4:7.

with the current irreverent and silly fictions.

Train

yourself rather in piety. For the training of the

body is to a certain extent of advantage.

"But piety is in every way

Of advantage.

For it not only has the promise of the life
Which we are now living,

But also of the one

Which is to come."

To be relied on is the saying and worthy of a full and complete acceptance. For, it is with this in view, we keep on working hard and struggling along. For we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, and especially of those who believe in him.

Deliver these commands and teach them. Let no one despise your youth. On the contrary, become an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Till I come give your attention to reading, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift which was given to you by means of speaking with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Attend to these things. Become acquainted with them, so that your progress may be plain to everybody. Pay attention to yourself and to your teaching. Continue to do as I have told you. For in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.

1 TIM.

5: 1.

VARIOUS DIRECTIONS.

255

Do not reprimand an elderly man, but urge him as a father; the younger men as brothers; the elder women as mothers; the younger women as sisters, with thorough purity of purpose. Pay due regard to widows who are really such. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let these first learn to reverence their own family, and to requite their parents' care by taking care of them. For this is acceptable to God. But she who is in reality a widow and left alone, has turned her hopes towards God, and continues in her petitions and prayers night and day. But she who gives herself up to wanton pleasures is morally dead. these commands, also, so that the widows of your charge may be beyond reproach. But if any one does not provide for his own, and specially for those of his own family, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.

Deliver

Let no one be placed on the list as a widow under sixty years of age,

The wife of one husband,

Well reported of for noble deeds,

If she ever brought up children,

If she entertained strangers,

If she washed the feet of God's devoted ones,

If she relieved the afflicted,

If she devoted herself to all kinds of gener

ous activities.

5: 11.

But younger widows refuse. For when the sexual instinct has once become aroused in them and they become dissatisfied with their engagement to the Christ, they want to marry, and so they suffer the penalty of having broken their engagement to him. At the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go about from house to house; and not only to be idle but to be gossips, also, and meddlers, talking about things which they ought not to be talking about.

So I advise the younger women to marry, have children, take care of the house, and give no opportunity to our opponents for abusing us. For some have already gone to be followers of Satan.

If any woman who is a believer has widowed relatives let her assist them, and do not let the Church be burdened, so that the Church may assist those who have no one else to care for them.

Let the elders who are nobly doing their duty as superintendents be considered worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is to preach and to teach. For the scripture says:

Thou shalt not muzzle an ox

and

While he is treading out the grain,

The workman is worthy of his wages.

1 TIM. 5: 19.

KEEP YOURSELF PURE.

257

Do not entertain a charge against an elder unless it is supported by the testimony of two or three witnesses. But when they do wrong expose them

to the world as a warning to the rest.

I solemnly charge you, before God and Christ Jesus and the chosen angels, to observe these directions without prejudice and without partiality. Do not be hasty in laying your hands on any one, nor be a sharer in other men's sins. Keep yourself pure. Give up your habit of drinking water and use a little wine for the benefit of your stomach and your often recurring weaknesses. Some men's sins are evident to everybody and tell of their coming judgment. But the sins of others are only known after judgment has been passed on them. In the same way, also, the noble doings of some are evident, and, while it is otherwise with some, yet they cannot always be concealed.

Let as many as are in bondage as slaves consider their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and his teaching may not be abused. Those who have believing masters, on the other hand, are not to disregard their obligations to them because they are brothers. On the contrary, they are rather to render them service because those who receive the benefit of their service are believers and so dear to them. Teach these things and keep insisting on them.

6: 3.

If any one teaches differently, and does not give in his adherence to such wholesome words as come from our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the teaching which produces piety, he is blinded with pride, and does not know anything. He has a morbid fondness for doubts and disputes about words.

From these come envy, quarrelling,

Abusive language, evil suspicions,
Obstinate conflicts of men

Corrupted in their mind and deprived of the
truth,

Who consider piety

As a source of worldly gain.

But a truly great gain is piety coupled with a condition of heart and mind which makes our inward peace independent of external circumstances. For we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. So if we have food and clothes we shall be content.

But those who keep planning to be rich keep falling into temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful desires such as plunge men into moral death and destruction. For the love of money is the root from which every kind of evil springs. And while some were striving after it they were beguiled into renouncing the faith, and so brought on themselves many bitter sorrows.