CHAPTER X.
Of the Sick Brethren,
If one of the Brethren fall sick, wherever he may be, let the others not leave him alone, but let there always be with him one or more Brothers, according to necessity, who may serve him as they would wish to be served. But in case of urgent necessity, they may commit him to some person who will take care of him in his infirmity. And I beseech the sick Brother to give thanks to his Creator for all things, and to desire to be as God wills him to be, whether sick or well; for those whom the Lord hath predestined to eternal life, are ordinarily disciplined by Him with the rod of afflictions and infirmities and the spirit of compunction ; as He says in the Apocalypse : ‘Such as I love I rebuke and chastise.’ If, however, he be disquieted and angry either against God or against the Brothers, or eagerly seek for remedies, desiring too much to deliver his body which is soon to die, and which is an enemy to the soul, this comes from an evil source; he is carnal, and seems not to be one of the Brethren, because he loves his body more than his soul.