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KEEPING then in mind the judgment of Ananias and Sapphira let us dread
keeping back any of those things which we gave up and vowed utterly to
forsake. Let us also fear the example of Gehazi, who for the sin of
covetousness was chastised with the punishment of perpetual leprosy. From
this let us beware of acquiring that wealth which we never formerly
possessed. Moreover also dreading both the fault and the death of Judas,
let us with all the power that we have avoid taking back any of that wealth
which once we east away from us. Above all, considering the state of our
weak and shifty nature, let us beware lest the day of the Lord come upon us
as a thief in the night, and find our conscience defiled even by a
single penny; for this would make void all the fruits of our renunciation
of the world, and cause that which was said to the rich man in the gospel
to be directed towards us also by the voice of the Lord: "Thou fool, this
night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be
which thou hast prepared?" And taking no thought for the morrow, let us
never allow ourselves to be enticed away from the rule of the Coenobium.
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