PETER an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the foreigners dispers'd thro' Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, whom God the father has chosen in pursuance of his decree,

Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has regenerated us, and given us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the expectation of immortal life,

but as he, who has called you, is holy: let your whole conduct be an imitation of his holiness.

who was destin'd before the creation of the world, tho' 'tis of late only that he has appear'd, upon your account:

it is by him that you believe in God, who has raised him from the dead, and invested him with glory, that your faith and your hope might be in God.

but the word of the Lord remains for ever: and that is the gospel, which has been preached to you.

which however rejected it is by men, is the precious stone, which God has chosen: and

this will conciliate the divine favour. and this is the condition of your vocation, since Christ himself has suffer'd for us,

for Jesus Christ himself has already suffer'd for our sins, the innocent for the guilty, to bring us to God: who, tho' he died with respect to his body, was rais'd to life by that spirit,

Since then Christ has with respect to his mortal nature died for us, arm yourselves with this reflection, that he, who is dead with respect to sensuality, has renounced sin;

let a speaker deliver nothing but what is agreeable to the divine oracles: and let him that attends the poor, be active in proportion to the strength God has given him. amen.

but may the all-gracious God, who has called us to eternal glory, perfect, confirm, fortify, and settle you, during the short interval of your sufferings.