Book Third.--Similitudes.
Similitude First. [244]
As in This World We Have No Abiding City, We Ought to Seek One to Come.
He says to me, "You know that you who are the servants of God dwell in a strange land; for your city is far away from this one. [245] If, then," he continues, "you know your city in which you are to dwell, why do ye here provide lands, and make expensive preparations, and accumulate dwellings and useless buildings? He who makes such preparations for this city cannot return again to his own. Oh foolish, and unstable, and miserable man! Dost thou not understand that all these things belong to another, and are under the power of another? For the Lord of this city will say, I do not wish thee to dwell in my city; but depart from this city, because thou obeyest not my laws.' Thou, therefore, although having fields and houses, and many other things, when cast out by him, what wilt thou do with thy land, and house, and other possessions which thou hast gathered to thyself? For the Lord of this country justly says to thee, Either obey my laws or depart from my dominion.' What, then, dost thou intend to do, having a law in thine own city, on account of thy lands, and the rest of thy possessions? [246] Thou shalt altogether deny thy law, and walk according to the law of this city. See lest it be to thy hurt to deny thy law; [247] for if thou shalt desire to return to thy city, thou wilt not be received, because thou hast denied the law of thy city, but wilt be excluded from it. Have a care, therefore: as one living in a foreign land, make no further preparations for thyself than such merely as may be sufficient; and be ready, when the master of this city shall come to cast thee out for disobeying his law, to leave his city, and to depart to thine own, and to obey thine own law without being exposed to annoyance, but in great joy. Have a care, then, ye who serve the Lord, and have Him in your heart, that ye work the works of God, remembering His commandments and promises which He promised, and believe that He will bring them to pass if His commandments be observed. Instead of lands, therefore, buy afflicted souls, according as each one is able, and visit [248] widows and orphans, and do not overlook them; and spend your wealth and all your preparations, which ye received from the Lord, upon such lands and houses. For to this end did the Master make you rich, that you might perform these services unto Him; and it is much better to purchase such lands, and possessions, and houses, as you will find in your own city, when you come to reside in it. This is a noble and sacred expenditure, attended neither with sorrow nor fear, but with joy. Do not practice the expenditure of the heathen, [249] for it is injurious to you who are the servants of God; but practice an expenditure of your own, in which ye can rejoice; and do not corrupt [250] nor touch what is another's nor covet it, for it is an evil thing to covet the goods of other men; but work thine own work, and thou wilt be saved."
[244] [We have seen in Justin and Irenæus what seem to us an overstrained allegorizing, and more will be encountered in Origen. On this whole subject, however, as it struck the Oriental and primitive instincts, take the following very illustrative remarks, attributed to Hartley of Winwich:-- "Nature, in its proper order, is the book of God, and exhibits spiritual things in material forms. The knowledge of correspondences being so little understood, is one main cause of the obscurity of the Scriptures of the Old Testament, which were chiefly written by the rules of this science: and not Scripture alone, but man, also, as an image of the spiritual and natural worlds, contains in himself the correspondences of both: of the former, in his interior, and of the latter in his exterior or bodily, part, and so is called the microcosm, or little world." Such texts as Heb. ix. 24, 1 Cor. ii. 13, 14, go far to explain to us the childlike faith of the Fathers. See note on Leighton's St. Peter, p. 238, vol. iii. Ed. Of William West, B.A. 1870.]
[245] [Heb. xiii. 14 is the text of this very beautiful chapter. But he original Greek of Phil. iii. 20 seems, also, to be in the author's mind. St. Paul addressed it to the church of a Roman "colony," whose citizenship was not Macedonian but Roman: hence its beautiful propriety.]
[246] This sentence may be also rendered thus, giving heneken the meaning of "as regards," "respecting"--a usual enough signification: "What then do you intend to do, as you have a law in your own city regarding your lands and the rest of your possessions?" The Vatican punctuates the passage so that it runs as follows: "What then will you do, who have a law in your own city? Will you, on account of your land, or any other of your preparations, be able to deny your law?" The Vatican also omits several clauses that are in the Greek, down to "for if thou shalt deny, and shalt desire to return," etc.
[247] See ... law, omitted in Lips. [The threskeia of Jas. i. 27.]
[248] The Vatican has: "Acquit widows, and do justice to orphans."
[249] The Vatican renders, "Do not covet, therefore, the riches of the heathen." [Here follows, in the Lambeth ms., an allusion to Luke xix. 15, which Wake renders: "Trade with your own riches." See, also, Luke xii. 33.]
[250] The Vatican, rendering paracharassete, adulterare, proceeds as if the reference were to adultery. "Neither touch another man's wife, nor lust after her, but desire your own work, and you will be saved."
Similitude Second.
As the Vine is Supported by the Elm, So is the Rich Man Helped by the Prayer of the Poor.
As I was walking in the field, and observing an elm and vine, and determining in my own mind respecting them and their fruits, the Shepherd appears to me, and says, "What is it that you are thinking about the elm and vine?" "I am considering," I reply, "that they become each other exceedingly well." "These two trees," he continues, "are intended as an example for the servants of God." "I would like to know," said I, "the example which these trees you say, are intended to teach." "Do you see," he says, "the elm and the vine?" "I see them sir," I replied. "This vine," he continued, "produces fruit, and the elm is an unfruitful tree; but unless the vine be trained upon the elm, it cannot bear much fruit when extended at length upon the ground; [251] and the fruit which it does bear is rotten, because the plant is not suspended upon the elm. When, therefore, the vine is cast upon the elm, it yields fruit both from itself and from the elm. You see, moreover, that the elm also produces much fruit, not less than the vine, but even more; because," [252] he continued, "the vine, when suspended upon the elm, yields much fruit, and good; but when thrown upon the ground, what it produces is small and rotten. This similitude, [253] therefore, is for the servants of God--for the poor man and for the rich." "How so, sir?" said I; "explain the matter to me." "Listen," he said: "The rich man has much wealth, but is poor in matters relating to the Lord, because he is distracted about his riches; and he offers very few confessions and intercessions to the Lord, and those which he does offer are small and weak, and have no power above. But when the rich man refreshes [254] the poor, and assists him in his necessities, believing that what he does to the poor man will be able to find its reward with God--because the poor man is rich in intercession and confession, and his intercession has great power with God--then the rich man helps the poor in all things without hesitation; and the poor man, being helped by the rich, intercedes for him, giving thanks to God for him who bestows gifts upon him. And he still continues to interest himself zealously for the poor man, that his wants may be constantly supplied. For he knows that the intercession of the poor man is acceptable and influential [255] with God. Both, accordingly, accomplish their work. The poor man makes intercession; a work in which he is rich, which he received from the Lord, and with which he recompenses the master who helps him. And the rich man, in like manner, unhesitatingly bestows upon the poor man the riches which he received from the Lord. And this is a great work, and acceptable before God, because he understands the object of his wealth, and has given to the poor of the gifts of the Lord, and rightly discharged his service to Him. [256] Among men, however, the elm appears not to produce fruit, and they do not know nor understand that if a drought come, the elm, which contains water, nourishes the vine; and the vine, having an unfailing supply of water, yields double fruit both for itself and for the elm. So also poor men interceding with the Lord on behalf of the rich, increase their riches; and the rich, again, aiding the poor in their necessities, satisfy their souls. Both, therefore, are partners in the righteous work. He who does these things shall not be deserted by God, but shall be enrolled in the books of the living. Blessed are they who have riches, and who understand that they are from the Lord. [For they who are of that mind will be able to do some good. [257] ]"
[251] The Vatican reads: "Unless this vine be attached to the elm, and rest upon it, it cannot bear much fruit. For, lying upon the ground, it produces bad fruit, because it is not suspended upon the elm."
[252] The Vatican here makes Hermas interrupt the Shepherd, and ask, "How greater than the vine?"
[253] [Based on Jas. i. 9-11, 27, and ii. 1-9: introducing the heathen world to just ideas of human brotherhood, and the mutual relations of the poor and the rich.]
[254] The translation of the text is based on the Palatine. Lips. Reads: "When the rich man fills out upon the poor." Hilgenfeld amends this: "When the rich man recovers breath upon the poor." Neither gives sense. The Æthiopic has: "But if the rich man lean on the poor;" and the Greek of Hilgenfeld might mean: "When the rich man recovers his breath by leaning on the poor." The Vatican is quite different: "When, therefore, the rich man helps the poor in those things which he needs, the poor man prays to the Lord for the rich man, and God bestows all blessings upon the rich man, because the poor man is rich in prayer, and his prayer has great merit with God. Then the rich man accordingly assists the poor man's things, because he feels that he is fully heard (exaudiri) by the Lord; and the more willingly and unhesitatingly does he give him every help, and takes care that he wants for nothing. The poor man gives thanks to God for the rich man, because they do their duty in respect to the Lord (a Domino)."
[255] [I note this use of the word "influential," because it was formerly denounced as an Americanism.]
[256] [Luke xii. 42.]
[257] The sentence in brackets is not in Lips. It is taken from Pal.
Similitude Third.
As in Winter Green Trees Cannot Be Distinguished from Withered, So in This World Neither Can the Just from the Unjust.
He showed me many trees having no leaves, but withered, as it seemed to me; for all were alike. And he said to me, "Do you see those trees?" "I see, sir," I replied, "that all are alike, and withered." He answered me, and said, "These trees which you see are those who dwell in this world." "Why, then, sir," I said, "are they withered, as it were, and alike?" [258] "Because," he said, "neither are the righteous manifest in this life, nor sinners, but they are alike; for this life is a winter to the righteous, and they do not manifest themselves, because they dwell with sinners: for as in winter trees that have cast their leaves are alike, and it is not seen which are dead and which are living, so in this world neither do the righteous show themselves, nor sinners, but all are alike one to another." [259]
[258] The Vatican renders this thus: "Why do they resemble those that are, as it were, withered?"
[259] [Matt. xiii. 29.]
Similitude Fourth.
As in Summer Living Trees are Distinguished from Withered by Fruit and Living Leaves, So in the World to Come the Just Differ from the Unjust in Happiness.