「願賜平安的神,親自使你們全然成聖。又願你們的靈,與魂,與身子,得蒙保守,在我主耶穌基督降臨的時候,完全無可指摘。那召你們的本是信實的,祂必成就這事。」(帖撒羅尼迦前書五章23/24節)
從前我曾竭力追求聖潔,並且鼓勵一切和我交往的人都追求聖潔。十年以後,神給我清楚看見一個我以前從未看見過的得到聖潔的方法,就是相信神的兒子。我就立刻傳揚這個真理:「信能把我們從罪惡中拯救出來,信能使我們成為聖潔。」我把這真理在私人生活上見證出來,在公共場所見證出來,在印刷物上見證出來;神也藉著很多見證人來證實。我繼續傳揚這個真理,到現在已經差不多三十年了,神繼續給了我無數證實。── 約翰衛斯理(John Wesley)
主耶穌,對於我是非常寶貴的;但是我發現在我裡面有一件東西使我不能溫柔、不能忍耐、不能仁愛。我盡力把這件東西壓制下去,但是它仍在那裡。直到我把我的意志完全讓位給主的時候,主就替我拿去了一切使我不能溫柔的、不能仁愛的、不能忍耐的。 ── 福克斯(George Fox)
現在我的心不再需要人的稱讚了。神填滿了我心的一切空處;除祂以外,我不再有什麼需要、什麼意志、什麼慾望了。 ── 亨丁登 (Lady Huntington)
聖潔是美麗的、平靜的、爽快的、可愛的;它帶給我們難以形容的光明、平安和喜樂;換言之,聖潔使我們的心變成上帝的花園──裡面充滿了佳美的果子和花卉,享受著暖和的、活潑的陽光。--愛德華思(Jonathan Edwards)
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“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.” (1 Thess. 5:23, 24.)
Many years since I saw that “without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” I began by following after it and inciting all with whom I had intercourse to do the same. Ten years after, God gave me a clearer view than I ever had before of the way to obtain it; namely, by faith in the Son of God. And immediately I declared to all, “We are saved from sin, we are made holy by faith.” This I testified in private, in public, and in print, and God confirmed it by a thousand witnesses. I have continued to declare this for above thirty years, and God has continued to confirm my work. --- John Wesley in 1771.
“I know Jesus, and He was very precious to my soul; but I found something in me that would not keep sweet and patient and kind. I did what I could to keep it down, but it was there. I besought Jesus to do something for me, and, when I gave Him my will, He came to my heart, and took out all that would not be sweet, all that would not be kind, all that would not be patient, and then HE shut the door.” ---George Fox.
My whole heart has not one single grain, this moment, of thirst after approbation. I feel alone with God; He fills the void; I have not one wish, one will, one desire, but in Him; He hath set my feet in a large room. I have wondered and stood amazed that God should make a conquest of all within me by love. --- Lady Huntington.
“All at once I felt as though a hand-not feeble, but omnipotent; not of wrath, but of love-was laid on my brow. I felt it not outwardly but inwardly. It seemed to press upon my whole being, and to diffuse all through me a holy, sin-consuming energy. As it passed downward, my heart as well as my head was conscious of the presence of this soul-cleansing energy, under the influence of which I fell to the floor, and in the joyful surprise of the moment, cried out in a loud voice. Still the hand of power wrought without and within; and wherever it moved, it seemed to leave the glorious influence of the Saviour’s image. For a few minutes the deep ocean of God’s love swallowed me up; all its waves and billows rolled over me.” --- Bishop Hamline.
Holiness-as I then wrote down some of my contemplations on it-appeared to me to be of a sweet, calm, pleasant, charming, serene nature, which brought an inexpressible purity, brightness, peacefulness, ravishment to the soul; in other words, that it made the soul like a field or garden of God, with all manner of pleasant fruits and flowers, all delightful and undisturbed, enjoying a sweet calm and the gentle vivifying beams of the sun. --- Jonathan Edwards.
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