‘Tell me, brother, you that are a doctor learned in the Law in whom was the promise of the Messiah made to our father Abraham? In Isaac or in Ishmael.” The scribe answered: ‘O master, I fear to tell you this, because of the penalty of death.’ Then Jesus said: ‘Brother, I am grieved that I came to eat bread in your house, since you love this present life more than God your creator; and for this cause you fear to lose your life, but fear not to lose the faith and the life eternal, which is lost when the tongue speaks contrary to that which the heart knows of the Law of God. Then the good scribe wept, and said: “O master, if I had known how to bear fruit, I should have preached many things which I have left unsaid lest sedition should be roused among the people.”
Jesus answered: “You should respect neither the people, nor all the world, nor all the holy ones, nor all the angels, when it should cause offence to God. Wherefore let the whole [world] perish rather than offend God your creator, and preserve it not with sin. For sin destroys and preserves not, and God is mighty to create as many worlds as there are sands in the sea, and more.”