power: but doubting is an earthly spirit, and proceedeth from the devil, and has no strength. Do thou therefore keep the virtue of faith, and depart from doubting, in which is no virtue, and thou shalt live unto God; and all shall live unto God, as many as shall do these things. COMMAND X. OF THE SADNESS OF THE HEART; AND THAT WE MUST Sir, 1. PUT all sadness far from thee, for it is the sister of doubting and of anger. How, sir, said I, is it the sister of these? for sadness, and anger, and doubting, seem to me to be very different from one another. And he answered, art thou without sense that thou dost not understand it? for sadness is the most mischievous of all spirits, and the worst to the servants of God; it destroys the spirits of all men,(d) and torments the holy spirit; and again it saves. said I, I am very foolish, and understand not these things; I cannot apprehend how it can torment, and yet save? Hear, said he, and understand: they who never sought out the truth, nor enquired concerning the majesty of God, but only believed, are involved in the affairs of the heathen. And there is another lying prophet,(f) that destroys the minds of the servants of God; that is those that are doubtful, not of those that fully trust in the Lord. Now those doubt ful persons come to him, as to a divine spirit, and in (d) So the Lat. vers. but the Gr. of Athanasius is better: destroyeth man more than any other spirit " (f) Vid. Edit. Oxon. p. 70. b. Comp. 2 Cor. vii. 10, " and quire of him, what shall befall them and this lying prophet having no power in him of the divine spirit, answers them according to their demands, and fills their souls with promises according as they desire.Howbeit that prophet is vain, and answers vain things to those who are themselves vain; and whatsoever is asked of him by vain men, he answers them vainly: nevertheless he speaketh some things truly, for the devil fills him with his spirit, that he may overthrow some of the righteous. 2. Whosoever therefore are strong in the faith of the Lord, and have put on the truth, they are not joined to such spirits, but depart from them: but they that are doubtful and often repenting, like the heathens, consult them, and heap up to themselves great sin, serving idols. As many therefore as are such, inquire of them upon every occasion, worship idols, and are foolish and void of the truth; for every spirit that is given from God needs not to be asked, but having the power of the divinity speaks all things of itself; because he comes from above, from the power of the spirit of God. But he that being asked speaks according to men's desires, and concerning many other affairs of this present world, understands not the things which relate unto God; for these spirits are darkened through such affairs, and corrupted, and broken. As good vines, if they are neglected, are oppressed with weeds and thorns, and at last killed by them; so are the men who believe such spirits ; they fall into many actions and businesses, and are void of sense, and when they think of things pertaining unto God, they understand nothing at all: but if at any time they chance to hear any thing concerning the Lord, their thoughts are upon their business. But they that have the fear of the Lord, and search out the truth concerning God, having all their thoughts toward the Lord, apprehend whatsoever is said to them, and forthwith understand it, because they have the fear of the Lord in them: for where the spirit of the Lord dwells, there is also much understanding added. Wherefore join thyself to the Lord, and thou shalt understand all things. 3. Learn now, O unwise man! How sadness troubleth the holy spirit, and how it saves. When a man that is doubtful is engaged in any affair, and does not accomplish it by reason of his doubting; this sadness enters into him and grieves the Holy Spirit, and makes him sad Again, anger when it overtakes any man for any business, he is greatly moved; and then again sadness entereth into the heart of him,* who was moved with anger, and he is troubled for what he hath done, and repenteth, because he hath done amiss.-This sadness therefore seemeth to bring salvation, because he repenteth of his evil deed; but both the other things, namely, doubting and sadness, such as before was mentioned, vex the spirit: doubting because his work did not succeed; and sadness because he angered the Holy Spirit. Remove therefore sadness from thyself,(o) and afflict not the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in thee; lest he entreat God, and depart from thee;t for the spirit of the Lord which is * In the Greek of Athanasius, follows, at WOŃCE TI κακόν. And he doth something which is ill. Which better agrees with what follows, "Because he hath done amiss." The text in this place being evidently corrupted, I have endeavoured to restore the true sense of it from the Greek of Athanasius, which is as follows. Πάλιν ἡ λύπη εἰςπορευεται εἰς τὴν καρδίαν του ̓Ανθρώπου του ὀξυχο λήσαν α, καὶ λυπείται ἰπι τῇ Πράξει αυ του ἡ ἔπραξεν, καὶ μετανοεί ὅτι πονηρὸν εἰργάσατο. Αυτη ουν ή λύπη δοκεῖ σωτηρίαν ἔχειν, ὅτι τὸ πονηρὸν πράξας μετενόησεν. Αμφοτέραι δὲ τῶν πράξεων λυπουσι, &c. (0) Antioch. Hom. xxv. When Hermas here saith of the Holy Spirit that he entreats God; and before, that he is vexed and grieved, to prevent any mistakes in a matter of such moment, the reader may please to observe, that he speaketh not of the Holy Ghost as he is the spirit of God, and the third person in the sacred trinity; but of the spirit given to christians, which dwelleth in their souls and bodies, being an emanation, or gift from the spirit of God; and though not an essential part of man, yet a perfecting part of a christian; which Hermas himself elsewhere declareth to be created in man, lib. iii. cap. v. § 6. But then that he thought this created spirit of regene given to dwell in the flesh, endureth no such sadness; wherefore clothe thyself with cheerfulness, which has always favour with the Lord, and thou shalt rejoice in it; for every cheerful man does well, and relishes those things that are good, and despises sadness. But the sad man does always wickedly: first, he doth wickedly, because he grieveth the Holy Spirit, which is given to man being of a cheerful nature. And again he does ill, because he prays with sadness unto the Lord, and maketh not first a thankful acknowledgment unto him of former mercies, and obtains not of God what he asks; for the prayer of a sad man has not efficacy to come up to the altar of God. And I said unto him, sir, why has not the prayer of a sad man virtue to come up to the altar of God? because, said he, that sadness remaineth in his heart. When therefore a man's prayer shall be accompanied with sadness, it will not suffer his requests to ascend pure to the altar of God; for as wine, when it is mingled with vinegar, has not the sweetness it had before; so sadness, being mixed with the Holy Spirit, suffers not a man's prayer to be the same that it would be otherwise. Wherefore cleanse thyself from sadness, which is evil, and thou shalt live unto God; and all others shall live unto God, as many as shall lay aside sadness, and put on cheerfulness. rate persons to be distinct from, though a participation of, the spirit of God, is plain from what we before read in the second section of this very command, where he distinguisheth between the spirit given from God, and the spirit of God. Every spirit, says he, that is given from God, having the power of the divinity, speaketh all things of itself, because he cometh from above, from the power of the spirit of God. And indeed St. Paul himself in that remarkable place 1 Cor. ii. 11. 12. mentioneth distinctly va rò in rŵy ☺cov, and and wreũμa râv ov; and plainly teaches that this in God, and the otherm men, although from God. Now when Hermas here speaketh of the spirits entreating God, he expressly speaketh of the spirit which dwelleth in us, and the spirit which is given to dwell in the flesh; not of the spirit as he is in God, and consequently uncreated, and God himself: for all that is in God is such. COMMAND XI. THAT THE SPIRITS AND PROPHETS ARE TO BE TRIED BY THEIR WORKS; AND OF A TWO-FOLD SPIRIT. 1. HE shewed me certain men sitting upon benches, and one sitting in a chair and he said unto me, seest thou those who sit upon the benches? Sir, said I, I see them. He answered, they are the faithful; and he who sits in the chair, is an earthly spirit. For he cometh not into the assembly of the faithful, but avoids it. But he joins himself to the doubtful and empty; and prophesies to them in corners and hidden places; and pleases them by speaking according to all the desires of their hearts. For he, placing himself among empty vessels, is not broken, but the one fitteth the other. But when he cometh into the company of just men, who are full of the spirit of God, and they pray unto the Lord; that man is emptied, because that earthly spirit flies from him, and he is dumb, and cannot speak any thing. As if in a storehouse you shall stop up wine or oil, and among those vessels shall place an empty jar, and shall afterwards come to open it, you shall find it empty as you stopped it up; so those empty prophets, when they come among the spirits of the just, are found to be such as they came.* *It is evident from the method of Hermas's discourse in this place, that somewhat is wanting to make up the subject of it. He had spoken before of the false prophets, and the emptiness of their preaching, but nothing of the true ones, nor any thing of the life and works of either. How to supply this I have been admonished by my learned friend Dr. Grabe. What should have followed here, is transposed into the next command; and being brought back hither, not only supplies the defect of this, but makes way for the more easy connexion of his discourse in that. And for this, besides the plain reason of the thing itself, we have the authority of Athanasius in that other command; who leaves out what has been falsely inserted there; as I shall shew when I come to it, from his own words. For both these reasons I have reduced both places to what I take to have been their true order; and shall submit it to the reader (to judge upon this advertisement), whether I had not gead reason, as well as sufficient authority, so to do. |