that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. 14

15

13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,' that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

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14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

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15 For this we say unto you by the word of

14 of no man. A. V. 15 die. Wi.

rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 2 COR. viii. 21: Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. 1 PET. ii. 12: Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. See on MARK, iv. 11.

w LEV. xix. 28: Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD. DEUT. xiv. 1, 2: Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. 2 SAM. xii. 20: Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.

* EPH. ii. 12: That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.

y 1 Cor. xv. 13: If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen.

1 Cor. xv. 18, 23: Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. [That is, if Christ be not risen.] Every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 1 THES. iii. 13.

a 1 KINGS, Xiii. 17, 18: It was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there.

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the Lord, that we which are alive 16 and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them " which are asleep.18

16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the e dead in Christ shall rise first.

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17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we h ever be with the Lord.

18 i Wherefore comfort 19 one another with these words.

CHAP. V.

1 He proceedeth in the former description of Christ's coming to judgment, 16 and giveth divers precepts, 23 and so concludeth the epistle.

16 who shall be left alive. Pu. 17 be before those. Pu. 18 that have slept. Rh. 19 exhort. A. V.

He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, &c. do. xx. 35: A certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the LORD, Smite me, I pray thee.

1 COR. xv. 51: Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.

MAT. xxiv. 31: And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. See on ACTS, i. 11.

d1 COR. xv. 52: The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

e1 COR. XV. 23: The words under ver. 14. REV. xx. 6: Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

f See on ver. 15.

* ISA. Ix. 8: Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? ACTS, i. 9: While they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. REV. xi. 12: They ascended up to heaven in a cloud.

h See on JOHN, Xii. 26.

1 THES. v. 11.

ye

BUT of the times and the seasons, brethren, have no need that I write unto you.

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2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as e travail 2 upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

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4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

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d ISA. xiii. 6—9: Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt and they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth : they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. LUKE, xvii. 26, 27, &c : As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all, &c. do. xxi. 34-36: Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always. 2 THES. i. 9.

JER. xiii. 21: What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail ? Hos. xiii. 13: The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children.

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ROM. xiii. 12, 13: The night is far spent, the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the

5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us i watch and be sober.

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7 For they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on 3 the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

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9 For "God hath not appointed us to wrath, ⚫ but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

10 Who P died for us, that, whether we wake

3 having on. Rh.

day. 1 JOHN, ii. 8: Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

* See on LUKE, xvi. 8.

h MAT. XXV.5: While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. Roм. xiii. 11: And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.

ROM. xiii. 11-13: And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. See on MAT. xxiv. 42.

* See on ver. 4.

ACTS, ii. 15: These are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

m See on Roм. xiii. 12.

n See on ROM. ix. 22.

2 THES. ii. 13, 14: But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our Gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

P See on Roм. vi. 11.

or sleep, we should live together with him. 11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you5 in the Lord, and admonish you;

S

13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their works' sake. And be at peace among yourselves.

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14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn 7 them that are unruly,8 " comfort the feebleminded, support 10 the weak, be patient " toward all men.

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15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

exhort. A. V. 5 preside over you. Dod. 6 beseech. A. V. admonish. Gen. Rh. Pu. 8 disorderly. A. V. 9 men of little heart. Wi. those of little courage. Pu. 10 receive. Wi. bear up. Rh. 11 be for

bearing. Pu.

2 THES. iii. 11, 12: We hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

"HEB. xii. 12: Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.

See on Roм. xiv. 1.

GAL. v. 22: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. EPH. iv. 2: With all Towliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. CoL. iii. 12: Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. 2 TIM. iv. 2: Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, * See on MAT. v. 39, 44.

y See on 1 THES. iii. 12.