1
45:1 Ye are contentious, brethren, and are zealous concerning things that
pertain not unto salvation.
45:2 Look diligently into the scriptures, which are the true sayings of the
Holy Spirit.
45:3 Ye know how that nothing unjust or corrupt hath been written in them;
for ye will not in them find the just expelled by holy men.
45:4 The just were persecuted, but it was by the lawless; they were thrown
into prison, but it was by the unholy; they were stoned, but it was by sinners;
they were slain, but it was by wicked men, even by those who had taken up an
unjust envy against them.
45:5 They, therefore, when they suffered all these things, suffered them with
a good report.
45:6 For what shall we say, brethren? was it by those that feared God that
Daniel was cast into the den of lions?
45:7 Was it by those who practised the magnificent and glorious worship of
the Most High that Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, were shut up in the fiery
furnace? Let us not suppose that such was the case.
2
Who, then, were the men who
did these things? Abominable men and full of all wickedness were inflamed to
such a degree of wrath that they cast into tortures those who, with a holy and a
blameless purpose, served God, not knowing that the Most High is a champion and
defender of those who with a pure conscience serve his most excellent name, to
whom be glory world without end.
3
Amen.
45:8 But they, abiding steadfastly in their confidence, have inherited honour
and glory, and have both been exalted and made beautiful by God, in the memory
that is made of them world without end. Amen.