艱困中的讚美

經文: 「你們應當…常常以頌讚為祭，獻給上帝。」（來十三15）

        一個傳道人在鄉村工作。某天晚上，無意之中走進了一所又暗又髒的小屋。他聽見屋隅發出微若的聲音，問說：「是誰？」他點了一根火柴，從火光中看見了地上的缺乏和痛苦，天上的喜樂和平安──一個黑人老婦人，臥病在床，她患著風濕症，痛苦異常，可是她仍頂平安、頂喜樂。那時，正是最冷的二月，她沒有燃料，也沒有糧食，沒有燈光，也沒有伺奉的人。她所有的，只是依靠上帝的信心。人生的痛苦，在她身上都齊全了，一點也沒有甚麼可以叫她快樂的，可是她仍舊能夠發出「哈利路亞」的讚美來，好似一無缺乏和病痛一般。

        她眞是「四面受敵，卻不被困住；心裡作難，卻不至失望；遭逼迫，卻不被丟棄；打倒了，卻不至死亡。」（林後四8~9）

        馬丁路得在他的病榻上頂痛苦的時候，仍不住讚美和感謝，並傳這段信息：「這些痛苦和困難很像排字人所排的鉛版，現在看上去字是反的，也讀不出甚麼意義來。可是等到鉛版印在紙上，我們就看得頂清楚而且亦明瞭其中的意義了。今天我所受的痛苦，果然解釋不通，但是到了那一天，我們就會明白的。」

        保羅在狂風大浪的中間出來站在船板上，安慰害怕的眾人「你們放心」（徒廿七22）。

        保羅、馬丁路得和那位黑人的婦人都是我們的好榜樣。－－迦內德（Wm. C. Garnett）。 

Praise in the Midst of Trouble

Scripture: "Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually" (Heb. 13:15).

        A city missionary, stumbling through the dirt of a dark entry, heard a voice say, "Who's there, Honey?" Striking a match, he caught a vision of earthly want and suffering, of saintly trust and peace, "cut in ebony"--calm, appealing eyes set amid the wrinkles of a pinched, black face that lay on a tattered bed. It was a bitter night in February, and she had no fire, no fuel, no light. She had had no supper, no dinner, no breakfast. She seemed to have nothing at all but rheumatism and faith in God. One could not well be more completely exiled from all pleasantness of circumstances, yet the favorite song of this old creature ran:

        And so it went on: "Nobody knows de work I does, Nobody knows de griefs I has," the constant refrain being the "Glory Hallelu!" until the last verse rose:

        "Troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." It takes great Bible words to tell the cheer of that old negro auntie.

        Remember Luther on his sick-bed. Between his groans he managed to preach on this wise: "These pains and trouble here are like the type which the printers set; as they look now, we have to read them backwards, and they seem to have no sense or meaning in them; but up yonder, when the Lord God prints us off in the life to come, we shall find they make brave reading." Only we do not need to wait till then.

        Remember Paul walking the hurricane deck amid a boiling sea, bidding the frightened crew "Be of good cheer,"

        Luther, the old negro auntie--all of them human sun-flowers. --Wm. G. Garnett