Part 4

Let us therefore, with all haste, put an end[216] to this [state of things]; and let us fall down before the Lord, and beseech Him with tears, that He would mercifully[217] be reconciled to us, and restore us to our former seemly and holy practice of brotherly love. For [such conduct] is the gate of righteousness, which is set open for the attainment of life, as it is written, “Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go in by them, and will praise the Lord: this is the gate of the Lord: the righteous shall enter in by it.”[218] Although, therefore, many gates have been set open, yet this gate of righteousness is that gate in Christ by which blessed are all they that have entered in and have directed their way in holiness and righteousness, doing all things without disorder. Let a man be faithful: let him be powerful in the utterance of knowledge; let him be wise in judging of words; let him be pure in all his deeds; yet the more he seems to be superior to others [in these respects], the more humble-minded ought he to be, and to seek the common good of all, and not merely his own advantage.

CHAP. XLIX.—_The praise of love._

Let him who has love in Christ keep the commandments of Christ. Who can describe the [blessed] bond of the love of God? What man is able to tell the excellence of its beauty, as it ought to be told? The height to which love exalts is unspeakable. Love unites us to God. Love covers a multitude of sins.[219] Love beareth all things, is long-suffering in all things.[220] There is nothing base, nothing arrogant in love. Love admits of no schisms: love gives rise to no seditions: love does all things in harmony. By love have all the elect of God been made perfect; without love nothing is well-pleasing to God. In love has the Lord taken us to Himself. On account of the love He bore us, Jesus Christ our Lord gave His blood for us by the will of God; His flesh for our flesh, and His soul for our souls.

CHAP. L.—_Let us pray to be thought worthy of love._

Ye see, beloved, how great and wonderful a thing is love, and that there is no declaring its perfection. Who is fit to be found in it, except such as God has vouchsafed to render so? Let us pray, therefore, and implore of His mercy, that we may live blameless in love, free from all human partialities for one above another. All the generations from Adam even unto this day have passed away; but those who, through the grace of God, have been made perfect in love, now possess a place among the godly, and shall be made manifest at the revelation[221] of the kingdom of Christ. For it is written, “Enter into thy secret chambers for a little time, until my wrath and fury pass away; and I will remember a propitious[222] day, and will raise you up out of your graves.”[223] Blessed are we, beloved, if we keep the commandments of God in the harmony of love; that so through love our sins may be forgiven us. For it is written, “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not impute to him, and in whose mouth there is no guile.”[224] This blessedness cometh upon those who have been chosen by God through Jesus Christ our Lord; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

CHAP. LI.—_Let the partakers in strife acknowledge their sins._

Let us therefore implore forgiveness for all those transgressions which through any [suggestion] of the adversary we have committed. And those who have been the leaders of sedition and disagreement ought to have respect[225] to the common hope. For such as live in fear and love would rather that they themselves than their neighbours should be involved in suffering. And they prefer to bear blame themselves, rather than that the concord which has been well and piously[226] handed down to us should suffer. For it is better that a man should acknowledge his transgressions than that he should harden his heart, as the hearts of those were hardened who stirred up sedition against Moses the servant of God, and whose condemnation was made manifest [unto all]. For they went down alive into Hades, and death swallowed them up.[227] Pharaoh with his army and all the princes of Egypt, and the chariots with their riders, were sunk in the depths of the Red Sea, and perished,[228] for no other reason than that their foolish hearts were hardened, after so many signs and wonders had been wrought in the land of Egypt by Moses the servant of God.

CHAP. LII.—_Such a confession is pleasing to God._

The Lord, brethren, stands in need of nothing; and He desires nothing of any one, except that confession be made to Him. For, says the elect David, “I will confess unto the Lord; and that will please Him more than a young bullock that hath horns and hoofs. Let the poor see it, and be glad.”[229] And again he saith, “Offer[230] unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows unto the Most High. And call upon me in the day of thy trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”[231] For “the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit.”[232]

CHAP. LIII.—_The love of Moses towards his people._

Ye understand, beloved, ye understand well the sacred Scriptures, and ye have looked very earnestly into the oracles of God. Call then these things to your remembrance. When Moses went up into the mount, and abode there, with fasting and humiliation, forty days and forty nights, the Lord said unto him, “Moses, Moses, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people whom thou didst bring out of the land of Egypt have committed iniquity. They have speedily departed from the way in which I commanded them to walk, and have made to themselves molten images.”[233] And the Lord said unto him, “I have spoken to thee once and again, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people: let me destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make thee a great and wonderful nation, and one much more numerous than this.”[234] But Moses said, “Far be it from Thee, Lord: pardon the sin of this people; else blot me also out of the book of the living.”[235] O marvellous[236] love! O insuperable perfection! The servant speaks freely to his Lord, and asks forgiveness for the people, or begs that he himself might perish[237] along with them.

CHAP. LIV.—_He who is full of love will incur every loss, that peace may be restored to the church._

Who then among you is noble-minded? who compassionate? who full of love? Let him declare, “If on my account sedition and disagreement and schisms have arisen, I will depart, I will go away whithersoever ye desire, and I will do whatever the majority[238] commands; only let the flock of Christ live on terms of peace with the presbyters set over it.” He that acts thus shall procure to himself great glory in the Lord; and every place will welcome[239] him. For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.”[240] These things they who live a godly life, that is never to be repented of, both have done and always will do.

CHAP. LV.—_Examples of such love._

To bring forward some examples from among the heathen: Many kings and princes, in times of pestilence, when they had been instructed by an oracle, have given themselves up to death, in order that by their own blood they might deliver their fellow-citizens [from destruction]. Many have gone forth from their own cities, that so sedition might be brought to an end within them. We know many among ourselves who have given themselves up to bonds, in order that they might ransom others. Many, too, have surrendered themselves to slavery, that with the price[241] which they received for themselves, they might provide food for others. Many women also, being strengthened by the grace of God, have performed numerous manly exploits. The blessed Judith, when her city was besieged, asked of the elders permission to go forth into the camp of the strangers; and, exposing herself to danger, she went out for the love which she bare to her country and people then besieged; and the Lord delivered Holofernes into the hands of a woman.[242] Esther also, being perfect in faith, exposed herself to no less danger, in order to deliver the twelve tribes of Israel from impending destruction. For with fasting and humiliation she entreated the everlasting God, who seeth all things; and He, perceiving the humility of her spirit, delivered the people for whose sake she had encountered peril.[243]

CHAP. LVI.—_Let us admonish and correct one another._

Let us then also pray for those who have fallen into any sin, that meekness and humility may be given to them, so that they may submit, not unto us, but to the will of God. For in this way they shall secure a fruitful and perfect remembrance from us, with sympathy for them, both in our prayers to God, and our mention of them to the saints.[244] Let us receive correction, beloved, on account of which no one should feel displeased. Those exhortations by which we admonish one another are both good [in themselves], and highly profitable, for they tend to unite[245] us to the will of God. For thus saith the holy Word: “The Lord hath severely chastened me, yet hath not given me over to death.”[246] “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.”[247] “The righteous,” saith it, “shall chasten me in mercy, and reprove me; but let not the oil of sinners make fat my head.”[248] And again he saith, “Blessed is the man whom the Lord reproveth, and reject not thou the warning of the Almighty. For He causes sorrow, and again restores [to gladness]; He woundeth, and His hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea, in the seventh no evil shall touch thee. In famine He shall rescue thee from death, and in war He shall free thee from the power[249] of the sword. From the scourge of the tongue will He hide thee, and thou shalt not fear when evil cometh. Thou shalt laugh at the unrighteous and the wicked, and shalt not be afraid of the beasts of the field. For the wild beasts shall be at peace with thee: then shalt thou know that thy house shall be in peace, and the habitation of thy tabernacle shall not fail.[250] Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thy children like the grass of the field. And thou shalt come to the grave like ripened corn which is reaped in its season, or like a heap of the threshing-floor which is gathered together at the proper time.”[251] Ye see, beloved, that protection is afforded to those that are chastened of the Lord; for since God is good, He corrects us, that we may be admonished by His holy chastisement.

CHAP. LVII.—_Let the authors of sedition submit themselves._

Ye therefore, who laid the foundation of this sedition, submit yourselves to the presbyters, and receive correction so as to repent, bending the knees of your hearts. Learn to be subject, laying aside the proud and arrogant self-confidence of your tongue. For it is better for you that ye should occupy[252] a humble but honourable place in the flock of Christ, than that, being highly exalted, ye should be cast out from the hope of His people.[253] For thus speaketh all-virtuous Wisdom: “Behold, I will bring forth to you the words of my Spirit, and I will teach you my speech. Since I called, and ye did not hear; I held forth my words, and ye regarded not, but set at naught my counsels, and yielded not at my reproofs; therefore I too will laugh at your destruction; yea, I will rejoice when ruin cometh upon you, and when sudden confusion overtakes you, when overturning presents itself like a tempest, or when tribulation and oppression fall upon you. For it shall come to pass, that when ye call upon me, I will not hear you; the wicked shall seek me, and they shall not find me. For they hated wisdom, and did not choose the fear of the Lord; nor would they listen to my counsels, but despised my reproofs. Wherefore they shall eat the fruits of their own way, and they shall be filled with their own ungodliness.”[254]...[255]

CHAP. LVIII.—_Blessings sought for all that call upon God._

May God, who seeth all things, and who is the Ruler of all spirits and the Lord of all flesh—who chose our Lord Jesus Christ and us through Him to be a peculiar[256] people—grant to every soul that calleth upon His glorious and holy name, faith, fear, peace, patience, long-suffering, self-control, purity, and sobriety, to the well-pleasing of His name, through our High Priest and Protector, Jesus Christ, by whom be to Him glory, and majesty, and power, and honour, both now and for evermore. Amen.

CHAP. LIX.—_The Corinthians are exhorted speedily to send back word that peace has been restored. The benediction._

Send back speedily to us in peace and with joy these our messengers to you: Claudius Ephebus and Valerius Bito, with Fortunatus; that they may the sooner announce to us the peace and harmony we so earnestly desire and long for [among you], and that we may the more quickly rejoice over the good order re-established among you. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, and with all everywhere that are the called of God through Him, by whom be to Him glory, honour, power, majesty, and eternal dominion,[257] from everlasting to everlasting.[258] Amen.

Footnote 1:

In the only known MS. of this epistle, the title is thus given at the close.

Footnote 2:

Literally, “is greatly blasphemed.”

Footnote 3:

Literally, “did not prove your all-virtuous and firm faith.”

Footnote 4:

Eph. v. 21; 1 Pet. v. 5.

Footnote 5:

Acts xx. 35.

Footnote 6:

Literally, “ye embraced it in your bowels.”

Footnote 7:

1 Pet. ii. 17.

Footnote 8:

So in the MS., but many have suspected that the text is here corrupt. Perhaps the best emendation is that which substitutes συναισθήσεως, “compassion,” for συνειδήσεως, “conscience.”

Footnote 9:

Tit. iii. 1.

Footnote 10:

Prov. vii. 3.

Footnote 11:

Literally, “enlargement.”

Footnote 12:

Deut. xxxii. 15.

Footnote 13:

It seems necessary to refer αὐτοῦ to God, in opposition to the translation given by Abp. Wake and others.

Footnote 14:

Literally, “Christ;” comp. 2 Cor. i. 21, Eph. iv. 20.

Footnote 15:

Wisd. ii. 24.

Footnote 16:

Gen. iv. 3-8, The writer here, as always, follows the reading of the Septuagint, which in this passage both alters and adds to the Hebrew text. We have given the rendering approved by the best critics; but some prefer to translate, as in our English version, “unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” See, for an ancient explanation of the passage, Irenæus, _Adv. Hær._ iv. 18, 3.

Footnote 17:

Gen. xxvii. 41, etc.

Footnote 18:

Gen. xxxvii.

Footnote 19:

Ex. ii. 14.

Footnote 20:

Num. xii. 14, 15.

Footnote 21:

Num. xvi. 33.

Footnote 22:

1 Kings xviii. 8, etc.

Footnote 23:

Literally, “those who have been athletes.”

Footnote 24:

Some fill up the _lacuna_ here found in the MS. so as to read, “have come to a grievous death.”

Footnote 25:

Literally “good.”

Footnote 26:

_Seven_ imprisonments of St Paul are not referred to in Scripture.

Footnote 27:

Archbishop Wake here reads “scourged.” We have followed the most recent critics in filling up the numerous _lacunæ_ in this chapter.

Footnote 28:

Some think _Rome_, others _Spain_, and others even _Britain_, to be here referred to.

Footnote 29:

That is, under Tigellinus and Sabinus, in the last year of the Emperor Nero; but some think Helius and Polycletus referred to; and others, both here and in the preceding sentence, regard the words as denoting simply the _witness_ borne by Peter and Paul to the truth of the gospel before the rulers of the earth.

Footnote 30:

Some suppose these to have been the names of two eminent female martyrs under Nero; others regard the clause as an interpolation.

Footnote 31:

Literally, “have reached to the stedfast course of faith.”

Footnote 32:

Gen. ii. 23.

Footnote 33:

Some insert “Father.”

Footnote 34:

Gen. vii.; 1 Pet. iii. 20; 2 Pet. ii. 5.

Footnote 35:

Jonah iii.

Footnote 36:

Ezek. xxxiii. 11.

Footnote 37:

Ezek. xviii. 30.

Footnote 38:

Comp. Isa. i. 18.

Footnote 39:

These words are not found in Scripture, though they are quoted again by Clem. Alex. (_Pædag._ i. 10) as from Ezekiel.

Footnote 40:

Isa. i. 16-20.

Footnote 41:

Some read ματαιολογίαν, _vain talk_.

Footnote 42:

Gen. v. 24; Heb. xi. 5. Literally, “and his death was not found.”

Footnote 43:

Isa. xli. 8; 2 Chron. xx. 7; Judith viii. 19; James ii. 23.

Footnote 44:

Gen. xii. 1-3.

Footnote 45:

Gen. xiii. 14-16.

Footnote 46:

Gen. xv. 5, 6; Rom. iv. 3.

Footnote 47:

Gen. xxi. 22; Heb. xi. 17.

Footnote 48:

Gen. xix.; comp. 2 Pet. ii. 6-9.

Footnote 49:

So Joseph. _Antiq._ i. 11, 4; Irenæus, _Adv. Hær._ iv. 31.

Footnote 50:

Literally, “become a judgment and sign.”

Footnote 51:

Josh. ii.; Heb. xi. 31.

Footnote 52:

Others of the fathers adopt the same allegorical interpretation, _e.g._ Justin Mar. _Dial. c. Tryph._ n. 111; Irenæus, _Adv. Hær._ iv. 20.

Footnote 53:

Jer. ix. 28, 24; 1 Cor. i. 31; 2 Cor. x. 17.

Footnote 54:

Comp. Matt. vi. 12-15, vii. 2; Luke vi. 36-38.

Footnote 55:

Isa. lxvi. 2.

Footnote 56:

Prov. ii. 21, 22.

Footnote 57:

Ps. xxxvii. 35-37. “Remnant” probably refers either to the memory or _posterity_ of the righteous.

Footnote 58:

Isa. xxix. 13; Matt. xv. 8; Mark vii. 6.

Footnote 59:

Ps. lxii. 4.

Footnote 60:

Ps. lxxviii. 36, 37.

Footnote 61:

Ps. xxxi. 18.

Footnote 62:

These words within brackets are not found in the MS., but have been inserted from the Septuagint by most editors.

Footnote 63:

Ps. xii. 3-5.

Footnote 64:

The Latin of Cotelerius, adopted by Hefele and Dressel, translates this clause as follows: “I will set free the wicked on account of His sepulchre, and the rich on account of His death.”

Footnote 65:

The reading of the MS. is τῆς πληγῆς, “purify, or free Him, from stripes.” We have adopted the emendation of Junius.

Footnote 66:

Wotton reads, “If He make.”

Footnote 67:

Or, “_fill_ Him with understanding,” if πλῆσαι should be read instead of πλάσαι, as Grabe suggests.

Footnote 68:

Isa. liii. The reader will observe how often the text of the Septuagint, here quoted, differs from the Hebrew as represented by our authorized English version.

Footnote 69:

Ps. xxii. 6-8.

Footnote 70:

Heb. xi. 37.

Footnote 71:

Gen. xviii. 27.

Footnote 72:

Job i. 1.

Footnote 73:

Job xiv. 4, 5.

Footnote 74:

Num. xii. 7; Heb. iii. 2.

Footnote 75:

Some fill up the _lacuna_ which here occurs in the MS. by “Israel.”

Footnote 76:

Ex. iii. 11, iv. 10.

Footnote 77:

This is not found in Scripture.

Footnote 78:

Or, as some render, “to whom.”

Footnote 79:

Ps. lxxxix. 21.

Footnote 80:

Or, “when Thou judgest.”

Footnote 81:

Literally, “in my inwards.”

Footnote 82:

Literally, “bloods.”

Footnote 83:

Ps., li. 1-17.

Footnote 84:

Literally, “Becoming partakers of many great and glorious deeds, let us return to the aim of peace delivered to us from the beginning.” Comp. Heb. xii. 1.

Footnote 85:

Or, “collections.”

Footnote 86:

Job xxxviii. 11.

Footnote 87:

Or, “stations.”

Footnote 88:

Prov. xx. 27.

Footnote 89:

Comp. Heb. xiii. 17; 1 Thess. v. 12, 13.

Footnote 90:

Or, “the presbyters.”

Footnote 91:

Some read, “by their silence.”

Footnote 92:

Comp. 1 Tim. v. 21.

Footnote 93:

Some translate, “who turn to Him.”

Footnote 94:

Ps. xxxiv. 11-17.

Footnote 95:

Ps. xxxii. 10.

Footnote 96:

Or, as some render, “neither let us have any doubt of.”

Footnote 97:

Some regard these words as taken from an apocryphal book, others as derived from a fusion of James i. 8 and 2 Pet. iii. 3, 4.

Footnote 98:

Hab. ii. 3; Heb. x. 37.

Footnote 99:

Mal. iii. 1.

Footnote 100:

Comp. 1 Cor. xv. 20; Col. i. 18.

Footnote 101:

Comp. Luke viii. 5.

Footnote 102:

This fable respecting the phœnix is mentioned by Herodotus (ii. 73), and by Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ x. 2), and is used as above by Tertullian (_De Resurr._ § 13), and by others of the fathers.

Footnote 103:

Literally, “the mightiness of His promise.”

Footnote 104:

Ps. xxviii. 7, or from some apocryphal book.

Footnote 105:

Comp. Ps. iii. 6.

Footnote 106:

Job xix. 25, 26.

Footnote 107:

Comp. Tit. i. 2; Heb. vi. 18.

Footnote 108:

Or “majesty.”

Footnote 109:

Wisd. xii. 12, xi. 22.

Footnote 110:

Comp. Matt. xxiv. 35.

Footnote 111:

Literally, “If the heavens,” etc.

Footnote 112:

Ps. xix. 1-3.

Footnote 113:

Literally, “abominable lusts of evil deeds.”

Footnote 114:

Ps. cxxxix. 7-10.

Footnote 115:

Literally, “has made us to Himself a part of election.”

Footnote 116:

Literally, “sowed abroad.”

Footnote 117:

Deut. xxxii. 8, 9.

Footnote 118:

Formed apparently from Num. xviii. 27 and 2 Chron. xxxi. 14. Literally, the closing words are, “the holy of holies.”

Footnote 119:

Some translate, “youthful lusts.”

Footnote 120:

Prov. iii. 34; James iv. 6; 1 Pet. v. 5.

Footnote 121:

Job xi. 2, 3. The translation is doubtful.

Footnote 122:

Literally, “what are the ways of His blessing.”

Footnote 123:

Literally, “unroll.”

Footnote 124:

Comp. James ii. 21.

Footnote 125:

Some translate, “knowing what was to come.”

Footnote 126:

Gen. xxii.

Footnote 127:

So Jacobson: Wotton reads, “fleeing from his brother.”

Footnote 128:

The meaning is here very doubtful. Some translate, “the gifts which were given to Jacob by Him,” _i.e._ God.

Footnote 129:

MS. αὐτῶν, referring to the gifts: we have followed the emendation αὐτοῦ, adopted by most editors. Some refer the word to _God_, and not _Jacob_.

Footnote 130:

Comp. Rom. ix. 5.

Footnote 131:

Gen. xxii. 17, xxviii. 4.

Footnote 132:

Or, “commandment.”

Footnote 133:

Or, “in addition to all.”

Footnote 134:

Gen. i. 26, 27.

Footnote 135:

Gen. i. 28.

Footnote 136:

Or, “let us consider.”

Footnote 137:

Or, “labourer.”

Footnote 138:

Isa. xl. 10, lxii. 11; Rev. xxii. 12.

Footnote 139:

The text here seems to be corrupt. Some translate, “He warns us with all His heart to this end, that,” etc.

Footnote 140:

Dan. vii. 10.

Footnote 141:

Isa. vi. 3.

Footnote 142:

1 Cor. ii. 9.

Footnote 143:

Some translate, “in liberty.”

Footnote 144:

Or, “of the ages.”

Footnote 145:

The reading is doubtful: some have ἀφιλοξενίαν, “want of a hospitable spirit.”

Footnote 146:

Rom. i. 32.

Footnote 147:

Literally, “didst run with.”

Footnote 148:

Literally, “didst weave.”

Footnote 149:

Or, “layest a snare for.”

Footnote 150:

Ps. l. 16-23. The reader will observe how the Septuagint followed by Clement differs from the Hebrew.

Footnote 151:

Literally, “that which saves us.”

Footnote 152:

Or, “rejoices to behold.”

Footnote 153:

Or, “knowledge of immortality.”

Footnote 154:

Heb. i. 3, 4.

Footnote 155:

Ps. civ. 4; Heb. i. 7.

Footnote 156:

Some render, “to the Son.”

Footnote 157:

Ps. ii. 7, 8; Heb. i. 5.

Footnote 158:

Ps. cx. 1; Heb. i. 13.

Footnote 159:

Some read, “who oppose their own will to that of God.”

Footnote 160:

Literally, “in these there is use.”

Footnote 161:

1 Cor. xii. 12, etc.

Footnote 162: