cluded from it. Have a care, therefore: as one living in a foreign land, make no further pre-
parations for thyself than such merely as may be sufficient; and be ready, when the master
of this city shall come to cast thee out for disobeying his law, to leave his city, and to depart
to thine own, and to obey thine own law without being exposed to annoyance, but in great
joy. Have a care, then, ye who serve the Lord, and have Him in your heart, that ye work the
works of God, remembering His commandments and promises which He promised, and
believe that He will bring them to pass if His commandments be observed. Instead of lands,
therefore, buy afflicted souls, according as each one is able, and visit248 widows and orphans,
and do not overlook them; and spend your wealth and all your preparations, which ye re-
ceived from the Lord, upon such lands and houses. For to this end did the Master make you
rich, that you might perform these services unto Him; and it is much better to purchase
such lands, and possessions, and houses, as you will find in your own city, when you come
to reside in it. This is a noble and sacred expenditure, attended neither with sorrow nor fear,
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but with joy. Do not practice the expenditure of the heathen,249 for it is injurious to you
who are the servants of God; but practice an expenditure of your own, in which ye can rejoice;
and do not corrupt250 nor touch what is another’s nor covet it, for it is an evil thing to covet
the goods of other men; but work thine own work, and thou wilt be saved.”
248 The Vatican has: “Acquit widows, and do justice to orphans.”
249 The Vatican renders, “Do not covet, therefore, the riches of the heathen.” [Here follows, in the Lambeth
ms., an allusion to Luke xix. 15, which Wake renders: “Trade with your own riches.” See, also, Luke xii. 33.]
250 The Vatican, rendering παραχαράσσετε, adulterare, proceeds as if the reference were to adultery. “Neither
touch another man’s wife, nor lust after her, but desire your own work, and you will be saved.”
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Similitude First. As in This World We Have No Abiding City, We Ought to…