XXV.  Take my advice, my friend, and be slow to do evil, but swift to your salvation; for readiness to evil and tardiness to good are equally bad.  If you are invited to a revel, be not swift to go; if to apostasy, leap away; if a company of evildoers say to you, “Come with us, share our bloodguiltiness, let us hide in the earth a righteous man unjustly,”72    Prov. i. 11. do not lend them even your ears.  Thus you will make two very great gains; you will make known to the other his sin, and you will deliver yourself from evil company.  But if David the Great say unto you, Come and let us rejoice in the Lord;73    Ps. xcv. 1. or another Prophet, Come and let us ascend into the Mountain of the Lord;74    Mic. iv. 2. or our Saviour Himself, Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;75    Matt. xi. 28. or, Arise, let us go hence, shining brightly, glittering above snow, whiter than milk,76    The A.V. is here used, as more accurate than the LXX.  The passage is quoted freely from Lam. iv. 7. shining above the sapphire stone; let us not resist or delay.  Let us be like Peter and John, and let us hasten;77    John xx. 3. as they did to the Sepulchre and the Resurrection, so we to the Font; running together, racing against each other, striving to be first to obtain this Blessing.  And say not, “Go away, and come again, and tomorrow I will be baptized,”78    Prov. iii. 28. when you may have the blessing today.  “I will have with me father, mother, brothers, wife, children, friends, and all whom I value, and then I will be saved; but it is not yet the fitting time for me to be made bright;” for if you say so, there is reason to fear lest you should have as sharers of your sorrow those whom you hoped to have as sharers of your joy.  If they will be with you, well;—but do not wait for them.  For it is base to say, “But where is my offering for my baptism, and where is my baptismal robe, in which I shall be made bright, and where is what is wanted for the entertainment of my baptizers, that in these too I may become worthy of notice?  For, as you see, all these things are necessary, and on account of this the Grace will be lessened.”  Do not thus trifle with great things, or allow yourself to think so basely.  The Sacrament is greater than the visible environment.  Offer yourself; clothe yourself with Christ, feast me with your conduct; I rejoice to be thus affectionately treated, and God Who gives these great gifts rejoices thus.  Nothing is great in the sight of God, but what the poor may give, so that the poor may not here also be outrun, for they cannot contend with the rich.  In other matters there is a distinction between poor and rich, but here the more willing is the richer.

ΚΕʹ. Βραδὺς ἴσθι πρὸς κακουργίαν, ὦ οὗτος, ταχὺς δὲ πρὸς σωτηρίαν, ἐμοὶ πειθόμενος: ἴσον γάρ ἐστι κακὸν, ἑτοιμότης τε πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον, καὶ μέλλησις πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον. Ἐὰν ἐπὶ κῶμον κληθῇς, μὴ ταχύνῃς: ἐὰν ἐπ' ἄρνησιν, ἀποπήδησον: ἐὰν εἴπῃ σοι πονηρὸν ἐργαστήριον: Ἐλθὲ μεθ' ἡμῶν, κοινώνησον αἵματος, κρύψωμεν δὲ εἰς γῆν ἄνδρα δίκαιον ἀδίκως: μηδὲ τὰς ἀκοὰς ὑπόσχῃς. Δύο γὰρ τὰ μέγιστα κερδανεῖς: ἐκείνῳ τε γνωριεῖς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ σαυτὸν ἐξαιρήσεις πονηρᾶς κοινωνίας. Ἂν δέ σοι λέγῃ Δαβὶδ ὁ μέγας: Δεῦτε, ἀγαλλιασώμεθα τῷ Κυρίῳ: ἐὰν δὲ προφήτης ἄλλος: Δεῦτε, ἀναβῶμεν εἰς τὸ ὄρος Κυρίου: ἐὰν δὲ αὐτὸς ὁ Σωτήρ: Δεῦτε πρός με, πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι, κἀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς: ἢ, Ἐγείρεσθε, ἄγωμεν ἐντεῦθεν, λαμπροὶ λαμπρῶς ὑπὲρ χιόνα λάμψαντες, ὑπὲρ γάλα τυρωθέντες, ὑπὲρ λίθον σάπφειρον αὐγασθέντες: μὴ ἀντιτείνωμεν, μὴ βραδύνωμεν. Γενώμεθα Πέτρος καὶ Ἰωάννης: ὡς ἐπὶ τὸν τάφον ἐκεῖνοι καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν, οὕτως ἐπὶ τὸ λουτρὸν αὐτοὶ σπεύδωμεν, συντρέχοντες, ἀντιτρέχοντες, ὅπως ἂν τὸ ἀγαθὸν προλάβωμεν ἀγωνιζόμενοι. Καὶ μὴ εἴπῃς, Ἀπελθὼν ἐπάνηκε, καὶ αὔριον βαπτισθήσομαι, δυνατὸς ὢν σήμερον εὖ παθεῖν: παρέστω μοι μήτηρ, παρέστω μοι πατὴρ, ἀδελφοὶ, γυνὴ, τέκνα, φίλοι, πᾶν ὅ τί μοι τίμιον, καὶ τηνικαῦτα σωθήσομαι: νῦν δὲ οὔπω μοι καιρὸς λαμπρύνεσθαι. Δέος γὰρ, μὴ κοινωνοὺς λάβῃς πένθους, οὓς εὐφροσύνης κοινωνοὺς ἤλπισας. Ἐὰν μὲν παρῶσιν, ἀγαπητέον: ἐὰν δὲ ἀπῶσι, μὴ ἀναμείνῃς. Αἰσχρὸν γὰρ εἰπεῖν: Ποῦ δέ μοι τὸ καρποφορούμενον ἐπὶ τῷ βαπτίσματι; Ποῦ δὲ ἡ ἐμφώτειος ἐσθὴς, ᾗ λαμπρυνθήσομαι; Ποῦ δὲ τὰ πρὸς δεξίωσιν τῶν ἐμῶν βαπτιστῶν, ἵνα κἀν τούτοις εὐδοκιμήσω; Πάνυ γὰρ, ὡς ὁρᾷς, ἐστὶ ταῦτα τῶν ἀναγκαίων, καὶ παρὰ τοῦτο ἡ χάρις ἐλαττωθήσεται. Μὴ μικρολογοῦ περὶ τὰ μεγάλα: μηδὲν ἀγεννὲς πάθῃς. Μεῖζον τῶν ὁρωμένων ἐστὶ τὸ μυστήριον: σαυτὸν καρποφόρησον: Χριστὸν ἔνδυσαι, θρέψον με πολιτείᾳ: οὕτως ἐγὼ χαίρω φιλοφρονούμενος: οὕτω καὶ Θεὸς, ὁ τὰ μέγιστα χαριζόμενος. Οὐδὲν τῷ Θεῷ μέγα, ὃ μὴ καὶ πένης δίδωσιν, ἵνα μὴ κἀνταῦθα παρωθῶνται οἱ πένητες: οὐ γὰρ ἔχουσιν, ὅπως τοῖς πλουσίοις ἁμιλληθῶσιν. Ἐν ἄλλοις μὲν, ἡ διαφορὰ τοῦ πλουτεῖν καὶ τοῦ πένεσθαι: ἐνταῦθα δὲ, ὁ προθυμότερος, πλουσιώτερος.