「我們應當...常常向神獻上讚美的祭。」－希伯來書13:15
一天，來自城市的一位傳道人無意間走進了一幢陰暗髒亂的小屋，他忽然聽見角落傳出微弱的聲音：「親愛的，是誰在那兒阿？」
他劃亮了一根火柴，看見了一幅在世間的缺乏和痛苦中，信徒信心和安息的小影：一位臥病在床的婦人，正用鑲在佈滿皺紋臉上的炯炯目光，寧靜端詳著他。
那是個寒冷的二月晚夜，房裡沒有爐火、沒有油燈、沒有亮光；這位婦人沒吃過晚餐，沒有早餐，也沒有午餐。
除了一身的風濕症與一顆信靠神的心之外，婦人一無所有。在如此的景況裡，她卻仍能唱著她最喜愛的詩歌：
沒有人知道我受的痛苦，
沒有人，唯有耶穌；
沒有人知道我受的痛苦，
我仍高唱哈利路亞！
我一生常起起伏伏，歌詞繼續下去：「沒有人知道我的勞碌，沒有人知道我的悲嘆...」，而每一段的副歌總是：「哈利路亞」！直到最後一節：
無論在地卑微匐伏，
或是在天榮光普照，
我都高唱哈利路亞！
沒有人知道我的喜樂，馬丁路德臥在床榻上呻吟時，仍竭力的告訴世人：
沒有人，唯有耶穌！
「一生的痛苦就像排字工人拼出的鉛版。今生看來，顛倒的文字看不出任何意義；
但有一天，當書本裝訂成冊，每一面都將寫下神奇妙恩典的故事。」-迦內德
"Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually" (Heb. 13:15).A city missionary, stumbling through the dirt of a dark entry, heard a voice say, "Who's there, Honey?" Striking a match, he caught a vision of earthly want and suffering, of saintly trust and peace, "cut in ebony"--calm, appealing eyes set amid the wrinkles of a pinched, black face that lay on a tattered bed. It was a bitter night in February, and she had no fire, no fuel, no light. She had had no supper, no dinner, no breakfast. She seemed to have nothing at all but rheumatism and faith in God. One could not well be more completely exiled from all pleasantness of circumstances, yet the favorite song of this old creature ran:
"Nobody knows de trouble I see,
Nobody knows but Jesus;
Nobody knows de trouble I see--
Sing Glory Hallelu!
"Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down,
Sometimes I'm level on the groun',
Sometimes the glory shines aroun'
Sing Glory Hallelu!"
And so it went on: "Nobody knows de work I does, Nobody knows de griefs I has," the constant refrain being the "Glory Hallelu!" until the last verse rose:
"Nobody knows de joys I has,
Nobody knows but Jesus!"
"Troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." It takes great Bible words to tell the cheer of that old negro auntie.
Remember Luther on his sick-bed. Between his groans he managed to preach on this wise: "These pains and trouble here are like the type which the printers set; as they look now, we have to read them backwards, and they seem to have no sense or meaning in them; but up yonder, when the Lord God prints us off in the life to come, we shall find they make brave reading." Only we do not need to wait till then. Remember Paul walking the hurricane deck amid a boiling sea, bidding the frightened crew "Be of good cheer," Luther, the old negro auntie--all of them human sun-flowers. --Wm. G. Garnett
