PART II

CHAPTER I

CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS : EDUCATION AND PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES

 

“I espouse neither this nor that philosophy, neither the Stoic, nor the Platonic, nor the Epicurean, nor that of Aristotle ; but whatever any of these sects hath said, that is fit and just whatever teaches righteousness with a divine and religious knowledge, all this I select and call it philosophy.”— Stromateis,

 

Prepared by the foregoing account, poor and imperfect as it is, of the various influences that moulded the education and thought of his country­men and himself, we are in a better position to understand and appreciate the character and genius of Clement.

The life of Titus Flavius Clemens, evidently a member of the great Flavia gens, and perhaps descended from Titus Flavius Clemens, a nephew of Vespasian, Consul 95 A.D., is wrapt in obscurity. It is unwrote : “Some say he was a citizen of Alexandria, while others maintain that he was an Athenian.” He certainly studied in Athens, but his literary style lacks the finish and grace of the native Athenian. And so it has been thought, that the surname of Alexandrinus indicates the scene of his life if not of his birth.

He was a young man in 195 a.d., the probable date of the Stromateis, which does not belong to an earlier period of history than the reign of Commodus, and professes to be the work of a man in the prime of life, “storing up treasures of intellect for his old age.”

It has been supposed that he was originally a pagan, which is not improbable, to judge from a chance expression he lets fall in his writings, to the effect that “he abjured his old opinions.”

In early life he was deeply learned in the philosophy of the Stoics, and the idealistic theories of Plato. But in after years, as he tells us, he was led to embrace Christianity by Pantaenus, the Principal of the catechetical school in Alexandria.

In the first chapter of his Miscellanies he gives an interesting account of his studies and his teachers:

“This work,” he writes, “is not elaborated according to the rules of art for show, but it consists Teachers of records stored up in my mind, a remedy for the forgetfulness of age. It is merely a picture and shadowy outline of those clear and lively discourses which I had the honour to hear from the lips of saintly and illustrious men.

“Of these one was an Ionian who lived in Greece. Others came from Magna Graecia (the Greek plantation in Southern Italy). One belonged to Coele-Syria, and another hailed from Egypt. Of those I fell in with in the East, one was a Hebrew of Palestine, and another was an Assyrian. But the last I was to meet was the first in merit. Having found him living in obscurity in Egypt, I ceased from my travels in search of the truth. He was the ‘Sicilian Bee,’ who gathered the flowers of the prophetic and apostolic mead, and created in the souls of his pupils an imperishable element of knowledge. These men indeed preserved the true tradition of the blessed doctrine immediately from the Apostles St. Peter, St. James, St. John, and St. Paul, as a child keeps what he hath learned of his father (how few there are like them!), and came to us by the will of God, to deposit in our breasts the Apostolic seed they themselves received from their predecessors.”

The greater number of these teachers are unknown to us. However, the order in which they are mentioned, the Ionian Greek first, and the Egyptian Pantaenus last, has given some ground for the plausible hypothesis that as Athens was the starting-point, Alexandria was the final goal of his literary investigations.

It is supposed by some that Thales, the Ionian Thales philosopher, was the principal master he studied in Greece, as he frequently quotes his opinions; in one passage writing of him : “He is the only man who seems to be conversant with the Egyptian prophets; we do not read that any hath been his master.”

And in another connection, saying, that when Thales was asked to define God’s nature, he replied: “ It is that which hath neither beginning nor end.”

The same philosopher, he relates, when replying to the query, if it were possible for man to hide his actions from God : “How can that be, since we cannot hide our thoughts from Him?”

The Assyrian teacher is supposed to have been Tatian, the disciple of Justin Martyr. The Jewish teacher was perhaps Theodotion, an extract of whose “Eastern doctrine” is to be found at the end of Clement’s works.

But the last teacher, beyond all doubt, was Pantaenus. Having received such a varied education, and having consequently become steeped in the lore of Greeks and Barbarians, Jews and Gentiles, we are not surprised to find that the philosophy of Clement was the eclectic sort That is to say, he selected from the works he read, and the lectures he heard, the theories and hypotheses that suited his type of mind, and formulated them into a system of his own. And this accounts for the fact that we find so many interesting echoes of the wisdom of Plato and the Stoics in his Christian Apologetics.

“The Barbarian,” he said, “and the Greek Philosophy took the fragments of eternal truths which it contains, not out of the Mythology of Bacchus, but from the Reason that did always exist. He, therefore, that would join again what had been divided, and would make a system of it, might be sure of knowing the truth.”

Accordingly, Clement did not despise philosophy. For it was God, he wrote, who gave philosophy to the Greeks by the ministry of inferior angels, but Christians were instructed by the ministry of the Son.

Acting on this principle, he lectured his junior classes on the Greek Philosophy.

The lecturer thus describes his method of teaching: “As plowmen cast the seed into the ground only after watering it, so we take out of the writings of the Grecians wherewith to water what is. earthly in those we instruct, to prepare them for the seed of the Gospel. The light of nature is presupposed by the light of the Gospel. Christ and his Apostles did not undertake to give a new system of philosophy, which would show up every error by contrast. They took for granted that we were already supplied with several principles of thought upon which we could reason.”

The Stromateis is his most ambitious work. It is,  as name suggests, a compilation of principal miscellaneous notes, arranged without method or taste, as the author himself tells us. For he aptly compared it with “a thickly planted mountain where fruit and other trees are grouped in a confused way together, so as to baffle the plunderer; whereas the careful gardener would be able to find out and arrange in their natural orders such as were wholesome for the palate or adapted for ornamentation.”

“For it is thus, that the mysteries of the Christian faith, veiled from impertinent and ignorant curiosity in this work (which was especially written for those who had already been initiated in the faith), will only discover their rich treasures to the honest and diligent seeker of the Truth.”

The number of paradoxes, which bristle through the treatise, recall the aphorisms of the Stoics, which he knew so well. For example : “No one but a Christian is rich,” seems indeed to be an echo of “The wise man alone is rich, and a king.”

The arguments and theories of Plato, whose works he had studied, are also inwoven in a wonderful manner with the principles of the Christian faith. Indeed Clement seemed to think that Plato’s doctrine of the Trinity, which was afterwards very carefully reproduced in the Enneades of Plotinus, was identical with that of the Christian. Porphyry tells us that Plato taught that the divine essence extended itself to three hypostases, to wit, the Supreme Divinity or the Good Itself; then, the Creator; and, thirdly, the Soul of the World. And Plotinus, in the century after Clement, wrote an elaborate treatise on the Trinity of Plato, consisting of the Being, the Spirit or the Reason of Being, and the Soul of the World, three principles essentially united but practically separate.

Our author spoke of the Divinity of our Lord as these Platonists spoke of “Reason.” “The nature of the Son,” according to him, “is the most perfect, the most holy.” “He is that excellent nature which governs all things according to the Father’s will, which rules the world well, which acts by an unexhausted and unwearied power, and which sees the most secret thoughts.” Moreover, Clement always endeavoured to elucidate a Christian doctrine by a parallel from the Greek philosophers.

He believed that the “fire,” which is spoken of in the New Testament, was the same as that “ fiery ordeal ” which Plato imagined was finally destined to purge the sin from the soul. And when the pagan writers spoke of Hades and Tartarus, he held that they were speaking prophetically of Gehenna.

A strange conception of the humanity of Christ is to be found in the writings of this teacher. Not considering, as he said, that his Lord was inferior to the heathen deities, who only required ambrosia, he believed that Jesus Christ needed no milk when He came into the world, and was not nourished by the meat of which He partook in condescension to humanity.

In many respects Clement was decidedly the child of his age. He was not fettered by medieval doctrines of fatalism and necessity. The will is perfectly free, according to him. “Neither praises, nor censures, nor rewards, nor punishments, are just, if the soul have not the power of sinning or of not sinning.” Nor was the nature of man to be held responsible for original sin, in his opinion. “Let them tell us,” he wrote, “ how a new-born child hath sinned, or how he who hath done nothing yet, is fallen under Adam’s curse.” No wonder, then, that this great-hearted teacher was spoken of in the highest terms of praise by writers of almost every school of thought. 

His learning and his piety are subjects  of most noble encomiums. 

Alexander, the Bishop of Jerusalem, writing to Origen after the death of their beloved master, says of him: “We both acknowledge for Fathers those blessed men who have gone out of this life before us, and with whom we shall be in a short time, the blessed Pantaenus and the pious Clement, from whom I have received great assistance.”

Eusebius says that his books are full of much learning. And St. Jerome, the severe critic, writes: “Clemens, Priest of the Church of Alexandria, the most learned of our authors, in my opinion, wrote eight books of Stromateis, as many of the Hypotyposeis, a book against the Pagans, and three volumes entitled the Pedagogus. There is nothing in his books but is full of learning, and taken from the soul of philosophy.”

Cyril of Alexandria tells us that Clement was a man of wonderful learning, who dived to the bottom of Greek learning with greater exactness than any of his predecessors.

The last testimony we shall quote is that of Theodoret, who said of Clement: “That holy man surpassed all others in extent of learning.”

Popular opinion made Clement a saint of the Church. And he was, as a matter of fact, commemorated on December 4, in the early Western Martyrologies. Baronius, however, omitted his name from the Martyrology published during the episcopate of Clement VIII, Bishop of Rome.

There seems to have been a great number of protests against this omission, which Benedict XIV., Bishop of Rome, defended in his letter to John V., King of Portugal, 1748, on the ground, that some of Clement’s doctrines were open to suspicion, and that he was therefore not entitled to a place in the Roman Calendar. 

The memory of Clement, however, has suffered nothing from this repudiation. For he is now universally esteemed wherever adoration has stooped to reason, and reason has risen to adore.

 

CHAPTER II

CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS : HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER

 

Having devoted the previous chapter to an account of the education and philosophical studies of Clement, we shall now tell all we know of the private life and character of the man.

It is greatly to be regretted that so little is known of the private life and personal character of one who was, in the highest sense of the term, a scholar and a saint. The few facts that history records of so prominent a champion of orthodoxy and Christianity deserve to be enshrined in the memories of all. But if we would know the man as he deserves to be known, we must supplement this brief sketch of his life by a careful study of his works. As we have already seen, he began life as a pagan philosopher in Alexandria ; but having been brought under the influence of Pantaenus, he became a Christian, and succeeded his master as Principal of the training college in that city. Among his pupils were the famous Origen and Alexander, the saintly Bishop of Jerusalem.

While at Alexandria Clement was made a presbyter; but when the persecution of Severus (202 AD) burst forth upon the Christians, Clement left that city, and sought quiet and leisure for his studies and writings for a time in Jerusalem, and afterwards in Antioch.

Perhaps it may interest our readers to have some account of this persecution, which so greatly affected the fortunes of our teacher.

It is believed that when Severus, in his early days, was Governor of Lyons, under Marcus Aurelius, he treated the Christians with much harshness. The names of Pothinus, the aged bishop, and of Blandina, the slave girl, both of whom were tortured and put to death under most revolting circumstances, have ever been associated with that infamous rule.

But having been cured of some disorder by one Proculus, a Christian, Severus felt, or rather pre­tended to feel, favourably disposed to the new sect for some years. However, shortly after his investiture in the purple, he gave the Christians more cause to remember that name of Severus which suited him so well, by ordering them, under pain of the direst punishment, to desist from propagating their religion.

This edict was given about the year 202 a.d., and was immediately enforced. But the Christians, in spite of the prescribed penalties, refused to obey. Accordingly furor arma ministrat. Inquisitions and tortures were everywhere put into operation against them, and new and horrible methods of murder were invented.

The fury and deadly malignity of the persecution claimed many innocent victims in Carthage, notably Perpetua and her friends, who were gored to death by a mad bull in the arena of the amphitheatre before the delighted eyes of the sleek Roman citizens. But the devilish animosity and cruelty of the persecutor seemed to concentrate itself upon the unhappy city of Alexandria in particular. There numbers suffered martyrdom, and among these was Leonidas, the father of Origen, the famous pupil of Clement. But Clement himself wisely sought refuge in flight.

Having reached Jerusalem in safety, he put up at the house of Alexander the bishop, his old pupil, who was then undergoing imprisonment for the faith. Now this Alexander had been a bishop in Cappadocia, but he was subjected to many hardships for having confessed Christ, and at length had to fly for his life to Jerusalem. Here he was received by Narcissus, a man of very great devotion, who associated the exile with himself in the care of the Church in that city.

Eusebius gives us a small fragment of one of Alexander’s letters, which is abundant proof of the fact that these two men were joint pastors in Jerusalem.

“Narcissus greets you who governed this diocese before me; and now being an hundred and sixteen years old, prayeth with me, and that very seriously, for the state of the Church, and beseeches you to be of one mind with me.”

Moreover, we find an interesting light thrown on the relations of Clement and Alexander in the following epistle from that bishop to the Church of Antioch :

“Alexander, a servant of God, and a prisoner of Jesus Christ, to the blessed Church at Antioch, in the Lord, sendeth greeting. Our Lord has made my bonds in this time of my imprisonment light for me; because I understand that Asclepiades, a person admirably qualified by his eminency in the faith, has by Divine providence become bishop of your holy Church of Antioch. These letters I have sent you by Clement, the blessed presbyter, a man .of approved integrity, whom ye do know already, and shall know more intimately. By the providence of God he hath been with us, and hath much established and augmented the Church.”

From this letter we learn that Clement was a wise administrator as well as a devout scholar. We also gather from it that’ he had already paid a visit to the Syrian capital, and that he was about to return there. For it would materially strengthen the hands of the new Bishop of Antioch to have by his side, when taking up his diocesan duties, a man of the weight and judgment of the Alexandrian Clement.

It is said that after finishing his work in Antioch, the catechist returned to his school, and died in his native city, 222 a.d. This is practically all that we know of the life of one who lived in the light of the Word of life, and laboured modestly and with great success for the Church of Christ.

His general temper may be inferred from the tone of his writings, which is at once mild and exalted, generous and strong. Indeed, it might be truly said of him, that the greatness of his heart was only surpassed by the breadth of his mind.

 

CHAPTER III

THE MINOR WORKS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

 

Eusebius devotes a whole chapter to the writings of Clement. Of the Stromateis he tells us all the eight books are preserved, and bear this inscription, “Miscellaneous Gnostic notes by Titus Flavius Clement on the true philosophy.” Rufinus translated the word Stromateis by opus varie contextum (Patchwork). Theodoret, in his book on the fables of the Heretics, tells us that Clement received the name of the Stromatist from this compilation.

In the Stromateis we find not merely the flowers of Scripture, but a promiscuous collection of everything that has been well said by Greeks and barbarians. Moreover, Clement extends his historical investigation over a long period, confuting the false teaching of the heretics, and affording his readers abundant informa­tion on general topics. In the very first book he describes himself as one who has followed on the heels of the successors of the Apostles, and promises to write a commentary on the Book of Genesis. More will be said on the subject of the Stromateis in a following chapter.

We shall also reserve for another occasion our remarks on the tract, Who is the Rich Man that is seeking Salvation?, the Exhortation to the Gentiles (literally Greeks), and the three books of the Pedagogue, and shall now tell all that we know about the Hypotyposeis, Outlines; a name familiar to the student of philosophy as the title of the work of Sextus Empiricus on the system of Pyrrho. There were originally eight books of the Hypotyposeis, as Eusebius informs us. In these the author expressly mentions Pantaenus as his teacher, and quotes his expositions at length. “ The Outlines,” Eusebius says, “consist more or less of abridged discourses on the canonical Scriptures, not omitting the disputed epistles, I mean that of Jude, and the other catholic epistles, as well as the Epistle of Barnabas and the so-called Apocalypse of Peter.”

The historian proceeds to retail some of the opinions of Clement, which he says were to be found in this work. First with reference to the Epistle to the Hebrews: this epistle, according to Eusebius, Clement said was from Paul, was written to the Hebrews in the Hebrew language, but Luke, with his usual zeal, interpreted it and brought out a Greek edition, somewhat similar in style to the Acts of the Apostles. Paul, however, did not commence with his usual form of address, “Paul  apostle,” and naturally enough, as Clement said : for when writing to the Hebrews, who had taken a prejudice against him and suspected him, he showed his wisdom in not offending them at the outset by mentioning his name. A little lower down Clement observes, “As the blessed presbyter used to say, since the Lord, the messenger of the Almighty, was sent to the Hebrews, Paul, by reason of his modesty as one sent to the Gentiles, did not describe himself ‘ the Apostle of the Hebrews,’ partly out of reverence for his Lord, and partly because it was a superfluous thing for him, an apostle and preacher to the Gentiles, to send a letter to the Hebrews as well.”

In this same work, Eusebius tells us that Clement gave an account of the order of the Gospels which he received from the presbyters before him. The genealogical portion, according to Clement, was written first. His remarks on the Gospel of St. Mark will be quoted in another chapter (c. viii.).

Migne, in his Patrologia, has published some fragments of the Outlines of the Catholic Epistles. These consist of a Latin version of notes on separate verses of 1 Peter, Jude, and 1 and 2 John, most probably the work of Cassiodorus, who tells us that Clement made some remarks on 1 Peter, 1 John, and James, which were often subtle, but sometimes so wild that he, had to modify them considerably when translating. This statement receives, support from the fact that Photius—though we cannot trust him much—condemned as impious most of the opinions expressed in these Outlines.

There is a fragment of a work on Marriage in which this profound remark occurs “A girl is not only ruined when deceived by man; she is ruined when she is given in marriage before her time by her parents.”

Eusebius mentions the title of another book, the Ecclesiastical Canon, or a treatise against the Judaizers, which was dedicated to Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem. All that we have left of it is a short passage, in which the transitory condition of Solomon’s Temple is contrasted with the abiding nature of the true Temple, the Body of Christ. In the Sixth Book of the Stromateis he defines the Ecclesiastical Canon, which may have had some connection with this lost work, as “the harmony and agreement of the law and the prophets with the covenant which was given at the appearance of our Lord.”

Antonius Melissa cites a fragment from Clement supposed to be a part of the Treatise on Scandal which Eusebius speaks of. “Never respect him,” it runs, “who speaks evil of another to you; but rather admonish him, saying, ‘Cease, brother; daily I make more mistakes, and how can I blame him ? For so doing you will gain two, by one and the same salve, yourself and your neighbour.”

Two very important fragments of the lost Treatise on the Passover have been preserved by Petavius. From these we learn that Clement did not look upon the Supper in the Upper Room as the Passover meal, but regarded it as that which was to take the place of and finally to supersede the Jewish Passover, being partaken of on the evening preceding the feast-day.

“In former years,” he says, “our Lord when keeping the Passover supped on the lamb that was sacrificed by the Jews. But now, when He proclaimed Himself to be the Paschal Lamb of God, being led as a sheep to the slaughter, He taught His disciples the mystery of the type on the 13th day of Nisan, when they inquired of Him: ‘Where wilt Thou that we prepare the Passover?’ On this day the consecration of the unleavened bread and the preparation of the feast took place, and so John tells us that the disciples were prepared on that day by the washing of their feet.

“And on the following day, the 14th Nisan, the Saviour suffered, being Himself the Passover, offered in sacrifice by the Jews. And on the 14th Nisan, when the Lord suffered, early in the morning, the chief priests and scribes who led Him to Pilate would not enter the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, and prevented from eating the Passover that evening.

“All the Scriptures agree in this point of chronology, and the Gospels are in harmony with them. The Resurrection is a further evidence : for He rose on the third day, which day fell on the first week of the Harvest, on which the high-priest had to present the sheaf of first-fruits.”

There are some copious notes, supposed to be Clement’s, on the Prodigal Son, among the works of Macarius Chrysocephalus.

Antonius Melissa preserves these two important passages from the Treatise on the Soul: “The souls live freed from all unrest. Although separated from the body and yearning to be restored to it, they are borne immortal into the bosom of God; just as after rain the moisture of the earth, attracted by the rays of the sun, is drawn upwards towards it.” And “All souls are immortal, even the souls of the impious; but it were better for these latter that they were not everlasting. For being tortured by the endless punishment of the fire that is not quenched, they cannot die nor end their existence.”

In the works of St Maximus we find this short passage of Clement’s work on Providence :  There is substance in God. God is divine substance, everlasting and without beginning, incorporeal and unconfined, and the cause of all things. Substance is that which is everywhere existent. Nature is the reality of things or their substance : according to some it is the generation of the things which are brought into existence; according to others it is the Providence of God imparting the fact and the manner of existence to the things that are created.”

There are some other works which have been ascribed to Clement, but without much authority. Of these, the Summaries of Theodotus contain a great many opinions concerning which we are uncertain whether Clement has put them forward to confute or confirm; while the Selections from the Prophets consist of sundry reflections on Knowledge, Faith, and the Creation.

We may bring this chapter to a close with a, few of Clement’s aphorisms, which are as pointed as they are pregnant.

Flattery is the bane of friendship.

The majority are more attached to the possessions of their princes than to their persons,

Moderate diet is a necessary good.

God crowneth those who abstain from sin not from necessity but from settled purpose.

It is not possible to be constant in virtue unless of freewill. He is not good who is compelled to be so. . . . Goodness is a quality of the will.

Lovers of sobriety avoid luxury as the ruin of body and mind.

 

CHAPTER IV

THE TRACT ON THE RICH MAN

 

The genuine character of this tract is not only attested by the dignified tone of the work itself, but also by the important witness of the historian Eusebius, who praised this discourse in his Church History, and copied verbatim from it in his third book the touching story of St. John and the Robber. Jerome mentions this dissertation in his Catalogue as the work of Clement; and Photius, Clement’s unfavourable critic, the famous Patriarch of Constantinople, who excommunicated the Pope of Rome 867 a.d., quotes from it in his Bibliotheca.

Moreover there is a Clementine ring in several remarkable expressions which occur in this book, such as and several others.

If we open the treatise we are at once struck by the simplicity of the language and the clearness of the argument. As the work is divided into different sections, and concludes with an able peroration in the form of a “story which is no story,” and an elaborate ascription, it is thought by many to have been originally delivered as a sermon.

It begins with a general denunciation of those who pay court to the rich. Such, according to the author, are not merely base flatterers but impious sinners: inasmuch as they give the glory which belongs to God to men, who are subject to the divine judgments. By so doing they encourage the rich in the pursuit and love of riches, and instead of reclaiming them from their love of gain, harden them in the pursuit of it. But to him it seemed a far more humane course, instead of flattering the rich for the evil they have done, to try to secure for them by every possible method, their salvation.

“There are several reasons,” he proceeds to say, “ why the rich find it harder to attain salvation than the needy. For some having heard the words of the Saviour, ‘It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven,’ without thinking of the hidden sense of this expression, straightway despair of salvation, and give themselves up altogether to the pleasures of this world, as if this were the only life left for them. In their unsettled state, they depart still farther from ‘that way,’ not troubling to find out what sort of people our Lord was speaking of, nor remembering that ‘what is impossible with man is possible with God.’ While others have indeed understood these words correctly, but thinking little of the things that make for salvation have not made the necessary preparation for it.” 

“It is meet then,” he observes, “that those who have a right regard for truth and brotherhood, who are neither unjustly severe upon the so-called rich nor too submissive to them from selfish motives, should encourage them by the word, and prove to them by a clear exposition of the oracles of God, that they are not excluded from the kingdom of heaven, provided only they keep the commandments of God. One must then proceed to instruct them in the works and affections which are the preparatory discipline to which every one who desires to attain the crown must submit; even as the athletes—if one dare compare the things temporal with the things eternal—must submit to a hard and long course of training if they wish to win the prizes in the arena.”

Clement now takes up his text, the words of the Master to the rich young man (Mark x. 17, f.). At the outset, he bids us remember that our Saviour said nothing in a carnal way, but that all His teaching is characterized by a divine and mysterious wisdom. “We are not then to interpret His words literally, but to search out their Ridden meaning. One should do this especially in the case of those matters which He explained to His disciples.

“Now the question which the young man asked, ‘What shall I do to inherit eternal life? ’ was one most suitable and agreeable to the Lord. For the Life is asked concerning life, the Saviour concerning salvation, the Teacher concerning the sum and substance of doctrine, the Truth concerning real immortality, the Word concerning the Father’s word, the Perfect concerning perfect rest, and the Incorruptible concerning complete incorruption. Being called ‘good,’ He takes advantage of this opening word to turn the mind of the inquirer to the Good God, the final and only Dispenser of eternal life, which the Son receiving from Him confers on us. The first step, then, in the path of eternal life is to know God, Whom the Son has revealed, for not to know Him were death; whereas knowledge of Him, affinity to Him, love centred in Him, and likeness to Him is the only life. The next step is to know the greatness of the Saviour and the newness of the grace, of which the Apostle (John) says—‘The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.’ For that which given by a faithful servant is not equal to that which is given by a true Son. If the law of Moses could bestow eternal life, surely our Saviour had come and suffered for us, and fulfilled the course of human life from infancy to manhood in vain. is

“Moreover, he who had fulfilled all the commands of the law from his youth would be wasting time while seeking the rewards of eternal life from another. In the matter of righteousness, the youth was conscious of no deficiency; it was life that he needed. Therefore he asks it from the only One who can give it.

“ ‘ If thou wilt be perfect.’ The young man was not perfect ; for there are no degrees in perfection; and that divine expression, ‘if thou wilt,’ shows us the freedom of man’s will in this matter. Man has the choice, for he is free. God has the gift at His disposal, for He is the Lord. He gives it to those who desire to have it, but He forces no one to receive.

“ ‘One thing thou lackest.’ And that was the only thing that is permanent, the only thing that is good, that which the law giveth not, that which belongs to the living. For the youth had been invited to yield his life to the teaching of the Master, and he accepted it not.”

In this way Clement moralizes on the spiritual condition of the young man. He now proceeds to make some general remarks on the use and responsibility of property. The Christians, he says, are not called upon to live in penury, if they hope to obtain salvation, but they must not be too engrossed in the pursuit of riches or too anxious about the things of this life.  It is harder,” he observes, “to control our passions than to curtail our possessions. And one who has always to think of the ways and means of life can hardly fix* his thoughts on the things of eternity. Besides this, if one were to give up his property, he would find it impossible to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. The poverty our Lord commended is poverty of spirit. His new doctrine, His life-giving teaching, that which was peculiarly His own, was not concerned with the outward actions of men, but with something higher, more divine and more perfect, namely, the principle, that all which is foreign to the soul should be torn up by the roots and cast away.”

Clement now introduced the parable of the good Samaritan, in order to press home upon his hearers man’s duty towards his neighbour. The rich man who desires to be saved must love God with all his heart and his neighbour as himself.

Clement now goes on to speak of the manifestation of that love in charity. It is interesting to find him discussing in this connection one of the burning questions of our own day, the distribution of relief. If he erred in his solution, he erred on the right side, the humane. “It is difficult,” he says, “to know who are really needy and who are not, but it is better that unworthy persons should be helped than one worthy person should go empty away.”

“ Among our neighbours,” he goes on to say, “all believers are to be reckoned; among such are some who are more elect than the elect who are called in Scripture ‘the light of the world,’ and ‘the salt of the earth.’ They are the seed, the image and likeness of God, His true children and heirs sent here, as it were, on a certain exile in the great economy of the Father. While they remain all things shall be preserved; but there shall be a general dissolution, when they shall be gathered together.”

Clement concludes this homily on brotherly love with “the story which is no story,” of St. John and the robber, which one may find in the Church History of Eusebius. The story is this. St. John had returned from Patmos, the scene of his exile, to Ephesus, and , was engaged in consecrating bishops, founding Churches, and setting apart men for the ministry; when one day, in a small town near Ephesus, he chanced to see a young man of remarkable beauty and intelligence, and at once entrusted him, in the most solemn terms, to the care of the bishop. St. John having gone on his way, the latter took the youth to his own home and educated him with all care. He then baptized him, and having set upon him the seal of the Lord, he straightway relaxed his supervision, deeming that his charge was now secure from all danger. Whereupon the young man, being left very much to himself, fell in with bad companions, who succeeded in making him worse than themselves, and at last he became the chieftain of a robber-band.

Some years after this sad occurrence the Evangelist came back to the town to demand an account of the trust. “Come now, bishop,” he said, “return me the deposit I entrusted to you in the presence of Christ and the Church.” Then the old man in tears told everything. When he had heard all, St. John, calling for a horse and a guide, at once proceeded to the robbers’ haunt, allowed himself to be taken prisoner, only demanding that he should be brought to the chief. But when the chief saw him he fled, the saint following him and crying, “ Why do you fly from me, my son ? Pity me. My son, you have still the hope of life. I shall give account for you to Christ. I shall give my life for you. Stop—believe—Christ sent me.”

Then the brigand stopped running, returned, threw himself at the Apostle’s feet, and with tears, as it were a second baptism, atoned for his guilt. For some time the bandit concealed his right hand; but when the old man noticed this, he drew it from the sin- stained bosom and covered it with kisses. Thus assuring him of the forgiveness of God, he led back his lost son to the Church.

This narrative, graphically and pathetically told, forms the climax of the argument, and the conclusion of this beautiful discourse.

 

CHAPTER V

CLEMENTS WRITINGS

 

Three of Clement’s literary compositions remain, and these are supposed to have originally been parts of one work. They are respectively called the Exhortation to the Heathen, the Instructor or Pedagogus, and the Stromateis. In these works is displayed the most varied and extensive erudition. They teem with references and allusions to ancient authors of every branch of literature, philosophy, and science. In fact, such works as these could not be compiled by any one save a professor of divinity, who had abundance of leisure time, the advantage of a magnificent library—such as Clement had in Alexandria—as well as an excellent training in the Greek classics. In the course of our studies we shall take up these different works in their turn and discuss their many points of merit. But by way of introduction to this study, we may here say that the keynote of Clement’s Christian philosophy is the Logos; the Word of God.

This Word, according to Clement, is in the world inspiring every thought that is good, every sentiment that is chaste, and every desire that is pure, in Christian and pagan, without distinction of person. This is the secret of Clement’s great sympathy with the heathen philosophy, which he looked upon as being similar to the Jewish religion in so far as they both were revelations of the same God to man, and were both economies (dispensations) divinely given to prepare the race for Christianity.

“Philosophy was given,” he wrote, “as their peculiar covenant to the Greeks, just as the law was given to the Jews, a stepping-stone to the philosophy which is in Christ, and a schoolmaster to bring to Him the Hellenic minds.”

Thus he regarded Greek philosophy and Jewish law alike as fragments of the eternal truth of Christ. And we shall see in the course of our study how he worked out his grand theory that it is God indwelling in man’s reason Who educates and disciplines him for a higher life. Looked at from this point of view life becomes a process of education under the guidance of an immanent deity—a truly noble conception of life, and one that is given by the great fact that lies at the basis of our religion, the Incarnation of the Son of God.

The leading thought, therefore, that we must keep before us in the study of Clement is, that life is an education superintended by the Son of God, the Word of Life.

If we adhere faithfully to this noble hypothesis, we shall experience little difficulty, and feel much interest in following the line of our author’s arguments.

The Exhortation to the Gentiles, being his earliest work, must now engage our attention. The design of this treatise is to convince the pagans of the folly of idolatry and immorality, and to win them to the service of Christ, the living Word of God. Clement begins by contrasting the principles of Jesus Christ with those of Orpheus and other heathen teachers. In the first chapter he entreats the heathen to give up the unholy mysteries of idolatry, and adore the Divine Word and God the Father. He introduces the subject to the notice of those he addresses in a truly fascinating manner. “Amphion of Thebes and Arion of Methymna,” he wrote, “were bards told of in story. To this day they furnish the themes of the Greek choral odes. With melody one charmed the finny tribe and the other raised the walls of a city, while he of Thrace, a past master in his art, subdued savage beasts by the might of his minstrelsy.”

But these fables, Clement advises the heathen to banish to Helicon and Citheeron. “For Orpheus, Arion, and Amphion were but deceivers after all. They corrupted human life under the pretext of poetry. They celebrated crimes in their rites, and captivated men by the sweetness of their song in order to entice them to the worship of stones ; and at last succeeded in making them as silly and senseless as the stocks they bowed before.”

But the song Clement sings is not of this sort. “It is the new song, the manifestation of that Word which was in the beginning and before the beginning. This song alone has changed man and made him tractable. It has made men out of stones and turned beasts into men. For the New Song is the great Teacher of men, the Word Who was from the first and Who in the beginning gave men life, and loved them so much that finally He took their nature upon Him to save them from sin.”

“He desires not to enslave men, but to open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf, to guide them in the paths of righteousness, to teach God to the foolish, and to reconcile the disobedient.”

“From the beginning He was man’s ally, and gave him revelations by prophecy: but now He summons to salvation. Different men He treats in different ways. Just as a good physician adapts his treatment to the nature of his patient, so the Great Healer varies His method to suit the needs of the soul. By threats He proves, by expostulations He turns, by words of pity He wins, and by song He soothes.”

“Thus the merciful God puts forth His power to save men, and became the Author of every blessing to us. But chiefly He taught us to live well. Why do we not believe? Does not the Word of God put us to shame, the Word of God Who became man that we might learn from man how man may become God?”

This was the method of exhortation Clement followed in his discourses. He sought to win men by the love of God in Christ rather than to terrify them by the fear of future punishment.

When we have read a little more of him we shall find that he regarded the judgments and penalties that God inflicts upon man in the light of remedies, seeing in them the hand of God moulding the will of the unruly son and touching him into shape.

In this manner Clement reconciled the love and justice of God. God punishes man to make him better, and because He loves him. He teaches him by punishment. Thus Divine justice is resolved into Divine love, and Divine anger into the outcome of love.

“To God therefore alone it belongs to consider, and His case is to see in what way and manner the life of man may be made more sound.”

The very words with which Clement closes the first chapter of his Exhortation to the Heathen show us how clearly he comprehended the great truth that Christ is the only Revealer of the things of God to man.

“If thou longest truly to see God thou must take worthy means of purification, not the laurel fillets the heathen worshippers wear, but the crown of righteous­ness, and the wreath of temperance. Then seek Christ with all your heart. ‘For I am the door,’ He says, and He who opens the door will reveal what we could not otherwise have known, had we not entered in by Him, through Whom alone God is beheld.

 For by faith alone we can enter the gates of heaven, which are intellectual. In these parting words Clement marks the difference of his standpoint from that of the Gnostic philosophers of Alexandria. For while they held that faith and knowledge were essen­tially opposite forces and contradictory ideas, he maintained that faith was the real basis of all Chris­tian knowledge and the true condition of all intellect­ual and spiritual growth.

 

CHAPTER VI

EXHORTATION TO THE GENTILES

 

In the second chapter of this treatise, Clement endeavours to prove the absurdity of the Pagan rites, and the impiety of their fables, to those he would fain turn from the darkness of heathendom to the light of Christianity.

Now nearly everyone has heard or read something of the myths of the classic gods, the poetic fountain of Castalia, the divine oracles of the Delphic tripod, the speaking oaks of Dodona, the snake-crowned Bacchantes, the Eleusinian mysteries and processions, the foam-born goddess Aphrodite, the rape oof Proserpina, the unseemly orgies of Demeter and Dionysus, the dread Pallas Athene, the terrible Eumenides that avenge crimes, and the three awful forms, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, that control the fate of man. Writing to the Pagans, Clement entreats them to put all these things away—their false gods and their absurd traditions, and implores them to embrace the living Word by which the children of wrath are quickened together with Christ. “Whereas those who believe not are still children of wrath. What can they see in these gods to venerate, to love, or admire? Human failings, employments, and fortunes, without any redeeming virtues or excellencies, are attributed to these gods of yours. Search heaven and earth for them, and see if you can find them,” he ironically remarks. And then he presses home this argument in words like these :

“Surely they who are represented as being full of sin themselves cannot keep you from sin. They cannot guard you or love you; nay, such demons are intent upon your ruin, and they prey upon your substance. Look at the sacrifices you offer them ; holocausts of human beings to appease their wrath. They are in very sooth true lovers of humanity and fine saviours of the race who persuade men to murder and slay each other for their amusement! And then, how absurd and disgraceful are the statues and images that are erected to the gods! Art, indeed, has made those figures elaborate and beautiful, but it has degraded and deformed more than ever the minds of the worshippers. The skill of man can produce houses, ships, cities, and designs, but who can tell what God creates ? The whole universe is His handi­work: the heaven, the sun, angels and men are made by Him. He willed and the world was made, because He alone is God. Philosophers say truly that man was made to contemplate celestial things. But they err when they worship the visible objects around them which were made for man’s use, and not for his worship. Cease then to adore the sun; lift up your hearts to the Creator of that sun. For the Maker of the universe—not the universe—is the goal of our hopes, the centre of our thoughts, the giver of that divine wisdom which alone saves man from the power of demons.”

In his fifth chapter of this work, Clement gives an interesting resume of the different theories of Greek Philosophers.

“Among these,” he writes, “we find, indeed, many extravagant utterances about the gods, but the philosophers do bear witness to the Truth.”

Their fundamental error lay in their regarding as divine certain first principles which were after all but weak and beggarly elements. These they reverenced, being ignorant of the First Cause, the Maker of all things. For instance, Thales of Miletus regarded water is the first principle; Anaximenes considered that air was the beginning of all things; Parmenides believed that earth and fire were divine; the famous Heraclitus taught that fire alone was the source of all created things; while Empedocles of Agrigentum held that life in all its various forms was evolved from the mutual agreement or disagreement of four primary principles—earth, fire, air, and water.

All these, Clement says, were atheists. They did not bow down to stocks and stones, yet they worshipped matter.

Nor were they even original in this, Clement remarks. The Persian Magi were fire-worshippers. They sacrificed under the open sky, and at first regarded fire and water as the only images of the gods, but afterwards they had images of human form.

But to pass on to those philosophers who sought after something higher than the mere elements of nature. Anaximander and Anaxagoras, who lectured on “the Infinite,” head this list. The latter of these made a great advance beyond the standpoint of Thales and the elementary school, when he asserted that mind set the matter in motion. Then came the material philosophers, Leucippus and Democritus, who believed that the world and its life and changes are the result of atoms eternally moving, dashing together, and again separating without pause or stay in empty space, which, according to this theory, was just as real as plenitude.

Clement is very indignant with another philosopher, Alcmaeon the Pythagorean, for daring to teach that the stars are living and diviner In this his first literary work he makes a contemptuous allusion to the Stoic philosophy, and its fundamental hypothesis, that all matter is pervaded by Deity. But when his ideas on this subject became more matured he did ample justice to the Stoic theory, that the world is full of the presence of the living God, who indwells in creation, and is the cause of motion, life, thought, and activity.

Last of all, he favours the Peripatetics with a brief notice. These were the disciples of Aristotle, and believed that the Highest was the Soul of the Universe. Clement seems glad to forget the name of Epicurus, who carried impiety to such lengths that he actually denied that the gods took any interest in the world, or in the fortunes of man. The opinion of Epicurus has been immortalized by Horace in his well-known word

“credat Judaeus Apella,

                                                 Non ego; namque deos didici securum agere aevum.”

And yet, in spite of many of their fantastic notions, these philosophers, he admits, occasionally by a divine inspiration hit upon the truth. Therefore Clement does not disown them. “Listen to Plato,” he says; “hear his answer to the question, ‘How is God to be found?’ ’To find the Father and Creator of this universe,’ Plato replied, ‘is exceedingly hard; and when one has found Him, it is impossible to declare him fully.”’

Again, he says, “The King of all things is the centre of all, and the cause of all that is Good. For God, according to the proverb, is the beginning, the middle, and the end of all that is in being.” So far Plato.

“Whence hath this man this wisdom?” asks Clement. “He derived his geometry from the Egyptians, his astronomy from the Babylonians, his medical skill from the Thracians, but the laws of truth and the thoughts of God he took from the Hebrews, ‘who adore the Eternal King, Jahveh, the only God,’ and by whom the highest and best thoughts of Greek Philosophy had been anticipated centuries before.”

Then Clement brings forward other sayings of these Greek philosophers, in order to show, that, with all their false doctrines, some of them had found the truth. For example, Antisthenes said that “God is not like anything, therefore one cannot know Him through an image.” Cleanthes, the Stoic, in a passage of great beauty, informs us that the nature of the Good, which is God, is “regular, just, holy, pious, self-governing, useful, grave, independent, and always beneficial.” Clement concludes this view of Greek Philosophy with a quotation from the aphorisms of the Pythagoreans, to wit, that “God is one, and He is not outside the frame of things, but within. He is the Author of all His works and His forces, the Light-giver, the Mind, Energy, and Life of the World, and the Mover of all things.”

This quotation shows us how deep and comprehensive, if somewhat obscure, was the view these old Pagan teachers had of the mighty God, the Great Creator, the Centre of Light, Life, and Liberty, and the Heavenly Father of the human family.

 

CHAPTER VII

EXHORTATION TO THE GENTILES (Continued)

 

The true doctrine, however, which is so obscured in the pagan philosophers and poets, Clement assures us, is to be found in the prophets and sacred writers of Israel.

They tell us how God is not a God far off, but is One Who fills heaven and earth (Jeremiah); Who measures heaven with a span, and the whole earth with His hand (Isaiah); Whose throne is heaven and Whose footstool is the earth (Isaiah). He will not allow idolatry to pass unpunished. “ The idolaters shall be made a spectacle in the face of the sun, and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven and the wild beasts of the earth, and they shall rot before the sun and moon, which they have loved and served ; and their city shall be burned down” (Jeremiah). “ Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one Lord, and thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve ” (Deut.). Pleading with the heathen to give up their idolatry, he says that he can quote ten thousand scriptures of which not “one tittle shall pass away until all be fulfilled.” Do not, he entreats them, despise the chastening of the Lord. And then he makes a most touching appeal to them to abandon their present life, and embrace the truth as it is in Christ. For God is a loving God; He speaks to men, not as a teacher addressing his pupils, not as a master ordering his domestics, but as a Father advising his children.

In Christ, he points out, there is life, freedom, and salvation. If such gifts were to be sold, all the gold and silver in the world would not be a sufficient price for them. And now they are offered for living faith and love.

And these gifts are for all, young and old, rich and poor. They who come to God, who believe in one God Who is both God and Man, are brought together into one love, become one sympathy in the Word, the express Image of God, and so are restored to the image and likeness of God.

Once more he reminded them how great are the benefits Christ has conferred on man,—wisdom, light, and eternal life. But who is this Christ? one may ask. The Word of Truth, Clement replies; the Word of Immortality that regenerates man by bringing him back to the truth. He who builds up the temple of God in men, that he may induce God to take up His abode in them. Will you not cleanse this temple?

Cultivate the habit of temperance, and present your bodies a living sacrifice unto the Lord. “On the whole, the life of men who have come to the knowledge of Christ is excellent. I have said enough; although by reason of my love for humanity I had even gone farther, pouring out what has been given me of God, that I might exhort men to seek the greatest of all possessions—salvation. For it is difficult to finish a discourse which sets forth the life that knows no end. But this is left for you to choose  the profitable, judgment or grace. To me there can be no doubt in this matter. Nor, indeed, may one dare to compare life with destruction.”

In some such words as these, which recall to our memories the lines of Carlyle, translated from Goethe :

“Choose well, your choice is

Brief and yet endless,”

Clement concludes this most instructive and stirring exhortation to the heathen.

Clement’s quotations from the Gospels already show} differences between the Eastern and Western texts.

 

CHAPTER VIII

THE INSTRUCTOR OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

 

Throughout the whole of his writings Clement bears witness to the unique position and currency of the Gospels, expressly distinguishing the four Gospels which have been handed down to us from the apocryphal “Gospel according to the Egyptians,” and making an interesting statement with regard to the composition of St. Mark’s Gospel, which has been preserved for us in the work of Eusebius. In the course of our reading we shall see how faithful he was to the character, personality, and divinity of Him who is portrayed in that fourfold record.

We shall now take up the next work of Clement, the second in order of thought and time, his Pedagogus, or Instructor. In this work the author addresses those who have already left the darkness of paganism and come to the light of Christianity; some of them most probably influenced by the powerful exhortation we have just laid down, As we would naturally expect under the circumstances, Clement gives a rather minute account of the creed and duties of Christians. In the first Book he puts before the new converts the office, the character, the work, and the love of the Great Instructor, Who is the Son of God. And in the two following books he delivers somewhat caustic but necessary lectures on Christian morals and manners.

The office of the Instructor is the subject of the very first chapters. After rousing man from his lethargy to seek salvation, the Instructor proceeds to initiate them more deeply in the mysteries of God. Therefore he has been called the tutor or Pedagogue. But as his object is not so much to teach men as to train them to live a virtuous life, he requires of us the practice of Christian virtues and duties, that so we may attain unto a right temperament and character. Accordingly, .this method of imparting instruction is twofold, being by example as well as by precept.

But before we can be taught we must be healed. For just as they who suffer from bodily ailments cannot learn any branch of knowledge until they have recovered; in like manner they who are diseased in soul at first require a pedagogue to heal their maladies, and afterwards an instructor to train and lead their minds into a more perfect knowledge of the Word of Life.

And the Word of God, taking this into account, beautifully adapts His methods to our needs, first exhorting, then training, and finally teaching.

This Instructor cures the unnatural passions of the soul by His exhortations. The physician may heal diseases of the body, but the Great Physician, the Wisdom, the Word of the Father, heals both body and soul. And so by precept and spiritual gifts He makes man, His greatest work, every whit whole.

As God, He forgives our sins, and as man he trains us to avoid sin; for man is very dear to Him. God made His other works by the word of His command only, but man He framed by His own Hand, and breathed into him what was peculiar to Himself.

And God fashioned man after His own likeness, because man was desirable for His own sake. For God loves what is good and lovable, and man has proved himself to be both. It is therefore meet that man should return tile great love wherewith God loves us, not from fear, but from conviction.

The name of man comprehends both men and women. The virtue of man and woman is the same. They have one God, one Master, one Church, one temperance, one modesty. Their food and gifts are the same. And they who have a common life, have a common love and salvation. Men and women alike are children of God if they walk in the truth, and their training is one and the same.

With reference to our training, it must be observed, Clement remarks, that it is no “childish business.” Being baptized, we are illuminated; being illuminated, we are made sons; becoming sons, we are made perfect; and being made perfect, we are made immortal. This work is variously styled grace, illumination, perfection, and washing. We are perfect because we want nothing; for what can we lack who knows God? Release from sins is the beginning of salvation. We are already perfect when we reach the line of life, and we are already alive when we are separated from death. Salvation then is the imitation of Christ, “ for that which is in him is life.”

Accordingly, the word “children” conveys not disparagement. But we are children because we are fed with the spiritual food our heavenly Father gives us, even the milk of the word. We are not perfect in the sense of having perfect knowledge of Him, Whom to know is life eternal, but in the sense of being emancipated from the former life ’and groping after a better one; not as being perfected already, but as striving after perfection. Such, according to Clement, is the character of our childhood and training ; let us now glance at the Instructor and His instruction.

He is sometimes called Jesus, sometimes the Good Shepherd, and sometimes the Instructor. In the fifth chapter of the prophet Hosea, He says, I am your Instructor. Now He instructs in various ways. He trains men in piety, that is, in the service of God, and He leads us in the knowledge of the truth, and He directs our wandering thoughts to God. Accordingly His work is not confined to the intellectual sphere. He is Judge, and judges those who disobey Him.

He is the Word of love, but yet He does not pass over transgressions. He reproves, that he may repent. For saith the Lord : “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die  and not that he should return from his ways and live?” (Ezekiel).

The Lord instructs men for their weal and for their eternal salvation.

“The Lord,” wrote David, “instructing hath instructed me, and hath not given me over unto death ” (Ps.).

This is Clement’s correct rendering of the verse. The word translated “chastened” in the Authorized Version means originally to bind, then to tame, then to chastise, and then to instruct.

The simplest mind can trace the expansion and connection of the meanings of this word. Binding tames, but the way to bind and so tame moral agents is to chastise and instruct them; in a word, to subject them to moral discipline.

According to Clement, the rod with which the Saviour is invested is the rod of discipline, rule, and authority, at the same time a rod of iron and a rod of comfort, while the power of Him who wields it is at once sacred, soothing, and saving. Thus we see how God’s love and justice can be reconciled without making His love a failure or His justice an unreality.

Some people indeed think because the Lord chastens, He is not good, and does not love the race. But this is not true, “For there is nothing which the Lord hates ” (Wisdom). If the Lord hated anything, He would not wish it to exist. Now, nothing exists but in so far as God allows and gives it existence. When God allows a thing to exist, we must believe that He does not hate it. Nothing then is hated by God, or by His Word, for both are one. If He hates none of these things He has created, He must love them all. And above the rest, He will love man, the noblest of all created things; a God-loving being, a creature made in the image of God.

But why does He punish us if He loves us? This is a sensible question, and Clement gives a sensible answer to it.

He who loves a thing wishes to do it good. Now love is shown when one who cares for a person takes care of him. But parents show their care for their children by punishing them. In fact, punishment is necessary to the right training of children. Many of the passions are cured by punishment, as well as by instruction in certain principles. Moreover, good generals inflict corporal punishment on offenders, having in view the good of the whole army.

In the same way God, Who has before Him the salvation of men—His children—seeks to move them to repentance by severity as well as by forbearance. The Divine anger is therefore full of love to man, and punishes him for his good. This is the answer to the question, “Why does God punish us if He loves us?” for it is the prerogative of the same power to be beneficent and to be just.

Now our Instructor has various ways of instructing the human soul; “sometimes He threatens, sometimes He entreats, sometimes He reproves, sometimes He consoles, and sometimes He exhorts.” According to the state in which He finds the soul, so is His treatment. And He is trustworthy, having three of the fairest ornaments—knowledge, authority, and benevolence.

He has knowledge, because He is the Wisdom of the Father. He has authority, because He is God and Creator. “All things were made by Him.” He has benevolence, for He alone gave Himself a sacrifice for us. But He still uses His power in our behalf to train us in Himself, that so we who have been made in the image of God may grow into the likeness of His Son. For in Christ we have a perfect example of what the divine character is, as well as a perfect Instructor in righteousness.

“It was some such truth as this for which Plutarch had been yearning, which he and many other noble heathens were in vain trying to extract from the old polytheism. Had Marcus Aurelius known of such a teacher as Clement described, it would seem as though the inmost need of his being must have been met and satisfied.”

 

CHAPTER IX

SOME CUSTOMS AND SYMBOLS OF EARLY CHRISTIANS REFERRED TO IN CLEMENT’S WORKS

 

Having finished his exposition on the nature of our Instructor, which we have reviewed in the briefest possible way, Clement gives his converts some very remarkable lectures on eating, drinking, feasting, laughter, sleep, speech, clothes, shoes, jewels, and other such matters of everyday life.

As it may interest a great many of our readers to learn something of the manners and the symbols of the second century, some of the most striking and light-giving remarks of Clement will be retailed in this chapter.

“Some men,” he observes, “ live to eat,” whereas the Instructor bids us to eat that we may live. Our food, then, is not to be taken for its own sake, Remarks and should be plain and simple, as that sort on Diet, of diet most of all conduces to health and strength of body and mind.

In pressing this upon his people, Clement makes a remark which the enlightened Christian conscience of the nineteenth century would refuse to endorse, to wit, that “cookery is an unhappy art.”

But Clement is right in pouring out the vials of his wrath upon the gluttons and the epicures of his time, who had the sea and land ransacked for dainties to tickle their languishing palate.

In the works of Horace and Juvenal, the classic writers on the ways of good society in the first century, we have been made familiar with various kinds of mussels, mullets, eels, turbots, beetroot, cockles, ‘oysters, lampreys, figs, honey-cakes, and omelets. In fact, as all classical scholars know to their great vexation, the dishes of the fashionable epicures were legion. But what was worse than the luxurious living of the heathen, was the conduct of the Christians, who gave the name of Agapae (or love-feasts) to the most extravagant and worldly entertainments.

This name was used as a cloke to hide the real object of the supper, which was not love, not charity, but feasting. Whereas “ the true Agape, or of the love-feast, is not a carnal supper, but a contemplation of the truth, a partaking of the divine good that Christ gives.

To understand these words of Clement, we must remember that the early Christians, after celebrating the Lord’s Supper, their poorer brethren at a feast which they called Agape, or love-feast. This custom had led to various abuses even in the time of St. Paul, who wrote to the Corinthians condemning in very strong terms the disrespect they paid the consecrated element of bread and wine by using them as ordinary’ bread and wine in the love-feast, eating and drinking judgment to themselves, not discerning the Lord’s body.

All excess is dangerous, Clement goes on to say. Temperance in diet is, therefore, the thing to be aimed at by all. Clement paused to make a quaint remark which throws a good deal of light on the social manners of some of the Christians who were not very refined. “It is very absurd,” he writes, “ to see people raising themselves on their couches, thrusting their faces into the dishes, stretching their hands eagerly across the table, besmirching their fingers in the condiments, constantly helping themselves to sauce, and eating without moderation.”

Clement has a wise remark on the subject of wine. “The Apostle indeed said to Timothy, ‘Use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake,’ meaning that it was to be taken as a tonic, and in small quantities. But the natural beverage for the thirsty is water. The young and vigorous do not require wine at all. It tends to inflame still more their already excitable nature.”

With regard to ornaments, he observes: The wearing of gold and of soft apparel is not to be prohibited, but extravagance in these matters always leads to vanity. And then the work of the Instructor will be made more difficult. For He drives, as it were, our life, which consists figuratively of a team of horses, one steed being the rational, the other the irrational part of our nature. No easy task for the latter; the human horse, being bent on pleasure, rears and plunges, and threatens to upset the chariot.

“It is well, then, to allow no opportunity to the heathen to reproach us; but let them rather, beholding your good works, glorify God”.

With regard to clothes, they should be simple and white, as being especially appropriate to the peaceful and enlightened nature of the wearers.

Clement cannot see why people do violence to nature by boring holes in their ears, from which to hang ear-rings. They might as well, he remarks, bore holes in their noses. Finger­rings are permitted, he says, by the Word. They are to be worn, however, not for ornament, but for the purpose of sealing valuables. If all the servants in a household were well trained, there would be no need to seal one’s property, and then one could do without rings. But since some people are not trustworthy, we require seals. Signet-rings are then the only rings to be worn by men. Women who wear gold ornaments appear to Clement to do so lest anyone should mistake them for their maids. With regard to men, Clement sanctions the wearing of a ring on the little finger at its root, not on the joint—for that is an effeminate habit. For then the signet will not easily fall off. The seal on the signet-ring should be a dove, a fish, a ship in full sail, a musical lyre, or an anchor. The figures of idols, swords, bows, or drinking-cups, such as the heathen wear in their rings, are expressly forbidden to the Christian.

It would perhaps be well to pause here for a moment, in order to explain more fully the meaning of these Christian symbols, which Clement is one of the first to notice. The symbol of the dove seems to have been primarily a figurative representation of the Holy Spirit, and then came to be a sign of the soul that is filled with the Spirit.

In the Catacombs (the refuge of the Christians in the early centuries of our era) we find the dove joined with other symbols. It is variously depicted as climbing a vase, pecking grapes, or bearing an olive­branch in its beak. In the first place it is supposed to represent a soul drinking eternal happiness, while in the latter instance it is a symbol of peace.

In his Confessions, Augustine makes the following quaint remark concerning his friend Nebridius, which can only be understood in the light of this explanation : “Now he puts his spiritual lips to thy fountain, O Lord, and drinks as much as he can.”

The Greek words—

                                           “Drink in God,”

found on some drinking-vases, are an excellent commentary on this expression of Augustine.

With regard to the figure of a ship under full sail, it is a symbol mentioned by De Rossi in his great work on the Catacombs, as being found in conjunction with a fish; and in this connection probably signifies the Church as borne by Christ.

The anchor also is a symbol very frequently found in the Catacombs. It signifies hope. In Hebrews vi. 19, we read, “which hope we anchor as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.” This symbol is often found in­scribed on gravestones, an allegory of the hope in the Resurrection, and is sometimes found so drawn as to represent the Cross, the foundation of our hope.

It is not difficult to know what is meant by a musical lyre. The lyre had seven strings, and was held to be the most virile of all musical instruments. It is not associated with the dirge of the wild Phrygian strain, but denotes happiness, peace, and harmony. And so it is a fitting symbol of the soul which is at peace with God and man, filled with a happiness that is at once manly and harmonious.

But with regard to the most important emblem of all—the fish. This represents Christ and fish the Christian. It was the most ancient sign as of all, but gradually became less and less frequent. De Rossi says it was not used in any theological sense after the third century. It is, however, found as late as the sixth century carved on the fonts and readers’ desks (ambones) in the churches of Ravenna. The other figures, however, that are found in connection with it there are not allegorical. The fish probably ceased to exist as a symbol after the fourth century, while crowns, palms, birds, sheep, crosses, and monograms still continued to be in vogue.

It is believed that the fish was a symbol of Christ, and some think that this sign was originated by the acrostic Quoted by Eusebius, the initial letters of which make up the words

JESUS CHRIST SON OF GOD SAVIOUR

The initial letters of which in their turn form the word : fish (in Greek). But the symbol was clearly used in the early patristic age, and instead of being derived from this acrostic, rather gave rise to it.

This view is corroborated by the initial letters of which give us stavros (cross). For the Christians certainly had not to wait for this acrostic before they used the symbol of the cross, which is mentioned in all the early Christian writers. Clement says that cross was a signum Christi, a sign of Christ, and Tertullian shows that the Christians loved this symbol. At any rate Clement is the earliest witness of the symbol of the fish, which originated in Alexandria when the Church was composed of Jewish converts; it being the custom of the Jews to coin names for their leaders by combining the initial letters of some legend or motto.

For example, the name of Maccabaeus was formed, by the initial letters of Judas’ motto, “Who is like unto Thee among the strong, O Lord?”. However, whether these sibylline verses quoted above originated this idea, or were themselves suggested by it, the mystical meaning of the fish grew up, and in many monuments it represents our Lord. But it is seldom found alone.

Now it is depicted as bearing a ship on its back, a type of Christ bearing the Church; now it is represented with a dove ; and now in conjunction with bread, which is most probably a figure of the Lord's Supper; the fish being the reality, viz. Christ typified by bread, the outward sign.

But the fish also frequently stands for the Christian, the fisher of men. In the Greek liturgies we find this metaphor kept up in such expressions as the “ rod of the Cross,” the “book of preaching,” the “bait of Charity,” and the “draught of fishes.”

We shall now, after this somewhat tedious but necessary digression, elicited by Clement’s remark on rings, proceed in our next chapter to finish our précis of Clement’s lectures to his converts.

 

CHAPTER X

CUSTOMS OF EARLY CHRISTIANS {continued}

 

Clement lays down some peculiar regulations concerning the hair. “It seems right,” he asserts, “ that men should shave their hair  unless it is curly. Ringlets should not be worn, but the beard should be allowed to grow long and full. A close tonsure of the chin is also reprehensible. For the Psalmist rejoiced in the beard of Aaron, and sang of the ointment that ran down unto the beard. Accordingly, on no pretext whatever is the hair on the chin to be removed. It gives no inconvenience at meals, and lends a dignified and venerable appearance to the countenance. “For,” he reasons, “ we cut our hair not from elegance, but from necessity.”

Clement is very severe on the habit of wearing wigs. He assumes that it is only women who do so, and that they do it solely with a view to embellish their persons. “Old age is not to be concealed,” says Clement, “for it is a mark of God’s honour, and the sight of white hairs has often subdued boisterous youth. Grey hair should not therefore be dyed. Clement had a true eye for the beautiful; for nothing is so beautiful as silver locks among the gold.

Our lecturer now proceeds to give his pupils a short homily on the art of walking. “With regard to walking,” he writes, “one should not rush through the streets, elbowing every one out of his path; nor yet should one linger unduly, but walk sedately, without swaggering and staring everybody out of countenance.”

Moreover, Clement spoke as an authority on the subject  of conveyances. He did not approve of the wealthy, when in the vigour of health, making such frequent use of the lectica (the modern “sedan-chair”). Juvenal, in his Satires, was fond of picturing the Macenas supinus reclining at ease on his velvet cushions, while his stalwart Nubians carried him from post to pillar. Chariots were fancied by the jeunesse dorée, and sedate cobs by men who preferred exercise to show; while the sedan-chairs were considered to be the luxury of the rich.

Clement was equally firm against the passion of  gambling. It is from frivolity and idleness, he says men waste their time with the dice. It were very much better for them to cultivate the society of good men, and learn to make a profitable use of their leisure hours.

For the same reason they are not to become vulgar gossips, and spend their hours in the barbers’ shops and refreshment-rooms. This advice was very much needed at a time when the barber was the great scandal-monger and professional news-retailer of the age. While he himself was a good substitute for a daily journal, his rooms answered the purpose of a rendezvous for the idle men about town. There it was usual of a morning to find a group of fashionable men of all ages, whose whole thought- in life seemed to be concentrated upon the cut of their beards and the trimming of their moustachios, freely discussing the latest news of State and the tit-bits of social scandal, in the presence of the barber, whose ears were quite as quick as his fingers. Against these matinées Clement warns his converts, and pursuing the same theme, forbids them attend the heathen spectacles and plays which were notorious for naughtiness and shameless frivolity.

With regard to mirth and merriment, Clement took up a sound position and laid down this general principle, which he based on the teaching and example of the Master: “Whatever things come naturally to men, these are by no means to be discouraged, but they are to be kept within due bounds”.

Clement is now hastening to the end of this series of lectures, and summarizing his precepts, observes that the fast God requires from men is “to abstain from wickedness, and to do good,” quoting the words of Isaiah lviii. 5—7 : “Is not this the fast which I have chosen, saith the Lord, to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him?”

“Now it is time,” says Clement, “for me to cease, and for you to listen to the words of the true Instructor. For you are now made fit to receive instruction from Him. He will teach you the oracles of God. He will accomplish our training by assisting us to bring to perfection the likeness of God, in which we have been created, and so to reach a true knowledge of the good God who created us.”

Clement concludes this lecture with an exquisite hymn of praise to the God of peace and salvation, of which the following rendering was made by the late Dean of Wells:

“Curb for the stubborn steed,

Making its will give heed ;

Wing that directed right

The wild bird’s wandering flight;

Helm for the ships that keep Their pathway on the deep ;

Our stay when cares annoy,

Giver of endless joy :

                     Jesus, hear !

Thine infant children sek,e

With baby lips all weak,

Filled with the Spirit’s dew

From that dear bosom true

Thy praises pure to sing,

Hymns meet for Thee, their King:

                               O Jesus, hear!

We, heirs of peace unpriced,

We who are born in Christ,

A people pure from stain, Praise we our God again :

                      O Jesus, hear !

 

We have now finished the Pedagogus of Clement, which may be briefly characterized as a series of lectures such as might very appropriately come from the chair of Pastoral Theology in the Divinity School of Alexandria, in the second century of our era, when voluptuousness, ease, and luxury were the predominant features of the age. 

There is one lesson we should all carry away with us from the study of this excellent work, and it is this, that we ought to make our religion a matter of everyday concern. In the words of Clement, “we should all philosophize,” that is, we should all give heed to the words of divine wisdom, and frame our lives accordingly. This is surely the highest sphere, the noblest ideal, and the truest mission of philosophy

 

CHARTER XI

ASCETICISM, AND OTHER SUBJECTS

 

This would seem to be the most suitable connection in which to introduce a short résumé of Clement’s teaching on the subject of asceticism, and kindred topics.

The Gnostic, as the true believer is called in these lectures, fasts according to the law, by abstaining from evil deeds, and, according to the Gospel, by putting away evil thoughts. He fasts from covetousness and voluptuousness, from which all vices grow. However, the Gnostic is not an anchorite; he lives in the world, doing good to all he can reach. And though he has his body under control, and devotes only as much time and thought as is absolutely necessary, to his food, still he is not necessarily an ascetic nor a celibate.

For abstinence, according to Clement, has reference, not to some particular thing, such as drink or meat, but consists in despising money, taming the tongue, and securing, with the help of reason, the mastery over sin. For from such all men should abstain, even  though they are not philosophers, because all are striving after the higher life. Belief in God is, after all, the best philosophy; and Faith may be learned without the Scriptures, for there is one scripture that is adapted to the most ignorant minds, and that is love.

The business of life may be conducted in a holy manner, but as -to renunciation of worldly goods and isolation from the world, this is not to be thought of at all.

In his tract, Who is the Rich Man that is seeking Salvation? which we have already spoken of, Clement shows that Christ requires, above all things, the affection of the heart.

A man may give away his goods, and still long for them in his soul, having deprived himself of the very necessaries of life.

“Besides, what charity could be exercised if one had nothing to bestow?” Clement pertinently asks. Property and wealth of every kind are therefore to be regarded as the means and instrument of good, and not to be rashly given away.

SPIRITUAL RELIGION.

Clement ever raised his voice against those who would make Christianity an external affair.

“It is not the plate,” he tells us in the Stromateis, “but the congregation of the faithful that I call the Church.” In the Pedagogus he declares that the followers of Christ ought to be as respectable in their lives as they appear to be in the church; they should really be, and not merely seem to be, gentle, devout, and amiable. “I know not how it is,” he says, “that, with the place, they change their habits and manners, just as the polypus is said to change its colour according to the nature of the rock to which it clings. They have no sooner left the church than they put off the devotional manner which they put on there, and become just like the others with whom they live. They convict themselves of hypocrisy when they lay aside the mask of decorum which they assume, and leave behind them, in the place where they hear it, the word of God.” Clement was equally firm against the heathen practises that were invading the worship as well as the religion of the Christians.

With reference to the use of images, he writes— “We must not adhere to the sensuous, but we must rise to the spiritual. Daily familiarity lowers the dignity of the divine, and to honour a spiritual being by means of earthly matter is to debase it by making it an object for the senses.” He warns the Christians not to place too high a value on their personal appearance. “Our Lord,” he remarks, “is said to have been without beauty in His person; and who is better than our Lord ? But He did not manifest in Himself that beauty of body which consists in the outward appearance, but the true beauty which is of soul as well as body; that of the soul in good deeds, and that of the body in’ its immortal destiny.”

The spiritual direction of Clement’s mind is apparent in his exquisite commentary on prayer. “Prayer,” he says, “if one may speak boldly, is intercourse with God. Though we but lisp, and even if we do not move our lips in such communion, still we cry to Him from the deepest recesses of the heart, for He ever heeds the straining of the inward soul after Himself.”

“The devout Christian,” Clement tells us, “is one who will pray in every place, but not openly to be seen of men. In his walks, during his conversations with others, when silently reading or thinking, he finds opportunity for prayer. And although he is only thinking about God in the chamber of the soul, and calling upon His Father with silent aspirations, God is near the praying one, and with him all the time.”

It is true that there were a great many in the days of Clement who would reply to his godly admonitions in such terms—“We cannot all be philosophers; we have not all learnt to read.” To these Clement would reply—“What sayest thou? Are we not all striving after life? How art thou then a believer? How lovest thou God and thy neighbour? Is not that philosophy? Thou sayest, ‘I have not learned to read.’ But if thou hast not learned to read, still thou canst not plead the excuse that thou hast not heard. All hear the word preached and read in the church. But faith is not the exclusive possession of the wise of this world, but of the wise in God.” Even the ordinary affairs of life can be managed in an orderly way and yet a godly manner. Accordingly tradespeople and tavern-keepers should practise philosophy.”

In this manner Clement upheld the spiritual calling of all believers. And yet he was not a leveller like Carpocrates. He recognized different stages in the life of the genuine Gnostic; and he distinguished the coarse-minded self-pleasers from those refined spirits who had won the mastery over self, and had attained to the pure contemplation of God’s purpose.

He showed that Christ was a lover of all men, in opposition to those Gnostics who spoke of an inner circle of elect people; yet, at the same time dreading so much as the profanation of the Scriptures by rude handling, he had the idea of a select number of refined and devoted men who might be trained to understand those truths which were beyond the reach of others.

Clement saw in the ascetic discipline, which he advocated so warmly, a means of separating the carnal from the spiritual in man, and of giving him the self­washing so essential to the inner illumination of the soul. To set men free from the bondage of sin, selfishness, and idolatry, and to edify the Christian life, was his grand purpose.

He advocated modesty and devotion on all occasions, recommending the married to begin the day with prayer and the reading of the Scriptures; and advising men and women to go to church in becoming attire, quietly and silently, with love in their hearts, pure in body and heart, and so prepared to pray to God.

SOCIALISM—COMMUNITY OF GOODS.

It is interesting to find this burning topic of our day, which is ever on the lips of those who say not as of old, “All mine is thine,” but “All thine is mine,” discussed by an Alexandrian divine of the second century.

In his opinion, community of goods was repugnant to the divine purpose. “For just as the world is composed of opposites—such as hot and cold, moist and dry—so it is made up of givers and receivers.” A peculiar argument, containing more truth than at first appears, if one may see in it the conception of humanity as a race, whose members sympathize with, help, and supplement one another.

Of course Clement’s teaching on the subject of fasting must be considered as a reaction from the extreme views of the Montanists, who sought to impose new fasts and new regulations of abstinence on the Church.

With regard to celibates, Clement gives the palm to the husband, inasmuch as he has more temptations and a severer and therefore better discipline in providing for his wife and household than a bachelor.

In truth, writes Clement, it is not in the solitary life one shows one’s self a man. The bachelor is inferior to the man who, having more to oppose him in working out his own salvation, still fulfils more duties in social life, and truly exhibits in his own family a miniature of providence itself.

But neither condition of life is of any benefit to us without knowledge. Only virtuous actions done with knowledge—a true consideration of the motive, the end, and the ethical value of the act—are profitable.

An argument is quoted by Clement as brought against Christianity by Pagan and Jew alike, which is remarkable in this, that the very same is generally urged by Romanists against Anglican Protestants today. It is this : “ If Christianity is true, how is it that there are so many sects of Christianity? Can the truth be divided ? ”

This argument Clement answers by saying that “among the Jews and philosophers many sects have sprung up, and yet they do not say that one ought to give up philosophy or Judaism because the many sects do not agree.”

Besides, our Lord foretold that “tares would be sown among the wheat.” The few are not therefore to give up the truth because the many go wrong. There are many schools of medicine which teach different methods, yet no one hesitates to call in a physician.

Moreover, the Apostle wrote to the Church of Corinth that there must be heresies among them, that they which are approved may be made manifest, that is, distinguished as genuine from the spurious believer, who set up self-chosen opinions of their own in the place of the truth.

For the truth, being arduous to approach and difficult to retain, is a test of character when men seek it and hold fast to it. Besides this, heresies assist us in the discovery of truth, calling for a deeper inquiry and greater diligence on the part of the student.

Finally, Clement urges the heretics to study the Word of God, to use their reason, and to hearken to the Divine Instructor.

 

PART III

I. A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO THE STROMATEIS II. GENERAL REMARKS ON PHILOSOPHY III. JEWISH LAWS AND GREEK PHILOSOPHY—A CONTRAST IV. FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE AS RELATED TO EACH OTHER IN CLEMENT’S SYSTEM V. CLEMENT AND THE GNOSTICS VI: CLEMENT’S THEORY OF GOD VII. THE PERSONALITY OF THE WORD —DOCTRINE OF THE LOGOS  VIII. CLEMENT’S THEORIES OF THE WORLD AND MAN IX. CLEMENT’S GOSPEL OF THE INCARNATION X. SOTERIOLOGY OF CLEMENT : DOCTRINE OF SALVATION  XI. CLEMENT AND THE BIBLE XII. THE CHURCH AND THE SACRAMENTS