An Ancient Homily, Commonly Called the Second Epistle of St. Clement
1:1 Brethren, we ought so to think of Jesus Christ, as of God, as of
the Judge of quick and dead.
1:2 And we ought not to think mean things of our Salvation for when
we think mean things of Him, we expect also to receive mean things.
1:3 And they that listen as concerning mean things do wrong;
1:4 and we ourselves do wrong, not knowing whence and by whom and unto
what place we were called, and how many things Jesus Christ endured to
suffer for our sakes.
1:5 What recompense then shall we give unto Him?
1:6 or what fruit worthy of His own gift to us?
1:7 And how many mercies do we owe to Him, I For He bestowed the light
upon us;
1:8 He spake to us, as a father to his sons;
1:9 He saved us, when we were perishing.
1:10 What praise then shall we give to Him?
1:11 or what payment of recompense for those things which we received?
1:12 we who were maimed in our understanding, and worshipped stocks
and stones and gold and silver and bronze, the works of men;
1:13 and our whole life was nothing else but death.
1:14 While then we were thus wrapped in darkness and oppressed with
this thick mist in our vision, we recovered our sight, putting off by His
will the cloud wherein we were wrapped.
1:15 For He had mercy on us, and in His compassion saved us, having
beheld in us much error and perdition, even when we had no hope of salvation,
save that which came from Him.
1:16 For He called us, when we were not, and from not being He willed
us to be.
2:1 {Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not! Break out and cry,
thou that travailest not, for more are the children of the desolate than
of her that hath the husband.
2:2 } In that He said {Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not,} He spake
of us:
2:3 for our Church was barren, before that children were given unto
her.
2:4 And in that He said, {Cry aloud, thou that travailest not,} He
meaneth this;
2:5 Let us not, like women in travail, grow weary of offering up our
prayers with simplicity to God.
2:6 Again, in that He said, {For the children of the desolate are more
than of her that hath the husband,} He so spake,
2:7 because our people seemed desolate and forsaken of God, whereas
now, having believed, we have become more than those who seemed to have
God.
2:8 Again another scripture saith, {I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners.
2:9 } He meaneth this;
2:10 that it is right to save them that are perishing.
2:11 For this indeed is a great and marvellous work, to establish,
not those things which stand, but those which are falling.
2:12 So also Christ willed to save the things which were perishing.
2:13 And He saved many, coming and calling us when we were even now
perishing.
3:1 Seeing then that He bestowed so great mercy on us;
3:2 first of all, that we, who are living, do not sacrifice to these
dead gods, neither worship them, but through Him have known the Father
of truth.
3:3 What else is this knowledge to Himward, but not to deny Him through
whom we have known Him?
3:4 Yea, He Himself saith, {Whoso confesseth Me, Him will I confess
before the Father.
3:5 } This then is our reward, if verily we shall confess Him through
whom we were saved.
3:6 But wherein do we confess Him?
3:7 When we do that which He saith and are not disobedient unto His
commandments, and not only {honour Him with our lips, but with our whole
heart and with our whole mind.
3:8 } Now He saith also in Isaiah, {This people honoureth Me with their
lips, but their heart is far from Me.
3:9 } 4.
3:10 Let us therefore not only call Him Lord, for this will not save
us:
3:11 for He saith, {Not every one that saith unto file, Lord, Lord,
shall be saved, but he that doeth righteousness.
3:12 } So then, brethren, let us confess Him in our works, by loving
one another, by not committing adultery nor speaking evil one against another
nor envying, hut being temperate, merciful, kindly.
3:13 And we ought to have fellow-feeling one with another and not to
be covetous.
3:14 By these works let us confess Him, and not by the contrary.
3:15 And we ought not rather to fear men but God.
3:16 For this cause, if ye do these things, the Lord said, {Though
ye be gathered together with Me in My bosom, and do not My commandments,
I will cast you away and will say unto you,
3:17 Depart from Me, I know you not whence ye are, ye workers of iniquity.
3:18 } 5.
3:19 Wherefore, brethren, let us forsake our sojourn in this world
and do the will of Him that called us, and let us not be afraid to depart
out of this world.
3:20 For the Lord saith, {Ye shall be as lambs in the midst of wolves.
3:21 } But Peter answered and said unto Him, {What then, of the wolves
should tear the lambs?
3:22 } Jesus said unto Peter, {Let not the lambs fear the wolves after
they are dead;
3:23 and ye also, fear ye not them that kill you and are not able to
do anything to you;
3:24 but fear Him that after ye are dead hath power over soul and body,
to cast them into the gehenna of fire.
3:25 } And ye know, brethren, that the sojourn of this flesh in this
world is mean and for a short time, but the promise of Christ is great
and marvellous,
3:26 even the rest of the kingdom that shall be and of life eternal.
3:27 What then can we do to obtain them, but walk in holiness and righteousness,
and consider these worldly things as alien to us, and not desire them?
3:28 For when we desire to obtain these things we fall away from the
righteous path.
6:1 But the Lord saith, {No servant can serve two masters.
6:2 } If we desire to serve both God and mammon, it is unprofitable
for us:
6:3 {For what advantage is it, if a man gain the whole world and forfeit
his soul?
6:4 } Now this age and the future are two enemies.
6:5 The one speaketh of adultery and defilement and avarice and deceit,
but the other biddeth farewell to these.
6:6 We cannot therefore be friends of the two, but must bid farewell
to the one and hold companionship with the other.
6:7 Let us consider that it is better to hate the things which are
here,
6:8 because they are mean and for a short time and perishable, and
to love the things which are there, for they are good and imperishable.
6:9 For, if we do the will of Christ, we shall find rest;
6:10 but if otherwise, then nothing shall deliver us from eternal punishment,
if we should disobey His commandments.
6:11 And the scripture also saith in Ezekiel, {Though Noah and Job
and Daniel should rise up, they shall not deliver their children} in the
captivity.
6:12 But if even such righteous men as these cannot by their righteous
deeds deliver their children, with what confidence shall we, if we keep
not our baptism pure and undefiled,
6:13 enter into the kingdom of God?
7:1 So then, my brethren, let us contend, knowing that the contest
is nigh at hand, and that, while many resort to the corruptible contests,
contended bravely.
7:2 Let us then contend that we all may be crowned.
7:3 Wherefore let us run in the straight course, the incorruptible
contest.
7:4 And let us resort to it in throngs and contend, that we may also
he crowned.
7:5 And if we cannot all be crowned, let us at least come near to the
crown.
7:6 We ought to know that he which contendeth in the corruptible contest,
if he be found dealing corruptly with it, is first flogged, and then removed
and driven out of the race-course.
7:7 What think ye?
7:8 What shall be done to him that hath dealt corruptly with the contest
of incorruption?
7:9 For as concerning them that have not kept the seal, He saith, {Their
worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall
be for a spectacle unto all flesh}.
8:1 While we are on earth then, let us repent for we are clay
under the craftsman's hand.
8:2 For in like manner as the potter, if he be making a vessel, and
it get twisted or crushed in his hands, reshapeth it again;
8:3 but if he have once put it into the fiery oven, he shall no longer
mend it:
8:4 so also let us, while we are in this world, repent with our whole
heart of the evil things which we have done in the flesh, that we may be
saved by the Lord, while we have yet time for repentance.
8:5 For after that we have departed out of the world, we can no more
make confession there, or repent any more.
8:6 Wherefore, brethren, if we shall have done the will of the Father
and kept the flesh pure and guarded the commandments of the Lord, we shall
receive life eternal.
8:7 For the Lord saith in the Gospel, {If ye kept not that which is
little, who shall give unto you that which is great?
8:8 For I ay unto you that he which is faithful in the least, is faithful
also in much.
8:9 } So then He meaneth this, Keep the flesh pure and the seal unstained,
to the end that we may receive life.
9:1 And let not any one of you say that this flesh is not judged
neither riseth again.
9:2 Understand ye.
9:3 In what were ye saved?
9:4 In what did ye recover your sight?
9:5 if ye were not in this flesh.
9:6 We ought therefore to guard the flesh as a temple of God :
9:7 for in like manner as ye were called in the flesh, ye shall come
also in the flesh.
9:8 If Christ the Lord who saved us, being first spirit, then became
flesh, and so called us, in like manner also shall we in this flesh receive
our reward.
9:9 Let us therefore love one another, that we all may come unto the
kingdom of God.
9:10 While we have time to be healed, let us place ourselves in the
hands of God the physician, giving Him a recompense.
9:11 What recompense?
9:12 Repentance from a sincere heart.
9:13 For He discerneth all things beforehand and knoweth what is in
our heart.
9:14 Let us therefore give unto Him eternal praise, not from our lips
only, but also from our heart, that He may receive us as sons.
9:15 For the Lord also said, {These are My brethren, which do the will
of My Father.
9:16 } 10.
9:17 Wherefore, my brethren, let us do the will of the Father which
called us, that we may live;
9:18 and let us the rather pursue virtue, but forsake vice as the forerunner
of our sins, and let us flee from ungodliness, lest evils overtake us.
9:19 For if we be diligent in doing good, peace will pursue us.
9:20 For for this cause is a man unable to attain happiness, seeing
that they call in the fears of men, preferring rather the enjoyment which
is here than the promise which is to come.
9:21 For they know not how great torment the enjoyment which is here
bringeth, and what delight the promise which is to come bringeth.
9:22 And if verily they were doing these things by themselves alone,
it had been tolerable but now they continue teaching evil to innocent souls,
9:23 not knowing that they shall have their condemnation doubled, both
themselves and their hearers.
11:1 Let us therefore serve God in a pure heart, and we shall
he righteous;
11:2 but if we serve Him not, because we believe not the promise of
God, we shall be wretched.
11:3 For the word of prophecy also saith:
11:4 {Wretched are the double-minded, that doubt in their heart and
say, These things we heard of old in the days of our fathers also, yet
we have waited day after day and have seen none of them.
11:5 Ye fools! compare yourselves unto a tree;
11:6 take a vine.
11:7 First it sheddeth its leaves, then a shoot cometh, after this
a sour berry, then a fill ripe grape.
11:8 So likewise My people had tumults and afflictions:
11:9 but afterward they shall receive good things.
11:10 } Wherefore, my brethren, let us not be double-minded but endure
patiently in hope, that we may also obtain our reward.
11:11 {For faithful is He that promised} to pay to each man the recompense
of his works.
11:12 If therefore we shall have wrought righteousness in the sight
of God,
11:13 we shall enter into His kingdom and shall receive the promises
which {ear hath not heard nor eye seen, neither hath it entered into the
heart of man.
11:14 } 12.
11:15 Let us therefore await the kingdom of God betimes in love and
righteousness, since we know not the day of God's appearing.
11:16 For the Lord Himself, being asked by a certain person when His
kingdom would come, said, {When the two shall be one, and the outside as
the inside, and the male with the female, neither male nor female.
11:17 } Now {the two} are {one}, when we speak truth among ourselves,
and in two bodies there shall be one soul without dissimulation.
11:18 And by {the outside as the inside} He meaneth this:
11:19 by the inside He meaneth the soul and by the outside the body.
11:20 Therefore in like manner as thy body appeareth, so also let thy
soul be manifest in its good works.
11:21 And by {the male with the female, neither male nor female,} He
meaneth this;
11:22 that a brother seeing a sister should have no thought of her
as of a female, and that a sister seeing a brother should not have any
thought of him as of a male.
11:23 These things if ye do, saith He, the kingdom of my Father shall
come.
13:1 Therefore, brethren, let us repent forthwith.
13:2 Let us be sober unto that which is good:
13:3 for we are full of much folly and wickedness.
13:4 Let us wipe away from us our former sins, and let us repent with
our whole soul and be saved.
13:5 And let us not be found men-pleasers.
13:6 Neither let us desire to please one another only, but also those
men that are without, by our righteousness, that the Name be not blasphemed
by reason of us.
13:7 For the Lord saith, {Every way My Name is blasphemed among all
the Gentiles,} and again, {Woe unto him, by reason of whom My Name is blasphemed.
13:8 } Wherein is it blasphemed?
13:9 In that ye do not the things which I desire.
13:10 For the Gentiles, when they hear from our mouth the oracles of
God, marvel at them for their beauty and greatness;
13:11 then, when they discover that our works are not worthy of the
words which we speak, forthwith they betake themselves to blasphemy, saying
that it is an idle story and a delusion.
13:12 For when they hear from us that God saith, {It is no thank unto
you, if ye love them that love you, but this is thank unto you, if ye love
your enemies and them that hate you;
13:13 } when they hear these things, I say, they marvel at their exceeding
goodness;
13:14 but when they see that we not only do not love them that hate
us, but not even them that love us, they laugh us to scorn, and the Name
is blasphemed.
14:1 Wherefore, brethren, if we do the will of God our Father,
we shall be of the first Church, which is spiritual, which was created
before the sun and moon;
14:2 but if we do not the will of the Lord, we shall be of the scripture
that saith, {My house was made a den of robbers.
14:3 } So therefore let us choose rather to be of the Church of life,
that we may be saved.
14:4 And I do not suppose ye are ignorant that the living Church is
{the body of Christ:
14:5 } for the scripture saith, {God made man, male and female.
14:6 } The male is Christ and the female is the Church.
14:7 And the Books and the Apostles plainly declare that the Church
existeth not now for the first time, but hath been from the beginning:
14:8 for she was spiritual, as our Jesus also was spiritual, but was
manifested in the last days that He might save us.
14:9 Now the Church, being spiritual, was manifested in the flesh of
Christ,
14:10 thereby showing us that, if any of us guard her in the flesh
and defile her not, he shall receive her again in the Holy Spirit :
14:11 for this flesh is the counterpart and copy of the spirit.
14:12 No man therefore, when he hath defiled the copy, shall receive
the original for his portion.
14:13 This therefore is what He meaneth, brethren;
14:14 Guard ye the flesh, that ye may partake of the spirit.
14:15 But if we say that the flesh is the Church and the spirit is
Christ, then he that hath dealt wantonly with the flesh hath dealt wantonly
with the Church.
14:16 Such an one therefore shall not partake of the spirit, which
is Christ.
14:17 So excellent is the life and immortality which this flesh can
receive as its portion, if the Holy Spirit be joined to it.
14:18 No man can declare or tell {those things which the Lord hath
prepared} for His elect.
15:1 Now I do not think that I have given any mean counsel respecting
continence, and whosoever performeth it shall not repent thereof, but shall
save both himself and me his counsellor.
15:2 For it is no mean reward to convert a wandering and perishing
soul, that it may be saved.
15:3 For this is the recompense which we are able to pay to God who
created us, if he that speaketh and heareth both speak and hear with faith
and love.
15:4 Let us therefore abide in the things which we believed,
15:5 in righteousness and holiness, that we may with boldness ask of
God who saith, {Whiles thou art still speaking I will say, Behold, I am
here.
15:6 } For this word is the token of a great promise for the Lord saith
of Himself that He is more ready to give than he that asketh to ask.
15:7 Seeing then that we are partakers of so great kindness, let us
not grudge ourselves the obtaining of so many good things.
15:8 For in proportion as the pleasure is great which these words bring
to them that have performed them, so also is the condemnation great which
they bring to them that have been disobedient.
16:1 Therefore, brethren, since we have found no small opportunity
for repentance, seeing that we have time, let us turn again unto God that
called us, while we have still One that receiveth us.
16:2 For if we bid farewell to these enjoyments and conquer our soul
in refusing to fulfil its evil lusts, we shall be partakers of the mercy
of Jesus.
16:3 But ye know that the day of judgment cometh even now {as a burning
oven, and the powers of the heavens shall melt,} and all the earth as lead
melting on the fire, and then shall appear the secret and open works of
men.
16:4 Alms giving therefore is a good thing, even as repentance from
sin.
16:5 Fasting is better than prayer, but almsgiving than both.
16:6 And {love covereth a multitude of sins,} but prayer out of a good
conscience delivereth from death.
16:7 Blessed is every man that is found full of these.
16:8 For alms-giving lifteth off the burden of sin.
17:1 Let us therefore repent with our whole heart, lest any of
us perish by the way.
17:2 For if we have received commands,
17:3 that we should make this also our business, to tear men away from
idols and to instruct them, how much more is it wrong that a soul which
knoweth God already should perish!
17:4 Therefore let us assist one another, that we may also lead the
weak upward as touching that which is good, to the end that we all may
be saved:
17:5 and let us convert and admonish one another.
17:6 And let us not think to give heed and believe now only, while
we are admonished by the presbyters;
17:7 but likewise when we have departed home, let us remember the commandments
of the Lord, and not suffer ourselves to be dragged off the other way by
our worldly lusts;
17:8 but coming hither more frequently, let us strive to go forward
in the commands of the Lord, that we all having the same mind may be gathered
together unto life.
17:9 For the Lord said, {I come to gather together all the nations,
tribes, and languages.
17:10 } Herein He speaketh of the day of His appearing, when He shall
come and redeem us, each man according to his works.
17:11 {And} the unbelievers {shall see His glory} and His might:
17:12 and they shall be amazed when they see the kingdom of the world
given to Jesus, saying, Woe unto us, for Thou wast, and we knew it not,
and believed not;
17:13 and we obeyed not the presbyters when they told us of our salvation.
17:14 And {Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched,
and they shall be for a spectacle unto all flesh.
17:15 } He speaketh of that day of judgment, when men shall see those
among us that lived ungodly lives and dealt falsely with the commandments
of Jesus Christ.
17:16 But the righteous, having done good and endured torments and
hated the pleasures of the soul, when they shall behold them that have
done amiss and denied Jesus by their words
17:17 or by their deeds, how that they are punished with grievous torments
in unquenchable fire, shall give glory to God, saying, There will be hope
for him that hath served God with his whole heart.
18:1 Therefore let us also be found among those that give thanks,
among those that have served God, and not among the ungodly that are judged.
18:2 For I myself too, being an utter sinner and not yet escaped from
temptation,
18:3 but being still amidst the engines of the devil,do my diligence
to follow after righteousness, that I may prevail so far at least as to
come near unto it, while I fear the judgment to come.
19:1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, after the God of truth
hath been heard,
19:2 I read to you an exhortation to the end that ye may give heed
to the things which are written, so that ye may save both yourselves and
him that readeth in the midst of you.
19:3 For I ask of you as a reward that ye repent with your whole heart,
and give salvation and life to yourselves.
19:4 For doing this we shall set a goal for all the young who desire
to toil in the study of piety and of the goodness of God.
19:5 And let us not be displeased and vexed, fools that we are, whensoever
any one admonisheth us and turneth us aside from unrighteousness unto righteousness.
19:6 For sometimes while we do evil things, we perceive it not by reason
of the double-mindedness and unbelief
19:7 which is in our breasts, and {we are darkened in our understanding}
by our vain lusts.
19:8 Let us therefore practise righteousness that we may be saved unto
the end.
19:9 Blessed are they that obey these ordinances.
19:10 Though they may endure affliction for a short time in the world,
they will gather the immortal fruit of the resurrection.
19:11 Therefore let not the godly be grieved, if he be miserable in
the times that now are:
19:12 a blessed time awaiteth him.
19:13 He shall live again in heaven with the fathers, and shall have
rejoicing throughout a sorrowless eternity.
20:1 Neither suffer ye this again to trouble your mind, that
we see the unrighteous possessing wealth, and the servants of God straitened.
20:2 Let us then have faith, brothers and sisters.
20:3 We are contending in the lists of a living God;
20:4 and we are trained by the present life, that we may be crowned
with the future.
20:5 No righteous man hath reaped fruit quickly, but waiteth for it.
20:6 For if God had paid the recompense of the righteous speedily,
then straightway we should have been training ourselves in merchandise,
and not in godliness;
20:7 for we should seem to be righteous, though we were pursuing not
that which is godly, but that which is gainful.
20:8 And for this cause Divine judgment overtaketh a spirit that is
not just, and loadeth it with chains.
21:1 To the only God invisible, the Father of truth.