The Gospel of Barnabas · Chapter 120
Idle Talk and Jesting
'The fruit of vain talking is this, that it weakeneth the intellect in such wise that it is not ready to receive the truth; even as a horse accustomed to carry but one ounce of cotton flock cannot carry an hundred pounds of stone.'
'But what is worse is the man who spendeth his time in jests. When he is fain to pray, Satan will put into his memory those same jests, insomuch that when he ought to weep over his sins to provoke God to mercy and to win forgiveness for his sins, by laughing he provoketh God to anger; who will chastise him, and cast him out.'
'Woe, therefore, to them that jest and talk vainly! But if our God hath in abomination them that jest and talk vainly, how evil he hold them that murmur and slander their neighbour, and in what plight will they be who deal with sinning as with a business supremely necessary? Oh impure world, I cannot conceive how grievously thou wilt be punished by God! He, then, who would do penance, he, I say, must give out his words at the price of gold.'
His disciples answered: 'Now who will buy a man's words at the price of gold? Assuredly no one. And how shall he do penance? It is certain that he will become covetous!'
Jesus answered: 'Ye have your heart so heavy that I am not able to lift it up. Hence in every word it is necessary that I should tell you the meaning. But give thanks to God, who hath given you grace to know the mysteries of God. I do not say that the penitent should sell his talking, but I say that when he talketh he should think that he is casting forth gold. For indeed, so doing, even as gold is spent on necessary things, so he will talk only when it is necessary to talk. And just as no one spendeth gold on a thing which shall cause hurt to his body, so let him not talk of a thing that may cause hurt to his soul.'
'The fruit of vain talk is that it weakens the intellect so that it is no longer ready to receive the truth, just as a horse accustomed to carrying only an ounce of cotton cannot carry a hundred pounds of stone.'
'Still worse is the person who spends his time in jokes. When he wishes to pray, Satan will bring those same jokes back to his memory, so that when he should be weeping over his sins to move God to mercy and obtain forgiveness, he instead provokes God to anger by laughing; and God will chastise him and cast him out.'
'Woe, therefore, to those who joke and speak vainly! But if our God abhors those who joke and speak vainly, how evil must he regard those who murmur and slander their neighbor? And what condition will those be in who make a necessary occupation of sinning? O impure world, I cannot conceive how severely God will punish you! Therefore anyone who wishes to repent must value every word as though it were gold.'
His disciples answered: 'Who will buy a person's words for the price of gold? Certainly no one. How, then, will he repent? Surely he will become greedy!'
Jesus answered: 'Your hearts are so heavy that I cannot lift them up. Therefore I must explain the meaning of every expression to you. But give thanks to God, who has given you grace to know the mysteries of God. I do not mean that the penitent should sell his speech; I mean that whenever he speaks, he should think of himself as spending gold. Then, just as gold is spent only on necessary things, he will speak only when speech is necessary. And just as no one spends gold on something that will harm his body, he should not speak about anything that may harm his soul.'
'The fruit of vain talking is this, that it weakeneth the intellect in such wise that it is not ready to receive the truth; even as a horse accustomed to carry but one ounce of cotton flock cannot carry an hundred pounds of stone.'
'But what is worse is the man who spendeth his time in jests. When he is fain to pray, Satan will put into his memory those same jests, insomuch that when he ought to weep over his sins to provoke God to mercy and to win forgiveness for his sins, by laughing he provoketh God to anger; who will chastise him, and cast him out.'
'Woe, therefore, to them that jest and talk vainly! But if our God hath in abomination them that jest and talk vainly, how evil he hold them that murmur and slander their neighbour, and in what plight will they be who deal with sinning as with a business supremely necessary? Oh impure world, I cannot conceive how grievously thou wilt be punished by God! He, then, who would do penance, he, I say, must give out his words at the price of gold.'
His disciples answered: 'Now who will buy a man's words at the price of gold? Assuredly no one. And how shall he do penance? It is certain that he will become covetous!'
Jesus answered: 'Ye have your heart so heavy that I am not able to lift it up. Hence in every word it is necessary that I should tell you the meaning. But give thanks to God, who hath given you grace to know the mysteries of God. I do not say that the penitent should sell his talking, but I say that when he talketh he should think that he is casting forth gold. For indeed, so doing, even as gold is spent on necessary things, so he will talk only when it is necessary to talk. And just as no one spendeth gold on a thing which shall cause hurt to his body, so let him not talk of a thing that may cause hurt to his soul.'