Cheer for Pilgrims
English
CHEER FOR PILGRIMS
“Strangers and pilgrims.”
1 Peter 2:11
“Be of good cheer.”
John 16:33
This world is a wilderness wide:
I have nothing to seek or to choose —
I’ve no thought in the waste to abide —
I’ve nought to regret nor to lose.
We are on a pilgrimage, and God makes us feel it in our circumstances. He detaches us from what is dearest down here; He weans us, and then without being aware of it, we ripen for heaven.
I was always a solitary soul, thinking more for, than with people: but it is good to be more alone—most good, if it be more alone with Christ. What a place that is!
“God who comforteth them that are cast down.” Ah, I say, it is worth while being cast down for such comfort as that! … and think what it is to have God occupying Himself with us in our sorrows when we remember who He is.
I feel increasingly, what we all know, that the work for God is the work of God.
When the soul is down, like a ship when the tide is low, it is in danger of shoals and sandbanks; but when the tide is up there are no sandbanks, because the ship is lifted up above them all. Thus when the soul is happy in Christ it will go on peacefully, independently of all the trials we may be called to meet with in our fellow saints. … And thus going on in the tide of divine goodness, forgetting everything else, we can walk happily together, being occupied with Christ, and not with each other.
If Christ be between our hearts and the suffering, instead of the suffering getting between our hearts and Christ, we shall find the place of suffering to be the best place on the face of the earth for us, as all suffering will then bring us nearer Christ.
Be assured that God does more in us than we do for Him; and that what we do is only for Him in proportion as it is He Himself who works it in us.
The truth needs not man: man needs the truth.
Sweeping away snow is long work; if the sun is well up, it is gone. A night covers the earth afoot deep—what millions of men could not do, a day takes it all away if God’s warmth comes in.
Do not be afraid of … consequences. If we do right God will take care of them.
I cannot do the work I did, but I have His work to do as long as He gives it to me.
We should like to go always with a full, favourable wind, but this does not make a good sailor.
Not a single thing in which we have served Christ shall be forgotten … all shall come out that is real, and what is real is Christ in us, and this only.
I have often seen isolated souls, if they kept close to the Lord, making more progress than those who enjoyed greater spiritual advantages. The latter thought that all that they enjoyed was of their faith, when it was not, whilst what one possesses alone, at least one possesses with God.
中文
【客旅的勉励】
“你们是客旅，是寄居的。”（彼前2:11）
“你们可以放心。”（约16:33）
世界犹如大荒原，
我无所寻，无所选；
我无心长留野地，
因以无悔，也无失。
我们是走天路的客旅，神在环境中也使我们有这感觉。祂把我们地上最心爱的挪开，祂使我们向世界断奶，然后我们就在不知不觉中，像果子一样，成熟起来，向天而去。我始终是一个单独的人，单独为别人着想，超过与别人共同思想，但是能够更多单独是一件好的事，最好是能够与基督单独在一处。哦，这一处是多么好的地方！
“那安慰丧气之人的神。”我说丧气也是值得，因为可以换得像这样的安慰……。请想看，在苦难中，当我们想到祂是怎样一位神的时候，祂就那样地关切我们，这真是何等的恩典和安慰。
我越久越觉得，为主做的工，就是神自己所要做的工；也许这一点我们都知道了。心灵颓丧，就像船在水退的时候，有碰上沙滩搁浅的危险；但当潮水高涨，就没有沙滩了，因为船被水漂起，高过一切危险之物。照样，一个人的心灵在基督里有喜乐时，他就能平安向前，超脱了所有与别的信徒之间的磨擦与试炼。就是这样，在神的恩潮中，忘记了一切，我们就能欢欢喜喜的同心向前去，以基督为确定的中心。
如果基督站在我们的心和苦难中间，而不是苦难横亘在我们的心与基督之间，那我们就必看见，在全地，我们受苦的地方乃是最好的去处，因为所有的苦难，都会带领我们更亲近基督。请确信，神在我们里面建造的工作，比我们为祂所做的更多；并且我们为祂做的事，也不会超过祂自己在我们里面所建造的。
真理不需要人，人却需要真理。
扫雪是一件很花工夫的事；如果太阳一出来，雪就自然没有了。一夜的积雪，可能遮盖地面一尺深～数百万人力做不到的事，若神的热力一来到，就在一天之内，把雪溶化净尽，事情就完成了。不要太顾虑到事情的结局。如果我们按正路而行，神必负责事情的后果。我从前所做的工，不是我自己所能做的；但神什么时候把祂的工作给我，我就有工作可做了。
我们都盼望常常一帆风顺，可是这样顺利的航程，却不能使人成为有能的海员。事奉基督的事，没有一件会被忘记的，一切真实的，有一天都会显出。但只有基督在我们里面所是所做的，才是真实的。
我时常看见许多被放在孤单环境中的人，他们若学习倚靠主，他们灵性的长进，就比许多享受更大属灵利益的人更快。后一班人常以为他们所享受的，都是因自己信心而来，其实没有这回事。而那些孤单的人所得到的，最少可以说，是从神而得的。