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IN this manner we have heard that Abbot John who lived at Lycon, was
recently deceived. For when his body was exhausted and failing as he had
put off taking food during a fast of two days, on the third day while he
was on his way to take some refreshment the devil came in the shape of a
filthy Ethiopian, and falling at his feet, cried "Pardon me because I
appointed this labour for you." And so that great man, who was so perfect
in the matter of discretion, understood that under pretence of an
abstinence! practised unsuitably, he was deceived by the craft of the
devil, and engaged in a fast of such a character as to affect his worn out
body with a weariness that was unnecessary, indeed that was harmful to the
spirit; as he was deceived by a counterfeit coin, and, while he paid
respect to the image of the true king upon it, was not sufficiently alive
to the question whether it was rightly cut and stamped. But the last duty
of this "good money-changer," which, as we mentioned before, concerns the
examination of the weight, will be fulfilled, if whenever our thoughts
suggest that anything is to be done, we scrupulously think it over, and,
laying it in the scales of our breast, weigh it with the most exact
balance, whether it be full of good for all, or heavy with the fear of God:
or entire and sound in meaning; or whether it be light with human display
or some conceit of novelty, or whether the pride of foolish vain glory has
not diminished or lessened the weight of its merit. And so straightway
weighing them in the public balance, i.e., testing them by the acts and
proofs of the Apostles and Prophets let us hold them as it were entire and
perfect and of full weight, or else with all care and diligence reject them
as imperfect and counterfeit, and of insufficient weight.
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