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An exhortation to a

Chap. ii.

14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation: 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy,

17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:

18 Forasmuch as ye know, that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers ig

19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot;

20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you ;h

21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God.

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godly conversation.

22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren ; see that ye love one. another with a pure heart fervently:

23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man, as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, & the flower thereof falleth away;

25 But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.

CHAP. II.

1 He exhorteth them from the breach of charity, 4 shewing that Christ is the foundation whereupon they are built: 11 he beseecheth them also to abstain from fleshly lusts, 13 to be obedient to magistrates, 18 and teacheth servants how to obey their masters, &c.

WHEREFORE, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

2 As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word,a that ye may grow thereby;

3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious:

4 To whom coming, as una Sincere milk of the word, the pure doctrines of the Gospel,

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to a living stone,b disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,

5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

6 Wherefore also it is contained in the seripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious; and he that believeth on him shall

not be confounded.

7 Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious; but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.c

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar peo

bAliving stone. Christ is called a living stone, because his spiritual church is composed of living stones or members of which he is the chief.

Whereunto also they were appointed. This does not mean, as at first appears, that they were appointed to disobedience. The verse is elliptical, and to understand it, the deficiency must be supplied by what the apostle alludes to in Isaiah viii. 15. The

verse would then read thus;-The disobedient stumble against the word and fall, and they shall be broken or punished, to which punishment they verily were appointed,

corner-stone, &c.

ple; that ye should shew forth the praises of him, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light ;d

10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against

the soul:

12 Having your conversatione honest among the Gentiles; that, whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.f

13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake; whether it be to the king, as supreme;

14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well.

15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may foolish men: put to silence the ignorance of

16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

d Out of the darkness of paganism into the wonderful light of the Gospel. e Conversation, behaviour.

f The day of visitation, the day of your persecution.

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17 Honour all men., Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

18 Servants be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.

19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffetted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

21 For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him, that judgeth righteously:

24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.

25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

CHAP. III.

1 He teacheth the duty of wives and husbands to each other,

wives and husbands.

8 exhorting all men to unity and love, 14 and to suffer persecution: 19 he declareth also the benefits of Christ toward the old world.

LIKEWISE, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they may also without the word, be won by the conversation of the wives ;a 2 While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear;

3 Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning, of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart,b in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

5 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands;

6 Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord; whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.c 7 Likewise, ye husbands,.

a By the conversation, or by the Christian example and behaviour of the wives.

b The hidden man of the heart, the inward man, or the mind.

c And are not affrighted to actions contrary to your religion,

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dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another; love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous.

9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing; but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips, that they speak no guile :

11 Let him eschew evil,d and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.e

12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

13 And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?

14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be

unity and love.

ready always to give an an swerf to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suf fer for well-doing, than for evil-doing.

18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:g

19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits, in prison ;h

20 Which sometime i were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

21 The like figure where

f To give an answer with meekness and fear to every man, &c.

g But quickened or made alive by the Spirit.

and inspiring Noah, a preacher of b By which Spirit also, speaking in, righteousness, he, that is Christ, preached to the spirits, or to the wicked of the old world, who are now re

d Let him eschew, or turn away from served in prison.

evil.

e Ensue, pursue.

i Sometime, formerly.

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unto even baptism doth also now save usj (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good con'science toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

CHAP. IV.

1 He exhorteth them to cease from sin by the example of Christ, and the consideration of the general end, that now approacheth, 12 and comforteth them against persecution.

FORASMUCH then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves like wise with the same mind ja for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in las

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cease from sin.

civiousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you;

5 Who shall give account to him, that is ready to judge the quick b and the dead.

6 For, for this causéc was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

7 But the end of all things is at hand ;d be ye, therefore, sober, and watch unto prayer.

8 And above all things have fervent charity among your selves; for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.e

9 Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

11 If any man speak, let

b The quick, the living.

c For this cause, that is, to encourage you to suffer for Christ's sake, the Gospel hath been preached to the Gentiles, who were dead in sins, that although they might be condemned by men in the flesh, they might still live forever by God in the Spirit.

d The end of all things. This is supposed to signify the end of the temple, of the law, and of the Jewish state.

e Charity or love will pardon multitude of faults in each other.

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