EPHESIANS CHAPTER 1 - 6

Ephesians writ in prison for the sake
Of showing that Your “church” beside the lake
Of fire is not a papal crown or crutch
Held by the bishop for as less or much,
Or yet a body not seen in the fair
But unsubstantial for excuse to wear
Another habit and another crown
Made by the great reformers of renown,
But that body of those called out to be
Under Your Christ's current authority.
Beloved, I leave the church and synagogue
And mosque to join with two or three incog,
And find reciting Your Word that You send
Again Your Christ among the tethered end.


1 Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ
By the will of God, and sufficed
To the saints in Ephesian town,
And to the faithful light and brown
In Christ Jesus. 2 Grace be to you,
And peace, from God our Father true,
And from the Lord Jesus Christ too.
3 Blessed be the God and Father dear
Of our Lord Jesus Christ come near
To bless us with all spiritual things,
Blessings celestial in the rings
Of Christ: 4 According as He chose
Us in him before the world rose,
That we be holy and without
Blame before him in love's redoubt:
5 Having predestinated us
Unto adoption without fuss
Of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the due
Good pleasure of His will in view,
6 To the praise of the glory in
His grace, wherein He's put in bin
Acceptance of us in love's grin,
7 In whom we have redemption through
His blood, forgiveness of sins, too,
According to wealth of his grace
8 He's multiplied towards our face
In all wisdom and prudence found;
9 Having made known to us the ground
In mystery of his will, and by
His good pleasure he has brought nigh:

I'll interrupt the common flow of thought,
The words most welcome that St. Paul has brought,
Congratulating his apostle's lot
To mention that You are, Beloved, both God
And Father of Christ sent in earthly pod.
If You are both his father and the great
God set above the man in glorious state,
Then I can rest assured that he's the mate
I need to know that You are one and not
Three or four in a wicked sort of plot.
Beloved, both God and Father of each man
And woman born on earth by divine plan,
Your pleasure be my pleasure, if You can,
In every way and borough where I ran.

10 In dispensation of the full
Times he might gather in one pull
All things in Christ, both which are in
The sky and on earth, in his bin:
11 In whom also we have obtained
Inheritance, as fore-ordained
According to his purpose who
Works out all things by his will true:
12 That we should be his glory's praise
Who first trusted in Christ's own ways.
13 In whom you also, when you heard
The word of truth, and so were stirred
By gospel of your salvation:
In whom too after you had done
Believed, you were sealed by the run
Of Holy Spirit's promised fun,
14 Which is the guarantee that we
Inherit until faithfully
The purchased gain is so redeemed
To the praise of His glory deemed.
15 That's why I too, after I heard
Of your faith in Lord Jesus stirred,
And your love to all the saints' herd,
16 Do not stop giving thanks for you,
As I mention you in prayers' pew;
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory does
Give you the spirit of wisdom
And revelation that shall come
In the knowledge of Him in sum.

Beloved, I'm glad to know that You are God
Of our Lord Jesus Christ come on the sod.
Some teachers and some preachers try to tell
Me that Jesus himself just out of hell
Is God instead of You. So ring a bell.
Beloved, I'm glad to show that You remain
A God above all saints and sinners' gain.
Some reachers and some screachers try to say
That Jesus is both God the Son in sway
And man on cross to put my sin away.
Beloved, I'm sad that falsehood graces church
And meeting place where good and wise still perch,
But glad to find when I look round for You,
That You are one in throne, in heart, in pew.

18 So may your understanding's eyes
Be lightened, so you may apprise
The hope of His calling and wealth
Of the glory in saints with stealth
Of His inheritance, 19 and what
The very greatness comes to strut
Of His power towards us who believe,
According as the work receive
Of His great power come to relieve,
20 Which He accomplished in Christ, when
He raised him from the dead again,
And set him at His own right hand
In heavenly places there to stand,
21 Far above principality,
And power and might, dominion's sea,
And every name that's named to be,
Not only in this world, but in
That one also to come in bin.
22 He's put all things under his feet,
And set him head over complete
Group of the called out ones for treat,
Which is his body and soul's seat,
So his Fullness fills all you meet.

You did some wonders for Jesus the Christ.
You raised him from the dead. If that sufficed,
You set him over all the other guys
And made him chief of staff before Your eyes.
There are some ingrates who pretend that he
Did everything by his own power and fee,
And give You not slightest credit's degree.
I'd think he'd be embarrassed by such tries.
Beloved, I'm sure the man's grateful at that.
He did not tell folk to call him out flat
A God the Son, a second person of
The Trinity upon the throne above.
So overlook the error on his part,
He certainly refuses all the art.


1 You too, who were dead in trespass
And sin, 2 wherein you paced morass
According to this world's compass,
According to prince of air's power,
The spirit that works at this hour
In spawn of disobedience.
3 Among them also we once strayed
In times past in flesh lusts betrayed,
Fulfilling the desires of flesh
And of the mind, being in mesh
Of the children of wrath's suspense.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy,
For His great love to us freely,
5 Even when we were dead in sins,
Enlivened us to be in bins
Of Christ, by grace saved in decree;
6 And raised us up together, and
Made us sit along in the band
Of heavenly in Christ Jesus' stand:
7 That in the ages to come he
Might show the great wealth there's to see
In his grace in his kindness set
Towards us through Christ Jesus when met.

Not by death but by resurrection we
Join in the life of sanctified and free.
Not on the earthly mat but heavenly,
Within the sanctuary by the sea
Of glass I find the riches laid in store,
The silver sands, the shining golden shore.
Not by death but by resurrection wrought
To stand with Christ within the temple sought,
The inner altar barren of all pride,
Celestial vision of the sanctified.
Beloved, upon the throne You look abroad
With sight and insight known only to God,
And find above the incense of new prayers
The throng of saved who clamber up the stairs.

8 For by grace are you saved through faith;
And that not of yourselves or wraith,
But gift of God. 9 Not of works so
Anybody'd boast of his show.
10 For we're His workmanship, created
In Christ Jesus to works elated,
Which God's ordained before that we
Should walk in them and faithfully.
11 Wherefore remember that you were
In times past Gentiles in flesh blur,
Who are called uncircumcised by
Those who are circumcised to try,
In the flesh made by hands that die.
12 At that time you were without Christ,
As strangers from Israel unspliced,
Unknown to pacts of promise and
Without a hope or God to stand.

I'm saved by works indeed, but not my own,
As I am one created by Your loan,
So am I entered in salvation's share,
To stand upon a green and silver stair.
I'm saved by no faith in my power to grieve
Nor in the power creation must receive,
But as Your workmanship upon the bench,
Shoemaker, if You will in wielding wrench.
Beloved, though I may be a stranger here,
Or I may be one born or one made dear,
My flesh replies to spirit where You steer,
And I know hopes beyond the fatal fear.
Beloved, though I may be clasped close to You,
I may or may not sit upon the pew.

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who
Before were far away in crew
Are brought near by Christ's blood in view.
14 For he's our peace, who's made both one,
And broken down the wall once done
Between; 15 Abolishing in flesh
The enmity, which is the mesh
Of statute law in ordinance;
To make in himself of two's dance
One new man, so peace in expanse,
16 So he might reconcile them both
To God in one body of growth
By the cross having slain thereby
The enmity of every guy.
17 He came and preached Islam to you,
Or peace, when you were distant crew,
And to those nearby in his view.
18 For through him we both have access
By one Spirit Father's address.
19 So then you are strangers no more
And foreigners, but of the store
Of citizens among the saints,
Of God's own household and restraints.
20 You're built upon foundation of
Apostles, prophets, and the love
Of Jesus Christ himself to be
The head corner stone in degree.
21 In him all the building fitly
Is framed together growing to
A holy temple in Lord's due,
22 In whom you too are built together
For a dwelling of God and whether
Through the Spirit come into view.

He is our peace, he has become Islam,
According to the Pauline words of balm.
It's true that Christ is the one grateful link
Between the Christian and the Muslim blink.
They both believe in Christ, though both will stare
With odd suspicion of what each might wear,
They both believe in the last day and share
Most of their prophets and books in the glare
Of angels landing beside them both there.
Partitians still stand, let reader beware
To find a lash instead of comfort's care.
Beloved, see how the silences reveal
Better than shouts and bombs the things we feel
Who come before You without name to heal.


1 That's why I Paul am caught in chains
Of Jesus Christ for all your fanes
Of Gentiles, 2 for if you have heard
Of God's grace dispensation stirred,
Which is given me to give to you,
3 How by that revelation true
He showed me the mysterious view;
As I wrote before in words few,
4 By which, when you read, then you may
Understand my knowledge in sway
Of the secret of Christ, his way,
5 Which in other times was not made
Known to the sons of men afraid,
As it is now revealed unto
His holy apostles in crew
And prophets by the Spirit due;
6 That the Gentiles should be heirs too,
And of the same body, to take
Part of His promise in the wake
Of Christ by his Gospel, 7 of which
I was made minister in stitch,
According to the gift of grace
Of God vouchsafed me by the pace
Of His power working in this place.

Paul claims the way of Christ was secret when
The books of Tanakh were read among men,
And is but now revealed as he writes down
The lovely words to everyone in town.
He claims the great message that Gentiles are
Co-heirs with Israel and also star
Is something new. And yet I myself wake
To so slight glimmers in prophetic stake.
Beloved, if Gospel hope is new and met
In secrets told at last to stranger pet,
Then those who find the Trinity is set
In early Scripture find themselves all wet;
And those who bow to solar gods raised up
Are just rebellious like a jumping tup.

8 To me, less than the least of all
The saints, is this grace given tall,
That I should preach among the men
Of Gentile extraction again
Unsearchable riches of Christ;
9 And to make all see what in tide
Is fellowship's secret to bide,
Which from the start of the world lay
Hidden in God, who made to stay
All things by Jesus Christ sufficed:
10 To the purpose that now unto
The principalities in view
And powers in heavenly places' pew
Might be known by the called out crew
Many-splendoured wisdom of God,
11 According to eternal prod
Which He purposed in Christ Jesus
Our Lord: 12 in whom we have boldness
And access with confident trust
By faith in him upon this dust.

Unsearchable the riches of the way
That Christ rode on a donkey and a bay
No doubt Paul means. The sun is hot to stay
On old Jerusalem, and donkey's feet
Give rest to those who've had too much to eat.
Unsearchable the riches and renown
Of Jesus, who rode the waves under crown
Of Caesar till the fishermen had set
The ripples with a hopeful sort of net,
No doubt are ready for the fish they get
Once broiled upon the shore by Jesus' hand.
Beloved, I too find riches where I stand,
The dogwood past the bloom, the milkweed met,
The locust in the pod, and all You've planned.

13 So I hope that you do not faint
At my trials for you each saint
Which is your glory. 14 For this cause
I bow my knees weakened like straws
Before the Father of our Lord
Jesus the Christ and one adored,
15 Of whom the wholy family in heaven
And earth is named in weeks' days seven,
16 That He would surely grant to you,
According to His glory's stew,
To be made stronger with the might
Come from His Spirit, inner light;
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by
Faith; that you being made thereby
Rooted and grounded in love's eye,
18 May be able to comprehend
With all saints what is the breadth's end,
And length, and depth, as well as height;
19 And know the love of Christ in sight,
Which passes knowledge, so you might
Be filled with all God's Fullness right.
20 At last to the One who can do
Much greater than we ask and view,
According to the power that acts
Among us to reveal the facts,
21 To Him be glory in the group
Of called out ones who have the scoop
By Christ Jesus to generations
Among people of all the nations,
Forever and ever. Amen.

I have the scoop on You, Beloved, and thank
You for the things You do for me point-blank.
What is the percentage of what You give
That I’m aware of down here where I live
To that I do not see or mind or know?
It’s like an iceberg with a tip to show.
I’d give You glory for the unseen too
If I had any way to follow through.
But fact is though I give my all, I find
I’ve given only what You left behind.
And so I bring my empty hand and heart
For You to fill again to do my part
In thanks and service where I fail to earn
My keep, but ever live to love and learn.


1 I therefore, prisoner of the Lord,
Beg you to walk worthy restored
Of the calling by which you're called,
2 With all lowliness, meekness thralled,
With patience, putting up each one
With every other till you've done;
3 Trying to keep the unity
Of Spirit in peace bond's degree.
4 One body and one Spirit free
As you are called in one hope's fee
Of your vocation; 5 and one Lord,
One faith, one baptism restored,
6 One God and Father over all,
Who's above all, by all and tall
Among you every one adored.
7 But unto every one of us
Is given grace by fist and fuss
By the gift of Christ in accord.

The secret of the ages that was kept
Until the coming of Messiah swept
St. Paul up in its glory and its flame:
That one God implies that men are the same
In every time and place, all one beneath
The fatherhood of God, encircling wreath.
The cry of debate on the Trinity,
The Arian sword, the Muslim Unity,
All raise the veils so none of them can see.
But when the veil is broken in the flesh
Of the word that You sent, Beloved, as fresh
In Jesus' Gospel that all men are One
Alone reveals Your unity well spun
Beneath the rolling of the somber sun.

8 That's why he says, when he went high
He led captivity thereby
Captive, and gave his gifts to men.
9 Now that he is ascended, then
What is it but that he also
Descended first into the low
Parts of the earth? 10 He who went down
Is the same too that met the crown
Gone up above all heavens' renown,
To fill all things. 11 And he gave some
Apostles, and some prophets, some
Evangelists, some pastors come
And teachers, 12 for perfecting saints,
For work of service, no complaints
In building the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in unity
Of faith, and in knowledge sufficed
Of God's Son, and to full degree
Of a man, to the measures more
Of the height of Christ's full rapport.

Beloved, when Your Christ went above to sit
Upon the throne of glory as was fit,
He sent on men the gifts of spirit made
To give perfection to human parade.
I stand imperfect, not by what You gave
To me in life and love, but as a slave
Unfitted by distrustful doubt unbrave.
Work out perfection on Your chip of knave.
Then I may be one with the great and small
Who make up those answering to Your call
And find within that answering the power
To be one perfect in Your heavenly bower
Till full degree of man’s eternity
Beneath the life and under the life’s tree.

14 So we are children no more tossed
Back and forth, and carried and lost
About with every teaching's wind,
By sleight of men and cunning sinned,
Lying in wait where to deceive;
15 But speaking the truth in reprieve,
May grow up into him in all,
Who is the chief, Christ on the ball;
16 From whom the whole body is joined
Together rightly and closed coined
By what supplies each joint and by
The fine working in measure high
Of every part, he makes increase
Of the body to build in peace
Itself in love never to cease.

The winds of doctrine cause disunity
Of the body of those called to be free
In Christ. Such winds are from tradition’s sands,
Not from the failure of the Bible lands.
I lay aside the things I see to be
Important and true in futility,
And take the simple creed of Decalogue,
And leave the wranglings of matters in fog
To those who wish to find a greater will
Beyond the lovely words, Beloved, You spill.
But when I take that word alone, I find,
Despite the calling of the deaf and blind,
That I must stand alone without the help
Of body united upon the whelp.

17 So I say this and testify
In the Lord, that you walk thereby
Not as the other Gentiles walk,
In vanity of mind and talk,
18 With understanding darkened, and
Separated from God's life's hand
Through ignorance that is in them,
Because of their heart's blindness' hem:
19 Who are past feeling and turn out
Into their lustfulness in rout
To work all uncleanness with greed.
20 You've not learned such from Christ to heed;
21 If it be that you've heard him, and
Have been taught by him, as the band
Of truth is in Jesus' command:
22 So put off the old way to act
Of the old man, corruptions' pact
According to deceitful lusts,
23 Renewing your mind's spirit's crusts;
24 So you can put on the new man,
Which according to God in plan
Is created in righteousness
And set up in true holiness.
25 So putting away lies and speak
Each one truth with neighbour to peek:
For we are each other's to seek.
26 Be angry, but refuse to sin,
Let not the sunset see the din
Of your wrath; 27 and do not back down
Before the devil or his frown.
27 The one that stole, let him no more
Steal anything from neighbour's store;
But rather let him work the more
With his hands in what things are good,
That he may give alms as he should.
29 Let no corrupt words proceed out
Of your mouth, but that which is stout
To use of edifying, that
It may serve grace to those who hear.
30 Don't grieve God's holy Spirit near,
By which you're sealed to the day at
Which your redemption shall appear.
31 Let all bitterness, anger, wrath,
Clamour and evil speaking's path
Be put away from you, with all
Malice: 32 And be you kind withal
To one another, tenderhearted,
Forgiving one another parted,
Just as God for Christ's sake in due
Has deigned here and forgiven you.

So Peter Grimes is proof that folk today
Know what they do, but don’t care anyway.
The prayer of Christ for ignorance when due
Upon the cross no longer is in view.
It is not with hate that we kill the few,
No hate kills the unwieldy, but distraction,
A slighter irritation for exaction
Of moments from the entertainment that
Informs the cultivation of the cat.
Beloved, the Christ forgives the ignorant
Who just obey their orders on the scant
And barren ground beside Jerusalem.
Does that forgiveness extend to the hem
Of the clear knowledge that some men must die
To keep oil prices arched against the sky?


1 So be you followers of God,
As dear children; 2 walk on the sod
In love, as Christ also loved us,
And gave himself offering for us
And sacrifice to God to be
In a sweet-smelling savoury.

I do not doubt that Christ gave himself then
An offering for the good of earth and men.
What I doubt is the sweetness of the smell
That rose up from the cross and from its hell.
If Christ is Your Son smitten on the sod,
The smiting can bring no joy to his God,
But only horror at the sound and clank,
The swelling and the burning and the dank.
Beloved, I offer naught of self to You,
Nor any sacrifice of what is due,
But only pray the pain of offering set
Upon the cross may never more be met
My flesh of man nor heart of God, and yet
Find life eternal still come into view.

3 But fornication, all uncleanness,
Or covetousness in its meanness,
Let it not be named among you
As it becomes saints in their pew.

I think I know perhaps in clarity
What fornication may be, and I see
What coveting may fill a heart freely;
But I’m not sure which uncleanness is meant
By Paul to the Ephesians when he sent.
Uncleanness of the lack of alms in way
Of the Islamic thought, or unclean pay,
Or the unclean without ablutions’ stay,
Or unclean of uncircumcized ninth day,
Or unclean of the slaughtered with the blood,
The carcass of the swine and mouse in flood,
Of all these which does Paul mean here to find?
Perhaps he takes uncleanness of the blind,
The leprous or the mildew on the grind.

4 Neither engage in filthiness,
Nor foolish talking nor address
Of jesting, which are not wholesome:
But rather give thanks on the hum.

Beloved, forgive my jesting in the name
Of health and hope, and even for my fame.
I swear, or would if scruple did not take
Me off the oath to set me at the stake,
That all my jokes are meant not in some fun
Or entertainment while sitting on bun,
But show the barest heart reality
Burns on my soul and eye eternally.
Beloved, my jests return on my own pate,
Because they strike the welkin of my fate,
Where You are caught betimes and unawares.
It’s You who set my jokes down and with flares
Illuminate the gold and silver stairs,
Reveal the starkness of some men’s pale glares.

5 For you know no whoremonger nor
Unclean person, nor covetous,
Who is idolatrous the more,
Has any inheritance in
The kingdom of Christ and God's bin.
6 Let no one deceive with vain word:
For because of these things come stirred
The wrath of God upon the spawn
Of disobedience outdrawn.
7 Don't be partakers with them then.
8 For you were sometimes in the den
Of darkness, but now in the light
Of the Lord: so walk as light's men.
9 For the fruit of the Spirit's in
All goodness and righteousness' bin
And truth; 10 Prove what's acceptable
To the Lord. 11 Do not feel the pull
Of darkness' unfruitful works, but
Rather reprove them to the gut.
12 For it's a shame even to speak
Of those things which are done to peek
Of them in secret. 13 But all things
That are reproved are appearings
In the light: for what makes appear
Is the light all around and clear.

What is acceptable, Beloved, to You?
I need no thick book to say what to do.
Ten words alone suffice, and without Paul.
The message is clear in my bin and stall.
The law of that vast kingdom of the tall
Christ and his God suffices at the call.
I enter in, Beloved, though I am small.
The light and dark are known from the start here:
They show creation set out on my ear
In Hebrew syllables that I sing clear
At morn and eve, at eve and morn appear.
The fruitful faith and unfruitful in works
Sets out where arm or eye without faith shirks.
In light or dark, Beloved, teach me to steer.

14 That's why he says “Wake you from sleep,
Rise up from the dead, Christ shall keep
Giving you light. 15 See then that you
Walk circumspectly, not in view
As fools, but as the wise in crew,
16 Redeeming here the time, because
The days are caught in evil claws.
17 So don't be unwise, but remain
In mind that the Lord's will is plain.
18 Do not be drunk with wine, which is
Exaggeration in the fizz,
But be filled with the Spirit's biz;

The problem with the Armstrong people and
The ones who’ve left them all on sea and land,
Is that their whiskey is not contraband,
But sought and bought and loved and held in hand.
The problem with such people is that those
Who fail to drink a drop they will suppose
Are evil in the dock, in rows on rows.
I’ve felt the hand of Armstrong’s power pose.
It is a heresy that's hard to leave,
And even those who pray for their reprieve
A score of years are still caught in the net,
The web of scorn that Herbert Armstrong set.
Beloved, have mercy on the lovely crew
That Herbert called away from life and You.

19 Speak to yourselves in psalm and hymn,
Songs spiritual, singing not dim
In heart melody to the Lord;

Some think these words repeat the titles writ
At head of Psalms to show that each one’s fit.
Some think these words give carte blanche to the wit
Inventing ditties and hymns for the kit
Of celebration in rock, pop, and hit.
Myself, I daily and at night repeat
The same Psalm in its Hebrew words for treat,
And wake to find the words swim in my head
And hear them also when I go to bed.
Beloved, I tell myself alone the word
Of David that I’ve seen and touched and heard,
But I have yet to spend it on the way
Repeated to another on a day
To see another heart lightened and stirred.

20 Give thanks always for all things stored
To God and Father in the name
Of our Lord Jesus Christ of fame;

Paul’s prayer is scant, compared to David’s here.
He surely means I should fall on my ear
And pray the Psalms as tehilim and stay
To thank You always for the things You say.
Paul’s prayer is rant, like David’s to appear
Before my going in and out with gear,
But he remembers that You’re God today
And in Lord Jesus’ name I ought to pray.
Beloved, I pray or not, who’s here to tell
My Quakerly in silence without bell.
And whether in the name of Jesus Christ
Or in the name of Abraham blessed twict.
I do give thanks when I find all things stored
And ready for the coming of the Lord.

21 Submit yourselves one to another
In fear of God instead of brother.
22 Wives, submit to your own spouse then
As to the Lord of all earth's men.
23 The husband is head of the wife,
Even as Christ is head of rife
Called out ones, and he's saviour still
Of both the body and the will.
24 So as the called out ones submit
To Christ, so may the wives be fit
To their own spouse in everything.

I shall not say a word about the wife,
It is not my place to stir up the strife,
Nor is it burden of my race in life.
Let those who think they know say who must fall
Down in submission in the outer stall,
And come and go before another’s call.
The husband is the head of wife for thrall
Perhaps of for the greater of the small,
But let them find their own in power’s ploy,
While I turn back to You, back to my joy.
Beloved, let those called out of synagogue
And church and mosque to wander in the fog
Find every head and tail on polliwog
Grows into greater things, if only frog.

25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ
Also loved the called out sufficed
And gave himself for it loving;
26 That he might make holy and clean
With water washing by the word,
So he might give himself unblurred
The called out glorious and not seen
With spot or wrinkle, any such,
But holy, blemishless to touch.
28 So men should love their wives as they
Love their own bodies. Those today
Who love their wives love their own stay.
29 For no man ever hated yet
His own flesh, but nourished the set
To cherish it, just as the Lord
The called out ones to him restored.
30 For we're members of his body,
Of his flesh and his bones' degree.
31 That's why a man shall leave his dad
And mother and be joined not sad
To his wife and those two shall be
One flesh together constantly.
32 And this is a great mystery:
I speak of Christ and those called out.
33 Still let every one of you stout
So love his wife as himself too,
And the wife that she pay her due
In respect of her husband too.

From Genesis to letter to Ephesians
The patriarchate is lost in its lesions.
The man must leave his mum and dad to take
A turn at living on no bread but cake.
The mystery remains indeed to show:
The helping of the foot, ankle, and toe.
The head, the head alone remains to glow.
The rest of life and being is a wake.
Beloved, let the man love his wife for me,
And let him walk about among the free,
And let Christ love the church and mosque and see
The blessings on the synagogue’s degree.
The head, the head, and leave the tail to be
A splasher in the sea if not the lake.


1 Children, obey your parents in
The Lord; for this is right as tin.
2 Honour your father and your mum;
Which is the first command to hum
With promise; 3 that it may be well
With you, and you live long to dwell
On earth. 4 And you father, provoke
Not your children to wrath and smoke:
But raise them in the nurture and
The admonition where to stand
Before the Lord on every hand.
5 Servants, obey those who are set
To be your masters in flesh met,
With fear and trembling, motive caught
In single heart, as of Christ taught;
6 Not just in what is seen as those
Who merely try to please men's rows,
But as the ministers of Christ,
Doing God's will from heart surpliced;
7 With good will doing work, as to
The Lord and not to men as due:
8 Knowing that whatever good thing
Any man does, the same shall ring
In his account from the Lord's spring,
Whether he's captive or freeling.

There is no other command with a promise
But honouring your parents, so says Thomas.
No blessing is imposed on those who fail
To kill, commit adultery, or to flail
The neighbour’s wheat and take it into bin.
There is no other righteous deed or sin
That carries promise of long life to win.
Beloved, how do the angels up above
Receive a blessing to obey with love,
Since they are without parent’s pedigree?
This is Your law for all eternity.
I honour both my parents to the fill
And listen to the music on the hill
And wonder when I’ll die and foot the bill.

9 You masters, do the same things to
Them, not with threats harshly undue:
Knowing your Master's in heaven too;
Neither does he make difference due
Between persons of any hue.
10 At last, my brothers, do be strong
In the Lord, and in His power long.

St. Paul accepts, like Moses and his kin
The practice of slaveholding, which is sin.
He only asks that masters be benign,
While those who chose to follow his design
May make life better for the bought and sold.
But how many of them would still be bold
To strike in anger or in petty grief
The slaves that work and come to their relief?
I’d just as soon be poor and in my house
A free man and a poacher of dumb grouse
As be the slave of the benign and true.
Let St. Paul himself live with his own due.
Beloved, I am a slave to You alone,
Without a brazen bank, without a loan.

11 Put on the whole armour of God,
So you can stand against the prod
Of the devil. 12 For we fight not
Against flesh and blood, but the plot
Of principalities, and yet
Against powers and the rulers set
Of darkness in this world, and more
Against spiritual wicked store
In places elevated more.

Against no flesh and blood, aye, that I know,
But that does not mean that spirit in show
Is entity of immaterial glow.
The ones who trust that there exists in life
Something that is not matter on the rife
Had better smell the spirits and then find
That substance is abuse to make one blind.
The devil either is not there at all,
Or else he is a being that is tall.
Don’t tell me in such mournful mein for true
That devils are just plots of derring do.
I prance before the devil in my way
To see if he is still in wicked pay,
And let the deil go on in sightless spray.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole
Armour of God, to reach the goal
Against the evil day, and so
Having done all, stand in the show.
14 So stand with your belt on in truth,
And with the breastplate just in ruth;
15 And on your feet the preparation
Of the gospel of peace in ration;
16 Above all, take the shield of faith,
With which to quench both fire and wraith
Of wicked darts. 17 The helmet take
Of your salvation for his sake,
And the sword of the Spirit, which
Is God's word to reveal the ditch:
18 Praying always with all prayer and
The Spirit's supplication stand
And watch in patience and to pray
For all the saints on every day;
19 Pray for me, that I'll know to speak,
And open mouth boldly, not weak,
To make known gospel secrets' way.

They say the Spirit is nothing at all,
No matter, and no substance at the call
Of bird or beast or man in earthly thrall.
They say the Spirit is unlike the flesh,
And only flesh is matter in the fresh.
They say the Spirit’s immaterial naught
Without an atom of divinely taught.
Beloved, the naughty sword You set aside
Ought to be sharp on those who try to hide.
That may be why they hope that nothing’s there
When You prick with Your sword their empty air.
Your sword may not be steel, but Spirit meant,
And with it You can make a mighty rent
Upon the seat of carnal hearts unspent.

20 That's why I'm an ambassador
In chains: so I may speak the store
With boldness, as I ought to speak.
21 But you too may know my affairs,
And how I do, for Tychicus,
A loved brother, faithful to us
As servant of the Lord, now bears
To you the news of all our cares.
22 I've sent him to you for that reason,
So you may know our due and season,
And he may comfort you your hearts.
23 Peace to the brothers for their parts
And love with faith from God above
The father and the Lord of love
Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all who
Love our Lord Jesus Christ as true. Amen.

The Father sends both peace and love with faith.
The Christ does too, and perhaps also wraith
They call the Holy Ghost, who wait to bake
Three in a pie and call Trinity’s sake.
I love the Lord Jesus Christ, it is true,
Because he was an anarchist in pew,
And turned the tables on the money-changers
And spoke a word of warning to the rangers.
Does that mean grace is with me? Do not tell
The neighbour in his pew, he thinks that hell
Has fastened teeth on me. But grace I hope
Frees me from rabbi, mullah, priest and pope
Until I find the way to heaven above,
And possibly at last a breath of love.

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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