80.

80.

'Tell me, where dwelt Job but in Uz among idolaters? And at the time of the flood, how writeth Moses? Tell me, He saith: "Noah truly found grace before God." Our father Abraham had a father without faith, for he made and worshipped false idols. Lot abode among the most wicked men on earth. Daniel as a child, with Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar in such wise that they were but two years old when they were taken; and they were nurtured among the multitude of idolatrous servants. As God liveth, even as the fire burneth dry things and converteth them into fire, making no difference between olive and cypress and palm; even so our God hath mercy on every one that worketh righteously, making no difference between Jew, Scythian, Greek, or Ishmaelite. But let not thine heart stop there, O James, because where God hath sent the prophet it is necessary entirely to deny thine own judgment and to follow the prophet, and not to say: "Why saith he thus?" "Why doth he thus forbid and command?" But say: "Thus God willeth. Thus God commandeth." Now what said God to Moses when Israel despised Moses? "They have not despised thee, but they have despised me."

'Verily I say unto you, that man ought to spend all the time of his life not in learning how to speak or to read, but in learning how to work well. Now tell me, who is that servant of Herod who would not study to please him by serving him with all diligence? Woe unto the world that studieth only to please a body that is clay and dung, and studieth not but forgetteth the service of God who hath made all things; who is blessed for evermore.'