十二月二十八日
我如今在肉身活着，是因信神的儿子而活。（加2：20）
当恩典的主经过时，看到我们滚在血中，他就先说：要“存活”。（见结16：6）这是他首先所作的事，因爲生命在属灵的事上是很要紧的，我们若没有得到生命就不能参预神国度的事。当圣徒活过来的时候便得了恩典所赐的生命，这生命不是别的，乃是基督的生命，正像树干的汁水输送到树枝一样；在我们的灵魂和耶稣之间也建立了一种活的关系。神所赐恩的信心便能领悟到这种联合，幷且这也是信心的初熟的果子。信心乃是连结教会——身体和基督——荣耀之头的颈项。
信心用强健而坚定的手抓住主耶稣。它知道他的崇高和优美，因此不论什麽试探都不能使它舍此就彼；基督耶稣也因这属天的恩赐大得欢喜，幷用他永远膀臂的慈爱怀抱，以全能的支持来加力量给她，扶持她。在此便建立了一种活的，可知觉，可欢乐的联合，由此流出爱、信、同情、满足和快乐的溪水，是新郎和新妇所乐饮的。当心灵清楚知道它与基督是一体的时候，就脉脉相关，可以彼此感到脉搏的跳动，血液的交流。那末，心虽在地，也如在天，从此便能享受最高超而属灵的交通了。
“我平时当靠救主，遇患难求主救护；
我信心虽还不足，惟要靠我主领路。
靠耶稣渡过今世，靠耶稣能行万事。
我不论走何险路，惟要信靠我救主。”
December 28
“The life which I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.”—Galatians 2:20
When
the Lord in mercy passed by and saw us in our blood, he first of all said,
“Live”; and this he did first, because life is one of the absolutely
essential things in spiritual matters, and until it be bestowed we are
incapable of partaking in the things of the kingdom. Now the life which grace
confers upon the saints at the moment of their quickening is none other than
the life of Christ, which, like the sap from the stem, runs into us, the
branches, and establishes a living connection between our souls and Jesus.
Faith is the grace which perceives this union, having proceeded from it as its
firstfruit. It is the neck which joins the body of the Church to its
all-glorious Head.
“Oh
Faith! thou bond of union with the Lord,
Is
not this office thine? and thy fit name,
In
the economy of gospel types,
And
symbols apposite-the Church’s neck;
Identifying
her in will and work
With
him ascended?”
Faith lays hold upon the
Lord Jesus with a firm and determined grasp. She knows his excellence and
worth, and no temptation can induce her to repose her trust elsewhere; and
Christ Jesus is so delighted with this heavenly grace, that he never ceases to
strengthen and sustain her by the loving embrace and all-sufficient support of
his eternal arms. Here, then, is established a living, sensible, and delightful
union which casts forth streams of love, confidence, sympathy, complacency, and
joy, whereof both the bride and bridegroom love to drink. When the soul can
evidently perceive this oneness between itself and Christ, the pulse may be
felt as beating for both, and the one blood as flowing through the veins of
each. Then is the heart as near heaven as it can be on earth, and is prepared
for the enjoyment of the most sublime and spiritual kind of fellowship.
