There is no one but Luke with me. Pick up Mark on your way, and bring him with you, for he is useful to me in my work.

And I am sending him back to you with this letter--though it is like tearing out of my very heart.

For my own sake I should like to keep him with me, so that, while I am in prison for the Good News, he might attend to my wants on your behalf.

And Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow-workers, send theirs.

And consequently it was necessary that he should in all points be made like 'his Brothers,' in order that he might prove a merciful as well as a faithful High Priest in man's relations with God, for the purpose of expiating the sins of his People.

(These priests, it is true, are engaged in a service which is only a copy and shadow of the heavenly realities, as is shown by the directions given to Moses when he was about to construct the Tabernacle. 'Look to it,' are the words, 'that thou make every part in accordance with the pattern shown thee on the mountain.')

Take care that no one becomes immoral, or irreligious like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.

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--

For the rich man will pass away 'like the flower of the grass.'

For, when any one listens to it and does not practice it, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror.

Look at our ancestor, Abraham. Was not it the result of his actions that he was pronounced righteous after he had offered his son, Isaac, on the altar?

And the tongue is like a spark. Among the members of our body it proves itself a very world of mischief; it contaminates the whole body; it sets the wheels of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by the flames of the Pit.

And yet you do not know what your life will be like to-morrow! For you are but a mist appearing for a little while and then disappearing.

Elijah was only a man like ourselves, but, when he prayed fervently that it might not rain, no rain fell upon the land for three years and a half.

And it was revealed to them that it was not for themselves, but for you, that they were acting as Ministers of the truths which have now been told to you, by those who, with the help of the Holy Spirit sent from Heaven, have brought you the Good News--truths into which even angels long to look.

Be like obedient children; do not let your lives be shaped by the passions which once swayed you in the days of your ignorance,

like newly born infants, crave pure spiritual milk, so that you may be enabled by it to grow till you attain Salvation--

Once you were straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

Exercise self-control, be watchful. Your adversary, the Devil, like a roaring lion, is prowling about, eager to devour you.

These men, however, like animals without reason, intended by nature to be caught and killed--these men, I say, malign those of whom they know nothing, and will assuredly perish through their own corruption,

These men are like springs without water, or mists driven before a gale; and for them the blackest darkness has been reserved.

The Day of the Lord will come like a thief; and on that day the heavens will pass away with a crash, the elements will be burnt up and dissolved, and the earth and all that is in it will be disclosed.

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

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.

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.

Like Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns near them, which gave themselves up to fornication, and fell into unnatural vice, these angels now stand out as a warning, undergoing, as they are, the punishment of aeonian fire.

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.

Alas for them! They walk in the steps of Cain; led astray by Balaam's love of gain, they plunge into sin, and meet their ruin through rebellion like that of Korah.

I fell into a trance on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like the blast of a trumpet.

and in the midst of the lamps one 'like a man, in a robe reaching to his feet,' and with a golden girdle across his breast.

'The hair of his head was as white as wool, as white as snow; his eyes were like flaming fire;

and his feet were like brass' as when molten in a furnace; 'his voice was like the sound of many streams,'

in his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like 'the sun in the fulness of its power.'

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,

Therefore repent, or else, I will come quickly and contend with such men with words that will cut like a sword.

To the Angel of the Church in Thyatira write:-- "These are the words of the Son of God, 'whose eyes are like flaming fire, and whose feet are like brass':--

Therefore I am laying her upon a bed of sickness, and bringing great suffering upon those who are unfaithful with her, unless they repent and turn from a life like hers.

Therefore remember what you have received and heard, and lay it to heart and repent. Unless you are on the watch, I shall come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I am coming to you.

After this, in my vision, I saw an open door in the heavens, and the first voice that I heard was like the blast of a trumpet speaking to me. It said-- 'Come up here and I will show you what must take place.'

He who was seated on it was in appearance like a jasper and a sardius; and 'round the throne there was a rainbow' of the color of an emerald.

The first Creature is like a lion, the second Creature like a calf, the third Creature has a face like a man's, and the fourth Creature is like an eagle on the wing.

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

At this I wept long, because no one could be found who was worthy to open the book or look within it.

Then I saw the Lamb break one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four Creatures crying with a voice like thunder--'Come.'

And I saw the Lamb break the sixth seal, and then there was a great earthquake. The sun became black, like sackcloth, and the moon, which was at its full, like blood.

The heavens disappeared like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.

Then the third angel blew; and there fell from the heavens a great star, burning like a torch. It fell upon a third of the rivers and upon the springs.

He opened the bottomless pit, and from the pit rose a smoke like the smoke of a great furnace. The sun and the air grew dark because of the smoke from the pit.

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 appearance the locusts were like horses equipped for battle. On their heads there were what appeared to be crowns that shone like gold, their faces resembled human faces,

and they had hair like the hair of a woman, their teeth were like lions' teeth,

and they had what seemed to be iron breastplates, while the noise of their wings was like the noise of chariots drawn by many horses, galloping into battle.

They have tails like scorpions, and stings, and in their tails lies their power to harm men for five months.

And this is what the horses and their riders appeared to be like in my vision:--They had breastplates of fire, blood-red and sulphurous, and the heads of the horses were like lions' heads, while out of their mouths issue fire, and smoke, and sulphur.

for the power of the horses lies in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails are like snakes, with heads, and it is with them that they do harm.

Then I saw another mighty angel, descending from Heaven. His robe was a cloud; over his head was the rainbow; his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire;

and he cried in a loud voice like the roaring of a lion. At his cry the seven peals of thunder spoke, each with its own voice.

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.

Then I was given a measure like a rod, and a voice said to me-- 'Go and measure the Temple of God and the altar, and count the worshiper there.

Men of all peoples, and tribes, and languages, and nations look at their dead bodies for three days and a half, and do not allow them to be laid in a grave.

Then the Serpent poured water from its mouth after the woman, like a river, so that it might sweep her away.

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.

Then I saw, rising out of the earth, another wild Beast. It had two horns like those of a lamb, and its voice was like a dragon's.

And I heard a sound from Heaven, 'like the sound of many waters,' and like the sound of a loud peal of thunder; the sound that I heard was like the music of harpers playing on their harps.

Then, in my vision, I saw a white cloud, and on the cloud there was sitting one 'like a man.' On his head he had a crown of gold, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

Then the second angel emptied his bowl upon the sea; and it turned to blood like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died--everything in the sea.

And I saw three foul spirits, like frogs, come from the mouth of the Dragon and from the mouth of the Beast and from the mouth of the false Prophet.

('I am coming like a thief! Happy will he be who is on the watch, and keeps his clothing at hand, so that he will not have to walk about unclothed and let men see his nakedness.')

Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and threw it into the sea, crying-- 'So shall Babylon, the Great City, be violently overthrown, never more to be seen.

Then I heard 'what seemed to be the shout of a vast throng, like the sound of many waters,' and like the sound of loud peals of thunder, crying-- 'Hallelujah! For the Lord is King, our God, the Almighty.

The Beast was captured, and with him was taken the false Prophet, who performed the marvels before the eyes of the Beast, with which he deceived those who had received the brand of the Beast and those who worshiped his image. Alive, they were thrown, both of them, into the fiery lake 'of burning sulphur.'

and the Devil, their deceiver, was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the Beast and the false Prophet already were, and they will be tortured day and night for ever and ever.

Then Death and the Lord of the Place of Death were hurled into the lake of fire. This is the Second Death--the lake of fire;

and all whose names 'were not found written in the Book of Life' were hurled into the lake of fire.

And I saw the Holy City, Jerusalem, descending new out of Heaven from God, like a bride adorned in readiness for her husband.

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.'

Its brilliance was like that of some very precious stone, like a jasper, transparent as crystal.

The material of the wall of the City was jasper, and the City was built of pure gold, which shone like clear glass.