Chapter 17

1We must attain unto this reward by faith and obedience, which we must carry on in an orderly pursuing of the duties of our several stations, without envy or contention. 24 The necessity of different orders among men. 33 We have none of us anything but what we received of God: whom therefore we ought in every condition thankfully to obey . HOW blessed and wonderful, beloved, are the gifts of God.
2Life in immortality! brightness in righteousness! truth in full assurance! faith in confidence! temperance in holiness!
3And all this has God subjected to our understandings:
4What therefore shall those things be which he has prepared for them that wait for him?
5The Creator and Father of spirits, the Most Holy; he only knows both the greatness and beauty of them.
6Let us therefore strive with all earnestness, that we may be found in the number of those that wait for him, that so we may receive the reward which he has promised.
7But how, beloved, shall we do this? We must fix our minds by faith towards God, and seek those things that are pleasing and acceptable unto him.
8We must act conformably to his holy will; and follow the way of truth, casting off from us all unrighteousness and iniquity, together with all covetousness, strife, evil manners, deceit, whispering, detractions; all hatred of God, pride and boasting; vainglory and ambition;
9For they that do these things are odious to God; and not only they that do them, but also all such as approve of those that do them.
10For thus saith the Scripture, But unto the wicked, God said, What hast thou to do to declare my statute, or that thou shouldst take my covenant in the mouth? Seeing that thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
11When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him; and hast been partaker with adulterers. Click to enlarge CHRIST IN THE PRÆTORIUM AND MOCKED, AND HIS DESCENT INTO HELL. FROM INTAGLIOS IN A BOX OF ROCK CRYSTAL, BY AN EARLY VENETIAN ARTIST. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son.
12These things hast thou done and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
13Now consider this ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
14Whoso offereth praise, glorifieth me: and to him that disposeth his way aright, will I shew the salvation of God.
15This is the way, beloved, in which we may find our Saviour, even Jesus Christ the high-priest of all our offerings, the defender and helper of our weakness.
16By him we look up to the highest heavens; and behold, as in a glass, his spotless and most excellent visage.
17By him are the eyes of our hearts opened; by him our foolish and darkened understanding rejoiceth to behold his wonderful light.
18By him would God have us to taste the knowledge of immortality: who being the brightness of his glory, is by so much greater than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
19For so it is written, who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire:
20But to his son, thus saith the Lord, Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee.
21Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.
22And again he saith unto him, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies my footstool.
23But who are his enemies? even the wicked, and such who oppose their own wills to the will of God.
24Let us therefore march on, men and brethren, with all earnestness in his holy laws.
25Let us consider those who fight under our earthly governors: How orderly, how readily, and with what exact obedience they perform those things that are commanded them.
26All are not generals, nor colonels, nor captains, nor inferior officers:
27But every one in his respective rank does what is commanded him by the king, and those who have the authority over him.
28They who are great, cannot subsist without those that are little; nor the little without the great.
29But there must be a mixture in all things, and then there will be use and profit too.
30Let us, for example, take our body: the head without the feet is nothing, neither the feet without the head.
31And even the smallest members of our body are yet both necessary and useful to the whole body.
32But all conspire together, and are subject to one common use, namely, the preservation of the whole body.
33Let therefore our whole body be saved in Christ Jesus; and let every one be subject to his neighbour, according to the order in which he is placed by the gift of God.
34Let not the strong man despise the weak; and let the weak see that he reverence the strong.
35Let the rich man distribute to the necessity of the poor: and let the poor bless God, that he has given one unto him, by whom his want may be supplied.
36Let the wise man shew forth his wisdom, not in words, but in good works.
37Let him that is humble, not bear witness to himself, but let him leave it to another to bear witness of him.
38Let him that is pure in the flesh, not grow proud of it, knowing that it was from another that he received the gift of continence.
39Let us consider therefore, brethren, whereof we are made; who, and what kind of men we came into the world, as it were out of a sepulchre, and from outer darkness.
40He that made us, and formed us, brought us into his own world; having presented us with his benefits, even before we were born.
41Wherefore, having received all these things from him, we ought in everything to give thanks unto him; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.