Now some Jews being arriv'd from Antioch and Iconium, work'd so upon the people, that they stoned Paul, and dragg'd him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.

from thence they sailed to Antioch, where they had been recommended to the favour of God, for the commission, which they had now discharg'd.

and after the question had been much canvass'd, Peter rose up, and said, my brethren, you know that a considerable time since God chose me from among you to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, and bring them to the faith.

for as to the law of Moses, that has been published in every city a considerable time, being read in the synagogues every sabbath-day.

Whereas we have been appriz'd, that some who went from us, have embarass'd you with their discourse, and unsettled your minds, maintaining, that you ought to be circumcised, and to observe the law, though we gave them no such injunction: after having been assembled,

that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the flesh of strangled animals, and from fornication: you will do well to preserve your selves from these practices. farewel.

but Paul chose Silas, and having been recommended by the brethren to the favour of God,

so that having been baptized with her family, she made us this request, if you think me sincere in my profession, pray come and lodge at my house; and she prevail'd upon us.

after they had been severely lash'd, they were thrown into prison, the jayler being charg'd to keep them safe.

but not finding them, they dragg'd Jason and some of the brethren to the magistrates, crying out, these that have been every where the disturbers of the publick peace, are come hither also, and have been entertain'd by Jason.

God has been pleas'd to over-look this state of ignorance: but now he enjoins all men every where to repent:

he had been instructed in the doctrine of the gospel, and being full of zeal, he harangued with great assiduity about what related to Jesus, though he had been only instituted in the baptism of John.

after this, Paul had a design to pass thro' Macedonia and Achaia in his way to Jerusalem: purposing when he had been there to make a visit to Rome.

and now I am persuaded you will none of you see my face any more: whilst I have been among you, I have proclaim'd the kingdom of the Messias:

after we had been there several days, a prophet arriv'd from Judea, one Agabus, who made us a visit.

these take, and perform the rites of purification with them, contributing to the expence of having their heads shav'd: this will convince them, what has been reported of you, is all groundless, and that you stick to the observances of the law.

having been informed he was a Roman, I had him brought before their Sanhedrim, to hear what crime they laid to his charge.

to this he answer'd, "I have not been guilty of any misdemeanour, either against the law, or against the temple, or against Cesar."

then Festus said, "King Agrippa, and you that are here present, you see the man, against whom a numerous body of the Jews have been practising with me both at Jerusalem, and in this city, urging with vehemence, that he should not be suffer'd to live.

nay, Agrippa said to Festus, "this man might have been discharg'd if he had not appeal'd to Cesar."

and our spirits droop with fasting: when Paul presented himself, and said, "well, my friends, it had been, if I could have prevail'd upon you, to have sav'd your selves all this perplexity and loss by staying at Crete.

take courage then, my friends, for I have this confidence in God, that what has been told me, shall be effected,

It was the fourteenth night that we had been driving up and down in the Adriatick sea, when the ship's crew about midnight suspected they were making to land:

while they were waiting for day, Paul advis'd the whole company to take some refreshment: "these fourteen days, said he, you have been very abstemious, and not made a meal:

After having been there three months, we embark'd on board the Castor and Pollux from Alexandria, that had put in there by hard weather:

now I would not have you ignorant, my brethren, that I often purposed to come to you, tho' I have been hindered hitherto, that I might be useful among you as well as among other Gentiles.

you know the divine will, and what is contrary thereto, having been educated in the law:

because the effect of the law is punishment: for if there had been no law, there could have been no transgression.

neither yield your members as instruments to iniquity: but yield yourselves unto God, as being alive after having been dead; and your members as instruments of righteousness.

Do we then conclude, that the law is the cause of sin? by no means; but I should not have had such a notion of sin, had it not been for the law: for I should not have known concupiscence was a sin, unless the law had said, "thou shalt not covet."

for we know that the whole creation groans, and labours with general pain even to this day.

if the divine Being has patiently bore with those objects of his displeasure, that had been working out their own destruction, why may he not reveal himself to make them feel his vindictive power,

and as Esaias said before, "except the God of heaven had left us a remnant, we had been as Sodoma, and brought to the state of Gomorrha."

Though they are violently prejudiced against the gospel upon your account: yet they are objects of favour upon the account of their having been chosen out of respect to your fore-fathers.

for who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor?

do not for such a thing as meat, pull down what God has been raising. all things indeed are pure; but they become evil to him who by eating giveth offence.

for I have been inform'd, my brethren, by some of Chloe's family, that there are contentions among you.

for Christ did not send me to baptize: but to preach the gospel: tho' not with the preaching of the wise, lest the cross of Christ should have been hinder'd in its efficacy.

purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new mass, since you should be without leaven. for Christ our paschal lamb has been sacrificed for us.

and such were some of you: but you have been washed, you have been sanctified, you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the spirit of our God.

but if they have not the gift, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to be in pain.

have you been redeemed from slavery? then, don't turn slaves.

but he that has been steady in his purpose, and finds no necessity to alter it; if he is a master of his passion, and is heartily determin'd to keep his virginity, it is well.

but I mortify my body, and bring it into subjection: lest after having been a herald to others, I my self should be thrown out.

for by one spirit we have all been baptized, to be form'd into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free; and have been all made to drink of one spirit.

Now if it has been declared, that Christ rose from the dead, how comes it, that some among you assert, "there is no resurrection of the dead?"

for as I have greatly suffered for Christ, so I have been greatly comforted thro' Christ.

besides, their minds were greatly prejudiced: for that very veil would still have obstructed the understanding of the old testament, unless it had been taken away by Christ.

if my language is inelegant, my knowledge is not contemptible; but has been fully display'd among you on all occasions.

so am I: are they ministers of Christ? is it my vanity? I am more so: in toilsome labours I surpass them, in stripes I am exceedingly beyond them, in prisons I have been oftner, and frequently in the very jaws of death.

in my voyages I have been frequently in perils from rivers, in perils from robbers, in perils from my own countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the country, in perils at sea, in perils among false brethren;

Am I become vain? 'tis you have forc'd me to it: for I ought to have been commended by you: since I am not inferior to the chiefest of the apostles, tho' in myself I am nothing.

do you think I have been making excuses for not coming? as I am a christian, in the presence of God, I have, my beloved, in every thing consulted your advantage.

for do I now act in obedience to men, or to God? or do I seek to please men? if I had hitherto pleased men, I should not have been the servant of Christ.

I certify to you, brethren, that the gospel, which has been preached by me, is not the result of human artifice:

Is the law then opposite to the promises? by no means. for if there had been a law given, which could have given life, certainly justification should have been by the law.

for as many of you as have been baptized into christianity, have been invested as christians.

what benedictions did you then pour out upon me! for I bear you witness, that, had it been practicable, you would have pulled out your very eyes, and given them to me.

my dear children, how am I in pain, till Christ be formed in you?

for, brethren, you have been called to liberty. only abuse not this freedom as a pretext to vice, but in offices of love be as servants one to another.

of which number we all have formerly been, leading our dissolute lives in gratifying the desires of our sensual imaginations: and were indeed obnoxious to the divine displeasure, as other. Gentiles were:

and display to all the world that mysterious dispensation, which from all past ages has been conceal'd in the secret purpose of God, who created all things:

I therefore the prisoner for the Lord, beseech you to live suitably to the offers that have been made to you:

if you have heard of him, and have been taught the truth as he preach'd it:

Let us therefore, who have been instructed, have this in view: and if you are sollicitous about any thing else, God will reveal even that unto you.

I know how to abound: every where, and in every circumstance, I have been prepar'd for fulness or famine, for plenty or penury:

for the sake of that happiness, which you hope for, and is reserv'd for you in heaven, of which you have already been inform'd by the preaching of the truth, that is, the gospel:

provided you continue well-grounded and settled in the faith, and do not abandon that hope which has been offer'd to you by the gospel, and is proclaim'd to all mankind; of which I Paul am made a minister.

of which I have been established a minister, according to the charge which God has given me to preach his gospel faithfully among you. ---

that mystery, which has been hid from ages and generations, but is now made manifest to his saints:

being firmly attach'd to, and founded upon him: establishing yourselves in the faith you have been taught, and being thankful for the improvement you make therein.

church which uses to meet in his house. when this epistle has been read among you, take care that it be read likewise in the church of the Laodiceans, and

As for me, my brethren, having been so abruptly separated from you, in person, tho' not in affection, I have the more ardently endeavour'd to see you again.

this I Paul have frequently attempted, but Satan has been my obstacle.

how can I be sufficiently thankful to God upon your account, for all the joy, which by your means we have been affected with,

the mystery of piety is the pillar and basts of truth; and certainly most extraordinary. God has appear'd in the flesh, been justified by the spirit, seen by angels, proclaim'd to the Gentiles, believ'd by the world, and assum'd into glory.

Let none be put upon the list of widows, but such as are at least threescore years of age, and have been married but once:

such as have been recommended by their good actions, by the education of their children, by their hospitality, by their officiousness to the faithful, by relieving the afflicted, and by the practice of every virtue.

The vices of some men are so notorious, they prevent any inquisition: others don't discover themselves till they have been ordain'd.

who has saved us, and by the gospel hath called us to holiness, not in consideration of our works, but in pursuance of his own resolution, and the favour, which having been promised us by Jesus Christ several ages ago,

has now been display'd by the coming of Jesus Christ our saviour, who has defeated the power of death, by bringing a life of immortality to light thro' the gospel.

You know that I have been abandon'd by all the Asiatics, by Phygellus and Hermogenes among the rest.

But be you attach'd to the doctrine you have learnt, with which you are intrusted, considering by whom you have been instructed:

attach'd to the truth, that has been taught him, that he may be able to teach others sound doctrine, and to convince those who oppose it.

such solid nourishment is only fit for such as are arriv'd at their full growth and strength, whose senses have been exercis'd in distinguishing what is good, and what is prejudicial.

where Jesus is gone to usher us in, having been made an high priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec.

for if the first alliance had been without defect, there could have been no occasion for the second.

for when every precept of the law had been represented by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, wool of a scarlet dye, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book of the law and all the people,

for then they would not have been repeated, because they who sacrificed being once purified, would not have been conscious of wanting any further atonement for their sins:

don't you think then that he deserves a much greater punishment, who hath despised the son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant wherewith be was sanctified, to have been justly shed, thereby offering an indignity to the spirit of grace?

and truly, if that had been in their view, they might have had an opportunity of returning to the place from whence they came.

concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the grave; from whence, in a figurative sense, be may be said to have been recover'd.

for the mind is better improv'd by the gospel-dispensation, than by the distinctions about meats, in which some have been so uselesly vers'd.

the prayer that proceeds from faith, shall save the sick; the Lord will raise him up, and his sins that may have been the occasion, shall be forgiven.

and were answer'd, that it was not they, but we, who were concern'd in the events which they predicted, events which have been now represented to you by those, whom the holy spirit from heaven inspired to preach the gospel to you: a secret which the angels desire to penetrate into.

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

who being ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God, where angels, dominations, and potentates have been subjected to him.

for, the information we gave you of the powerful advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, did not proceed from any artfully contriv'd fables, we our selves having been spectators of his majesty.

By their artful discourses they will make you the tools of their avarice; but their condemnation has been a long time advancing, and their ruin is far from lingring.

for it had been better for them, not to have made any profession of the gospel, than after they have embraced it, to abandon the holy injunction, that was delivered to them.