May God, the source of all peace, who brought back from the dead him who, 'by virtue of the blood that rendered valid the unchangeable Covenant, is the Great Shepherd of God's Sheep,' Jesus, our Lord--

If one of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask wisdom from the God who gives freely to every one without reproaches, and it will be given to him.

But let him ask with confidence, never doubting; for the man who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven hither and thither at the mercy of the wind--

Blessed is the man who remains firm under temptation, for, when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of Life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.

Listen, my dear Brothers. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the things of this world to be rich through their faith, and to possess the Kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?

For there will be justice without mercy for him who has not acted mercifully. Mercy triumphs over Justice.

My Brothers, what is the good of a man's saying that he has faith, if he does not prove it by actions? Can such faith save him?

Who among you claims to be wise and intelligent? Let him show that his actions are the outcome of a good life lived in the humility of true wisdom.

He, then, who knows what is right but fails to do it--that is sin in him.

If any of you is in trouble, let him pray; if any one is happy, let him sing hymns.

If any one of you is ill, let him send for the Officers of the Church, and let them pray over him, after anointing him with oil in the name of the lord.

The prayer offered in faith will save the man who is sick, and the Lord will raise him from his bed; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

My Brothers, should one of you be led astray from the Truth, and some one bring him back again,

Though you have never seen him, yet you love him; though you do not even now see him, yet you believe in him, and exalt with a triumphant happiness too great for words,

And since you call upon him as 'Father,' who judges every one impartially by what he has done, let reverence be the spirit of your lives during the time of your stay upon earth.

who, through him, are faithful to God who raised him from the dead and gave him honour, so that your faith and hope are now in God.

Come to Him, then, as to a living stone, rejected, indeed, by men, but in God's eyes choice and precious;

For there is a passage of Scripture that runs-- 'See, I am placing in Zion a choice and precious corner-stone; And he who believes in him shall have no cause for shame.'

It is to you, then, who believe in him that he is precious, but to those who do not believe he is 'a stone which, though rejected by the builders, has now itself become the corner-stone,'

But you are 'a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, God's own People,' entrusted with the proclamation of the goodness of him who called you out of Darkness into his wonderful Light.

and to governors as the men sent by him to punish evil-doers and to commend those who do right.

He was abused, but he did not answer with abuse; he suffered, but he did not threaten; he entrusted himself to him whose judgments are just.

as Sarah did, who obeyed Abraham, and called him master. And you are her true children, as long as you live good lives, and let nothing terrify you.

'He who would enjoy life And see happy days-- let him keep his tongue from evil And his lips from deceitful words,

Let him turn from evil and do good, Let him seek for peace and follow after it;

who has gone into Heaven, and is at God's right hand, where Angels and Archangels and the Powers of Heaven now yield submission to him.

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

When any one speaks, let him speak as one who is delivering the oracles of God. When any one is endeavoring to serve others, let him do so in reliance on the strength which God supplies; so that in everything God may be honour ed through Jesus Christ--to whom be ascribed all honour and might for ever and ever. Amen.

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.

laying all your anxieties upon him, for he makes you his care.

Stand firm against him, strong in your faith; knowing, as you do, that the very sufferings which you are undergoing are being endured to the full by your Brotherhood throughout the world.

To him be ascribed dominion for ever. Amen.

I have been writing to you briefly by the hand of Silas, our true-hearted Brother (for so I regard him), to urge upon you, and to bear my testimony, that in what I have written is to be found the true love of God. On that take your stand.

For his divine power has given us everything that is needful for a life of piety, as we advance in the knowledge of him who called us by a glorious manifestation of his goodness.

These were the words that we heard, borne to our ears from Heaven, when we were with him on that Sacred Mountain.

Therefore, dear friends, in expectation of these things, make every effort to be found by him spotless, blameless, and at peace.

Regard our Lord's forbearance as your one hope of Salvation. This is what our dear Brother Paul wrote to you, with the wisdom that God gave him.

and advance in the love and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. All glory be to him now and for ever.

These, then, are the Tidings that we have heard from him and now tell you-- 'God is Light, and Darkness has no place at all in him.'

If we say that we have communion with him, and yet continue to live in the Darkness, we lie, and are not living the Truth.

And by this we know that we have learned to know him--by our laying his commands to heart.

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;

He who loves his Brother is always in the Light, and there is nothing within him to cause him to stumble;

I am writing, Fathers, to you, because you have learned to know him who has been from the Beginning. I am writing, Young Men, to you, because you have conquered the Evil One. I write, Children, to you, because you have learned to know the Father.

I write, Fathers, to you, because you have learned to know him who has been from the Beginning. I write, Young Men, to you, because you are strong, and God's Message is always in your hearts, and you have conquered the Evil One.

Do not love the world or what the world can offer. When any one loves the world, there is no love for the Father in him;

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.

Yes, my Children, maintain your union with Christ, so that, whenever he appears, our confidence may not fail us, and we may not be ashamed to meet him at his coming.

Knowing him to be righteous, you realize that every one who lives righteously has received the new Life from him.

Think what love the Father has shown us in allowing us to be called 'Children of God'; as indeed we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it has not learned to know him.

Dear friends, we are God's Children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is that, when it is revealed, we shall be like Christ; because we shall see him as he is.

And you know that Christ appeared to take away our sins; and in him Sin has no place.

No one who maintains union with him lives in sin; no one who lives in sin has ever really seen him or learned to know him.

No one who has received the new Life from God lives sinfully, because the very nature of God dwells within him; and he cannot live in sin, because he has received the new Life from God.

We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the Evil One and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? It was because his life was bad while his brother's was good.

Every one who hates his Brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has Immortal Life within 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?

and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we are laying his commands to heart, and are doing what is pleasing in his sight.

And he who lays his commands to heart maintains union with Christ, and Christ with him. And by this we know that Christ maintains union with us--by our possession of the Spirit which he gave us.

The love of God was revealed to us by his sending his only Son into the world, that we might find Life through him.

We know that we remain in union with him, and he with us, by this--by his having given us some measure of his Spirit.

And, moreover, we have learned to know, and have accepted as a fact, the love which God has for us. God is Love; and he who lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ has received the new Life from God; and every one who loves him who gave that Life loves him who has received it.

He who believes in the Son of God has that testimony within him. He who does not believe God has made God a liar, by refusing to believe in that testimony which he has borne about his Son.

And this is the confidence with which we approach him, that whenever we ask anything that is in accordance with his will, he listens to us.

And if we realize that he listens to us--whatever we ask--we realize that we have what we have asked from him.

If any one sees his Brother committing some sin that is not a deadly sin, he will ask, and so be the means of giving Life to him--to any whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin; about that I do not say that a man should pray.

We know that no one who has received the new Life from God lives in sin. No, he who has received the new Life from God keeps the thought of God in his heart, and then the Evil One does not touch him.

If any one comes to you and does not bring this Teaching, do not receive him into your house or welcome him;

for the man who welcomes him is sharing with him in his wicked work.

Every one has always had a good word for Demetrius, and the Truth itself speaks for him. Yes, and we also add our good word, and you know that what we say about him is true.

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!'

To these men, as to others, Enoch, the seventh in descent from Adam, declared-- 'See! the Lord has come with his hosts of holy ones around him,

to execute judgment upon all men, and to convict all godless people of all their godless acts, which in their ungodliness they have committed, and of all the harsh words which they have spoken against him, godless sinners that they are!'

To him who is able to guard you from falling, and to bring you into his glorious presence, blameless and rejoicing-

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to make known to his servants, concerning what must shortly take place, and which he sent and revealed by his angel to his servant John,

From John, to the seven Churches which are in Roman Asia. Blessing and peace be yours from him who is, and who was, and who shall be, and from the seven Spirits that are before his throne,

and from Jesus Christ, ' the faithful Witness, the First-born from the dead, and the Ruler of all the Kings of the earth.' To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his own blood--

and he made us ' a Kingdom of Priests in the service of God,' his Father! --to Him be ascribed glory and dominion for ever. Amen.

'He is coming among the clouds!' Every eye shall see him, even those who pierced him; 'and all the nations of the earth shall wail for fear of him.' So shall it be. Amen.

And, when I saw him, I fell at his feet like one dead. He laid his hand on me and said-- 'Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,

To the Angel of the Church in Ephesus write:-- "These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, and walks among the seven golden lamps:--

Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches. To him who conquers-- to him I will give the right 'to eat the fruit of the Tree of life, which stands in the Paradise of God.' "

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:--

Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches. He who conquers shall suffer no hurt from the Second Death."

To the Angel of the Church in Pergamus write:-- "These are the words of him who holds the sharp two-edged sword:--

Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches. To him who conquers-- to him I will give a share of the mystic manna, and I will give him a white stone; and on the stone shall be inscribed a new name, which no one knows except him who receives it."

To him who conquers and is careful to live my life to the end--to him I will give authority over the nations,

and I will give him the Morning Star.

Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches."

To the Angel of the Church in Sardis write:-- "These are the words of him who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars;--I know your life, and that men say of you that you are living, though you are dead.

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.

Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches."

To the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia write:-- "These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds 'the Key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one opens':--

He who conquers--I will make him a pillar in the Temple of my God; and never more shall he leave it; and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the City of my God, the New Jerusalem, which is coming down out of Heaven from my God, and I will write on him my new name.

Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches."

I am standing at the door and knocking! If any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in, and will feast with him, and he shall feast with me.

To him who conquers--to him I will give the right to sit beside me on my throne, as I, when I conquered, took my seat beside my Father on his throne.