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word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord: if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. All these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent

me.

The Apostles departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins, and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy.) These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution.

If any man suffer as a christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. Rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad with exceeding joy.

Call to remembrance the former days, in which ye endured a great fight of afflictions; while ye were made a gazing stock by reproaches and afflictions, and became companions of them that were so used, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.

Acts 5: 41. Heb. 11: 36-38. Rev. 7: 14. 2 Tim. 3: 12. 1 Peter 4: 16. Philip 1: 29. 2 Tim: 2: 12. 1 Peter 4: 13. Heb. 10: 32-34.

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THE wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming. The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow to slay such as be of upright conversation. Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.

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Hearken unto me ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before

you.

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For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted 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. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.

Finally, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise, blessing: knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For it is better, if the

Ps. 37 12-15. Isaiah 51: 7. Isaiah 54: 17. Matt. 5: 11, 12. 1 Peter 2: 19-23.

will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing, than for evil-doing. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it.

BENEFICENCE INCULCATED.

I SAY unto you make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Let us not be weary in well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvests. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard, thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God.

If thy brother be waxen poor and fallen in decay with

Luke 16: 9-13. 2 Tim. 6: 17-19. Gal. 6: 9, 10. Acts 20:35. Luke 3:11. Lev. 19:9.

thee; then shalt thou relieve him, yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner: that he may live with thee. Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thy hand unto.

The poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land. But whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God, in him? Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses burst out with new wine. There is that scattereth and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.

Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again.

He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor. He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

Is not this the fast that I have chosen? Is it not to deal thy bread, to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thy

Deut. 15: 10. 1 John 3: 17. James 1: 27. Prov. 3: 9, 10. Prov. 11: 24. Prov. 13 7.

self from thine own flesh? And if thou draw out thine own soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shalt thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon-day. And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.

Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungered and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger and ye took me in: naked and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

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COME ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink.

Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold, and of silver.

They have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

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The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty.

Ps. 41: 1, 2. Matt. 25: 34. Isaiah 56: 12. Dan. 5: 1-4. Isaiah 29: 7, 8. Prov. 23: 21-35.

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