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“If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” – 1 Corinthians 14:8
“若吹无定的号声，谁能预备打仗呢？” – 哥林多前书 14:8

On Some Of The Weightier Matters Of Christianity

论基督教中一些更重大的事

The volume now in the reader’s hands consists of a series of papers, systematically arranged, on the leading truths of Christianity which are “necessary to salvation”.
读者手中的这卷书由一系列系统编排的文章组成，内容是关于基督教中那些“为得救所必需”的主要真理。

Few, probably, will deny that there are some things in religion about which we may think other people hold very erroneous views, and are, notwithstanding, in no danger of being finally lost.
恐怕很少有人会否认，在信仰的某些事情上，我们可能认为别人持有的观点大错特错，但他们却不致于有最终沉沦的危险。
About baptism and the Lord’s Supper, about the Christian ministry, about forms of prayer and modes of worship, about the union of Church and State, about all these things it is commonly admitted that people may differ widely, and yet be finally saved.
关于洗礼和主的晚餐，关于基督徒的圣职，关于祷告的形式和敬拜的方式，关于教会与国家联合，关于所有这些事，人们普遍承认，人与人之间可以有很大的分歧，但最终仍能得救。
No doubt there are always bigots and extreme partisans, who are ready to excommunicate everyone who cannot pronounce their Shibboleth on the above-named points.
无疑，总会有一些偏执和极端宗派的人，随时准备将那些在上述要点上不能说出他们“示播列”（Shibboleth）的人逐出教会。
But, speaking generally, to shut out of heaven all who disagree with us about these things, is to take up a position which most thoughtful Christians condemn as unscriptural, narrow, and uncharitable.
但总的来说，将所有在这些事上与我们意见相左的人拒之于天堂门外，是采取了一种大多数有思想的基督徒都谴责为不合圣经、狭隘和不仁慈的立场。

On the other hand, there are certain great truths of which some knowledge, by common consent, appears essential to salvation.
另一方面，有一些伟大的真理，人们普遍认为，对这些真理有一定的认识，对得救似乎是至关重要的。
Such truths are the immortality of the soul, the sinfulness of human nature, the work of Christ for us as our Redeemer, the work of the Holy Ghost in us, forgiveness, justification, conversion, faith, repentance, the marks of a right heart, Christ’s invitations, Christ’s intercession, and the like.
这些真理，诸如灵魂的不朽、人性的罪、基督为我们作成的救赎之工、圣灵在我们里面的工作、赦免、称义、归正、信心、悔改、一颗正直之心的标志、基督的邀请、基督的代求等等。
If truths like these are not absolutely necessary to salvation, it is difficult to understand how any truths whatever can be called necessary.
如果像这样的真理对得救不是绝对必要的，那么就很难理解还有什么真理可以被称为必要的了。
If people may be saved without knowing anything about these truths, it appears to me that we may throw away our Bibles altogether, and proclaim that the Christian religion is of no use.
如果人们在对这些真理一无所知的情况下也能得救，那么在我看来，我们不如把圣经完全扔掉，并宣称基督教信仰是毫无用处的。
From such a miserable conclusion I hope most people will shrink back with horror.
我希望大多数人会因恐惧而对这种可悲的结论望而却步。

To open out and explain these great necessary truths, to confirm them by Scripture, to enforce them by home, appeals to the conscience of all who read this volume.
展开并解释这些伟大的必要真理，用圣经来证实它们，并借着这本书，向所有读者的良心发出恳切的呼吁。
This is the simple object of the series of papers which is now offered to the public.
这就是现在呈现给公众的这一系列文章的单纯目的。

To this statement, I frankly admit, the first and two last papers in the volume form an exception.
我坦率地承认，对于这一陈述，本书的第一篇和最后两篇文章是个例外。
Inspiration, Election, and Perseverance are undoubtedly points about which good men in every age have disagreed, and will disagree perhaps while the world stands.
默示、拣选和坚忍无疑是历代良善之人都有分歧的要点，并且只要世界还存留，也许还会继续有分歧。
The immense importance of inspiration in this day, and the extraordinary neglect into which election and perseverance have fallen, notwithstanding the Seventeenth Article, are my reasons for inserting the three papers.
默示在今天这个时代极其重要，而拣选和坚忍尽管有《第十七条信纲》的存在，却遭到了异乎寻常的忽视，这些就是我把这三篇文章加进去的理由。

The name which I have selected will prepare the reader to expect no new doctrines in this volume.
我所选择的书名会让读者预料到，本书中不会有什么新的教义。
It is simple, unadulterated, old-fashioned Evangelical theology.
这是单纯、纯正、老式的福音派神学。
It contains nothing but the “Old Paths” in which the Apostolic Christians, the Reformers, the best English Churchmen for the last three hundred years, and the best Evangelical Christians of the present day, have persistently walked.
它只包含“古道”，就是使徒时代的基督徒、宗教改革家、过去三百年来最优秀的英国国教徒，以及当今最优秀的福音派基督徒所始终行在其中的“古道”。
From these “paths” I see no reason to depart.
我看不出有任何理由要偏离这些“道”。
They are often sneered at and ridiculed, as old-fashioned, effete, worn out, and powerless in the Nineteenth Century.
它们常被讥笑和嘲讽，被认为是老式的、衰败的、过时的，并且在十九世纪毫无能力。
Be it so, “None of these things move me”.
即便如此，“这些事都不能摇动我”。
I have yet to learn that there is any system of religious teaching, by whatever name it may be called, High, or Broad, or Romish, or Neologian, which produces one quarter of the effect on human nature that is produced by the old, despised system of doctrine which is commonly called Evangelical.
我尚未听说有任何宗教教导体系，无论它被称为什么，高派、广派、罗马派，或是新神学派，能对人性产生那古老、被藐视的、通常称为福音派的教义体系所产生的四分之一果效。
I willingly admit the zeal, earnestness, and devotedness of many religious teachers who are not Evangelical.
我乐意承认许多非福音派的宗教教师的热心、真诚和奉献。
But I firmly maintain that the way of the school to which I belong is the “more excellent way”.
但我坚信，我所属的这一派别所走的道路是“更妙的道”。
The longer I live the more I am convinced that the world needs no new Gospel, as some profess to think.
我活得越久，就越确信这个世界不需要新的福音，不像有些人所宣称的那样。
I am thoroughly persuaded that the world needs nothing but a bold, full, unflinching teaching of the “old paths”.
我完全相信，这个世界所需要的，无非是对“古道”勇敢、全面、坚定不移的教导。
The heart of man is the same in every age.
人的心在每个时代都是一样的。
The spiritual medicine which it requires is always the same.
它所需要的属灵良药也总是一样的。
The same Gospel which was preached by Latimer, and Hooper, and Bradford, by Hall, Deviant, Usher, Reynolds, and Hopkins, by Manton, Brooks, Watson, Charnock, Owen, and Gurnall, by Romaine, Venn, Grimshaw, Hervey, and Cecil, this is the Gospel which alone will do real good in the present day.
由拉蒂默（Latimer）、胡珀（Hooper）和布拉德福德（Bradford），由霍尔（Hall）、戴维南（Davenant）、厄舍（Usher）、雷诺兹（Reynolds）和霍普金斯（Hopkins），由曼顿（Manton）、布鲁克斯（Brooks）、华森（Watson）、夏诺克（Charnock）、欧文（Owen）和古尔诺（Gurnall），由罗曼（Romaine）、文恩（Venn）、格林肖（Grimshaw）、赫维（Hervey）和塞西尔（Cecil）所传讲的同一个福音，这才是唯一能在当今真正带来益处的福音。
The leading doctrines of that Gospel are the substance of the papers which compose this volume.
那福音的主要教义，就是构成本书的这些文章的实质内容。
They are the doctrines, I firmly believe, of the Bible and the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England.
我坚信，它们是圣经和英国国教《三十九条信纲》的教义。
They are doctrines which, I find, wear well, and in the faith of them I hope to live and die.
我发现这些教义经久不衰，我盼望能活在并死于对这些教义的信仰之中。

I repeat most emphatically that I am not ashamed of what are commonly called “Evangelical principles”.
我最郑重地重申，我并不以通常所谓的“福音派原则”为耻。
Fiercely and bitterly as those principles are assailed on all sides, loudly and scornfully as some proclaim that they have done their work and are useless in this day, I see no evidence whatever that they are defective or decayed, and I see no reason for giving them up.
尽管这些原则受到来自四面八方猛烈而刻薄的攻击，尽管有些人大声而轻蔑地宣称它们已经完成了使命，在今天已经毫无用处，但我看不到任何证据表明它们有缺陷或已经衰败，我也看不出有任何理由要放弃它们。
No doubt other schools of thought produce great outward effects on mankind, gather large congregations, attain great popularity, and by means of music, ornaments, gestures, postures, and a generally histrionic ceremonial, make a great show of religion.
无疑，其他思想流派对人类产生了巨大的外在影响，聚集了大量的会众，获得了极大的声望，并且通过音乐、装饰、手势、姿态以及通常带有表演性的仪式，营造出盛大的宗教场面。
I see it all, and I am not surprised.
我看到了这一切，我并不感到惊讶。
It is exactly what a study of human nature by the light of the Bible would lead me to expect.
这正是我藉着圣经之光研究人性时所预料到的。
But for real inward effects on hearts, and outward effects on lives, I see no teaching so powerful as thorough, genuine Evangelical teaching.
但就对内心的真正内在影响和对生命的外在影响而言，我没有见过任何教导能像彻底、纯正的福音派教导那样大有能力。
Just in proportion as the preachers of other schools borrow Evangelical weapons and Evangelical phraseology I see them obtaining influence.
我看到其他派别的传道人，正是当他们借用福音派的武器和福音派的措辞时，他们才获得了影响力。
No doubt the good that is done in the world is little, and evil abounds.
无疑，世上所行的善事很少，而邪恶却比比皆是。
But I am certain that the teaching which does most good is that of the despised Evangelical school.
但我确信，带来最大益处的教导，是那被藐视的福音派的教导。
It is not merely true and good up to a certain point, and then defective and needing additions, as some tell us; it is true and good all round, and needs no addition at all.
它并不仅仅是在某种程度上真实和良善，然后就有缺陷需要补充，像有些人告诉我们的那样；它是全面地真实和良善，根本不需要任何补充。
If those who hold Evangelical views were only more faithful to their own principles, and more bold, and uncompromising, and decided, both in their preaching and their lives, they would soon find, whatever infidels and Romanists may please to say, that they hold the only lever which can shake the world.
如果持守福音派观点的人，只要在他们的讲道和生活中，对自己信奉的原则更加忠心，更加勇敢，更加不妥协，更加果断，他们很快就会发现，无论不信者和罗马天主教徒说什么，他们都掌握着唯一能震撼世界的杠杆。

The readers of the many tracts which God has allowed me to send forth for thirty years, must not expect much that they have not seen before in “Old Paths”.
三十年来，神允许我发出了许多单张，这些单张的读者们，切莫期望在《古道》中看到太多他们以前没有见过的东西。
Experience has taught me, at last, that the peculiar tastes of all classes of society must be consulted, if good is to be done by the press.
经验终于告诉我，如果要通过出版物行善，就必须考虑到社会各阶层人士的特殊品味。
I am convinced that there are thousands of people in England who are willing to read a volume, but will never look at anything in the form of a tract.
我深信，在英国有成千上万的人愿意读一本书，但绝不会看任何单张形式的东西。
It is for them that I now send forth “Old Paths”.
正是为他们，我现在发行了《古道》。

Those who read through this book continuously, and without a pause, will, doubtless, observe a certain degree of sameness and similarity in some of the papers.
那些连续不断、一气呵成地读完这本书的人，无疑会注意到其中某些文章有一定程度的雷同和相似之处。
The same thoughts are occasionally repeated, though in a different dress.
同样的想法偶尔会以不同的形式重复出现。
To account for this, I will ask them to remember that most of the papers were originally written separately, and at long intervals of time, in some cases of as much as twenty years.
为了解释这一点，我请他们记住，这些文章大多是最初分开写的，时间间隔很长，有些甚至相隔二十年之久。
On calm reflection, I have thought it better to republish them, pretty much as they originally appeared.
经过冷静思考，我认为最好还是按照它们最初的样子重新出版。
Few readers of a religious book like this read it all through at once; and the great majority, I suspect, find it enough to read quietly only one or two chapters at a time.
像这样一本宗教书籍，很少有读者会一口气读完；我猜想，绝大多数人觉得一次只安静地读一两章就足够了。

I now send forth the volume with a deep sense of its many defects; but with an earnest prayer that it may do some good.
我现在发行这卷书，深感其有许多不足之处；但仍恳切祷告，愿它能带来一些益处。

J. C. Ryle – LIVERPOOL
J. C. 莱尔 – 利物浦

Table of Contents

目录

PREFACE
前言

CHAPTER 1 – INSPIRATION
第一章 – 默示

CHAPTER 2 – OUR SOULS!
第二章 – 我们的灵魂！

CHAPTER 3 – FEW SAVED!
第三章 – 得救的人少！

CHAPTER 4 – OUR HOPE!
第四章 – 我们的盼望！

CHAPTER 5 – “ALIVE OR DEAD?”
第五章 – “是活是死？”

CHAPTER 6 – OUR SINS!
第六章 – 我们的罪！

CHAPTER 7 – FORGIVENESS
第七章 – 赦免

CHAPTER 8 – JUSTIFICATION
第八章 – 称义

CHAPTER 9 – THE CROSS OF CHRIST
第九章 – 基督的十字架

CHAPTER 10 – THE HOLY GHOST
第十章 – 圣灵

CHAPTER 11 – HAVING THE SPIRIT
第十一章 – 拥有圣灵

CHAPTER 12 – CONVERSION
第十二章 – 归正

CHAPTER 13 – THE HEART
第十三章 – 内心

CHAPTER 14 – CHRIST’S INVITATION
第十四章 – 基督的邀请

CHAPTER 15 – FAITH
第十五章 – 信心

CHAPTER 16 – REPENTANCE
第十六章 – 悔改

CHAPTER 17 – CHRIST’S POWER TO SAVE
第十七章 – 基督拯救的大能

CHAPTER 18 – ELECTION
第十八章 – 拣选

CHAPTER 19 – PERSEVERANCE
第十九章 – 坚忍