right. Seeing this, I thought with shame that with us everything befalls in contrary fashion. Some fill and overfill their houses with utensils, clothing, food, gold, and silver, as much as they can; meanwhile others, who are equally servants of God, have hardly wherewith to clothe and feed themselves. But, I must say, I understood that this was by no means the will of God; rather is it the way of the world, the perverse world, that some should go forth in festive attire, others naked; that some should belch from overfilling, while others yawn from hunger; some should laboriously earn silver, some vainly squander it; some make merry, others wail. Thence there sprung up among the one, pride and contempt of the others; and among these again, fury, hatred, and misdeeds. But here there was nothing such. All were in community with all; indeed, their souls also.
(There is Intimacy among True Christians.)
7. Therefore is there great intimacy among them, openness, and holy companionship; therefore all, however different their gifts and their callings may be, consider and hold themselves as brethren; for they say that we have all sprung from the same blood, have been redeemed and cleansed by the same blood, that we are children of one Father, approach the same table,[1] await the same inheritance in heaven, and so forth. Except as regards non-essential matters, one man hath not more than
- ↑ I.e., at Communion.
