“To Whom Much is Given.”

Chapter XXXII.—“To Whom Much is Given.”

“No; but rather, if those who are in error do not kill, let us not be angry; if he who is in error do not commit adultery, let us not lust even in the smallest degree; if he who is in error loves him who loves him, let us love even those who hate us; if he who is in error lends to those who have, let us give to those who have not.  Unquestionably we ought—we who hope to inherit eternal life—to do better things than the good things that are done by those who know only the present life, knowing that if their works, being judged with ours in the day of judgment, be found equal in goodness, we shall have shame, and they perdition, having acted against themselves through error.  And I say that we shall be put to shame on this account, because we have not done more than they, though we have known more than they.  And if we shall be put to shame if we show well-doing equal to theirs, and no more, how much more if we show less than their well-doing?