1 We must attain the gifts of God by faith and obedience,
which we must carry on in an orderly pursuing of the
duties of our several stations, without envy or contention.
24 The necessity of different orders among men.
33 We have none of us anything but what we received of God:
whom therefore we ought in every condition thankfully to obey.
HOW blessed and wonderful,
beloved, are the gifts of God.
2 Life in immortality! brightness
in righteousness! truth in full
assurance! faith in confidence!
temperance in holiness!
3 And all this has God subjected
to our understandings:
4 What therefore shall those
things be which he has prepared
for them that wait for him?
5 The Creator and Father of
spirits, the Most Holy; he only
knows both the greatness and
beauty of them,
6 Let us therefore strive with
all earnestness, that we may be
found in the number of those that
wait for him, that so we may
receive the reward which he has
promised.
7 But how, beloved, shall we do
this? We must fix our minds by
faith towards God, and seek those
things that are pleasing and
acceptable unto him.
8 We must act conformably to
his holy will; and follow the way
of truth, casting off from us all
unrighteousness and iniquity,
together with all covetousness,
strife, evil manners, deceit,
whispering, detractions; all
hatred of God, pride and boasting;
vain-glory and ambition;
9 For they that do these things
are odious to God; and not only
they that do them, but also all
such as approve of those that do
them.
10 For thus saith the Scripture,
But unto the wicked, God said,
What hast thou to do to declare
my statute, or that thou shouldst
take my covenant in thy mouth?
Seeing that thou hatest instruction,
and castest my words behind thee.
11 When thou sawest a thief,
then thou consentedst with him;
thou hast been partaker with
adulterers, Thou givest thy mouth
to evil, and thy tongue frameth
deceit. Thou sittest and speakest
against thy brother; thou slanderest
thine own mother's son.
12 These things hast thou done
and I kept silence; thou thoughtest
that I was altogether such a one
as thyself: but I will reprove thee,
and set them in order before thine
eyes.
13 Now consider this ye that
forget God, lest I tear you in pieces,
and there be none to deliver.
14 Whose offereth praise,
glorifieth me; And to him that
disposeth his way aright, will
I show the salvation of God.
15 This is the way, beloved, in
which we may find our Saviour,
even Jesus Christ, the high-priest
of all our offerings, the defender
and helper of our weakness.
16 By him we look up to the
highest heavens; and behold, as
in a glass, his spotless and most
excellent visage.
17 By him are the eyes of our
hearts opened; by him our foolish
and darkened understanding
rejoiceth to behold his wonderful
light.
18 By him would God have us
to taste the knowledge of
immortality: who being the
brightness of his glory, is by
so much greater than the angels,
as he has by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they.
19 For so it is written, who
maketh his angels spirits, and his
ministers a flame of fire:
20 But to his son, thus saith the
Lord, Thou art my Son, to-day
have I begotten thee.
21 Ask of me and I will give
thee the heathen for thy inheritance,
and the utmost parts of the earth
for thy possession.
22 And again he saith unto him,
Sit thou on my right hand until
I make thine enemies thy
foot-stool.
23 But who are his enemies?
even the wicked, and such who
oppose their own wills to the
will of God.
24 Let us therefore march-on,
men and brethren, with all
earnestness in his holy laws.
25 Let us consider those who
fight under our, earthly governors
How orderly, how readily, and
with what exact obedience they
perform those things that are
commanded them.
26 All are not generals, nor
colonels, nor captains, nor
inferior officers:
27 But everyone in his respective
rank does what is commanded him by
the king, and those who have the
authority over him.
28 They who are great, cannot
subsist without those that are little;
nor the little without the great;
29 But there must be a mixture
in all things, and then there will
be use and profit too.
30 Let us, for example, take
our body: the head without the
feet is nothing, neither the feet
without the head.
31 And even the smallest members
of our body are yet both necessary
and useful to the whole body.
32 But all conspire together,
and are subject to one common
use, namely, the preservation of
the whole body.
33 Let therefore our whole body
by saved in Christ Jesus; and let
everyone be subject to his neighbour,
according to the order in which
he is placed by the gift of God.
34 Let not the strong man despise
the weak; and let the weak see that
he reverence the strong.
35 Let the rich man distribute
to the necessity of the poor; and
let the poor bless God, that he has
given one unto him, by whom his
want may be supplied.
36 Let the wise man show forth
his wisdom, not in words, but in
good works.
37 Let him that is humble, not
bear witness to himself, but let
him leave it to another to bear
witness of him.
38 Let him that is pure in the
flesh, not grow proud of it, knowing
that it was from another that he
received the gift of continence.
39 Let us consider therefore,
brethren, whereof we are made;
who, and what kind of men we
came into the world, as it were
out of a sepulchre, and from outer
darkness.
40 He hath made us, and formed
us, brought us into his own world;
having presented us with his
benefits, even before we were born.
41 Wherefore, having received
all these things from him, we
ought in everything to give thanks
unto him, to whom be glory for
ever and ever. Amen.