give account: that they may do this with
joy, and not with grief: for this were unprofitable for you.

Pray for us: for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience,
desiring to live honestly in all things. And I exhort you the more
exceedingly to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.

Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great
shepherd of the sheep with the blood of the eternal covenant, even
our Lord Jesus, make you perfect in every good thing to do His will,
working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through
Jesus Christ; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

But I exhort you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation: for I
have written unto you in few words. Know ye that our brother Timothy
hath been set at liberty; with whom if he come shortly, I will see
you.

Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints.
They of Italy salute you.

Grace be with you all. Amen.

The condition of the Hebrew Christians was most serious. But one
excellence is acknowledged to have belonged to them. It was almost the
only ground of hope. They ministered to the saints.[385] Yet even this
grace was in peril. In a previous chapter the writer has exhorted them
to call to remembrance the former days, in which they had compassion on
them that were in bonds.[386] But he considers it sufficient, in
reference to brotherly love, to urge them to see that it continues.[387]
They were in more danger of forgetting to show kindness to their
brethren of other Churches, who, in pursuance of the liberty of
prophesying accorded in Apostolic times, journeyed from place to place
for the purpose of founding new Churches or of imparting spiritual gifts
to Churches already established. Besides, it was a time of local
persecutions. One Church might be suffering, and its members might take
refuge in a sister-Church. Missionaries and persecuted brethren would
be the strangers to whom the enrolled widows used hospitality, and whose
feet they washed.[388] We can well understand why in that age a bishop
would be especially expected to be given to hospitality.[389] Uhlhorn
excellently observes that "the greatness of the age consisted in this
very feature: that Christians of all places knew themselves to be
fraternally one, and that in this oneness all differences
disappeared."[390] In the case of a Church consisting