十月二十三日

你們也要去嗎？（約6：67）

有很多人離弃了基督，不再與他同行；但使你變心的理由是什麽呢？在過去有什麽原因嗎？耶穌不曾彰顯他是足够的嗎？今晨他對你說：“我豈向你作曠野呢？”（參耶2：31）當你一心信靠耶穌的時候，你曾受過迷惑嗎？你到現在還沒有發現你的主是一位最慈惠、最寬大的朋友嗎？幷且當你一心相信他的時候，你的心靈不是就得到所期望的平安了嗎？你能夢想到比他更好的一位朋友嗎？那末，你切莫厭故喜新，追求虛妄。

至于現在，誰能迫使你離弃基督呢？當世人百般圍攻我們的時候，或是在教會中受大試煉的時候，我們覺得能枕首在救主的懷中是一件有福的事。這是今天我們這些在他裏面得了救的人所有的快樂；若這快樂滿足了我們的心，我們還應當想到變節的事嗎？誰肯以精金易渣滓呢？我們如果得不到更好的亮光是絕不當丟弃光的；照樣若沒有一位更愛我們的出現，我們也不當離弃我們的主；這既是一件絕不可能的事，我們就當永遠抓住他，使他的名永遠在我們的膀臂上作爲印記。至于將來，你能想到有什麽事會使你叛變，或是使你背弃舊元首而投效在新元帥的麾下嗎？我們想不會。若我們能享長壽——證明他是不改變的。

若我們貧窮，有什麽能比那使我們豐富的基督呢？當我們患病之時，耶穌爲我們鋪床；除此，我們還有什麽期望呢？當我們死的時候，經上不是說：“無論是死，是生，是天使，是掌權的，是有能的，是現在的事，是將來的事，是高處的，是低處的，是別的受造之物，都不能叫我們與神的愛隔絕；這愛是在我們的主基督耶穌裏的。”願我們與彼得一同說：“主啊，你有永生之道，我們還歸從誰呢？”

October 23

"Will ye also go away?"--John 6:67

Many have forsaken Christ, and have walked no more with him; but what reason have you to make a change? Has there been any reason for it in the past? Has not Jesus proved himself all-sufficient? He appeals to you this morning--"Have I been a wilderness unto you?" When your soul has simply trusted Jesus, have you ever been confounded? Have you not up till now found your Lord to be a compassionate and generous friend to you, and has not simple faith in him given you all the peace your spirit could desire? Can you so much as dream of a better friend than he has been to you? Then change not the old and tried for new and false. As for the present, can that compel you to leave Christ? When we are hard beset with this world, or with the severer trials within the Church, we find it a most blessed thing to pillow our head upon the bosom of our Saviour. This is the joy we have today that we are saved in him; and if this joy be satisfying, wherefore should we think of changing? Who barters gold for dross? We will not forswear the sun till we find a better light, nor leave our Lord until a brighter lover shall appear; and, since this can never be, we will hold him with a grasp immortal, and bind his name as a seal upon our arm. As for the future, can you suggest anything which can arise that shall render it necessary for you to mutiny, or desert the old flag to serve under another captain? We think not. If life be long--he changes not. If we are poor, what better than to have Christ who can make us rich? When we are sick, what more do we want than Jesus to make our bed in our sickness? When we die, is it not written that "neither death, nor life, nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!" We say with Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go?"