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| Commandment Eleventh. The Spirit and Prophets to Be Tried by Their Works; Also of the Two Kinds of Spirit.
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The Spirit and Prophets to Be Tried by
Their Works; Also of the Two Kinds of Spirit.
He pointed out to me some men sitting on a seat,
and one man sitting on a chair. And he says to me, “Do you see
the persons sitting on the seat?” “I do, sir,” said
I. “These,” says he, “are the faithful, and he who sits
on the chair is a false prophet, ruining the minds of the servants of
God.219
| 219 Is … God. He
who sits in the chair is a terrestrial spirit.—Vat. And
then follows the dislocation of sentences noticed above. | It
is the doubters, not the faithful, that he ruins. These doubters then go
to him as to a soothsayer, and inquire of him what will happen to them;
and he, the false prophet, not having the power of a Divine Spirit in
him, answers them according to their inquiries, and according to their
wicked desires, and fills their souls with expectations, according to
their own wishes. For being himself empty, he gives empty answers to
empty inquirers; for every answer is made to the emptiness of man. Some
true words he does occasionally utter; for the devil fills him with
his own spirit, in the hope that he may be able to overcome some of the
righteous. As many, then, as are strong in the faith of the Lord, and are
clothed with truth, have no connection with such spirits, but keep away
from them; but as many as are of doubtful minds and frequently repent,
betake themselves to soothsaying, even as the heathen, and bring greater
sin upon themselves by their idolatry. For he who inquires of a false
prophet in regard to any action is an idolater, and devoid of the truth,
and foolish. For no spirit given by God requires to be asked; but such a
spirit having the power of Divinity speaks all things of itself, for it
proceeds from above from the power of the Divine Spirit. But the spirit
which is asked and speaks according to the desires of men is earthly,220
| 220 The spirit of all men is
earthly, etc. This passage, down to “it is not possible that
the prophet of God should do this,” is found in the Vat. and other
mss. of the common translation,
with the exception of the Lambeth, in Command Twelfth. [Consult Wake upon
omissions and transpositions in this and the former Commandment. And note,
especially, his valuable caution against confounding what is here said,
so confusedly, of the Spirit in man, and of the Spirit of God in his
essence (1 Cor. ii. 11, 12). | light, and powerless, and it
is altogether silent if it is not questioned.” “How then,
sir,” say I, “will a man know which of them is the prophet,
and which the false prophet?” “I will tell you,” says
he, “about both the prophets, and then you can try the true and the
false prophet according to my directions. Try the man who has the Divine
Spirit by his life. First, he who has the Divine Spirit proceeding from
above is meek, and peaceable, and humble, and refrains from all iniquity
and the vain desire of this world, and contents himself with fewer wants
than those of other men, and when asked he makes no reply; nor does he
speak privately, nor when man wishes the spirit to speak does the Holy
Spirit speak, but it speaks only when God wishes it to speak. When, then,
a man having the Divine Spirit comes into an assembly of righteous men who
have faith in the Divine Spirit,
and this assembly of men offers up prayer to God, then the angel
of the prophetic Spirit,221
who is destined for him, fills the man; and the man being filled with
the Holy Spirit, speaks to the multitude as the Lord wishes. Thus,
then, will the Spirit of Divinity become manifest. Whatever power
therefore comes from the Spirit of Divinity belongs to the Lord. Hear,
then,” says he, “in regard to the spirit which is
earthly, and empty, and powerless, and foolish. First, the man222
| 222 [Here is a caution against divers
Phrygian prophesyings.] | who seems to have the Spirit
exalts himself, and wishes to have the first seat, and is bold, and
impudent, and talkative, and lives in the midst of many luxuries and
many other delusions, and takes rewards for his prophecy; and if he
does not receive rewards, he does not prophesy. Can, then, the Divine
Spirit take rewards and prophesy? It is not possible that the prophet
of God should do this, but prophets of this character are possessed by
an earthly spirit. Then it never approaches an assembly of righteous
men, but shuns them. And it associates with doubters and the vain, and
prophesies to them in a corner, and deceives them, speaking to them,
according to their desires, mere empty words: for they are empty to whom
it gives its answers. For the empty vessel, when placed along with the
empty, is not crushed, but they correspond to each other. When, therefore,
it comes into an assembly of righteous men who have a Spirit of Divinity,
and they offer up prayer, that man is made empty, and the earthly spirit
tees from him through fear, and that man is made dumb, and is entirely
crushed, being unable to speak. For if you pack closely a storehouse
with wine or oil, and put an empty jar in the midst of the vessels of
wine or oil, you will find that jar empty as when you placed it, if
you should wish to clear the storehouse. So also the empty prophets,
when they come to the spirits of the righteous, are found [on leaving]
to be such as they were when they came. This, then, is the mode of life
of both prophets. Try by his deeds and his life the man who says that he
is inspired. But as for you, trust the Spirit which comes from God, and
has power; but the spirit which is earthly and empty trust not at all,
for there is no power in it: it comes from the devil. Hear, then, the
parable which I am to tell you. Take a stone, and throw it to the sky,
and see if you can touch it. Or again, take a squirt of water and squirt
into the sky, and see if you can penetrate the sky.” “How,
sir,” say I, “can these things take place? for both of
them are impossible.” “As these things,” says he,
“are impossible, so also are the earthly spirits powerless and
pithless. But look, on the other hand, at the power which comes from
above. Hail is of the size of a very small grain, yet when it falls
on a man’s head how much annoyance it gives him! Or, again, take
the drop which falls from a pitcher to the ground, and yet it hollows
a stone.223
| 223 [This proverb is
found in many languages. Hermas may have been familiar with Ovid, or
with the Greek of the poetaster Chœrilus, from whom Ovid, with
other Latin poets, condenscended to borrow it.] | You see,
then, that the smallest things coming from above have great power when
they fall upon the earth.224
| 224
Earth. After this the Vatican reads: Join yourself, therefore, to
that which has power, and withdraw from that one which is empty. [Hermas
seems to apply to the Spirit, in carrying out his figure, those words
of the Psalmist, lxxii. 6.] | Thus also is the Divine Spirit,
which comes from above, powerful. Trust, then, that Spirit, but have
nothing to do with the other.”E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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