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My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall 3 receive the greater condemnation: for in many things we offend 2 all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in 3 the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which, though they be 4 so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great 5 things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And 6 the longue is a fire, a world of iniquity! So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every 7 kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed, of mankind: but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the 10 same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same 11 place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig-tree, my brethren, 12 bear olive-berries? either a vine figs? so can no fountain both vield salt water and fresh. Who is a wise man and endued with 13 Knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ve have bitter 14 envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is 15 earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there 16 is confusion, and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from 17 above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in 18 peace of them that make peace.

ye

FROM whence come wars and fightings among you? come they 4 not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, 2 and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not: ye ask, and 3 receive not, because ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the 4 friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, 'The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace, 6 wherefore he saith,

God resisteth the proud,

But giveth grace unto the humble.

5

Submit yourselves therefore to God: resist the devil, and he 7 will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh 8 to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your 9 laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Hum- 10

ble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. 'Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil 11 of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is 12 able to save, and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into 13 such a city, and continue there a year, and buy, and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow; for 14 what is your life? it is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away for that ye ought to say, If the 15 Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye re- 16 joice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to 17 him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that 5 shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your gar- 2 ments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and 3 the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped 4 down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the LORD OF SABAOTII. Ye have lived in pleasure 5 on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the 6 just; and he doth not resist you.

BÉ patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. 7 Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the } earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain: 'be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for 8 the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against 9 another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the Judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who 10 have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy 11 which endure: ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

BUT above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by hea- 12 ven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemna

tion.

Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let 13 him sing psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the 14 elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall 15 save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

CONFESS your faults one to another, and pray one for another, 16 that ye may be healed: the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like pas- 17

sions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months: and he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and 18 the earth brought forth her fruit.

BRETHREN, if any of you do err from the truth, and one con- 19 vert him, let him know, that he which converteth the sinner 20 from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER.

PETER, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scat- 1 tered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, 2 through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

BLESSED be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 3 which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 'to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that 4 fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,' who are kept by 5 the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, 'wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now 6 for a season, (if need be) ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations; that the trial of your faith, being much more pre- 7 cious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, 8 though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice, with joy unspeakable, and full of glory,' receiving the end of your faith, 9 even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the proph- 10 ets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what man- 11 ner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not 12 unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

WHEREFORE gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and 13 hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning 14 yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance; but 15 as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 'because it is written, "Be ye holy; for I 16 am holy." And if ye call on the Father, who without respect 17

of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: forasmuch as ye know that ye 18 were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb with- 19 out blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained be- 20 fore the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,' who by him do believe in God, that raised him 21 up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying 22 the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: being 23 born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (For,

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And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. 25 Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocri- 2 sies, and envies, and all evil-speakings, 'as new-born babes, de- 2 sire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby if 3 so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming 4 as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ' ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spirit- 5 ual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained 6 in the scripture,

Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone, elect, precious:
And he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious: but unto them 7 which be disobedient,

The stone which the builders disallowed,

The same is made the head of the corner,

and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them 8 which stumble at the word, being disobedient; whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal 9 priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: which in time past were not a people, but 10 are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

DEARLY beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, ab- 11 stain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your 12 conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's 13 sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 'or unto governors, 14 as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well: (for so is the will 15

of God, that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:) as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of 16 maliciousness, but as the servants of God. 'Honor all men. Love 17 the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

SERVANTS, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to 18 the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thank- 19 worthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for 20 your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered 21 for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; 'who, 22 when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously; who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the 24 tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going 25 astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

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LIKEWISE, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; 3 that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not 3 be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of 4 the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who 5 trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands, 'even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him 6 lord; whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with 7 them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

FINALLY, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of an- 8 other; love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous; not rendering 9 evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise, blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

For he that will love life, and see good days,
Let him refrain his tongue from evil,

And his lips that they speak no guile :
Let him eschew evil, and do good;

Let him seek peace and ensue it.

For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous,

And his ears are open unto their prayers:

But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

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And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that 13 which is good? But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy 14 are ye; and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; but sanctify the LORD God in your hearts;

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