APPENDIX: THE OLD TESTAMENT; PREACHING ｜ 附录：旧约・讲道

ENTHE OLD TESTAMENT. [One must study the Old Testament in order to have a complete system of knowledge respecting the Christian religion. One will get not merely intellectual knowledge out of this study, but he will meet, all along, the germs of those moral truths which take on such high and beautiful coloring in the New. He will find, as he reads the Old Testament, that he is not only increasing his historic knowledge, but that he is coming in contact with those saving moral elements which Paul said could be found there. Neither intellectually nor morally, then, can we afford to discard the Old Testament. Caverno.] [The book of Isaiah. There is hardly a generous, heroic impulse for the welfare of men but can find its coin of expression already minted in the words of Isaiah. No apostle of Christ has explained the principles of his religion better than this prophet did, seven hundred years before Christ appeared. In fact, one turns to the writings of this prophet, rather than to any New Testament description, for a summary of the fates and fortunes of the Saviour: the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah has dictated to Christendom its conception of Christ. Caverno.]

BSBRomans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.

中旧约。〔人若要对基督教得着一套完整的知识体系，就必须研读旧约。从这项研读中，他所得的不仅是理智上的知识；他一路上还会遇见那些道德真理的萌芽——正是这些真理在新约里显出如此崇高而美丽的色彩。他读旧约时会发现：他不只是在增长历史知识，更是在接触保罗所说的、可以在其中寻见的那些使人得救的道德要素。所以，无论从理智上说还是从道德上说，我们都担负不起把旧约弃置一旁的代价。卡维诺（Caverno）〕〔以赛亚书。凡为世人福祉而生的慷慨、英勇的心志，几乎没有一样不能在以赛亚的话语里找到早已铸好的表达之币。基督的使徒中，没有哪一位把这信仰的原则解释得比这位先知更好——而他是在基督显现之前七百年说的。事实上，人要为救主的遭遇与结局找一份概述，宁可翻这位先知的著作，而不去翻新约里的任何一段描写：以赛亚书第五十三章，为整个基督教世界规定了它对基督的认识。卡维诺（Caverno）〕

EN[Jonah, the book and the man. Remember that it is from the Old Testament that you get the description of God as "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin"; and then ask yourself whether that wealth of tenderness of spirit was not exhibited, without break, to Jonah—whether longsuffering toward one unworthy of graciousness was not just what was shown throughout all his experiences. Could love leave a bad disposition more tenderly than by a question which would set it thinking? If, after his discipline was over, he repented and wrote this book about himself, he shall rank among the good that are very great. Back from Nineveh of old, over the long reach of time, comes the loveliest picture ever limned by man, of One "whose tender mercies are over all His works." In the book of Jonah we have a masterpiece of literature, and a representation of the character of God which, by its very setting forth, in its simplicity and loveliness, will forever charm and capture the human heart. Caverno.] [The man Job. Job began a man of integrity, and he has come out with a hunger and a thirst for a greater integrity, which will only grow into greater mastery of his being as "the years of eternity roll." He began with kindness to man, and he has come out of his tribulation with undistinguishing, unselfish, forgiving love. C. Caverno.]

BSBJonah 4:11 So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”

中〔约拿其书与其人。要记得：正是从旧约里，你才得着这样一段对神的描述——『耶和华，耶和华，是有怜悯有恩典的神，不轻易发怒，并有丰盛的慈爱和诚实，为千万人存留慈爱，赦免罪孽、过犯和罪恶』；然后请你自问：那样丰盛的温柔心肠，岂不是毫无间断地向约拿显明出来了吗？对一个不配蒙恩之人的恒久忍耐，岂不正是他整段经历中所显出的吗？爱要离开一个坏脾气，还能有比『抛下一个问题、叫它去思想』更温柔的方式吗？如果在他的管教结束之后，他悔改了，并且写下这卷关于他自己的书，那么他当列在『极其伟大的好人』之中。从古时的尼尼微，越过漫长的时间跨度，传来了人手所描绘过的最可爱的一幅图画——画的是那一位『他的慈悲覆庇他一切所造的』。在约拿书里，我们有一部文学杰作，也有一幅神之品格的写照；单凭它这样铺陈出来，凭它的朴素与可爱，就必永远令人心折、把人心掳去。卡维诺（Caverno）〕〔约伯其人。约伯起初是个纯全人，走出来时却带着对更大之纯全的饥与渴；而随着『永世的年岁流转』，这饥渴只会长成对他自身更大的掌管。他起初待人良善，走出苦难时却带着一种不分彼此的、无私的、饶恕人的爱。卡维诺（C. Caverno）〕

ENPREACHING AND PREACHERS. [When Paul declares that he came presenting the gospel message without the studied graces of the rhetorician, it was because he felt the supremacy of the truth he preached. The more tremendous the theme, the less does it lend itself to ornament. There are men who would fresco the pyramids, or wall-paper the Pantheon; but not so the great apostle. He realized that the ultimate truths concerning God and man are emphasized when presented in their native simplicity, but obscured when overlaid with ornament which must perforce be incongruous. Never does turgid and affected oratory fail so utterly as in the pulpit. It is a lesson for all homilists to ponder. W. C. Gray.]

BSB1 Corinthians 2:1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.

中讲道与传道人。〔保罗声明自己前来陈明福音信息时，并未带着修辞家那套刻意经营的辞采；那是因为他感到自己所传之真理的至高无上。题目越是重大，就越不容雕饰。有些人会给金字塔涂上壁画，会给万神殿贴上墙纸；但这位伟大的使徒不是这样的人。他明白：关乎神与人的终极真理，若以其本来的朴素呈现出来，就得着凸显；若被雕饰所覆盖，就被遮蔽了——因为那些雕饰势必与之格格不入。浮夸做作的辞令，无论在何处失败，都不像在讲坛上失败得那样彻底。这是一切讲道者都该细想的一课。格雷（W. C. Gray）〕