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「除了從地上買來的那十四萬四千人以外，沒有人能學這歌。」（聖經啟示錄十四章 3 節）
有一種歌，既非藝術所能教，也非樂理所能編，只有在患難中能學會的。這種歌是憑記憶的，憑經驗的。
沒有一個天使能唱得像我們這麼好聽。他們要唱，他們就必須走我們所走的道路，經歷我們所經歷的經歷。沒有一人能學會，除了十架之子。
所以，我的心哪！你現在正在從父學習音樂課程。祂訓練你，要使你有資格加入天上的大歌詠團。有一部分聲音，沒有別人能擔任，連天使和天使長也不能，只有你一人能擔任的。天使雖能唱高音，但是這幽而沉的低音，只有你一人能唱。
你的父在訓練你擔任那天使所不能擔任的一部分；訓練你的學校就是苦難。很多人說，上帝給你苦難，爲了要試煉你，但有一個更確當的說法，就是上帝給你的苦難，爲了要教育你，訓練你能參加天上的歌詠團。
在黑雲中祂試你的聲音，在憂傷中祂教你唱歌的表情，在患難中祂練你的氣，在試煉中祂教你發音的準確。
不要輕看這神的音樂院；很多人雖然羨慕，可是還不能被選呢！── 馬得勝（George Matheson）
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"And no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth." (Rev. 14:3.)
THERE are songs which can only be learned in the valley. No art can teach them; no rules of voice can make them perfectly sung. Their music is in the heart. They are songs of memory, of personal experience. They bring out their burden from the shadow of the past: they mount on the wings of yesterday.
St. John says that even in Heaven there will be a song that can only be fully sung by the sons of earth─the strain of redemption. Doubtless it is a song of triumph, a hymn of victory to the Christ who made us free. But the sense of triumph must come from the memory of the chain.
No angel, no archangel can sing it so sweetly as I can. To sing it as I sing it, they must pass through my exile, and this they cannot do. None can learn it but the children of the Cross.
And so, my soul, thou art receiving a music lesson from thy Father. Thou art being educated for the choir invisible. There are parts of the symphony that none can take but thee.
There are chord too minor for the angels. There may be heights in the symphony which are beyond the scale heights which angels alone can reach; but there are depth which belong to thee, and can only be touched by thee.
Thy Father is training thee for the part the angels cannot sing; and the school is sorrow. I have heard many say that He sends sorrow to prove thee; nay, he sends sorrow to educate thee, to train thee for the choir invisible.
In the night He is preparing thy song. In the valley He is tuning thy voice. In the cloud He is deepening thy chords. In the rain He is sweetening thy melody. In the cold He is moulding thy expression. In the transition from hope to fear He is perfecting thy lights.
Despise not thy school of sorrow, O my soul; it will give thee a unique part in the universal song. --- George Matheson.
"Is the midnight closing round you?
Are the shadows dark and long?
Ask Him to come close beside you,
And He'll give you a new, sweet song.
He'll give it and sing it with you;
And when weakness lets it down,
He'll take up the broken cadence,
And blend it with His own.
"And many a rapturous minstrel,
Among those sons of light,
Will say of His sweetest music,
I learned it in the night.'
And many a rolling anthem,
That fills the Father's home,
Sobbed out its first rehearsal,
In the shade of a darkened room."
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