八月二十八日
点灯的油。（出25:6）。
我的心哪！你需要多少，因爲你的灯没有油就不能再点了。你的灯芯一冒烟，在黑暗中就得碰壁；若没有油，灯就灭了。你不能从你的本性中涌出油来，因此你必须到卖油的那里去爲自己买油，不然你必像愚拙的童女一样地叹息：“我们的灯要灭了。”就是圣所里的灯若没有油也不能发光；虽然它们是在会幕之中，但它们也得常添油；虽然没有暴风吹拂它们，但也须常修剪，你的需要也是这样大。在恶劣的环境中你不能放光，除非另有恩典的新油加给你。
幷非随便什麽油都可用以服侍主；地里涌出的大量的矿物油，鱼类出的动物油，或是各种核仁所出的植物油，都不能用；只有一种油可用，那就是上等的橄榄油。从人本性中所出的僞装的恩德，祭司手上来的幻想的恩，以及外表上礼仪的想像的恩，神的圣徒都不能用这些；他知道就是这些油像江河那麽多，神也不喜欢。他只要客西马尼园的橄榄所压出的油，他必须从被压榨的主那里取油。福音的恩油是清洁没有渣滓的，因此它发出的光是清楚光明的。我们的教会是救主的金灯台，若它们要在暗世放出亮光，就必须多用这圣油。我们要爲自己、爲牧师、爲教会祷告，愿他们的灯不缺油。真理、圣洁、快乐、知识、仁爱，这些都是圣灯所发出的光綫，但我们自己若不借着神的圣灵得到这油就不能放出这样的光来。
August
28
“Oil
for the light.” — Exodus 25:6
My soul, how much thou needest this, for
thy lamp will not long continue to burn without it. Thy snuff will smoke and
become an offence if light be gone, and gone it will be if oil be absent. Thou
hast no oil well springing up in thy human nature, and therefore thou must go
to them that sell and buy for thyself, or like the foolish virgins, thou wilt
have to cry, “My lamp is gone out.” Even the consecrated lamps could
not give light without oil; though they shone in the tabernacle they needed to
be fed, though no rough winds blew upon them they required to be trimmed, and
thy need is equally as great. Under the most happy circumstances thou canst not
give light for another hour unless fresh oil of grace be given thee.
It was not every oil that might be used in the Lord’s service; neither
the petroleum which exudes so plentifully from the earth, nor the produce of
fishes, nor that extracted from nuts would be accepted; one oil only was
selected, and that the best olive oil. Pretended grace from natural goodness,
fancied grace from priestly hands, or imaginary grace from outward ceremonies
will never serve the true saint of God; he knows that the Lord would not be
pleased with rivers of such oil. He goes to the olive-press of Gethsemane, and
draws his supplies from Him who was crushed therein. The oil of gospel grace is
pure and free from lees and dregs, and hence the light which is fed thereon is
clear and bright. Our churches are the Saviour’s golden candelabra, and if they
are to be lights in this dark world, they must have much holy oil. Let us pray
for ourselves, our ministers, and our churches, that they may never lack oil
for the light. Truth, holiness, joy, knowledge, love, these are all beams of
the sacred light, but we cannot give them forth unless in private we receive
oil from God the Holy Ghost.
