|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... |
BY RICHARD SIBBES 由理查德·西布斯撰写
BY RICHARD SIBBES 由理查德·西布斯撰写IN EPUB, .MOBI & .PDF FORMATS
在 EPUB、.MOBI 和.PDF 格式中
CHRISTIAN READER, there are three ways by which a minister preaches: by doctrine, life, and writing. It may be questioned which is the hardest.
基督教读者，传道者有三种传道方式：教义、生活和写作。可以质疑哪种方式最困难。
1. Truly for preaching,—the apostle’s τίς ἰχανός, 2 Cor. 2:16, ‘who is sufficient?’ may correct the slight apprehensions of hearers, and the hasty intrusion of teachers. Luther was wont to say, If he were to choose his calling, he would dig with his hands rather than be a minister (a). The disposition both of speakers and hearers, saith Chrysostom, makes this work difficult (b). In regard of hearers, scarce any member groans under more moral diseases than the ear. We read of an ‘uncircumcised ear,’ Acts. 7:51; ‘deaf ears,’ Rom. 11:8, Micah. 7:16; ‘itching ears,’ 2 Tim. 4:2; ‘ears that are dull of hearing,’ Mat. 13:15. Most people come to hear as men do to a theatre, non utilitatem sed voluptatem percepturi, not so much to feed their faith as please their fancy. And for teachers, how many dangers do they lie open to! If they do not preach novelties, falsities, yet to preach sana, sanè, sound things soundly; to deliver the word, ὡς δεῖ με λαλῆσαι, Col. 4:4, ‘as it ought to be spoken.’ To ‘speak a word in season,’ Isa. 50:4; to ‘approve’ themselves to God workmen that need not be ashamed; ὀρθοτομοῦντα τόν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας, rightly cutting the word into parts, giving every one his portion, 2 Tim. 2:15.* And when a man hath done God’s work in God’s strength, to go away, with a humble heart, hic labor:—such a one is an ‘interpreter,’ ‘one among a thousand,’ Job 33:23.
真正为了传道而言，使徒的“谁能胜任？”（哥林多后书 2:16）可以纠正听众的轻微理解和教师的草率干涉。路德曾说，如果他能选择自己的职业，他宁愿用手挖掘，而不是做一名牧师（a）。对于说话者和听众来说，这项工作都很困难，如克里索斯多姆所说（b）。就听众而言，几乎没有哪个器官比耳朵更多地承受道德疾病。我们在使徒行传 7:51 中读到“未受割礼的耳朵”，罗马书 11:8、弥迦书 7:16 中的“聋耳”，提摩太后书 4:2 中的“痒耳”，马太福音 13:15 中的“耳朵迟钝”。大多数人来听道，就像人们去看戏一样，不是为了滋养信仰，而是为了取悦自己的幻想。至于教师们，他们面临着多少危险！即使他们不传讲新奇之事、虚假之事，但要传讲健全的事物，以健全的方式传讲真道；要像歌罗西书 4:4 中所说的那样，以“应该说的话”来传讲真道。要在适当的时候说话，以赛亚书 50:4; 为了在上帝面前证明自己是无愧的工人；ὀρθοτομοῦντα τόν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας，正确地将话语分割成部分，给每个人他的份额，提摩太后书 2:15.* 当一个人以上帝的力量完成上帝的工作后，怀着谦卑的心灵离开，这样的人是一个“解释者”，“千里挑一”，约伯记 33:23。
2. But then for the life. Alas! how many think the work is done when the glass is out (c); how many are good in the doctrine, bad in the application, especially to themselves; how hard is it to have life in doctrine, and doctrine in life! It is easier to preach twenty sermons than to mortify one lust. It was a harder task Paul set Timothy, 2 Tim. 4:12, when he bids him be an example to believers, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, &c., than when he bids him ‘give attendance to reading, exhortation, doctrine,’ ver. 13. Yet we shall often hear ministers say, They must study to preach, then study to practise. God would have the very snuffers in the tabernacle pure gold (d), to shew they that purge others must shine themselves. Surely they must needs be ‘unclean,’ that chew the cud by meditation, but divide not the hoof by practice. Lastly,
但是对于生活来说。唉！有多少人认为当玻璃出去时工作就完成了（c）；有多少人在教义上表现良好，但在应用上表现糟糕，尤其是对自己；在教义中拥有生活，以及在生活中拥有教义是多么困难！宣讲二十个布道比战胜一个欲望更容易。保罗给提摩太设定了更艰巨的任务，提摩太后书 4:12，他要求提摩太在言行、慈善、心灵等方面成为信徒的榜样，而不是只关注阅读、劝导和教义，见 13 节。然而我们经常听到牧师说，他们必须学习去宣讲，然后学习去实践。上帝要求帐幕中的剪烛器是纯金的（d），以显示净化他人的人必须自己发光。那些只通过沉思来咀嚼反刍，却不通过实践来分蹄的人肯定是“不洁净”的。最后，
3. For writing—that hath more pre-eminency, though the two former have more vivacity. There is, saith a good man, as much difference between a sermon in the pulpit and printed in a book, as between milk in the warm breast and in the sucking bottle. Yet the convenience of it is very great. Good books are the baskets that preserve excellent lessons that they be not lost. This also wants not its difficulty; for what censures, impostures, contempt, wrestings, have the labours of the most eminent saints been exposed to, yea, the Scriptures themselves—the pandect of all truth, the testament of our Lord Jesus—how much have they suffered in all ages, besides the great difficulty, that is in other men’s spirits to write truth. Yet let us bless God for the writings of his servants, for by these, ‘being dead, they yet speak to us,’ Heb. 11:4. We have the prophets and apostles, in their writings, preaching to us. Their sermons were like a running banquet, refreshed many; their writings were a standing dish. Sermons are like showers of rain, wet for the present. Books are like snow-banks, lie longer upon the earth, and keep it warm in winter. It might be a problem whether professors preaching and writing, or confessors dying, have most profited the church.
3. 写作——虽然前两者更有活力，但它更具卓越性。正如一位善良的人所说，讲坛上的布道与印在书中的布道之间的差别就像温暖的乳房和吸奶瓶中的牛奶之间的差别一样大。然而，它的便利性非常大。好书是保存优秀教训的篮子，使它们不会丢失。这也不是没有困难；因为最杰出的圣徒的劳动，甚至圣经本身——所有真理的总汇，我们主耶稣的遗嘱——在所有时代都遭受了多少指责、欺骗、蔑视和曲解，而且在其他人的心灵中写出真理也非常困难。然而，让我们为神的仆人的著作感谢上帝，因为通过这些著作，他们“虽然已经死了，却仍然对我们说话”（希伯来书 11:4）。我们在他们的著作中听到了先知和使徒的讲道。他们的布道像是一场流动的宴会，使许多人得到了更新；他们的著作则是一道常备的菜肴。布道好比雨水，只能湿润当下；书籍则像积雪，更长时间地覆盖在大地上，并在冬天保持温暖。 无论是教授们的讲道和写作，还是忏悔者的死亡，对教会来说可能都是一个问题。
Some have thought it preposterous in times of reformation to shut the pulpit against erroneous persons, and leave the press open to them, that being so compendious a way to propagate and to multiply errors; and the liberty, used more to condemn truths received, than to debate in a friendly way things indifferent. Indeed, it must be acknowledged a very sad thing, the multitude not only of vain but blasphemous treatises this age hath produced, and the great mischief they have done. But blessed be God, the press is as open to truth as error, and truth has been as nimble heeled as error. God never yet suffered any Goliah to defy him, but he raised up a David to encounter him. Though error, like Esau, hath come out first, yet truth, like Jacob, hath caught it by the heel, and wrestled with it, Gen. 25:26. If God hath suffered any horn to push at his Israel, he hath presently raised a carpenter to knock it off. Let us bless God for the witnessing spirit that is abroad, though it go in sackcloth, Rev. 11:3. Think how great a mercy it is to keep ground, though we cannot gain ground.
在改革时期，有人认为关闭讲坛对错误的人是荒谬的，而让出版物对他们敞开大门，这是一种传播和繁殖错误的简便方式；而言论自由更多地被用来谴责接受的真理，而不是友好地辩论无关紧要的事情。确实，必须承认，这个时代不仅产生了许多虚无的，而且还有亵渎的著作，它们造成了巨大的危害。但感谢上帝，出版物对真理和错误一样敞开，而真理的脚步与错误一样敏捷。上帝从未容忍任何哥利亚向他挑战，而是立即兴起一个大卫来与之对抗。虽然错误像以扫一样先出来，但真理像雅各一样抓住了它的脚跟，并与之搏斗，创世记 25:26。如果上帝容许任何角去顶撞他的以色列，他立即会兴起一个木匠来打掉它。让我们为正在传播的见证精神感谢上帝，尽管它穿着麻布，启示录 11:3。想想保持地位是多么大的恩典，即使我们无法取得进展。
Let none complain of the multitude of good books. Though one bad one be too many, yet many good ones are too few; or, as one saith, ‘one useless or erroneous book is too many. Many useful orthodox books are but one.’ All the prophets and apostles make but one Bible, upon which account we may say all the books that faithfully interpret that are but one book.
不要抱怨好书的数量。虽然一本坏书已经太多，但好书却太少；或者，正如有人所说，“一本无用或错误的书已经太多。许多有用的正统书籍只是一本。”所有的先知和使徒只有一本圣经，因此我们可以说所有忠实解释圣经的书籍只是一本书。
All these ways this reverend author was serviceable to the church of God while he lived; and, since his decease, the providence of God hath brought to light several tracts of his, some sooner, some later. And that in great wisdom; for our foolish nature doth many times prize the labours of those dead, whom we despised living, as the Jews, ‘Their fathers killed the prophets, and their sons builded their tombs,’ Matt. 23:29. We may have such in these days. The spirit of man hath a more reverent opinion of things past than present, of things ancient than modern, of things farther off than near at hand. Another thing wherein the wisdom of God appears in the multitude of books, is, not only a discovery of the manifold gifts of the Spirit, that he pours on his servants (which could not well be seen but in variety and diversity), but also to invite us to the farther study of them by change; for the best of us have some seeds of curiosity. Now God, by the variety of gifts and graces in his servants, invites us to pass from one to another.
这位敬虔的作者在他活着的时候对上帝的教会有很多贡献；而自从他去世以来，上帝的恩典已经揭示了他的一些著作，有些早些，有些晚些。这是上帝的大智慧；因为我们愚蠢的本性常常会珍视那些已故的人的劳动，而我们在他们活着时却看不起他们，就像犹太人一样，“你们祖宗杀了先知，你们修筑先知的坟墓。”（马太福音 23:29）我们现在也可能有这样的情况。人的心灵对过去的事物比现在的事物更加尊重，对古老的事物比现代的事物更加推崇，对远离的事物比近在眼前的事物更加敬畏。上帝的智慧在众多的书籍中还有另一个体现，那就是不仅展示了他赐予他仆人们的多样化的恩赐（这只有在多样性中才能看到），而且通过变化来吸引我们进一步研究这些书籍；因为我们中最好的人都有一些好奇心的种子。现在，上帝通过他仆人们的各种恩赐和恩典的多样性，邀请我们从一个人转向另一个人。
We shall say no more, but entreat thee to consider this treatise as a posthume.* The notes were taken from his mouth by the pen of a ready writer, and a person of note and integrity, whose design is not to forge a piece under the author’s name. The very style and matter is so like his other pieces, we hope the legitimacy of it will not be questioned. It is easier to counterfeit another man’s name than another man’s gifts. Had the author lived to supervise his own work, no question but it would have passed his hand with more authority and more politeness. Thou wilt sometimes meet with some repetitions, yet with the addition of new matter. When thou meetest with it, read it as an impression which may carry force, and work more upon thy heart. In a word, the ‘earthen vessel’ is broken, the ‘heavenly treasure’ is preserved for thy use, and here offered to thee.
我们不再多说，但恳请你将这篇论文视为遗作。这些注释是从他口中由一位敏捷的写手记录下来的，这位写手是一位有名望和正直的人，他的目的并不是伪造一篇以作者名义发表的作品。无论是风格还是内容，都与他的其他作品如此相似，我们希望它的合法性不会受到质疑。伪造一个人的名字比伪造一个人的才能更容易。如果作者活着并监督自己的作品，毫无疑问，它将以更有权威和更有礼貌的方式通过他的手。你有时会遇到一些重复，但也会有新的内容添加进来。当你遇到这种情况时，将其视为一种可能产生力量并更深入你心的印象。总之，这个“土器”已经破碎，这个“天上的宝藏”为你的使用而保留，并在这里向你提供。
Now that God hath caused light to shine out of darkness, cause the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, to shine in thine and our hearts, more and more to the perfect day! So pray,
现在上帝使光从黑暗中照耀出来，愿上帝荣耀的知识之光，在耶稣基督的面容中，在你和我们的心中越来越明亮，直到完美的一天！所以，请祈祷
Thy souls’ and thy faiths’ servants in the Lord’s work,
你们的灵魂和信仰都是主工作中的仆人
SIMEON ASH. 西蒙·阿什
JA. NALTON. JA. NALTON. 翻译为简体中文：JA. NALTON.
JOSEPH CHURCH. 约瑟夫教堂