XXXI. What Qualifications They Ought to Have Who are to Be Ordained.
Do you first ordain bishops worthy of the Lord,1 and presbyters and deacons, pious men, righteous, meek, free from the love of money, lovers of truth, approved, holy, not accepters of persons, who are able to teach the word of piety, and rightly dividing the doctrines of the Lord.2 And do ye honour such as your fathers, as your lords, as your benefactors, as the causes of your well-being. Reprove ye one another, not in anger, but in mildness, with kindness and peace. Observe all things that are commanded you by the Lord. Be watchful for your life.3 "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye like unto men who wait for their Lord, when He will come, at even, or in the morning, or at cock-crowing, or at midnight. For at what hour they think not, the Lord will come; and if they open to Him, blessed are those servants, because they were found watching. For He will gird Himself, and will make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them."4 Watch therefore, and pray, that ye do not sleep unto death. For your former good deeds will not profit you, if at the last part of your life you go astray from the true faith.
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[Comp. text and notes, Teaching, chap. xv.--R.] ↩
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2 Tim. ii. 15. ↩
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[This clause is found verbatim in Teaching, chap. xvi. There is a resemblance also, in order of topics, from this point down to the phrase "above the clouds;" see chap. xxxii. No further correspondences appear.--R.] ↩
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Luke xii. 35, 37; Mark xiii. 35. ↩
