After the prayer of midnight, the disciples came near to Jesus, and he said to them, "This night in the time of the Messenger of God will be the jubilee every year which now comes every hundred years. Therefore, I want us to not sleep; but let us make prayer; bowing our head hundred times; doing reverence to our God Mighty and Merciful who is blessed for evermore. Each time let us say, 'I confess You, our God alone that had no beginning, nor shall ever have end; for by Your mercy You gave to all things their beginning, and by Your justice You shall give to all an end that has no likeness among men. It is because in Your infinite goodness You are neither subject to motion nor to any accident. Have mercy on us, for You have created us, and we are the works of Your hand.'"

Having made the prayer, Jesus said, "Let us give thanks to God because he has given to us this night great mercy." The disciples rejoiced greatly at hearing this, and said, "Master, teach us some precepts this night." Then Jesus said, "Have you ever seen dung mixed with balsam?" They answered, "No, Lord, for no one is so mad as to do this thing." "Now I tell you that there be in the world greater madmen," said Jesus, "because with the service of God they mingle the service of the world.

Tell me, when you wash yourselves for prayer, do you take care that unclean things do not touch you? Yes, assuredly. However, what do you do when you are making prayer? You wash your soul from sins through the mercy of God. Would you be willing then, while you are making prayer, to speak of worldly things? Take care not to do so, for every worldly word becomes dung of the devil upon the soul of him that speaks."

Then the disciples trembled, because he spoke with vehemence of spirit. They said, "O master, what should we do if when we are making prayer a friend comes to speak to us?" Jesus answered, "Let him wait, and you finish the prayer." Bartholomew said, "But what if he gets offended and goes his way, when he sees that we do not speak with him?" Jesus answered, "If he gets offended, believe me he is not a good friend of you and he is not a real believer."

Then Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you that everyone when he prays is speaking with God. Is it then right that you leave speaking with God in order to speak with man? Is it right that your friend for this reason gets offended, just because you have more reverence for God than for him? Believe me that if he gets sad when you make him wait, he is a good servant of the evil; for the devil desires that God be forsaken for man. Therefore, they who love God should separate themselves from the works of the world, so as not to corrupt the good work."

Then Jesus asked, "When a man works ill or talks ill, if one goes to correct him, and hinders such work, is it good?" The disciples answered, "He does well, because he serves God, who always seeks to hinder evil, even as the sun that always seeks to chase away the darkness." Jesus said, "And I tell you that when one works well or speaks well, whosoever seeks to hinder him, under pretext of aught that is not better, he serves the devil; for the devil attends to naught else but to hinder every good thing."