六月廿三日
以法莲是没有翻过的饼。（何7：8）
烤饼时若不翻，必然有一面烤不熟。从各方面看来以法莲也是这样，幷未被神的恩所接触！虽然有一部份顺服，但仍残留着很多悖逆之心。我的心哪！我要叫你看看你是否也有这种情形。你在神一切的事上都透彻完全吗？是否神的恩已离了你的中心，使你在你一切的力量、动作、言语和思想上感不到神的作爲呢？灵魂体都被洁净，应当作爲你的目标和祷告。虽然在各处都不十分洁净，但洁净的工作却当均匀而普遍，不当在一处有圣洁的表现，而在别一处却仍有罪，不然你也就成爲了一个没有翻过的饼了。一个饼若是不翻，不久靠火的那面必然被烤焦；虽然没人能有太深的信仰，但也有些人爲他们所接受那一部份真道的热火烧得焦黑，或是在仪式上追求虚荣像虚浮的法利赛人焦得烧了起来。表面上佯装神圣非凡的人，实际上常是毫不敬虔的人；在公衆面前是个圣徒，在私下却是个魔鬼；他的行事白天是面，晚上却成了炭。饼的一面已经焦得冒烟，而另一面却还是生的。
若这是我的情形，主啊！求你把我翻过来，使我们不洁净的性情翻向你的爱火，使它经受圣火。当我感到自己的软弱时，使我已经焦了的一面冷下来；当我离了你属天的火时，使我需要你热。求你使我不要三心两意，乃要一心一意地完全受恩典的支配，因爲我知道若我是一个没有翻过的饼，两面都不顺服你的恩，那末我必永远被不灭的火所烧。
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.
