As far as possible, thou shalt be pure in thy soul. Do not be ready to stretch forth thy hands to take, whilst thou contractest them to give. Thou shalt love, as the apple of thine eye, every one that speaketh to thee the word of the Lord. Thou shalt remember the day of judgment, night and day. Thou shalt seek out every day the faces of the saints,[1] either by word examining them, and going to exhort them, and meditating how to save a soul by the word,[2] or by thy hands thou shalt labour for the redemption of thy sins. Thou shalt not hesitate to give, nor murmur when thou givest. "Give to every one that asketh thee,"[3] and thou shalt know who is the good Recompenser of the reward. Thou shalt preserve what thou hast received [in charge], neither adding to it nor taking from it. To the last thou shalt hate the wicked[4] [one].[5] Thou shalt judge righteously. Thou shalt not make a schism, but thou shalt pacify those that contend by bringing them together. Thou shalt confess thy sins. Thou shalt not go to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of light.[6]
Chap. xx.—The way of darkness.
But the way of darkness[7] is crooked, and full of cursing; for it is the way of eternal[8] death with punishment, in which way are the things that destroy the soul, viz. idolatry, over-confidence, the arrogance of power, hypocrisy, double-
- ↑ Or, "the persons of the saints." Cod. Sin. omits this clause, but it is added by a corrector.
- ↑ The text is here confused in all the editions; we have followed that of Dressel. Cod. Sin. is defective. Hilgenfeld's text reads, "Thou shalt seek out every day the faces of the saints, either labouring by word and going to exhort them, and meditating to save a soul by the word, or by thy hands thou shalt labour for the redemption of thy sins"—almost identical with that given above.
- ↑ Cod. Sin. omits this quotation from Matt. v. 42 or Luke vi. 30, but it is added by a corrector.
- ↑ Cod. Sin. has, "hate evil."
- ↑ Cod. Sin. inserts "and."
- ↑ Cod. Sin. omits this clause: it is inserted by a corrector.
- ↑ Literally, "of the Black One."
- ↑ Cod. Sin. joins "eternal" with way, instead of death.
