{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/002/0020017.htm","path":"chr/ecf/002/0020017.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/002/0020017.htm","text":"\u201cI told you,\u201d said he, \u201cthat the creatures of God are double, 201 for restraint also is double; for in some cases restraint has to be exercised, in others there is no need of restraint.\u201d \u201cMake known to me, sir,\u201d say I, \u201cin what cases restraint has to be exercised, and in what cases it has not.\u201d \u201cRestrain yourself in regard to evil, and do it not; but exercise no restraint in regard to good, but do it. For if you exercise restraint in the doing of good, you will commit a great sin; 202 but if you exercise restraint, so as not to do that which is evil, you are practising great righteousness. Restrain yourself, therefore, from all iniquity, and do that which is good.\u201d \u201cWhat, sir,\u201d say I, \u201care the evil deeds from which we must restrain ourselves?\u201d \u201cHear,\u201d says he: \u201cfrom adultery and fornication, from unlawful revelling, 203 from wicked luxury, from indulgence in many kinds of food and the extravagance of riches, and from boastfulness, and haughtiness, and insolence, and lies, and backbiting, and hypocrisy, from the remembrance of wrong, and from all slander. These are the deeds that are most wicked in the life of men. From all these deeds, therefore, the servant of God must restrain himself. For he who does not restrain himself from these, cannot live to God. Listen, then, to the deeds that accompany these.\u201d \u201cAre there, sir,\u201d said I, \u201cany other evil deeds?\u201d \u201cThere are,\u201d says he; \u201cand many of them, too, from which the servant of God must restrain himself\u2014theft, lying, robbery, false witness, overreaching, wicked lust, deceit, vainglory, boastfulness, and all other vices like to these.\u201d \u201cDo you not think that these are really wicked?\u201d \u201cExceedingly wicked in the servants of God. From all of these the servant of God must restrain himself. Restrain yourself, then, from all these, that you may live to God, and you will be enrolled amongst those who restrain themselves in regard to these matters. These, then, are the things from which you must restrain yourself.\u201d\n\u201cBut listen,\u201d says he, \u201cto the things in regard to which you have not to exercise self-restraint, but which you ought to do. Restrain not yourself in regard to that which is good, but do it.\u201d \u201cAnd tell me, sir,\u201d say I, \u201cthe nature of the good deeds, that I may walk in them and wait on them, so that doing them I can be saved.\u201d \u201cListen,\u201d says he, \u201cto the good deeds which you ought to do, and in regard to which there is no self-restraint requisite. First of all 204 there is faith, then fear of the Lord, love, concord, words of righteousness, truth, patience. Than these, nothing is better in the life of men. If any one attend to these, and restrain himself not from them, blessed is he in his life. Then there are the following attendant on these: helping widows, looking after orphans and the needy, rescuing the servants of God from necessities, the being hospitable\u2014for in hospitality good-doing finds a field\u2014never opposing any one, the being quiet, having fewer needs than all men, reverencing the aged, practising righteousness, watching the brotherhood, bearing insolence, being long-suffering, encouraging those who are sick in soul, not casting those who have fallen into sin from the faith, but turning them back and restoring them to peace of mind, admonishing sinners, not oppressing debtors and the needy, and if there are any other actions like these. 205 Do these seem to you good?\u201d says he. \u201cFor what, sir,\u201d say I, \u201cis better than these?\u201d \u201cWalk then in them,\u201d says he, \u201cand restrain not yourself from them, and you will live to God. 206 Keep, therefore, this commandment. If you do good, and restrain not yourself from it, you will live to God. All who act thus will live to God. And, again, if you refuse to do evil, and restrain yourself from it, you will live to God. And all will live to God who keep these commandments, and walk in them.\u201d\n[Command. vi. cap. i. p. 24, supra. The idea taken from Ecclus. xxxiii. 15, and Eccles. vii. 14.]\n25:202 25:203\n[Gal. 5:10, 21; 1 Pet. iv. 3.]\n25:204\n[First of all, faith, holy fear, love etc. Then, works of mercy. Could evangelical morality be more beautifully illustrated?]\n25:205\n[1 Pet. iv. 9. Who does not feel humbled and instructed by these rules of holy living. No wonder Athanasius, while rejecting it from the canon (Contra H\u00e6resim Arian., p. 380) calls this a \u201cmost useful book.\u201d De Incarnatione, p. 38. Paris, 1537.]\n25:206\nFrom them \u2026 all who act thus will live to God, omitted in Vat., which ends thus: If you keep all these commandments, you will live to God, and all who keep these commandments will live to God.","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol II: THE PASTOR OF HERMAS: Commandment Eighth. We Ought to Shun that Which is Evil, and Do that Which is Good.","type":"page"}