8 The time is ripe; your Master comes upon the clouds; the eastern sky is glowing with his presence now. 9 Put on reception robes; gird up your loins; trim up your lamps and fill them well with oil, and be prepared to meet your Lord; when you are ready, he will come. 10 Thrice blessed are the servants who are ready to receive their Lord. 11 Behold, for he will gird himself, and will prepare a sumptuous feast for every one, and he himself will serve. 12 It matters not when he shall come; it may be at the second watch; it may be at the third; but blessed are the servants who are ready to receive. 13 You cannot leave your door ajar and go to sleep, and wait in blissful ignorance of the fleeting time; 14 For thieves will surely come and take away your goods and bind and carry you away to robbers’ dens. 15 And if you are not carried forth, the Master when he comes will not regard a sleeping guard as friend, but as a foe. 16 Beloved, these are times when every man must be awake and at his post, for none can tell the hour nor the day when man shall be revealed. 17 And Peter said, Lord is this parable for us, or for the multitudes? 18 And Jesus said, Why need you ask? God is not man that he should show respect for one and cast another off. 19 Whoever will may come and gird himself, and trim his lamp, and find a turret in the tower of life where he may watch, and be prepared to meet the Lord. 20 But you, as children of the light, have come, and you have learned the language of the court, and may stand forth and lead the way. 21 But you may wait, and think that you are ready to receive the Lord, and still he does not come. 22 And you may grow impatient and begin to long for carnal ways again, and may begin to exercise your rule; 23 To beat, and otherwise maltreat the servants of the house, and fill yourselves with wine and meat. 24 And what will say the Lord when he shall come? 25 Behold, for he will cast the faithless servant from his house; and many years will come and go before he can be cleansed, and be thought worthy to receive his Lord. 26 The servant who has come into the light, who knows the Master’s will and does it not; the trusted guard who goes to sleep within the turret of the tower of life, 27 Shall feel the lash of justice many times, while he who does not know his Master’s will and does it not, will not receive the graver punishment. 28 The man who comes and stands before the open door of opportunity and does not enter in, but goes his way, 29 Will come again and find the door made fast, and when he calls, the door will open not, 30 The guard will say, you had the pass-word once, but you threw it away and now the Master knows you not; depart. 31 And verily I say to you, To whom much has been given, much is required; to whom a little has been given, a little only is required. CHAPTER 113.