March 3

"And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him." (Mark 9:26)



Evil never surrenders its hold without a sore fight. We never pass into any spiritual inheritance through the delightful¹ exercises of a picnic, but always through the grim contentions² of the battle field. It is so in the secret realm of the soul. Every faculty³ which wins its spiritual freedom does so at the price of blood. Apollyon is not put to flight by a courteous⁴ request; he straddles across the full breadth of the way, and our progress has to be registered in blood and tears. This we must remember or we shall add to all the other burdens of life the gall⁵ of misinterpretation. We are not "born again" into soft and protected nurseries, but in the open country where we suck strength from the very terror of the tempest. "We must through much tribulation⁶ enter into the kingdom of God." --Dr. J. H. Jowett.



"Faith of our Fathers! living still,

In spite of dungeon⁷, fire and sword:

O how our hearts beat high with joy

Whene'er we hear that glorious word.

Faith of our Fathers! Holy Faith!

We will be true to Thee till death!



"Our fathers, chained in prisons dark,

Were still in heart and conscience free;

How sweet would be their children's fate,

If they, like them, could die for Thee!"

　 　 三月三日



“那鬼喊叫，使孩子大大的抽了一阵疯，就出来了”（可九：26）。



　　恶者从来不肯放弃他的地盘，除非先有一阵激烈的战争。我们得到属灵的产业，并不是在宴乐中得到的，乃是在战场上得到的。这是属灵领域中的秘密。我们的身体各部分，亦是如此，要恢复属灵的自由，必须要有宝血的代价。亚玻伦（启九：11）不是能用情谊，礼貌，要求，请出来的；他在里面高视阔步；所以我们必须用属灵的武力，宝血和眼泪，驱逐他，他才会出去。这一点我们必须记得，否则我们生活中会有许多误解。我们重生，并不是重生在王宫中，乃是重生在旷野；那里我们吃的奶，就是四周的风波和战争。“我们进入神的国，必须经历许多艰难”（徒十四：22）。——乔怀德



我们祖先的信心，虽历经火与剑，

甚至牢狱的迫害，仍然不变，

我们听到了这许多光荣的史迹，

我们的心啊！何等的跳跃欢腾。

我们祖先的信心，神圣的信心，

我们亦愿矢忠矢诚，至死不易！



我们的祖先，被关在黑牢之中，

可是他们心中自由的良知，谁能索缚？

倘若后代子孙也能为神殉道，

那是何等美妙何等幸福！

1 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

2 contentions   

n.竞争( contention的名词复数 )；争夺；争论；论点

参考例句：

• Direct tests on individual particles do not support these contentions. 对单个粒子所作的直接试验并不支持这些论点。 来自辞典例句
• His contentions cannot be laughed out of court. 对他的争辩不能一笑置之。 来自辞典例句

3 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

4 courteous   

adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的

参考例句：

• Although she often disagreed with me,she was always courteous.尽管她常常和我意见不一，但她总是很谦恭有礼。
• He was a kind and courteous man.他为人友善，而且彬彬有礼。

5 gall   

v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难

参考例句：

• It galled him to have to ask for a loan.必须向人借钱使他感到难堪。
• No gall,no glory.没有磨难，何来荣耀。

6 tribulation   

n.苦难，灾难

参考例句：

• Even in our awful tribulation we were quite optimistic.即使在极端痛苦时，我们仍十分乐观。
• I hate the tribulation,I commiserate the sorrow brought by tribulation.我厌恶别人深重的苦难，怜悯苦难带来的悲哀。

7 dungeon   

n.地牢，土牢

参考例句：

• They were driven into a dark dungeon.他们被人驱赶进入一个黑暗的地牢。
• He was just set free from a dungeon a few days ago.几天前，他刚从土牢里被放出来。