The seconde tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testament conteynyng the epistles of S. Paul, and other the Apostles : wherunto is added a paraphrase vpon the reuelacion of S. John.

The texte.

Wherfore, sence we coulde no lenger forbeare, we thought it good to remayne at A∣thens alone, and sent Tymothe ou•• brother & minister of God, and the helper forth of our labour in the gospel of Christe to stablishe you: and to comforte you concerning oute faith, that no man should be moued in these affliccyons. For ye youre selues knowe, that we are euen appoynted thereunto. For when we were with you, we tolde you before, that we should suffer tribulacion, euen as it came to passe, and as ye knowe. For thys cause when I coulde no lenger forbeare. I sent, that I might haue knowleage of your faith, lest by some meanes the tempter had tempted you, and lest ou••e labour had ••eue bestowed in vayne.

THerfore, inasmuche as we coulde not suffre the wante of you any longer, and seeyng I coulde not come my selfe to you, I thought it good, to doe that by my moste faythfull compani∣on, that I coulde not doe by my selfe: and to put him in stede of my selfe. Therfore we taried still alone at Athenes, and from thence sente Tymothe our brother, a tryed minister of God, and an helpefelowe of our office, which we haue to doe in the gospell of Christ: because we had leauer wante the comforte of that so deare a singular and so necessarie a companion for the tyme, than to geue occasion that you should thinke we had vtterly geuen ouer lokyng to your state of thinges. And verily we haue sente hym, not for any cause of our owne, but chiefly for your sakes, that he myght establishe and comforte your consciences, and to shewe you, that for all these paynfull affliccions, wherewith I am tossed hereawaye and therawaye, myne harte is nothing discouraged, but the glorye of the gospell is a great deale better auaunced, leste any of you shoulde be dismayed, by reason of myne affliccions, whiche you heare tell of. For you must not thinke it any neweltie, though these thinges happen to the preachers of the gospell, in asmuche as you knewe a good while a goe, that I was chosen of god to this same ende, that through suffring of affliccions of my body, I myght auaunce the name of Christ: and so in this behalfe to be like my Lord and maister. For euen than whan we were pre∣sent with you, we tolde you the same before, that we should suffre afflic∣cion for the gospelles sake. And as I tolde you before it should be, so you see it now happened, like as also you haue knowen it happen before. As for me, there was nothing hapened vnto me vnloked for, nor any thig that I tolde not you of afore, so as you haue the lesse cause to be discouraged. Wherfore, considering that for the great care I take for you (euen whan all thing is at the surest) I coulde not be quiet but long after you still, I sent Tymothe (as I sayed afore) for this purpose, that by hym (as well in a maner as I were present there my selfe) I might knowe the stedfast∣nesse of your fayth, and might trye, yf he that kepeth continuall watche to subuerte them that be good, had tempted any of the weaker sorte of you, and so in them my labour had been loste.