Clement of Rome

“ 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.” ”

“ Let us reckon [48] that it is better to hate the things present, since they are trifling, and transient, and corruptible; and to love those which are to come, as being good and incorruptible. 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.” ”

“ He speaketh of that day of judgment, when they shall see those among us [141] that have been ungodly and acted deceitfully with the commandments of Jesus Christ. But the righteous who have done well and endured torments and hated the enjoyments of the soul, when they shall behold those that have gone astray and denied Jesus through their words or through their works, how that they are punished with grievous torments in unquenchable fire, shall be giving glory to God, saying, There will be hope for him that hath served God with his whole heart. ”

“ For after we have gone out of the world, no further power of confessing or repenting will there belong to us. Wherefore, brethren, by doing the will of the Father, and keeping the flesh holy, and observing the commandments of the Lord, we shall obtain eternal life. ”

“ For if we desire to possess them, we fall away from the path of righteousness. [43]
Chap. vi.—the present and future worlds are enemies to each other.
Now the Lord declares, “No servant can serve two masters.” [44] 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?” [45] This world and the next are two enemies. ”

“ For if God gave shortly the recompense of the righteous, straightway we would be exercising ourselves in business, not in godliness; for we would seem to be righteous, while pursuing not what is godly but what is gainful. ”

“ Such a one then shall not partake of the spirit, which is Christ. Such life and incorruption this flesh [113] can partake of, when the Holy Spirit is joined to it. No one can utter or speak “what the lord hath prepared” for his elect. [114]
Chap. xv.—faith and love the proper return to god.
Now I do not think I have given you any light counsel concerning self-control, [115] which if any one do he will not repent of it, but will save both himself and me who counselled him. For it is no light reward to turn again a wandering and perishing soul that it may be saved. ”

“ Let us blot out from us our former sins, and repenting from the soul let us be saved; and let us not become [87] men-pleasers, nor let us desire to please only one another, [88] but also the men that are without, by our righteousness, that the Name [89] be not blasphemed on account of us. ”

“ Let us therefore, brethren and sisters, be believing: we are striving in the contest [152] of the living God, we are exercised by the present life, in order that we may be crowned by that to come. No one of the righteous received fruit speedily, but awaiteth it. ”

“ Being therefore partakers of so great kindness, let us not be envious of one another [120] in the obtaining of so many good things. For as great as is the pleasure which these sayings have for them that have done them, so great is the condemnation they have for them that have been disobedient. ”

“ The evidence of C and S does not clear up the difficulty here, the reading of these authorities being substantially that of A. Lightfoot renders: “For for this cause is a man unable to attain happiness, seeing that they call in the fears of men,” etc. Hilgenfeld (2d ed.) assumes here a considerable gap in all the authorities, and inserts two paragraphs, cited in other authors as from Clement. The first and longer passage is from John of Damascus, and it may be accounted for as a loose citation from chap. xx. in the recovered portion of this Epistle. ”

“ Wherefore, brethren, let us confess Him by [32] our works, by loving one another, by not committing adultery, or speaking evil of one another, or cherishing envy; but being continent, compassionate, and good. We ought also to sympathize with one another, and not be avaricious. ”

“ This He speaketh of the day of His appearing, when He shall come and redeem us, each one according to his works. [137] And the unbelievers “shall see His glory,” and strength; and they shall think it strange when they see the sovereignty [138] of the world in Jesus, saying, Woe unto us, Thou wast He, [139] and we did not know and did not believe, and we did not obey the presbyters when they declared unto us concerning our salvation. And “their worm dieth not, and their fire is not quenched, and they shall be for a spectacle unto all flesh.” ”

“ Lightfoot, “mean things.”—R.] ↑ [Literally, “little things;” Lightfoot, “mean things.”—R.] ↑ [Lightfoot follows the Syriac, and renders: “And they that listen, as concerning mean things, do wrong; and we ourselves do wrong, not knowing,” etc. But the briefer reading of the Greek mss. is lectio difficilior —R.] ↑ [Only S has γάρ. A has δέ, which the Edinburgh translators have rendered “for.” So twice in chap. iii.—R.] ↑ Literally, “holy things.” ”

“ Gebhardt would substitute μηδ' ἥδε, while S supplies in full, quum soror videbit fratrem, an obvious interpretament. ↑ This seems to be an explanation of the saying above referred to, and not a citation; similar cases occur in the homily. ↑ The headings to the chapters have been supplied by the editor, but in so rambling a discourse they are in some cases necessarily unsatisfactory. ↑ Hilgenfeld reads μου instead of οὗν; so S apparently. The chapters are usually introduced with οὗν (nine times) or ὤστε (five times) . ↑ γινώμεθα; Lightfoot, “be found.” ↑ Literally, “ourselves,” ἑαυτοι̑ς ”

“ Jas. v. 20. ↑ Literally, “becometh a lightener (κούφισμα) of sin;” comp. Ecclus. iii. 30. ↑ Lightfoot, with Syriac, reads ἵνα καὶ του̑το πράσσωμεν. Comits ἵνα, and reads πράσσομεν, “If we have commandments and practise this.” ↑ Here Lightfoot thinks a verb has probably fallen out of the text. ↑ Bryennios thus connects: “in order that all may be saved, and may convert,” etc. ↑ “This clearly shows that the work before us is a sermon delivered in church” (Lightfoot) . The preacher is himself one of “the presbyters;” comp. chap. ”

“ The Revised Version properly capitalizes “Name” in that passage. ↑ C here, and in many other cases, reads ὑμα̑ς; comparison of mss. shows that it is a correction of the scribe. ↑ Lightfoot renders διὰ παντός, “every way;” but the temporal sense is common in Hellenistic Greek, and here required by the Hebrew. ↑ Isa. lii. 5, with πασι̑ν inserted. ↑ Lightfoot reads, καὶ πάλιν Οὐαί, following the Syriac. C has καὶ Διό. There is difficulty in identifying this second quotation: comp. Ezek. xxxvi. 20–23. Lightfoot thinks it probable that the preacher used two different forms of Isa. lii. 5. ”

“ Ps. cxvi. 12. ↑ Literally, “lame.” ↑ Literally “of men.” [Compare Arnobius, vol. vi. p. 423.] ↑ Literally, “being full of such darkness in our sight.” ↑ Literally, “having beheld in us much error and destruction.” ↑ [C, S (apparently) , and recent editors have ἕχοντας, “even when we had,” instead of ἕχοντες (A) , as above paraphrased.—R.] ↑ Comp. Hos. ii. 23; Rom. iv. 17, ix. 25. ↑ Literally, “willed us from not being to be.” [Comp. n. 4, p. 365.] ↑ Isa. liv. 1; Gal. iv. 27. [R. V., “the husband.”—R.] ↑ Some render, “should not cry out, like women in travail.” ”