Clement I, translated by William Wake

“ Seeing that thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
11 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him; thou hast been partaker with adulterers, Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son.
12 These things hast thou done and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
13 Now consider this ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. ”

“ ALL honour and enlargement was given unto you; and so was fulfilled that which is written, my beloved did eat and drink, he was enlarged and waxed fat, and he kicked.
2 From hence came emulation, and envy, and strife, and sedition; persecution and disorder, war and captivity.
3 So they who were of no renown, lifted up themselves against the honourable; those of no reputation against those who were in respect; the foolish against the wise; the young men against the aged.
4 Therefore righteousness and peace are departed from you, because every one hath forsaken the fear of God ”

“ We are justified by faith; yet this must not lessen our care to live a virtuous life, nor our pleasure in it.
WHAT shall we do therefore, brethren? Shall we be slothful in well-doing, and lay aside our charity? God forbid that any such thing should be done by us.
2 But rather let us hasten with all earnestness and readiness of mind, to perfect every good work. For even the Creator and Lord of all things himself rejoices in his own works.
3 By his Almighty power he fixed the heavens, and by his incomprehensible wisdom he adorned them. ”

“ For in like manner as ye were called in the flesh, ye shall also come to judgment in the flesh. Our one Lord Jesus Christ, who has saved us, being first a spirit, was made flesh, and so called us; even so we also shall in this flesh receive the reward.
3 Let us, therefore, love one another, that we may attain unto the kingdom of God. Whilst we have time to be healed, let us deliver up ourselves to God our physician, giving our reward unto him.
4 And what reward shall we give?--Repentance out of a pure heart. For he knows all things beforehand, and searches out our very hearts. ”

“ Let us, therefore, so contend, that we may all be crowned. Let us run in the straight road, the race that is incorruptible: and let us in great numbers pass unto it, and strive that we may receive the crown. ”

“ Without it nothing is pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God.
7 Through charity did the Lord join us into himself; whilst for the love that he bore towards us, our Lord Jesus Christ gave his own blood for us, by the will of God; his flesh for our flesh; his soul for our souls.
8 Ye see, beloved, how great and wonderful a thing charity is ”

“ WHEREFORE let us obey his excellent and glorious will; and imploring his mercy and goodness, let us fall down upon our faces before him, and cast ourselves upon his mercy; laying aside all vanity, and contention, and envy which leads unto death.
2 Let us look up to those who have the most perfectly ministered to his excellent glory. Let us take Enoch for our example; who being found righteous in obedience, was translated, and his death was not known.
3 Noah being proved to be faithful, did by his ministry, preach regeneration to the world ”

“ Adding farther this good sentence, saying Turn from your iniquity, O house of Israel.
11 Say unto the children of my people, though your sins should reach from earth to heaven; and though they shall be redder than scarlet, and blacker than sackcloth yet if ye shall turn to me with all your heart, and shall call me father, I will hearken to you, as to a holy people.
12 And in another place he saith on this wise: wash ye, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well ”

“ For being a good instructor, he is willing to admonish us by his holy, diaipline.
15 Do ye therefore who laid the first foundation of this sedition, submit yourselves unto your priests; and be instructed unto repentance, bending the knees of your hearts.
16 Learn to be subject, laying aside all proud and arrogant boasting of your tongues.
17 For it is better for you to be found little, and approved, in the sheepfold of Christ, than to seem to yourselves better than others, and be cast out of his fold. ”

“ Let us pursue virtue, and forsake wickedness, which leadeth us into sins; and let us flee all ungodliness, that evils overtake us not.
7 For, if we shall do our diligence to live well, peace shall follow us. And yet how hard is it to find a man that does this? For almost all are led by human fears, choosing rather the present enjoyments, than the future promise. ”

“ Let us make man in our image, after our own likeness; so God created man, male and female created he them.
9 And having thus finished all these things, he commended all that he had made, and blessed them, and said, increase and multiply.
10 We see how all righteous men have been adorned with good works Wherefore even the Lord himself, having adorned himself with his works, rejoiced.
11 Having therefore such an example, let us without delay, fulfil his will; and with all our strength, work the work of righteousness. ”

“ Desires speedily to hear that this Epistle has had a good effect upon them. 4 Conclusion. NOW God, the inspector of all things, the Father of Spirits, and the Lord of all flesh, who hath chosen our Lord Jesus Christ, and us by him, to be his peculiar people;
2 Grant to every soul of man that calleth upon his glorious and holy name, faith, fear, peace, long-suffering, patience, temperance, holiness and sobriety, unto all well-pleasing in his sight; through our High-Priest and Protector Jesus Christ, by whom be glory and majesty, and power, and honour unto him now and for ever more, Amen. ”

“ For even thus saith the Scripture in the prophet Ezekiel, If Noah, Job, and Daniel should rise up, they shall not deliver their children in captivity.
9 Wherefore, if such righteous men are not able by their righteousness to deliver their children; how can we hope to enter into the kingdom of God, except we keep our baptism holy and undefiled? Or who shall be our advocate, unless we shall be found to have done what is holy and just?
10 Let us, therefore, my brethren, contend with all earnestness, knowing that our combat is at hand ”

“ For the potter if he make a vessel, and it be turned amiss in his hands, or broken, again forms it anew; but if he has gone so far as to throw it into the furnace of fire, he can no more bring any remedy to it.
15 So we, whilst we are in this world should repent with our whole heart for whatsoever evil we have done in the flesh; while we have yet the time of repentance, that we may be saved by the Lord. ”

“ We must fix our minds by faith towards God, and seek those things that are pleasing and acceptable unto him.
8 We must act conformably to his holy will; and follow the way of truth, casting off from us all unrighteousness and iniquity, together with all covetousness, strife, evil manners, deceit, whispering, detractions; all hatred of God, pride and boasting; vain-glory and ambition ”

“ Eusebius calls this the wonderful Epistle of St. Clement, and says that it was publicly read in the assemblies of the primitive church. It is included in one of the ancient collections of the Canon Scripture. Its genuineness has been much questioned, particularly by Photius, patriarch of Constantinople in the ninth century, who objects that Clement speaks of worlds beyond the ocean: that he has not written worthily of the divinity of Christ; and that to prove the possibility of a future resurrection, he introduces the fabulous story of the phœnix's revival from its own ashes. ”

“ A virtuous life enforced from the examples of the holy angels, and from the exceeding greatness of that reward which God has prepared for us.
THE good workman with confidence receives the bread of his labour; but the sluggish and lazy cannot look him in the face that set him on work. ”

“ And yet he steadfastly beholding the glory of God, says with all humility, I am dust and ashes.
20 Again of Job, it is thus written, That he was just, and without blame, true; one that served God, and abstained from all evil. Yet he accusing himself, said, No man is free from pollution, no, not though he should live but one day.
21 Moses was called faithful in all God's House; and by his conduct the Lord punished Israel by stripes and plagues. ”

“ It is impossible to escape the vengeance of God, if we continue in sin.
SEEING then all things are seen and heard by God, let us fear him, and let us lay aside our wicked works which proceed from ill desires; that through his mercy we may be delivered from the condemnation to come. ”

“ Even such only as God shall vouchsafe to make so.
10 Let us therefore pray to him, and beseech him, that we may be worthy of it; that so we may live in charity; being unblamable, without human propensities, without respect of persons.
11 All the ages of the world, from Adam, even unto this day, are passed away; but they who have been made perfect in love, have by the grace of God obtained a place among the righteous ”

“ THE FIRST EPISTLE OF
CLEMENT TO THE CORINTHIANS.
CHAP. I.
Clement commends them for their excellent order and piety in Christ, before their schism broke out. THE Church of God which is at Rome, to the Church of God which is at Corinth, [1] elect, sanctified by the will of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord: grace and peace from the Almighty God, by Jesus Christ, be multiplied unto you. ”

“ THUS has the humility and godly fear of these great and excellent men recorded in the Scriptures, through obedience, made not only us, but also the generations before us better; even as many as have received his holy oracles with fear and truth. ”

“ For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground;
3 He hath no form or comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
4 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. ”

“ Let him say, if this sedition, this contention, and these schisms, be upon my account, I am ready to depart; to go away whithersoever you please; and do whatsoever ye shall command me: Only let the flock of Christ be in peace, with the elders that are set over it.
15 He that shall do this, shall get to himself a very great honour in the Lord; and there is no place but what will be ready to receive him: For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. ”

“ Man's immortal nature a type of the Lord's kingdom. 1 * * * For the Lord himself, being asked by a certain person, When his kingdom should come? answered, When two shall be one, and that which is without as that which is within; and the male with the female, neither male nor female. ”

“ For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
11 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
12 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper m his hand. ”

“ YE are contentious, brethren, and zealous for things that pertain not unto salvation.
2 Look into the Holy Scriptures, which are the true words of the Holy Ghost. Ye know that there is nothing unjust or counterfeit written in them.
3 There you shall not find that righteous men were ever cast off by such as were good themselves. ”

“ The whole earth is full of his glory.
7 Wherefore let us also, being conscientiously gathered together in concord with one another; as it were with one mouth, cry, earnestly unto him, that he would make us partakers of his great and glorious promises.
8 For he saith, a Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that wait for him,
CHAP. XVII.
1 We must attain the gifts of God by faith and obedience, which we must carry on in an orderly pursuing of the duties of our several stations, without envy or contention. ”

“ Clement therefore exhorts them to do everything orderly in the Church, as the only way to please God.
FOOLISH and unwise men, who have neither prudence, nor learning, may mock and deride us; being willing to setup themselves in their own conceits. ”

“ The orders of Ministers in Christ's Church established by the Apostles, according to Christ's command, 7 after the example of Moses. 16 Therefore they who have been duly placed in the ministry according to their order, cannot without great sin be put out of it.
THE Apostles have preached to us from the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus Christ from God. ”

“ For when the spies were sent by Joshua the son of Nun to search out Jericho, and the king of Jericho knew that they were come to spy out his country, he sent men to take them, so that they might be put to death. ”