honoured thee by giving thee spiritual food and the water of everlasting
life, much more must thou offer him perishable and temporal food,
for the labourer is worthy of his hire. The ox that grinds thou shalt
not muzzle ; and no one planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of its
fruit. Jude the son of James1 said, My son, do not make schisms ; calm
those who are quarrelling, and judge righteously. Be no respecter of
persons in reproving a man who is in fault, for riches can have no power
with the Lord, nor does the Lord give more honour to dignities, nor has
beauty any advantage, but there is equality of all these things with
Him. In thy prayer do not doubt which of them shall be yea or nay.
Let it not be that thou shouldest stretch out thine hand in order to
receive, whilst2 the hand that giveth thou contractest2. If there be [aught] f- n a
in thy hands, give the redemption of thy sins, and do not hesitate
to give, nor when thou givest murmur and tell. Know then who is the
good payer of thy reward. Turn not thy face from the needy ; share with
thy brother in all things, and say not that they are thine own, for if
ye are sharers in immortal things how much more in those that are
perishable ? Bartholomew said, We then persuade you, my brethren, that
while it is yet time, and whilst ye have among you some of the things
by which ye work, ye should not spare yourselves in anything whatever
of what ye have, for the day of the Lord is at hand in which all these
things will be destroyed together with the Wicked One. For our Lord
shall come, and His reward with Him. To yourselves then be lawgivers ;
be good counsellors of yourselves, taught of God. Keep these things that
thou hast received, not adding to them, and also not diminishing from them.
Matthia* said about the Readers. Let a Reader be appointed, having
first been proved by many probations, not a talkative man, not a drunkard,
not a speaker of laughable things ; of good manner, of good disposition,
persuadable, of good will ; who in the Lord's congregations on Sundays
runs first, good at hearing, and as a maker of narratives ; who knows that
he takes the place of an Evangelist.