31 Howbeit he said unto me,
that he would send back the
shepherd and virgins unto
my house. Amen.
REFERENCES TO THE BOOK OF
HERMAS, THE SHEPHERD.
[This book, divided into three parts, called his VISIONS, COMMANDS,
and SIMILITUDES, is thus entitled, because it was composed by
Hermas, brother to Pius, bishop of Rome; and because the Angel, who
bears the principal part in it, is represented in the form and habit
of a shepherd. Ireneus quotes it under the very name of Scripture.
Origen thought it a most useful writing, and that it was divinely
inspired; Eusebius says that, though it was not esteemed canonical,
it was read publicly in the churches, which is corroborated by
Jerome; and Athanasius cites it, calls it a most useful work, and
observes, that though it was not strictly canonical, the Fathers
appointed it to be read for direction and confirmation in faith and
piety. Jerome, notwithstanding this, and that he applauded it in his
catalogue of writers, in his comments upon it afterwards, terms it
apocryphal and foolish. Tertullian praised it when a Catholic, and
abused it when a Montanist. Although Gelasius ranks it among the
apocryphal books, it is found attached to some of the most ancient
MSS. of the New Testament; and Archbishop Wake, believing it the
genuine work of an apostolical Father, preserves it to the English
reader by the foregoing translation, in which he has rendered the
three parts of it not only more exact, but in greater purity than
they had before appeared. The archbishop procured Dr. Grabe to
entirely collate the old Latin version with an ancient MS. in the
Lambeth library; and the learned prelate himself still further
improved the whole from a multitude of fragments of the original
Greek never before used for that purpose.]
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