LUX VERITAS

Library of Sacred Texts

Apocrypha · Chapter 44 of 114

The Shepherd of Hermas 44

Visions and Mandates

Ler em portuguêsCompare PT / EN

He says to me, “Put away from you all wicked desire, and clothe yourself with good and chaste desire; for clothed with this desire you will hate wicked desire, and will rein yourself in even as you wish. For wicked desire is wild, and is with difficulty tamed. For it is terrible, and consumes men exceedingly by its wildness. Especially is the servant of God terribly consumed by it, if he falls into it and is devoid of understanding.

2Moreover, it consumes all such as have not on them the garment of good desire, but are entangled and mixed up with this world. These it delivers up to death.” “What then, sir,” say I, “are the deeds of wicked desire which deliver men over to death? Make them known to me, and I will refrain from them.” “Listen, then, to the works in which evil desire slays the servants of God.”

About The Shepherd of Hermas

Visions, commandments and parables received by a former slave in Rome, debating whether there is a second chance after grave sin. It was read as Scripture in several ancient churches. English text: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2, Shepherd of Hermas, F. Crombie, 1885 (public domain). Portuguese and Spanish: Lux Veritas translations from this edition.

Source: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2, Shepherd of Hermas, F. Crombie (1885) · public domain