The Shepherd of Hermas

Be converted, you who walk in the commandments of the devil, which are difficult and bitter and cruel and foul, and do not fear the devil, for there is no power in him against you.

For I, the angel of repentance who masters him, will be with you. The devil can only cause fear, but fear of him has no force. Therefore do not fear him and he will fly from you.

I said to him Sir, listen to a few words from me. Say what you will, he said. Sir, said I, man desires to keep the commandments of God,

He cannot, said he, oppress the servants of the Lord who hope in him with all their heart. The devil can wrestle with them, but he cannot throw them down. If then you resist him, he will be conquered and fly from you, in shame. But as many, said he, as are empty fear the devil as though he had power.

When a man fills very many pots with good wine, and among those pots a few are half empty, he comes to the pots, and does not consider those which are full, for he knows that they are full, but he looks at those which are half empty, fearing that they have gone sour, for empty pots quickly go sour, and the flavour of the wine is spoilt.

So also the devil comes to all the servants of God, tempting them; as many therefore as are full of faith withstand him powerfully, and he departs from them, having no room by which to enter. Then, therefore, he comes to those who are half empty and finding room he enters into them, and does what he will in them, and they become his servants.

But I, the angel of repentance, say to you, Do not fear the devil. For I was sent, said he, to be with you who repent with all your heart, and

Believe, therefore, in God, though you have renounced your life through your sins, and have added to your sins, and have made your life heavy, that if you turn to the Lord with all your heart, and do righteousness, for the rest of the days of your life, and serve him in uprightness, according to his will, he will heal your former sins, and you shall have power to master the works of the devil. But do not fear the threat of the devil at all, for he is powerless as the sinews of a dead man.

Listen, therefore, to me, and fear him who has all power, to save and to destroy, and keep these commandments, and you shall live to God.

I said to him: Sir, now I have received power in all the ordinances of the Lord, because you are with me, and I know that you will break down all the power of the devil, and we shall master him, and have power against all his deeds. And I hope, sir, that I shall now be able to keep these commandments which you have commanded, the Lord giving me strength.

You shall keep them, said he, if your heart be pure towards the Lord, and all who ever purify their hearts from the vain desires of this world shall keep them, and shall live to God.

He said to me, You know that you, as the[*](Christians are strangers in the world) servants of God, are living in a strange country,[*](The idea of the conflict of interests between earthly and heavenly citizenship is common in early Christian literature. Cf. Heb. 13, 14. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.) for your city is far from this city. If then you know your city, in which you are going to dwell, why do you here prepare lands and costly establishments and buildings and vain dwellings?

He therefore, who prepares these things for this city, is not able to return to his own city.

O foolish and double-hearted and wretched man, do you not understand that all these things are foreign to you, and are under the power of another? For the Lord of this city will say: I do not wish you to dwell in my city, but go out from this city, because you do not use my law.

If then you have fields and dwellings, and many other possessions, when you are cast out by him, what will you do with your land and house, and all the other things which you have prepared for yourself? For the lord of this country justly says to you, Either use my law or go out from my country.

What then are you going to do, seeing that you have a law in your own city? Will you because of your fields and other possessions altogether deny your law, and walk in the law of

Take heed, then, make no further preparations for yourself beyond a sufficient competence for yourself, as though you were living in a foreign country, and be ready in order that, whenever the master of this city wishes to expel you for resisting his law, you may go out from his city, and depart to your own city, and joyfully follow your own law suffering no harm.[*](ἀνυβρίστως is either active or passive: it may qualify ἀγαλλιώμενος, in decorous joy , joy unmixed with ὕβρις.)

Take heed, then, you who serve the Lord and have him in your heart. Do the deeds of God, remembering his commandments, and the promises which he made, and believe him that he will perform them if his commandments be observed.

Therefore instead of lands, purchase afflicted souls, as each is able, and look after widows and orphans, and do not despise them, and spend your wealth and all your establishments for such fields and houses as you have received from God.

For, for this reason did the Master make you rich, that you should fulfil these ministries for him. It is far better to purchase such lands and houses, as you will find in your own city, when you go to it.