shall we differ from asses and dogs, who have no care about the future, but think only of eating, and of indulging[1] such appetites as follow after eating? For they are unacquainted with any intelligence moving within them.
Chap. viii.—Exhortations to holiness and good order.
May I have joy of you in the Lord! Be ye sober. Lay aside, every one of you, all malice and beast-like fury, evil-speaking, calumny, filthy speaking, ribaldry, whispering, arrogance, drunkenness, lust, avarice, vainglory, envy, and everything akin to these. "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."[2] Ye presbyters, be subject to the bishop; ye deacons, to the presbyters; and ye, the people, to the presbyters and the deacons. Let my soul be for theirs who preserve this good order; and may the Lord be with them continually!
Chap. ix.—Exhortations to the discharge of relative duties.
Ye husbands, love your wives; and ye wives, your husbands. Ye children, reverence your parents. Ye parents, "bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."[3] Honour those [who continue] in virginity, as the priestesses of Christ; and the widows [that persevere] in gravity of behaviour, as the altar of God. Ye servants, wait upon your masters with [respectful] fear. Ye masters, issue orders to your servants with tenderness. Let no one among you be idle; for idleness is the mother of want. I do not enjoin these things as being a person of any consequence, although I am in bonds [for Christ]; but as a brother, I put you in mind of them. The Lord be with you!
Chap. x.—Salutations.
May I enjoy your prayers! Pray ye that I may attain to Jesus. I commend unto you the church which is at Antioch.
- ↑ Literally, "coming also to the appetite of those things after eating." The text is doubtful.
- ↑ Rom. xiii. 14.
- ↑ Eph. vi. 4.
