Page:Ante-Nicene Christian Library Vol 4.djvu/332

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THE INSTRUCTOR.
[Book iii.

but of those according to God; and it is taught without letters; and its handbook, at once rude and divine, is called love—a spiritual book. It is in your power to listen to divine wisdom, ay, and to frame your life in accordance with it. Nay, you are not prohibited from conducting affairs in the world decorously according to God. Let not him who sells or buys aught name two prices for what he buys or sells; but stating the net price, and studying to speak the truth, if he get not his price, he gets the truth, and is rich in the possession of rectitude. But, above all, let an oath on account of what is sold be far from you; and let swearing, too, on account of other things be banished.

And in this way let those who frequent the market-place and the shop philosophize. "For thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain."[1]

But those who act contrary to these things—the avaricious, the liars, the hypocrites, those who make merchandise of the truth—the Lord cast out of His Father's court,[2] not willing that the holy house of God should be the house of unrighteous traffic either in words or in material things.


Going to Church.

Woman and man are to go to church decently attired, with natural step, embracing silence, possessing unfeigned love, pure in body, pure in heart, fit to pray to God. Let the woman observe this, further. Let her be entirely covered, unless she happen to be at home. For that style of dress is grave, and protects from being gazed at. And she will never fall, who puts before her eyes modesty, and her shawl; nor will she invite another to fall into sin by uncovering her face. For this is the wish of the Word, since it is becoming for her to pray veiled.[3]

They say that the wife of Æneas, through excess of pro-

  1. Ex. xx. 7.
  2. In allusion to the cleansing of the temple (John ii. 13–17; Matt, xxi. 12, 13; Luke xix. 45, 46).
  3. 1 Cor. xi. 5.