into its own.
Then the righteous shall shine forth in the Kingdom of their Father. He is
willing to wait for that day.
In the meantime he will have attained a place of soul rest. As he walks
on in meekness he will be happy to let God defend him. The old struggle to
defend himself is over. He has found the peace which meekness brings.
Then also he will get deliverance from the burden of pretense. By this
I mean not hypocrisy, but the common human desire to put the best foot forward
and hide from the world our real inward poverty. For sin has played many evil
tricks upon us, and one has been the infusing into us a false sense of shame.
There is hardly a man or woman who dares to be just what he or she is without
doctoring up the impression. The fear of being found out gnaws like rodents
within their hearts. The man of culture is haunted by the fear that he will
some day come upon a man more cultured than himself. The learned man fears to
meet a man more learned than he. The rich man sweats under the fear that his
clothes or his car or his house will sometime be made to look cheap by
comparison with those of another rich man. So-called `society' runs by a
motivation not higher than this, and the poorer classes on their level are
little better.
Let no one smile this off. These burdens are real, and little by little
they kill the victims of this evil and unnatural way of life. And the
psychology created by years of this kind of thing makes true meekness seem as
unreal as a dream, as aloof as a star. To all the victims of the gnawing
disease Jesus says, `Ye must become as little children.' For little children do
not compare; they receive direct enjoyment from what they have without relating
it to something else or someone else. Only as they get older and sin begins to
stir within their hearts do jealousy and envy appear. Then they are unable to
enjoy what they have if someone else has something larger or better. At that
early age does the galling burden come down upon their tender souls, and it
never leaves them till Jesus sets them free.
Another
source of burden is artificialy. I am sure that most people live in secret fear
that some day they will be careless and by chance an enemy or friend will be
allowed to peep into their poor empty souls. So they are never relaxed. Bright
people are tense and alert in fear that they may be trapped into saying
something common or stupid. Traveled people are afraid that they may meet some
Marco Polo who is able to describe some remote place where they have never
been.
這种反常的現象，是人類罪惡所遺留下來痛苦的一部分，今天已變本加厲，成為我們整個的生活方式。今天的廣告，大部分是借用這种「虛飾」的心理。教育的机构預備許多課程，就是給人炫耀自己所長的机會。許多書籍、美麗的衣服，和許多化裝物品傾銷出去，都是為了滿足人這种不真正表現自己的欲望。虛飾离開我們，乃是在我們跪在主耶穌腳前，向著他的柔和而投降的那一剎那，那時，我們會不再理會世人如何看我們，我們只要討神的喜悅。我們所顧念的就是「我本來如何」。我們再沒有一點興趣，顧到要裝作如何，除了犯罪之外，我們沒有什么令自己覺得著羞恥的事。人有了炫耀自己的惡念，才會裝出一副不是我們原來所有的虛假樣了。
世人的心都被驕傲和虛偽的擔子壓傷了。除了基督的柔和之外，我們無法卸去這些擔子。良好而有智慧的理論，可能有一點幫助，可是這种罪惡勢力非常強大，我們若在一地方把它壓下去，它會從別的地方再起來。主耶穌對各方各處的人如此說：「可以到我這里來，我就使你們得安息。」（太22:28）他所給人的安息就是「柔和」。當我們接受了自己本來的樣子，而停止裝成別的模樣，就會得著奇妙的釋放。在起初需要勇气，但是，我們知道了我們是与大能的神的儿子，共同負著這新的而且容易負的軛的時候，就得到所需要的恩典。他稱之為「我的軛」，那就是說，我們負著軛的這一邊而走，他也負著軛的另一邊，和我們一同行走人生的道路。
禱告：親愛的主，求你使我像個小孩子，救我脫离与人爭競地位、名譽、聲望的貪念。我愿如同一個小孩子那樣的簡單和朴實，救我脫离喜愛外表和虛偽的行為，赦免我單顧自己的罪過。求你幫助我忘記自己，并且叫我因為親近你而得到真平安。愿你應允我的禱告，叫我謙卑在你面前。求你把你那忘記自己的輕省的軛放在我身上，使我得享安息。阿們
This unnatural
condition is part of our sad heritage of sin, but in our day it is aggravated
by our whole way of life. Advertising is largely based upon this habit of
pretense. `Courses' are offered in this or that field of human learning frankly
appealing to the victim's desire to shine at a party. Books are sold, clothes
and cosmetics are peddled, by playing continually upon this desire to appear
what we are not. Artificiality is one curse that will drop away the moment we
kneel at Jesus' feet and surrender ourselves to His meekness. Then we will not
care what people think of us so long as God is pleased. Then what we are will
be everything; what we appear will take its place far down the scale of
interest for us. Apart from sin we have nothing of which to be ashamed. Only an
evil desire to shine makes us want to appear other than we are.
The heart of the
world is breaking under this load of pride and pretense. There is no release
from our burden apart from the meekness of Christ. Good keen reasoning may help
slightly, but so strong is this vice that if we push it down one place it will
come up somewhere else. To men and women everywhere Jesus says, `Come unto me,
and I will give you rest.' The rest He offers is the rest of meekness, the
blessed relief which comes when we accept ourselves for what we are and cease
to pretend. It will take some courage at first, but the needed grace will come
as we learn that we are sharing this new and easy yoke with the strong Son of
God Himself. He calls it `my yoke,' and He walks at one end while we walk at
the other.
Lord, make me
childlike. Deliver me from the urge to compete with another for place or prestige
or position. I would be simple and artless as a little child. Deliver me from
pose and pretense. Forgive me for thinking of myself. Help me to forget myself
and find my true peace in beholding Thee. That Thou mayest answer this prayer I
humble myself before Thee. Lay upon me Thy easy yoke of self-forgetfulness that
through it I may find rest. Amen.
（十）分別為圣的生活
「所以你們或吃或喝，無論作什么，都要為榮耀神而行。」（林前10:31）
基督徒內心平安最大的攔阻，就是慣于把生活分為兩部分：神圣的和世俗的。因為這兩部分是分開的，而同時在道德上与靈性上是無法共存的，我們常從這一部分來回地跑到另一部分，如此就造成我們分裂而不統一的生活。
我們的苦惱，是因為要同時在兩個世界中生活：一個是屬靈的，另一個是屬自然的。從亞當后裔的地位來說，我們在地上過活，受肉體的限制，有人類所遺傳下來的軟弱和疾病，單是住在人群中，就要我們整年辛苦勞碌，用許多心思去注意和照顧這世界上的事情。和這些相對的，就是我們在靈里面的生活，在這方面我們享受著一种高超的生活，為神的儿女，得著屬天的地位，并且与基督有親密的交通。
如此我們整個生活，分為兩個獨立的部分。我們認識到兩類不同的事情。第一類事情我們做的時候會感覺到滿意，而且很有把握地知道，那些事情會討神的喜悅，這些就是神圣的事，通常是指禱告、讀經、唱贊美詩、參加禮拜，以及其他諸如此類發自信心的行動。這些事人都知道和這個世界并無直接的關系，而且若不是信心給我們指出另外有一個世界「不是人手所造，在天上永存的房屋」（林后5:1），就沒有什么意義可言。
和這些神圣的事相對的，就是世俗的事，包括我們和亞當的儿女一同有分的一切生活動作，例如吃飯、睡覺工作、照顧身體，以及在這里那里所做的許多平凡無味的事。這些事我們做起來總是憎厭，心中疑懼不安，向神表示虧欠，因為我們認為太浪費時間与精力，我們會常常覺得不舒服，心中深深感到挫敗，于是對自己說，將來有一天來到，我們要脫去這屬地的軀殼，不再受這世界的事務纏累。
這就是一向所謂神圣和世俗相對照的說法。大多數的基督徒，都陷在這种理論的圈套里，無法滿意地調和這兩方面的要求。他們想在連接兩國度之間的一根繩子上行走，結果無論在哪一方面的平安都得不著，他們耗盡了精力，外表顯著狼狽，心中的喜樂也完全失去。
我相信這种痛苦完全是不必要的，只會使人陷入進退維谷的境地，可是這個幽谷并非真實存在的。這乃是一种在誤會之下的產物而已。所謂圣事与俗務的分別，在新約圣經中并沒有根据，只要我們對基督教真理有較為完全的理解，就能幫助我們脫离那种苦境。
Chapter 10 : The
Sacrament of Living
Whether therefore
ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
I Cor. 10:31
One of the greatest hindrances to internal peace which the Christian
encounters is the common habit of dividing our lives into two areas, the sacred
and the secular. As the seas are conceived to exist apart from each other and
to be morally and spiritually incompatible, and as we are compelled by the
necessities of living to be always crossing back and forth from the one to the
other, our inner lives tend to break up so that we live a divided instead of a
unified life.
Our trouble springs from the fact that we who follow Christ inhabit at
once two worlds, the spiritual and the natural. As children of Adam we live our
lives on earth subject to the limitations of the flesh and the weaknesses and
ills to which human nature is heir. Merely to live among men requires of us
years of hard toil and much care and attention to the things of this world. In
sharp contrast to this is our life in the Spirit. There we enjoy another and
higher kind of life; we are children of God; we possess heavenly status and
enjoy intimate fellowship with Christ.
This tends to divide our total life into two departments. We come
unconsciously to recognize two sets of actions. The first are performed with a
feeling of satisfaction and a firm assurance that they are pleasing to God.
These are the sacred acts and they are usually thought to be prayer, Bible
reading, hymn singing, church attendance and such other acts as spring directly
from faith. They maybe known by the fact that they have no direct relation to
this world, and would have no meaning whatever except as faith shows us another
world, `an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' (2 Cor 5:1)
Over against these sacred acts are the secular ones.They include all of
the ordinary activities of life which we share with the sons and daughters of
Adam: eating, sleeping, working, looking after the needs of the body and
performing our dull and prosaic duties here on earth. These we often do
reluctantly and with many misgivings, often apologizing to God for what we
consider a waste of time and strength. The upshot of this is that we are uneasy
most of the time. We go about our common tasks with a feeling of deep
frustration, telling ourselves pensively that there's a better day coming when
we shall slough off this earthly shell and be bothered no more with the affairs
of this world.
This is the old sacred-secular antithesis. Most Christians are caught
in its trap. They cannot get a satisfactory adjustment between the claims of
the two worlds. They try to walk the tight rope between two kingdoms and they
find no peace in either. Their strength is reduced, their outlook confused and
their joy taken from them.
I believe this state of affairs to be wholly unnecessary. We have
gotten ourselves on the horns of a dilemma, true enough, but the dilemma is not
real. It is a creature of misunderstanding. The sacred-secular antithesis has
no foundation in the New Testament. Without doubt a more perfect understanding
of Christian truth will deliver us from it.
主耶穌基督自己就是我們最完全的榜樣，在他并沒有分開的生活，他在父神面前，從嬰孩一直活到在十字架上受死，沒有一點這樣的緊張。神悅納了他整個生活的奉獻，在他的行為動作之中，沒有分別什么是他自己的，什么是天父的。他簡單地用一句話表明出來：「我常作他所喜悅的事。」（約8:29）這是他在人群中活動的時候所說的。他顯得非常宁靜安閑，他所忍受的欺壓和痛苦，是由于他站在背負世人罪孽的地位的緣故。從來不是由于道德品性上的不穩定，或生活上的失調而起的。
保羅的勸告，叫人凡事「都要為榮耀神而行」，并不僅僅是一种敬虔生活的理想，乃是由圣靈啟示出來完整真理的一部分，我們應當看如神的話那樣，加以接受。這叫我們清楚的看到，我們可以在生活中每一個動作上歸榮耀給神，為了恐怕我們不敢把每一樣事都包括在內，保羅特別提到「吃」和「喝」，這是我們和一切會滅亡的動物日常所行最普通的事，既然這樣普通的動作都可以榮耀神，我們就很難設想，還有什么不能為榮耀神而作的事了。
在古時敬虔人士的著作中，那种僧侶修道式的對身體的憎惡，在圣經中是沒有根据的。圣經有勉勵人要朴實穩重的教訓，這是不錯的，但是從來沒有叫人假裝正經，或不正确地以某些事情為可恥。新約記載我們的主，道成肉身披上一個真正的人類的身體，圣經對這一事認為不須掩飾。他帶著肉身住在人群之中，卻從來沒有做過一次不神圣的事。他自己在肉身顯現，就除掉了人的肉身生來便不蒙神悅納的概念。神創造了我們的身體，我們決不會因為對身體盡當有的本分，而招致神的惱怒。他不會把他手中的工作，看成他的恥辱。
我們把身體的性能予以濫用，或戕傷，會叫我們覺得羞恥，就如犯罪或作出違反自然的行為，那是一點都不能榮耀神的。每當人意念偏邪的時候，就失去了神為人所造那良善無害天性，那時人所有的，只是已戕傷和朽坏的東西，那是決不能使創造者得榮耀的。
在此我們設想一下，那种沒有濫用与戕傷身體的生活。一個已經悔改得了重生的基督徒，如果照他所明白的圣經，過著遵行神旨意的生活，他生活的每一個動作，都可以与禱告、受洗、領受圣餐等事情同樣地被視為圣事。這并非把一切行為動作降到一個死的標准，毋宁說乃是把每一個行為動作，都提高到一個永活的國度，把整個生活變為一個分別為圣的生活。
如果說圣禮是由于心被恩感而呈現于外面的表示，那么我們即刻可以承認，以上的說法是可能的。我們一次把整個自己奉獻給神，便跟著在一切行動上表示那一次的奉獻。我們不必以我們的身體為恥--這身體是扶持我們度過一生的工具--正如主耶穌不以他進入耶路撒冷所騎的驢駒感到恥辱一樣。「主要用他。」（太21:3）這句話照樣可以适用于我們必死的身體。既是基督居住在我們里面，我們就可以像那匹驢駒一樣，背負著榮耀的主到各處去，讓群眾高呼：「高高在上和散那。」（太21:9）
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is our perfect example, and He knew no
divided life. In the Presence of His Father He lived on earth without strain
from babyhood to His death on the cross. God accepted the offering of His total
life, and made no distinction between act and act. `I do always the things that
please him,' was His brief summary of His own life as it related to the Father.
(John 8:29) As He moved among men He was poised and restful. What pressure and
suffering He endured grew out of His position as the world's sin- bearer; they
were never the result of moral uncertainty or spiritual maladjustment.
Paul's exhortation to `do all to the glory
of God' is more than pious idealism. It is an integral part of the sacred
revelation and is to be accepted as the very Word of Truth. It opens before us
the possibility of making every act of our lives contribute to the glory of
God. Lest we should be too timid to include everything, Paul mentions
specifically eating and drinking. This humble privilege we share with the
beasts that perish. If these lowly animal acts can be so performed as to honor
God, then it becomes difficult to conceive of one that cannot.
That monkish hatred of the body which
figures so prominently in the works of certain early devotional writers is
wholly without support in the Word of God. Common modesty is found in the
Sacred Scriptures, it is true, but never prudery or a false sense of shame. The
New Testament accepts as a matter of course that in His incarnation our Lord
took upon Him a real human body, and no effort is made to steer around the
downright implications of such a fact. He lived in that body here among men and
never once performed a non-sacred act. His presence in human flesh sweeps away
forever the evil notion that there is about the human body something innately
offensive to the Deity. God created our bodies, and we do not offend Him by
placing the responsibility where it belongs. He is not ashamed of the work of
His own hands. Perversion, misuse and abuse of our human powers should give us
cause enough to be ashamed. Bodily acts done in sin and contrary to nature can
never honor God. Wherever the human will introduces moral evil we have no
longer our innocent and harmless powers as God made them; we have instead an
abused and twisted thing which can never bring glory to its Creator.
Let us, however, assume that perversion and
abuse are not present. Let us think of a Christian believer in whose life the
twin wonders of repentance and the new birth have been wrought. He is now
living according to the will of God as he understands it from the written Word.
Of such a one it may be said that every act of his life is or can be as truly
sacred as prayer or baptism or the Lord's Supper. To say this is not to bring
all acts down to one dead level; it is rather to lift every act up into a
living kingdom and turn the whole life into a sacrament.
If a sacrament is an external expression of
an inward grace, then we need not hesitate to accept the above thesis. By one
act of consecration of our total selves to God, we can make every subsequent
act express that consecration. We need no more be ashamed of our body-- the
fleshly servant that carries us through life-- than Jesus was of the humble
beast upon which He rode into Jerusalem. `The Lord hath heed of him' may well
apply to our mortal bodies. If Christ dwells in us we may bear about the Lord
of glory as the little beast did of old and give occasion to the multitudes to
cry, `Hosanna in the highest.'
我們單單明白這個真理還是不夠。如果我們想要從神圣和世俗不調和的理論中求解脫，便須浸透在真理里面，讓真理安定我們的思想。我們應當肯定地，實際地過著榮耀神的生活，對這個真理當加以默想，在禱告中常常把這個問題對神訴說，在人群中活動的時候，時常不忘記這個真理，我們就會覺得人生有一种特別的意義，舊時這种不調和的痛苦生活，會完全除去，現今的是一种滿有安息的、統一的生活。明白了我們的一切都屬于神，他悅納了我們的一切，沒有拒絕什么，我們里面的生活就趨于統一，每一件事情都成為圣事。
問題到這里還沒有完全了結。傳統的習慣不會很容易的死掉，還需要加上理智的思想，和許多敬虔的禱告，才能從圣事与俗務的錯誤心理中完全釋放出來。普通的基督徒很難認定他日常的事務，可以做到像崇拜秩序那樣有意義，因著耶穌基督的緣故，可被神悅納。傳統中不調和的觀念，又會從他的腦子背后露出來，擾亂他心中的安宁。那古蛇魔鬼也不會就此甘心屈服，他會躲在車子中、桌子旁邊，或正在工場上，對一個基督徒說，他正在用一天中較好的時間做今世的事，而是用少許的時間去做敬拜神的事。若非特別予以留意，我們就會形成內心的矛盾，懼怕以及沉悶等等心理。
要有強大的信心，才能應付這种困難。我們必須把一切的行為動作都奉獻給神，相信他悅納了我們，然后堅決持這個地位，并且堅信每日、每夜、每時刻中的每一個動作，都是為著神，在私禱的時候，不住的告訴神我們的每一個動作，都是為了他的榮耀；在處理日常事務的時候，心靈中再不斷的有如此的默禱。讓我們實行把每一种工作，都當作祭司所辦的圣事，讓我們認定在一切平常的工作中，神都在那里与我們同在。
還有一种錯誤和以上所說的相類似，就是把神圣与世俗的觀念應用到地點上去。讀新約圣經的人竟然會相信這傳統的觀念，說某些地點比別的地點更神圣，這實在令人惊异。這种成熟流行是非常普遍，若有人試想与之對抗，就會陷入孤立的境地。這觀念如同染料一般，使信徒的思想染上了一層色彩，使他們戴上了有色眼鏡，別人無法揭露它的謬誤。這种道理縱然明明和新約的教導相反，卻在許多年代中被人傳講和唱頌，以及被視為基督教信息的一部分，當然實際上并非如此。据我所知，有所看見而敢于把這种錯誤公布出來的，只有貴格派的信徒而已。
以色列人住在埃及地四百年之久，被拜偶像的愚昧風俗所影響，最后神籍闃摩西的手把他們領出來，開始走向神所應許的美地，但他們已經把神圣的真正意念丟失了。為要糾正這個弊端，神從底層開始作工，他自己住在云柱和火柱中，到會幕立起來以后，他便居住在至圣所內火焰的榮耀中。神用無數事物教導以色列人圣洁与不圣洁的分別，所以他們有圣洁的日子，圣洁的器皿，和圣洁的衣服，又有洁淨的條例，獻祭牲的條例，和許多奉獻的條例等等，籍著這些律例，叫以色列學習明白：神是圣洁的。神所教導百姓的就是這個，他們所必須知道的，不是那些東西或地方的圣洁，乃是：神是圣洁的。
That we see this truth is not enough. If we
would escape from the toils of the sacred-secular dilemma the truth must `run
in our blood' and condition the complexion of our thoughts. We must practice
living to the glory of God, actually and determinedly. By meditation upon this
truth, by talking it over with God often in our prayers, by recalling it to our
minds frequently as we move about among men, a sense of its wondrous meaning
will begin to take hold of us. The old painful duality will go down before a
restful unity of life. The knowledge that we are all God's, that He has
received all and rejected nothing, will unify our inner lives and make
everything sacred to us.
This is not quite all. Long-held habits do
not die easily. It will take intelligent thought and a great deal of reverent
prayer to escape completely from the sacred-secular psychology. For instance it
may be difficult for the average Christian to get hold of the idea that his
daily labors can be performed as acts of worship acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ. The old antithesis will crop up in the back of his head sometimes to disturb
his peace of mind. Nor will that old serpent the devil take all this lying
down. He will be there in the cab or at the desk or in the field to remind the
Christian that he is giving the better part of his day to the things of this
world and allotting to his religious duties only a trifling portion of his
time.And unless great care is taken this will create confusion and bring
discouragement and heaviness of heart.
We can meet this successfully only by the
exercise of an aggressive faith. We must offer all our acts to God and believe
that He accepts them. Then hold firmly to that position and keep insisting that
every act of every hour of the day and night be included in the transaction.
Keep reminding God in our times of private prayer that we mean every act for
His glory; then supplement those times by a thousand thought-prayers as we go
about the job of living. Let us practice the fine art of making every work a
priestly ministration. Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and
learn to find Him there.
A concomitant of the error which we have
been discussing is the sacred-secular antithesis as applied to places. It is
little short of astonishing that we can read the New Testament and still
believe in the inherent sacredness of places as distinguished from other
places.This error is so widespread that one feels all alone when he tries to
combat it. It has acted as a kind of dye to color the thinking of religious
persons and has colored the eyes as well so that it is all but impossible to detect
its fallacy. In the face of every New Testament teaching to the contrary, it
has been said and sung throughout the centuries and accepted as part of the
Christian message, the which it most surely is not. Only the Quakers, so far as
my knowledge goes, have had the perception to see the error and the courage to
expose it.
Here are the facts as I see them. For four
hundred years Israel had dwelt in Egypt, surrounded by the crassest idolatry.
By the hand of Moses they were brought out at last and started toward the land
of promise. The very idea of holiness had been lost to them. To correct this,
God began at the bottom. He localized Himself in the cloud and fire and later
when the tabernacle had been built He dwelt between holy and unholy. There were
holy days, holy vessels, holy garments. There were washings, sacrifices,
offerings of many kinds. By these means Israel learned that God is holy. It was
this that He was teaching them. Not the holiness of things or places, but the
holiness of Jehovah was the lesson they must learn.
到了時候滿足，基督就就成為肉身顯現在世上。他立刻教訓人說：「你們听見有吩咐古人的話說，只是我告訴你們。」（參太5:21-22）舊約的時代已經成為過去。基督死在十字架上時，圣殿中的幔子從上到下裂開，至圣所的門向每一個憑著信心進去的人打開了。我們還記得基督所說的話：「時候將到，你們拜父，也不在這山上，也不在耶路撒冷，時候將到，如今就是了，那真正拜父的，要用心靈和誠實拜他，因為父要這樣的人拜他。神是個靈，所以拜他的，必須用心靈和誠實拜他。」（約4:21－24）
不久之后，保羅呼喊在基督里的自由，并且宣告說，各种的肉類都是洁淨的，每一天都是圣日，一切的地方都是圣地，而且每一种動作都為神所悅納。所謂時候与地點的分別為圣，那一套啟蒙教育工具所發的微光，在心靈敬拜的旭日照射下，已經消逝無存了。
教會初期用心靈崇拜的屬靈特質，因年代的久遠，漸漸地亦消失了。今日信徒按著人類墮落之后的自然律法的觀念，又把舊時的區分帶進教會來。教會開始遵守各种特別的日子、節期，有些地方被定為具有特別神圣意義的。日子、地點，或人之間有了區別。所謂「圣禮」，起初是兩個，后來變成三個、四個，直到最后羅馬天主教得勢時，竟湊成了七個。
請寬恕我如此說，我并沒有對任何一個基督徒怀有惡感。不論這道理怎樣被人誤解，我還要指出，羅馬天主教就是這种分別神圣与世俗錯誤理論的自然結果。它最大的危險，就是把宗教与生活完全分割。他們的教師企圖用許多注解与繁瑣的釋義，要叫人看不出這种弊病，但人的腦子對問題是有反應的，在現實生活里，這种分割是彰彰明甚的。
改教派、清教徒和神秘派的人士，想盡力把我們從這种捆綁中解救出來，但今天在保守派當中，又有回到這种捆綁的傾向。据說馬從失火的房中被帶出來之后，有時會因著馬性奇异的執拗，沖回去原來的房屋那里，燒死在火焰中。由于這种固執，我們今天的基要派，又走向奴隸式的靈性生活。遵守日子和節期的事，在我們當中越來越顯著，所謂「大齋期」、「复活節的前周」等等，在福音派信徒口中，漸漸流行起來。我們不知道什么時候才看見情形好轉過來。
為了使我的話說得更加清楚而不被誤會，我愿意把我所討論的，就實際的含義作直接的介紹。以上我們強調每日生活中的每一件事情，都可以是分別為圣的，但以下我還須說明，這道理也有容易被人誤解的地方。
Then came the great day when Christ appeared. Immediately He began to
say, `Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time...,but I say unto
you...' (Mat 5:21-22) The Old Testament schooling was over. When Christ died on
the cross the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom. The Holy of
Holies was opened to everyone who would enter in faith. Christ's words were
remembered, `The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet
at Jerusalem, worship the Father. ... But the hour cometh, and now is, when the
true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the
Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and they that worship him
must worship in spirit and in truth.' (John 4:21-23)
Shortly after, Paul took up the cry of
liberty and declared all meats clean, every day holy, all places sacred and
every act acceptable to God. The sacredness of times and places, a half-light
necessary to the education of the race, passed away before the full sun of
spiritual worship.
The essential spirituality of worship
remained the possession of the Church until it was slowly lost with the passing
of the years. Then the natural legality of the fallen hearts of men began to
introduce the old distinctions. The Church came to observe again days and
seasons and times. Certain places were chosen and marked out as holy in a
special sense. Differences were observed between one and another day or place
or person. `The sacraments' were first two, then three, then four, until with
the triumph of Romanism they were fixed at seven.
In all charity, and with no desire to
reflect unkindly upon any Christian, however misled, I would point out that the
Roman Catholic church represents today the sacred-secular heresy carried to its
logical conclusion. Its deadliest effect is the complete cleavage it introduces
between religion and life. Its teachers attempt to avoid this snare by many
footnotes and multitudinous explanations, but the mind's instinct for logic is
too strong. In practical living the cleavage is a fact.
From this bondage reformers and puritans
and mystics have labored to free us. Today the trend in conservative circles is
back toward that bondage again. It is said that a horse after it has been led
out of a burning building will sometimes by a strange obstinacy break loose from
its rescuer and dash back into the building again to perish in the flame. By
some such stubborn tendency toward error, Fundamentalism in our day is moving
back toward spiritual slavery. The observation of days and times is becoming
more and more prominent among us. `Lent' and `holy week' and `good' Friday are
words heard more and more frequently upon the lips of gospel Christians. We do
not know when we are well off.
In order that I may be understood and not
be misunderstood I would throw into relief the practical implications of the
teaching for which I have been arguing, i.e., the sacramental quality of
every-day living. Over against its positive meanings I should like to point out
a few things it does not mean.
這不是說我們所作的每一件事都同樣重要，一個愛神的人一生中會有某些事作得比其他事更為重要的。保羅的織帳棚，和他寫給羅馬人書的重要性并不相等，然而兩樣都是被神所悅納，并且都是真正事奉神的工作。當然領一個人歸向基督，比起栽种一個花園要重要得多，然而种花的工作，仍然可以和領人歸主一同列為是圣洁的工作。
人的功用不是個個一樣的，在基督的身體中，恩賜是有不同的。貝萊比利就他對于教會以及世界的貢獻而言，不能和路德和衛斯理相比，但是這個少得恩賜的弟兄，和那些多得恩賜的弟兄是一樣的圣洁，并且是同樣的蒙神悅納。
我們不必以為所謂「平信徒」者所做的平常的工作不及牧師所作的有价值。每一個照他蒙召時的工作安心守著本位的，他的工作就如同當牧師的同樣被分別為圣。真正分別為圣和世俗的，并不是看那個人所作的是什么事，乃是看他作事的動机是否正确。動机決定一切。一個人先在心中尊主為圣，就不會再作什么庸俗的事情了。他所作的一切的事，因耶穌基督的緣故，都是美好而且被神所悅納。對于這樣的一個人，他的整個生活已經分別為圣，全世界成為他的圣所，他一生的生活變成祭司的職務。他存著這种心思去作事的時候，就是在日常的事務中，也會听見撒拉弗的聲音說：「圣哉！圣哉！圣哉！万軍之耶和華，他的榮光充滿全地。」（賽6:3）
禱告：主啊，我愿完全信靠你，我愿完全屬于你，我愿高舉你在一切之上。我希望能體驗到除你以外，沒有別的是屬于我的。我要時刻體驗你的恩眷和同在，听見你的聲音，我渴慕得著滿有安息的單純的心。我要在圣靈里過著丰富的生活，使我的一切思想，如馨香的香气，直升到你面前，我生活中的每一動作，都成為事奉你的動作。為此，我愿以你古時候偉大義人的禱告作為禱告：「我懇求你，用厚恩洁淨我心中的意念，籍著你說不出的丰厚的恩賜，使我完全愛你，而且配得稱頌你。」我深深相信，你必因你儿子耶穌基督的功勞，應允我的祈求。阿們。
It does not mean,
for instance, that everything we do is of equal importance with everything else
we do or may do. One act of a good man's life may differ widely from another in
importance. Paul's sewing of tents was not equal to his writing an Epistle to
the Romans, but both were accepted of God and both were true acts of worship.
Certainly it is more important to lead a soul to Christ than to plant a garden,
but the planting of the garden can be as holy an act as the winning of a soul.
Again, it does not
mean that every man is as useful as every other man. Gifts differ in the body
of Christ. A Billy Bray is not to be compared with a Luther or a Wesley for
sheer usefulness to the Church and to the world; but the service of the less gifted
brother is as pure as that of the more gifted, and God accepts both with equal
pleasure.
The `layman' need
never think of his humbler task as being inferior to that of his minister. Let
every man abide in the calling wherein he is called and his work will be as
sacred as the work of the ministry. It is not what a man does that determines
whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it. The motive is
everything. Let a man sanctify the Lord God in his heart and he can thereafter
do no common act. All he does is good and acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ. For such a man, living itself will be sacramental and the whole world a
sanctuary. His entire life will be a priestly ministration. As he performs his
never so simple task he will hear the voice of the seraphim saying, `Holy,
Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.'
Lord, I would
trust Thee completely; I would be altogether Thine; I would exalt Thee above
all. I desire that I may feel no sense of possessing anything outside of Thee.
I want constantly to be aware of Thine overshadowing Presence and to hear Thy
speaking Voice. I long to live in restful sincerity of heart. I want to live so
fully in the Spirit that all my thought may be as sweet incense ascending to
Thee and every act of my life may be an act of worship. Therefore I pray in the
words of Thy great servant of old, `I beseech Thee so for to cleanse the intent
of mine heart with the unspeakable gift of Thy grace, that I may perfectly love
Thee and worthily praise Thee.' And all this I confidently believe Thou wilt
grant me through the merits of Jesus Christ Thy Son. Amen.