October 16

"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset¹ us, and, let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Heb.12:1)

There are weights which are not sins in themselves, but which become distractions² and stumbling blocks in our Christian³ progress. One of the worst of these is despondency. The heavy heart is indeed a weight that will surely drag us down in our holiness and usefulness.

The failure of Israel to enter the land of promise began in murmuring, or, as the text in Numbers literally⁴ puts it, "as it were murmured." (Ref to Num.14:29-30) Just a faint desire to complain and be discontented. This led on until it blossomed and ripened⁵ into rebellion and ruin. Let us give ourselves no liberty ever to doubt God or His love and faithfulness to us in everything and forever.

We can set our will against doubt just as we do against any other sin; and as we stand firm and refuse to doubt, the Holy Spirit will come to our aid and give us the faith of God and crown us with victory.

It is very easy to fall into the habit of doubting, fretting⁶, and wondering if God has forsaken⁷ us and if after all our hopes are to end in failure. Let us refuse to be discouraged. Let us refuse to be unhappy. Let us "count it all joy"(Jas.1:2) when we cannot feel one emotion of happiness. Let us rejoice by faith, by resolution, by reckoning, and we shall surely find that God will make the reckoning real.━Selected

The devil has two master tricks. One is to get us discouraged; then for a time at least we can be of no service to others, and so are defeated. The other is to make us doubt, thus breaking the faith link by which we are bound to our Father. Lookout⁸! Do not be tricked either way.━G.E.M.

Gladness! I like to cultivate the spirit of gladness! It puts the soul so in tune⁹ again, and keeps it in tune, so that Satan is shy of touching¹⁰ it━the chords of the soul become too warm, or too full of heavenly electricity, for his infernal fingers, and he goes off somewhere else! Satan is always very shy of meddling¹¹ with me when my heart is full of gladness and joy in the Holy Ghost.

My plan is to shun¹² the spirit of sadness as I would Satan; but, alas¹³! I am not always successful. Like the devil himself it meets me on the highway of usefulness, looks me so fully¹⁴ in my face, till my poor soul changes color!

Sadness discolors everything; it leaves all objects charmless; it involves future prospects¹⁵ in darkness; it deprives the soul of all its aspirations¹⁶, enchains all its powers, and produces a mental paralysis¹⁷!

An old believer remarked, that cheerfulness in religion makes all its services come off with delight; and that we are never carried forward so swiftly in the ways of duty as when borne on the wings of delight; adding, that Melancholy¹⁸ clips such wings; or, to alter the figure, takes off our chariot wheels in duty, and makes them, like those of the Egyptians, drag heavily.━Selected

十月十六日

「我们…就当放下各样的重担，脱去容易缠累我们的罪，存心忍耐，奔那摆在我们前头的路程。」（来十二:1）

有许多重担它们的本身并不是罪，但是会叫基督人分心，变成他们长进的障碍。其中最有害的是灰心。灰心实在是一个曳我们往下的重担。

以色列人不得进入应许之地的原因就是发怨言；民数记十四章二十九至三十节明明告诉我们：「凡…向我发怨言的，必不得进我起誓应许叫你们住的那地。」一点点鸣不平的欲望，一点点不知足的欲望，常会造成叛逆大罪。所以我们永远不当让我们自己有一点点自由来疑惑神在凡事上对我们的慈爱和信实。

我们怎样抵挡别的罪，也当照样抵挡疑惑；当我们坚拒疑惑的时候，圣灵会来帮助我们，赐给我们得胜的信心。

我们顶容易流入疑惑，怀抱不平，猜想神已经弃绝我们，我们的盼望行将破产….让我们拒绝这一切思想，因为它们的目的是要叫我们失望。让我们拒绝一切叫我们不快乐的思想。我们不能感觉喜乐的时候，让我们「以为…喜乐」（雅一:2），凭信心来喜乐；这样，神必叫我们的「以为」变成事实。━选

魔鬼有两个最大的诡计。一个就是叫我们失望；一个就是叫我们疑惑━斩断我们与父神中间的信心连索。当心啊！不要被牠的诡计欺骗了。━G.E.M.

 

喜乐！一个喜乐的灵能使我们的心合调，使撒但不敢前来弹奏━因为心弦太热的时候，充满了属天的电力的时候，会使撒但的手指烫痛。

 

应当尽力远避忧郁，好像远避撒但一样；但是多少时候，我们在大道上，遇见了它，它便钉住我们，直钉得我们的心变色。

 

忧郁会叫凡事变色；它会使一切东西变得「不可爱」；它会使未来的希望沦入黑暗；它会剥夺人们一切的热望，锁住人们一切的能力，给人一个精神上的麻痹。

 

一个经历很深的信徒告诉我们说：「喜乐能使工作顺利；当我们戴上喜乐的翅膀时，我们的工作也会做得迅速了；忧郁是剪去这种翅膀的；换言之，忧郁能挪去我们工作的车轮，使我们的车轮像埃及人的车轮一样，脱落难行。」━选

1 beset   

v.镶嵌；困扰，包围

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• The plan was beset with difficulties from the beginning.这项计划自开始就困难重重。

2 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 ripened   

v.成熟，使熟( ripen的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They're collecting the ripened reddish berries. 他们正采集熟了的淡红草莓。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The branches bent low with ripened fruits. 成熟的果实压弯了树枝。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 fretting   

n. 微振磨损 adj. 烦躁的, 焦虑的

参考例句：

• Fretting about it won't help. 苦恼于事无补。
• The old lady is always fretting over something unimportant. 那位老妇人总是为一些小事焦虑不安。

7 Forsaken   

adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词

参考例句：

• He was forsaken by his friends. 他被朋友们背弃了。
• He has forsaken his wife and children. 他遗弃了他的妻子和孩子。

8 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。

9 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

10 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

11 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句

12 shun   

vt.避开，回避，避免

参考例句：

• Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理，唯心主义者则逃避真理。
• This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。

13 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

14 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

15 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

16 aspirations   

强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音

参考例句：

• I didn't realize you had political aspirations. 我没有意识到你有政治上的抱负。
• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。

17 paralysis   

n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症)

参考例句：

• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。
• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。

18 melancholy   

n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• All at once he fell into a state of profound melancholy.他立即陷入无尽的忧思之中。
• He felt melancholy after he failed the exam.这次考试没通过，他感到很郁闷。