Letters to the Churches

That the triall of your faith, being much more precious then golde that perisheth (though it be tried with fire) might bee founde vnto your praise, and honour and glorie at the appearing of Iesus Christ:

Whome yee haue not seene, and yet loue him, in whome nowe, though yee see him not, yet doe you beleeue, and reioyce with ioy vnspeakeable and glorious,

Receiuing the ende of your faith, euen the saluation of your soules.

Of the which saluation ye Prophets haue inquired and searched, which prophecied of the grace that should come vnto you,

Searching when or what time the Spirite which testified before of Christ which was in them, shoulde declare the sufferings that should come vnto Christ, and the glorie that shoulde follow.

Vnto whome it was reueiled, that not vnto themselues, but vnto vs they shoulde minister the things, which are nowe shewed vnto you by them which haue preached vnto you the Gospell by the holy Ghost sent downe from heauen, the which things the Angels desire to beholde.

Wherefore, girde vp the Ioynes of your minde: bee sober, and trust perfectly on that grace that is brought vnto you, in the reuelation of Iesus Christ,

As obedient children, not fashioning your selues vnto the former lustes of your ignorance:

But as hee which hath called you, is holie, so be yee holie in all maner of conuersation;

Because it is written, Be yee holie, for I am holie.

And if ye call him Father, which without respect of person iudgeth according to euery mans woorke, passe the time of your dwelling here in feare,

Knowing that yee were not redeemed with corruptible things, as siluer and golde, from your vaine conuersation, receiued by the traditions of the fathers,

But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lambe vndefiled, and without spot.

Which was ordeined before the foundation of the world, but was declared in the last times for your sakes,

Which by his meanes doe beleeue in God that raised him from the dead, and gaue him glorie, that your faith and hope might bee in God,

Hauing purified your soules in obeying the trueth through the spirite, to loue brotherly without faining, loue one another with a pure heart feruently,

Being borne anewe, not of mortall seede, but of immortall, by the woorde of God, who liueth and endureth for euer.

For all flesh is as grasse, and all the glorie of man is as the flower of grasse. The grasse withereth, and the flower falleth away.

But the worde of the Lord endureth for euer: and this is the woorde which is preached among you.

Wherefore, laying aside all maliciousnes, and all guile, and dissimulation, and enuie, and all euill speaking,

As newe borne babes desire that sincere milke of the woorde, that yee may growe thereby,

Because yee haue tasted that the Lord is bountifull.

To whome comming as vnto a liuing stone disallowed of men, but chosen of God and precious,

Yee also as liuely stones, bee made a spirituall house, an holy Priesthoode to offer vp spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God by Iesus Christ.

Wherefore also it is conteyned in the Scripture, Beholde, I put in Sion a chiefe corner stone, elect and precious: and hee that beleeueth therein, shall not be ashamed.