六月廿三日
以法蓮是沒有翻過的餅。（何7：8）
烤餅時若不翻，必然有一面烤不熟。從各方面看來以法蓮也是這樣，幷未被神的恩所接觸！雖然有一部份順服，但仍殘留著很多悖逆之心。我的心哪！我要叫你看看你是否也有這種情形。你在神一切的事上都透徹完全嗎？是否神的恩已離了你的中心，使你在你一切的力量、動作、言語和思想上感不到神的作爲呢？靈魂體都被潔淨，應當作爲你的目標和禱告。雖然在各處都不十分潔淨，但潔淨的工作卻當均勻而普遍，不當在一處有聖潔的表現，而在別一處卻仍有罪，不然你也就成爲了一個沒有翻過的餅了。一個餅若是不翻，不久靠火的那面必然被烤焦；雖然沒人能有太深的信仰，但也有些人爲他們所接受那一部份真道的熱火燒得焦黑，或是在儀式上追求虛榮像虛浮的法利賽人焦得燒了起來。表面上佯裝神聖非凡的人，實際上常是毫不敬虔的人；在公衆面前是個聖徒，在私下卻是個魔鬼；他的行事白天是面，晚上卻成了炭。餅的一面已經焦得冒煙，而另一面卻還是生的。
若這是我的情形，主啊！求你把我翻過來，使我們不潔淨的性情翻向你的愛火，使它經受聖火。當我感到自己的軟弱時，使我已經焦了的一面冷下來；當我離了你屬天的火時，使我需要你熱。求你使我不要三心兩意，乃要一心一意地完全受恩典的支配，因爲我知道若我是一個沒有翻過的餅，兩面都不順服你的恩，那末我必永遠被不滅的火所燒。
June
23
“Ephraim
is a cake not turned.” — Hosea 7:8
A cake not turned is uncooked on one side;
and so Ephraim was, in many respects, untouched by divine grace: though there
was some partial obedience, there was very much rebellion left. My soul, I
charge thee, see whether this be thy case. Art thou thorough in the things of
God? Has grace gone through the very centre of thy being so as to be felt in
its divine operations in all thy powers, thy actions, thy words, and thy
thoughts? To be sanctified, spirit, soul, and body, should be thine aim and
prayer; and although sanctification may not be perfect in thee anywhere in
degree, yet it must be universal in its action; there must not be the
appearance of holiness in one place and reigning sin in another, else thou,
too, wilt be a cake not turned.
A cake not turned is soon burnt on the
side nearest the fire, and although no man can have too much religion, there
are some who seem burnt black with bigoted zeal for that part of truth which
they have received, or are charred to a cinder with a vainglorious Pharisaic ostentation
of those religious performances which suit their humour. The assumed appearance
of superior sanctity frequently accompanies a total absence of all vital
godliness. The saint in public is a devil in private. He deals in flour by day
and in soot by night. The cake which is burned on one side, is dough on the
other.
If it be so with me, O Lord, turn me! Turn my unsanctified nature to the
fire of Thy love and let it feel the sacred glow, and let my burnt side cool a
little while I learn my own weakness and want of heat when I am removed from
Thy heavenly flame. Let me not be found a double-minded man, but one entirely
under the powerful influence of reigning grace; for well I know if I am left
like a cake unturned, and am not on both sides the subject of Thy grace, I must
be consumed for ever amid everlasting burnings.
