八月八日
他們……結蜘蛛網。（賽59：5）
一看到蜘蛛所結的網，就叫人想到假冒爲善之人的信仰，乃是爲了捕捉食物：蜘蛛靠著蚊蠅過活，法利賽人也有他們的報酬；愚昧人很容易被佯裝相信的人所捕獲，就是聰明人也在所難免；但是那些嘴裏相信的人至終必會露出馬脚來。習慣、名譽、稱贊、進步和其他蠅類，都是假冒爲善之人的網所玩把戲。蜘蛛結網的技巧很是驚人：一看到之後就叫人欽佩這位獵夫的狡黠。教騙子的手法不也一樣地令人驚异嗎？他以包金的東西當純金賣，而且令人難以分辨真僞，你看有多高明？蜘蛛的網是從自身出來的。蜜蜂從花裏取蜜與蠟，蜘蛛幷不采花，但它却能從自己身體裏面抽出很長很長的綫來。
假冒爲善的人也是這樣依靠幷仰仗自己；他們以自己當錨，用自己的手牽綫索。他們自己立根基，自己上梁柱，不願靠神的大恩典。然而蜘蛛的網很容易破，結得雖然好看，但是幷不耐久。它經不起僕役的掃帚，或是游人的手杖。假冒爲善之人的行徑，用不到什麽精良的武器，就可以把他們的希望打得粉碎，微風一吹什麽都完了。假冒爲善之人的蛛網不久必被毀滅的掃帚掃得一乾二淨，這叫我們想起另一個意思：這樣的蛛網是神的家所不能容留的，他必使網和結網的永歸滅亡。我的心哪！你要投靠比蛛網更可靠的。願主耶穌作你永遠的隱密處。
“有火發現，這火要試驗各人的工程怎樣。”
August
8
"They
weave the spider's web." -- Isaiah 59:5
See the spider's web, and behold in it a most suggestive picture of the
hypocrite's religion. It is meant to catch his prey: the spider fattens himself
on flies, and the Pharisee has his reward. Foolish persons are easily entrapped
by the loud professions of pretenders, and even the more judicious cannot
always escape. Philip baptized Simon Magus, whose guileful declaration of faith
was so soon exploded by the stern rebuke of Peter. Custom, reputation, praise,
advancement, and other flies, are the small game which hypocrites take in their
nets. A spider's web is a marvel of skill: look at it and admire the cunning
hunter's wiles. Is not a deceiver's religion equally wonderful? How does he
make so barefaced a lie appear to be a truth? How can he make his tinsel answer
so well the purpose of gold? A spider's web comes all from the creature's own
bowels. The bee gathers her wax from flowers, the spider sucks no flowers, and
yet she spins out her material to any length. Even so hypocrites find their
trust and hope within themselves; their anchor was forged on their own anvil,
and their cable twisted by their own hands. They lay their own foundation, and
hew out the pillars of their own house, disdaining to be debtors to the
sovereign grace of God. But a spider's web is very frail. It is curiously
wrought, but not enduringly manufactured. It is no match for the servant's
broom, or the traveller's staff. The hypocrite needs no battery of Armstrongs
to blow his hope to pieces, a mere puff of wind will do it. Hypocritical
cobwebs will soon come down when the besom of destruction begins its purifying
work. Which reminds us of one more thought, viz., that such cobwebs are not to
be endured in the Lord's house: He will see to it that they and those who spin
them shall be destroyed for ever. O my soul, be thou resting on something
better than a spider's web. Be the Lord Jesus thine eternal hiding-place.
8月8日清晨甘露
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