Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a life of hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Even prophets have searched and inquired about that salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was meant for you;

You have had a taste of the kindness of the Lord:

come to him then ??come to that living Stone which men have rejected and God holds choice and precious,

he bore our sins in his own body on the gibbet, that we might break with sin and live for righteousness; and by his wounds you have been healed.

You were astray like sheep, but you have come back now to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

Lastly, you must all be united, you must have sympathy, brotherly love, compassion, and humility,

Yet who will wrong you if you have a passion for goodness?

Even supposing you have to suffer for the sake of what is right, still you are blessed. Have no fear of their threats, do not let that trouble you,

see that you have a clean conscience, so that, for all their slander of you, these libellers of your good Christian behaviour may be ashamed.

It is quite enough to have done as pagans choose to do, during the time gone by! You used to lead lives of sensuality, lust, carousing, revelry, dissipation and illicit idolatry,

but they will have to answer for that to Him who is prepared to judge the living and the dead

Once you have suffered for a little, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will repair and recruit and strengthen you.

By the hand of Silvanus, a faithful brother (in my opinion), I have written you these few lines of encouragement, to testify that this is what the true grace of God means. Stand in that grace.