THE SIMILITUDES OF S. HERMAS.

I.

Since we have no abiding city here, we should look for that which is to come.

AND he said to me, "Ye know that you, who are the servants of the LORD, are here, as it were in a pilgrimage, for your city is far hence. If then ye know the city wherein ye are about to dwell, why do you buy fields here, and provide luxuries, and buildings, and superfluous houses? For whosoever provides these things in this city, does not think of returning to his own. Oh! foolish, doubtful, and wretched man, who dost not perceive that all these are another's, and under another power! For the Lord of this city says to thee, Either use my laws, or depart hence!' What then wilt thou do, since thou hast a law laid down for thee in thine own city? Wilt *thou, then, deny thy own law, because of thy fields, or any of thy possessions? But if thou dost, and wouldest afterwards return to thy own city, thou wilt not be received, but cast out thence. Take care, then, that like a man in a strange land thou providest for thyself no more than is necessary and sufficient for thee, and be prepared, when the Lord of this city wills to cast thee out, to con tradict his laws, and to depart with gladness to thy own city, that thou mayest use thy own law without any wrong. See to this, then, ye who serve GOD, and have Him in your hearts. Work the works of the LORD, remembering His commands, and the promises which He has given; and be fully assured that He will fulfil them, if ye observe His commands. Instead of fields which ye would buy, deliver, each according to his ability, souls from their straits; absolve the widows; judge the cause of the orphans, and spend your wealth and riches in such works as these. For the LORD hath enriched you, that ye may discharge such ministrations. Far better is it to do this than to buy fields or houses, since these will all perish but whatever thou hast done for the Name of the

LORD thou wilt find in that city, and wilt have joy unalloyed by sorrow and fear. Hanker not after the riches of the Gentiles, for they are hurtful to the servants of GOD, but so use the means ye possess as by them to attain unto joy."

II.

As the vine is supported by the elm, so is the rich man helped by the prayer of the poor.

"Thou seest this vine and elm ?"

As I was walking into a field, and considering the vine and elm, and thinking within myself of their fruits, an angel appeared unto me and said, "Why thinkest thou so long with thyself?" And I answered, "I am thinking, sir, about this vine and elm, since their fruits are beautiful.' And he said, "These two trees are put forth as an example for the servants of GOD." “I would learn,” replied I, "what example thou meanest, sir ?" "Listen," he said. "Yes, sir,' I rejoined. "This vine," continued he, "is fruitful, but the elm beareth none; but yet this vine, had it not been knit to the elm, and rested upon it, would not have produced much fruit. For when lying on the ground, its produce is bad, because it hangs not on the elm; but when it is suspended upon the elm, it bears fruit for both. Note, then, that the elm beareth not less, but rather more fruit than the vine." "How, sir, greater," asked I, "than the vine ?” "Supported by the elm," he replied, "it produces much and choice fruit: but lying on the ground, little and worthless. This, then, is an example for the servants of GOD, the rich and the poor." "Show me how this is ?" Listen," he replied: rich hath wealth, but, as regards the LORD, he is really poor; for he is distracted about his wealth, and prays but little to the LORD; and when he does pray, his words are feeble, and possessed of little power. When, then, the rich man distributes to the poor of his wealth, the poor man prays to GOD for him, and GOD bestows him all good things: for the poor man is rich in prayer, and his prayer is effectual with the LORD. The rich man, then, bestows all upon the poor, because he thinks he is

The

upon

heard by the LORD, and therefore more willingly and unhesitatingly does he bestow all largesses upon him, and takes care that he wants for nothing. The poor man thanks GOD for the rich, because they both work from the LORD. The elm is thought among men not to bear fruit, and they neither know nor perceive that when united with the vine, the latter yields double produce, i. e., for itself and the elm. And so the poor praying for the rich, are heard of the LORD, and their wealth is increased, because they give to the poor of their substance. Whosoever, then, has so acted, will not be deserted of the LORD, and shall be written in the Book of Life. Happy they, then, who are rich, and know that they are enriched, since they who are conscious thereof I will be able to minister to the wants of others.

III.

As in winter green trees cannot be distinguished from the dry, so in this world the just and the unjust cannot be distinguished.

He then showed me many trees stripped of leaves, which seemed to me dry, for all were alike. And he said, "Seest thou these trees ?" "Yes, sir," answered I," they resemble dry ones." "These trees, then," said he, are like men who live in this world." Why," rejoined I, "are they like dry trees ?" "Because," was his answer, "there is no distinction between just and unjust in this world, but they are alike. For this world is like winter to the just, because, living with sinners, they are not distinguished. As all trees in winter, when their leaves are fallen, are like dry ones, and we cannot tell which are dry, or which green, so in this world there is no distinction between just and unjust, but all are alike. W. B. F.

FIDELIA.1

"There are sorrows and trials so idealised by the heart and the imagination, that they rise by their very purity into a region far above the personal and private."-Lady Anne Lindsay.

"Let us not be dependant for gratification in our latter years on the recollections of youth; but let us advance with joy, under the Divine protection, to those days which are destined to be eternal.”—S. Pierre.

"Now know I what is love."-Virgil's 8th Eclogue,

FAR away from the vast metropolis, in one of the fairest nooks of merry England, nestles a pleasant village, in nowise materially differing from many others equally well favoured, with its old grey church, picturesque school, and gabled manor house, hedged round by vast, dark woods, and watered by numerous purling streamlets, which trickle down from the hills, and leap, and sparkle, and foam in the summer sunshine, laving the velvet lawn of the pleasure garden-washing round cottage strawberry beds, and sprinkling lavender bushes with diamond spray. The inhabitants of Kilve, indeed, are of opinion that their village is absolutely unrivalled for beauty and salubrity, and their local attachment is remarkable: one of the principal features which render Kilve attractive, consisting in a home repose-an indescribable air of tranquillity and comfort, which pervades the sylvan scene, from the mansion to the humble cot.

Here dwelt the two Misses Edmonds, daughters of a former faithful Pastor of Kilve, who, on their father's decease, removed to a small tenement adjacent to the school-house, presided over by the excellent Mrs. Rosemead, an individual who had known better days,' and had been the early friend and playmate of the elder Miss Edmonds. These ladies still continued their friendship and intimacy, and Miss Edmonds was almost as busy and interested in the village school as Mrs. Rosemead herself.

The Misses Edmonds were also cousins twice removed to Mr. Melby, the squire of the old Manor-house; and By the author of "Gabrielle, or the Sisters," in Frazer's Magazine, 1851.

this gave them a degree of consideration which their straitened circumstances might not otherwise have commanded for Kilve, in becoming respect for worldly gear, did not differ from its neighbours. Mr. Melby was the ancestral landlord of Kilve, and descended from the younger branch of a once powerful and opulent family; but the Melbys' flourishing days were over long ago, and the squire of Kilve, with all the pride of his ancestors, found himself in a condition, on succeeding to the patrimony, by no means such as would warrant him in giving free scope to a naturally generous disposition-crippled pecuniary resources, and even temporary embarrassment, leaving no choice in the matter for the exercise of selfdenial, as a prudential course. He had, besides, made what the world terms a foolish marriage-that is, he had married to please himself; the object of his choice being a young, beautiful, but penniless girl; moreover, an orphan, dependant on rich relatives, who persecuted and discarded her for rejecting a wealthy and titled suitor, to become the bride of a comparatively poor and obscure country squire.

More resembling Eden bowers than an earthly home, was the old gabled manor-house of Kilve, during the advent of the bright angel-wife, who for a short time only was lent to her adoring husband. After pre senting to him a son and heir, the young mother lingered but a few weeks subsequent to the premature birth of a second child, ere death claimed his victim. From that period Mr. Melby became an altered and careworn man, shutting himself up in misanthropic fashion, and with devoted solicitude watching over the motherless boys, with a tenderness and anxiety more akin to maternal weakness than to the sterner rule of a father's hand. Except the Misses Edmonds, no visitors were received at Kilve by the bereaved owner, and in the society of his children he alone seemed to find comfort and resignation.

They both resembled their lost parent in feature, being fair, golden-haired, delicate creatures; Paul, the eldest, however, being far stronger and more robust of frame than little Rubens, whose premature developement had ushered him into this world so unprepared for the rough conflict, that the tender shoot, wanting power to expand,