140# 当人在不幸状态下，仅仅因为处境艰难才想到上帝并祈求帮助，这样的人是无法经历真正的改造的。这是因为这种状态是被迫的；一旦回到自由状态，这样的人就会回到原来几乎不思考上帝的生活方式中。然而，那些在自由状态下就已经怀有对上帝的敬畏之心的人则完全不同。
这里说的“敬畏上帝”指的是害怕冒犯祂，而冒犯祂就是犯罪。但这种“害怕”实际上不是出于恐惧，而是源于爱。试想，当我们真正爱一个人时，难道不会害怕伤害他吗？而且，我们对一个人的爱越深，就越会害怕伤害他。如果爱中没有这种敬畏之心，那这种爱就是肤浅的、表面的，仅仅停留在思维层面而没有进入意愿层面。
这里所说的“不幸状态”指的是那些使人陷入绝望的危险处境，例如战斗中、决斗时、遭遇船难、发生坠落、遇到火灾、面临或突然遭遇财产损失、因此可能失去职位和名誉的情况，以及其它类似的危急情形。在这些情况下才想到上帝，这种信仰并非源于对上帝的真实认识，而是出于自我保护的本能。因为在这种状态下，人的心智就像被囚禁在肉体中一样，失去了自由，也就无法运用理性。而没有自由和理性，就无法实现真正的改造。
140、如果仅在不幸或突发事件的状态下思想神，并乞求祂的帮助，那么没有人在这种状态下被改造，因为这是一种强迫状态；因此，一旦进入自由状态，他就会回到他以前很少思想或根本不思想神的状态。而那些在以前的状态，也就是自由状态下敬畏神的人则不然。“敬畏神”是指害怕得罪祂，“得罪祂”意味着犯罪。这种敬畏不是怕的问题，而是爱的问题，因为当一个人爱另一人时，他岂不害怕伤害他？爱有多深，怕有多深。没有这种怕，爱是肤浅乏味的；它只占据思维，根本不占据意愿。“不幸或突发事件的状态”是指由危险所带来的绝望状态，如战争、决斗、海难、坍塌、火灾，即将面临或始料不及的财富、工作、威信的丧失等等。在这些情况下想到神不是出于神，而是出于自己。因为这时心智可以说被禁锢在身体里面，因而不在自由中，进而不在理性中；而没有它们，改造是不可能的。
140. States of misfortune: No one is reformed in a state of misfortune if it is only then that he thinks about God and implores His aid, because it is a coerced condition. When he comes into a free state, therefore, he reverts to his former condition in which he thought little if anything about God. Not so people who in a free state before feared God.
By fearing God we mean fearing to offend Him - offending Him being to sin - and this is an effect not of fear but of love. Does not one who loves another fear to harm him? And the more he loves him, the greater his fear? Without that fear love is shallow and superficial, of the thought only and not at all of the will.
By states of misfortune we mean states of despair in times of peril, as in battles, duels, shipwrecks, falls, fires, impending or unforeseen loss of wealth, or of office and therefore honor, and other, like situations. To think of God only at these times originates not from God but from self. For the mind is then imprisoned in the body, so to speak, being thus not in a state of freedom and so neither in a state of rationality, without which reformation is impossible.
140. The reason no one is reformed by thinking of God and pleading for help in a state of emergency is that this is a state of compulsion, so as soon as we return to a state of freedom we return to our former state when we rarely if ever thought about God. It is different for people who feared God in their former, free state.
"Fearing God" means fearing to offend him, and sinning is offending him. This really comes from love rather than from fear. If we love others, are we not afraid of hurting them? The more we love them, the greater the fear. Without this fear our love is insipid, only skin deep. It occupies our thoughts only, and not our intentions.
"States of emergency" mean states when hope is threatened by danger, as happens in battles, duels, shipwrecks, falls, and fires; the sudden, threatened loss of wealth or of employment and its prestige; and the like. Thinking about God in these circumstances comes from ourselves, not from God. Our minds are then virtually imprisoned in our bodies and therefore are not in freedom, which means they lack rationality as well; and without these there is no possibility of reformation.
140. No one is reformed in a state of misfortune, if only then he thinks of God and implores His aid, because this is a state of compulsion; therefore as soon as he comes into a state of freedom he goes back into his former state in which he had thought little or nothing concerning God. It is otherwise with those who had, while in a free state, feared God before misfortune. By fearing God is meant fearing to offend Him, and to offend Him is to sin. This is not a matter of fear but of love; for anyone who loves another fears to do him wrong, and the more he loves the greater is his fear. Without this fear love is insipid and superficial, a matter of thought only and not of the will. By states of misfortune are meant states of despair arising from peril, as in battles, duels, shipwrecks, falls, fires, imminent or unexpected loss of wealth, also of office and consequently of honour, and other similar dangers. To think of God only when in these states is not from God but from self; for the mind is then as it were imprisoned in the body; thus not in liberty and therefore not in rationality; and without these no reformation is possible.
140. No one is reformed in a state of misfortune, if he thinks of God and implores His aid only in that state, because that is a compelled state; consequently as soon as he comes into a free state he goes back to his former state, in which he had thought little or nothing about God. It is otherwise with those who in their former free state had feared God. By "fearing God" is meant fearing to offend Him, "offending God" meaning to sin. This fear is not a matter of fear but of love, for when one loves another does he not fear to do him wrong? And does he not fear this the more, the more he loves? Without such a fear love is insipid and superficial, a mere matter of the thought and not at all of the will. By "states of misfortune" are meant states of despair from danger, as in battles, duels, shipwrecks, falls, fires, threatened or unexpected loss of wealth or of office and thus of honors, and other like things To think of God only when in such dangers is not from God but from self. For the mind is then as it were imprisoned in the body; thus not at liberty, and therefore not in rationality; and apart from these no reformation is possible.
140. Quod nemo reformetur in STATU INFORTUNII, si tunc modo cogitat de Deo, et implorat opem, est quia status coactus est; quare dum in statum liberum venit, in statum priorem, in quo parum si quicquam cogitaverat de Deo, redit: aliter illi qui in statu libero prius timuerunt Deum. Per timere Deum intelligitur timere Ipsum offendere, ac Ipsum offendere est peccare; et hoc non est timoris sed est amoris; quisnam qui aliquem amat, non timet ei malefacere, et quo plus amat eo plus hoc timet; absque hoc timore est amor insulsus et cutaneus, solius cogitationis et nullius voluntatis. Per status infortunii 1intelliguntur status desperationis ex periculis, ut in proeliis, duelliis, naufragiis, lapsibus, incendiis, imminente aut inopinata jactura opum, tum muneris et inde honoris, et in similibus aliis: in his solis de Deo cogitare, non est ex Deo, sed ex semet: est enim tunc mens in corpore quasi incarcerata, ita non in libertate, et inde nec in rationalitate, sine quibus non datur reformatio.
Footnotes:
1 Prima editio: insortunii