Paul's Letter to Laodicea |
[1.46] Oh, what was it, that bewitched you – those of you who became alive in Christ – that you now want to surrender yourself again anew to death?. [1.47] With whom should I compare you that it should strike you as a good throw would a target? Yes, you are like a blighted courtesan, who lives in the city, but is nevertheless the daughter of a good family. [1.48] Listen to me and understand this well. Of what benefit is it to the courtesan that she comes from a good family, when her flesh is more lecherous than the fat of a stuffed scapegoat? [1.49] Will she not walk to and fro in her room because of her carnal desires, and then will lean with half her body out of one and then another window, and she will look with her lecherous eyes to all sides, to see if she cannot catch a glimpse of someone who has what her lecherous and lustful flesh yearns for? [1.50] And when she catches sight of him, she will show him through the loose fire of her eyes, what she yearns for, and she will sin with him ten times more through her desire, than a whore in her bed of shame with her paramour. [1.51] Oh look, you Laodiceans, there you have a picture of yourselves. Do you know however, what the sincere and willing bridegroom of such a girl would do when he passes by her house, and catches sight of her shameful lechery? [1.52] From that moment on, he will put her out of his heart and immediately he will no longer look at her, even if she should experience the greatest want. [1.53] That is what the Lord will do with you, because He raised a new, living temple in your heart, while you will be waiting for Him; but you scorn this temple, this holy chamber, and you run, because of mere worldly lechery to the window of justice to be wanton with the world, because of the gold, the reputation, and the lust for power, since you lust for all those things. [1.54] But I say this to you: The Lord will withdraw Himself and will let you pass over into all kinds of harlotry, into the old justice, and into the old death, unless you turn around immediately, and totally desist from the clergy – which you yourself elected – from your temples, from your days of feast, and from your magnificent raiment; all of this is an abomination before the Lord, just like a lecherous courtesan, which is much more wicked in her heart, than ten whores of Babel. |
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