Similitude Ninth.
The Great Mysteries in the Building of the Militant and Triumphant Church.
Chap. I.
After I had written down the commandments and similitudes of the Shepherd, the angel
of repentance, he came to me and said, “I wish to explain to you what the Holy Spirit345
that spake with you in the form of the Church showed you, for that Spirit is the Son of God.
For, as you were somewhat weak in the flesh, it was not explained to you by the angel. When,
however, you were strengthened by the Spirit, and your strength was increased, so that you
were able to see the angel also, then accordingly was the building of the tower shown you
by the Church. In a noble and solemn manner did you see everything as if shown you by a
virgin; but now you see [them] through the same Spirit as if shown by an angel. You must,
however, learn everything from me with greater accuracy. For I was sent for this purpose
by the glorious angel to dwell in your house, that you might see all things with power, enter-
taining no fear, even as it was before.” And he led me away into Arcadia, to a round hill;346
and he placed me on the top of the hill, and showed me a large plain, and round about the
plain twelve mountains, all having different forms. The first was black as soot; and the second
bare, without grass; and the third full of thorns and thistles; and the fourth with grass half-
withered, the upper parts of the plants green, and the parts about the roots withered; and
some of the grasses, when the sun scorched them, became withered. And the fifth mountain
had green grass, and was ragged. And the sixth mountain was quite full of clefts, some small
and others large; and the clefts were grassy, but the plants were not very vigorous, but rather,
as it were, decayed. The seventh mountain, again, had cheerful pastures, and the whole
mountain was blooming, and every kind of cattle and birds were feeding upon that mountain;
and the more the cattle and the birds ate, the more the grass of that mountain flourished.
And the eighth mountain was full of fountains, and every kind of the Lord’s creatures drank
of the fountains of that mountain. But the ninth mountain [had no water at all, and was
wholly a desert, and had within it deadly serpents, which destroy men. And the tenth
mountain347] had very large trees, and was completely shaded, and under the shadow of
the trees sheep lay resting and ruminating. And the eleventh mountain was very thickly
wooded, and those trees were productive, being adorned with various sorts of fruits, so that
345 The Spirit.—Vat. [He is called “the Spirit of Christ” by St. Peter (i. 11); and perhaps this is a key to the
non-dogmatic language of Hermas, if indeed he is here speaking of the Holy Spirit personally, and not of the
Son exclusively. See Simil. v. 6, Isa. v. 1.]
346 To a fruitful hill.—Pal. Omitted in Vat. [Hermas delights in the picturesque, and introduces Arcadia in
harmony with his pastoral fiction.]
347 Omitted in Lips.
Similitude Ninth. The Great Mysteries in the Building of the Militant and Triumphant Church.
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Similitude Ninth. The Great Mysteries in the Building of the Militant…