Hermas (1.3.3-1.4.3)

After she had ceased these words she said to me: Would you like to hear me[*] read aloud? and I said: I should like it, Lady. She said to me: Listen then, and hear the glory of God. I heard great and wonderful things which I cannot remember; for all the words were frightful, such as a man cannot bear. So I remembered the last words, for they were profitable for us and gentle:

Lo, the God of the powers, whom I love, by his mighty power, and by his great wisdom created the world, and by his glorious counsel surrounded his creation with beauty, and by his mighty word fixed the Heaven and founded the earth upon the waters, and by his own wisdom and forethought created his holy Church, which he also blessed—Lo, he changes the heavens, and the mountains and the hills and the seas, and all things are becoming smooth for his chosen ones, to give them the promise which he made with great glory and joy, if they keep the ordinances of God, which they received with great faith.

So, when she had finished reading, and rose[*] from the chair, there came four young men, and took up the chair and went away towards the East.

And she called me and touched my breast and said

While she was speaking with me two men appeared, and took her by the arm and they went away towards the East, whither the chair had gone. But she went away cheerfully, and as she went said to me, Play the man, Hermas.