We never write anything to you other than what you will acknowledge to the very end--

I had this further object, also, in what I wrote--to ascertain whether you might be relied upon to be obedient in everything.

Unlike Moses, who covered his face with a veil, to prevent the Israelites from gazing at the disappearance of what was passing away.

We, all the while, gazing not on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is transient, but what is unseen is imperishable.

For we guide our lives by faith, and not by what we see.

Do not enter into inconsistent relations with those who reject the Faith. For what partnership can there be between righteousness and lawlessness? or what has light to do with darkness?

What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial? or what can those who accept the Faith have in common with those who reject it?

What agreement can thee be between a temple of God and idols? And we are a temple of the Living God. That is what God meant when he said--'I will dwell among them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

For see what results that other sorrow--sorrow in accordance with God's will--has had in your case. What earnestness it produced! what explanations! what strong feeling! what alarm! what longing! what eagerness! what readiness to punish! You have proved yourselves altogether free from guilt in that matter.

For, where there is willingness, a man's gift is valued by its comparison with what he has, and not with what he has not.

On the present occasion, what you can spare may supply their need, so that at another time what they can spare may supply your need, and thus matters may be equalized.

What we are specially guarding against is that any fault should be found with us in regard to our administration of this charitable fund;

So my reason for sending our Brothers is to prevent what we said about you from proving, in this particular matter, an empty boast, and to enable you to be as well prepared as I have been saying that you are.

Let such a man be assured of this--that our words in our letters show us to be, when absent, just what our deeds will show us to be, when present.

So that we shall be able to tell the Good News in the districts beyond you, without trespassing on the sphere assigned to others, or boasting of what has been already done.

What I am doing now I shall continue to do, that I may cut away the ground from under those who are wishing for some ground for attacking me, so that as regards the thing of which they boast they may appear in their true characters, just as we do.

In what respect, I ask, were you treated worse than the other Churches, unless it was that, for my part, I refused to become a burden to you? Forgive me the wrong I thus did you!

For I am afraid that perhaps, when I come, I may find that you are not what I want you to be, and, on the other hand, that you may find that I am what you do not want me to be. I am afraid that I may find quarreling, jealousy, ill-feeling, rivalry, slandering, back-biting, self-assertion, and disorder.

We pray God that you may do nothing wrong, not that we may be seen to stand the test, but that you may do what is right, even though we may seem not to stand the test.

We are glad when we are weak, if you are strong. And what we pray for is that you may become perfect.