'And everyone who has left house or brothers or mother or children or fields for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess eternal life. But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.' Likewise there: 'For as in the days of Noah, so shall be also the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking and marrying, and did not perceive it until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also be the coming of the Son of Man.' Likewise according to John: 'Walk therefore while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; and he who walks in darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be sons of light.' Likewise according to Luke: 'And Jesus said:
A certain man made a great supper and invited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of the supper to say to those who were invited: Come now, for all things are ready. And they all began to make excuse together. The first said: I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it: I pray you, have me excused. And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them, and therefore I cannot come. And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. But I say to you, that none of those men who were invited shall taste of my supper.' Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles: 'God, overlooking the times of ignorance, now proclaims to men that all everywhere should do penance, because he has appointed a day on which to judge the world in equity.' VI. ON THE FEAR OF THE LORD.
In Exodus: 'Follow after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his precepts, and hear his voice, and cleave to him.' Likewise in Psalm thirty-two: 'Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him, who hope in his mercy.' Likewise in Psalm thirty-three: 'Fear the Lord, all you his saints, for there is no want to those who fear him.' Likewise in Psalm one hundred and twenty-seven: 'Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways.' Likewise in Proverbs: 'The fear of the Lord adds days: but the years of the impious shall be shortened.' Likewise there: 'The fear of the Lord is the fortress of the righteous man, but destruction to those who work evil.' Likewise there: 'The fear of the Lord is unto life for a man: but he who is without fear shall dwell in a place which knowledge does not visit.' Likewise there:
'The generation of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, riches and glory and life.' Likewise there: 'Let not your heart envy sinners, but be in the fear of the Lord all the day.' Likewise there: 'Blessed is he who fears all things through fear. For he who is of a hard heart shall fall into evils.' Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: 'The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and it was created together with the faithful in the womb, and it is entrusted with the elect seeds, and it is acknowledged with the just and the sensible.' Likewise there: 'The fear of the Lord acknowledges the knowledge of holiness. It will guard chastity, and the heart shall be justified, and it will give delight and joy.' Likewise there: 'With him who fears the Lord it shall go well, and in the days of his consummation he shall be blessed. The fullness of wisdom is to fear the Lord, and fullness from its fruits.'
'It will fill all his house with generations, and its storehouses from its treasures. The crown of wisdom is to fear the Lord: and both these are the gifts of God.' Likewise there: 'The fear of the Lord drives out sin: for he who is without fear cannot be justified.' Likewise there: 'Do not be incredulous of the fear of the Lord, and do not approach him with a double heart.' Likewise there: 'Those who fear the Lord will not be incredulous of his word: and those who love him will keep his way. Those who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and in his sight will sanctify their souls.' Likewise there: 'Those who fear the Lord will keep his commandments and have patience until his inspection.'
'The fear of the Lord is not to despise a just poor man, and not to magnify a rich sinful man.' Likewise there: 'All wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and in it is to fear the Lord.' Likewise there: 'How great is he who has found wisdom and knowledge! yet there is none above him who fears God. The fear of the Lord has set itself above all things.' Likewise there: 'If you do not hold fast to the fear of God with perseverance, your house shall quickly be overthrown.' Likewise in Ecclesiastes: 'The end of all discourse, O hearer: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole of man, since God will bring every work into judgment for every hidden thing, whether good or evil.' Likewise in Proverbs: 'The fear of the Lord hates malice, insolence and pride and the ways of the wicked.' VII. ON THE GOOD OF PEACE AND CHARITY.
In Deuteronomy: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Likewise in Psalm one hundred and eighteen: 'Much peace have those who love your name, and there is no stumbling-block for them.' Likewise in Psalm one hundred and thirty-two: 'Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!' Likewise in Proverbs: 'Those who desire peace shall rejoice.' Likewise there: 'Better is a little bread with sweetness in peace than a house full of many good things with unjust sacrifices and strife.' Likewise there: 'He who conceals an injury seeks friendship: but he who hates to conceal it separates friends and household members.' Likewise there: 'Grace and friendship set free; keep them for yourself, that you may not be in reproaches.' Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: 'The children of wisdom are the assembly of the just, and their nation is obedience and love.' Likewise there:
'In three things is my spirit pleased, which are approved before God and men: the concord of brothers, and the love of neighbors, and a man and a woman who agree together.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.' Likewise there: 'I say to you, that if two of you shall agree upon earth about anything whatsoever you shall ask, it shall be granted you by my Father who is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.' Likewise according to John: 'A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.' Likewise the apostle Paul to the Romans:
'Let not then our good be blasphemed. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this serves Christ is pleasing to God and approved by men. Let us therefore pursue the things of peace, and let us keep the things of edification toward one another.' Likewise there: 'With the charity of brotherhood be kindly affectioned toward one another: in honor preferring one another.' Likewise there: 'The love of neighbor works no evil, and the fullness of the Gospel is love.' Likewise in First Corinthians: 'Be zealous for the better gifts; and yet I show you a still more excellent way. If I speak with the tongues of men or of angels, but have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.'
'And if I have prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. And if I distribute all my substance to the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not charity, it profits me nothing. Charity is patient, is kind: charity does not envy: charity is not perverse, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, hopes all things, believes all things, endures all things. Charity never fails.' Likewise there: 'Now there remain hope, faith, charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.'
'Pursue charity.' Likewise there: 'Watch, stand firm in the faith, be strengthened, act manfully: let all your things be done in charity.' Likewise to the Philippians: 'If there is therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of charity, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels of compassion: fulfill my joy, that you be all of one mind, having the same charity, of one accord, thinking one thing, doing nothing through contention nor through vainglory, but in humility of mind esteeming one another better than themselves, each one looking not to his own things but to the things of others.' Likewise to the Ephesians:
'I beseech you therefore, I the prisoner in the Lord, that you walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility of mind and meekness, with much patience, bearing with one another in charity, careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.' Likewise there: 'Be therefore imitators of God as beloved sons, and walk in charity, as Christ also loved you and delivered himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness.' Likewise to First Timothy: 'For the end of the commandment is charity from a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith; from which some, turning aside, have turned to vain babbling.' Likewise in the First Epistle of the apostle Peter:
'Wherefore be you all of one mind, of one accord, compassionate, lovers of the brotherhood, merciful, modest, humble, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise, blessing, that you may inherit a blessing.' Likewise there: 'But above all things having perpetual mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covers a multitude of sins.' Likewise in the First Epistle of John: 'He who says he is in the light and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now. But he who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no stumbling-block in him.' Likewise there:
'And by this we know his charity, that he laid down his soul for us: and we also ought to lay down our souls for our brothers.' VIII. THAT THE LORD IS EVERYWHERE. In Psalm one hundred and thirty-eight: 'Whither shall I go from your spirit? And whither shall I flee from your face? If I ascend into heaven, you are there: and if I descend into hell, you are present. If I take my wings before the dawn and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.' Likewise in the book of Wisdom: 'For the spirit of wisdom is holy and will not free from cursing what comes from its lips: for God is witness of his reins, and the true observer of his heart, and the hearer of his tongue:
for the spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world.' Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the heavens and all the earth are full of his majesty.' Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: 'For great is the wisdom of God, mighty in power, seeing all without ceasing.' Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: 'I am a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off. And if a man is hidden in secret places, shall I not see him? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord.' IX. THAT THE LORD KNOWS THE HIDDEN THINGS OF THE HEART. In First Kings: 'Not as man sees, so does God see: for man sees in the face, but God in the heart.' Likewise in Third Kings: 'For you alone know the hearts of the children of men.'
Likewise in First Chronicles: 'And now, Solomon, know the God of your fathers and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing soul: for the Lord searches all hearts and knows every thought.' Likewise in Psalm seven: 'God searching hearts and reins.' Likewise in Proverbs: 'For in the sight of God are the ways of a man: and God is the observer of all his courses.' Likewise there: 'In every place the eyes of the Lord behold the good and the evil.' Likewise there: 'Death and hell are manifest before God: how much more the hearts of men?' Likewise in Job: 'If I have sinned, what can I do to you, you who know the human mind?' Likewise there: 'For he himself perceives the works of men, and nothing of what they do is hidden from him.' Likewise the prophet Jeremiah:
'O Lord, who judge justly and try the reins and hearts.' Likewise there: 'I the Lord search the hearts and try the reins, that I may give to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his devices.' Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: 'Thus says the Lord: So you have said, O house of Israel, and I know the thoughts of your spirit.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: 'But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said: Why do you think evil in your hearts?' Likewise according to John: 'And Peter was grieved because he said to him a third time: Do you love me? And he said to him: Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you.' Likewise the apostle Paul to the Romans: 'In the day when God shall judge the hidden things of men according to my Gospel, through Jesus Christ our Lord.'
Likewise to First Corinthians: 'And therefore do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the counsels of the heart: and then shall everyone have praise from God.' Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles: 'You, Lord, who know the hearts of men, show us which of these two you have chosen.' Likewise in the Apocalypse of John: 'And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the reins and hearts.' X. THAT ONE MUST JUDGE JUSTLY. In Exodus: 'You shall not pervert the judgment of the poor in his cause. Withdraw from every unjust word. You shall not kill the innocent and the just; you shall not justify the unjust. And you shall not accept bribes: for bribes blind the eyes of those who see, and pervert just words.' Likewise there: 'You shall not despise the poor in judgment.' Likewise in Leviticus:
You shall not do injustice in judgment: you shall not respect the person of the poor, nor shall you stand in awe of the person of the mighty: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. Again in the same place: You shall not do what is unjust in judgment, in measures, in weights, and in balances. Let the balance be even and the weight just, and the just measure shall be yours. I am the Lord your God. Again in Deuteronomy: You shall not respect persons in judgment; you shall judge the small as well as the great: you shall not respect the persons of men, because it is the judgment of God. Again there: Judges and teachers of the law you shall appoint for yourself in all your cities, which the Lord your God shall give you throughout each tribe, and they shall judge the people with just judgment:
they shall not pervert judgment, they shall not respect persons, nor shall they receive gifts: for gifts blind the eyes of the wise and subvert the just word. Follow after justice, that you may live. Again there: Cursed be he who perverts the judgment of the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. And all the people shall say: Amen, amen. Again in the Second Book of Paralipomenon: And Josaphat appointed judges in all the fortified cities of Juda, and throughout each city he said to the judges: See what you do: for you judge not for man, but for the Lord: and he is with you in the word of judgment. Now let the fear of the Lord be upon you, and observe and do it: for with the Lord our God there is no injustice, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.
Again there, to the priests: Thus you shall act in the fear of the Lord, in faith and with a perfect heart: and every judgment that shall come to you from your brethren, who dwell in their cities, whether between blood and blood, or between law and law, in the commandments touching justifications and judgments: and you shall explain them to them, and they shall not sin against the Lord. Again in the First Book of Esdras: But the truth abides and grows strong forever, and lives and endures unto ages of ages, and it accepts no man's person nor any distinctions, but judges justly and acts justly: from all the unjust, the deceitful, and the impious it departs, and all the just hope in it, and in its judgment there is no injustice:
and to it belong strength and kingship, and its power endures unto ages of ages. Blessed indeed is the Lord of truth! Again in Psalm 57: If indeed you truly speak justice, judge rightly, O sons of men. Again in Psalm 81: How long will you judge injustice and accept the persons of sinners? Judge for the orphan and the needy, justify the humble and the poor: rescue the poor, and deliver the needy from the hand of the sinner. Again in Proverbs: Let mercy and faith not forsake you, and let truth possess you: bind them diligently upon your soul, and you shall find grace. And provide good things before God and men. Again there: He destroys himself who accepts gifts: but he who hates the taking of gifts shall live. Again there:
The ways of those who receive gifts into their bosom unjustly shall not prosper. Again there: To admire the face of the wicked is not good, nor is it holy to turn aside the just man in judgment. Again there: To do justice and to be truthful pleases God more than the blood of sacrifices. Again there: These things I say to you who are wise to understand: it is not good to show partiality. Again in chapter 16: To do mercy and judgment pleases the Lord more than victims. Again in chapter 18: To respect the person of the wicked and not to reverence the person in judgment is not good. Again there: He who says that the just is wicked shall be cursed by peoples and hateful to the nations. But those who reprove shall hope for better things. Again there: Open your mouth with the word of God and judge all uprightly. Open your mouth and judge justly:
and distinguish the poor and the weak. Again there: The just man knows how to judge for the poor: but the wicked understands not knowledge, and in the needy there is no faculty of understanding. Again there: When the king judges the poor in truth, his throne shall rise up as a testimony. Again in Ecclesiasticus: Do not seek to be made a judge, unless you have the strength to break through iniquities: lest perhaps you dread the face of the mighty, and lay a stumbling-block against your own integrity. Again there: There is one who loses his soul through shame, and through respect of persons he shall destroy himself. Again there, chapter 5: Do not seek to be made a judge unless you have the strength. Again chapter 11: There is one who loses his soul through shame. Again chapter 11:
Gifts and presents blind the eyes of judges, and like a muzzle in the mouth they turn away reproof. Again in the prophet Isaiah: Woe to those who justify the wicked for gifts, and take away what is just from the just man unjustly! Again there: Woe to those who write iniquity, who turn aside the judgment of the needy and seize the judgment of the poor of my people! so that the widow becomes their prey, and the orphan their spoil. And what will they do in the day of visitation? Again there: He who walks in equity, who speaks the straight way, who hates iniquity and injustice, and keeps his hand from gifts, who stops his ears that he may not hear the judgment of blood, who shuts his eyes that he may not see iniquity:
he shall dwell on high in the cave of the firm rock; strong bread shall be given him, and his water shall be sure. Again there: Thus says the Lord: Keep judgment, do justice, for my salvation has drawn near to come, and my mercy to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does these things, and the man who embraces them and keeps them, lest he profane my sabbaths, and keeps his hands from doing iniquity. Again there: I am the Lord who loves justice and hates robbery and iniquities. Again in Job: For the testimony of the wicked is death: and fire shall consume the houses of those who take gifts. He shall conceive groaning in his belly, and vain things shall come upon him, and his belly shall bear deceit. Again in Jeremiah:
Execute judgment in the morning, and act rightly, and deliver him who is plundered from the hand of the one who wrongs him, lest my anger be kindled like fire and burn, and there be none to quench it. And rescue him who is plundered from the hand of the one who wrongs him, and do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, and the widow: and do not act impiously, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. Again in the prophet Micah: Hear therefore these things, you leaders of the house of Jacob and remnant of the house of Israel, you who abhor equity and overturn all right things, you who build Sion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquities.
Their leaders judged for bribes, and their priests answered for hire, and their prophets divined for money, and yet they rested upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No evils shall come upon us. Again in the prophet Habakkuk: Why have you shown me toils and sorrows, to look upon misery and impiety? Judgment has risen up against me, and the judge has taken a bribe. Because of this the law is torn asunder, and judgment is not carried through to the end: for the wicked oppresses the just through power, and therefore perverted judgment goes forth. Again in the prophet Zechariah: Thus says the Lord Almighty: Judge just judgment, and let each one show mercy and piety to his brother:
and do not oppress by power the widow, the orphan, the sojourner, and the poor, and let none of you devise in your hearts the evil of his brother. Again in Job: I was an eye to the blind, a foot to the lame, a father to the powerless. I examined causes without partiality, and breaking the jaws of the unjust, I plucked the spoil out of the midst of their teeth. Again in the Gospel according to John: Do not judge according to appearance, but judge just judgment. 11. THAT ONE MUST DO GOOD TO THE POOR AND NOT TAKE A PLEDGE. In Deuteronomy: If your neighbor owe you any debt whatsoever, you shall not enter his house to take a pledge: you shall stand outside, and the man shall bring out to you outside the pledge for his debt which is in his possession.
But if the man be poor, you shall not sleep upon his pledge: you shall surely return to him his pledge about sunset, and he shall sleep in his garment and bless you, and it shall be reckoned to you as mercy from the Lord in the sight of your God. Again there: You shall not take a widow's garment as a pledge, for you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God delivered you from there. For this reason I command you to do this word. Again in Exodus: But if you lend money to any poor man of my people, you shall not press him nor exact usury from him. And if you take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset: for this is his only covering for his poverty; wherein shall he sleep? And if he cry out to me, I will hear him:
for I am merciful toward you. Again in Proverbs: Do not withhold from doing good to the poor, whenever your hand is able to help. Do not say: Go and return, tomorrow I will give, when you are able to do good at once. For you know not what the following day may bring. Again there: He who insults the poor sins: but he who has mercy on the poor is blessed. Again there: He who oppresses the poor provokes his Maker: but he who has mercy on the poor, until I will hear him, for I am merciful. In Proverbs, chapter 4: Do not forbid to do good. Again chapter 15: He who despises his neighbor sins, but he who has mercy is blessed. Again chapter 15: He who oppresses the needy dishonors him, but he who has mercy on the poor honors him. Again there:
He who has mercy on the poor lends to the Lord: and according to what he has given, it shall be repaid to him. Again there: He who has mercy on the poor shall himself be nourished: for from his own loaves he gave to the poor. Again there: He who gives to the poor shall not want: but he who turns away his eye shall be in great need. Again in the prophet Isaiah: But you who set fire to my vineyard, and the spoil of the poor is in your houses, why do you wrong my people and confound the person of the needy? Again in the prophet Ezekiel: He who has not oppressed the needy and the poor, and has not taken by robbery, and has restored the pledge, and has not set his eyes upon idols, and has not committed iniquity, and has not given his money at usury: he is just, he shall surely live, says the Lord who has mercy on the poor. Again chapter 22:
He who is inclined to mercy shall be blessed. Again chapter (...): He who gives to the poor shall not want. In Isaiah chapter (...): But you who set fire to the vineyard. In Ezekiel chapter (...): He has not oppressed the needy and the poor, up to: he is just, he has lent to life; he is just, he shall live for the Lord. Again in Tobit: But directing yourself to justice all the days of your life, do good before Him, and do not walk in the ways of iniquity, nor turn your face away from any needy or poor man, for almsgiving delivers from death. 12. THAT ONE MUST DO GOOD TO THE WIDOW, THE ORPHAN, AND THE STRANGER. In Exodus: You shall not harm the stranger, nor trouble him: for you also were strangers in Egypt.
You shall not harm any widow or orphan. But if you harm them with malice, and they crying out cry to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my soul shall be enraged, and I will slay you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows and your sons orphans. Again there: And you shall not trouble the stranger: for you know the souls of strangers, since you yourselves were strangers in the land of Egypt. Again in Leviticus: If any stranger come to you in your land, you shall not trouble him: the stranger who comes to you shall be among you as a native, and you shall love him as yourselves, because you too were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Again there:
And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not fully reap the harvest of your field: and the gleanings of your harvest you shall not gather. And you shall not go over your vineyard again, nor gather the grapes that have fallen from your vineyard: you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God. You shall not pervert the judgment of the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. Again in Job: For I saved the poor from the hand of the mighty, and I helped the orphan who had no helper. The blessing of the widow came upon me. And I was clothed with judgment, and encompassed with equity. I was an eye to the blind, a foot to the lame, a father to the powerless. I examined causes without partiality, and breaking the jaws of the unjust, I plucked the spoil from the midst of their teeth. Again in Numbers:
But know that every soul which in pride shall despise the commandments of the Lord, whether he be of the natives or of the proselytes in the city, shall perish from his people, because he has contemned the word of the Lord and neglected his precepts; and therefore that soul shall be utterly crushed in tribulation, and his sin shall be upon him. 13. THAT THE WAGE OF THE HIRED LABORER MUST NOT BE WITHHELD. In Leviticus: You shall not harm your neighbor, nor commit robbery, and the wage of the hired laborer shall not remain with you until morning. Again in Deuteronomy: You shall not defraud the wage of the poor and needy among your brethren, or among the strangers who are in your city: you shall render his wage the same day: