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Chapter 2
1. When he was passing through a village, the peasants gathered around him.
2. And they said to him, ‘You who announce the Hour—tell us what we should then.’
3. And he told them, ‘When the Hour sounds—come together and rejoice together.
4. ‘Kill the fat pork and the fat cow—and get the good wine from the cellar.
5. ‘And set a large table in the common house—and sit down and enjoy yourselves all together.
6. ‘That whoever lives in his house remain there—and whoever lives in a rented house no longer pay rent.
7. And whoever has no house summon the others and say to them: Help me build my house.
8. ‘That whoever has a field cultivate it, whoever has an occupation work at it—that the bee give as much as he can of wax and honey.
9. ‘And in the Common House you will have two books wherein each shall come to write:
10. ‘In the first, what he can give—in the second, of what he has need.
11. ‘And give to each what he needs, as far as possible—without considering what he can supply.
12. ‘For the strong don’t get credit for being strong—nor do the weak get blamed for being weak;
13. ‘Nor do the skillful get credit for being skillful—nor are the clumsy at fault for being so.
14. ‘But each ought to be judged according to his own goodwill—who has done what he can is even with all.
15. ‘These things have already been said, but very few of them have been understood—Peace on earth to men of goodwill.
16. ‘And if someone is accused of not doing what he can—or of asking for more than he needs,
17. ‘Let all you mature men and women come together and examine the case with benevolence and charity.
18. ‘And ask him if he wants to give his reasons for acting like that.
19. ‘And if he can’t give any, let him alone—but give him only what is necessary.
20. ‘But if he pretends to have the right to be idle—and to live at the expense of others;
21. ‘Chase him away and let him not come back, as it was said: The idle shall go live elsewhere.’
22. So the peasants said to him, ‘But our town doesn’t supply everything we need,
23. ‘We need clothes and iron tools—and things that they make only in the city.’
24. So he asked them, ‘Do you eat all the wheat that you harvest, all the oil that make?’
25. They answered, ‘No, every year we sell so many sacks of wheat and so many measures of oil.’
26. So he told them, ‘Therefore you will write to them in the city: Our town can dispose of this wheat and this oil.
27. ‘And you need this and that, and we will make an arrangement.
28. ‘And those from the city will make it possible to give you what you need—seeing that you do what you can to the best of your ability.
29. ‘But in that time many men and women will come to you who will not want to stay in the city.
30. ‘Some with their vain and sterile speech—others wanting to work with you.
31. ‘But you will test them according to the fruits of their labor—observing what their works are.
32. ‘And judging each not by what they say—but by what they do.’
33. And the peasants talked among themselves—about this Hour that he announced.
Chapter 1 * Chapter 3
Black Lung
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