一月十九日

我尋找他，卻尋不見。（歌3:1）

告訴我，你在什麼地方失去了你的伴侶基督，我就告訴你應該在什麼地方可以找到他。你是在秘室中因不禱告而失去了基督嗎？那末你便到那裡去找，就可以找到他。你是因犯罪而失去了基督嗎？那末你除了放棄你的罪，讓聖靈制服你心中的肉欲之外，就不能找到基督。你是因忽略讀經而失去了基督嗎？那末你必可在聖書中找到基督。諺語說：“物落何處，何處尋之，必可得見。”你在什麼地方失去了基督，就到什麼地方去找，因為他還沒有遠離。但是回到原地找基督是一件難事。本仁ž約翰告訴我們說：基督徒回到休息的亭子裡去找他遺失了的公文，那是他最難走的一段路。往前走二十裡路比為找尋失物再退回一裡路還要容易呢！要留意，當你找到你的主的時候，你要緊緊追隨他。但為什麼會失去了他呢？別人認為你絕不應該離棄這樣一位寶貴的朋友，有他同在是多麼甜蜜，他的話是多麼有安慰，他的友誼是多麼貴重！你若不時時目不轉睛地望著他，就有失去他的危險的。而當你任令他去了之後，就是你哀聲地說：“噢，我知道我在那裡可以找到他！”你去尋找他的情形是多麼可憐呢？繼續地尋找吧，因為沒有主是一件危險的事。你若沒有基督就像羊沒有牧人一樣，像樹根沒有水分一樣，像一片枯萎的葉子任憑風暴吹打——不再在有生命的樹上了。要全心尋找他，他就會被你所尋見：你只要完全把自己獻上來尋找他，你就一定可以歡喜快樂地發現他。

January 19

"I sought him, but I found him not." --Song of Solomon 3:1

Tell me where you lost the company of Christ, and I will tell you the most likely place to find Him. Have you lost Christ in the closet by restraining prayer? Then it is there you must seek and find Him. Did you lose Christ by sin? You will find Christ in no other way but by the giving up of the sin, and seeking by the Holy Spirit to mortify the member in which the lust doth dwell. Did you lose Christ by neglecting the Scriptures? You must find Christ in the Scriptures. It is a true proverb, "Look for a thing where you dropped it, it is there." So look for Christ where you lost Him, for He has not gone away. But it is hard work to go back for Christ. Bunyan tells us, the pilgrim found the piece of the road back to the Arbour of Ease, where he lost his roll, the hardest he had ever travelled. Twenty miles onward is easier than to go one mile back for the lost evidence.

Take care, then, when you find your Master, to cling close to Him. But how is it you have lost Him? One would have thought you would never have parted with such a precious friend, whose presence is so sweet, whose words are so comforting, and whose company is so dear to you! How is it that you did not watch Him every moment for fear of losing sight of Him? Yet, since you have let Him go, what a mercy that you are seeking Him, even though you mournfully groan, "O that I knew where I might find Him!" Go on seeking, for it is dangerous to be without thy Lord. Without Christ you are like a sheep without its shepherd; like a tree without water at its roots; like a sere leaf in the tempest--not bound to the tree of life. With thine whole heart seek Him, and He will be found of thee: only give thyself thoroughly up to the search, and verily, thou shalt yet discover Him to thy joy and gladness.