十二月三十日

事情的終局強如事情的起頭。（傳7：8）

你要看大衛的神和主，看他的起頭，“他被藐視，被人厭弃，多受痛苦，常經憂患。”你願意看一看終局嗎？他坐在他父的右邊，等他的仇敵作他的脚凳。“他如何，我們在這世上也如何。”你必須背十字架，不然你就不會戴冠冕；你必須經過淤泥，不然你就不會到達黃金街。可憐的基督徒啊！’鼓起勇氣來吧。“事情的終局強如事情的起頭。”你看蠕動爬行的蟲子，是多麽難看呀！但那是事情的起頭。當它展開美麗的翅膀，在日光中飛來舞去，在花心裏含英咀華、吸露吮蜜的時候，是多麽滿有快樂呀！這就是事情的終局。那一條毛蟲就是你，終至被死的蛹纏繞起來；但當基督顯現的時候，你必像他，因爲你必得見他的真體。

你雖然是一條蟲，而不是人，但是你既像他就當知足，當你活過來的時候，你有了他的形象就滿足了。璞玉必須經過玉匠的琢磨，他把它的四周切磋乾淨。它失去了很多在它以爲是很有價值的東西。君王加冕的時候，王冠一戴在君王的頭上，號筒便吹出了歡樂的樂聲。寶石在冠冕上非常光彩奪目，但适才却受盡了切磋琢磨之苦。你可以把你比作寶石，因爲你也是神的民；現在正是你受雕琢的時候。願信心和忍耐完成它們的工作，因爲當冠冕加在永生、長存、無形的君王頭上時，必有一條榮耀的光綫從你發射出來。耶和華說：“在我收聚珍寶的日子，他們必屬我。”“事情的終局強如事情的起頭。”

December 30

"Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof."—Ecclesiastes 7:8

Look at David's Lord and Master; see his beginning. He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Would you see the end? He sits at his Father's right hand, expecting until his enemies be made his footstool. "As he is, so are we also in this world." You must bear the cross, or you shall never wear the crown; you must wade through the mire, or you shall never walk the golden pavement. Cheer up, then, poor Christian. "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof." See that creeping worm, how contemptible its appearance! It is the beginning of a thing. Mark that insect with gorgeous wings, playing in the sunbeams, sipping at the flower bells, full of happiness and life; that is the end thereof. That caterpillar is yourself, until you are wrapped up in the chrysalis of death; but when Christ shall appear you shall be like him, for you shall see him as he is. Be content to be like him, a worm and no man, that like him you may be satisfied when you wake up in his likeness. That rough-looking diamond is put upon the wheel of the lapidary. He cuts it on all sides. It loses much-much that seemed costly to itself. The king is crowned; the diadem is put upon the monarch's head with trumpet's joyful sound. A glittering ray flashes from that coronet, and it beams from that very diamond which was just now so sorely vexed by the lapidary. You may venture to compare yourself to such a diamond, for you are one of God's people; and this is the time of the cutting process. Let faith and patience have their perfect work, for in the day when the crown shall be set upon the head of the King, Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, one ray of glory shall stream from you. "They shall be mine," saith the Lord, "in the day when I make up my jewels." "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof."