Chapter XIX.—The way of light.

Chapter XIX.—The way of light.

The way of light, then, is as follows. If any one desires to travel to the appointed place, he must be zealous in his works. The knowledge, therefore, which is given to us for the purpose of walking in this way, is the following. Thou shalt love Him that created thee: ¹⁶⁸⁷ thou shalt glorify Him that redeemed thee from death. Thou shalt be simple in heart, and rich in spirit. Thou shalt not join thyself to those who walk in the way of death. Thou shalt hate doing what is unpleasing to God: thou shalt hate all hypocrisy. Thou shalt not forsake the commandments of the Lord. Thou shalt not exalt thyself, but shalt be of a lowly mind. ¹⁶⁸⁸ Thou shalt not take glory to thyself. Thou shalt not take evil counsel against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not allow over-boldness to enter into thy soul. ¹⁶⁸⁹ Thou shalt not commit fornication: thou shalt not commit adultery: thou shalt not be a corrupter of youth. Thou shalt not let the word of God issue from thy lips with any kind of impurity. ¹⁶⁹⁰ Thou shalt not accept persons when thou reprovest any one for transgression. Thou shalt be meek: thou shalt be peaceable. Thou shalt tremble at the words which thou hearest. ¹⁶⁹¹ Thou shalt not be mindful of evil against thy brother. Thou shalt not be of doubtful mind ¹⁶⁹² as to whether a thing shall be or not. Thou shalt not take the name ¹⁶⁹³ of the Lord in vain. Thou shalt love thy neighbour more than thine own soul. ¹⁶⁹⁴ Thou shalt not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shalt thou destroy it after it is born. Thou shalt not withdraw thy hand from thy son, or from thy daughter, but from their infancy thou shalt teach them the fear of the Lord. ¹⁶⁹⁵ Thou shalt not covet what is thy neighbour’s, nor shalt thou be avaricious. Thou shalt not be joined in soul with the haughty, but thou shalt be reckoned with the righteous and lowly. Receive thou as good things the trials ¹⁶⁹⁶ which come upon thee. ¹⁶⁹⁷ Thou shalt not be of double mind or of double tongue, ¹⁶⁹⁸ for a double tongue is a snare of death. Thou shalt be subject ¹⁶⁹⁹ to the Lord, and to [other] masters as the image of God, with modesty and fear. Thou shalt not issue orders with bitterness to thy maidservant or thy man-servant, who trust in the same [God ¹⁷⁰⁰ ], lest thou shouldst not ¹⁷⁰¹ reverence that God who is above both; for He came to call men not according to their outward appearance, ¹⁷⁰² but according as the Spirit had prepared them. ¹⁷⁰³ Thou shalt communicate in all things with thy neighbour; thou shalt not call ¹⁷⁰⁴ things thine own; for if ye are partakers in common of things which are incorruptible, ¹⁷⁰⁵ how much more [should you be] of those things which are corruptible! ¹⁷⁰⁶ Thou shalt not be hasty with thy tongue, for the mouth is a snare of death. 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, ¹⁷⁰⁷ either by word examining them, and going to exhort them, and meditating how to save a soul by the word, ¹⁷⁰⁸ 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,” ¹⁷⁰⁹ 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 ¹⁷¹⁰ [one]. ¹⁷¹¹ Thou shalt judge righteously. Thou shalt not make a schism, but thou shalt pacify those that contend by bringing them together. Thou shalt p. 149 confess thy sins. Thou shalt not go to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of light. ¹⁷¹²

Footnotes

148:1687

Cod. Sin. inserts, “Thou shalt fear Him that formed thee.”

148:1688

Cod. Sin. adds, “in all things.”

148:1689

Literally, “shalt not give insolence to thy soul.”

148:1690

“That is, while proclaiming the Gospel, thou shalt not in any way be of corrupt morals.”—Hefele.

148:1691

Isa. lxvi. 2. All the preceding clauses are given in Cod. Sin. in distinct lines.

148:1692

Comp. Jas. i. 8.

148:1693

Cod. Sin. has “thy name,” but this is corrected as above.

148:1694

Cod. Sin. corrects to, “as thine own soul.”

148:1695

Cod. Sin. has, “of God.”

148:1696

“Difficulties,” or “troubles.”

148:1697

Cod. Sin. adds, “knowing that without God nothing happens.”

148:1698

Cod. Sin. has, “talkative,” and omits the following clause.

148:1699

Cod. Sin. has, “Thou shalt be subject (ὑποταγήσῃ— untouched by the corrector) to masters as a type of God.”

148:1700

Inserted in Cod. Sin.

148:1701

Cod. Sin. has, “they should not.”

148:1702

Comp. Eph. vi. 9.

148:1703

Comp. Rom. 8:29, 30.

148:1704

Cod. Sin. has, “and not call.”

148:1705

Cod. Sin. has, “in that which is incorruptible.”

148:1706

Cod. Sin. has, “in things that are subject to death,” but is corrected as above.

148:1707

Or, “the persons of the saints.” Cod. Sin. omits this clause, but it is added by the corrector.

148:1708

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.

148:1709

Cod. Sin. omits this quotation from Matt. v. 42 or Luke vi. 30, but it is added by a corrector.

148:1710

Cod. Sin. has, “hate evil.”

148:1711

Cod. Sin. inserts “and.”

149:1712

Cod. Sin. omits this clause: it is inserted by a corrector.