1 [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 .]
2 [See cap. iii. of this similitude.]
3 The Vatican adds, "for his successors."
4 i.e., attach the vines to stakes.
5 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 onthe Catechism (Fijou), a book for children. It is not unworthy of Bunyan.]
6 [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.]
7 [Thus he does not object to the "station," if kept with evangelical acts of devotion and penitence. Isa. lviii. 5-8.]
8 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."
9 [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.]
10 Literally, "self-willed." (au0qa/dhj).
11 [Matt. xiii. 11; Jas. i. 5.]
13 [Part of the commission again.]
14 This clause occurs only in the Vatican. It does not occur in Lips., Pal., or in the Aeth.
15 [Phil. ii. 7. But no longer is He such.]
17 The sentence in brackets is omitted in Lips. And Aeth., occurs in Vat. And Pal.
18 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 Aeth. 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.]
19 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 Aeth. 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."
20 porei/a. Vatican, potens cursus.
21 The passages within brackets are omitted by Lips. and Aeth.
22 The passages within brackets are omitted by Lips. and Aeth.
23 [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.]
24 [1 Cor. iii. 16,17. Owen, On the Spirit, passim. Ambiguities, cap. ii.]
26 Omitted in Lips. Aeth. has simply, "But be on your guard now."
1 The Vatican has a sentence before this: "For if you sin not afterwards, you will greatly fall away from your former [transgressions]."
2 Found only in Pseudo-Athanasius. It occurs in none of the translations.
3 [The use of the word "angel," here, may possibly coincide with that in the Apocalypse, rebuking an unfaithful and luxurious pastor, like the angel of Sardis (Rev. iii. 1-5). The "yellow" raiment may be introduced as a contrast to the words, "thou has a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white."]
4 katafqora/n, translated in Pal. And Vat. by defectio, apostasy, as departure from goodness and truth. The Aethiopic has "ruin."
5 Of ... deceit, omitted in Lips. Our translation is made from the Vat.
6 Pseudo-Athanasius has, "of such men the life is death."
7 Pseudo-Athanasius has, "Corruption, therefore, has a hope of resurrection up to a certain point." [Death here must mean final apostasy (Heb. vi. 4-6, x. 26-31, xii. 15-17). But a certain death-in-life, which is not final, is instanced in Rev. iii. 1; note also 1 John iii. 14,15, v. 16,17.]
8 [The idea is, the minister of discipline, as St. Ambrose is represented with a scourge in his hand. The Greek (e0 tw=n a0gge/lwn t=w=n dikai/wn) favours the idea that faithful pastors are here symbolized,-just stewards and righteous men.]
9 biwtikai/ The Vatican and Pal. render this, "the various punishments and tortures which men suffer daily in their lives." Pseudo-Athanasius has: "For when they revolt from God, thinking to be in rest and in wealth, then they are punished, some meeting with losses," etc. [1 Tim. i. 20. Remedial discipline is this spoken of, 1 Cor. v. 5.]
10 Pseudo-Athanasius has: "And they cannot bear for the rest of their days to turn and serve the Lord with a pure heart. But if they repent and become sober again, then they understand that they were not prosperous on account of their evil deeds; and so they glorify the Lord, because He is a just Judge, and because they suffered justly, and were punished (e0paideu/qhsan) according to their deeds."
11 The Vatican inserts the following sentence before this: "And when they begin to repent of their sins, then the works in which they have wickedly exercised themselves arise in their hearts; and then they give honour to God, saying that He is a just Judge, and that they have deservedly suffered everything according to their deeds." So does Pal. The Aethiopic becomes very condensed in this portion. [Note this class of offenders, having suffered remedial chastisement, are not delivered over the Satan finally, but "delivered unto me (the angel of repentance) for good training."]
12 tro/pon. The Vat. and Pal. have, "for the same time" (per idem tempus).
14 Pseudo-Athanasius has "nothing" (ou0de/n) instead of e0la/xistoj.
15 pote/. [The pleasures of sin are "for a season" (Heb. xi. 25), at most: impenitence is the "treasuring up of wrath against the day of wrath" (Rom. ii. 5).]
16 [Ps. iv. 6,7,cxix. 14, lxxxiv. 10. Dr. Doddridge's epigram on Dum Vivimus Vivamus will be brought to mind.]
1 The Vat. and Pal. Have protinus, "immediately." [Wake adopts this reading, which appears to be required by the context.]
2 The Lips. has lost here a few words, which are supplied from the Latin translations. [Mal. iii. 3; Isa. i. 22; Ps. xxvi. 2, cxxxix. 23,24. Is there not much teaching here for our easy living, and light ideas of the sinfulness of sin?]
3 The Vatican has: "But rather give thanks to the Lord, that He, knowing what is to come to pass, has deemed you worthy to tell you beforehand that affiction is coming upon those who are able to bear it." [1 Cor. x. 13. But the whole argument turns on Jas. i. 2, as Hermas delights in this practical apostle.]