and so will live the rest of his earthly life guided, not by human passions, but by the will of God.

But they will have to answer for their conduct to him who is ready to judge both the living and the dead.

But the end of all things is near. Therefore exercise self-restraint and be calm, that you may be able to pray.

But, if a man suffers as a Christian, do not let him be ashamed of it; let him bring honour to God even though he bears that name.

I urge you to be true shepherds of the flock of God among you, not because you are compelled, but of your own free will; not from a base love of gain, but with a ready spirit;

not as lords of your charges, but as examples to your flock.

Again, you younger men should show deference to the older. And all of you should put on the badge of humility in mutual service, for 'God is opposed to the proud, but gives his help to the humble.'

But I think it my duty, as long as I live in this 'tent,' to rouse you by awakening memories of the past;

For we were not following cleverly devised stories when we told you of the Coming in power of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eye-witnesses of his majesty.

But first be assured of this:--There is no prophetic teaching found in Scripture that can be interpreted by man's unaided reason;

for no prophetic teaching ever came in the old days at the mere wish of man, but men, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke direct from God.

But there were false prophets also in the nation, just as there will be false teachers among you, men who will secretly introduce ruinous divisions, disowning even the Lord who bought them, and bringing speedy Ruin upon themselves.

In their covetousness they will try to make you a source of profit by their fabrications; but for a long time past their Sentence has not been standing idle, nor their Ruin slumbering.

Remember, God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them down to Tartarus, and committed them to caverns of darkness, to be kept under guard for judgment.

but he rescued righteous Lot, whose heart was vexed by the wanton licentiousness of his neighbors;

but was rebuked for his offense. A dumb animal spoke with the voice of a man, and checked the prophet's madness.

But the present heavens and earth, by the same fiat, have been reserved for fire, and are being kept for the day of the judgment and destruction of the godless.

But you, dear friends, must never shut your eyes to the fact that, to the Lord, one day is the same as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise, as some count slowness; but he is forbearing with you, as it is not his will that any of you should perish, but that all should be brought to repentance.

but we look for 'new heavens and a new earth,' where righteousness shall have its home, in fulfillment of the promise of God.

But, if our lives are lived in the Light, as God himself is in the Light, we have communion with one another, and the Blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

My children, I am writing to you to keep you from sinning; but if any one should sin, we have one who can plead for us with the Father--Jesus Christ, the Righteous--

and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but for those of the whole world besides.

The man who says 'I know Jesus,' but does not lay his commands to heart, is a liar, and the Truth has no place in him;

but, whenever a man lays his Message to heart, in that man the love of God has indeed reached its perfection. By this we know that we are in union with God--

Dear friends, it is no new command that I am writing to you, but an old command, which you have had from the first. That old command is the Message to which you listened.

for all that the world can offer--the gratification of the earthly nature, the gratification of the eye, the pretentious life--belongs, not to the Father, but to the world.

And the world, and all that it gratifies, is passing away, but he who does God's will remains for ever.

From us, it is true, they went out, but they had never belonged to us; for, if they had belonged to us, they would have remained among us. They left us that it might be made clear that they do not, any of them, belong to us.

You all know--But I am not writing to you because you do not know the Truth, but because you do know it, and because nothing false can come from the Truth.

But you--you still retain in your hears that consecration which you received from the Christ, and are not in need of any one to teach you; but, since his consecration of you teaches you about everything, and since it is a real consecration, and no lie, then, as it has taught you, maintain your union with him.

But, if any one has worldly possessions, and yet looks on while his Brother is in want, and steels his heart against him, how can it be said that the love of God is within him?

Dear friends, do not trust every inspiration, but test each inspiration, to see whether it proceeds from God; because many false Prophets have gone out into the world.

His love is seen in this--not in our having loved God, but in his loving us and sending his Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Who is he that conquers the world but the man who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

He it is whose Coming was attested by means of Water and Blood--Jesus Christ himself; not by Water only, but by Water and by Blood. And there is the Spirit also to bear testimony, and the Spirit is Truth itself.

We accept the testimony of men, but God's testimony is still stronger; and there is the testimony of God--the fact that he has already borne testimony about his Son.

To an eminent Christian Lady, and to her Children, from the Officer of the Church. I sincerely love you all, and not I only, but also all those who have learned to know the Truth.

Though I have a great deal to say to you, I would rather not trust it to paper and ink, but I am hoping to come and see you, and to speak with you face to face, so that your joy may be complete.

I wrote a few lines to the Church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, declines to recognize us.

Therefore, when I come, I shall not forget his conduct in ridiculing us with his wicked tongue. Not content with that, he not only declines to recognize our Brothers himself, but actually prevents those who would, and expels them from the Church.

I have a great deal to say to you, but I do not care to trust it to pen and ink in a letter.

Now I want to remind you--but you already know it all--that, though the Lord delivered the People from Egypt, yet he afterwards destroyed those who refused to believe in him;

and that even those angels, who did not keep to their appointed spheres, but left their proper homes, have been kept by him for the judgment of the Great Day in everlasting chains and black darkness.

Yet even Michael, the Archangel, when, in his dispute with the Devil, he was arguing about the body of Moses, did not venture to charge him with maligning, but said merely 'The Lord rebuke you!'

But these men malign whatever they do not understand; while they use such things as they know by instinct (like the animals that have no reason) for their own corruption.

But do you, dear friends, recall what was foretold by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

But do you, dear friends, build up your characters on the foundation of your most holy Faith, pray under the guidance of the Holy Spirit,

To others show pity, but with caution, hating the very clothing polluted by their touch.

But this I have against you--You have abandoned your first love.

But this is in your favor--You hate the life lived by the Nikolaitans, and I also hate it.

To the Angel of the Church in Smyrna write:-- "These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died, but is restored to life:--

I know your persecution and your poverty--yet you are rich! I know, too, the slander that come from those who declare that they are Jews, though they are not, but are a Congregation of Satan.

I gave her time to repent, but she is determined not to turn from her licentiousness.

But I say to the rest of you at Thyatira--all who do not accept such teaching, whose who did not learn 'the secrets of Satan,' as men call them--I am not laying on you any further burden;

Be on the watch, and strengthen what still survives, though once it was all but dead; for I have not found your life perfect in the eyes of my God.

He who conquers shall be clothed in these white robes, and I will not 'strike his name out of the Book of Life'; but I will own him before my Father, and before his angels.

I know your life (see, I have set a door open before you which no one is able to shut), I know that, though you have but little strength, you kept my teaching in mind, and did not disown my Name.

Listen, I give some of the Congregation of Satan, the men who declare that they are Jews, though they are not, but are lying----I will make them 'come and bow down at your feet,' and they shall learn that I loved you.

But now, because you are lukewarm, neither hot not cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

But no one either in Heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the book or look within it.

But one of the Councillors said to me--'Do not weep. The Lion conquered--the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Scion of David--and can therefore open the book with its seven seals.'

And I heard what seemed to be a voice, coming from among the four Creatures, crying--'A quart of wheat for a florin, and three quarts of barley for a florin! But do not harm the oil and the wine.'

They were told not to harm the grass, or any plant, or any tree, but only those who have not 'the seal of God upon their foreheads.'

Yet they were not allowed to kill them, but it was ordered that those men should be tortured for five months. Their torture was like the torture caused by a scorpion when it stings a man.

In those days men 'will seek Death and will not find it'; They will long to die, but Death flees from them.

But those who were left of mankind, who had not perished through these Curses, did not repent and turn away from what their own hands had made; they would not abandon the worship of 'demons, and of idols made of gold or silver or brass or stone or wood, which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk';

And, when they spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from Heaven say-- 'Keep secret what the seven peals of thunder said, and do not write it down.'

So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little book. And he said 'Take it, and eat it. It will be bitter to your stomach, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.'

I took the little book out of the angel's hand 'and ate it, and, while in my mouth, it was like the sweetest honey'; but, when I had eaten it, it was bitter to my stomach.

But omit the court outside the Temple, and do not measure that, for it has been given up to the nations; and the holy City will be under their heel for forty-two months.

But the woman fled into the wilderness, where there is a place prepared for her by God, to be tended there for twelve hundred and sixty days.

Then a battle took place in the heavens. Michael and his angels fought with the Dragon. But though the Dragon, with his angels, fought,

Therefore, be glad, O Heaven, and all who live in Heaven! Alas for the earth and for the sea, for the Devil has gone down to you in great fury, knowing that he has but little time.'

But to the woman were given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she might fly to her place in the wilderness, where she is being tended for 'one year, and for two years, and for half a year' in safety from the Serpent.

But Earth came to her help, and opened her mouth and drank up the river which the Dragon had poured out of its mouth.

The Beast that I saw was like a leopard; but its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth like the mouth of a lion. The Dragon gave it his power and his throne, and wide dominion.

One of its heads seemed to me to have been mortally wounded, but its deadly wound had been healed. The whole earth followed the Beast, wondering;

but the angel said to me-- 'Why were you amazed? I will tell you the mystic meaning of the vision of this woman, and of the Beast, with the seven heads and ten horns, that carries her.

The Beast that you saw was, but is not, and is about to rise out of the bottomless pit, and is on its way to destruction. Those who are living on earth will be amazed--those whose names have not been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world--when they see that the Beast was, but is not, and yet will come.'

So must the Beast that was, but is not. He counts as an eighth king, although he is one of the seven, and is on his way to destruction.

The ten horns that you saw are ten kings. who have not yet received their kingdoms, but for an hour they receive the authority of kings, together with the Beast.

They will fight with the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings; so, too, will those with him who have received the Call and are chosen and faithful.

I prostrated myself at the feet of him who spoke to worship him, but he said to me- - 'Forbear; I am your fellow-servant, and the fellow-servant of your Brothers who bear their testimony to Jesus. Worship God. For to bear testimony to Jesus needs the inspiration of the Prophets.'

His eyes are flaming fires; on his head there are many diadems, and he bears a name, written, which no one knows but himself;

Blessed and holy will he be who shares in that First Resurrection. The second Death has no power over them; but they will be priests of God, and the Christ, and they will reign with him for the thousand years.

But as for cowards, unbelievers, the degraded, murderers, the impure, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars--their place will be in the burning lake of fire and sulphur. That is the Second Death.'

'Never shall any unhallowed thing enter it,' nor he whose life is shameful and false, but only 'those whose names have been written in the Lamb's Book of Life.'

But he said to me-- 'Forbear; I am your fellow-servant, and the fellow-servant of your Brothers, the Prophets, and of all who lay to heart the words in this book. Worship God.'