六月廿七日

只是不要走得很遠……（出8：28）

這是大暴君法老唇上所說的最狡猾的話。若是爲奴的以色列人必須出離埃及的話，那末他叫他們不要走得很遠；不太遠，便逃不出他的軍兵的恐嚇和他的探子的監視。世人也是這樣，不喜歡不妥協者的不妥協，或是分裂者的分裂，而要我們寬大馬虎，幷且要我們處事時勿過于嚴格。與世界同釘死、與基督同埋葬的經驗，屬世的人常當作是可笑的事，因此常忽略甚至輕視那使他們與世分別的禮儀。

世人常勸人妥協，常提到“中庸之道”。根據這一種處世的方針，認爲清潔是很需要的，但我們也不必太認真；真道當然是人所該遵從的，但對于錯謬也不要過于攻訐。世俗人說：“是的，我們應當在一切事上都屬靈，但是間或參加一次尋樂的聚會、舞會，或是在聖誕節時到戲院中去一次也是沒有關係的。若是一件事情正在盛行，人人都那末作，我來反對有什麽用處呢？”有很多嘴上的信徒聽了這種狡猾的勸告，便永遠沉淪了。若我們要完全跟從主，就當立即到曠野中，把自己分別出來，把埃及和世俗留在背後。我們必須離開它的勸言、它的歡樂和它的宗教，幷要遠遠地就到主所招呼他所分別爲聖的人所去的地方。城中失火，你的房子難免殃及；瘟疫流行，一個人很有被傳染的可能。離毒蛇越遠越好，距世俗的同化越遠也越好。

願一切真實相信的人都能聽到號筒的聲音：“你們務要從他們中間出來，與他們分別。”

June 27

"Only ye shall not go very far away." -- Exodus 8:28

This is a crafty word from the lip of the arch-tyrant Pharaoh. If the poor bondaged Israelites must needs go out of Egypt, then he bargains with them that it shall not be very far away; not too far for them to escape the terror of his arms, and the observation of his spies. After the same fashion, the world loves not the non-conformity of nonconformity, or the dissidence of dissent, it would have us be more charitable and not carry matters with too severe a hand. Death to the world, and burial with Christ, are experiences which carnal minds treat with ridicule, and hence the ordinance which sets them forth is almost universally neglected, and even contemned. Worldly wisdom recommends the path of compromise, and talks of "moderation." According to this carnal policy, purity is admitted to be very desirable, but we are warned against being too precise; truth is of course to be followed, but error is not to be severely denounced. "Yes," says the world, "be spiritually minded by all means, but do not deny yourself a little gay society, an occasional ball, and a Christmas visit to a theatre. What's the good of crying down a thing when it is so fashionable, and everybody does it?" Multitudes of professors yield to this cunning advice, to their own eternal ruin. If we would follow the Lord wholly, we must go right away into the wilderness of separation, and leave the Egypt of the carnal world behind us. We must leave its maxims, its pleasures, and its religion too, and go far away to the place where the Lord calls His sanctified ones. When the town is on fire, our house cannot be too far from the flames. When the plague is abroad, a man cannot be too far from its haunts. The further from a viper the better, and the further from worldly conformity the better. To all true believers let the trumpet-call be sounded, "Come ye out from among them, be ye separate."