A Warning against Apostasy

1Nowe the spirite speaketh euidently, that in the latter tymes some shall depart from the fayth, geuing heede vnto spirites of errour, & doctrines of deuyls, 2Which speake false in hypocrisie, hauyng their conscience seared with an hotte iron: 3Forbidding to marrie & commaunding to abstayne from meates whiche God hath created to be receaued with geuing thankes, of them whiche beleue, and knowe the trueth. 4For euery creature of God is good, and nothyng to be refused, yf it be receaued with thankes geuyng. 5For it is sanctified by the worde of God and prayer.

A Good Servant of Jesus Christ

6Yf thou put the brethren in remembraunce of these thynges, thou shalt be a good minister of Iesus Christ, which hast ben norysshed vp in the wordes of fayth and of good doctrine, which thou hast continually folowed. 7But cast away prophane & old wiues fables: Exercise thy selfe rather vnto godlynesse. 8For bodyly exercise profiteth litle: but godlinesse is profitable vnto all thinges, hauing promise of the lyfe that is nowe, and of that which is to come. 9This is a sure saying, & by all meanes worthy to be receaued. 10For therfore we both labour, and suffer rebuke, because we haue hoped in the lyuyng God, whiche is the sauiour of all men, specially of those that beleue.

11These thynges commaunde & teache. 12Let no man despise thy youth: but be thou a paterne of the beleuers, in worde, in conuersation, in loue, in spirite, in fayth, in chastitie. 13Tyll I come geue attendaunce to readyng, to exhortation, to doctrine. 14Despise not the gyfte that is in thee, which was geuen thee through prophesie, with the laying on of handes by the auctoritie of the eldership. 15Haue a care of these thinges, and geue thy selfe vnto them, that it may be seene howe thou profitest in all thynges. 16Take heede vnto thy selfe, and vnto doctrine, and continue therein: For in doying this, thou shalt both saue thy selfe, and them that heare thee.