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It may seem strange to some people, that I should give directions for the performance of an act so well understood as the perusal of a book; and especially the perusal of a book of so simple and elementary a kind as this.
对某些人来说，我竟然要为阅读一本书这样众所周知的行为提供指导，这似乎很奇怪；特别是阅读一本像这样简单而基础的书。
But the fact is, that multitudes either do not know, or do not at the time remember how to read to advantage; and, therefore, profit but little by what they read.
但事实是，许多人要么不知道，要么在当时不记得如何有益地阅读；因此，从他们所读的内容中获益甚少。
Besides, simple and elementary as is this treatise, it is on a subject of infinite and eternal importance, and will be perused in the most critical season of a man’s everlasting history; when, in a very peculiar sense, every means of grace, and this among the rest, will be either “a savor of death unto death, or of life unto life,” to the reader.
此外，尽管这本论著简单而基础，它却是关于一个无限而永恒重要的主题，并将在人永恒历史中最关键的时刻被阅读；在那时，以非常特殊的意义，每一恩典之道，包括这本书在内，对读者来说要么是”死的香气叫人死”，要么是”活的香气叫人活”。
Tremendous idea!
何等可畏的思想！
But strictly true.
但却严格真实。
Reader, whoever you are, you will remember the contents of this small treatise, either with pleasure and gratitude in heaven, or with remorse and despair in hell!
读者，无论你是谁，你要么在天堂带着喜乐和感恩记住这本小册子的内容，要么在地狱带着懊悔和绝望记住它！
Can it then be an impertinently officious act, to remind you how to read with advantage what I have written?
那么，提醒你如何有益地阅读我所写的内容，这会是一个无礼多管闲事的行为吗？
- Take it with you into your closet.
- 将它带进你的内室。
I mean your place of retirement for prayer; for, of course, you have such a place.
我是指你退修祷告的地方；因为，当然，你有这样一个地方。
Prayer is the very soul of all religion, and privacy is the very life of prayer itself.
祷告是一切宗教的灵魂，而隐密处正是祷告本身的生命。
This is a book to be read when you are alone; when none is near but God and your conscience; when you are not hindered by the presence of a fellow-creature from the utmost freedom of manner, thought, and feeling; when, unobserved by any human eye, you can lay down the book, and meditate, or weep, or fall upon your knees to pray, or give vent to your feelings in short and sudden petitions to God.
这是一本要在你独处时阅读的书；当除了神和你的良心之外无人在旁时；当你不因同伴的在场而被妨碍，可以极其自由地表现举止、思想和感受时；当无人眼目看见，你可以放下书本，默想，或哭泣，或跪下祷告，或在向神的简短而突然的祈求中倾吐你的感受时。
I charge you then to reserve this volume for your private seasons of devotion and thoughtfulness—look not into it in company, except it be the company of a poor trembling and anxious inquirer, like yourself.
因此我吩咐你，将这卷书保留给你私下灵修和思考的时刻——不要在众人面前阅读它，除非是与像你自己一样可怜战兢而焦虑的寻求者在一起。
- Read it with deep seriousness.
- 以深切的严肃阅读它。
Remember, it speaks to you of God, of eternity, of salvation, of heaven, and of hell.
记住，它向你述说神、永恒、救恩、天堂和地狱。
Take it up with something of the awe, “that warns you how you touch a holy thing.”
拿起它时要带着某种敬畏，”那警告你当如何触摸圣物”。
It meets you in your solicitude about your soul’s welfare; it meets you fleeing from destruction, escaping for your life, crying out, “What shall I do to be saved?” and offers its assistance to guide you for refuge to “the hope set before you in the gospel.”
它在你对灵魂福祉的关切中与你相遇；它在你逃离毁灭、逃命、呼喊”我当怎样行才可以得救？”时与你相遇，并提供它的帮助，引导你投奔”在福音中摆在你面前的盼望”。
It is itself serious; its Author is serious; it is on a serious subject; and demands to be read in a most devout and serious mood.
它本身是严肃的；它的作者是严肃的；它讨论的是严肃的主题；并要求以最虔诚和严肃的心情阅读。
Take it not up lightly, nor read it lightly.
不要轻率地拿起它，也不要轻率地阅读它。
If your spirit be not as solemn as usual, do not touch it; and when you do touch it, put away every other subject, and endeavor to realize the idea that God, salvation, and eternity are before you; and that you are actually collecting the ingredients of the cup of salvation, or the wormwood and gall to embitter the cup of damnation!
如果你的心灵不像平常那样庄重，就不要触碰它；当你确实触碰它时，放下所有其他主题，努力实现这个观念：神、救恩和永恒就在你面前；而你实际上正在收集救恩之杯的成分，或是苦艾和苦胆来使沉沦之杯更加苦涩！
- Read it with earnest prayer.
- 以恳切的祷告阅读它。
It can do you no good, without God’s blessing—nothing short of Divine grace can render it the means of instructing your mind, or impressing your heart.
没有神的祝福，它对你毫无益处——唯有神圣的恩典才能使它成为教导你心智或感动你心灵的方法。
It will convey no experimental knowledge, relieve no anxiety, dissipate no doubts, and afford neither peace nor sanctification–if God does not give his Holy Spirit—and if you would have the Spirit, you must ask for his influence.
如果神不赐下祂的圣灵，它将不会传递任何经历性的知识，不会减轻任何焦虑，不会消除任何疑惑，也不会提供平安或成圣——而如果你想要得着圣灵，你必须祈求祂的影响。
If, therefore, you wish it to benefit you, do not read another page, until you have most fervently, as well as sincerely, prayed to God for his blessing to accompany the perusal.
因此，如果你希望它使你受益，不要再读下一页，直到你最热切而真诚地向神祷告，求祂的祝福伴随这次阅读。
I have earnestly prayed to God to enable me to write it, and if you as earnestly pray to him to enable you to read it, there is thanksgiving in store for us both; for usually what is begun in prayer, ends in praise.
我已恳切地向神祷告使我能够写成它，如果你同样恳切地向祂祷告使你能够阅读它，我们二人都将有感恩存留；因为通常在祷告中开始的，会在赞美中结束。
- Do not read too much at a time.
- 一次不要读太多。
Books that are intended to instruct and impress should be read slowly.
旨在教导和感动的书应当慢慢阅读。
Most people read too much at a time.
大多数人一次读得太多。
Your object is not merely to read this treatise through, but to read it so as to profit by it.
你的目的不仅仅是读完这本论著，而是要以从中获益的方式来阅读它。
Food cannot be digested well, if too much be eaten at a time; so neither can knowledge.
如果一次吃得太多，食物就不能被很好地消化；知识也是如此。
- Meditate on what you read.
- 默想你所读的。
Meditation bears the same office in the mental constitution, as digestion does in our corporeal system.
默想在心智构成中承担的职能，正如消化在我们身体系统中所承担的职能。
The first mental exercise is attention, the next is reflection.
第一个心智操练是专注，第二个是反思。
If we would gain a correct notion of an object, we must not only see it, but look at it; and so, also, if we would gain knowledge from books, we must not only see the matters treated of, but steadily ponder them.
如果我们要获得对一个对象的正确概念，我们不仅要看见它，而且要注视它；同样，如果我们要从书本中获得知识，我们不仅要看见所论述的事物，而且要稳定地思考它们。
Nothing but meditation can enable us to properly understand or feel.
唯有默想才能使我们正确地理解或感受。
In reading the Scriptures and pious books, we are, or should be, reading for eternity.
在阅读圣经和敬虔书籍时，我们正在，或应该，为永恒而阅读。
Salvation depends on knowledge, and knowledge on meditation.
救恩依赖于知识，而知识依赖于默想。
At almost every step of our progress through a book which is intended to guide us to salvation, we should pause and ask, “Do I understand this?”
在我们通过一本旨在引导我们得救的书的进程中，几乎每一步我们都应该停下来问：”我理解这个吗？”
Our profiting depends not on the quantity we read, but the quantity we understand.
我们的获益不取决于我们读了多少，而取决于我们理解了多少。
One verse in Scripture, if understood and meditated upon, will do us more good than a chapter, or, even a book, read through in haste, and without reflection.
圣经中的一节经文，如果被理解和默想，会比匆忙地、不加反思地读完一章，甚至一卷书，对我们更有益处。
- Read regularly through in order.
- 按顺序有规律地通读。
Do not wander about from one part to another, and in your eagerness to gain relief, pick and cull particular portions, on account of their supposed suitableness to your case.
不要从一部分游荡到另一部分，在你急于获得解脱时，因为它们被认为适合你的情况而挑选特定的部分。
It is all suitable; and will be found most so by being taken together and as a whole.
它全都是适合的；而将它们作为一个整体一起接受时将发现它最为适合。
A rambling method of reading, whether it be the Scriptures or other books, is not to edification—it often arises from levity of mind, and sometimes from impatience; both of which are states very unfriendly to improvement.
无论是圣经还是其他书籍，漫无目的的阅读方法不能造就人——它常常源于心思的轻浮，有时源于不耐烦；这两者都是非常不利于长进的状态。
Remember it is salvation you are in quest of; an object of such transcendent importance, as to be a check upon volatility; and of such value, as to encourage the most exemplary patience.
记住你所追求的是救恩；一个如此超越重要的目标，足以抑制反复无常；如此有价值，足以鼓励最模范的忍耐。
- Read calmly.
- 平静地阅读。
You are anxious to obtain eternal life—you are eagerly asking, “What shall I do to be saved?”
你急切地想要获得永生——你热切地询问：”我当怎样行才可以得救？”
But still, you must not allow your solicitude so far to agitate your mind; as to prevent you from listening calmly and coolly for the answer.
但你仍不可让你的关切过分搅动你的心思；以至于妨碍你平静而冷静地聆听答案。
In circumstances of great concern, men are sometimes so much under the power of excited feelings, that their judgment is bewildered, and thus they are not only prevented from finding out what is best to be done, but from seeing it when it is laid down by another.
在极其关切的情况下，人有时如此处于激动情感的支配下，以致他们的判断力变得混乱，因此他们不仅无法找出最好该做什么，甚至当别人指明时也看不见。
This anxious and hurried state of mind is very common in those who are just awakened to a concern about salvation; they are restless and eager to gain relief, but are defeated in their object by their very solicitude to obtain it.
这种焦虑而匆忙的心态在那些刚刚被唤醒对救恩关切的人中很常见；他们不安而急切地想要获得解脱，但却因他们获得它的急切关注而在目标上遭到挫败。
The Scriptures are read, sermons are heard, advice of friends is received, in a confused state of mind.
圣经被阅读，讲道被聆听，朋友的劝告被接受，都在混乱的心态中进行。
Now you must guard against this, and endeavor so far to control your thoughts, and calm your perturbation as to attend to the counsels and cautions which are here suggested.
现在你必须防范这一点，努力控制你的思想，平息你的不安，以便注意这里提出的劝告和警戒。
- I very earnestly recommend the perusal of all those passages of Scripture and chapters which I have quoted, and which, for the sake of brevity, I have only referred to, without quoting the words.
- 我非常恳切地推荐阅读我所引用的所有那些圣经经文和章节，为了简洁起见，我只是提到它们，而没有引用原文。
I lay great stress upon this.
我对此极为重视。
Read this book with the Bible at your elbow, and do not think much of the trouble of turning to the passages quoted.
阅读这本书时把圣经放在你手边，不要太在意翻查所引用经文的麻烦。
If, unhappily, you should consider me, or my little volume, as a substitute for the Bible, instead of a guide to it, I shall have done you an injury, or rather you will have done yourself an injury by thus employing it.
如果不幸的话，你若把我，或我的小册子，当作圣经的替代品，而不是它的指南，我就伤害了你，或者说你这样使用它就是伤害了你自己。
“As new-born babes,” says the apostle, “desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.”
使徒说：”就要像初生的婴孩爱慕那纯净的灵奶，叫你们因此渐长。”
And as those infants thrive best who are fed from the bosom of their mothers, so those converts grow most in grace, who are most devoted to a spiritual perusal of the Scriptures.
正如那些从母亲怀中哺养的婴儿成长得最好，那些最委身于属灵地阅读圣经的归信者在恩典中成长得最多。
If, therefore, I stand between you and the word of God, I do you great disservice; but if I should persuade you to read the Scriptures, I shall greatly help you in your pious course.
因此，如果我站在你和神的话语之间，我就大大亏负了你；但如果我能说服你阅读圣经，我就在你敬虔的道路上大大帮助了你。
Perhaps, in the present state of your mind, it is not desirable to begin and read regularly the word of God, but to go through those passages which I have selected and recommended.
也许，在你心智的当前状态下，不宜开始有规律地阅读神的话语，而是通读我所挑选和推荐的那些经文。
And now may God, of his great goodness and sovereign grace, deign to bless the perusal of this book to many immortal souls, by making it, however humble the production, the means of conducting them into the path of life!
现在愿神，以祂的大恩和主权恩典，屈尊赐福许多不朽灵魂对这本书的阅读，藉着使它，无论这作品多么卑微，成为引导他们进入生命之路的途径！
TABLE OF CONTENTS
目录
Introduction – Directions for the profitable reading of the following treatise.
引言——有益地阅读以下论著的指导。
Chapter 1 – Deep solicitude about salvation reasonable and necessary.
第一章——对救恩的深切关注是合理和必要的。
Chapter 2 – Religious impressions, and the unspeakable importance of retaining and deepening them.
第二章——属灵的感动，以及保持和加深它们的无法言说的重要性。
Chapter 3 – The importance of gaining Scriptural knowledge, and clear views of divine truth.
第三章——获得圣经知识和对神圣真理的清晰观点的重要性。
Chapter 4 – Repentance.
第四章——悔改。
Chapter 5 – Faith.
第五章——信心。
Chapter 6 – Mistakes into which enquirers are apt to fall.
第六章——寻求者容易陷入的错误。
Chapter 7 – Perplexities which are often felt by enquirers.
第七章——寻求者常常感受到的困惑。
Chapter 8 – Discouragements which present themselves at the commencement of a religious course.
第八章——在开始宗教历程时出现的沮丧。
Chapter 9 – Cautions.
第九章——警戒。
Chapter 10 – Encouragements.
第十章——鼓励。