<-. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE WRITINGS AND OPINIONS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA SOME. ACCOUNT OF THE WRITINGS AND OPINIONS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA BY JOHN KAYE, D. D LATE LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN LONDON GRIFFITH FARRAN OKEDEN & WELSH NEWBERY HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD AND SYDNEY .SZ 3TEPHEH3 [The Rights of Translation and of Reproduction are Reserved.'} INTRODUCTORY NOTE. THE learned author of the following work, John Kaye, was born at Hammersmith in 1783, received his early education under the well- known Greek scholar Dr. Burney, and afterwards became a member of Christ's College, Cambridge. He graduated at the head both of the Classical and Mathematical honour lists in 1804. The only other instance on record of a man winning such honours is that of Baron Alderson. In 1814 he became Master of his College, and in 1 8 16 succeeded Bishop Watson as Regius Professor of Divinity. It was in this ^ important position that he delivered his lectures on Tertullian and Justin Martyr. In 1 820 Lord Liverpool selected him, at an unusually early age, for the Bishopric of Bristol, advancing him in 1827 to Lincoln. In this large Diocese he found time to publish the work before us, with many Sermons and Charges. To some he never attached his name ; such were his Remarks on Dr. Wisemaris Lectures and Reply to the Travels of an Irish Gentleman. His last work, Some Account of the Council of Nicea, had not emerged from the press when he died, in 1853. He was an acute reasoner, and his works are marked with a singular fairness and calm- ness. Each question is touched with precision and accuracy, and this it is which makes his writings so valuable to the candid inquirer after truth. The work now before us will be found interesting to the student of Church History, as introducing him to the great representative of the Alexandrian School of Divinity. Our series has already comprised the earliest Fathers of the East and West, as well as the "Father of Latin Christianity," Tertullian, and the first of his great successors, Cyprian. The Alexandrian divines occupied a ground quite distinct from those of any other school. The hasty judgment upon them is that they were mystics, corrupting the Faith by mingling Greek and Oriental philosophy with it. Doubtless there was a danger, as there is danger in the teaching of every great leader of thought, of giving undue preponderance to those doctrines and principles which are dear to him ; and, as F. D. Maurice somewhere says, " it was not always possible for men educated in the hot lecture-rooms of Alexandrian philosophers to enter into the healthful simplicity of the scenes in the mountains and pastures of Palestine." We may admit, then, that Origen sometimes fell into errors, and came short of a full understanding of Hebrew theology. Yet, in spite of their 010214 vi Introductory Note. defects, the Alexandrian theologians were the founders of Biblical inter- pretation and criticism. They presented Christianity to the minds of cultivated and scientific intellects, as no other preachers could, in a form which met their deepest aspirations, and yet without losing hold of the truths which came home to the meanest slaves. They showed how the Gospel is for men, for all men for the wise and prudent who are content to learn of God, as well as for those who are unlearned and ignorant men. Alexandria had produced more teachers of the manifold forms of Gnosticism than any Church. But in the good providence of God their errors were removed out of the way by the setting up of a true Gnosis, which, like Aaron's rod, swallowed up the evil things. Even as St. John had directed aright the teaching which men had gotten from Philo of a Divine Logos, and had declared that this teaching was true and that the Logos had been made flesh and dwelt among us, so this later school of Christian doctors did not set up Dogmatism against Gnosticism, as if they were in absolute antagonism. They affirmed that God had given to His children a true knowledge, which was the antidote of the false, and showed how Plato had been a forerunner of Christ. It is true that they made much of a " Reserve" in teaching, and have excited enmity i'n some minds thereby, who allege that herein they were relapsing into heathenism. But the charge is not sustained. The heathen philosophers, it is true, had Mysteries which they concealed from the mob, the vulgar herd ; they gave them the husks to eat, and prided themselves upon a monopoly of an esoteric knowledge, too sacred to be profaned by vulgar eyes. But so did not Clement and his fellows. They declared that the whole of the mysteries of God were open to all alike, to philosophers and to slaves, and that the only test was a moral one, not an intellectual. They forbade their disciples to deal with hallowed things before they had put off the shoes from their feet, in the consciousness that they were treading hallowed ground. Who does not realize the profound truth of such a method ? How many young men " inquire," ask questions boldly, cavil at received opinions, all the while that their heart is unmoved, and they have no desire to walk in the light of the truth that they discover, and so end in negations and unbelief? It was this danger from which the Alexandrian teachers sought to protect their disciples, and their success lay in the fact that they were able to produce a vast moral improvement in Alexandrian life, so that that which was ready to perish revived again. How Alexandrian Christianity in process of time produced the great Athanasius, we know a man admitted by the sceptical Gibbon to be the greatest man of the fourth century. A great philosopher and subtle thinker, he was strong in the Faith ; and the teaching of Clement shone forth visibly blessed by God, in this his greatest disciple. W. B. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Account of Clement, and Catalogue of his Writings, CHAPTER II. The Hortatory Address, ... . The Pedagogue, . The First Book, . The Second Book, . The Third Book, . The Stromata The First Book, . The Second Book, . The Third Book, . The Fourth Book, . The Fifth Book, . The Sixth Book, . The Seventh Book, The Eighth Book, . The Tract entitled, CHAPTER III. CHAPTER IV. o j vretpyxoZ.o'Jtiyo-i. xou ffvp.i7ov opyiuv Bccx%ixtov ofyt; Itrrt rtriteffft'ivas. U-VTIKOC, yovv XKTK TJJV pt/3ff iuv 'Efipuiuv Qavyiv, ro ovoftx re Eilitx, ^ayvvoftsvav tpfttjvtVircu otyi$ n Qfa'.ux.. xi. 19. 3 xx. i. Writings of Clement of Alexandria. 9 of a twofold Atheism ; they refused to acknowledge the true God, and acknowledged as gods those who were not gods. 1 " Atheism and superstition," he proceeds, "are the extremes of ignorance. Originally there was a native intercourse of man with Heaven; but erroneous opinions have withdrawn him, the offspring of Heaven, from heavenly converse, and prostrating him on the earth, have caused him to attach him- self to earthly creatures, and to invent seven kinds of idolatry. 2 He has deified the heavenly bodies ; the fruits of the earth, hence Ceres, Bacchus ; the punishments inflicted on evil deeds, hence the Furies; the passions and affections, hence Hope, Fear; the incidents of life, hence Fate, Justice; the twelve gods, whose origin is described by Hesiod ; the bene- factors of mankind." 3 Clement proceeds to describe the flagitious amours ascribed by the Gentiles to their gods. He inveighs against the public games ; and 4 points out the bloodthirsty character of the demons, who delighted in combats of gladiators, in war, in human sacrifices, being in respect of benevolence and kindness inferior to man. 5 He describes the progress of idolatry, and enumerates the places where many of the deities, worshipped by the Gentiles, were buried. 6 Before the arts of sculpture and carving were known, men worshipped rude symbols, a sword, a stone, a column. Afterwards statues were erected, of which Clement mentions the most celebrated, together with the names of the artists who made them. 7 "The makers of gods," he continues, "worship not, as far as I can understand, gods and demons, but earth and art, of which the images are composed. For the image is in truth dead matter, formed by the hand of the artificer. But our God, the only true God, is not an object of sense, made out of matter : he is compre- hended by the understanding. 8 Alas for your impiety ! You bury, as much as lies in your power, the pure essence ; and hide in tombs that which is uncontaminated and holy, robbing that which is divine of its true essence. Why do you thus give the honour due to God to those who are no gods ? Why, leaving heaven, do you honour earth? For what are gold, 1 xxi. 14. 2 Compare Ixxxi. 3, et seq. 3 xxvii. 17. 4 C. 3. 5 xxxviii. 22. t; C. 4. 7 xlv. 29. 8 1. 2. io Some Accoiint of the and silver, and adamant, and iron, and brass, and ivory, and precious stones, but earth, and from the earth ? Are not all these objects which you behold the offspring of our mother, the earth? Why, vain and foolish men, blaspheming the celestial abode, do you drag down piety to the ground, forming to yourselves earthly gods ? and, following these created things in preference to the uncreated God, immerse yourselves in thickest darkness ? The Parian stone is beautiful, but is not Neptune; the ivory is beautiful, but is not Olympian Jove. Matter always stands in need of art ; but God needs nothing. Art comes forth, and matter puts on a form : the costliness of the substance makes it convertible to the purposes of gain ; but the form alone renders it an object of veneration. Your statue, is gold, or wood, or stone, or earth ; if you consider its origin, it received its form from the workman. I have learned to tread upon the earth, not to adore it; nor is it lawful for me to trust the hopes of my soul to things without a soul (TOIS Again 1 . " We are they who bear about the image of God in this living and moving statue, man, the image which dwells with us : our counsellor, our companion both abroad and at home, who suffers with us, who suffers for us. We are dedi- cated to God for Christ's sake. We are 2 ' the chosen race, the royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people ; we who once were not a people, but are now the people of God;' we who, according to 3 John, are not from below, but have learned everything from Him Who came from above ; we who com- prehend the dispensation of God, and are trained to walk in newness of life. 4 Some, instead of God, adore the workman- ship of God, the sun, the moon, and starry choir, absurdly taking for gods what are only the instruments whereby to measure time (TO, opyava TOV ^povov). Human art forms houses, and ships, and cities, and pictures; but how can I declare the works of God ? Behold the universe it is His work ; the heavens, and the sun, and angels, and men, are the works of His fingers. How great is the power of God ! His mere volition is the creation of the world ; for God alone created it, since He alone is truly God. He creates by His 1 Hi. 27. - i Pet. ii. 9, io. '' viii. 23, iii. 31, iv. 25. 4 liv. 22. Writings of Clement of Alexandria. 1 1 mere will, and the effects follow upon His mere volition. Herein consists the error of the philosophers, who rightly admit that man is made for the contemplation of heaven, yet worship the heavenly bodies, which are objects of sight ; for though the heavenly bodies are not the works of man, they were created for man. Adore not then the sun, but raise your affections to Him Who made the sun ; deify not the universe, but seek the Creator of the universe. Divine wisdom is left as the only refuge of him who would reach the gates of salva- tion ; thence proceeding, as from a sacred asylum, man hastens to salvation, no longer liable to be led astray by demons." 1 Clement proceeds to enumerate the opinions of the philo- sophers respecting the gods, and the first principles of things. Having pointed out their errors, he says, - " I long for the Lord of spirits, the Lord of fire ; I seek not the works of God, but the Creator of the world, the God who gives light to the sun. But whom must I take as the assistant of my search ? Perhaps you will say, Plato. Where then, O Plato, must we seek for God ? You answer, that it is difficult to discover the Father and Maker of the universe ; and, when we have dis- covered, impossible to declare Him to all. Why so ? He is ineffable. You say well, O Plato ; you almost touch the truth. But do not faint ; take up with me the inquiry concerning the good (Ta.yo.0ov) : for a certain Divine effluence distils upon all men, but chiefly upon those who employ themselves in rational inquiries ; on which account they confess, even against their will, that there is one God, imperishable, uncreated. 3 You say yourself that all things are around the King of all things, and that He is the cause of all. Who then is the King of all things? God, the measure of the truth of things. As things measured are comprehended by the measure, so the truth is measured and comprehended by comprehending God. 4 Even the poets, the dealers in fiction, have approached the truth in speaking of the gods." 5 From the consideration of the opinions of the heathen philosophers, Clement proceeds to the descriptions of the Deity given by the prophets, taking his first instance from the * C. 5. -' C. 6. lix. i. 3 lx. i. 4 C. 7. 5 C. 8. 12 Some Account of the Sibyl. He l then exclaims : " O the exceeding love towards man ! God speaks to us, not as a master to his scholars, not as a lord to his servants, not as God to men ; but He gently admonishes us as a father his children. Moses con- fessed that he was afraid and trembled, when he heard only concerning the Word. Do you not fear, when you actually hear the" Divine Word ? Do you feel no deep anxiety ? Do you not at the same time fear, and hasten to learn, that is, hasten to salvation, dreading the wrath, loving the grace, emulously seeking the hope, that you may avoid the judgment ? Come, come, O you, my youthful charge ; for unless you again become as children, and are born again, as the Scripture says, you cannot receive the really existing Father, or enter into the kingdom of heaven." ~ Clement's account of the progress of the convert is, that he is introduced by faith, taught by experience, instructed by Scripture, which says, " ' Come, O children, listen to me : I will teach you the fear of the Lord.' Then, as if addressing those who have already believed, it adds, * What man is he who wishes for life, who longs to see good days ? ' We, we will answer, the worshippers of the good (ro.yo.9ov), the followers of that which is good. Hear, ye who are afar off, and ye who are near. The Word is concealed from no one. He is a common light ; He shines on all ; there is no darkness in the Word. Let us hasten to salvation, let us hasten to the Regenera- tion ; 3 though we are many, let us hasten to be united in one love according to the union of the indivisible (/xovaSiKTJ?) Essence. Let us, who have received good, hasten ; let us in turn follow after unity, seeking the good Indivisible (p>vou$a). The union out of many, which out of discord and division receives a Divine harmony, becomes one concord, following one leader of the chorus and teacher, the Word ; reposing on truth itself, saying Abba, Father : God favourably accepts this true voice, when for the first time he hears it from his children." Clement 4 next supposes a heathen to object, that it is not 1 C. 9. Ixviii. 42. - Ixxii. 1 1. 3 waX/77Vff/v. Matt. xix. 28. S. L. 3. dxxxix. 3. Quis Dives Salvetur. DCDLX. 42. 4 C. 10. Writings of Clement of Alexandria. i 3 creditable to subvert the customs handed down to us by our forefathers. " Yet," he replies, " you forsake the kind of food with which the nurse supplied you in your infancy. You increase or diminish your paternal inheritance, and do not preserve it exactly as you received it. Why then should you not forsake a custom wicked and disturbed by passions (e/xTrafles), and godless ? and even though your fathers should take it amiss, why should you not turn to the truth, and seek the truly existing Father, and reject custom as a deadly poison ? for this is the most glorious of our undertakings, to show you that piety has been hated through madness and this thrice miserable custom. So great a good, than which a greater has not been given by God to the human race, would not have been hated and rejected, if hurried away by custom, and stopping your ears against us, you had not avoided our dis- courses, tossing the reins like hard-necked horses, and biting the bit ; and if, desiring to cast us off who are the guides of your life, and borne headlong by folly to the precipices of destruction, you had not deemed the Holy Word of God accursed. 1 God gives life: but wicked custom, after our departure hence, brings fruitless repentance, accompanied by punishment. Even a fool learns by experience, that supersti- tion destroys and piety saves. Look at those who are in the service of idols, with matted hair, with torn and squalid garments, never washed, with nails of enormous length like wild beasts, many of them emasculated, effectually showing that the groves of the idols are sepulchres or prisons. These men appear to me to mourn, not to worship the gods ; under- going sufferings, of which the effect is rather to excite pity than to evince piety. Yet seeing this, you still are blind, and look not up to the Master and Lord of the universe ; or take refuge from these prisons here below in the pity which is from above. 2 Let us not be enslaved, or like unto swine : but like legiti- mate children of the light, let us look upwards to the light, lest the Lord should prove us to be spurious, as the sun proves the eagles. Let us then repent, and pass over from ignorance to knowledge ; from folly to wisdom ; from intem- perance to temperance ; from unrighteousness to righteousness ; from ungodliness to God. To be a deserter to God is an honourable hazard. The lovers of righteousness, who follow i Ixxiv. 2. 2 Ixxv. 9. 14 Some Account of the after eternal salvation, have many other good things to enjoy those especially to which God alludes, speaking through Isaiah, ' there is an inheritance for the servants of the Lord : ' a fair and lovely inheritance : not gold, not silver, not raiment, which the moth corrupts ; not earthly things, which the thief breaks through to steal ; but that treasure of salvation, to which we ought to hasten, becoming l lovers of the Word. - You have received, O man, the Divine promise of grace : you have heard the opposite threat of punishment. By these the Lord saves, disciplining man by fear and grace. Why do we delay ? Why do we not avoid the punishment ? Why do we not receive the gift ? Why do we not choose the better part, taking God instead of the evil one ? Wisdom instead of idolatry ? Life instead of death ? ' Behold,' he says, ' I have placed before your face death and life.' The Lord proves you that you may choose life : as a father, He counsels you to obey God. ' If ye hearken to me and are willing, ye shall eat the good of the land.' Grace follows obedience. ' But if ye will not hearken or be willing, the sword and fire shall devour you.' Judgment follows disobedience. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it: the law of truth, the Word of the Lord." Still inveighing against custom, Clement says, 3 that custom induces men to drink to excess, to commit injuries, to deify dead men, to worship idols. " But though the artisan can make an idol, 4 he has never made a breathing image, or formed soft flesh out of earth. Who liquified the marrow ? who hardened the bones ? who extended the nerves ? who inflated the veins ? who infused blood into them ? who stretched the skin around them ? who made the eye to see ? who breathed a soul into the body ? who freely gave righteous- ness? who has promised immortality? The Creator of all things alone, the Supreme Artisan, made man a living image ; but your Olympian Jove, the image of an image, far differing from the truth, is the dumb work of Attic hands. The image of God is His Word : the legitimate Son of Intelligence, the Divine Word, the original Light of light ; and the image of the Word is the true man, the mind which is in man, who on this account is said to be made in the image and likeness of God, 1 QiXoXoyous y.voMtvo'j;, Ix.XV. 26. - Ixxvi. 21. 3 Ixxvii. 8. * Ixxviii. 18. Writings of Clement of Alexandria. 15 being assimilated to the Divine Word (or Reason) by the understanding in his heart, and therefore rational. But the earthly image of the visible man, the man sprung from the earth, the resemblance of man, appears as it were a momentary impression (e'/c/xayetoi/), far removed from the truth. * He who has never heard the Word may urge ignorance in excuse of his error ; but with respect to him who, having heard, is delibe- rately disobedient, his knowledge will be injurious to him, because it will convict him of having rejected that which is best. Man is bom to hold intercourse with God. As we apply animals to the uses for which they were naturally designed, so we invite man, who was made for the contempla- tion of heaven, who is indeed a heavenly plant, to the know- ledge of God. Let him perform the duties of his earthly calling, whatever they may be, but perform them in subordina- tion to his duty towards God. What is it but custom which causes men to worship stones, to expend their wealth and even life on matter ? Enslaved by it, they become unable to take compassion on themselves, and unfitted to obey those who would take compassion on them, and voluntarily go on to destruction, even to their latest breath. Custom induces men to deify stones, and the phenomena of nature, and the elements, and the heavenly bodies, and the passions and actions of men, and their bodily affections. But 2 when a certain providence of Divine power clearly appears around us, why do we refuse to confess that God, Who alone is God ? 'The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.' While then we luxuriate in that which is His, how dare we to be ignorant of the Master ? Quit my earth, the Lord will say to you ; touch not the water, which I cause to spring up, or the fruits which I plant ; pay back the price of your sustenance to God j recognise your Master ; you are the peculiar workman- ship of God ; how can His property be justly alienated ? for that which is alienated, being deprived of its proper owner (crrepo/xei/ov TYJS oiKaor^Tos), is deprived of truth. 3 Blinded by your folly, you think that God speaks by a crow or a jackdaw ; you honour a crow as the messenger of God ; but persecute 3 Ixxix. 35. See S. L. 2. cccclxi. 3. I have here given the substance of Clement's reasoning, not his words. - fpovota. ns Svvoiftiu; ti'i'xv?, Ixxxi. JI. v l-Jvapts fi $iix,'/i, IxxxV. 36. 3 Ixxxii. 22. 1 6 Some Account of the and strive to kill the man of God, who does not caw or chatter, but speaks rationally, and instructs lovingly, and calls you to righteousness. You neither receive the grace nor dread the punishment from above ; for you believe not God, nor under- stand His power. His hatred of wickedness is as incompre- hensible as His love to man is ineffable. His anger prepares punishment for sin : His love to man benefits, in order to lead man to repentance. Most pitiable is the state of him who is deprived of Divine assistance. The blindness of the eyes and the deafness of the ears are the most grievous of the calamities inflicted by the evil one ; the one deprives us of the sight of heaven, the other of Divine instruction. But you, maimed as it were with respect to the truth, blind as to your mind, deaf as to your understanding, neither grieve, nor feel indignant, nor desire to see the heavens and the Maker of the heavens, nor strive to hear and to understand the Creator and Father of all things, nor apply your choice to salvation. No obstacle stands in the way of him who hastens to the knowledge of God : neither want of offspring, nor poverty, nor obscurity of station, nor want of possessions ; nor would any one take brass or iron in exchange for true knowledge : this he rightly prefers to all things. Christ is under all circumstances a Saviour ; for he who is an imitator of the Just One has few wants, because he is a lover of Him Who has no wants, laying up a treasure of blessedness, not in others, but in himself and God, where there is neither moth, nor robber, nor pirate, but the eternal Giver of good. 1 Believe, O man, in man and God : believe, O man, in Him Who suffered and is adored, the living God. Believe, O servants, in Him Who died. All men, believe in Him Who alone is God of all. Believe, and receive salvation as your reward. ' Seek ye the Lord, and your soul shall live.' He who seeks God is active about his own salvation. Have you found God ? You have life. Let us then seek Him that we may live. The reward of the discovery is life in the presence of God." Still urging the Gentiles to abandon their idolatrous and vicious practices, 2 Clement says, " Let the Athenian follow the laws of Solon ; the Argive, those of Phoroneus ; the Spartan, those of Lycurgus ; but if you enrol yourself among the citizens of God, heaven is your country, and God your lawgiver. And what are His laws ? 1 Ixxxiv. I. - Ixxxiv. 41. Writings of Clement of Alexandria. \ 7 ' Thou shalt not murder ; thou shalt not commit adultery,' etc. But besides these laws, there are others perfective of them, rational and holy laws, written upon the very heart. 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. To him who smites thee on one cheek, turn the other. Thou shalt not covet.' " Clement x proceeds to ascribe the rapid success of the Gospel to the superintending providence of God. " The Divine power, shining upon the earth, has with celerity not to be surpassed and benevolence easy of access, filled the universe with the seed of salvation. For without the providence of God, the Lord could not have accomplished so great a work in so short a time the Lord, Who was despised as to His out- ward appearance, but worshipped in act, the Expiator, the Saviour, the mild (/zaAi'xios), the Divine Word, manifested as truly God, equalled to the Lord of all ; for He was His Son, and 'the Word was in God ; ' neither disbelieved when He was first announced, nor unknown when, taking the 2 person of man and formed in the flesh, He acted the drama of man's salvation. He was a true combatant, and combated in con- junction with the creature ; and being most rapidly diffused throughout all mankind, rising more swiftly than the sun according to His Father's will, He caused God to shine upon us : proving whence He was and Who He was, by what He taught and did the Bearer of Peace the Reconciler the Word our Saviour a fountain giving life and peace, poured over the whole face of the earth through Whom, so to speak, the universe has become a sea of good." :] Clement proceeds to magnify the goodness of God, first in placing man in paradise, and then in restoring him to liberty, after he had fallen, and by his disobedience brought himself under the dominion of sin. He interprets the history of the Fall allegorically, saying, that by the serpent is meant pleasure. Speaking of the assumption of human flesh by Christ, in order to redeem man, he calls it a Divine mystery, and exclaims, "O mystical wonder! the Lord stooped down, and man arose; and he who fell from paradise receives a greater reward of obedience, even heaven. Since then the Word Himself came to us from heaven, we ought not, idly busy, to go for human instructions to Athens, or any other part of Greece, or to 1 Ixxxv. 35. '- TpoffMTitov, Ixxxvi. 8. 3 C. II. i8 Some Account of the Ionia. For if He is our teacher, Who has rilled all things with holy powers, creation, salvation, benefits, laws, prophecy, doctrine, our teacher instructs everywhere, and the Word has made the whole world, Athens, and Greece. Surely you will not believe the poetic fable, that the Cretan Minos was the boon companion of Jove ; yet disbelieve us who have become the disciples of God, and embraced the true wisdom, at which the greatest philosophers scarcely hinted, but which the dis- ciples of Christ comprehend and proclaim. Human philosophy deals in particular precepts : it inquires whether men should marry, or engage in public affairs, or beget children; but Divine philosophy extends to the whole life of man, to every season and circumstance, and looks to the accomplishment of one object, the attainment of everlasting life." After a glowing description of the light which the Word has shed on mankind, Clement exhorts all men to break out into the following strain of thanksgiving : 1 " Hail, O light : for light has shone upon us from heaven, upon us who were buried in darkness, and shut up in the shadow of death light purer than the sun, sweeter than our present life. That light is eternal life ; and whatsoever partakes of it, lives. But the night avoids the light ; and setting through fear, gives way to the day of the Lord. All things have become light, never again to set, and the setting has believed in the rising. This is the new creation. For the Son of righteousness, visiting all things in his career, comes alike to all mankind, imitating the Father, Who causes His sun to rise, and the dew of truth to fall on all men. He has brought the setting to the rising; and crucifying death, has raised up life ; and snatching man from destruction, has elevated him into the air, trans- planting corruption into incorruption, and converting earth into heaven." From the consideration of the benefits, temporal and spiri- tual, conferred by God on man, Clement infers the necessity of believing in Him. "God," 2 he says, "asks only faith in return; and do we refuse it? 3 The Word, revealing the truth, has shown to man the great salvation, that either repent- ing he may be saved, or disobeying he may be judged. This 1 Ixxxviii. 14. - Ixxxix. 12. s Ixxxix. 40. Writings of Clement of Alexandria. 1 9 is the preaching of righteousness ; good tidings to the obedient, judgment to the disobedient. The loud -sounding trumpet calls together the soldiers, and denounces war. Shall not Christ then, breathing forth a peaceful strain to the very extremities of the earth, collect his peaceful army? O man, by His blood and His word, He has collected a bloodless army, and entrusted the kingdom of heaven to its care. The trumpet of Christ is His Gospel ; He has sounded it, and we have heard. T The imitation of God consists in paying Him holy worship ; and we best worship by imitating Him. Then do men possess heavenly and Divine love, when that which is truly fair, kindled by the Divine Word, shines forth in the soul. Have but a right will, and you have life ; they are necessarily yoked together. Christ freely offers you life ; and who is Christ? The Word of truth, the Word of incorruption, Who regenerates man, Who leads him back to the truth, Who is the centre (TO /ceVr/aoi/) of salvation, Who drives away corruption, Who expels death, Who builds up a temple in men, that He may place God in them. Purify the temple; cast pleasure and sloth, like a perishable flower, to the winds and flames ; culti- vate the fruits of temperance, and dedicate yourself, as an offering of first-fruits to God, that not only the work, but also the grace, may be his. It is fitting that he who is the disciple of Christ should both appear worthy of the kingdom, and should be pronounced worthy of it." " Let 2 us then," continues Clement, " shun custom ; let us shun it as a dangerous headland, or the threats of Charybdis, or the fabled Sirens : it strangles man, it turns him aside from the truth ; it leads him away from life ; it is a snare, an abyss, a pit." After comparing the danger arising to man from the seductions of pleasure to the temptation of Ulysses by the Sirens, and running a parallel between the mysteries of Bacchus and the doctrines of Christ, he exclaims, 3 " O the truly sacred Mysteries ! O the pure light ! I am led by the light of the torch to the view of heaven and of God ; I become holy by initiation. The Lord is the hierophant, Who, leading the can- didate for initiation to the light, seals him, and presents the believer to the Father to be preserved for ever. These are the orgies of my mysteries ; if thou wilt, be thou also initiated, 1 xc. 24. - C. 12. 3 xcii. 30. 20 Some Account of the and them shalt join in the dance with the angels around the uncreated, and imperishable, and only true God, the Word of God joining in the strain. He, the eternal Jesus, the one great High Priest of the one God and Father, prays for men, exhorts men. Hear, He says, ye innumerable tribes, or rather all who are endowed with reason, Barbarians and Greeks. I call the whole human race, whose Creator I am by the will of the Father ; come to Me, to be arrayed under one God, and the one Word of God; be not content merely to excel irrational animals by the possession of reason. To you alone of all mortal beings I give immortality. I wish to make you partakers of this grace ; to confer upon you a benefit entire in all its parts incorruption. I freely give you the Word, the knowledge of God ; I freely give you My whole self. This I am ; this God wills ; this is the musical concent, the harmony of the Father*; this is the Son, Christ, the Word of God, the arm of the Lord, the power of the Universe, the will of the Father ; of which things there were formerly images, but not all resemblances. I wish to guide you to the original, that you may all become like to Me. I will anoint you with the ointment of Faith, through which you cast off corruption. I will show you the naked form of righteousness, through which you ascend to God. ' Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' This l is the counsel of the Word, not to hesitate whether it is better to be sane or insane; but laying fast hold upon the truth, to follow God with all our might, in soberness of mind, and to deem all things His, as they are; having learned, moreover, that we are the fairest of his possessions, let us commit our- selves to God, and loving the Lord God, esteem this our business through the whole of life. If friends have all things in common, and man is the friend of God (and he is the friend, through the mediation of the Word), all things belong to man, because all things belong to God ; and all things are common to both the friends, God and man. It remains then to pronounce the pious Christian alone rich, and wise, and noble ; and in this respect to call and believe him the image and likeness of God; because he has been made just and holy and wise by Jesus Christ, and so far like even to God." Clement says in conclusion, " I have placed before you 1 xciv. n. Writings of Clement of Alexandria. 2 1 Judgment and Grace : doubt not which is the better ; for life must not be compared with destruction." The foregoing sketch of the Hortatory Address to the Gentiles will sufficiently confirm the character given by Jerome of the writings of Clement. The work bespeaks a familiar acquaintance with the Scriptures and with profane literature. He, however, who shall open it with the expectation of find- ing a systematic exposition either of the evidences or doctrines of Christianity, will be greatly disappointed. In order justly to appreciate its merits, we must carry ourselves back to the times in which it was written, and endeavour to obtain a correct notion of the moral and religious condition of the Gentile world of the modes of thinking and reasoning then prevalent. I have said 1 elsewhere, that we ought to give the Fathers credit for knowing what arguments were best calculated to affect the minds of those whom they were addressing. It was unnecessary for them to establish by a long train of reasoning, the probability that a revelation may be made from Heaven to man ; or to prove the credibility of miracles. Some few philosophers might altogether deny the existence of the gods ; others, admitting their existence, might deny that they interfered in the concerns of men ; but the majority, both of the learned and unlearned, were fixed in the belief that the Deity exercised an immediate control over the human race, and consequently felt no predisposition to reject that which purported to be a communication of his Will. They would rather inquire of him who professed to be the bearer of such a communication, as the Athenians did of St. Paul, what is this new doctrine whereof thou speakest? and would judge of its pretensions to a Divine origin, not by external evidence, but by what it taught and enjoined. Accustomed as they were to regard the various systems proposed by the teachers of philosophy as matters of curious speculation, designed to exercise the understanding, not to influence the conduct, the chief difficulty of the advocate of Christianity was to prevent them from treating it with the same levity ; and to induce them to view it in its true light, as a revelation declaring truths of the highest practical importance truths which they could not disregard without endangering their dearest interests. 1 In my work on Tertullian. 22 Some Accoimt of the The point, therefore, at which Clement aims in his Horta- tory Address, is to show the infinite superiority of the Gospel to the religious systems, if systems they could be called, and to the philosophy of the Gentile world. With respect to the former, his task was easy. He had only to contrast the objects of Christian and Heathen worship the all-powerful, all-wise, all-perfect God, to whom the Christian bowed the knee, with the frail and vicious and monstrous deities with which Poly- theism had filled the universe. He had only to contrast the pure and spiritual service which the Gospel enjoined, with the impure and sensual and degrading rites by which the heathen strove to propitiate their deities. It is true that idolatry possessed, in the corruption of human nature, a stronghold from which it could with difficulty be dislodged ; it retained men under its dominion by the gratifications which it offered to their licentious appetites ; but it was indefensible by argu- ment. Its advocates, when pressed, could only plead pre- scription in its behalf; could only allege the authority of their forefathers, and declaim on the discredit of forsaking, for a religion which was the growth of yesterday, opinions, and usages, and rites which had been handed down to them from the remotest antiquity. Hence it was that the early apologists of Christianity employed so much labour in proving the superior antiquity of Moses, and in showing that the Gentile philosophers were indebted to his writings for whatever their own contained, in any degree approximating to the truth, concerning the Divine Nature or the obligations of morality. They wished to convince the defenders of Heathenism that, even on the ground of antiquity, Christianity was entitled to the preference. The professed aim of Gentile philosophy was to accomplish the amelioration of human nature ; to render man superior both to external circumstances and to his own appetites and passions, by placing before him a model of perfect virtue, of which he was never to lose sight, and to which he was to conform his whole life and conversation. The philosopher failed to effect his object, because he was alike ignorant of the true source of moral obligation, and of the true standard of moral excellence; and because he could supply no adequate sanctions to ensure obedience to his injunctions. The main Writings of Clement of Alexandria. 23 design of the Hortatory Address is to show that the Gospel possessed the requisites in which philosophy was deficient. It proceeded from the one true God, to Whose superintending Providence alone its rapid progress could be ascribed. The bearer of the revelation was the Son of God x " the Word, Who is the sun of the soul, by Whom alone, rising in the inmost recesses of the understanding, the eye of the understanding is enlightened. 2 From this Divine fountain of light some rays had flowed even to the Greeks, who had thereby been enabled to discover faint traces of the truth. But the Word Himself has now appeared in the form of man to be our teacher ; and the sanctions by which He confirms His precepts are the most powerful which can be proposed to a rational being an eternity of happiness to the obedient, of misery to the disobedient." Man, according to Clement, was created in the image of God, and was designed to enjoy the Divine intercourse ; but seduced into disobedience, he forfeited these high privileges. The Word descended upon earth to replace him in the situa- tion from which he had fallen ; to enable him to fulfil the purposes of his being, by exercising himself in the contempla- tion, and aspiring to the knowledge of God. He then, who lends a willing ear to the message of the Word, reconciled to God by the mediation of Christ, and transformed by the Holy Spirit of God, continually advances in righteousness, wherein his resemblance to God consists ; so that he becomes the friend of God and like unto God ; nay, he is as it were made God ; for piety, 3 according to Clement, raises the human nature to Divine. The purifying and sanctifying influence of the Gospel is the theme to which Clement continually recurs. In enlarging upon it, he expresses himself with an energy and fervour which, in the opinion of the pious Christian, will compensate 1 Hx. 26. 2 ixiv. 8. 3 "lva 3j KK.} (rv trapa. avfyuirou fteid'/i;, ffr von apa. Knfyurfo; yivy,ra.i 6ios. VIII. 31* T<> V XUI ftovov a.'ffiix.Kfftx.i xa.u.yuy<)vvro$ lv iu vou Xoyou T*JV uvSpcaffuv a-ffdivtiKv d-tro TUV alffSYiTuv If] T-/JV vowiv. P. L. I. c. 12. CCCCIV. 3), which were to carry him onward to perfection, to make him perfect in knowledge, in other words, to make him the true Gnostic. See xcix. 5. The design of the 26 Some Account of the His Hortatory Address had treated of principles, guiding the heathen to piety, and laying, as it were, the keel on which the vessel of faith was to be built. The discourse, which regulates actions, must be of a preceptive : that which regulates the passions of a suasory character. " Yet it is the same Word Who, now by exhortation, now by precept, now by persuasion, rescues man from the dominion of worldly habit, and leads him to the salvation which is of faith in God. When the heavenly guide, the Word, calls men to salvation, the name of Hortatory then peculiarly belongs to Him. But when, pro- ceeding onward, He assumes at once the healing and preceptive character, we then give Him the appropriate name of Paeda- gogue ; his object being l practical, not methodical or doctrinal to ameliorate, not to instruct the soul to point the way to soberness of living, not to knowledge. The same Word is doubtless occasionally a teacher, but not in the present in- stance; for when He is a teacher, he is employed in the explication of doctrines ; but the Pedagogue, being practical, having first directed us to the formation of moral principles, then exhorts us to the performance of that which is right, delivering pure precepts, and holding up the images of former errors to those who come after. Both modes are most useful : the preceptive to produce obedience ; while that which places images before us operates in a twofold manner it induces us to imitate the good, and to avoid the evil. The cure of the passions is effected by the persuasive power of these images, the Paedagogue strengthening the soul, and preparing the sick by benevolent precepts, as it were by gentle medicines, for the perfect knowledge of the truth. Health comes through the application of remedies ; knowledge through instruction. Man Pedagogue is thus stated by Clement : $60.90,? It o Uui^Kyuyo? *)p7v, lv r/>/s ffvvuu^ovffav vo->7//,a) of God is the inward charm (TO i\rpov) which renders man dear to God. If selected on account of something else, God could have no other motive for creating him than this that, unless he existed, God could not be a good Creator, or man arrive at the knowledge of God. For, unless man had been made, God would not have made that on account of which man was made ; and that force, which He possessed hidden in His will, He perfected through the external power of creation, receiving from- man 'that which made man (that on account of which man was made), and He saw him whom He had (made), and that which He willed took effect. Nothing is impossible with God. Man, therefore, whom God made, was selected on his own account ; but that which is selected on its own account belongs, as it were, to Him by Whom it is so selected, and is therefore dear to Him. How, indeed, could man be otherwise than dear to God ? man, on whose account the Only-Begotten descended from the bosom of the Father, the Word of faith, the superabundance of faith ? " Clement's reasoning is somewhat obscure ; but his meaning seems to be, that the object of man's creation must either be to display the goodness of God, or to enable man to arrive at the knowledge of God ; in either case, man was not created on account of anything exterior to him, but on his own account. The conclusion is, that we must in turn love Him, Who through His love of us has become our guide into the best course of life ; and must live according to the precepts which express His will ; not merely doing what is commanded, or avoiding what is forbidden, but also turning aside from some of the images ( l ciKoVcoj/), or examples set before us, and imitating others, and thus performing the works of the Pedagogue after His likeness ; so that we may realize the words, " in His image, after His likeness." 1 Compare c. r. xcvin. 20. S. L. 3. DLXXII. 19. P. L. 3. c. 8. cclxxx. i. Writings of Clement of Alexandria. 29 1 Clement next shows that the Pedagogue's instructions are alike applicable to men and women. The feelings and habits of Gentile antiquity might render it necessary for him seriously to discuss points on which we should deem it impossible even to raise a question. Having shown who the Pedagogue is, 2 Clement proceeds to inquire who are the TrcuSes, the children. " We," he answers, " who are Christians." He proves this assertion by referring to the passages in Scripture in which Christians are called children, infants, sons, a new people, colts, lambs. " Let it not," :5 he says, " be supposed that we are called children because childhood is the age when the reason is not matured ; nor let us ignorantly misinterpret the words of Christ, 'Unless ye become as these children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of God.' We do not, like infants, roll upon the ground ; or creep upon the earth as heretofore, like serpents, twisting (tXvo-TTw/xei/ot, f. eiAvo-TTw/xerot, a word expressing the motion of a snake) our whole body around senseless desires ; but stretch- ing upwards in thought, renouncing the world and sin, touching the earth lightly with our toe, so as just to appear to be in the world, we follow after holy wisdom, which seems folly to those who are sharpened in craftiness. We are truly children who know God alone as our Father, simple, infantine, pure, lovers of the horn of the unicorn (worshippers of one God). 4 As the word child implies a learner, the word man implies an in- structor ; and in Scripture it is used to signify that which is perfect. The Lord is called a man on account of His being perfect in righteousness ; and we shall be perfected when we become the church, having received Christ the head. Clement 5 puts interpretations sufficiently fanciful on many of the passages of Scripture which he quotes in order to establish his point." G He next combats an opinion, advanced by some of the 1 C. 4. Compare S. L. 4. DXC. 15. DCXVII. 8. 2 C. 5. 3 cvii. 20. 4 cviii. 10. 5 cviii. 36. He discusses the etymology of the word IV-TH;, qu. vsjj*-/*,-, not vj (privative), and riV/,-. In cxi. we find more than one strange application of events in the history of Isaac to Christ. 6 C. 6. 30 Some Account of the Gnostic sects, that the word children was applied to ordinary Christians, who know, as it were, only the rudiments of Chris- tianity, in contradistinction from themselves, the enlightened few, who had attained to perfect knowledge. " On the con- trary, immediately upon our regeneration we attained the perfection, for the sake of which we were pressing for- wards; for we were enlightened, that is, enabled to know God. He who knows that which is perfect is not himself imperfect." In confirmation of this statement, Clement appeals to the circumstances which took place at the bap- tism of our Lord, Who was perfected by lavation only (He was baptized in order to fulfil all righteousness), and sancti- fied by the descent of the Holy Spirit. The 1 same is the case with us, to whom Christ was an example; being baptized, w r e are enlightened ; being enlightened, we receive the adoption of sons ; having received the adoption, we are perfected ; being perfected, we are rendered immortal. It seems, however, that the perfection in baptism of which Clement speaks, is not so much an actual as a prospective perfection the commencement of a perfection to be here- after accomplished. For he adds that, "as all things take place as soon as God commands, so the completion of grace follows upon His mere will to confer it. He anticipates the future by the power of His will. Moreover, the deliverance from evils is the beginning of salvation. Christians then alone, when they first touch the boundaries of life, are already perfect ; separated from death, they already live. To follow Christ is salvation. 2 For that which was made in Him is life. He Himself says, ' He who hears My words, and believes in Him Who sent Me, has" eternal life, and comes not into judg- ment, for he has passed from death to life.' Thus only to believe and to be bom again is perfection in life ; for God 1 Baptism, Clement says, is called grace (%pifp.u), and illumination, and perfection, and lavation. Lavation, because by it we are cleansed from our sins. Grace, because by it the penalty due to our sins is re- mitted. Illumination, because by it we behold that holy, saving light, that is, we discern the Divine nature. Perfection, because that which is perfect needs nothing ; and what can he need who knows God ? It is absurd to call that which is imperfect the grace of God. cxiii. 27. " An allusion to John i. 3, 4. But Clement entirely alters the meaning of the passage by a different punctuation. See Potter's Note, cxiv. 4. Compare P. L. 2. c. 9. ccxviii. 17. Writings of Clement of Alexandria. 31 never fails in power. 1 As His will is an effect (epyov) and is called the universe (xoVftos), 2 so also His design is the salva- tion of man, and this is called the church. He knows them whom He has called, whom He has saved. He saved them when He called them." Clement 3 compares the state of a baptized person to that of one who has been couched for a cataract. The operator does not supply light from without, but removes the impediment to the transmission of light to the pupil. So in the case of the baptized person, the sins which obscured the Holy Spirit being removed, the spiritual eye, by which alone we behold the Deity, becomes free and unobstructed and clear, the Holy Spirit flowing into it from heaven. " Perhaps," Clement proceeds, " it may be said that he has not yet received the perfect gift. I admit it ; but he is in the light, and 4 the darkness does not comprehend him. There is no intermediate state between light and darkness. The end is reserved to the resurrection of believers, of which no man can partake unless he partakes of the promise pre- viously professed (of which he professed his belief in baptism). We mean not to say that the arrival at the end and the anti- cipation of the arrival are simultaneous; for eternity (cuwv) and time are not the same ; or the starting for the goal and the arrival at it ; but both relate to one object, and 5 one per- son is concerned in both. Faith, then, which is generated in time, may be termed the starting ; and the attainment of the promise, which is established through eternity, the goal. Clement's conclusion is, that believers possess that which will be after the resurrection, as if it already was, anticipating it by faith. 6 Knowledge, then, is in illumination (baptism), and the end of knowledge is rest, which is the ultimate object of desire. The bonds of sin are loosed by faith on the part of man, by grace on the part of God, there being one healing remedy rational baptism, or baptism by the Word (Aoywcw). We are by it cleansed from all our sins, and immediately cease to be wicked. This is one grace of illumination, that 1 Compare c. Iv. I. quoted in p. 10. 2 ttirus *< TO fitukHfUt etvrov oivfyuvruv ifrt ffeurnpiK, xot,} rotlro IxxXtiffiot, xixXrirati' oidtv evv ovs xixXqxiv, ou$ ffiruxtv. xixXrjxiv E oifta, xa,} ffiffuxiv. Perhaps we should read, oH^iv ovv ovs xixXyxtv. ou; ^l KIX^WKIV, cLpu. / a-ifaxtv. Cxiv. II. 3 cxiv. 23. 4 John i. 5. 8 &, perhaps the one Lord or Saviour, cxv. n. 6 cxvi. i. 32 Some Account of the our conversation is not the same after baptism as before." Clement 1 goes on to show, in opposition to the exclusive system of the Gnostics, that the offer of redemption is made to all. He quotes Gal. iii. 23 and i Cor. xii. 13, and infers from these passages that the distinction of believers into yvoxrriKoi and \lrvxutol was without foundation ; but that all, having put off fleshly lusts, are equal and spiritual before the Lord. The Gnostics, 2 against whom Clement is arguing, appear to have called the recollection of better things, the filtering, straining out 3 (SivAicr/Aw) of the Spirit ; meaning that the separation of the worse parts was effected by the recollection of the better ; but as he who is reminded of what is better necessarily repents of what is worse, according to this repre- sentation the Spirit repents. They seem to have insisted on i Cor. xiii. u, where St. Paul says, "When I was a child, I thought as a child, I spake as a child ; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." But here, Clement observes, " the apostle speaks of his conversation under the law, when like one not arrived at the age of reason, minding childish things, he persecuted ; and speaking childish things, he blas- phemed the Word. When he who himself 4 professed to preach childishness, sends it as it were into banishment ; he alludes not to any imperfection in age or stature, or to any definite measure of time, or to any secret instruction in manly and more perfect learning. He calls them who were under the law, children ; who were disturbed by fears, as children are frightened by masks ; and he calls those who obey the Word and are free agents, men ; who have believed, being saved by free choice, under the influence of a rational, not irrational fear childhood in Christ is perfection with reference to the law." Clement runs into a long digression respecting the meaning of i Cor. iii. 2, which was urged by the Gnostics in support of their opinion. Milk, 5 according to them, meant the first 1 cxvi. 23. 2 cxvii. 4. 3 Matt, xxiii. 24. See the Eclogas ex Prophetarum Scripturis. vii. TO KM,} Wiv ftetr a. a,xu,6a.f>roc,) ffVfJt.-ffi'ff'^t'Yf/Ava. v(Ti) good, there must exist hatred of evil. Wherefore I admit that God punishes unbelievers (for punishment is for the good and benefit of him who is punished ; it is the bring- ing back to rectitude of that which has swerved from it), but I do not admit that God wishes to avenge Himself; for vengeance is the retribution of evil for the benefit of the avenger ; and He Who teaches us to pray for those who insult us cannot desire to avenge Himself." Clement further shows that in Scripture the epithets of good and just are alike applied to God. 3 But he seems to say that the appellation of good belongs more particularly to God as the Father; that of just to God as the Word or Son, because He is to judge the world. 4 Christ addresses the Father as the Creator of the world, and calls Him God ; but the Gnostics themselves allowed that the Creator of the world was just. Clement's 5 conclusion is, that the course pursued by God in His discipline of men is various ; but always designed for their salvation. The Psedagogue bears testimony to the good; He invites to better things those who have been called (TOVS /cX^rovs), and arrests in their career those who are hastening to sin, and exhorts them to turn to a better life. 6 In continuation of the same subject, Clement says that the Pedagogue adopts at different times different measures in order to save His children. 7 He admonishes, He reproves, He rebukes, He convinces, He threatens, He heals, He promises, He gratuitously gives. But whatever measures the Pedagogue 1 cxxxix. II. 2 cxxxix. 36. 3 cxl. 37. 4 cxli. 15. cxlii. 18. C. 9. 7 Of these terms Clement gives definitions, which he confirms by quota- tions from Scripture. Writings of Clement of Alexandria. 37 adopts, they are all directed to one object, the salvation of mankind. Sometimes He uses gentle, sometimes rougher remedies. "They who are sick," Clement x proceeds, "need a Saviour ; they who have wandered, a guide ; they who are blind, one who shall lead them to the light ; they who thirst, the living fountain, of which he who partakes shall thirst no more; the dead need life; the sheep a shepherd; children a Psedagogue; all mankind need Jesus." "All these offices the Psedagogue performs for man. If, therefore, He addresses them through their fears, it is not because He is not good as well as just ; but 2 because mere goodness is too often despised, and it is consequently necessary to hold out the terrors of Justice. There are two kinds of fear ; one accompanied by reverence, such as children feel towards their parent; the other by hatred, such as slaves feel towards harsh masters. The Justice of God is shown in His reproofs ; His goodness in his compassion. There is no incompatibility between justice and goodness. The physician who announces to the patient that he has a fever, has no ill-will to him : nor is God, Who convinces man of sin, unfriendly to him. God of Himself is good : but He is just on our account : and just because good. He has displayed His justice to us through His Word, from the time that He became Father. For before the creation was, He was God, He was good ; and on this account He chose to be Creator and Father ; and in this relation of love originated justice ; He caused the sun to shine (in the natural creation), He sent down* His Son (in the spiritual crea- tion). The Son first announced from heaven that justice is good, when He said, ' No one has known the Son but the Father; or the Father but the Son.' This reciprocal and equally poised knowledge is the symbol of primitive justice. Justice then descended to men : in the Letter and in the Body, in the Word and in the Law, constraining mankind to a saving repentance; for it is good. If then thou art disobedient to God, blame thyself who bringest the judge upon thee." Having shown that the passages of Scripture, in which God holds out threatenings, are not inconsistent with His goodness, because they are manifestly designed to lead men 1 cxlvii. 31. 2 cxlix. 21. 38 Some Account of the to repentance, Clement l proceeds to quote other passages in which God aims at effecting the same object by the language of exhortation, and counsel, and encouragement, and bene- diction. Praise and reproof are to be used as the instruments of reforming men, according to their different dispositions and circumstances. God uses both, and is equally good, when He praises and when He reproves. Clement 2 repeats his statement that the Word had acted the part of the Psedagogue through Moses and the prophets : so that it was evident that Jesus, the one true, good, just Son, " in the image and after the likeness of the Father," the Word of God, had been uniformly the instructor of mankind. 3 " In His character goodness is mingled with severity; He commands, yet His commands are such as may be obeyed. He formed man out of the dust ; regenerates him by water ; causes him to grow by the Spirit ; instructs him by the word, directing him by holy precepts to adoption and salvation, in order that transforming by his access (e* 7rpocr/3acrea>s) the earth-born into a holy and heavenly man, he may fulfil the Divine words ' Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.' This Christ was in perfection ; the rest of mankind are only /;/ the image. Let us, O children of the good Father, pupils of the good Paedagogue, perform the will of the Father, listen to the Word, and express the truly saving life of our Saviour ; prac- tising even here that heavenly conversation, by which being made as it were Divine, we may be anointed with the pure, ever flourishing, sweet-smelling ointment of gladness, having the conversation of the Lord as a clear pattern of incorruption, and following the footsteps of God : to whom alone it apper- tains to consider, and who therefore cares, how and in what manner the life of man may be rendered more healthy. On this account the Word is called Saviour ; he devises remedies to bring man to a healthy sense and to salvation ; watching favourable opportunities, detecting lurking mischief, laying open the causes of the affections, cutting up the roots of irrational desires, admonishing man from what he ought to abstain ; furnishing every kind of antidote, in order to save them who are diseased. For to save man is the greatest and most royal work of God. The business of man, a 1 C. 10. - C. ii. Seep. 33. 3 C. 12. Writings of Clement of Alexandria. 39 rational animal, is to contemplate the Divine nature ; to contemplate also the nature of man, and to live as truth prescribes ; exceedingly to love the Paedagogue and His com- mands, on account of their suitableness to each other and their harmony; and modelling himself by the image of the Paedagogue, so to live, that his actions may be in unison with his words." Clement 1 goes on to say, that whatever is contrary to right reason is sin; "lust, fear, pleasure, are sinful, as con- trary to right reason. On the other hand, obedience to the Word or reason, which we call faith, is productive of that which is called duty 2 (KaOfjKov). For virtue itself is a con- sistent disposition of the soul regulated by reason in every part of life. Obedience is based on commands ; which being the same as precepts (vTro^/cat), having truth for their ,aim, lead on to the ultimate object of desire, which is called the end. The end of piety is eternal rest in God ; and our end is the beginning of eternity. The Christian life in which we are now trained, is a certain system of rational actions, that is, a faultless performance of that which is taught by the Word. This we have called faith. The system is the commandments of the Lord, which being Divine opinions, spiritual suggestions, have been written for us, as suitable to us and to our neighbour (to the regulation of social life). In the description of duties, some relate to life itself, some to a good life." As the former had been sufficiently discussed by the Gentile writers, Clement pro- poses to consider those which relate to a good life, and consequently to eternal life. Throughout this chapter Clement studiously uses the terms employed by the Stoics, and applies them to the Christian doctrine. Having shown in the first book Who the Paedagogue is, who are they whom He instructs, and what the course pursued 1 C. 13. 2 Perfectum officium rectum, opinor, vocemus, quod Greed x hoc autem commune KK^XOV vocant. Cicero de Officiis, 1. i. c. 3. 4 dipo; ItyiftiQi; hffu%y vKpctTTifAfritx,. clxxxvii. 9. * clxxxvi. i. 5 clxxxvi. 27. G C. 3. So C. 2. clxxxvii. 4. xctt ou%i ctketpciffrpot; vriv-iv xizuXvxaftlv' XX TO rdivitv tv TotJTOt; ftovov -rivtiv us aXec^ovixov vip CXC. 22. 9 CXCi. 2. 44 Some Account of the and that use is for sufficiency, which may be obtained from little. The best wealth is a poverty of desires ; and true greatness consists not in priding ourselves on wealth, but in despising it. Wisdom cannot be purchased with earthly money, or in the market; it is sold only in heaven, sold for true money, the incorruptible Word, the royal coin." Clement 1 proceeds to say, that all excess, and drunkenness, and revelling, must be banished from the entertainments of Christians; the pipe too, and the flute, as better suited to beasts than man not that the Gospel condemns all social entertainments, or all 2 music. " Christians may, like David, sing the praises of God to the lyre or harp. 3 As it is fitting that before our meals we should praise God, the Maker of all things ; so in taking our wine, we who participate in that which He has made, should sing psalms to Him. A psalm is a sober thanksgiving, composed in measure ; the Apostle terms it a spiritual song. In like manner, before we lie down to sleep, we who enjoy God's grace and bounty should give Him thanks, and so go immediately to rest." Clement 4 next delivers rules respecting laughter. " All buffoons and imitators of that which is ridiculous must be banished from Christian society. Our words are the fruit of our inward dispositions and sentiments ; if we either utter or delight in hearing that which is ridiculous, we show that we are ourselves light and frivolous. We may be facetious ; but must not lay ourselves out to excite laughter. We must con- trol our laughter; for though, when our manner of laughing is suitable, it bespeaks propriety, in other cases it bespeaks want of due restraint. In general, we must not attempt to eradicate that which is natural to man ; we must rather try to regulate and restrict it to proper occasions. Man is a laughing animal, but he must not always be laughing ; as a horse, though a neigh- ing animal, is not always neighing. Like rational animals, we must rightly temper our severer cares and anxieties by relaxing ourselves according to rule, not by disregarding all rule/' '- 2 Clement interprets in a fanciful manner the musical instruments mentioned in Psalm 150. cxciii. 5. 3 cxciv. 24. Compare S. L. 6. dcclxxxv. 9. 1.7. dccclxi. i. 4 C. 5. Writings of Clement of Alexandria. 45 Clement x then distinguishes between the laughter which he permits, and that which he condemns. " We ought not to laugh in the presence of those who are older than ourselves, or whom we ought to reverence ; unless 2 they say something facetious in order to make us gay. We must not laugh with every one we meet, or in all places, or with all men, or at everything." Clement, however, objects to moroseness and severity of countenance. He 3 goes on to say, " that we must ourselves abstain from all licentiousness of language, and testify our disapprobation of it in others by looks, and gestures, and severe reproofs. The Divine Psedagogue guards the ears of His scholars against that which is indecent, by covering them with chaste precepts, and their eyes by directing them to the contemplation of that which is good and fair. 4 A great protection against this danger is the company and conversation of the virtuous. We must not hear, or say, or behold that which is indecent : much less must we do it. The Psedagogue aims at plucking up the very roots of sin ; He regulates the principles of action ; when He says, ' do not lust,' He in fact says, * do not commit adultery/ of which lust is the root. Licentiousness of language is a kind of preparation for licentiousness of action ; but chastity of conversation tends to purity of conduct. Indecent language consists not in mentioning those parts of the body which it is unusual to mention, but in talking of their employment to vicious purposes." 5 Jesting and scurrility must be excluded from the festive meetings of Christians. " The object of their meetings is to evince their mutual charity ; how can that object be promoted by scurrility which leads to quarrels and enmities ? On the whole, however, it is better that young men and women should absent themselves altogether from such entertainments, lest they should hear and see that which is improper, and which, their faith being yet unsettled, may inflame their thoughts ; especially as the unsteadiness of their age causes them more 1 cxcvi. 20. 2 Clement gives some amusing instances of what he deems facetious sayings, c. 7. ccii. 29. 5 C. 6. 4 cxcviii. 29. 5 C. 7. 46 Some Account of the readily to yield to their desires. l An unmarried woman ought not to be voluntarily present at any drinking parties of men." Clement gives many minute directions respecting the position in which men ought to sit or lie at table, the manner in which they ought to eat and drink, speak, sneeze, blow the nose, etc. The sum of his directions is, that the whole deport- ment of a Christian should be sedate, calm, peaceable : 2 in conformity with the Christian parting wish, " Peace be unto you." ''There 3 is no necessity for using crowns or ointments, which are incentives to pleasure, especially as night approaches. It is true that the Lord was not displeased with the woman who anointed His feet ; but the action had a mystical meaning ; and the woman had not yet partaken of the Word : she was still a sinner. In like manner the crowns of gold, adorned with precious stones, which were worn by the kings of Judah, had a symbolical meaning. 4 Aristippus, of Cyrene, defended the use of ointment, by contending that, when applied to a horse or dog, it did not affect their qualities. Why then should it be injurious to a man?" Clement's answer is not very satisfactory. "The horse," he says, "or dog, has no reason whereby to distinguish the ointment ; but man, whose senses are rational, and therefore can make distinctions, is more censurable for using effeminate perfumes." Clement enumerates and describes the several kinds of ointment most in use ; and says, that 5 makers of ointments and dyers of wool were banished from well-regulated states. "Christians should smell, not of ointments, but of virtue : and Christian females should be anointed with the ambrosial unction of chastity, delighting in the holy ointment, the Spirit. This Christ prepares for His disciples, the unction of a sweet savour, compounding it of heavenly aromatics. If we have prohibited luxury with reference to the taste, we must also prohibit it with reference to the sight and smell. It is useless to guard one avenue, and to leave others unclosed. 6 The luxurious man is assailed through all his senses ; and dragged along by perfumes, like a bull by a cord fastened by a ring through his nose." Clement does not, however, condemn the use of 1 cci. 18. 2 cciii. 22. cciv. 40. 3 C. 8. 4 ccvii. i. 5 ccviii. i. Compare S. L. i. cccxliv. 35. t; ccix. 17. Writings of Clement of Alexandria. 47 perfumes indiscriminately ; "all do not affect the head, or act as provocatives to lust ; some are of a healing nature, and relieve the head, and strengthen the stomach. Silly women anoint their hair : of which the only * effect is to render them grey at an earlier period than they would otherwise be. As dogs trace wild beasts by the scent, so we trace the luxurious by the fragrance of the perfumes which they use." Clement prohibits the use of garlands, partly for medical reasons; partly because 2 flowers, which are intended to gratify the senses of smell and sight, when placed upon the head, gratify neither; they are not applied to their natural use. After discussing the qualities of different flowers, he 3 says, that " the ancient Greeks wore no garlands ; neither the suitors of Penelope, nor the luxurious Phseacians wore them; they were introduced after the Persian war, and first worn by the victors at the games. Another reason why Christians ought not to wear garlands is, that 4 the flowers of which they are composed are for the most part consecrated to the Heathen deities : as the rose to the muses ; the lily to Juno ; the myrtle to Diana. It was the custom also to crown the statues of the gods ; 5 but the living image of God ought not to be crowned like a dead idol. A crown of amaranth is reserved for him who leads a holy life; a 6 flower which earth is not capable of bearing, and heaven alone produces. 1 When our Lord was crowned with thorns, shall we, insulting, as it were, His passion, put on garlands of flowers ? " Clement discovers many mysti- cal meanings in the crown of thorns worn by Christ ; he 8 says, for instance, "that when God began to legislate by the Word, and wished to manifest His power to Moses, a Divine vision of light under a defined form was exhibited to Moses in a burn- ing thorn ; and when the Word had fulfilled His office of 1 Clement attempts to account for this effect, ccx. 20. a Compare Tertullian de Corona Militis. c. 5. 3 ccxii. 26. 4 Compare Tertullian de Corona, c. 7. 6 ccxiv. i. 6 Milton, Paradise Lost. B. ill. : ' " Immortal Amaranth, a flower, which once In Paradise fast by the tree of life Began to bloom ; but soon for man's offence To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows." 7 Compare Tertullian de Corona, c. 14. 8 ccxv. n. 48 Some Account of the legislator and His sojourning among men, He was mystically crowned with thorns ; thereby showing that, as He was first seen through a thorn, and at last taken up through a thorn, the whole was the work of one power ; He Himself being one, His Father being also one, the beginning and the end of time." Clement l concludes this part of his subject by saying that flowers and ointments and perfumes may be used for medical purposes, and for moderate recreation, but not for luxury. We may enjoy the scent of flowers, but not put them on our heads. The 2 next subject discussed by Clement is sleep. " After our meal, having given thanks to God for the good things of which we have been partakers, and for having been conducted in safety through the day, we may address ourselves to sleep. We must not be nice about the softness or costliness of our beds. For, not to mention that such nicety bespeaks a luxuri- ous character, soft beds impede digestion. But as, on the one hand, we must not affect magnificence in our beds, so, on the other, we must not affect coarseness; though in a case of necessity we must be content to sleep on the ground, as Jacob slept when he saw the heavenly vision. We should accom- modate our bed-coverings to the season of the year." Clement objects to carved bedsteads, because the carving frequently harbours reptiles. 3 " Sleep is to be considered as a rest or relaxation of the body; it should be light, so that we may easily awake ; for we ought to rise frequently in the night, in order to give thanks to God. That our sleep may be light, our food must be light. Deep sleep resembles death, suspend- ing the 4 activity both of the mind and of the senses, shutting out the light by closing the eyelids. Let not us, who are the children of the true light, exclude this light; but turning inwards to ourselves, enlightening the eyes of the hidden man, and contemplating the truth itself, and partaking of its influ- ence, let us clearly and discreetly interpret such dreams as are 1 Clement points out the medical virtues of different ointments, ccxv. 34. 2 C. 9. 3 ccxvii. 39. 4 / avoictv iif ctvciiffti'/iffiuv v-TToQifOplvr,, CCXVlii. 36. Writings of Clement of Alexandria. 49 true ; not such as trouble the sleep of men oppressed with food and wine." Clement alludes to Lot's transgression, in proof of the mischief occasioned by indulgence in wine and sleep. " We who have the Word, the watchman, dwelling in us, must not sleep through the night, but must struggle against sleep, quietly and gradually acquiring such habits as will enable us to pass the larger portion of life awake ; for sleep, like a tax-gatherer, divides our life with us. Far be it from those to sleep by day, who ought to pass the greater part of the night in watching. Above all, we should bear in mind that it is not the soul which requires sleep ; the soul is always in motion ; but the body, composed to rest, is in a state of relaxation, the soul no longer acting upon it, but meditating within itself. On this account true dreams are to him, who rightly considers, the reasonings of the sober soul, which is not then distracted by its sympathy with the body, and takes the best counsels for itself. Total rest is the destruction of the soul. Wherefore always contemplating God, and by its con- stant intercourse with Him communicating to the body its own watchfulness, the soul raises man to a level with the angels ; anticipating eternal life by practising watchfulness." Clement 1 proceeds to treat of the intercourse of the sexes, which he permits only between man and wife ; and between them only with a view to the procreation of children. We cannot, however, follow him through the details into which he enters. He admits that the continuation of the human species is agreeable to the will of God ; but 2 evidently gives the preference to a life of celibacy. He speaks of the mis- chievous effect of lust in sinking man below humanity ; and 3 alluding to the Apostle's declaration, " this mortal must put on immortality," he says that "this will take place when insatiable desire, which hurries men into licentiousness, being disciplined by continence, and no longer in love with corruption, shall yield man up to eternal chastity." He 4 takes occasion 1 C. 10. Compare S. L. 2. CCCCLXXV. 24. ob $/ $n*s a CCCCLXXXI. i;. CCCCLXXXV. 2p. CCCCXCI. 20. L. 3. DXXXVI. 2. 1JXLIII. 25. DLIV. 41. DLXI. 21. L. 6. DCCXC. 12. - ccxxvi. 18 ; ccxxvii. 16 ; ccxxxvi. 4. Compare S. L. 3. DXXXIV. 26. L. 4. DCXXI. 13. DCXXX. 28. L. 7. DCCCLXXIV. 25. s ccxxx. 19. 4 ccxxxi. 14. 50 Some Accoiint of the to condemn all nicety and carefulness about dress and diet, entering in the course of his observations into aH the details of a lady's toilette. "The 1 design of clothing is to protect man from cold and heat; hence the dress of males and females ought to be the same, since they stand in equal need of pro- tection from the inclemency of the weather. If any 2 conces- sion is to be made to female weakness, women may be allowed to use garments of a finer texture ; but they must not wear dyed garments. 3 White garments are best suited to Christians who are pure within." Clement proceeds to deliver various precepts respecting female dress, and 4 particularly insists on the use of veils, which must not, however, be purple, since they would only serve to attract the gaze of man. His con- clusion is, that " whatever is covered is better than that which covers it the statue than the temple which contains it, the soul than the body, and the body than the garment. Now, on the contrary, if a female were to sell her body it would fetch only a thousand drachmae, whereas she buys a single garment for ten thousand talents. Why," he asks, "do we seek after that which is rare and expensive in preference to that which is at hand, and of low price ? Because we are ignorant of that which is truly fair and good ; and instead of the reality pursue the semblance, like insane persons, who mistake white for black." Clement 5 next condemns all ostentation respecting the covering of the feet for instance, the adorning of sandals and slippers with gold or precious stones ; some even having engraved upon them lascivious figures. We should look only to the use of shoes that they are intended to cover and protect the feet. Women, according to Clement, should go with their feet covered ; men barefooted. He confines women to the use of 1 ccxxxiii. 31. 2 Compare L. 3. c. n. cclxxxvii. 4. Clement enumerates the various dyes used in his day, ccxxxv. 16, and the fleeces most in request, ccxxxvii. 20. 3 ccxxxv. i. According to Clement, Christ wore a garment reaching to his foot. KKV TOV votitipy ? /u,a,%aipx. CCXC. 5- 4 ccxc. 20. 5 ccxci. 13. See L. 3. c. 3. cclxii. 10. 6 ccxcii. 24. See L. 3. c. 2. ccliv. 17. 7 ccxcii. 42. 60 Some Account of the they all rejoice; the children in their mother, the husband in his wife ; she in them, and all in God. Women ought also to be correct in their gestures, looks, gait, tone of voice. l Even the female slaves who follow their mistresses should avoid all indecent words and actions ; for any want of decorum in them reflects on their mistresses, who are supposed to approve what they do not reprehend. 2 Men ought not to waste their time in the shops in order to look at the females as they pass, and to excite laughter by profane jests ; neither should they play at dice nor gamble. They who act thus do it from idleness." Clement 3 proceeds to declaim against spectacles and theatrical exhibitions. " ' But all,' 4 you will say, ' do not aspire to philosophy.' Do we not all pursue life ? What do you say ? How did you then believe ? How do you love God and your neighbour, unless you love philosophy ? or how do you love yourself, unless you love life ? You will reply, 'I have not learned letters.' But if you have not learned to read, there is no excuse for not hearing, since hearing is not taught. Faith is the possession of those who are wise, not according to the world, but to God j it is learned without letters; and its writing, which is at once Divine, and accommodated to the ignorant, is called love ; a spiritual composition. To engage in public affairs is not incompatible with the study of Divine wisdom ; nor are you forbidden to mix in the world, if you mix in it decorously, according to the will of God. Buyers and sellers ought not to have two prices ; nor in dealing should recourse be had to 5 oaths, which ought on all occasions to be avoided. The man and woman should come into the congrega- tion decently attired, with simplicity of gait ; in silence, with love unfeigned ; pure in body, pure in heart, fit to address God in prayer. Let the women, moreover, be always veiled, excepting at home, lest they should betray others into sin. 1 ccxcvi. 5. 2 ccxcvii. 9. 8 ccxcviii. 1 6. Compare S. L. 2. CCCCLXV. i. L. 7. DCCCLII. 12. DCCCLXXVII. 38. DCCCLXXXIII. 42. In some of these passages Clement connects public executions with theatrical exhibitions. See also Tertullian de Spectaculis passim. 4 ccxcix. 15. 5 Compare S. L. 7. DCCCLXII. 10, 18. 6 See L. 2. c. 10. ccxxxviii. 30. Clement says that the wife of ^neas refused to lay aside her veil even when Troy was taken, and she was flying from the flames. Writings of Clement of A lexandria. 6 1 In their appearance and deportment throughout the whole tenor of life, Christians should show the same gravity as in the congregation, being equally gentle, pious, and affectionate. But they seem for the most part to change their behaviour and manners with the place ; like the polypus, which is said to take the colour of the rock to which it adheres." After inveighing at some length against this inconsistency, * Clement speaks of the kiss of peace, and says that it had been abused, and given occasion of scandal to the Gentiles. He adds, "that it is the duty of a Christian so to live, that he may be free, not only from impurity, but from the suspicion of impurity." Clement, 2 pursuing his remarks respecting the demeanour befitting Christians, cautions husbands against embracing or saluting their wives in the presence of servants. At length, escaping from these minute details, he says, "that the end of the Gospel is the sanctification of man ; and that the office of the Word is to lead on human weakness 3 from the objects of sense to those of the understanding. What we should observe, and how we should regulate our life at home, has," 4 he says, " been sufficiently declared by the Paedagogue ; but His con- versation with His children on the road, until He brings them to the Teacher, is summarily stated in Holy Scripture : He lays down simple precepts, fitting them to the length of time during which His scholars are under His guidance, but committing the interpretation of them to the Teacher j for His law aims at dissipating fear, giving the will freedom to believe." Clement then gives the discourse which he supposes the Paedagogue to address to the child. "Hear, O child, the sum of salvation; for I will unfold to thee My morality, and suggest to thee those fair precepts, through which thou shalt reach salvation ; for I will conduct thee in the way of salvation. Follow the good road by which I shall lead thee, lending to Me ready ears, and I will give thee treasures, hidden, secret, unseen by the Gentiles, seen by us. The treasures of wisdom are inexhaustible, in 1 CCCl. IO. ' C. 12. 3 oc.'Jfo rat aifffaruv isr)