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CHRISTIAN READER, there are three ways by which a minister preaches: by doctrine, life, and writing. It may be questioned which is the hardest.
基督徒读者，牧师有三种传道方式：通过教义、生活和写作。可能会有人质疑哪一种最难。
To preach sound doctrine is hard; to live a holy life is harder; but to write and leave behind us such writings as shall edify and benefit the Church of God to future generations, is hardest of all.
传讲正确的教义是困难的；过圣洁的生活更加困难；但是写作并留下能够造就和惠及未来世代神的教会的著作，是最困难的。
It is easier to preach twenty sermons, than to write one book, as it ought to be written for public view.
比起写一本适合公开发表的书，讲二十篇讲道要容易得多。
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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.
对于讲道而言，——使徒的τίς ἰχανός [待确认]，哥林多后书2:16，”谁能胜任？”可能会纠正听众的轻率理解，以及教师的仓促介入。
Luther was wont to say, If he were to choose his calling, he would dig with his hands rather than be a minister (a).
路德常说，如果他要选择自己的职业，他宁愿用手挖地也不愿做牧师（a）。
The disposition both of speakers and hearers, saith Chrysostom, makes this work difficult (b).
克里索斯托姆说，讲道者和听众的心态都使这项工作变得困难（b）。
In regard of hearers, scarce any member groans under more moral diseases than the ear.
就听众而言，几乎没有哪个身体部位比耳朵承受更多道德疾病。
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.
我们读到”未受割礼的耳朵”，使徒行传7:51；”耳朵发沉”，罗马书11:8，弥迦书7:16；”发痒的耳朵”，提摩太后书4:2；”听觉迟钝的耳朵”，马太福音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.
大多数人来听道，就像人们去剧院一样，non utilitatem sed voluptatem percepturi [待确认]，与其说是滋养他们的信仰，不如说是取悦他们的想象力。
And for teachers, how many dangers do they lie open to!
而对于教师，他们面临多少危险啊！
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.’
即使他们不传讲新奇或虚假的东西，但要传讲sana, sanè [待确认]，正确地传讲正确的事物；传递神的话语，ὡς δεῖ με λαλῆσαι [待确认]，歌罗西书4:4，”按着所该说的话。”
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.
要”按时分粮”，以赛亚书50:4；要”作无愧的工人，在神面前得蒙喜悦”；ὀρθοτομοῦντα τόν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας [待确认]，正确地分解真理的道，按各人的需要分给各人，提摩太后书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.
当一个人以神的力量完成神的工作，带着谦卑的心离开，hic labor [待确认]：——这样的人是一个”传译者”，”千里挑一”，约伯记33:23。
- 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!
- 但接下来谈生活。唉！有多少人认为沙漏(c)走完时工作就完成了；有多少人在教义上很好，但在应用上很糟糕，尤其是对自己；要在教义中有生命，在生命中有教义是多么困难！
It is easier to preach twenty sermons than to mortify one lust.
传讲二十篇讲道比克制一个私欲更容易。
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.
保罗给提摩太设定的任务更加艰难，在提摩太后书4:12中，他要求提摩太在言语、爱心、灵性等方面作信徒的榜样，这比他在第13节要求提摩太”专心读经、劝勉、教导”更难。
Yet we shall often hear ministers say, They must study to preach, then study to practise.
然而，我们经常听到牧师们说，他们必须学习如何讲道，然后学习如何实践。
God would have the very snuffers in the tabernacle pure gold (d), to shew they that purge others must shine themselves.
上帝要会幕中的剪烛花的器具都是纯金的(d)，以表明那些洁净他人的人自己也必须闪耀。
Surely they must needs be ‘unclean,’ that chew the cud by meditation, but divide not the hoof by practice.
那些通过冥想反刍，却不在实践中分蹄的人，肯定是”不洁净的”。
Lastly,
最后，
- For writing—that hath more pre-eminency, though the two former have more vivacity.
- 关于写作——它更为卓越，尽管前两者更为生动。
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.
一位善良的人说，讲坛上的讲道和印在书中的讲道之间的差异，就像温暖乳房中的奶和吸奶瓶中的奶之间的差异一样大。
Yet the convenience of it is very great.
然而，它的便利性是非常大的。
Good books are the baskets that preserve excellent lessons that they be not lost.
好书是保存优秀教训的篮子，使它们不会丢失。
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.
这也并非没有困难；因为最杰出的圣徒的劳作遭受了多少批评、欺骗、蔑视和曲解，是的，甚至连圣经本身——所有真理的大全，我们主耶稣的约——在所有时代都遭受了多少苦难，除此之外，还有其他人在写作真理时精神上的巨大困难。
Yet let us bless God for the writings of his servants, for by these, ‘being dead, they yet speak to us,’ Heb. 11:4.
然而，让我们为上帝仆人的著作感恩，因为通过这些，”他们虽然死了，却仍然向我们说话”，希伯来书11:4。
We have the prophets and apostles, in their writings, preaching to us.
我们通过先知和使徒的著作，听他们向我们传道。
Their sermons were like a running banquet, refreshed many; their writings were a standing dish.
他们的讲道就像流动的宴席，使许多人振奋；他们的著作则是一道常备菜肴。
Sermons are like showers of rain, wet for the present.
讲道就像阵雨，暂时湿润。
Books are like snow-banks, lie longer upon the earth, and keep it warm in winter.
书籍就像雪堆，在地上停留更久，在冬天保持温暖。
It might be a problem whether professors preaching and writing, or confessors dying, have most profited the church.
教授们的讲道和写作，还是殉道者的死亡，哪个对教会最有益，这可能是个问题。
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.
有些人认为，在改革时期，关闭讲坛不让错误的人讲道，却让印刷机对他们开放是荒谬的，因为这是一种传播和增加错误的简便方法；而这种自由更多地被用来谴责已接受的真理，而不是以友好的方式讨论无关紧要的事情。
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.
诚然，必须承认，这个时代不仅产生了大量虚妄的，而且还有亵渎神明的论文，这是一件非常悲哀的事情，它们造成了巨大的危害。
But blessed be God, the press is as open to truth as error, and truth has been as nimble heeled as error.
但感谢上帝，印刷机对真理和错误都是开放的，真理也和错误一样灵活迅速。
God never yet suffered any Goliah to defy him, but he raised up a David to encounter him.
上帝从未让任何歌利亚挑战祂而不受惩罚，祂总会兴起一个大卫来对抗他。
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.
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，与之摔跤，创世记25:26。
If God hath suffered any horn to push at his Israel, he hath presently raised a carpenter to knock it off.
如果上帝允许任何角[待确认]攻击祂的以色列，祂立即就会兴起一个木匠来打掉它。
Let us bless God for the witnessing spirit that is abroad, though it go in sackcloth, Rev. 11:3.
让我们为那在外传播的见证精神感谢上帝，尽管它披着麻布，启示录11:3。
Think how great a mercy it is to keep ground, though we cannot gain ground.
想想保住阵地是多么大的恩典，尽管我们无法获得新的领地。
Let none complain of the multitude of good books.
让没有人抱怨好书太多。
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.’
虽然一本坏书就太多了，但许多好书却太少了；或者，正如有人所说，”一本无用或错误的书就太多了。许多有用的正统书籍只是一本。”
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.
所有的先知和使徒只构成一本圣经，基于这一点，我们可以说所有忠实解释圣经的书都只是一本书。
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.
这位可敬的作者在世时以所有这些方式为上帝的教会服务；自他去世以来，上帝的眷顾使他的几篇论文得以问世，有的早些，有的晚些。
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.
这体现了极大的智慧；因为我们愚蠢的天性常常会珍视那些已故之人的劳作，而这些人在生前却被我们轻视，就像犹太人，”他们的祖先杀害了先知，他们的儿子却建造先知的坟墓，”马太福音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.
我们在当今可能会有这样的情况。人的精神对过去的事物比现在的事物更加敬重，对古老的事物比现代的事物更加敬重，对遥远的事物比近在眼前的事物更加敬重。
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.
上帝的智慧在众多书籍中表现出来的另一件事是，不仅发现圣灵倾注在他仆人身上的多样恩赐（这只有在多样性和差异性中才能看到），而且还通过变化邀请我们进一步研究它们；因为我们中最优秀的人也有一些好奇心的种子。
Now God, by the variety of gifts and graces in his servants, invites us to pass from one to another.
现在，上帝通过他仆人们的各种恩赐和恩典，邀请我们从一个转向另一个。
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.
我们不再多说，只请你将这篇论文视为遗作。*这些笔记是由一位敏捷的作家和一位著名且正直的人从他口中记录下来的，其目的不是冒作者的名义伪造一篇文章。
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.
这篇文章的风格和内容如此类似于他的其他作品，我们希望它的真实性不会受到质疑。伪造一个人的名字比伪造一个人的恩赐要容易得多。
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.
如果作者还活着监督自己的作品，毫无疑问，它会以更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，但同时也会有新内容的增加。
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.
当你遇到它时，请将它读作可能带来力量并更多地影响你内心的印象。简而言之，”瓦器”已破碎，”天上的宝贝”为你保存，在此献给你。
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,
现在上帝已使光从黑暗中照射出来，愿上帝荣耀的知识之光，在耶稣基督的面上，在你我心中越来越多地照耀，直到完全的日子！如此祈祷，
Thy souls’ and thy faiths’ servants in the Lord’s work,
你灵魂和信仰的仆人，在主的工作中，
SIMEON ASH.
西蒙·阿什。
JA. NALTON.
JA. 纳尔顿。
JOSEPH CHURCH.
约瑟夫·丘奇。