Note 491 — Chapter V

This work, “The Pastor of Hermas,” is no longer extant, but appears only in the “Stichometry” of Nicephorus; it is now considered an apocrypha. But, in the days of Irenæus, it was quoted as Holy Scripture (see “Sup. Religion,” vol. i., p. 257) by the Fathers, held to be divinely inspired, and publicly read in the churches (Irenæus: “Adv. Hær.,” iv., 20). When Tertullian became a Montanist he rejected it, after having asserted its divinity (Tertullian: “De Orat.,” p. 12).