Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VII/The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles/The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles/Chapter IV



1. My child, him that speaketh to thee the word of God remember night and day; and thou shalt honour him as the Lord; for in the place whence lordly rule is uttered, there is the Lord. 2. And thou shalt seek out day by day the faces of the saints, in order that thou mayest rest upon their words. 3. Thou shalt not long for division, but shalt bring those who contend to peace. Thou shalt judge righteously, thou shalt not respect persons in reproving for transgressions. 4. Thou shalt not be undecided whether it shall be or no. 5. Be not a stretcher forth of the hands to receive and a drawer of them back to give. 6. If thou hast aught, through thy hands thou shalt give ransom for thy sins. 7. Thou shalt not hesitate to give, nor murmur when thou givest; for thou shalt know who is the good repayer of the hire. 8. Thou shalt not turn away from him that is in want, but thou shalt share all things with thy brother, and shalt not say that they are thine own; for if ye are partakers in that which is immortal, how much more in things which are mortal? 9. Thou shalt not remove thy hand from thy son or from thy daughter, but from their youth shalt teach them the fear of God. 10. Thou shalt not enjoin aught in thy bitterness upon thy bondman or maidservant, who hope in the same God, lest ever they shall fear not God who is over both; for he cometh not to call according to the outward appearance, but unto them whom the Spirit hath prepared. 11. And ye bondmen shall be subject to your masters as to a type of God, in modesty and fear. 12. Thou shalt hate all hypocrisy and everything which is not pleasing to the Lord. 13. Do thou in no wise forsake the commandments of the Lord; but thou shalt keep what thou hast received, neither adding thereto nor taking away therefrom. 14. In the church thou shalt acknowledge thy transgressions, and thou shalt not come near for thy prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. &#160;