Thus, my sisters, pray the Lord, who says: Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; seek, and ye shall find; seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all that you need shall be added unto you. Matt. 7:7; 6:33. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near; the Lord is so merciful toward them who seek to fear him (Is. 55:6; Jonah 4:2), my sisters, as he says himself: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28–30); “and his commandments are not grievous.”
See, my beloved, how the Lord calls us to repentance, hence follow him; for if one does what he can, the Lord is satisfied. He can well preserve him that trusts in him. Repent therefore of your sins which you committed in your ignorance, before you knew the Lord (1 Tim. 1:13; 1 Peter 1:14); mourn and weep to the Lord, and he will have compassion on you. For the time past of your life may suffice you to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when you knew not God, and were very far from him, when you walked in your lusts, in lasciviousness, in revelings, banquetings, in strutting and boasting. 1 Peter 4:3. Therefore, my sisters, since the Lord has revealed his truth to you, see now that you serve him faithfully, and fear not men, who kill the body; for after that they have no more power, and all the evil which they can do us is that they can help us into rest through the great grace of the Lord. Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:4. Confess Christ before men, and he will confess you before his Father in heaven, and say: “Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matt. 10:32; 25:34. Hence be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, which is created after God. Put away lies, and speak the truth. Be followers of God, as his chosen children, and walk in love, in quietness, in kindliness, in gentleness. Eph. 5:1,2. Flee youthful lusts, and follow righteousness, love and peace, with all them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart; for the servants of the Lord must not be contentious or quarrelsome but gentle unto all men. 2 Tim. 2:22,24.
Adorn yourselves then, my sisters, with a chaste conversation. 1 Peter 3:2,3. Be gentle unto all men. Be subject to your Lord, for he shall most gloriously reward you. Choose rather to suffer a little affliction with God’s children, than to enjoy a little of the pleasures of this world for a season; for the end of these is eternal perdition. Heb. 11:25. Let us then help bear the reproach of the Lord; it will through his great grace be most gloriously rewarded to us, when he will say: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Heb. 13:13; Matt. 25:21.
Mark, my dear sisters, how gloriously it shall then be rewarded to us. Hence make great haste to fear the Lord; for we live to-day, but do not know whether we shall live to-morrow. Be therefore watchful to fear the Lord; take courage; lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees; and take diligent heed, for we know not when the Lord will come. Heb. 12:12; Matt. 24:42. The day of the Lord draws nigh; it comes as a thief in the night, when it is not expected. 1 Thess. 5:2. Look therefore not to men, for there are few that fear the Lord. Think how many there were when the whole world perished, and yet there were but eight who feared the Lord. Also, how many were saved when Sodom and Gomorrah perished. O think how few entered into the promised land, only Joshua and Caleb; the rest all perished because of their wickedness (even as it still goes with many on account of their wickedness), and because they would not believe God’s words, but resisted, vexed and persecuted the righteous; and if these will also not repent, they shall all likewise perish, for all those are for an example to us. Luke 13:3.