I TIMOTHY CHAPTER 1 - 6

FIRST EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TIMOTHY

The three-part rondo form repeated thrice
To Timothy is something more than nice.
If I were Trinitarian, I'd make
An issue of the structure here at stake
And claim, like music of the Middle Age,
The structure in three parts is shining page
To prove the Trinity caught in a cage.
Instead I still deny that piece of cake.
Beloved, I take the lesson that sir Paul
Goes further than Your Christ to make church wall.
Instead of two or three come in his name,
I find a deacon and elder in flame.
Let no one come to me, Beloved, in blame,
If I submit with Timmy to Paul's claim.

1 TIMOTHY 1

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus
Christ, by commandment without fuss
Of God our Saviour and the Lord
Jesus Christ, our hope of reward,
2 To Timothy, a true son in
The faith: Grace, mercy, and peace win
From God our Father and Jesus
Christ our Lord, the felicitous.
3 As I urged you when I went to
Macedonia, remain true
In Ephesus that you may charge
Some that they teach or teach at large
No other doctrine, 4 nor give heed
To fables and endless in speed
Genealogies, which must cause
Disputes rather than godly laws
For edifying for faith’s cause.

No doubt, Beloved, the genealogy
Is valid form of prayer and strategy
Since it’s included in the Torah book
That comes first, as well as in many a nook
Of Chronicles, and even gospels too,
At least in two recensions, take the view
That genealogies are here to stay
The doubts rather than enter in the fray.
And yet, Beloved, I have no pedigree
Despite my famous genealogy
And silsilas like all such improvised
To bind in chains who still are ill-advised.
The Sufi blinds himself with veils to match
The genealogies that he can catch.

Beloved, I’m glad to see that You alone
Remain my saviour to marrow and bone.
There are some who think that I must be saved
From You by Your appointed to enslaved.
That my will be enslaved to You is just,
I beg no liberation from the trust,
But know that freedom exists only where
The will is united with Yours to share
The glories of creating universe
In ways that further joy instead of curse.
You break, Beloved, the chains of my own will,
Blinded by illusion and the brief mill
Of limitations to give me the fill
Of love and joy and pain to stand aside
From ant meal posturings of human pride.
Be You alone, Beloved, my faithful guide.

5 Now the purpose of commandment
Is love from a pure heart that’s sent,
From a good conscience, from sincere
Faith, 6 from which some, and without fear,
Having strayed, turned aside to vain
Talk, 7 hoping to teach law for gain
Understanding not what they say
Nor the things which they would display.
8 But we know that the law is good
If one use the law as one should,
9 Knowing this: that the law’s not made
To condemn one who has not strayed,
But for lawless, rebellious ones,
For the ungodly, sinners’ sons,
For unholy users of Name,
Profaners of the Sabbath’s claim,
For murderers of fathers and
Murderers of mothers in band,
For manslayers despite the law,
10 For fornicators in their craw,
For sodomites, and those who steal
A man or child for woe or weal,
For liars, for perjurers, and
For other things that by command
Are contrary to sound teaching,
11 According to the glorious spring
Of the gospel of blessèd God
Committed to my trust and rod.

It’s sweet to know, Beloved, the Pauline show
Of gospel is set out in tenfold row
That takes the Decalogue to quote straight out
In the same order it was sent about.
He condemns heathen faith’s idolatry,
Misuse of Your name and the making free
To ignore and profane Your Sabbath day,
To dishonour parents, in brief, the way
You spoke on Sinai is Paul’s gospel say.
I too join faithful Paul in his announcing
Of Your eternal gospel in the bouncing
Of Sinai’s glorious trumpet sounds and clear.
Beloved, Your loving heart is always near
To the honeyed words You would have me hear.

12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord
Who has enabled me with hoard,
Because he had considered me
Faithful to be in ministry,
13 Although I had been formerly
A blasphemer, persecutor,
And an insolent matador,
But I obtained mercy because
I had ignorantly of laws
Done so in my own disbelief.
14 And the grace of our Lord was great
And abundant in my estate,
With faith and love which are in Christ
Jesus. 15 This is a faithful priced
Saying and worthy to be had,
That Christ Jesus to save the bad
Came into the world, and I am
The chief as a rebellious ram.
16 However, for this reason I
Obtained mercy, that in my eye
First Jesus Christ might show the guy
All longsuffering, as an example
To those to believe in his ample
Provision of eternal life.
17 Now to the King eternal rife,
Immortal and invisible,
To the God who alone is full
Of wisdom, be honour and yen
Forever and ever. Amen.

Some people are consistent in desire
To be chief that anything might inspire,
As long as they are chief. That attitude
Comes from the realization the dude
Is divine I without the knowing that
The divine is in every single vat.
Since I am god I must therefore be true
To be the chief of sinners in my crew.
Beloved, may Jesus Christ save me also
From the thing that Paul pretends not to know.
And I too shall give praise and honour to
You, King eternal and invisible,
Who are alone God, who alone are full
Of wisdom among the many and few.

18 This charge I commit to your way,
Son Timothy, by light of day
According to the prophecies
Which went before predicting ease
Of you, that you should battle well;
19 And hold the faith, good conscience spell;
Which some have set aside and so
Made shipwreck of their faith in tow;
20 Some such are Hymenaeus and
That Alexander; whom I hand
To Satan, that they might learn not
To blaspheme after they’ve been taught.

Beloved, if Paul can curse the ones who take
Another view of what’s gospel in stake,
No doubt merely about the circumcision
Or other formal issue with derision,
Then may I not condemn the pagan brood
That sets Your law aside as old and crude?
Instead of no gods but You on the stair,
They bow to trinities in the thin air.
Instead of Sabbath day, they go abroad
To market and to work upon the sod.
If Hymenaeus disagreed with Paul,
It’s certain that He kept You one from all.
If Alexander argued on some point,
At least he kept the Sabbath in his joint.

1 TIMOTHY 2

1 So I exhort that first of all
Supplications and prayers install,
And intercessions, and thanksgiving,
Be made for all men where they’re living,
2 For kings and for all those in power,
That we may lead a quiet hour
And peaceful life in godliness
And honesty in every dress.
3 For this is good, acceptable
In sight of God our Saviour full,
4 Who will have all men to be saved,
Come to truth’s knowing and engraved.

The Muslim’s have three kinds of prayer:
Canonical five times beware,
The supplication on the air,
Remembrance of lovely and fair.
But Paul’s a Christian sort, and he
Has four words on eternity:
The first two are the same, it seems,
But he divides remembrance dreams
Into the intercession’s beams
And in thanksgiving’s further rate.
Beloved, for three or four in state,
Or even five, my powers elate
To find that prayer finds You at home
Wherever my poor soul may roam.

5 For there’s one God, and one between
As mediator on the scene
Of God and men, the man I ween
Christ Jesus one baith snell and keen
6 To give himself ransom for all,
To be testified in due call,
7 To whom I am ordained a preacher,
And an apostle, my words reach her
In truth and not in lie, a teacher
Of Gentiles in faith and truth’s bleacher.

Paul wants his reader to be certain sure
That there is only one God, You the pure.
When that is settled like the firmest creed,
Then he remarks upon the further need
Of mediator between men and You.
That one is Jesus Christ in heavenly crew.
Whatever Christ may be in origin,
In essence or in flesh without a sin,
He wants us to think of him as a man,
And so he writes that word as by his plan.
Beloved, You are my God alone and I
Come to Your throne with Christ and so rely
On one who’s sinless where I only try,
And that is why I find I too can fly.

8 And so I want men everywhere
To pray, lifting hands in the air
In holiness, and without wrath
And doubting on the narrow path.

I did not see one in the synagogue
Lift up his hands in prayer before the grog,
But that may be the case, experience
Is limited in synagogal sense.
I did see in the mosque when all cried out
Allahu akbar with a common shout
Hands raised in adulation all about.
I did see in the Pentecostal church
Hands swaying high and everywhere to lurch.
Beloved, if I do not raise above ear
My palms set forward and thrown out of gear,
Remember me for love and purity,
As I say You are greater than the spree
Of common faith around me that I see.

9 In the same way, the women too
Should adorn themselves in the view
Of modesty, shamefacedness
And sober countenance to bless,
And not with plated hair with gold
Or pearls or costly garments sold,
10 But with what becomes women who
Profess to godliness in crew
Of good works. 11 Let the woman learn
In silence, no subjection spurn.
12 But I do not let women teach
Or take authority to preach
Over the man, but to keep mum.
13 For Adam was formed first, the bum,
And then Eve. 14 And Adam was not
Deceived, but the woman in plot,
Being deceived fell to disgrace.
15 Nevertheless she shall be saved
In bearing children, so unstaved,
If they continue in the faith
And charity and without wraith
In holiness, and sober face.

They say these words were spoke in time of grief,
When synagogue was church for unbelief,
And ladies had a place behind the veil
And upstairs from which they with hearty hale
Might call down to their husbands to tell them
What preaching went on for a pretty gem.
That would explain the reason they should be
More silent and stayed in their charity.
But I doubt that is right. I do expect
That Paul was mysogynic to neglect.
He really thinks a woman’s saved by pain
And childbirth to keep her in from the rein.
His concept of Genesis two and three
Is also a bit much. I disagree.

1 TIMOTHY 3

1 This is a saying true, if one
Desire the office to be won
Of overseer, he desires
A good work in which work he tires.
2 An overseer must then be blameless,
The husband of one wife as nameless,
And vigilant, and sober too,
Of good behaviour in the pew,
Hospitable, and apt to teach;
3 Not given to wine, and not to reach
Out hand to strike to take in store
The filthy lucre at the door,
But patient, not a brawler where
There are things to covet laid bare,
4 One who rules his own house with care,
His children in subjection all
With gravity in home and hall.
5 For if a man does not know how
To rule his own house and his plough,
How shall he take care of those called
Out by God from the stony walled?
6 He’s not to be a novice, lest
In pride he’s lifted up to best
To fall into the condemnation
The devil spreads out with elation.
7 His reputation ought to be
Good among those outside degree,
Lest he fall in reproach and see
The snares of Satan on his knee.

How can a priest not be given to wine?
The Eucharist alone without the brine
Will bring the alcohol along to dine.
St. Paul was not considering man’s state.
How can a priest not drink himself to sleep
When everything he cherishes is deep
In the monastic art of bright moonshine?
St. Paul was not writing for those of late.
Beloved, I’m not a priest unless the view
That I participate among the crew
Of Revelation’s kingly sort of stew
Is taken in consideration here.
I’m just a humble catechist to cheer
And warm the bench and look without a blear.

8 The deacons too as servants grave,
Not double-tongued, not set to lave
With wine and filthy lucre’s stave;
9 Holding the mystery of faith
In a pure conscience without wraith.
10 And let these also first be tried,
Then let them serve as deacons plied
When they’re found blameless on their side.
11 Their wives should be grave too, and not
Engage in slander or in plot,
Be sober, faithful in all things.
12 Let deacons have one spouse and rule
Their children and their own house school.
13 Those who work well as deacons make
For their own selves a lovely stake,
And great boldness in faith that is
In Christ Jesus in work and whiz.
14 I write these things to you in hope
Of coming to you soon in lope.
15 But if I don’t come soon, then you
Must know how to behave as true
In God’s house, which is those called out
By the God living without doubt,
The pillar and ground of truth’s spout.

Both bishops and the deacons I have known
Of Baptist provenance I have to own
Did not rule house and home as well as church.
Without the wife, they would be in the lurch.
It’s mostly preacher’s wives that set the pace
And treat among the stealthy human race
Come to confession or in Baptist way
Into the gossip circle without pay.
The Roman rite is wise to keep the priest
Without a wife, and that’s to say the least.
In that case priests have no excuse at all
To taste the wine within the holy stall.
Beloved, St. Paul treats of a church of stone,
Utopia, a place that’s never grown.

16 To be confessed a thing most great,
The mystery of godly state
Which appeared in the flesh and yet
Was justified in spirit met,
Was seen by angels and proclaimed
Among the nations, and was aimed
In faith in the world, taken up
In glory both to drink and sup.

This is a creed if called confession first,
And is not really of the very worst.
The godly state appears a mystery,
Born in the flesh and spirit angels see,
Proclaimed the master of faith in the world,
And then taken to glory when unfurled.
That is enough for faith, no Trinity,
No deathly cross on the atoning tree,
No pagan resurrections, but the might
Of angels and the following for right,
And last the heavenly path beneath his feet.
Beloved, give me such creeds and for my treat
I’ll sing them in the congregation meet
And when I get home once more, so repeat.

1 TIMOTHY 4

1 The Spirit now speaks outright that
In the last times some shall in spat
Depart from the faith, giving heed
To such seducing spirits’ greed,
And doctrines of devils in need;
2 Speaking hypocritical lies;
Having their conscience seared with cries
Of a hot iron. 3 Such forbid
To marry, but then standing hid
From meats which God created good
To be received with thanks as should
By those of faith who know the truth.
4 For every creature of God’s good,
And nothing's to be refused couth,
If it’s received with thanks forsooth.
5 For it is sanctified by word
Of God and prayer when prayer is heard.
6 If you remind the brothers of
These things, you’ll be a son of love,
Good minister of Jesus Christ,
Nourished up in the word sufficed
Of faith and of good doctrine too,
In which you have attained the true.

I search in vain for the false faith that states
No man may marry but must meet his fates
A vegetarian. Of course that rule
Is found in some Buddhistic sort of school,
But that is hardly mark of the end time
Where there are many other sorts of crime.
Tibetan exercises do maintain
That life eternal is the gift in pain
Of celibacy on condition that
The right movements keep body from the fat.
Beloved, if ever I find that rare meeting
To mark the end of time with padded seating,
I’ll know to run away and find Your word
Is still above the things that have occurred.

7 But refuse profane old wives’ tales,
And strive for godliness in sails.
8 For bodily exercise does
Not profit much, but godliness
Is beneficial to a buzz,
Of promise in this life’s address,
And in the coming one confess.
8 This is a faithful saying and
Worthy to get and understand.
10 That’s why we work and suffer yet
Reproach, because we trust we’ve set
The living God before, who is
The Saviour of all men, that is
Of those who believe in the biz.
11 These things command and teach with fizz.
12 But let no man despise your youth;
But be a witness to the truth
In word, in action, and in love,
In spirit, faith and purity,
13 Till I come read well the above,
And keep exhorting and still see
To doctrine in its purity.

No doubt young Timothy liked to work out
And so the old St. Paul, though he was stout,
Remarked how little good such things can do.
It may have been just sour grapes in view.
Today the sects and cults maintain the truth
That working out or jogging in one’s youth
Should keep the old man healthy for his part
At least if he is careful of his heart.
And even Catholic young men come together
To enjoy more than bingo and fair weather.
Beloved, I find my sedentary ways
In conflict with my active younger days,
In conflict with my roaming in the past
Around the mountains as long as days last.

14 Do not neglect the gift in you,
Which was given you by prophecy,
With laying on of hands in crew.
15 Think then about these things and give
Yourself to them as so you live,
So benefit is seen by all.
16 Watch out so that you do not fall
From doctrine, but keep in the stall,
For in so doing you will save
Yourself and those who hear from grave.

If Timothy’s in danger in his time
Of falling from right doctrine as a crime,
Then I should think that no one’s safe here now,
Since we’ve had time to spin a royal row
Of heresy and faithless gaps that show
The secular the better way to go.
If Timothy’s in danger of his faith,
Then what about the modern sort of waif
That follows just what his own preacher states?
Shall anyone come in the pearlish gates?
Beloved, no hand of prophecy guides me
More than another in the fatal spree,
And yet the light that Your word sheds abroad
Is like enough to lead me to my God.

1 TIMOTHY 5

1 Do not rebuke an elder, but
Entreat him as a father’s gut,
And younger men as brothers, and
2 The elder women as they stand
In place of mothers, and the young
As sisters, with all purity.
3 Honour the widows not in tongue
But those who are widows to see.

This verse is an excuse for the young priest
Obeying the establishment increased,
The rule of old men who have been released
From obligations of life here and now
By memories still cool upon the brow.
Fact is, when any man stands up to say
The Decalogue no longer is in sway,
He may and must then be rebuked by all
And any, even young men on the sprawl.
Beloved, I’ve heard the argument again
And seen results among the sweetest men,
And found them living in comfort and fine.
Beloved, I seek to toe the humble line,
But will berate my elders for their wine.

4 But if any widow indeed
Has children or nephews in need,
Let then learn first the godly way
And home and be their parents’ stay:
For that’s good and acceptable
Before God to bring to the full.
5 Now she that is widowed indeed,
And desolate, trusts in God’s seed,
And keeps on begging night and day
By prayer in supplication’s way.
6 But she who lives in pleasure’s dead
As long as she so lives instead.
7 And give these commands to them so
They may live in a blameless show.
8 If anyone does not provide
For his own, his own house to bide,
He’s denied the faith and he’s worse
Than any infidel to curse.
9 Let no widow be taken in
The number of those in the bin
Under sixty years of age, if
Only having been one man’s stiff.
10 She must have a good reputation
For good works, raised her spawn in ration,
Lodged guests and washed the feet of saints,
Relieved afflicted ones’ restraints,
Been diligent in good works’ station.
11 But younger widows then refuse,
For when they get their hots in fuse,
Despite Christ, they’ll marry and choose.
12 They’re lost, in fact, since they’ve cast off
Their first faith as a thing to scoff.
13 Besides that they learn to be lazy,
And go from house to house like crazy,
Not only idle but to tell
The truth, they’re gossips come to swell
With busybodied fortunes where
They speak things that they should not share.

Beloved, if You had just thought long ago,
When You inspired St. Paul to write and show
Such thoughts as these about the female glow,
How it would sound today, You would have stopped
To reconsider the word St. Paul popped.
The less said about this the better fed,
The less replied, the better what You said.
There is no angel message in this stead.
You should have quelled the problem at the start
By making androgens with double heart
Instead of men and women with a dart.
Perhaps you did, and St. Paul and the rest
Are victims of illusions of the best,
Who find too many ripples on the chest.

14 That’s why I want the younger wenches
To marry, bear children in trenches,
Do their housework and give no room
For Satan to accuse for doom.
15 For some already turned aside
After their Satan to abide.

A woman’s good enough for marriage if
She’s still young and the man can still get stiff.
If not, then let her be caged with the free
Enjoying suppers’ holy strategy.
A woman has no mind to find a place
On earth besides her bearing of the race,
Is St. Paul’s mind. He’d make a better trace
Upon another planet and with grace.
Beloved, I doubt that You Yourself can read
These lines without a rueful smile untreed.
If You can fathom St. Paul’s thoughts set free
Upon the hopeless, helpless in degree,
Then You are doing much better than me.
I return to the page from which I feed.

16 If any man or woman here
Who believes have widows to steer,
Let them relieve them and not let
The church be burdened where they’re set,
So it may use fund where they’re met.
17 Let elders ruling well be counted
As worthy of double grace mounted,
Especially those who labour in
The word and doctrine without sin.
18 For Scripture says “You shall not muzzle
The ox that treads out corn to guzzle,”
And “Every worker must receive
His salary and so relieve.”

The paying of the pastorate is fine
In theory, but just see results decline.
The one who pays the salary at best
Determines what is truth beneath the vest.
Beloved, if You would have Your elders be
Both truthful and both faithful in degree,
Then You Yourself must pay their salary.
The muzzled ox is better than the cow
That never unveils untruths anyhow,
And better than the farrowing fat sow,
The norm in preachers is no better now.
The double grace to those who hold the keys
Of heaven and Rome is greater wine and cheese,
Nepotism, corruption, if You please.

19 Do not believe an accusation
Against an elder with elation,
But only when it is affirmed
Before two or three witness termed.

You would protect officials in their greed,
The elders who comb Your church as for seed
To find a farthing dropped as for some need.
I bring an accusation on them all,
And everyone particular in stall.
I bring no witness to my plain but that
Of truth and justice where the fat cats sat.
If that is not enough, Beloved, then scat.
You know that mosque and church and synagogue
Are all in pay of privateers in cog,
And governments out to increase the log.
You know, so make no demands on my pale,
Requiring witnesses to beat the bail.
Priests are fair game from everywhere I hail.

20 Rebuke those who sin before all,
So others learn to fear the squall.
21 I command you before God and
The Lord Jesus Christ and to stand
Before the elect angels to
Observe these things without a view
To favouritism’s partial cue.
22 Do not be quick to ordain men,
Do not participate again
In other men’s sins, but keep pure.
23 Don’t drink just water, but be sure
To add a little wine to it
And so to keep your stomach fit,
And keep you healthy every bit.
24 Some men’s sins lie open before,
Going into the judgement’s door,
And other’s sins follow the shore.
25 By the same token the good works
Of some are plain to see for quirks,
And otherwise none can be hidden
Who are called and also are bidden.

The public scandal of rebuke today
Is neither politic nor comfort’s way.
It is not a thing effective at all
To cry aloud like prophet in a brawl.
St. Paul makes appeal to impartial point,
But in the end he stays to smoke a joint.
The only rebuke public that he’ll take
Is that made to the laymen at the stake.
The elders must not be accused at all,
Unless their sins are performed at the call
Of public and parade instead of stall.
So much for such impartial judgement set.
I see results in everyone I’ve met.
The clergy get away with murder’s pet.

1 TIMOTHY 6

1 Let those who’re slaves under the yoke
Consider their masters in stroke
As worthy of respect of all,
So that the name of God in stall
And His doctrine not be blasphemed.
2 And those with masters as it seemed
With faith, let them not be despised,
Because they’re brothers as devised,
But rather work for them, because
They’re faithful and beloved, in paws
Partakers of the benefit.
These things teach and exhort as fit.
3 If anyone teach otherwise,
And not consent to these words wise,
The words of our Lord Jesus Christ,
And to the doctrine as sufficed
To godliness, 4 then he is proud,
And does not know anything bowed,
But dotes on questions and on strife
Of words producing no good life,
But only envy, strife, and railing,
And evil dispositions failing,
5 Perverse disputes of men corrupt
In mind, and without truth uncupped,
Presuming to gain godliness:
From such withdraw you your address.
6 But godliness with happiness
Is great gain, 7 For we have brought naught
Into this world, and nothing bought
Can be taken out of it sought.
8 And having food and clothing then
Let us be happy without yen.

St. Paul requires the single-hearted man
Who is a slave to knuckle to the span
Of master, whether it be yoke in heart
Or drudging in the physical apart.
The status quo’s a yolk to those who find
A share of wealth above the deaf and blind
To beat to lather in a cake revealed
By stripes upon the back that go unhealed.
Provoke, Beloved, the token of the oak,
The neck piece firmly set and goad to stoke
The fires that threaten those beneath the cloak
Of fair-weather oppression drinking coke.
I do withdraw from every sort of peer
That rules the land with subtlety of fear.

9 But those who seek wealth will fall in
Temptation and a snare in bin,
And into many foolish things
And hurtful lusts, which without wings
Drown men in destruction’s losings.
10 For love of money is the root
Of every evil, and pursuit
Of it in covetousness brings
Some to err from the faith, and so
They pierce themselves with much sorrow.
11 But you, O man of God, must flee
These doings; and follow and see
The righteous thing, and godliness,
And faith, love, patience, and meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold
On life eternal, be so bold
As called to a profession told
Before many witnesses gold.
13 I give command in sight of God
To you, who enlivens all sod,
And before Christ Jesus, who came
Before Pontius Pilate in claim
Of witness to confessing fame,
14 That you keep this commandment well,
Without spot, unrebukable,
Until our Lord Jesus Christ come,
15 Who in his times shall show his sum,
Who is the blessed and only great
Ruler, the King of kings in state,
And Lord of lords; 16 who only knew
Immortal being, dwelling true
In light no man can come unto;
Whom no man has seen nor can see,
Be honoured strong eternally. Amen.

The love of money is the root of life,
The welling power that quells the single strife,
But in the impact of the social scale
Performs a role that makes the visage pale.
The love of money is the root of evil,
The catalyst of every new upheaval
That turns the field to plough the row again
Among the wheeling crowds of business men.
Beloved, I too love money and I reach
For all my plate can hold. That’s why I preach.
Pilate himself had gall to give a share
And wash his hands after making them bare
To bribery and threats that Caesar might
See through his love of money in the night.

17 Give a commandment to the rich
In this world, so they will not pitch
Themselves high-minded, and not trust
In riches uncertain to rust,
But in the living God, who gives
Us richly all, to each that lives,
18 So they’ll do good, and so they’ll be
Rich in good works, and so ready
To give to others and freely:
19 Laying up store for themselves so
A good foundation on the go
Against the time to come, so they
May grasp life in eternal sway.

I too trust in the bank account and not
So much in Your good blessing and unsought.
The money pays the bills, and what I eat
Is taken from the stores for moneyed treat.
There is a weight upon the soul to find
That banks go broke and pour out the well wined,
And where I thought a flood of yield would come
A sparsity had landed on the sum.
Beloved, the rich may have a cue at hand,
But still all live upon the fertile land,
Or on the rocky shore. The latter stand
To catch fish rather than wait for the brook
Of what You have to give in smaller nook.
And I myself, though trusting, take a look.

20 O Timothy, keep what is set
To you in trust, avoiding met
Profane and vain in babblings yet,
And oppositions of what’s called
Falsely by science’ name installed,
21 Which some when they accept the bald
Have gone astray from the faith sprawled.
Grace be with you and all the called. Amen.

How many things have been set here
In stone, at least ten such to cheer,
And yet the preachers would behold
The law of God as stuff and sold.
I keep, Beloved, the Decalogue,
I do not eat crayfish or hog,
I close my ear to babblings loud
That raise the pope in incense cloud,
I shun the vain philosophy
That makes You, Dear, one out of three.
If I alone keep to the faith
In Your reality, not wraith,
Then let me stand firm and alone,
In faith as well as flesh and bone.

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.

To purchase the books, please go to:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-genesis-to-maccabees/paperback/product-20136835.html

http://www.lulu.com/shop/thomas-mcelwain/the-beloved-and-i-job-to-revelation/paperback/product-20050862.html