Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

3 perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body also. Behold, we put bits in the mouths of horses, that they may 4 obey us and we turn about their whole body. Behold, ships also, which are so great, and are driven by fierce winds, yet are turned about by a very small helm, whi5 thersoever the pilot chooseth. Thus the tongue also is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how 6 great a pile doth a little fire kindle! And the tongue 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 t; and is itself set on fire by 7 hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of things in the sea, is subdued, 8 and hath been subdued, by mankind. But the tongue no man can subdue: it is an evil not to be restrained, full 9 of deadly poison. Therewith we bless our God and Father; and therewith we curse men, that are made after 10 the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought 11 not so to be. Doth a spring send forth out of the same 12 place sweet and bitter water? Can a fig-tree, my brethren,

13

bear olives? or a vine, figs? So neither can that spring which is salt yield sweet water ‡.

Who is wise and knowing among you? Let him shew by his works a good behaviour, with meekness of wis14 dom. But if ye have bitter envy and strife in your heart, boast not yourselves, and speak not falsely concerning 15 the truth. This wisdom cometh not down from above; 16 but is earthly, animal, demoniacal. For where envy

and strife are, there disturbance is, and every evil work. 17 But the wisdom which is from above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of pity and

the tongue is a spark, the varnisher of 'njustice: Wakefield.

Gr. the wheel." Setteth on fire the wheel of life." Wakefield.

no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh. R, T.

[ocr errors][merged small]

of good fruits, without partiality, [and] without hypo18 crisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace*.

CH. IV. Whence come contests† and fightings among you ?

come they not hence, from your desires of pleasure‡ 2 which war in your members? Ye desire, and have not : ye kill, and earnestly covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and contend; yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not; because ye ask amiss, that ye 4 may consume it on your pleasures. Ye adulterers and

adulteresses, know ye not that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a 5 friend to the world, is an enemy to God. Do ye think that the scripture speaketh in vain? Doth the spirit that 6 dwelleth in us stir up to envy? Nay, it bestoweth more abundant favour. Wherefore it is said, "God resisteth 7 the proud, but bestoweth favour on the humble." Sub

mit yourselves therefore to God: resist the devil, and 8 he will flee from you: draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners ; and 9 purify your hearts, ye men of divided minds: be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to 10 mourning, and your joy to heaviness: humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.

[ocr errors]

Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil 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 12 of it. There is one law-giver and judge, who is able to save and to destroy. Who art thou that judgest another? Come now, ye who say, "To-day or to-morrow let us goff into such a city, and continue there a year, and

13

is sown for the makers of peace. Wakefield.
Or, sensual desires, N. m.

+ Or, wars, N. m.
Or, and envy, N. m.

q. d. every temptation to evil, whether from without or from within. tt we will go, R. T.

be on the morrow.

14 traffic, and acquire gain:" ye who know not what will For what is your life? It is even a vapour, which appeareth for a little time, and then va15 nisheth away*. Whereas ye ought to say, " If the Lord 16 will, and we live, then let us do this, or that." But now ye glory in your boasting words: all such glorying 17 is evil. To him therefore it is sin, who knoweth how to do what is right, and doeth it not.

CH. V. Come now, ye rich men, weep and lament for your 2 miseries which are coming upon you. Your store is cor3 rupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold

and silver is rusted; and the rust of them will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. 4 Ye have heaped up treasure in the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers that have reaped your fields, which is unjustly kept back by you, crieth against you: and the cries of the reapers have entered into the ears of 5 the Lord of hosts. Ye have lived delicately on the earth,

and have rioted in pleasure: ye have nourished your 6 hearts, as it were in the day of slaughtertt. Ye have condemned, ye have killed, the Righteous One, who did not resist you.

7

Be patient therefore, brethren, until the appearance of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and is patient for it, until it 8 receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; establish your hearts; for the appearance of the Lord 9 draweth near. Murmur not against each other‡‡, brethren, lest ye be judged||||: behold, the judge standeth

disappeareth. N.

+ Or, then we will, Wetstein.

Or, presumptuous speeches: Or, presumption: N. m.

|| Or, your flesh. Ye have treasured up as it were fire in etc. N. m. See Wakefield. ¶ i. e. yourselves. So ver. 8. N. m.

†† ye have regaled your hearts as in a day of sacrifice. Wakefield.

So Wakefield. Grieve not for one another, N. who explains it, Lament not heavily for the calamities of one another. This, he observes, is well connected with the preceding and following verses.

condemned, R. T. and N. See Griesbach.

10 before the door. My brethren, take the prophets, that

have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of 11 suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we pronounce those happy that endure patiently, Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen what the Lord did in the end*; for the Lord is of tender mercy, and full of compassion.

12

13

But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath : but let your yes be yes; and your no, no; lest ye fall under condemnation.

:

Doth any among you suffer affliction? Let him pray. 14 Is any cheerful? Let him sing praisef to God. Is any sick among you? Let him call to him the elders of the church; and, when they have anointed him with oil, 15 let them pray over him in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith will preserve the sick persont, and the Lord will raise him up; and although he have committed sins, 16 they will be forgiven him. Confess your offences to one another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth 17 much. Elijah was a man of like infirmities with us; and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained 18 not on the land for three years and six months: and he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth its produce.

19

Brethren, if any of you err from the truth, and one 20 turn him back to it; let him know, that he who turneth a sinner back from the error of his way, saveth a soul¶ from death, and covereth his multitude of sins.tt

Gr. the end of the Lord: N. m.

Or, hymns, N. m.

i. e. a man, a person, N. m.

The writer here alludes to the miraculous power of the apostolic age. Or, inwrought, i. e. inspired. ++ This excellent epistle is one of those the genuineness of which was disputed in the primitive church. But it is not unworthy of the apostle to whom it is generally ascribed.

THE

FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL

OF

PETER.

CHAP. I.

PETER, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the sojourners scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, 2 and Bithynia; elect*, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctification of the spirit, to obedience, and to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ favour and peace be multiplied to you.

3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus 4 Christ from the dead; even to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and unfadingt, reserved in heaven 5 for you, who are kept by the power of God, through your faith, to salvation ready to be revealed in the last 6 time: wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a short time (if need be) ye be grieved by various trials; 7 that the proof of your faith, which is a much more precious proof than that of gold, which perisheth though proved by fire, may be found to praise, and honour, and 8 glory, at the manifestation of Jesus Christ; whom, though ye have not known him, ye love; in whom,

i. e. chosen, N. m.

to an incorruptible, and undefiled, and unfading inheritance, N.

« AnteriorContinuar »