The XVI. Chapter.
COncernynge the gadderynge that [ A] is made for the sayntes, as I haue or∣deyned in the congregacions of Gala¦cia, euen so do ye also. Vpon some Sabbath daye let euery one of you put aside by him¦selfe, and laye vp what so euer he thinketh mete, that the colleccion be not to gather whan I come. Whan I am come, whom so euer ye shal alowe by youre letters, thē wyll I sende to brynge youre liberalite vnto Ie∣rusalem. Neuertheles yf it be mete that I go thither also, they shal go with me. But I wil come vnto you, whan I go thorow Macedonia: for thorow Macedonia wyl I take my iourney. With you peraduēture wil I abyde, or els wynter, that ye maye brynge me on my waye, whither so euer I go.
I wyl not se you now in my passage, for [ B] I hope to abyde a whyle with you, yf the LORDE shal suffre me. But I wil tary at Ephesus vntyll whitsontyde. For a greate and frutefull dore is opened vnto me, and there are many aduersaries. Yf Timotheus come, se that he be without feare with you, for he worketh ye worke of the, LORDE as I do. Let no man therfore despyse him, but conuaye him forth in peace, that he maye come vnto me, for I loke for him with the brethren.
As for brother Apollo, be ye sure, that I greatly desyred him to come vnto you with the brethrē. And his mynde was not at all to come at this tyme, but he wyl come whā he hath oportunyte. Watch ye, stonde fast in the faith, quyte you like men, and be stron¦ge: let all youre thinges be done in loue.
But brethren (ye knowe the house off [ C] Stephana, that they are the first frutes in Achaia, and that they haue appoynted thē selues to mynister vnto the sayntes) I exhor¦te you to be obedient vnto soche, and to all that helpe and laboure. I am glad of the cō¦mynge of Stephana and Fortunatus, and Achaicus. For loke what was lackynge vn∣to me on youre parte, yt haue they suppleed: they haue refreszhed my sprete and youres. Knowe them therfore that are soch.
The congregacions of Asia salute you.