We ought, then, searching diligently concerning present things, to seek out what is able to save us. Let us, then, flee completely from all the works of lawlessness, lest the works of lawlessness overtake us; and let us hate the deceit of the present age, that we may be loved in the age to come.
The final stumbling block is at hand, concerning which it is written, as Enoch says. For to this end the Master has cut short the times and the days, that His Beloved might hasten and come to His inheritance.
And the prophet also speaks thus: "Ten kingdoms shall reign upon the earth, and after them shall rise up a little king, who shall subdue three of the kings under one."
Likewise concerning the same one Daniel says: "And I saw the fourth beast, evil and strong and more fierce than all the beasts of the sea, and how out of it sprang ten horns, and from them a little horn as an offshoot, and how it humbled under one three of the great horns."
You ought, then, to understand. And this also I ask of you, being as one of you, and loving you all in particular above my own life: take heed now to yourselves and do not become like certain ones, heaping up your sins and saying that the covenant is both theirs and ours.
It is ours indeed; but they lost it forever in this way, after Moses had already received it. For the Scripture says: "And Moses was on the mountain fasting forty days and forty nights, and he received the covenant from the Lord, tablets of stone written by the finger of the hand of the Lord."
But turning to idols they lost it. For the Lord says thus: "Moses, Moses, go down quickly, for your people whom you led out of the land of Egypt have transgressed the law." And Moses understood and cast the two tablets from his hands; and their covenant was broken, that the covenant of the Beloved Jesus might be sealed in our hearts in the hope of faith in Him.
Though wishing to write many things, not as a teacher but as it befits one who loves not to fall short of what we have, I was eager to write, your devoted servant. Therefore let us take heed in these last days; for the whole time of our faith will profit us nothing, unless now, in the lawless time and amid the coming stumbling blocks, we resist, as befits sons of God, that the dark one may find no entrance.
Let us flee from all vanity, let us completely hate the works of the evil way. Do not, withdrawing by yourselves, live in isolation as though already justified, but coming together to the same place, seek out together concerning the common good.
For the Scripture says: "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight." Let us become spiritual, let us become a perfect temple to God. As far as it lies in us, let us meditate on the fear of God and strive to keep His commandments, that we may rejoice in His ordinances.
The Lord will judge the world without respect of persons. Each one will receive according to what he has done. If he is good, his righteousness shall go before him; if he is wicked, the wages of wickedness are before him.
Lest ever, taking our rest as called ones, we should fall asleep over our sins, and the wicked ruler, gaining power against us, should thrust us away from the kingdom of the Lord.
And this also, my brothers, consider: when you see, after such great signs and wonders done in Israel, that even so they were abandoned; let us take heed, lest, as it is written, we be found among the many called but the few chosen.