Chap. VI.
"Hear," he answered: "the Son of God is not in the form [277] of a slave, but in great power and might." "How so, sir?" I said; "I do not understand." "Because," he answered, "God planted the vineyard, that is to say, He created the people, and gave them to His Son; and the Son appointed His angels over them to keep them; and He Himself purged away their sins, having suffered many trials and undergone many labours, for no one is able to dig without labour and toil. He Himself, then, having purged away the sins of the people, showed them the paths of life [278] by giving them the law which He received from His Father. [You see," he said, "that He is the Lord of the people, having received all authority from His Father. [279] ] And why the Lord took His Son as councillor, and the glorious angels, regarding the heirship of the slave, listen. The holy, pre-existent Spirit, that created every creature, God made to dwell in flesh, which He chose. [280] This flesh, accordingly, in which the Holy Spirit dwelt, was nobly subject to that Spirit, walking religiously and chastely, in no respect defiling the Spirit; and accordingly, after living [281] excellently and purely, and after labouring and co-operating with the Spirit, and having in everything acted vigorously and courageously along with the Holy Spirit, He assumed it as a partner with it. For this conduct [282] of the flesh pleased Him, because it was not defiled on the earth while having the Holy Spirit. He took, therefore, as fellow-councillors His Son and the glorious angels, in order that this flesh, which had been subject to the body without a fault, might have some place of tabernacle, and that it might not appear that the reward [of its servitude had been lost [283] ], for the flesh that has been found without spot or defilement, in which the Holy Spirit dwelt, [will receive a reward [284] ]. You have now the explanation [285] of this parable also."
Chap. VII.
"I rejoice, sir," I said, "to hear this explanation." "Hear," again he replied: "Keep this flesh pure and stainless, that the Spirit which inhabits it may bear witness to it, and your flesh may be justified. See that the thought never arise in your mind that this flesh of yours is corruptible, and you misuse it by any act of defilement. If you defile your flesh, you will also defile the Holy Spirit; and if you defile your flesh [and spirit], you will not live." [286] "And if any one, sir," I said, "has been hitherto ignorant, before he heard these words, how can such a man be saved who has defiled his flesh?" "Respecting former sins [287] of ignorance," he said, "God alone is able to heal them, for to Him belongs all power. [But be on your guard now, and the all-powerful and compassionate God will heal former transgressions [288] ], if for the time to come you defile not your body nor your spirit; for both are common, and cannot be defiled, the one without the other: keep both therefore pure, and you will live unto God."
[263] [This anachronism betrays the later origin of "The Pastor." The Pauline Hermas would not have used this technical term. These fasts were very early fixed by canon for Wednesdays and Fridays. See Canon lxix. of canons called "Apostolical;" also Bingham, book xiii. cap. 9, and this volume, p. 34, note 4.]
[264] [See cap. iii. of this similitude.]
[265] The Vatican adds, "for his successors."
[266] i.e., attach the vines to stakes.
[267] The Vatican adds, "Having called together his friends." [The gospel parables of the vineyard, and of the sower, and of the man travelling into a far country, are here reflected passim. I cannot but refer to a parable which greatly resembles this, and is yet more beautiful, occurring in Mrs. Sherwood's Stories on the Catechism (Fijou), a book for children. It is not unworthy of Bunyan.]
[268] [To read into this passage the idea of "supererogatory merit" is an unpardonable anachronism. (Compare Command. iv. 4.) The writer everywhere denies human merit, extols mercy, and imputes good works to grace. He has in view St. Paul's advice (1 Cor. vii. 25-28), or our blessed Lord's saying (Matt. xix. 12). The abuse of such Scriptures propped up a false system (2 Pet. iii. 16) after it had been invented by Pelagians and monastic enthusiasts. But it has no place in the mind of Hermas, nor in the mind of Christ.]
[269] [Thus he does not object to the "station," if kept with evangelical acts of devotion and penitence. Isa. lviii. 5-8.]
[270] Pseudo-Athanasius gives this paragraph as follows: "First of all be on your guard to fast from every evil word and evil report, and purify your heart from every defilement and revenge, and base covetousness. And on the day on which you fast, be content with bread, and herbs, and water, giving thanks to God. And having calculated the amount of the cost of the meal which you intended to have eaten on that day, give it to a widow, or an orphan, or to some one in want, so that, having clearly filled his own soul, he shall pray to the Lord on your behalf. If you therefore perform your fasting as I enjoined you, your sacrifice will be acceptable before the Lord, and inscribed in the heavens in the day of the requital of the good things that have been prepared for the righteous."
[271] [Note this detailed account of primitive fasting (2 Cor. vi. 5, ix. 27, xi. 27). Amid all the apostle's sufferings and dying daily, he adds fastings to involuntary hunger and thirst.]
[272] Literally, "self-willed." (authades).
[273] [Matt. xiii. 11; Jas. i. 5.]
[274] [Luke. xxii. 43.]
[275] [Part of the commission again.]
[276] This clause occurs only in the Vatican. It does not occur in Lips., Pal., or in the Æth.
[277] [Phil. ii. 7. But no longer is He such.]
[278] [Heb. i. 3; Ps. xvi. 11]
[279] The sentence in brackets is omitted in Lips. And Æth., occurs in Vat. And Pal.
[280] This passage varies in each of the forms in which it has come down, and is corrupt in most, if not in all. The Vatican (Lat.) has, "Because the messenger hears the Holy Spirit, which was the first of all that was poured (infusus) into a body in which God might dwell. For understanding (intellectus) placed it in a body as seemed proper to Him." The Pal. reads: "For that Holy Spirit which was created pure [first] of all in a body in which it might dwell, God made and appointed a chosen body which pleased Him." The Æth. reads: "The Holy Spirit, who created all things, dwelt in a body in which He wished to dwell." [See Grabe's collation and emendation here, in Wake's translation.]
[281] The Vatican renders this sentence: "This body, therefore, into which the Holy Spirit was led, was subject to that Spirit, walking rightly, modestly, and chastely, and did not at all defile that Spirit. Since, then, that body had always obeyed the Holy Spirit, and had laboured rightly and chastely with it, and had not at any time given way, that wearied body passed its time as a slave; but having strongly approved itself along with the Holy Spirit, it was received unto God." The Palatine is similar. The Æth. reads: "That body served well in righteousness and purity, nor did it ever defile that Spirit, and it became His partner, since that body pleased God."
[282] poreia. Vatican, potens cursus.
[283] The passages within brackets are omitted by Lips. and Æth.
[284] The passages within brackets are omitted by Lips. and Æth.
[285] [If the reader feels that the explanation itself needs to be explained, let him attribute it to the confused and inaccurate state of the text. Grabe says emphatically, that "the created Spirit of Christ as a man and not the Holy Ghost, the third person of the Trinity," is spoken of in this chapter chiefly. The apparent confusion of words and phrases must be the result of ignorant copying. It is a sufficient answer to certain German critics to cite the providential approval of Athanasius, a fact of the utmost moment. Nobody doubts that Athanasius was sensitive to any discoloration of the Nicene Faith. In the text of Hermas, therefore, as it was in his copy, there could have been nothing heretical, or favouring heresy. That Hermas was an artist, and purposely gave his fiction a very primitive air, is evident. He fears to name the Scriptures he quoted, lest any one should doubt their use, in the days of Clement, in the Western churches.]
[286] [1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. Owen, On the Spirit, passim. Ambiguities, cap. ii.]
[287] [Acts xvii. 30.]
[288] Omitted in Lips. Æth. has simply, "But be on your guard now."
Similitude Sixth.
Of the Two Classes of Voluptuous Men, and of Their Death, Falling Away, and the Duration of Their Punishment.
Chap. I.
Sitting in my house, and glorifying the Lord for all that I had seen, and reflecting on the commandments, that they are excellent, and powerful, and glorious, and able to save a man's soul, I said within myself, "I shall be blessed if I walk in these commandments, and every one who walks in them will be blessed." While I was saying these words to myself, I suddenly see him sitting beside me, and hear him thus speak: "Why are you in doubt about the commandments which I gave you? They are excellent: have no doubt about them at all, but put on faith in the Lord, and you will walk in them, for I will strengthen you in them. These commandments are beneficial to those who intend to repent: for if they do not walk in them, their repentance is in vain. You, therefore, who repent cast away the wickedness of this world which wears you out; and by putting on all the virtues of a holy life, you will be able to keep these commandments, and will no longer add to the number of your sins. Walk, [289] therefore, in these commandments of mine, and you will live unto God. All these things have been spoken to you by me." And after he had uttered these words, he said to me, "Let us go into the fields, and I will show you the shepherds of the flocks." "Let us go, sir," I replied. And we came to a certain plain, and he showed me a young man, a shepherd, clothed in a suit of garments of a yellow colour: and he was herding very many sheep, and these sheep were feeding luxuriously, as it were, and riotously, and merrily skipping hither and thither. The shepherd himself was merry, because of his flock; and the appearance of the shepherd was joyous, and he was running about amongst his flock. [And other sheep I saw rioting and luxuriating in one place, but not, however, leaping about. [290] ]
Chap. II.
And he said to me, "Do you see this shepherd?" "I see him, sir," I said. "This," he answered, "is the angel [291] of luxury and deceit: he wears out the souls of the servants of God, and perverts them from the truth, deceiving them with wicked desires, through which they will perish; for they forget the commandments of the living God, and walk in deceits and empty luxuries; and they are ruined by the angel, some being brought to death, others to corruption." [292] I said to him, "Sir, I do not know the meaning of these words, to death, and to corruption.'" "Listen," he said. "The sheep which you saw merry and leaping about, are those which have torn themselves away from God for ever, and have delivered themselves over to luxuries and deceits [293] [of this world. Among them there is no return to life through repentance, because they have added to their other sins, and blasphemed the name of the Lord. Such men therefore, are appointed unto death. [294] And the sheep which you saw not leaping, but feeding in one place, are they who have delivered themselves over to luxury and deceit], but have committed no blasphemy against the Lord. These have been perverted from the truth: among them there is the hope of repentance, by which it is possible to live. Corruption, then, has a hope of a kind of renewal, [295] but death has everlasting ruin." Again I went forward a little way, and he showed me a tall shepherd, somewhat savage in his appearance, clothed in a white goatskin, and having a wallet on his shoulders, and a very hard staff with branches, and a large whip. And he had a very sour look, so that I was afraid of him, so forbidding was his aspect. This shepherd, accordingly, was receiving the sheep from the young shepherd, those, viz., that were rioting and luxuriating, but not leaping; and he cast them into a precipitous place, full of thistles and thorns, so that it was impossible to extricate the sheep from the thorns and thistles; but they were completely entangled amongst them. These, accordingly, thus entangled, pastured amongst the thorns and thistles, and were exceedingly miserable, being beaten by him; and he drove them hither and thither, and gave them no rest; and, altogether, these sheep were in a wretched plight.