{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-1675","native_reference":{"book_number":610,"chapter_from":5,"chapter_to":5,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":6,"verse_to":6},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Augustine of Hippo</b>: And there is a death which the apostle denounces, saying of the widow, \"But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.\" Therefore the soul, which was before ungodly and is now godly, is said to have come alive again from the dead and to live, on account of the righteousness of faith. But the body is not only said to be about to die, on account of that departure of the soul which will be; but on account of the great infirmity of flesh and blood it is even said to be now dead, in a certain place in the Scriptures, namely, where the apostle says, that \"the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.\"<br/><i>— ON THE TRINITY 4.3.5</i></p><p><b>Caesarius of Arles</b>: May God avert from us the sentence which will be in hard pursuit of those who indulge in any kind of wickedness, who are adorned with the most precious ornaments for the sake of vanity and worldly pomp. Such persons seize the property of another, are filled even to the point of vomiting with many delicacies, bury themselves in excessive drinking and store up by almsgiving little or nothing for heaven. It is of these persons that the apostle says, \"The soul which gives herself up to pleasures is dead while she is still alive.\"<br/><i>— SERMONS 151.8</i></p><p><b>Ignatius of Antioch</b>: Let no one addicted to idleness eat, lest he become a wanderer about, and a whoremonger. Let drunkenness, anger, envy, reviling, clamour, and blasphemy \"be not so much as named among you.\" Let not the widows live a life of pleasure, lest they wax wanton against the word. Be subject to Caesar in everything in which subjection implies no [spiritual] danger. Provoke not those that rule over you to wrath, that you may give no occasion against yourselves to those that seek for it. But as to the practice of magic, or the impure love of boys, or murder, it is superfluous to write to you, since such vices are forbidden to be committed even by the Gentiles. I do not issue commands on these points as if I were an apostle; but, as your fellow-servant, I put you in mind of them.<br/><i>— Epistle of Pseudo-Ignatius to the Antiochians</i></p><p><b>Jerome</b>: It is difficult, or rather impossible, when we are swimming in luxury or pleasure, not to think of what we are doing. And it is an idle pretense which some put forward that they can take their fill of pleasure with their faith and purity and mental uprightness unimpaired. It is a violation of nature to revel in pleasure, and the apostle gives a caution against this very thing when he says, \"She that gives herself to pleasure is dead while she lives.\" The bodily senses are like horses madly racing, but the soul like a charioteer holds the reins. And as the horses without a driver go at breakneck speed, so the body, if it be not governed by the reasonable soul, rushes to its own destruction.<br/><i>— AGAINST JOVINIAN 2.9-10</i></p><p><b>John Cassian</b>: No one—not even though he call himself a Christian or a monk a thousand times over—confesses God while he is sinning. No one remembers God while he allows what the Lord hates. It is like pretending he is a faithful servant while he takes no notice of his master's commands. St. Paul says of a widow, \"She that gives herself to pleasure is dead while she lives.\" This is the kind of death he means. Many whose bodies are alive are dead and in hell and cannot praise God. And many whose bodies are dead bless and praise God together in the spirit.… In the Apocalypse the souls of the martyrs are described as praying to God as well as praising him.<br/><i>— CONFERENCES 1.1.14, 4</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: Again, to live in luxury does not seem to be a manifest and admitted crime; but then it brings forth in us great evils,—drunkenness, violence, extortion, and rapine. For the prodigal and sumptuous liver, bestowing extravagant service upon the belly, is often compelled to steal, and to seize the property of others, and to use extortion and violence. If, then, thou avoidest luxurious living, thou removest the foundation of extortion, and rapine, and drunkenness, and a thousand other evils; cutting away the root of iniquity from its extremity. Hence Paul saith, that \"she who liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.\"<br/><i>— Concerning the Statues, Homily 15</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: What then? Is it not possible, they say, to enjoy ease both here and hereafter? This, O man, is unattainable; it is one of the things impossible. It cannot, it cannot be, that he who here enjoys ease and plenty, and continually indulges in every luxury—who lives a vain and aimless life—can also enjoy honour hereafter. At the same time, if he be not troubled by poverty, he still is troubled by desire, and from this cause suffers restraint—a cause which gives rise to no small amount of trouble, Again, if disease do not afflict him, yet evil passion burns within, and it is no slight pain that springs from wrath; also, if trials be not laid upon him, yet wicked thoughts constantly arise to vex him. It is by no means a trivial matter to restrain lawless desire, to put a stop to vainglorious thoughts, to check insensate pride, to refrain from excess, to live in self-denial. And he who does not accomplish these things, and such as these, can never attain salvation. For that they who live luxuriously are not saved, hear what St Paul says concerning widows, \"She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.\" And if this is said concerning a widow, much more is it true concerning a man.<br/><i>— On Lazarus and the Rich Man, Discourse 3</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: But since many who have children choose the state of widowhood, not to cut off the occasions of a worldly life, but rather to enhance them, that they may do what they will with the greater license, and indulge the more freely in worldly lusts: therefore he says, \"She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.\" Ought not a widow then to live in pleasure? Surely not. If then when nature and age is weak, a life of pleasure is not allowable, but leads to death, eternal death; what have men to say, who live a life of pleasure? But he says with reason, \"She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.\"<br/><i>— Homily on 1 Timothy 13</i></p><p><b>Pope Urban I</b>: Behold, to what does the wisdom of this world urge a man? To live in pleasures. Whence it is said: A widow that liveth in pleasure, is dead while she liveth.</p><p><b>Shepherd of Hermas</b>: These, then, have repentance within their reach, if they repent quickly, and do not remain in their pleasures; but if they abide in their deeds, these, too, work to themselves death.<br/><i>— Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 8</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"954a895a1b9f50aa6e63200e6764ebe5b0ee90ab54fb2f48ab17515d97b9c306","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":1675,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"1e1de6004c512882d293fc5b98030cf2d491478eb87c3a08bff5a0d5fa8fcc6c","translator":null,"work":null}