Clement I

“ As long, therefore, as we are upon earth, let us practise repentance, for we are as clay in the hand of the artificer. For as the potter, if he make a vessel, and it be distorted or broken in his hands, fashions it over again; but if he have before this cast it into the furnace of fire, can no longer find any help for it: so let us also, while we are in this world, repent with our whole heart of the evil deeds we have done in the flesh, that we may be saved by the Lord, while we have yet an opportunity of repentance. ”

“ He has graciously given us light; as a Father, He has called us sons; He has saved us when we were ready to perish. What praise, then, shall we give to Him, or what return shall we make for the things which we have received? [3] We were deficient [4] in understanding, worshipping stones and wood, and gold, and silver, and brass, the works of men's hands; [5] and our whole life was nothing else than death. Involved in blindness, and with such darkness [6] before our eyes, we have received sight, and through His will have laid aside that cloud by which we were enveloped. ”

“ For if we do the will of Christ, we shall find rest; otherwise, nothing shall deliver us from eternal punishment, if we disobey His commandments. For thus also saith the Scripture in Ezekiel, "If Noah, Job, and Daniel should rise up, they should not deliver their children in captivity." [35] Now, if men so eminently righteous are not able by their righteousness to deliver their children, how [36] can we hope to enter into the royal residence [37] of God unless we keep our baptism holy and undefiled? ”

“ If we desire, then, to serve both God and mammon, it will be unprofitable for us. "For what will it profit if a man gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" [31] This world and the next are two enemies. ”

“ And should we not all be able to obtain the crown, let us at least come near to it. We must remember [41] that he who strives in the corruptible contest, if he be found acting unfairly, [42] is taken away and scourged, and cast forth from the lists. What then think ye? If one does anything unseemly in the incorruptible contest, what shall he have to bear? For of those who do not preserve the seal [43] [unbroken] , [the Scripture] saith, "Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh." [44] ”

“ Wherefore, my brethren, let us not be of a double mind, but let us hope and endure, that we also may obtain the reward. For He is faithful who has promised that He will bestow on every one a reward according to his works. If, therefore, we shall do righteousness in the sight of God, we shall enter into His kingdom, and shall receive the promises, "which ear hath not heard, nor eye seen, neither have entered into the heart of man." [55] ”

“ Let us therefore serve God with a pure heart, and we shall be righteous; but if we do not serve Him, because we believe not the promise of God, we shall be miserable. For the prophetic word also declares, "Wretched are those of a double mind, and who doubt in their heart, who say, All these things have we heard even in the times of our fathers ”

“ And in that He said, "For she that is desolate hath many more children than she that hath an husband," [He means] that our people seemed to be outcast from God, but now, through believing, have become more numerous than those who are reckoned to possess God. ”

“ Some deem the text corrupt. ↑ Literally, according to the ms., "it is not possible that a man should find it who are"—the passage being evidently corrupt. ↑ The same words occur in Clement's first epistle, chap. ”