Love the Word of God, that is the Scriptures, handed down to
us by the prophets and apostles, as God Himself. For the word of God is the
word of God's mouth. If you love God, then without fail you will love the word
of God also. For the word of God is God's epistle or letter to us unworthy
ones, and is His supreme gift to us for the sake of our salvation. If you love
the Sender, then also love the letter which is sent from Him to you. For the
word of God is given by God to me, to you, and to everyone, so that everyone
who desires to be saved may receive salvation through it.
You love it when an earthly king writes you a
letter, and you read it with love and joy. How much more must we read the
letter of the Heavenly King with love and joy.
The word of God was not given to you so that it
should lay written only on paper, but so that we may use it spiritually, that
we may be enlightened and guided in the true way and salvation, that our morals
may be corrected, and that we may live according to its rule in this world, and
that we may please God. If you wish, therefore, to be a true Christian, then
without fail you must take care to live by its rule. For the word of God is a
heavenly seed. It must, then, yield fruit in us after its kind, that is a holy
and heavenly life, otherwise it will accuse us on the day of the fearful
Judgement of Christ. Live, therefore, as the word of God teaches, and then
correct yourself. Do not pry idly into the mysteries.
Of the mystery of the All-Holy Trinity, the
Most-Holy Eucharist, and other such things that are not revealed to us in the
holy word of God, do not inquire idly, lest you fall into the snare of the
devil and be tangled in it, and not be able to escape from thence, and so
perish. For that which requires faith alone transcends our reasoning, and it is
very dangerous to pry into these things. Keep yourself, then, from prying into
things which are above you. Believe in all things as the Holy Scriptures teach,
and as the Holy Church believes and establishes in accordance with it.
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