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Bought with the income of the
Wilham C. Egleston Fund
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CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

CLEMENT OF
ALEXANDRIAA STUDY IN CHRISTIAN LIBERALISM

BY
R. B. TOLLINTON, B.D.
RECTOR OF TENDRING
SOMETIME EXHIBITIONER OF BALLIOL COLLECF, OXFORD
EXAMINING CHAPLAIN TO THE BISHOP OF RIPON, 1895-1911

VOL. II

LONDON
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE
14 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C,
1914

CONTENTS CHAPTER XII
THE INCARNATION
Christianity, as a religion, claims (i) a universal significance : (2) a
historic origin — Clement accepts these claims without
realising all their difificulties — Many tendencies of his time
facilitated the idea of an Incarnation — On the other hand,
serious objections led thoughtful minds to shrink from
the doctrine of "the Word made fiesh" — Clement distin
guishes four main aspects of the doctrine of the Incarnation :
(i) The fad of the Incarnation; the Word had "come" —
His mention of details and incidents of the Lord's life on
earth — His conviction as to the fact clear, though his main
interest is not in the historic event : (2) The mode of the
Incarnation — Here his thought has hardly attained precision
— He connects the Incarnation with God's other manifesta
tions of His nature — -There was some ground for Photius'
charge of Docetism — Clement accepts, but does not build
upon, the Virgin birth : (3) The purpose of the Incarnation —
This is the salvation of humanity — What Clement understood
by salvation — "The taking of the manhood into God": (4)
The climax of the Incarnate life in the Lord's Passion — What
was meant by the term irtiflos — " He suffered "—Clement's
view of the Incarnation may be compared with those of other
theologians : (i) Iren»us — The view of Irenseus more
historical — It is also more Scriptural — And less speculative —
His presentation of the doctrine, as well as Clement's, has its
value : (2) Athanasius — His De incamatione — With Athan
asius the Incarnation is closely connected with the Fall — The
significance of the doctrine far more limited than in Clement
— Its cosmological aspects less, its sotetiological more, pro-

vi CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
PACES
nounced — Athanasius' view is further from modern conditions :
(3) Anselm — Points of similarity with Clement — The differ
ences, however, are more important — The contrast between
Clement's varied interpretation of the doctrine and the
a priori method of the Cur deus homo ? — Anselm also is
further removed from modern conditions — Has Clement's
view of the Incarnation value not only in relation to his own
time but also for ourselves ? — The danger of facile association
— But, at least, then as now, religious thought was in
solution — Clement essentially synthetic — We, too, are in
quest of synthesis — This characteristic of Clement may be
brought into relation with certain contrasts which have arisen
in the theology of the Incarnation : (i) The contrast between
the Human and the Divine : (2) The contrast between the
doctrine of the Incarnation and the theory of Immanence :
(3) The contrast between the historic and the spiritual aspects
of Christianity : (4) The contrast between the Jesus of History
and the Christ of Faith — Importance of the synthesis, in each
case, of the contrasted terms . , , . 1-34

CHAPTER XIII
GNOSTICISM
Gnosticism the occasion of Clement's only controversy — The probable
attraction of Gnosticism for many of his more educated pupils
— To such the teachers of the Gnostic schools would point
out : (i) That there was no question of leaving the Church :
(2) That the Gnosis also had its antiquity and continuity ;
(3) That great and learned men had championed its tenets
and created its literature : (4) That its message contained
elements of value — Especially its cosmological theories : (5)
That it was a "royal road" for the elect, where the many
might not intrude : (6) That it conserved all that was best in
Greek philosophy : (7) That, finally, it had its religious value,
particularly in its doctrine of Grace and Redemption — To
these positive attractions must be added the fact that
Gnosticism liberated its adherents : (i) From the need to
accept certain concrete, sensible, historic elements in Chris
tianity : (2) Sometimes from the harsh claims of the Old
Testament : (3) Sometimes also, less to its credit, from the
obligation to a Martyr's death— Such was the rival teaching

CONTENTS vii
. , , PAGES
With which Clement was confronted — His attitude towards
Gnosticism cannot be described by any single statement—
His differentiation between Gnosticism and the Church is
often clear and decided — But, where his condemnation is most
strong, he speaks of its moral rather than its intellectual
aspects — Three main points at issue between Clement and
the Gnostics — Human Freedom, Dualism, Cosmology : {A)
Human Freedom — He repudiates the theory of distinct and
predetermined natures in man — His criticism of certain
teaching of Basilides on this subject — His remarks on a
similar theory of Valentinus— The problem of Determinism
was also raised by the sufferings of the righteous — This
especially in the case of Martyrdom — An illustration of
Clement's opinions on this point — In the main, he is successful
in proving that Determinism will not account for the facts, but
not in solving the difficulties involved by Freedom : {B)
Dualism — Marcion — His importance and influence — Charac
teristics of Marcion's Dualism — Clement's strong opposition
— His assertion of the unity of the world— His criticism of
Pessimism — Clement's controversy with Marcion brings out
the synthetic and reconciling tendency of his nature — On the
the other hand, he had never felt the full stress of Marcion's
problem : (C) Cosmological theory — Here Clement's opposi
tion is less sharply defined — His own unaccomplished project
of a complete scheme of knowledge was largely due to Gnostic
influences — Yet Clement's scheme (i) was to be more closely
Scriptural : (2) And would have been formulated as an ascent
to, not as a descent from, the First Principle — The extent of
his indebtedness to Gnosticism — Some general features in
Clement's attitude throughout this controversy : (i) The
common desire among the adherents of any Rehgion is to
conserve and defend what is established and traditional
against all attack — But Clement possesses the less frequent
disposition which, while remaining loyal to its heritage, seeks
to acquire and learn from new sources — In him we see the
Ecclesia docens et discens : (2) As to his criticisms, he is not
especially effective when he attacks — But he keeps to the
main issues, is generally fair, and does not sink to the level of
abuse : (3) The true significance of his position in this con
troversy is that, against the trend of his own nature, he maintains
the value of the concrete, the particular, the historical, as
against the abstractions of Gnosticism — Thus he sides here
with the great Church as against Heresy . . . 35-71

viii CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
CHAPTER XIV
THE HIGHER LIFE
PAGES
An orthodox " Gnosis," though the Church rejected Gnosticism, had
existed from Apostolic times— Yet it was a bold step for
Clement to reassert the way of "Gnosis" within the Church
—The occasion for such teaching— Stages and aspects of this
journey of the soul — Faith the initial stage — Clement, some
times, insisting upon the unity of the Christian life, seems to
regard Faith as one with Knowledge — But the distinction
which he often draws between the two is more important-
Knowledge, however, never invalidates Faith — The three
motives which impel the soul upon this upward way : (l) Its
own choice : the will is i nvolved : (2) Love, which is greater than
Fear and Hope : (3) Together with these, the divine Grace —
How these three blend in one— The further stages or features
of this way : (i) Moral and Spiritual qualities required for
vision — The pure in heart see : (2) The effort and difficulty of
this life: (3) Purification— Sources of this element in his
teaching : (4) " Apathy " ; negative character of this feature
in his ideal — His extreme statements concerning it — But he
frequently makes admissions which modify these — Causes
which may have led to his high estimate of this quality :
(5) Likeness to God — This is specially seen in the freedom
conferred by "Apathy'' — Such likeness to God may even
pass, in Clement's extreme language, into beitig God : (6) The
Prayers of the Gnostic — Beauty of his teaching on this point :
(7) But this higher life has its external as well as its inward
aspects — Action combined with "Gnosis" — Beneficence,
courtesy, human interest — The Gnostic as a teacher of others
— Such are the stages that lead to the goal : (8) The goal,
which has been in Clement's mind throughout, is perfect
vision — Characteristics of this final stage ofthe soul's advance :
(i) Its permanence : (2) The perfection of communion
attained in it : (3) Its final peace — Clement's ideal, like other
particular Christian ideals, did not win permanent accept
ance — What we may gain by reconsidering this type or
tendency of character .,,.., 72-101

CONTENTS Ix
CHAPTER XV
THE CHURCH
The special interest of the Church's internal history during Clement's
lifetime — Hence our disappointment at his scanty references
to such topics — Two reasons for this: (i) Alexandria cared
little for order, discipline, organisation : (2) Clement's personal
interest lay in other directions — But his conception of the
Church is yet a noble one — For Clement the Church possessed,
ideally, both Unity and Antiquity — He employs many common
figures for the Church — The Church as spiritual Mother — As
a Body — As an Organ of the Spirit — As Heavenly Kingdom,
Bride, and Holy Mount — The spiritual and invisible Church
above — Together with these elements certain concrete ecclesi
astical facts emerge in Clement's pages : (i) The composition
ofthe Church — Its members exhibit variety of nationality, of
occupation, of social position, of spiritual attainment — The
difference between its cultured and uncultured members
specially concerned Clement : (2) The ministry of the Church
— Does Clement support St Jerome's statement concerning
the method of appointing the Bishop in Alexandria? — He
speaks sometimes of three orders, sometimes of two— His
evidence, on the whole, is compatible with Jerome's statement
— The Episcopal office — The Laying On of Hands — The lay
Chaplain— Pastoral care : (3) Doctrine — It is clear from
Clement's references that the substance of the Apostles'
Creed was generally accepted in the Church of Alexandria
— How Clement distributes his doctrinal emphasis — The
stress with him falls always on the inward side of belief —
Slight evidence for any authoritative formula in his writings :
(4) The Church already had its "Places of Worship"— But
there were not as yet specially erected buildings — Other
public buildings in Alexandria — Clement's shrine is rather
the Universe, the Home, the Soul : (5) Times and Seasons-
Clement's views on the Easter question — The Epiphany-
Days of the Week— Fixed hours of Prayer : (6) The Church's
discipline and control of its members — Clement cares little
for external authority — His references to sin after Baptism —
And to public Confession — From internal affairs we pass to
the Church's external relations : (i) The Church and the
Heresies — But were they without or within ? — Both aspects
seen in Clement's references : (2) The Church and the State

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
PAGES
— Motives of persecution — Martyrdom : (3) The Church and
the World — Missionary enterprise — The merits and defects
of Clement's Church— Its interest for us— It is specially a
Church of many contrasts — Freedom and Discipline — Youth
and Antiquity — Culture and Ignorance — Attainment and
Failure — Thus it is a mixed society — Conclusion . . 102-134

CHAPTER XVI
SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
The value of the Sacraments as centres round which associations
may collect — The interest of Clement's appreciation of these
rites — A preliminary question — Does his use of sacramen
tal terminology spring from an already established Order,
or does it anticipate and in part suggest the later forms of
Worship? — In general the latter view is true — In this chapter
the externals of the Sacraments and their inward significance
will in each case be considered: {A) Baptism: (i) The
external form of this Sacrament in Clement — Comparison of
this with later usage : (2) The inward significance of Baptism
— It conferred membership in a new Kingdom — And in a
new Family — Forgiveness — Purification — Protection from
evil— Its more positive aspects — It brought Immortality —
And Illumination : {B) The Eucharist : (1) The external form
— The number of the worshippers — Five elements in this
worship — The Homily — The Reading ofthe Scriptures — The
Oblation — Prayer — Praise — To these the Kiss of Peace must
be added — Were the Eucharist and the Agape as yet dis
tinguished in Clement's Church? — Difficulty of this question
— Divergent views of the authorities — But there is some
reason to think that this distinction did exist— The Agape,
however, still important— Its religious character— Details and
associations : (2) The inward significance of this Sacrament
—It is spiritual feeding— Like Baptism it brought Truth and
Immortality — Clement lays no emphasis on the sacrificial
aspects of the Eucharist — Relations between the Sacraments
ofthe Church and (i) The Pagan Ms'steries : (2) The Gnostic
Sacraments— Clement specially indebted to the Mysteries
in his interpretation ofthe Sacraments— Details of such cor
respondence—His attitude to the Gnostic Sacraments —
Criticism— But his view of the Valentinian Sacraments is
not hostile— Catholic practice in regard to the Sacraments

CONTENTS xi
PAGES
anticipated by Gnosticism — The danger of depreciating either
the outward or the inward elements of the Sacramental
principle — The value of Clement's example in preserving each
of these in its right proportion ..... 135-164

CHAPTER XVII
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES— CANON AND TEXT
Clement's knowledge of Scripture — -This possibly commenced before
his conversion— His debt in this respect to his masters —
His reading of the Bible — His labours in the Catechetical
School largely Biblical and exegetical — His personal delight
in the Scriptures. (I) THE CANON
What was his Bible?— (^) The Old Testament— The
Church's Old Testament Scriptures taken over from the
Jews — Question as to certain books ; the Song of Songs,
Ecclesiastes, Esther — What was Clement's view of the
Apocrypha? — His fondness for Ecclesiasticus and the Book
of Wisdom : But he gives no decisions as to technical
canonicity : {B) The New Testament — His use of its various
books — Four Epistles are doubtful — Where does he locate the
Shepherd of Hermas, the Epistle of Barnabas, and other
doubtful writings?— On the New Testament Canon, as on
the Old, he gives no final decisions.
(II) THE TEXT
What is the value of Clement's evidence for purposes of
textual criticism? — His famiharity with Scripture is here a
hindrance— His habit of quoting from memory — His freedom
in adapting Scripture — Hence his evidence for purposes of the
text is of less value than might have been expected : {A) The
Old Testament — Clement's Old Testament in Greek — The
versions of Symmachus and Theodotion already in existence
side by side with the LXX — His acquaintance with more than
one version of the Old Testament — The Vatican Codex of
the Old Testament — Does Clement support this ? — As be
tween " B " (Codex Vaticanus) and "A" (Codex Alexandrinus)
Clement's preference is doubtful — His quotations tested in
(i) Exodus — Deuteronomy: (2) in Isaiah: (3) in Ecclesi
asticus— His evidence, like Philo's, gives no clear superiority

xii CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
PAGES
either to " B " or to " A " : {B) The New Testament— Clement
has twice as many quotations from the New Testament as
from the Old— His familiarity with the Gospels— The nature
of his evidence to be seen by definite examples : (i) The
quotation of St Mark x. 17-31, in the Quis dives salvetur,
compared with Westcott and Hort's text : (2) A similar test
applied to nine quotations from the other Gospels : (3) Also to
nine from the Epistle to the Ephesians : (4) And to seven
from the second Epistle to the Corinthians : (5) Points of
interest in his quotations from the Prologue to the Fourth
Gospel— Mr P. M. Barnard's important proof of Clement's
affinities with the Western type of text . . ¦ 165-191

CHAPTER XVIII
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES— AUTHORITY AND
EXEGESIS
Clement's attitude towards Scripture at once free and dependent —
Scripture a final authority — The Bible a book by itself —
Scripture the sure source of certainty — The main principle
supported by the theory, not original with Clement, that the
Greeks had stolen from the Scriptures — The Scriptures a unity
with distinct elements — The harmony of (i) the Law: (2) the
Prophets : (3) the Gospel : (4) the Apostles — Clement does not
dwell upon the distinction of Prophecy from the Law —
Relatively, the importance of Prophecy is raised — The relation
of the Gospel to the Old Testament — The unity of the Law
and the Gospel maintained as against the Jews — Also as
against Marcion and other Heretics — Clement's appreciation
of the Law — In regard to the Gospel, the fact that the Lord
taught or said certain things is more important for Clement
than that they were written in certain books — " The voice
and Scripture of the Lord" — The Apostohc element — In
particular, St Paul's Epistles — Unity and diversity in such
phases and sequence of Revelation — Clement's use of three
important terms : (i) Covenant or Testament — As yet this
word had not finally come to mean a collection of books : (2)
Canon — A rule or standard, in particular, one of interpreta
tion : (3) Tradition — Its characteristics, with Clement, not
those of Roman Catholic Tradition — Exegesis — The selection
of books or passages as important, is a form of Exegesis —
Clement selects — His insistences and omissions — Allegorism

CONTENTS
PAGES
— Its theory — Truth is hidden — How the Bible is to be
understood— " The two Moses"— "The veil"— The inner
meaning is for those who have the gift of Gnosis — Various
examples of allegorical interpretation : (a) From the Old
Testament, where he frequently follows Philo : (i) From the
New Testament, where he is more original — Criticisms of
the allegorical method — It ignores the original intention of
the writer — It also proceeds upon the ground of trivial
identities, not, like the Lord's Parables, upon real correspon
dence — Yet through Allegorism Clement could retain the
Scriptures without the fetters of literalism — Allegorism
also solved the discrepancies between the Old Testament and
the New — Clement's treatment of Scripture often fragmentary
and discursive — Examples : (i) His exposition of the De
calogue — Estimate of this piece of Gnostic ormystical exegesis:
(2) The Hypotyposeis — Illustrations of their scope and
method — The value of this exegetical work not permanent
but possibly considerable for its own time : (3) One particular
book selected to illustrate Clement's use of Scripture — The
Epistle to the Hebrews — Of the main principles of this
Epistle's teaching Clement does not make so much use as he
might have done — His considerable indebtedness to it in
points of detail — General features of his use of the Epistle —
Conclusion — In regard to Scripture we cannot wholly adopt
Clement's principles — His permanent interest in this connec
tion : (i) He exemplifies the fundamental importance of the
right to interpret : (2) He also illustrates the place and
function of learning, as contrasted with that of authority : (3)
His delight and enthusiasm for the Scriptures^Guidance
and illumination ,.,.,. 192-230

CHAPTER XIX
THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
The tendency of the intellect to crowd out piety and devotion— But
this does not hold good in the case of Clement — Some
features of his piety — {A) His marked instinct for unities and
harmony — This leads him (1) to blend Religion and Phil
osophy : (2) To connect Faith and Knowledge : (3) To insist
on the intimate association of Thought and Action : {B) His
kinship with the Mystics — He is indebted to Eleusis— He is
also influenced by the tendencies which issued later in Neo-

xiv CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
PAGES
platonism — Yet he never entirely belongs to the mystic
company — The intellectual element in his nature was too
strong and persistent to allow this : (C) Clement's views on
the relationship of God and man — His high estimate of
human nature at its best— With this accords his insistence
on the freedom of man's will — Yet his belief in Divine
Providence and man's consequent dependence is equally
clear — How Philosophy and Religion specially blend and
co-operate in this doctrine : {D) Clement's marked Optimism
proceeds in part from this conviction^ His Optimism finds
particular expression (i) In his views of Nature: (2) In the
absence of darker elements from his Eschatology : (3) .\nd,
particularly, in his theory of Future Punishment — How
in this theory Clement blends severity with hope— This point
illustrated by his teaching on the remedial discipline of Fire
— Perhaps he turns away too readily from the darker facts
of life — Yet he remains a memorable example of Christian
serenity — {E) Clement's debts to Religion may be made
clear by comparing his general outlook with that of Marcus
Aurelius and with that of Lucian : (i) Marcus Aurelius
— What Clement had in common with the Emperor —
How they differed — Such difference seen not principally
in regard to the Christian doctrine of the Cross — But rather
in Clement's more assured sense of the Divine Love — And
also in his unhesitating conviction of the Life beyond : (2)
Lucian — In particular, his Dialogue Charon— Ho-w human
life appeared to two divine Spectators — The tragic comedy
of existence — -irivra y4\ws — Vanity and Transience — Where
the charm of the Greeks failed — Clement's many-sided piety
— Its value ' . , , . , 231-262

CHAPTER XX
THEN AND NOW
In taking leave of Clement we recognise his interest for the student
of Theology and of Church History— Has he also elements
ofvalueforourown age and conditions ?— Opinions of modern
authorities, who hold that his writings do contain such
elements — Let a religious Teacher of our own day be
supposed to visit in spirit Clement's world— The account
which he would give of the second century would be found
largely applicable to the twentieth— From this general

CONTENTS XV
PAGES
similarity must, however, be deducted certain particular
divergences : (i) Now the "Social Question" confronts Chris
tianity : Then religion was individual : (2) Now, in the general
solution of religious thought, the Christian is the oldest
element— Then it was the most recent addition : (3) Further
minor divergences — Still, principles may be learned where
details cannot be imitated — Some general principles, which a
modern religious teacher might learn in Clement's school :
(I) The value of the synthetic attitude of mind — Our own
need of a new synthesis — The teacher's task is now to a large
extent one of reconciliation : (II) The value of the Hellenic
element in Christianity — Clement fundamentally a Hellene —
Similar in our own desire for Light — Similar is the more
extensive, less rigorous, outlook in religion : (III) The "pro
portion of Faith " in Clement — How our interpretation of the
Creed may in some respects coincide with his — With him we
may reassert the doctrine of the Immanence of God — Also,
with him, we may estimate the mystical before the intel
lectual element in Religion, the intellectual before the
institutional — Yet the harmony and the value of these three
may be retained : (IV) The need, now and then, to consider
the spiritual wants of the thoughtful and often undecided
minority — The importance of this service as it might be
rendered by a modern religious guide — Our farewell to this
happy and learned interpreter of the Gospel . . 263-284
CHAPTER XXI
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS . . 285-313
APPENDIX I
The Persecution of a.d. 202-3 ..... 314-324
APPENDIX II
On the Order and Date of Clement's Works . , 324-333
Index , . ,  334-339

ILLUSTRATIONS
Seven Coins of the Period , . . . to face page i
"Pompey's Pillar'' in Alexandria . ,, ,, 102

Plate III.

SEVEN COINS OF THE PERIOD.
I Commodus and C^) Marcia. 2 and 3. Julia Domna. 4. Alexandria (reverse, a head of Hadrian).
5 and 6. Severus. 7. Commodus.
1.2,^, and 6 are from the Cabinet des M^.lailles et Antiques in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
3, 5, and 7 are from the British Museum.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

CHAPTER XII
THE INCARNATION
Christianity is a religion with a universal significance : it
is also a religion with a historic origin. From the com
bination of these two elements arise alike its spiritual value
and its most constant problems. Belonging, as it does in
part, to the domain of Faith and Interpretation, in part also
to that of Facts and Events, it may be viewed from either
standpoint, yet loses its virtue and its characteristics so soon
as the other is wholly forgotten or denied. We are con
cerned, on the one hand, with a^ divine Purpose, a universal
Life, a spiritual interpretation of the Cosmos ; on the other,
with a particular historic Person, connected by definite
associations with events, localities, personages, conditions,
on the temporal plane. The relation between these two
elements may be variously represented : the stress and
emphasis may be laid on either side ; and our process of
thought may move from one or the other point of view-
But except the two be in some manner related and united,
there is no Christian Religion. The historic Jesus is in
some sense the spiritual Christ. The Epistles stand side
by side with the Synoptic Gospels. In religion as elsewhere
there may be no entire divorce between philosophy and
VOL. II. I

1 THE INCARNATION
facts. Our own age is attempting again the readjustment
of the historic and the universal elements in Christianity,
a process which from time to time becomes necessary,
inasmuch as religion can never be isolated from the general
movement of thought and knowledge.
For Clement, in the second century, it was an accepted
principle that Christianity contained both these elements.
The difficulties involved in their combination were only
beginning to emerge. He stands midway between the New
Testament and the Great Councils. Thus he inherits and
accepts all that Saint Paul, Saint John, or the writer of the
Epistle to the Hebrews, had taught about the manifestation
of the Godhead in the life and the person of Jesus. On
the other hand, he is not yet involved in the acute contro
versies over theories of the Incarnation, which so monopolised
the Church's thought from the age of Arius to that of
Eutyches. His acceptance of the Divine revelation in the
Lord is joyous and characteristic : equally characteristic,
however, is his unconsciousness of some of the problems
involved, his readiness to speak of it in different and not
entirely consistent terms. And throughout, as the previous
chapter has made plain, his faith and interest find their
centre in the universal Logos, rather than in the human life
of Jesus. Like Justin and Origen he cares comparatively
little for the Gospel history, but much for the great
principles upon which it depends for its significance. Yet
there is no hesitation or question in his recognition of the
Incarnation. God had been manifest within the limits of a
human life. He takes this doctrine over from Christian
tradition and is not specially anxious to develop it into
systematic consistency. His philosophy, however, brought
this truth into relation with other tendencies of thought,
some of which facilitated, some of which rendered more
difficult, this central article of faith.

AFFINITIES OF THIS DOCTRINE 3
However little the Christian teacher might care to
recognise it, there can be litde doubt that there were
elements in pagan Mythology which prepared the way for
the belief in the Incarnate Christ. To one who, like
Clement, had come over from Paganism it was not a wholly
strange idea that God should manifest Himself on earth as
man. The theophanies of the poets had in this way their
value, and the crudest anthropomorphisms at least evidenced
the connection between the human sphere and the divine.
Hercules, the deity of laborious service ; .Slsculapius, the
healer and physician ; Prometheus, who suffered for his
efforts to benefit humanity, had their obvious points of
similarity with the ministry of the Son of Man. Celsus^
had already made use of this resemblance for his own
purposes, and the argument continued a favourite one with
hostile critics of Christianity, as is evidenced by the
insistence of Athanasius a century later on the differences
between these pagan friends of humanity and the Christ.^
Clement, in a similar strain, dwells mainly on the baser side
of these affinities of the deities of Olympus with mankind.'
He scoffs at the servitude and bondage of the pagan gods
on earth, though indeed the argument was a dangerous one
for a Christian writer.
Not the less, it is sufficiently evident that all these
ancient stories, enshrined in Homer and the Drama, must
have rendered it easier to welcome the Gospel narrative
of God's intimate association with the life of man. The
religious imagination had already conceived it possible that
there should be a ladder between Heaven and Earth.
The divine Benevolence could come down, the nobler
Humanity could ascend. So Clement delights to recall a
suggestive thought which he attributed to Plato, and to
' Origen, c. Celsum, iii. 22. ^ De Incarnatione, 49.
^31, and other passages in the Protrepticus.

4 THE INCARNATION
think of good souls as voluntarily leaving the upper heavens
and taking bodies on earth, in order by sharing the ills of
humanity to be its benefactors as lawgivers or teachers,
" than which no greater blessing ever came or shall come
from the gods to humankind." ^ So, too, he is acquainted
also with that opposite line of thought, which regards some
singular and exceptional service of mankind as an avenue
or title to a place among the gods.^ Apart from all
Christian influences, Clement is thus familiar with the Idea
of God coming down to share in the life of man, and of man
being taken up to share the life of God. Moreover, he
lived in the days of the Empire, and no subject of Caesar
could fail to remember, that one after another of this world's
rulers had been numbered, even while living, among the
company of Heaven. Even from the pagan standpoint
there was no insuperable barrier to prevent the Word
becoming flesh. Men were prepared to admit and to
recognise a " way."
On the other hand, it is equally clear that Clement felt
the force of many difficulties and objections. Just because
the popular mythology had brought the divine down to
human levels, and attributed all its own common failings to
the gods, there had come among thoughtful men a reaction ;'
and ever since Plato had banished from his state those who
spread unworthy stories about the gods, the philosopher had
always feared to desecrate the Divine by associating it too
closely with the common and imperfect world. The Stoic
doctrine of divine Immanence found this prejudice difficult
to overcome, and strangely enough It sometimes seemed
the part of true religion to banish God altogether from
His world. "The ordinary nodons of the Deity," said
Porphyry, "are of such a kind that it Is more godless to
¦ 355., The reference to Plato is not quite clear. ^ 22.
' Cp. Clement's own words, £y fiirreToi triios, ipiayrh. TtavTCL ia^ai, 846.

DIFFICULTIES INVOLVED 5
share them than to neglect the images of the Gods " ; ^ and
Christianity, with Its teaching of an Incarnation, had thus a
strong and In the main a justified reluctance to overcome,
before it could commend to the thinker its Gospel of the
Word made flesh.
For the best of Hellenism and the best of Hebraism
were here at one, and It is a remote and noble Monotheism
for which Celsus pleads when he argues that " God is good
and beautiful and blessed, and that In the best and most
beautiful degree," ^ and that " if He came down among
men. He must undergo a change." More than once
Clement refers' to the objections urged by those critics
of the new religion, who found it incredible that the
divine should be in any way subject to external influences,
liable to TToiOoi, conditioned by limits of place and time. A
human Christ, a God made manifest In the life of man,
seemed to Involve all this ; and the efforts made by the
various Gnostic schools to bridge the gap by interposing
many phases of being, each slightly less divine and more
nearly human than the last, are sufficient evidence of the
real difficulty which presented itself to the more thoughtful
minds of the age, when the Church claimed that God had
revealed Himself and taken human form In Jesus. Assent
did involve an effort. It was one thing to accept in theory
the doctrine of the all-pervading Logos, and to admit thereby
the most intimate relation between the Sovereign Deity
and the Cosmos. It was quite another, to maintain that In
an unimportant province of the Empire a man of humble
origin and no repute had really been the Word Incarnate,
In spite of the fact that he had died as a criminal, and only
Induced a handful of negligible persons to accept his
message. That Clement, with no slight touch of the
1 Quoted in Harnack, Bis/. Dogm., i. 354.
2 Origen, c. Cels., iv. 14. ' E.g. 370, 736,

6 THE INCARNATION
Intellectual aristocrat in his nature, felt the force of this
difficulty is certain and not unnatural.
Thus it is that Clement received from Christian tradition
the doctrine of the Incarnation, and yet found It impossible
to hold it Isolated from other tendencies of thought. The
old and still unsettled debate, as to whether our Alexandrine
father was fundamentally Christian or philosopher, is again
and again suggested by his attitude towards this article of
his creed. We may observe the blending of these tendencies
in his mind, as we proceed now to examine more In detail
his teaching on this doctrine. There is a passage at the
opening of the Fifth Book of the Stromateis ^ in which he
distinguishes four elements In the Christian faith In the
Incarnate Son : there is the fact of the Incarnation (on ^\Oev),
its manner (irto?), its purpose (8ia. ti), its climax in the
Crucifixion (wepl tov irdOovi). Our appreciation of his theo
logical teaching will be more complete. If we examine what
he has to say on each of these four points.
The Word had come. That was a fact. It stood In
line with other events of the historical order. There was
no surrender here of the concrete and the particular.
Clement's main Interest Is not In facts, but In principles and
Ideas. He can hardly be said to welcome both, with that
generous equality of treatment which characterises, for
example, the Fourth Gospel. For him always the stress
falls on the abstract side : he Is happiest when he can think
of the divine as apart from places, times, persons.^ Hence
there is the more significance in the Importance which he
attaches to the fact of the Lord's coming. It is as solid for
him as for the Synoptists. For once the philosopher takes
his stand on an event. The divine was not only universally
immanent : it had also arrived. God had come down ; eXdeiv^
iJKeiv, KaTu^alveiv, are terms In constant use ; there had been
' 643. 2 As, e.g., in 772.

THE FACT OF THE INCARNATION 7
an Advent, a irapovcrla. This last common word for the
Lord's special and historic Presence is with Clement habitual
and significant. On this point he is prepared to meet
objections from both Greek and Jewish sources.^ Here
there is a clear issue between the clever critics of Christianity
and the Church tradition for which he stands.^ It Is a
terminus ad quem, a quo. In human history and in God's
revelation of His purpose.' The Law and Prophecy and
the Philosophy of the Greeks are stages which lead up to
this more Intimate manifestation. It is from the date of the
Lord's birth that even the chronology of the Emperors is
reckoned.* Clement was familiar with various views as to the actual
date of the crucifixion, and appears himself to have held
the opinion that " the acceptable year of the Lord " Implied
that Jesus' public ministry was limited to a single year.^
From His birth to His cross. He passed through all phases
of human experience, and so enacted the " drama of our
salvation," ® and by " drama " Clement meant not that
which in any measure lacks reality, but that which Is evi
dent fact for all to know. He refers more often to the
words than to the deeds of the Lord's life, but there
are notices of his Baptism and Temptation, of the fact
that Jesus drank wine, of the washing of the disciples' feet,
of the feeding of the multitudes, and of the diadem of
thorns.'' He refers also to the single life of the Lord, and
gives his view of the reasons for it.* He also Infers
from Isaiah's description of the " Servant " that the Lord
was plain in appearance, with no beauty that we should
desire Him : he believed, characteristically enough, that
1 726. ^ "' 5oit7)<ri(ro0oi, 370.
' The Advent is frequently so regarded ; see, e.g., 266,.36g, 374, 451, 467,
823, 898.
4 407. * 407, 8. This was a Gnostic belief, see Iren., ii, 22, l, 5.
6 86, 939. ' 1 13. 186, 190, 214-5, 439> 665. 8 533-

8 THE INCARNATION
personal attractiveness in Jesus' appearance would have
diverted His hearers from the higher importance of His
teaching.^
This is the substance of Clement's references to the facts
of the Lord's life on earth. They are well nigh as scanty
and occasional as his sadly infrequent mention of his own
personal life. OeoXoyeiTai 6 Xpia-roi, as Eusebius said.^
Even though he mentions the Lord's weariness, as He sat
on the well at Sychar, and the Insight with which He watched
Martha's busy domestic zeal, Clement hardly appreciated
the full humanity which such Incidents imply.' It Is Christ's
teaching which appeals to Clement ; the charm of the
Galilean story, the depth of Gethsemane's sorrow, the colour
of the Parables, are things for which he has no eye. The
love of the Lord for children is one of the few beautiful
elements In His humanity, that seem to have really arrested
Clement's notice.* So Is a man limited by his dominant
interests, and Clement, who moves about with ease in the
higher realms of Christian Gnosis, has never made himself
at home in Nazareth or Capernaum. But against this in
difference to so much that seems to us of value In the
Gospels must, as we have seen, be set In strongest contrast
his assertion of the fact that the Word had really come.
Details apart, there was the great reality, God made man,
the Logos assuming flesh, the Divine coming very near.
It was so glad and so clear a fact, that we feel again and
again in Clement's treatment of it the old truth, " Pectus
facit theologum." His theology was really a religion, and
Faith and Fact blend for him together In his joyous homage
to the Word, who was made man for our salvation.
When we pass from Clement's unhesitating acceptance
of the fact of the Incarnation to the question of its mode
and Implications, It is less easy to speak definitely. Indeed,
1 86, 252, 818. 2 H.E., V. 28. 3 j^g^ 54, 4 ,0^ ^^^

ITS MODE AND CHARACTER 9
there are evident Indications that he had not thought out this
aspect of the subject into any consistent theory. That he had
not done this, need cause us little surprise ; his date and mental
characteristics alike account for his combination of really
incompatible ideas. How, for example, does the mani
festation or Advent of the Logos in the historic life of
the Saviour stand in relation to other admitted activities
of the Divine within the sphere of things temporal ?
Are the two wholly different in nature, or only in degree .''
Must we isolate the Incarnation or connect it with other
events ? Shall we regard Its affinities or its uniqueness .''
On this fundamental question of Christian theology
Clement speaks with two voices. We may be tolerably
clear which is the true Clement, but undoubtedly both
accents are to be heard.
With the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel and the Epistle
to the Hebrews, this later Alexandrine teacher sees the
Incarnation as an event in a series.^ What happened at
the Parousia had occurred before, in a lower degree and in
different modes. The purpose of God for humanity has
been gradually unfolding itself, and reaches a further stage
in the coming of the Son.^ The earlier dispensation of
the Law, the later dispensation of Christianity, are parts of
a single scheme.' Through the Greek, as well as through
the Jew, the same Logos who came in the humanity of Jesus
had been at work. The Word is the " instrument " or organ
of God, but Salvation is an ancient melody, and long before
He became incarnate and " took a name," the Word was
active for the welfare of humanity.* So Clement does not
hesitate to speak of the Incarnation as the greatest evidence
of the divine Love, or as the " more intimate " revelation
of the divine Will, in each case mentally classing it with
1 The Advent is v TfKfvraia toS a-urripos els riyias ivifytia, 679.
2 467. = 543- ' 6, 132.

IO THE INCARNATION
other modes of God's beneficence.^ It Is a supreme example
of the principle, which he asserts In another connection, that
most blessings are given from God through man's agency .**
This tendency to connect the Incarnation, rather than to
Isolate it, which is made constantly plain in Clement's un
disputed writings, finds even clearer expression In other
passages, which are probably quotations and not his own.
In one It Is said explicitly that the Word became flesh not
alone at the Advent, but also when His activity was exerted
through the Prophets.' In another he tells us that just
as the Saviour spoke and healed through a body, so did
He formerly " through the Prophets," and now " through
Apostles and Teachers." The Church Is the channel of the
Lord's activity, as He, In His Incarnate life, was the channel
of the Father's will. " For," he adds, " the loving God is
always putting on humanity for humanity's salvation, of
old the Prophets, now the Church." * This is an important
statement, and even if Clement only quotes It, he does so
undoubtedly with full approval of its implication that the
Incarnation Is a principle of the divine action, rather than an
isolated and unique event. Nowhere else in his pages do
we find a more frank recognition of the continuity of the
divine revelation. It is the truer expression of his mind
which reaches us in such passages, rather than In those of a
different order which we have now to consider.
For here and there, no doubt, Clement gives fair ground
for the charge of Docetism. He will speak in the plainest
terms of the Lord's humanity and then, as it seems, the old
philosophic dread of contaminating the Absolute gets the
better of him, and he reduces the human story of the Gospels
' 7} pLeyitTT-q tov (TUTr)pos iirKpaveia, 668. b dfhs . . . -Kpoff^x^^repov ^5ri 5ii
TTjs ToC viov -rapovffias aiii^wv k.t.k., 467. The term Trpoaexv' is frequent in this
connection: jrpoir6xe(rTepa iytpyeia, 514, Trpo(rcxf<'''''ep(»' &^6ri, 669; Cp.iyjC). It
unites the ideas of " recent " and " intimate."
2 325. 3 g73_ , gg^_

DOCETIC VIEWS ii
to a symbol or a show. It is ridiculous, he thinks, to
suppose that the Lord's body required food and drink for
its support. He eat and drank from no physical necessity,
but merely to avoid creating suspicion in the minds of His
companions.^ He was not an ordinary man, and He did
not belong to the world, though He came into it.^ What
men saw Indeed in Him was not the reality of His nature : '
to apprehend this was beyond man's powers, and He took
our flesh in order to manifest just what we were able to
receive. Himself He was different from that which He
assumed. Clement was even familiar with, and mentions
without criticism, the view that the rejected, insulted,
crucified. Son of Man was another than the real Christ.
The human nature of Jesus Is not actual reality, but some
thing transparent, diaphanous, through which the higher
nature is displayed. This Is the sense, apparently, of the
comparison of the Lord to a pearl.*
It Is true that in some of these passages Clement seems
to do no more than guard against the supposition that
perfect Godhead could be fully revealed to the perception of
sense. So far he would command full assent : a limitation,
a Kenosis, an " accommodation " of some kind, is necessarily
involved In the very notion of an Incarnation. But, when
the different references to this subject are taken together. It
Is fairly clear that Photius had some ground for his charge,^
and that a certain Docetic strain does blend Itself with his
other teaching on the mode and fashion of the Incarnation
of the Word. He never mentions the Psilanthropists, but
perhaps he dreaded them more than he feared the Gnostics.
The Church had some way to travel before It arrived at
' 775-
2 Not Koivis, 533 : not -foo-^iiKifs, 803 ; cp. 439. ' 812, 833.
* 241 ; cp. the doubtful Fragment given in Dindorf, iii. 492 ; fOTi liapyapir-ns
K.T.\. S |UT) aapKuBTJvai rhv \6yov, aXXA Siifai. Bibliotheca, Cod. 109.

12 THE INCARNATION
the formula of the two Natures in the one Person of the
Christ. Hence come Clement's Inconsistencies, for such
they were rather than conscious difficulties. They are such
as are bound to arise on any theory that starts from the
absolute distinction between the human and the divine.
We may notice a kindred fusion of really distinct alter
natives, when he speaks occasionally of the Lord as
human nature carried to its perfection,^ more usually and
habitually of the Godhead coming down and taking human
form. Whether God condescends or man attains, the result
may possibly be the same ; but the theories start from
different points of view. A full and true theology will
perhaps find place for both, so that we may forgive Clement
his combination of alternatives.
We must not leave the subject of his views on the mode
of the Incarnation, without some reference to his statements
in regard to the Virgin Birth. Clement receives It gladly
as a part of the Church's tradition,^ and has no difficulty in
pointing out from time to time Its significance In the Chris
tian scheme. So far his example is In full accord with the
statement that there are " no believers in the Incarnation
discoverable, who are not also believers in the Virgin
Birth." ' But it is in no sense true to say that his accept
ance of the Incarnation depends on his belief in the Virgin
Birth. For him the Incarnation Is a great and significant
fact, the highest expression of a widely regulative principle.
The birth from a Virgin is a concomitant and notable in
cident, an element In Christian tradition which he cordially
accepted ; but In no measure does it form the groundwork
or condition of his belief in the Incarnation of the Word.
It could be eliminated from Clement's theology without
disaster to the general structure. In whatever light the
Church of the future may regard this most ancient article
' 156, 623. 2 123, 558, 804. 3 Gore, Dissertations, 49.

PURPOSE OF THE INCARNATION 13
of her belief, it is well to point out that, for at least one
important phase of Christology, it had no inseparable or
necessary connection with the vital faith of the Word
Incarnate. For Clement, as for all Christian theology, the purpose
of the Incarnation Is the Salvation of Humanity, but this,
of course, has been interpreted In various ways, and
Clement's conception of salvation is his own and char
acteristic. There Is, behind it all, the Divine Purpose.
The coming of the Word is an " economy," ^ something
determined by the supreme Householder for the well-
being of the inmates of His world ; a piece of administra
tive work to which the divine hands have been set and
which must not be left Incomplete.^ It was essential that
this should be undertaken ; It was a part of the scheme of
Providence, and a necessary part, for Clement will have
nothing to do with theories of the self-sufficiency of man's
nature for his own redemption.' On humanity's need of a
Saviour he speaks with as much emphasis, as do those who
have felt spiritual burdens press far more heavily than he
had ever done himself. But, given this need of salvation,
in what does it consist .'' How shall man appropriate It for
his own ?
Now, there is no one answer to this question. Clement
would have agreed with the teaching of his great pupil,
Origen, that the Saviour becomes many things, perhaps
even all things, according to the needs of the whole creation
capable of being redeemed by Him.* But it Is clear that
for Clement the main purpose of the Word's Advent was
to reveal the mind and purpose of the Father. The central
thought Is that of self-manifestation. He had found this
in Saint John and in Saint Paul, and it dominates his
• oUovopiia, 669 and elsewhere. ^ 968. ' ^47, 645.
* Injoannem, Tom. I, 21-22. The passage is one of singular value.

14 THE INCARNATION
whole conception of the Parousia. "The pre-existent
Saviour was made manifest,"^ he writes in the opening
chapter of the Protrepticus. The word and its compounds
are used half a dozen times in almost the same number of
lines. Essentially the coming of the Word is light : He
saves, as He illuminates and leads us out of the dark
Cimmerian land.^ Even by the Cross it Is the power of
vision that is given.' The main function of the Word
Incarnate, as of the universal all-pervading Logos, is to
instruct and teach.* The human life of the Lord is as a
door, through which the divine revelation enters.*
Perhaps, In all this, we are reminded from time to time
how true a Hellene Clement was. Even in his interpretation
of the new religion, he does not wholly forget that he is
Socrates' countryman, for whom virtue was knowledge and
salvation dependent upon Intelligence rather than upon the
will. Still there Is truth, if not the whole truth. In the
thought of God's self -revelation in the Christ ; and the out
come of the process, after all, is no bare intellectualism, but
the raising of humanity to the divine level. For Clement
anticipates all that Is taught in the Athanasian Hymn on the
" taking of the manhood Into God." " Yea, I say, the Word
of God became man, that you may learn from a man how
man becomes God." ^ By this heavenly teaching man is
made divine.' The full meaning of salvation, it seems. Is
nothing less than to share the life of God. It is not a fully
developed soteriology, and it offers many points of contrast
with the theories of later writers. But It Is suggestive,
elastic, sincere, and has Its real religious value, as the closing
chapters of the Protrepticus amply prove. The vicarious
aspect of the Lord's life, though not emphasised, does
not go without recognition : twice he speaks of the
2 72. 3 419. « 768.
« 8. ' 88-9.

THE PASSION OF THE DIVINE 15
paid for us. Elsewhere he writes that Christ
" suffered on our behalf." ^ This brings us to the fourth
point on which Clement deems right faith as regards the
Incarnation to be specially important — irepl tov Trcifiow, on
the Passion of the Lord.
" Passion," however, gives a very incorrect idea of the
Greek term irddo?. It has acquired a restricted theological
sense, by Its special application to Christ's death upon the
Cross, but in Clement's day it had not lost its philosophical
connotations. That the Divine should be subject to irdOos
resulted from the entry of the Godhead Into a world of human
experience, not always or necessarily painful In character,
but In every case involving the liability of the Divine to
some form of external influence. By this was implied a
sort of contradiction of the principle of the self-contained
Godhead, independent, secure, unmoved, and unaffected by
any power outside Itself. Here, then, was the divine con
descension of the Incarnate, not only, nor even mainly, that
He suffered death, but that Himself He entered into our
world of change and contingency and allowed Himself to be
affected by agencies not His own. It meant limitation :
He was bound by the flesh.' It was a voluntary submission,
an experience He willed to undergo.* It Involved some
measure of weakness and liability ; r^i/ aaOevetav t^? a-apKos
avTOTraQSxs eirelpacra^.^ The " CUp," which He must needs
drink, was the completion of His experience, the crowning
phase of a process which lasted from His birth unto the
Cross. How difficult it was for a man of philosophic training
and outlook to accept the Gospel story of the Lord's
humiliation, we gather again and again from Clement's
1 148, 956 ; cp. Segaarii ad Lib. Q. D. S., Excursus v. in Dindorf, iii. 609.
^ 137,215-
3 86, aapKl ivSidds. < 875, 956. 5 135,

1 6 THE INCARNATION
references to this subject. When it has been all fully
admitted and even asserted, there still occur the occasional
hints of a reluctance to allow the full content of the truth.
He shrinks from the admission that there was anything for
the Lord to learn ; how could there be since He was God .'' ^
The Lord was different from all humanity. In that He alone
was wholly without desire.^ Elsewhere He Is said to have
been altogether aTraOijs, liable to no motive of pleasure or
of pain.' If He took our flesh upon Him, it was to educate
it to a condition of passionless indifference. Such a phrase
as ofioXoyia eiy tw iraOovTa* reveals, at once, wherein the
difficulty of faith and confession lay for the man of philo
sophic mind. Clement may seem here also to abate or
retract his own assertions, but there was a real problem, as
the ApoUinarians made clear at a later date. What Is
Important to observe Is the fact that the Lord's irddos meant,
at this stage of Christian thought, something wider and more
fundamental than the single experience of His death. That
was the climax of His submission, but the real problem was
raised, the real condescension of the Divine made manifest,
the moment It could be stated that the very God had
entered Into the domain of man's experience. It is In this
sense we should still interpret the clause, " He suffered," In
the Creed: ei ira^ijTo? 6 Xpio-ro'?* is a phrase of similar
Implication in the New Testament.
Such In Its principal aspects was Clement's view of the
Incarnation. It is no developed and consistent interpretation
with which he presents us. He has thought out few of
the questions Involved to their final settlement ; of many
indeed he is unaware. But If he is often undetermined, he
Is often suggestive ; and if he found it difficult to fuse the
religious, dogmatic, and philosophic elements of this great
'113- ^ 875. 3 775. 4 189.
* Acts xxvi. 23.

COMPARISON WITH IRENAEUS 17
truth into a harmony, it hardly lies with the moderns to
blame his failure. It may be of advantage to compare what
Clement has to say on this subject with its treatment by
other representative writers. His outlook will be more
easily understood, if we consider its relation to the teaching
of such typical doctors as Irenseus, Athanasius, and Anselm.
Irenaeus, who was an older man than Clement by about
twenty years, had probably composed his work Against
Heresies before Clement turned to writing books. Whether
it was well known in Alexandria before the persecution of
Severus, we cannot say with certainty. Clement knew it,'^
but his views on the Incarnation were in any case not de
pendent on those of his great contemporary of Lyons.
Like Clement, and with more insistent assertion, Irenaeus
taught, as against the Gnostics, that It was the real Word of
the Father who actually took human flesh upon Him. Like
Clement, he held that the Word " for His immense love's
sake was made that which we are, in order that He might
perfect us to be what He is." ^ He sees, too, that the
Incarnation is no isolated solitary event. It is a part of the
whole scheme of God's providence and order.' And through
the manifold workings of the divine grace other teachers
also, before the Word was born of Mary, had been the
channels of His operation for man's good.* In all this
there is common ground to the two writers. On the
fundamental issues between the Church and the Heresies
there was little discrepancy.
But their differences also, if less weighty, are instructive.
Irenseus belongs to the "great central party of the Church ;" *
Clement to the outer country, where Christianity and Philo
sophy met without a boundary line. This general difference
colours their treatment of the Incarnation. Irenaeus, for
' H.E., vi. 13. 2 Contra Hcereses, Lib. v., Prsfatio.
3 lb., iv. 7, 4- * lb., iv. 14, 2. 5 Bigg, Origins, 215.
VOL. II. 2

1 8 THE INCARNATION
example, starts with the fact of the God-man : Alexandria
with the theory of the Universal Logos. The Important
thing to Irenaeus was the life and appearance of the Lord on
earth, though this no doubt was only explicable by the wider
doctrine of Godhead. Whereas for Clement the Incarnation
Is only one among many manifestations of the Word, of
whose existence and beneficence there were good grounds
of evidence apart from the human life. Thus Irenaeus Is
historical ; Clement's tendency is to more abstract considera
tions. Irenaeus believed the Lord's public ministry lasted
for at least ten years : ' Clement, with the Gnostics, Is
content to limit it to only one. The Bishop goes to the
Gospels again and again for evidence of fact,^ the head of
the Catechetical School for the divine teaching. It Is not
without significance that, while both fathers have learned
much alike from Saint John and from Saint Paul, the special
affinities of Irenaeus are with the Apostle who was the loved
companion of the Saviour in His earthly ministry ; those of
Clement with the other Apostle, whose knowledge of Christ
after the flesh is so entirely doubtful. The respective
attitudes of the two Apostles to historic fact, as an element
in Christianity, may fairly be said to recur In the Fathers of
Lyons and Alexandria.
There Is a similar distinction in their treatment of
Scripture. For Clement the five loaves, or the three
hundred bells on the High Priest's robe, or the Saviour's
crown of thorns, are all of symbolical value ; ' such details
invariably veil a higher meaning for him as for Philo. But
Irenaeus takes Scripture in its primary, natural sense. He
seeks for no wider Interpretation. He values the literal
and the concrete, and quotes almost every book of the New
Testament, not to draw out an inner significance, but in
order that plain statement may do its work. It is by this
Mi. 22, 6. 2 ^.^_ ii 22, 3; V. 15, 2; 21,2. 3215,665,668.

IRENtEUS SCRIPTURAL AND CAUTIOUS 19
manner of appeal that he maintains, as against Gnostic
manipulation of selected texts, that the eternal Christ has
wrought salvation by actual entry into the world of time.
It is his settled principle that, though we may not understand
all Scripture, we must not attempt to seek beyond It.^ The
whole of his important Third Book is grounded on this
rule. His gospel Is real redemption, on a New Testament
basis. This sober limitation, with Its fidelity to the letter,
and a certain " happy blindness " ^ to possible difficulties,
contrasts strongly enough with Clement's extraordinary
readiness to find sanction for any Idea of his own in the
pages of Holy Writ.
Finally, and In keeping with the contrasts already drawn,
Irenaeus accepts the Incarnation, but declines to speculate
upon It. He can be emphatic in his repudiation of Docetism,
differing notably In this point from Clement, because he does
not raise, or Indeed Is unconscious of, the question which the
Docetic theory was meant to meet.' Or consider his char
acteristic saying, " Should anyone say to us. How then is
the Son produced by the Father ? we tell him that this
production, or generation, or utterance, or manifestation, or
by what name soever one may denote His generation, —
which Is Inexpressible — no man knoweth." * This mental
temperament has Its value. There Is significance In Harnack's
remark that " At the present day, ecclesiastical Christianity,
so far as it seriously believes In the unity of the divine and
human in Jesus Christ . . . still occupies the same stand
point as Irenaeus did " ; as also in the suggestion of the same
writer that, " If some day trust in the methods of religious
philosophy vanishes, men will revert to history, which will
still be recognisable in the preserved tradition, as prized by
Irenaeus and the rest."* Clement ministered to minds of
1 ii. 28, 2-3. 2 Harnack, Hist. Dogm., ii. 245.
3 ii. 32, 4 ; iii. 18, 6. " ii. 28, 6. ' Hist. Dogm., li, 275, 330.

20 THE INCARNATION
a different order. It is probable that, so long as the Church
retains its faith In the Incarnation, there will be need of
these different types of teachers to interpret It. We shall
require the latter-day counterpart of that historic faith which
Irenaeus taught In Lyons, and not less the counterpart of
that philosophical presentation of the Gospel, which was
taught by Clement with such large results In Alexandria.
Somewhat more than a century after the death of
Clement, Athanasius, while still a young man of twenty-
two, published his short treatise De Incarnatione Verbi. The
Arian controversy had not yet arisen. The work was the
second of two Essays addressed to Macarlus, a convert from
heathenism, " the first attempt," it has been said, " ever
made to present the doctrines and facts of Christianity
in a philosophically religious form." ^ There are certain
notable differences between Athanasius' account of the
Incarnation and Clement's scattered but not Infrequent
references to the same subject. Theology, in the hundred
years that have elapsed, has become considerably more
defined. For in this treatise, which may be taken as representative
of the Church's general mind at the period, the Incarnation
Is considered exclusively in relation to the Fall. Whether
God would have so manifested Himself, had humanity not
needed restoration ; and whether It would not have been
possible for God to restore humanity by other means, are
speculative questions with which Athanasius does not deal.
He is concerned with the one central fact and theme, that
what had been lost by the Fall of Adam was restored
by the Death of Christ. So he has much to say on the
evil state of humanity after our first parents' sln.^ Death
and corruption entered In. Vice and violence prevailed
' Mohler, Athanasius the Great, quoted by Bright : Orations against
the Arians, ix. 2 c_ y_

STANDPOINT OF ATHANASIUS 21
more and more. City was at strife with city ; nation with
nation. God's originally Implanted image was fast dis
appearing from man's nature. Man was doomed to death,
"for God would not be true If, after He had said we
should die, man did not dle."^
It is in contrast with this dark background that the
Incarnation of the Word Is presented to us. He alone
could re-create what had been spoiled. He alone could
discharge the liability that had been incurred.^ Human
repentance alone was insufficient. It needed a God to
remedy the disaster. Where nature has failed so lament
ably, grace must intervene.' The fitness of the Incarnation
being thus shown, the treatise proceeds to discuss the death
of Christ, " more especially as this is the main point of our
faith, and all men everywhere speak much of it."* The
writer reviews the reasons for the death of Christ ; its
manner, at the hands of others and on the Cross ; Its
publicity ; the motives which induced Him to leave others
to determine the kind of death which He should die. The
Resurrection Is set forth as the proof of the Lord's victory,
and so the more positive portion of the treatise comes to
its close, and the writer passes on to reply to objections
raised from Jewish or from philosophic standpoints.
Now, in this short but notable and typical statement of
the Church's doctrine, there is a twofold concentration or
limitation of thought. In the first place, the Incarnation Is
set In the closest relation to the doctrine of the Fall ; In the
second, its significance Is seen exclusively in the Cross. It
is true that the writer will sometimes allow his mind to
range beyond these limits and dwell on the universal power
and nearness of the Word,* but our Interest in the Incarna
tion is not claimed In connection with these wider thoughts ;
1 C. vi. ^ C. XX. 3 c. xiv.
¦• C. xix. ' C. viii., xliii., xlv.

22 THE INCARNATION
in technical language, as compared with Clement, the
cosmological outlook Is less common with Athanasius, the
soteriologlcal more habitual. Much has been gained in the
direction of clearness, connection, systematic thought.
Something has been lost, perhaps, in suggestlveness, adapta
bility, variety of presentation. Like Clement, Athanasius
Is a Greek, and the hard rigidity of Roman theology is still
wanting. But even so the legal, forensic element is there,
and the stress of the later writer falls, to some extent, on
the one element In Paulinism which seems to have made no
impression on Clement's mind. Christianity, no doubt, was
compelled so to define and formulate the content of its
belief. This tendency, of course, was to have abundant Influ
ence In the next two centuries, nor was the Church's
instinct mistaken In fastening upon man's need of salva
tion and the death of Jesus on the Cross, as the two
most significant elements in Its scheme. But, from the
modern standpoint, while Anthropology is challenging the
common conception of the Fall, and legalistic theories of Sin
and the Atonement are giving way to an interpretation of
moral facts which is drawn from Biology and Evolution
rather than from the domain of Law, there is advantage In
remembering that, anterior to the age of Athanasius and
NIcaea, there had been competent Interpreters of Christianity
who had not regarded its scheme and purpose as principally
determined by the Fall ; who held that God made man not
perfect but capable of perfection, and for whom the supreme
truth of the Incarnation lay, not so much In Its unparalleled
uniqueness, as in its close correspondence with God's many
other manifestations of His will and nature, and in its
entire harmony with what, xoXu^epco? koi iroXvTpo-wwg to
quote again Clement's favourite phrase, had been taught to
humanity through other yet kindred channels. Athanasius

ANSELM'S TREATISE 23
was a greater man than Clement, but the earlier Father had
in some ways a freer and a less restricted outlook. Therein
lies his value for our own day, with Its notable collapse of
systematic theology.
It Is a far journey, in more respects than one, from
Alexandria, and the age of the Fathers, to a Norman
Monastery or an Anglican Archbishopric In the early days
of Scholasticism. The religious and intellectual atmospheres
are so different, that any comparison between typical repre
sentatives of the Eastern Church at the close of the second
century, and of the Western at the close of the ninth, must
in any case be difficult, and will not Improbably be deceptive.
So it is only with a certain caution, that Clement's view of
the Incarnation is to be placed side by side with Anselm's
famous treatise. Cur Deus Homo.
The two men, for all their differences, may be said to
have had certain points of similarity. Both are strongly
Influenced by philosophy, though it is philosophy of a
very different order ; Clement's Platonism has little in
common with the scholastic Aristotelianism of the great
Archbishop. Both, again, with all their philosophy, were
saved from dry Intellectualism by a warmth of personal piety
and by an activity of practical service, which carried their
interests far beyond the circle of the school and the
monastery. Both, too, were essentially teachers, masters of
their calling and lovers of It. Both, in regard to the
Incarnation, are far removed by the philosophic character
of their outlook from the historic side of Chrisdanlty.
Finally, while both accept the fact of the Incarnation, they
are both also conscious, and, being the men they were, could
not be otherwise than conscious, of the real difficulties
which are involved In the condescension of the Divine to
human conditions. It is significant that both Clement and
Anselm resolutely refuse to allow that the Christ could

24 THE INCARNATION
truly Increase In knowledge.^ Anselm's remarks upon the
subject are almost as fully Docetic as anything to be found
In Clement's pages.
These points of resemblance, however, must not be pressed
beyond their true significance. The difference between
the Alexandrian and the Scholasdc theologies in reality far
outweighs any affinity that can rightly be claimed. There Is
indeed an evident contrast, when we place Clement's Inter
pretation of the Saviour's work side by side with Anselm's.
In the earlier writer It is the manifold Christ we find : He has
many offices. " The Saviour speaks In many tones and uses
various methods for the salvation of man." ^ " Clement's
Idea of the Saviour," It has been said by one who under
stood him well, " Is larger and nobler — may we say less
conventional i' — than that of any other doctor of the
Church." ' With Anselm we approach the whole subject
by the high a priori road of logical necessity.
At the outset we are Invited to consider the Incarnation
" as if nothing were known of Christ " ; * that is to say, the
facts and colour and suggestlveness of the Gospels are Inten
tionally omitted, and abstract theological reasoning dominates
the whole inquiry. We hardly feel surprised when, as the
Dialogue proceeds, Boso, Anselm's interrogator, remarks,
" The way by which you lead me is so walled in by reasoning
on each side, that I do not seem able to turn out of It either
to the right hand or the left." * We are shown the reason
or necessity which led to God becoming man. The impossi
bility of God's receiving Into a state of blessedness anyone
involved in the debt of sin is made plain. How the divine
and human natures must coexist In the same Person ; how It
is antecedently appropriate that God should be born of a
' 113; cp. Cur Deus Homo, I., ix. ; iL, xiii. 2 g
3 Bigg, Christian Platonists, 72.
* Cur Deus Homo, Preface. ' II., 9.

CLEMENT AND ANSELM CONTRASTED 25
Virgin ; how it could be right for the Father to allow the
Son to suffer, and how this could effectively happen without
detracting from the honour of the Godhead, are all demon
strated on grounds of abstract reasonableness.
The concentration of interest on the relation of the In
carnation to the Fall, and on Christ's satisfaction made on
the Cross, is as marked in Anselm as In Athanasius. The
doctrine is a part of the scheme of Salvation. Thc facts of
Christianity are Interpreted, not as a manifestation of the
divine will and purpose, nor as a supremely Important stage
in the education of humanity, but as a divine transaction,
stupendous in its results. Revelation, love, humanity, fall
into abeyance, but the plan of God Is commended as marvel
lously reasonable. We are grateful for Anselm's protest
against the idea that the divine Justice Is incompatible with
Mercy ; we are not less grateful for his refusal to admit that
the Lord's death was a species of payment to the Devil.^
The wonderful ability and reverence with which the whole
subject is handled strike the reader again and again, nor Is It
without hope for the future adaptability of Christianity to
new Intellectual conditions, that we observe the significance
of the Incarnation interpreted through so apparently alien a
medium as that of scholastic logic. But, for our own time,
the general movement of religious thought, and the inevit
able acceptance of critical and scientific methods, have rendered
the a priori theories of the great Anselm as obsolete as
they were once conclusive. " Neither in Its principle nor
in its details can the theory of Anselm be said to have
survived to modern times." ^ Religion, happily, is more
1 " The belief that the Redemption was essentially an act by which man
was bought by God from the Devil prevailed among theologians during the
first ten centuries of Christianity. It was accepted by S. Irenasus, by
Origen, by S. Augustine," — F. C. Burkitt, The Gospel History and its
Transmission, 300.
2 J. Caird, Fundamental Ideas of Christianity, ii. 176.

26 THE INCARNATION
permanent than Its Interpretations In theology. Clement
could never have written so masterly an argument from
given data as the Cur Deus Homo. Yet his type of
Christianity is more near to modern conditions. His
theology is more suggestive, just because It Is less system
atic, and this perhaps is especially true in regard to his
treatment of the Saviour's life and work.^
Before leaving Clement's account of the Incarnation, it
is natural to ask, whether his views on this fundamental
article of Christianity have intrinsic value for our own time.
It will always be allowed, by those who are competent to
judge, that Clement's standpoint is important for the
student of doctrine, and that. In Its historical connections, his
view of the Incarnation is serious, interesting, and represen
tative. But, allowing that his place in the second century
must not be Ignored, Is there justification for going beyond
this and attempting to discover, in his teaching on the
Word made flesh, elements of truth which the twentieth
century can reappropriate and make Its own, or at least
fundamental similarities between such views as he held in
his own age and those which we find it possible to hold
to-day .''
There are obvious dangers In attempting to substantiate
any such association. It is so easy to exaggerate re
semblances which are superficial, so easy to forget the
subtle and yet continuous changes In the connotations of
terminology. Besides, there are evident divergencies,
not least the fact that, whereas Clement approaches the
Lord's earthly life from the philosophic standpoint and
cares only for the facts in so far as they can be regarded as
the media and manifestations of abiding principles, the
1 Cp. Harnack's account of St Anselm as " standing on the shoulders of
Augustine, but eliminating the ' patristic,' i.e. the Greek elements of his mode
of thought," Hist. Dogm., vi. 67.

PRESENT VALUE OF CLEMENT'S VIEW 27
student or teacher of to-day must ground his theology on a
historical basis, and undertake the " quest of the historical
Jesus," before he can discover universal significance In the
qualities of His person or the records of His career. Our
problems for the most part are not those of Clement, our
methods are further still removed from his. The pre
suppositions from which we start have been so modified by
the intervening years that, even when the resemblances
between Clement's time and our own have been most fully
demonstrated, we have to qualify the parallel by remember
ing that history as a matter of fact does not repeat Itself.
All these things warn the student to abide by the severer
methods of rigid history, and to suspect all attempts to
rediscover the present in the past.^
Yet there is one consideration which might predispose
us to look for elements of permanent value in Clement, and
it holds good In regard to the doctrine of the Incarnation
in a peculiar degree. He lived when Christian thought
had not yet formulated itself finally on this subject, when
many various ideas were still current within the Church,
when theology in important respects was fluid rather than
dogmatic. In spite of all he says about tradition and the
Church's rule, Clement was more free to ask questions than
any subsequent teacher of Importance. The theology of
the Church passed afterwards into a phase of Increasing
definition. Theories on the nature of the Lord's Person,
and on the purpose of His coming, grew, through perfectly
intelligible influences, more precise, and with many changes
have remained definite In character down to the rise of the
modern spirit in all its various forms. To-day, again.
Christian thought is more fluid, free. Interrogative, In
definite, than in any other century since Clement's time.
We depreciate the work and the greatness neither of
' For a fuller consideration of this point, see Chapter xx. infra.

28 THE INCARNATION
Augustine, nor of the Schoolmen, nor of the Reformation,
If we say that in certain Important respects we have to take
up the task of theology where the Alexandrines laid It down,
for It had been truly remarked that they " moved among
those deepest questions of the philosophy of religion, which
have never come fully to the front again till our own
time."* Now, there Is at least one Important characteristic In
Clement's theology with which modern religious thought
has evident affinities, though it can hardly be discovered as
among the dominant tendencies of any Intervening period.
Clement Is essentially synthetic. The whole bent of his
Intellectuality is towards unity. His didactic aim was the
harmony of all truth. The Cosmos and man's under
standing of it for him were essentially and Ideally one.
As we pass into the age of controversy and definition, this
outlook is largely abandoned. Definition involved antithesis,
and debate made thought more precise than facts. Men
learned to see distinction, but forgot to look for unities.
The strange history of the term " Catholic " is a signal
Illustration of the tendency towards contrasts, alternatives,
boundary lines. Again and again the theological outlook
upon the world and human life has been vitiated by such
hard and sharp definitions, as have set Nature over against
Revelation, the Law over against Grace, the Church over
against the World, the saved over against the lost. The
modern mind will have none of these contrasts. If they are
represented as the final realities of our experience. If
Science has taught us nothing else. It has taught us that the
world Is a unity, and our fixed determinations are, at best,
the artificial landmarks in a domain where existences,
supposed to be separate, in reality blend and intermingle
by a process of continuous and imperceptible graduation.
' Gwatkin, The Knowledge of God, ii. 89.

THE DIVINE AND THE HUMAN 29
Our theology is consequently reverting to the synthetic
type. We are discerning the unreality of many traditional
oppositions. However slow the movement, the face of the
age Is set towards unity. Therein we are asserdng the
truth of the Alexandrian outlook.
Let us consider the similarity between Clement's age
and our own In respect to some of those antitheses, which
enter so prominently into much of the theology of the
Incarnation. We have drawn sharp distinctions between
Human Nature and the Divine ; between the doctrine of
Immanence and the doctrine of the Word made Flesh ;
between the historic and the spiritual foundations of
Christianity, that is, between Fact and Faith ; between
Jesus and the Christ. It is, in reaHty, one contrast, one
distinction, which in many phases runs throughout these
various pairs of opposites. In our search for their recon
ciliation we may think of Clement as forerunner and ally.
There is a difference between the Human and the Divine,
but it Is a difference compatible with fundamental kinship.
Man is made In the image of God. The goal and ideal of
his spiritual development Is to share the divine life. If
there is a certain danger In the freedom with which the
Greek Fathers use the term " God " In connection with
human nature, there Is also a profound truth. For if there
be really an absolute distinction between the nature of God
and Man, the Incarnation Is only possible by depriving
either the one nature, or the other, of Its essential char
acteristics in order to facilitate their combination : the age
of the great Councils abundantly manifests the difficulty of
conceiving a personality, which should combine natures
which are ex hypothesi diverse. The modern religious world
is moving away from this theology. It is influenced by
conceptions which " indicate an affinity between God and
man and a nearness of God to man which the earlier creeds

30 THE INCARNATION
obscured." ^ So we come back to an idea of the Incarnation
which represents it not as a new departure, nor as a divine
afterthought and expedient, but as the climax or most
emphatic expression of the divine element In human
nature. " Let us make man," God said, " In our Image,
after our likeness." koi Sr/ yeyovev 6 Xpta-Tos tovto TrXijpes,
adds Clement.^ In Christ's humanity this Ideal and purpose
were perfectly realised. Fundamentally, the difference is
one of measure and degree, but not of kind. The distinction
Is not lost. But we see the unity beyond it.
It Is on similar lines we must relate the doctrines of the
Incarnation and of the Divine Immanence. The latter has
never been formally rejected. It stands so plainly In the
statement of the Fourth Gospel, " He was in the world," that
It would have been difficult for the Church to abandon it ;
but, practically. It has been so generally ignored and neglected
in the official ecclesiastical theology, that its reassertion In
modern times has come upon us as a novelty and a surprise.'
As a general rule the coming of the Word has been repre
sented as an incursion of the Godhead Into an alien domain,
at best as a beneficent Intervention to set right what had
gone awry. The Church has not believed, or else has
forgotten, that " He came unto his own." The Immense
significance of the Advent has seemed best secured by its
isolation, and from this laudable and intelligible motive has
come the tendency to narrow and restrict the ways of God.
Again, beyond the differences we see the unity. It Is
the " one increasing purpose," the idea of the many spiritual
forces which converge towards " the one far-off divine
' Professor Henry Jones in the Hibbert fournal Supplement, 1909,
"Jesus or Christ," p. 92. The whole article is well worthy of attention.
2 156,
3 On this subject I venture to refer to an article on The Doctrine of Divine
Immanence in New Testament Theology, Church Quarterly Review, No. 133,
October, 1908.

IMMANENCE AND INCARNATION 31
event," that are the supreme and dominant conceptions in
the modern religious Interpretations of the world. What
we find in Christ, we find in other less clear, less unmixed
modes, in history, in nature, in human character. The
divine Logos, so central and fundamental in Clement's
thought, or, as we may interpret it, the Divine Reason,
Will, and Love, are manifested in all the higher tendencies
of the cosmic order, as well as in the Person and the life of
Christ. There Is continuity. There Is substantial affinity
in many modes of expression. We render God a dubious
honour If, In order to recognise His Presence In one human
life, we Ignore It through all its many other phases. The
differences again are of degree and manner : the reality that
is operant and manifested Is the same, nor is it easy to give
exact meaning to the objection, that at the Incarnation the
Word came " Himself " : at other tlines it was In some
other way. The belief in God as living and manifesting
Himself in the world helps to Interpret " His Intensified
presence In Christ."^ In other words, the Incarnation Is
in line with the Immanence of God, and what In one figure
we describe as the coming down of the Godhead, we might
in another figure represent with equal truth as the emergence
of the latent spirituality of the world. It is a desideratum
of modern theology, that it should work out In greater detail
the harmony between the immanent and the Incarnate phases
of the divine activity. In this regard the moderns may
well visit Alexandria in the quest for truth.
Once again, we may consider the difficult problem of the
connection between the historic and the spiritual elements
in Christianity, the relation of universal religious ideals to
the earthly life of the Son of Man ; In other words, the con
nection of Faith and Fact. On the one hand Is the value
of the contrete ; the personal appeal of the human Saviour ;
1 cp. Bishop Gore, Bampton Lectures, p, 41.

32 THE INCARNATION
the total impotence of abstract ideals and disembodied truths
to touch the masses of humanity ; the liability of all philo
sophic theories to evaporate and to be lost. These things
tell In favour of the historic aspect of the Faith. These
things lead men to discern in Saint Mark's Gospel a more
precious heritage than the Epistles of Saint Paul. These
things convince us that Christianity Is more truly learned
In Galilee than in the Schools. Yet to all this there Is
another side. Can we rest the hopes of humanity on
particular events .'' Does man's spiritual nature stand or
fall with the reliability of ancient documents .'' Do we not
needlessly hamper and limit religion, when we tie it down
to facts and occurrences, on which criticism may have yet
more words to say .''
No man who breathes the atmosphere of the modern
religious world can fail to be conscious of the force of these
two tendencies, of the difficulty of adjusting their different
claims. For Clement, as we have seen,, the Incarnation was
pre-eminently a manifestation of higher truth. The universal
Word took our flesh under particular conditions in order
that He might be seen. And if it be remembered, on the
one hand, that no historic facts, however fully demonstrated,
can possess religious value, except in so far as they express
that which appeals to the spiritual consciousness of humanity
at large ; and, on the other, that no truth ever becomes
accessible and available except by Its embodiment in par
ticular forms and modes, we may realise that, however
difficult It be to formulate satisfactorily their true relation
ship, at least the two elements are essential, at least in
principle Christianity was right in asserting the necessity
of their combination. Negatively, we can, for our religious
needs, be as little satisfied with mere Miracles as we can
with mere Ideals. Positively, it is because, even under
modern critical conditions, we can discern elements of

FACT AND FAITH, JESUS AND CHRIST 33
paramount and universal spiritual value in the life of Jesus,
that we must assert a historic basis for the Faith. It Is
not that such spiritual verities as the divine love, or the
destiny of man, or the value of human life, depend on
particular occurrences ; or that for ourselves the old inter
pretation of the Lord's incarnate life, as In some sort a
divine transaction or readjustment, retains its value. God's
attitude to man is not altered but revealed by the Incarna
tion. The spiritual verities are as they were ; it is the light
and the knowledge of them that are new. In particular
events humanity read great and abiding principles. The
eternal is ever the eternal, but our knowledge of it comes
in time. In the Saviour's life, and In the Saviour's death,
the Church has discerned an expression of the divine love
and will. The Incarnation then is more properly connected
with the thought of Revelation than with that of Sin. On
some such lines we may adjust, under to-day's conditions,
the elements of Faith and Fact In our Christianity, neither
indifferent to the historic element, nor yet dependent upon
its absolute actuality. The fact gains its value through the
principle or idea It embodies : and this becomes operative
only through the facts. Clement's view of the Incarnation
may be fairly said to recognise both these conditions.
And, finally, if after the manner of the Gnostics some
modern teachers would dissociate the Jesus of History from
the Christ of Faith ; If a corresponding distinction Is some
times drawn among the human faculties, and the mind and
understanding are depreciated, and the religious powers of
our nature exalted as of Independent validity and worth,
here again there is need that we should not forget that
Christianity has stood for the unity of the Christ and Jesus,
and that no psychology can rest satisfied with a permanent
discord among the powers of the human soul. Where we
love and where we believe, there, so far as our limited
VOL. II, 3

34 THE INCARNATION
intelligence reaches, we must also understand. All that
Christ stands for in the life of the Church, and in the on
ward movement of humanity. Is In some ways so related to
the Jesus of Nazareth, that attempts to treat the two as
fundamentally distinct and independent seem, if we may
judge by recent efforts in that direction, to have litde
prospect of success. Clement would accept no sort of
entire separation between Jesus and the Christ. Here he
takes his stand unhesitatingly by the side of Irenaeus and
Saint John. The distinction was common in his age ; he
knew it well, but rejects it. He saw the unity, in spite of
difficulties which confronted him from the philosophic side.
To us It is from other sources that the problems principally
come. Historic inquiry, and the movement of the human
spirit, lead us to ask whether we can still discern the Ideal
of humanity In the life and words of the Galilean Master,
who, to an extent we find hard to estimate, was limited by
conditions of time and place. It is one among the latter-
day tasks of Christian thought to justify this appeal anew,
and to restate, in terms that are valid for the modern mind,
the grounds upon which It adheres to the great acknow
ledgment, first made at Cassarea Phlllppi, that Jesus was the
Christ. However much our point of view may have
altered with the ages, however considerably we may have
changed the connotation of our terms, we must still make
essentially and fundamentally the same momentous synthesis.
If with anything of Apostolic or Alexandrine conviction we
are to carry on the Christian religion Into the years that are
to be.^
' " The course of events in the second century enables us to understand
some of the reasons which led the Church to cherish on the whole a histori
cal, as distinct from an ideal, account of the foundation of Christianity."
F. C. Burkitt, op. cit.. Preface to Second Edition, ad fin.

CHAPTER XIII
GNOSTICISM
Clement never loved controversy. He possessed by nature
few of the qualities of the partisan and, even where he had
convictions, cared little for their aggressive exposition. We
have already had occasion to notice how the whole trend of
his mind was towards unity and affinities, rather than In
the direction of contrasts, discrepancies, and antagonisms.
Nevertheless, through his writings, and no doubt equally
through his life, there ran one trail of contention, and that
was his opposition to Gnosticism. It has been said that this
was " his one trouble." * As we shall see, it is by no means
an unqualified hostility, for, if he found much to criticise,
he found much also to accept. " No Church teacher of the
earlier period stands so near to the Gnostics as Clement." ^
But with all deductions, it is still the case that Clement felt
bound to oppose these dangerous innovators. To demon
strate their errors was an unavoidable task of criticism ; ' nor
Is it difficult to see that Heresy, in his eyes, rather than
Paganism, was the real enemy. The philosopher, for Instance,
might be a " near friend," and so proverbially less dangerous
than the " distant brother," * who had taken to these dubious
paths of extravagant speculation and wilful heterodoxy.
Now, it will be less difficult to understand Clement's
' Bigg, Christian Platonists, 115. ^ Baur, Die christliche Gnosis, 502.
3 dcoyKoIa hiTiKoy'ia, 562. ' 374-
35

36 GNOSTICISM
attitude towards Gnosticism, if we recur to the fact that he
Is here, as always, fundamentally the teacher, and remember
that It Is as much In the interest of pupils and inquirers,
as from his personal love of abstract truth, that he assails
the Gnostic theories.^ An Intelligent man of the time,
trained In the encyclical Instruction of the schools, and not
without acquaintance with philosophy, who had been drawn
by such effective appeals as Clement's Protrepticus to throw
in his lot with Christianity, would, in many cases, need no
very lengthy course of instruction in good manners at table,
or propriety In regard to raiment, or decent behaviour at the
baths. The P^dagogus would soon lead him through this
Intermediate stage, and, since the new convert would hardly
be content to remain permanently among the number of
those simpliciores, who thought inquiry always dangerous,
if not wrong, he would be asking, within a few months of
his Baptism, in what direction the higher Instruction promised
by his new Religion must be sought. To such a man,
alert. Intelligent, only recently converted, with Alexandria
as his environment, there can be little doubt that Gnosticism
had much to offer. Let It be supposed, for example, that
he attends such meetings as those Eusebius describes as
conducted about this time by Paul, the popular teacher of
heresy." If we can portray his state of mind at the end of
a series of Paul's lectures, we may be the better able to
appreciate the danger Clement faced.
To begin with, the new convert was not asked to leave
the Church in which he had so lately found spiritual shelter ;
for Gnosticism was not an external rival to Christianity,
but a movement or tendency within it.' Such severance
' See esp. 895. He writes, i.-iroaTpi'^ai PovAipityos Tris (is Tcij aipiatis
fvc/j.-iTTua-ias tovs <pi\opM.dQvyTas.
» H.E., vi. 2.
3 897-8, Cp. 374, quoted above. The Gnostic was a "brother," though
distant, i.e. a member ofthe family. Tares and wheat grow together, 774,

ITS VARIED ATTRACTIONS 37
as did exist came rather by the Church's action than from
the Heretics, who commonly claimed to be true and lawful
members of the Society, and complained bitterly when their
title to Its privileges was denied.^ So the way was easy ;
no renunciation or transition was Involved, but the intelli
gent believer was invited to add to the common faith of
ordinary Churchmen the higher treasures of advanced
knowledge, for which his natural gifts and aptitudes had
clearly destined him.
Moreover, if he had any doubts or qualms as to the
wisdom of such a spiritual venture, there were many re
flections by which this hesitation would be dispelled. For,
after all, this " Gnosis " was no new thing. It was implicitly
sanctioned In the Lord's often quoted words, " Seek and
ye shall find ; " and, in point of actual priority, there was not
much to choose between the Apostles and Simon Magus,
or even between Saint John and Cerinthus. In germ and
principle, with no doubt many faulty exaggerations and per
versions. Gnosticism had had its place within and upon the
Church's borders since Saint Paul wrote Epistles to Corinth
and Colossae, and the folly of endless genealogies was pointed
out to Timothy. Had not Peter's teaching been conveyed
through Glauklas to Basilides, and had not Theodas been a
similar link and Intermediary between Saint Paul and Valen
tinus .'' ^ More than that, did not the esoteric teaching of
the Saviour, imparted after the Resurrection, not merely
during the forty days, but throughout a period of many
years, still survive In the Traditions of Matthias ? ' Besides,
while the Canon of the New Testament was still in debate,
who could effectively prove the inferiority of such Gnostic
> Irenaeus, iii. 15, 2. ^ 898.
3 900. Hippolytus, vii, 20. For the duration of the Lord's teaching after
the Resurrection, see C. Schmidt, Gnostische Schriften in koptischer
Sprache, in Texte und Untersuchungen, viii. 438 sqq. ; also SiiSSexo er?; in 762.

38 GNOSTICISM
Scriptures as the Preaching of Peter, and the Gospel according
to the Egyptians, to the Synoptists and Saint John .-' Even If
Irenaeus had settled the point for the Church of Lyons, it
was still an open question in Alexandria.
But antiquity and continuity of tradition were not their
only credentials. Half a century before Clement taught In
the Catechetical School, Gnosticism had reached its maturity
In the reign of Hadrian. It had organised Its forces, given
some definition to its distinctive tenets, and could appeal
now to an abundant literature, to numerous and flourishing
schools, and to a company of great teachers, whose memories
and authorities still survived. There had been something
astonishing In the prolific rapidity with which heretical
books appeared. So serious had the propaganda seemed
to Justin, that he composed a treatise to counteract Its In
fluence, and the alarm of the Church's leaders had not been
forgotten, when Eusebius wrote his history more than a
hundred years later.^ Towards the end of the second
century it was probably easy for anyone, who so desired, to
procure in the book-shops of Alexandria a copy of Basilides'
four-and-twenty Commentaries, the similar treatises of his son
Isidaurus, the collected letters and homilies of Valentinus,
the Antitheses of Marcion, or the notorious work of the
young and remarkable Epiphanes on "Justice." Apelles
and Heracleon were, perhaps, actively engaged at that date
in writing books of a similar nature ; ^ while Imaginary
conversations of the Lord with His disciples must have
been already a recognised and common type of Gnostic
literature. Such books were chiefly concerned with the
Interpretation of Scripture, but the Gnostics, even more than
' Justin, Apol., i. 26 ; H.E,, iv. 24.
2 For Apelles' avvTiynara see Hippolytus, x. 20. The Fragments of
Heracleon are edited by A. E. Brooke in Texts and Studies, i. ; they are
also given in Stieren's Irenceus, i. 936 sqq.

ITS BOOKS AND TEACHERS 39
Clement himself, understood the art of discovering their
own ideas in the sacred text. That the ability and popu
larity of such writings induced many members of the
Church to ally themselves with Gnosticism, is amply evident
to every reader of Clement or Irenaeus. And, as with their
books, so with their schools. These existed in Rome, in
Alexandria, in Antioch, and elsewhere, and afforded the
leading Gnostic teachers the most effective opportunity of
spreading their opinions.^ The " School," Indeed, became
in some ways more closely Identified with Heresy than with
the Church Catholic*
More important than the literature and the lecture-room
had been, of course, the teachers themselves. They aroused
attention and opposition because, with all their extravagances
and pretensions, they were really men of considerable power.
Even as we know them now from the unfavourable accounts
of the Fathers and Historians, we cannot fail to recognise
their originality and power of influence. Though it be ad
mitted that Simon Magus was an Impostor, Marcus a licentious
quack, Carpocrates a specious defender of lubricity, the dis
credit which such persons brought upon the " Name " could
not obliterate the prestige and influence of Basilides or Valen
tinus, of Marcion, or of Clement's contemporary, Bardalsan.
Renan may be right In speaking of the " Icy resignation " of
Basilides,' but at least there was a severe and fearless logic
In his reduction of the Absolute Deity to non-existence, a
noble passion for the purity of the Divine Nature in his
refusal to attribute any fragment of evil to Providence.* So,
too, behind all the crude impossibilities of the system of
Valentinus, may be discerned the outlines of a great and
poetical view of the drama of the universe, half Hellenic,
half Oriental in its character, not more tenable or success-
• H.E., iv. 7, II. ^ See the mention of SiaTpi/34 889.
3 L'eglise chretienne, p. 165. ¦• 600.

40 GNOSTICISM
ful than other attempts of the human intellect to take
Infinity captive, yet deserving of honour as the great venture
of a great mind, in spite of all its inevitable failure. The
Valentinian school was more prominent than any other in
Alexandria, and its tenets must have been well known to all
Clement's more educated hearers. Marcion had been a
teacher of a very different type, less imaginative than Valen
tinus, with less of the Hellene in his nature, but far more
deeply conscious of the problem of moral evil than any
other religious teacher of his time. Clement, who was
shocked, after the manner of Job's friends, by Marcion's
impiety, was right in calling him a " giant." ^ Such teachers
did not fail to leave their mark, and though, as a rule, the
resulting Gnostic schools fell far below the level of their
various founders, and soon lost themselves in the mazes of
uncontrolled speculation or moral licence," It remained for
many years no slight commendation for an opinion that
Valentinus had held it or Marcion believed it true. Such
an appeal to the great names of the last generation would
lead many an Alexandrine Churchman In the direction of
this aristocratic heterodoxy. Where, Indeed, should Gnos
ticism have its stronghold. If not In the city which was
connected with the names of Cerinthus and Basilides, of
Apelles and Valentinus, and In which there was less hin
drance, than In any other great centre, to the abundant
development of Its schools .''
But we must turn from its credentials to Its message,
and ask what were the elements in Gnosticism, which made
it so evidently attractive .'' No single answer can, of course
be given to such a question, for though Tatian and Carpo-
' i BeopLixos oItos ylyas 522. There is, of course, a reference to the giants
of mythology, who attacked the gods.
2 Cp. Tertullian, Adv. Valentinianos, 4, " Itaque nusquam jam Valentinus,
et tamen Valentinian!."

ITS CREDENTIALS AND MESSAGE 41
crates might both be accounted Gnostics, their teaching
would appeal to very different natures. But, among the
reasons which were likely to lead the better educated
members of Clement's flock to adopt Valentinian or Mar-
clonlte opinions, we shall hardly be wrong in accounting the
following as prominent and considerable.
To many the glamour and completeness of a cosmo
logical theory would no doubt appeal. In an age when
Philosophy had limited Its most serious concern to moral
conduct, and Science, in the modern sense of the term, did
not exist, here was a doctrine which offered to solve those
deeper riddles of the universe, at which Heraclitus and
Anaxagoras had vaguely guessed, and for which neither
Plato's Timaus, nor the later Stoic theories, could promise
more than tentative solutions. To be led up to the absolute,
the original, the uncontamlnated Source of Being, and then,
stage by stage, to trace the delicate gradations by which
Existence, Time, Sense, Matter, Evil, and a multitude of
half poetical, half personified Activities, and finally this
concrete World-Order as man knows It, came Into being,
was indeed a fascinating prospect for an intrepid intelli
gence, with no knowledge of its own limitations. Basilides
dreamed of such a comprehensive theology. The attempt
of Valentinus in the same direction has been placed re-
morsely on record by Irenaeus. Clement, as we have seen,
had himself some such idea of a great scheme of knowledge
and hoped, it may be, to meet here the Gnostics on their
own ground. The Gospel in this way came to be defined
as " the knowledge of supramundane things." ^ Modern
critics of these bygone speculations remark that they con
tradict common sense. The criticism is true for the
moderns. It was also true for Irenaeus. But for many
an Alexandrine Catholic it was by no means self-evident
' Hippolytus, vii, 27.

42 GNOSTICISM
that the Valentinian teaching was absurd. The prospect,
from the Intellectual standpoint, was at any rate so splendid
as to justify some considerable element of risk.
Moreover, this higher way of Knowledge was only for
the few. It was the Royal Road of the elect, appointed
only for that " spiritual " minority, who were by nature a
distinct order, with whom the crowd of " natural " or
" material " souls could claim little In common.^ The man
of philosophic training, who found the brotherhood of the
uncultured a somewhat exacting part of Christian obligation
— Catholicism, says Renan, has no aristocracy" — found a
welcome relief from the familiarity of slaves and wool-
combers In circles where the claims of culture and the
intellect seemed to be held once more at their proper
value. The Gnostics were not a humble people. Conceit
was a true and easy charge to bring against them.' They
held themselves aloof from the multitude of the believers,
and disdained to cast their pearls before the common swine.
On the other hand, it is easy to understand the attraction
of the higher, esoteric enlightenment for the educated
section of the Church.
Moreover, for all whose previous training had been in
the schools and philosophies of Greece, Gnosticism had the
further advantage of close affinities with Hellenism. It
is a disputed point among the authorities whether, funda
mentally, the Hellenic or the Oriental characteristics pre
dominated In these Heresies. Probably, In the many
phases of their development, now one and now the other
tendency was supreme. But in Alexandria at any rate the
' This frequent distinction, iryevfiaTiKoi, 'fivxiicot, v\iKoi, is given, e.g., in
982-3. 2 " Ddjk I'essence du catholicisme 6tait de ne souffrir aucune aristocratie,
pas plus celle de la philosophie hautaine que celle de la saintet^ pr6tentieuse,"
L'Eglise chritienne, p. 168.
3 Their to\oao^ia and ^i\(itijb(o, 892. Their oftjiru, 894.

ARISTOCRATIC, HELLENIC, RELIGIOUS 43
Greek element was the stronger, though It may have been
otherwise In Antioch or Edessa. Basilides and Valentinus
really carried on the work of Philo. They were in line
with Plato and Pythagoras. It was a common charge
against them, that they were indebted to such earlier sources,
and their title to be accounted Christians was questioned on
this very ground.^ Such Indebtedness, whatever else it
may have involved, at least preserved for the baptised
Hellene much that he had valued before he came over to
Christianity. Clement's own example has already given us
an illustration of the importance of this concession. Gnostic
teachers had anticipated him In retaining Plato while they
read the Gospels ; they gained, no doubt, their most impor
tant adherents by the assurance that citizenship in the New
Jerusalem was quite compatible with entire loyalty to the
essential claims of Athens. What chance had even Tertul
lian's Indignation against such attractive overtures as these ?
More Important, however, though not always recognised,
was the religious element in Gnosticism. The extravagances
of these schools have been amply preserved, and we can
form a tolerably clear estimate of their dangers ; but it needs
some care and vigilance, if we are to deal fairly with their
spiritual value. It is not only true that " they were the
Theologians of the first century," " and that " there is no
mean thinking In some of their strange theories." ' Side
by side with their intellectualism and their cosmological
speculations ran a strain of practical teaching, with a true
Gospel of Grace and of Redemption and a definite attempt
to meet religious needs.* To this ethical and truly Chrls-
' E.g. by Hippolytus. 2 Harnack, Hist. Dogm., i. 227.
Gwatkin, Early Ch. Hist., ii. 67.
* On the distinctively religious element in Gnosticism see Mansel, Gnostic
Heresies, p, 3 : Baur, Die christliche Gnosis, pp, 18 sqq. -. C. Schmidt, op. cit.,
424 sqq. Marcion, in particular, "was a religious character." Hist. Dogm.,
i. 269.

44 GNOSTICISM
tian side of their activities the Catholic Fathers are not
unnaturally indifferent, yet It is just in virtue of this element
that Gnosticism never became a mere philosophy. The
work of the Saviour may be spiritualised or reinterpreted,
but It Is never abandoned. The need of a divine Power
for human recovery is recognised In all their more im
portant systems, while the ultimate victory of the higher
and spiritual forces In the Cosmos is never surrendered,
even when Gnostic Pessimism takes its most sombre forms.
There is more true religion in the Gnostic Hymn of the Soul,
than In many ancient and modern productions which have
passed as Catholic, and if any disciple of Clement ever
fell in with either Heracleon or Ptolemasus, he probably
gained piety as well as instruction from such association.
Not the least attractive element in Gnosticism was that, in
professing to show the road to higher Illumination, it did
not abandon Its purely religious message. It appealed to
the spirit as well as to the intelligence.
An interpretation of the Cosmos, a place in the higher
order of the elect, the right to bring Plato into Christianity,
together with the hope and full assurance of a true Gospel
of Grace and Redemption, were thus among those enrich
ments of the new faith which Gnosticism, at its best, could
offer to the select spirits, who were meet for such possessions.
By these positive gains the great heretical teachers won
their followers, and stirred the more central forces in the
Church to activity and opposition. But there were
negative advantages also, a freedom from certain burden
some elements in Christianity, escape from which must
often have been welcome.
Both the Hellene, and the man whose affinities lay
further East, must have been relieved by the Gnostic
depreciation of all that was concrete, sensible, material.
It was not really in the flesh that the Word had come.

EMANCIPATION BY GNOSIS 45
There had been a temporary association of the Divine with
the human, but no more. Thus the heavenly Christ had
neither been truly born of Mary, nor truly suffered upon
the Cross. The Resurrection, His and ours, was spiri
tualised and freed from Its incongruities, while the whole
drama of Redemption was shifted from the temporal and
historic to the supramundane plane. For those who are
elect, the souls chosen from the greater number of " the
called " and recognised as of higher spiritual birth,^ the
body was really of no account. Therefore it might either
be allowed Its will, or repressed In rigid asceticism. Marcion
and Carpocrates were agreed that, in itself, the soul's material
vesture should be treated with disregard. So the Gnosis
offered diverse forms of freedom from the claims of the
body, and the message of Christianity was relieved of all
necessary implication In historic, concrete, material events.
The " Apathy " of the Stoic schools, and the Platonic
dislike to contaminate the Divine by contact with birth
and with becoming, were both allowed. Gnostic Chris
tianity abandoned here too much. Its surrenders were
soon seen to be Incompatible with its claims. But they
were undoubtedly welcome to many who, from lifelong
conviction, regarded the material not as the Spirit's medium
but as its foe.
So with the Old Testament. To sincere and thoughtful
monothelsts it was difficult to accept the national Deity of
the Hebrews as the supreme Source and Ruler of the
universe. It was not less difficult to reconcile the evident
evil of the world with absolute Beneficence. And though
Marcion had no complete Cosmology to offer, after the
manner of Basilides and Valentinus, at least he got rid of
one which, from the Hellenic standpoint,* was demonstrably
* evyiveta, 526, 54^*
2 The Greeks always "ran down the Law," 492.

46 GNOSTICISM
false, when he declared that the Deity of the Old Testament
was the subordinate and not entirely good Creator. The
moral difficulties of the narrative, the severity of the Law,
the excessive claims of Hebraism, and all else that had
driven Philo a century before to allegory, were frankly
thrown over by the great heresiarch of Pontus. His sombre
pessimism was more unrelieved than any that the soul of
Greece had ever known, yet a Christian who came from
Athens may well have welcomed the relief from many
difficulties, which his criticisms secured. Marcion's dualism
Is as Impossible as any ever propounded. The difficulties
of the Old Testament are as little to be solved by his ex
pedient, as by Philo's allegory. But he faced real problems,
and we can feel no surprise that his teaching found con
siderable acceptance In Alexandria. Besides, the Jews were
more unpopular there than in any other great city of the
Empire, and some "enlightened" Churchmen may have
been glad to be assured that they owed no manner of
allegiance, either to their Scriptures, or to their severe Deity.
There were other ways, perhaps less creditable. In which
Gnosticism relieved the elect few from difficulty. In par
ticular, it was often less rigid and unbending than the Church,
and had fewer scruples in accommodating itself to the
surrounding world. This is only true of certain phases of
Gnosticism, for at times its asceticism could run to any
extremes, and Marcion's refusal to baptise persons, who
had been guilty of marriage, could hardly have commended
his tenets to those who sought a comfortable creed.^ But
often Its very claim to superiority resulted In an indifference
to rules and obligations ; though these might seem necessary
enough for " Galileans " or the merely faithful. The
followers of Nicolaus saw no harm in eating things offered
' On this point see, however. Professor Burkitt, The Gospel History and
its Transmission, p, 311.

THE WAY MADE EASY 47
to idols ; others placed statues of the philosophers side by
side with the figure of the Lord,^ while it was commonly
held that the Gnostic was at liberty to deny his faith in the
exigencies of persecution. His testimony, or martyrdom,
was of another order, and he probably approved as little
as Marcus Aurelius of the "sheer obstinacy" of many
Christians. Often there was real justification for the charge
that they loved their lives too well," though this attitude
was not universal. Both the Valentinian and Marclonite
schools could point to their lists of actual martyrs.' And,
In the main, the later adherents of Gnosticism were guilty
of a laxity which could never have been charged against Its
eminent leaders. But there may well have been timid and
yet sincere natures within the Church, to whom it was a real
relief to know that the Impossible was not demanded. It
Is never quite easy to say how Naaman should behave in
the house of Rimmon.
Thus, like Irenaeus in Lyons, Tertullian in Carthage,
Hippolytus in Rome, Clement found himself confronted in
Alexandria with a rival teaching so varied, so diffused, so
subtle, that it was as difficult to attack as It was dangerous
to leave unchallenged and uncrltlcised. It Is impossible
to sum up in any single statement Clement's attitude to
wards the many doctrines, which pass under the common
name of " Gnostic." * Like many other teachers of wide
Information and liberal views, he found an unqualified
judgment quite impossible. He must often blame, but he
> Iren., i. 25, 6 ; 26, 3, ^ 0i\of»oS<n, 571.
3 Iren,, iv. 33, 9; H.E,, v. 16. Clement mentions how some — "not of
our people" — sought this death.
* How many varieties of teaching have been termed " Gnostic " may be
seen by the German epigram —
" Was man nicht definieren kann,
Das sieht man gem als ' gnostisch ' an."
Herzog, Encyc, art. " Gnosticismus," Bd. vi., p. 730.

48 GNOSTICISM
can sometimes praise, and for this he shared the suspicion
which so commonly attaches itself to a balanced verdict.
Let us consider where the stress of his blame and of his
commendation falls.
In the main, Clement is quite conscious of the general
divergence between the Church and the Heresies. Part
of his purpose In writing was to set forth the tenets of the
most important sects and to show their error .^ He believed
that every perversion or travesty of the truth could be
fairly refuted from Scripture, though It needed a keen and
trained mind to conduct the argument." As compared with
the Church, two defects characterised the Gnostic teaching.
It was extremely varied : what one sect taught, another
denied : time would never allow him to deal with all these
numerous and incompatible views.' All this shifting diver
sity seemed to stand in marked inferiority to the ideal unity
of the Church. A second defect of not less moment became
apparent, when one compared the antiquity and orderly
growth of the Church with the later origin and rapid formu
lation of Gnostic views. Their doctrines had been published
with such haste and rashness ; even their best known leaders,
such as Marcion or Prodlcus, were so inferior to the great
men of old,* and there were, besides, such evident differences
between the founders of the various schools and their
successors, that the advantage of the ancient tradition over
this mushroom growth of novelties seemed an Indisputable
argument In the Church's favour.
It is In this strain that Clement refers to the conceit and
assertive confidence of the Heretical Schools.* He challenges
their motives ; they were ambitious, anxious to find a specious
cloak for moral laxity ; even Tatian did not deal fairly and
honestly with truth.® They stole the Church's rule for their
' 324- ^ 543- ^ 529, 893-
* 896. ° 112, 128-9, 456. 997- ' 547, 895. 897.

CLEMENT'S OPPOSITION 49
personal ends ; they were ready to say, " Lord, Lord 1 " but
they did not do as the Lord said, and so grave scandal fell
often by their default upon the Name.^ Sometimes he Is so
indignant, that he declares an opinion is unfit for discussion
In his book." Sometimes he tells them roundly, that their
perverted doctrine Is more likely to show the way to a
brothel than to the kingdom of God.' Much of their
teaching seemed to be impious and Irreverent, and he recurs
constantly to the Ingratitude of all Pessimism in its rejection
of the gifts of God.* So he compares Gnostic opinions In
the Church to the tares sown among the wheat.* In an
other passage he says that their dogmas are as bitter as wild
almonds ; he also complains of their " patchwork," much
as Irenaeus did ; * but it is all a matter of human teaching
and human assemblies,' they have no claim or title to the
possession of the grace and truth of God. His utterances
are sometimes contemptuous ; on occasion he even accuses
Basilides and Valentinus of chattering nonsense,* and In
other cases uses similar terms with a greater measure of
justification. Now all this is the language of pronounced and decided
hostility, and, if it were taken alone, it would convey a very
partial and erroneous Impression of Clement's mind upon
the subject. It might indeed be argued from some of his
statements that, after all, Clement was much In line with
Irenaeus and Tertullian, and saw as little good as they did In
the teaching of these bold Innovators. But it is not difficult
to account for the vigour of his criticism. On the extreme
side of Gnosticism, where it was most remote from the
doctrine and practice of the Church, there were Insidious

1
4
7
;.

511,901.
520, 584, 593.
aipeaeis iySpdnrivai,

,890.

' 513-
' 774.
avdpdfiTiiai
8448.

3 524.
8893-
SiSaaKaXiai, 896.

Iren., i. 9, 4 ; "• M, 2.
ayffpmiriyat <rvyri\iiT(is,

ir(

)L. II.

4
50 GNOSTICISM
moral dangers, of which Clement had a profound and credit
able dread. His antagonism is far more determined by
ethical than by Intellectual considerations, and originated no
doubt In large measure from his actual knowledge of scandals
and depravities in Alexandria. A certain pastoral strain
seems to come out In the " professor's " nature, as we
recognise his fear, lest those who have been known to him
In the lecture-room should be captured by the dangerous
attractions of specious laxity. His business Is not to
discover the elements of real value In the medley of
Gnostic doctrines, but to save the educated section of the
Church from being led along the slippery paths of a domi
nant and dangerous speculation. Hence comes his normal
attitude of opposition. As we shall see, this was not
Incompatible with some effort to do justice to those with
whom he differed, nor even with a very considerable
indebtedness to the better elements of their achievement.
He does not wholly forget his characteristic charity, for,
with all their errors, the Gnostics, he holds, deserved pity
rather than hatred.^ He is willing to defend Nicolaus, one
of their leaders, against current misrepresentations ; " and, in
marked contrast to Polycarp's attack upon " the first born
of Satan," expresses the charitable hope that Marcion,' who
must now have been dead some years, may perchance be
induced by repeated arguments to change his mind and
think more kindly of the Creator.
Out of the strange diversity of doctrines into which the
1 895-6. 2 490-1, 523.
3 593, This reference to Marcion is very curious. Clement writes with
his amendment in view ; els eyTpoirriv Mapxiaiyos, fjy irms /iero/SoAijToi Tteiaitis.
As the words stand they would naturally imply that Marcion was still living.
Clement's writings could hardly reach him in another world. But the
general view is that Marcion did not survive Anicetus, i.e. that he died not
later than A,U. 165. He had clearly been dead some time when (about A.D.
200) Tertullian wrote the De pmscriptione hereticorum, c. 30. There is no
ground for suspecting the text of the passage in Clement.

FREEDOM OR DETERMINISM 51
Gnostic movement seemed to be dissipated, there emerge
certain larger and prominent issues, on which the contro
versy was maintained at higher levels. In the case of
certain other elements in the false Gnosis, there was no need
of any laboured demonstration. Their own extravagance
was their best refutation. The Pistis Sophia, for example, at
whatever date it may have been written, was never likely
to exert any great Influence over Western minds. It could
safely be ignored. But it was otherwise with such funda
mental Issues as the Freedom of the will. Dualism, the,
speculative Cosmology of the Valentinians. On such points
the Church could not afford to leave her teaching doubtful.
Clement, In these matters, takes the Gnostics quite seriously,
and his attitude is worth examination.
It was a common theory with some of the most
important sects, that the world contains three separate
classes of men. These, though not Invariably distinguished
by the same terms, are usually described as " spiritual,"
" natural," and " material " by nature. Their separation into
such types Is a part of the predetermined order, for the
supramundane Wisdom is a power of distinction,^ and a
man's destiny Is assigned to him before his birth. Only
the highest class is foreordained to eternal life, and such a
supreme gift is Inalienable, no matter what the manner of a
man's life may be. Such higher birth, as we have already
seen, brings the dangerous right to entire freedom of
conduct in its train." It is quite evident that In such a
scheme no place is left for human responsibility. The
gifts of the Spirit are not to be sought and won, nor Is the
prize to him who fights life's battle best. The world-order
determines a man's spiritual qualities, as absolutely as It fixes
the courses of the stars.
The Gnostics were here raising an ancient and still
' 448. 2 jio_ Gnostic euveVem conferred «x«uflepio, 546.

52 GNOSTICISM
unsettled controversy, and their solution of It was no more
final than Aristotle's, or Calvin's, or Bishop Butler's. The
strange thing is that they were not delivered from such
determinism by their indebtedness to Plato, whose familiar
dictum on freedom and responsibility was surely well known
in their schools.^ Clement on this point Is at direct Issue
with their teaching. The followers of Basilides had borrowed
from medical science a term by which they described the
passions as the " appendices "" of the soul. Certain spirits,
they held, were attached to man's rational nature without
his will, and other strange growths were appended In turn
to these. In this way a man carries within him the charac
teristics of the wolf, the lion, or the ape, and even other
influences from the lower vegetable and animal worlds.
Such latent elements expressed themselves from time to
time In his actions. The forces were there and operated
according to their natures, and if a man did not " let the
ape and tiger die," the fault lay somewhere outside the range
of his control.
Clement does not deal with this curious anticipation
of Darwinian theories at any length. Such a discussion is
postponed, after his manner, till he comes to write his
treatise on the Soul, but he remarks that a man's nature
becomes, on this Basllidean hypothesis, a sort of " Trojan
horse " or, as he might have added, a kind of Noah's
Ark. He gains a clear point In the argument by a clever
quotation from a work of Isldorus, Basilides' own son,
in which it is admitted that, if the soul Is thus allowed to
be a complex and composite nature, the wicked have no
slight justification for their plea that they were forced, or
carried away, or driven to act without their will. In other
words, Clement appeals to the very school he Is criticising
1 aiTla IXo/ieVou- 6ehs ayaiTtos. Rep., 617. It is a favourite quotation with
Clement. ^ -Kpoa-apT-^piaTa, 488,

GNOSTIC VIEWS OF MAN'S NATURE 53
for a recognition of the evident truth that all moral action
depends on freedom. He mentions a modification of this
theory by Valentinus,^ who compared the soul to a caravan
serai, within which all kinds of visitors make their habitation,
with little care or consideration for their temporary lodging.
But according to Valentinus the soul Is cleansed and purified
by the action of divine Providence, and so Is freed from the
desecration of these daemonic Influences. To which Clement
replies by raising the question. Why did not the divine
Providence take charge of the soul from the beginning ?
Either the soul did not deserve it, in which case Providence
seems to have changed Its mind ; or else, on Valentinian
grounds. It was a " saved nature," in which case it should
never have admitted such Intruders, unless, indeed, it was
too weak to keep them out. The theory of Valentinus
prevents his admitting, what Clement would have deemed
the true explanation, that the soul Itself repented and chose
the better part. Such Is the divergence of views which
results, according as our theory of salvation makes it
dependent on repentance and obedience, or on mere nature,
without act of will or moral effort. Clement carries convic
tion when he adds that It is we, and not evil spirits within
us, who commit sins. Conversely, man has the power of
himself to choose the noblest course. Over all obstacles he
may rise triumphant. The shadow of Oriental Fatalism
seems never to have fallen on Clement's happy soul.
The unmerited sufferings of the Righteous have formed
a problem for man's faith in the divine order ever since the
days of Job. Christian martyrdom brought the difficulty
again Into prominence ; Indeed, the sufferings and death of
Jesus raised In reality the same question. Basilides had
dealt with this matter in the twenty-third book of his
Exegetica^ and had advanced, or revived, the somewhat
1 488-9. '^S99sqq.

54

GNOSTICISM

hazardous theory, that all such suffering was a beneficent
penalty for sin. Substantially, his explanation did not differ
from that of Ellphaz and his comrades in the Hebrew
Drama, though he amplifies the theory by suggesting that
the liability to sin may in some cases be punished and not
the actual deed. In other words, the perfect man, like a
child, suffers remedlally for his undeveloped propensities,
even though the occasion for evil actions has never pre
sented itself. The explanation is further safeguarded by
being combined, as in the Karma of the Buddhists, with
the doctrine of Metempsychosis. Our sufferings in this
life may be the outcome of our deeds In a previous state
of existence. Now this, again, is a very thorough-going piece of deter
minism, and Basilides, who never shrank from pressing his
principles to their full conclusions, had even, it seems,
been willing to argue from the Passion to the sinfulness of
the human Jesus. Clement criticises severely the Impiety
of this suggestion, though he is also quite fair In allowing
that Basilides' motive throughout is to maintain the absolute
goodness of the providential Order. He succeeds In placing
Basilides In a considerable dialectical difficulty, by raising the
question of the man who denies the faith before his judge,
and so escapes penalty. Let me ask Basilides, says Clement,
whether it is Providence that decides whether the man shall
make his confession and receive punishment, or fail to do so.
Clearly, If he denies his faith, he will not be punished. Now
if Basilides argues In this case from the result, and says
that Providence determined the man's denial and escape,
because he did not deserve to be punished, then, however
little Basilides may wish It, he implies that Providence is
also responsible for the ultimate perdition which must befall
one who shall be guilty of such a denial. Moreover, on
this supposition, what indeed becomes of the Martyr's crown ^

WEAK POINTS IN DETERMINISM 55
Clement conducts his argument against Basilides with not
a little acumen, though he Is more convincing in his proof
that the extreme Determinism of the Gnostics cannot be
consistently maintained, than In his own solution of the
problem under discussion. He believes the Providence
and the Goodness of God can both be defended on the
theory that the sufferings of the righteous occur, not because
God wills them, but because He does not prevent them.*
This is an explanation which does not in reality explain.
It does more credit to Clement's piety than to his intel
lectual mastery of the subject. But his intense Interest in
maintaining human freedom is undeniable and stands to his
honour. If he has not been able to reconcile this with the
divine Sovereignty, he fails at least in good company.
A further typical Illustration of Clement's attitude on
this subject may be found in the opening chapter of the
fifth book of the Stromateis.^ Clement is discussing faith.
He turns aside to consider the Gnostic theory, that man's
knowledge of God depends upon his natural qualities, and
refers to Basilides' view that faith Is superior to intelligence,
to be Interpreted as spiritual loyalty, true riches, the right
to approximate to the Creator. On this theory faith is not
a faculty, but a matter of essence, nature, substance, of our
make rather than of our will, an " undefined grace of our
inalienable creation," but not the reasonable assent of an
Independent soul. Consider what follows from this. The
commandments of the Old and New Testaments are useless,
If a man Is saved, faithful, and elect in virtue of his nature.
Human nature, of Itself, could have recovered In the course
of time without any advent of a Saviour. Whereas, if the
necessity of the Lord's coming is admitted, natural quali
fications fall to the ground at once as insufficient, since the
salvation of the elect becomes dependent, not on nature,
' 602. ^ 643 sqq.

56 GNOSTICISM
but on Instruction, purification, and good works according
to the Saviour's teaching. Take the faith of Abraham.
Was he elect or not ? If not, how shall we account for his
immediate and evidently natural faith .'' But if he was
elect, this theory collapses, for then election and salvation
would be found to have existed before the Advent. In
this case the Saviour's coming, the necessity for which
Gnosticism strongly asserted, would have no sufficient and
intelligible purpose.
In all these discussions Clement, at any rate, realises the
magnitude of the Issue. Christianity cannot be defended,
on the Gnostic theory of distinct natures, as a religion
possible for free men and for the striving multitude, how
ever pleasant its doctrine of a spiritual aristocracy might be
to the scanty minority of the elect. Here, for once, the
learned father fights the battle for simple and commonplace
believers. He pleads the cause of those who were despised
as " natural " men. The " babes " of Christ must not be
robbed of their great heritage, nor the lowly seeker after
light and truth excluded from the new Israel. And In his
main contention, that Determinism Is a theory which will
not account for all the facts, he Is right from the logical,
as well as from the spiritual, point of view.
Probably the most dangerous of all the opponents of the
central and Catholic teaching of the Church was Marcion,
the wealthy shipowner of Pontus. Several years must have
elapsed since the end of his long life, when Clement made
critical references to his views. Possibly Marcion's desire
In old age for reconciliation with the Church of his Baptism,
though it was never destined to be fulfilled, accounted for
the generous hope which Clement expresses for his reversion
to older and better ways.* How Clement regarded Marcion's
teaching on marriage we have already explained In a previous
' 593, see note on p. 50, supra.

MARCION AND HIS DUALISM 57
chapter. He must also have had considerable acquaintance
with Marcion's views on Scripture. But there were also
other issues involved, and the extent and danger of the
Marclonite teaching may be gathered from Clement's reiter
ated references to the main points of the controversy.
There is a notable difference In the tone of the criticism,
when we compare Clement's treatment of Valentinus with his
attitude to Marcion. Yet Alexandria was the native home
of the Valentinians, and hardly the atmosphere In which
Marclonite doctrine would have been expected to take root
and thrive. The more significant Is Clement's pronounced
opposition. The view that Marcion was the most formidable
opponent of orthodoxy, may find considerable justification In
the fact that Tertullian's attack on his teaching. If stripped
of its aggressive rhetoric, does not go beyond the deep and
fundamental divergence, which Inspires the many references
in Clement. On this point the representatives of Carthage
and Alexandria were at one.
Where Clement, like the other Fathers, joins Issue
most directly with Marcion is over his Dualism. It was
the central element In his system, and his attitude on other
points was Invariably determined by It. God is so good,
said Marcion, that He could not have made the world we
know. Therefore It must be the work of another, of a
Creator, or Demlourgos, who Is not good, but Is Identified
with the hard, just, national Deity of the Old Testament.
Redemption by the Advent of the Christ is the work of the
good God ; and It Is thus a real salvation, a real revelation, a
real reversal of the world's evil order, that Is offered us in
Christianity. The theory is strongly antithetic and dualistic.
Its entire pessimism as regards Nature Is In exact proportion
to its tremendous claims on behalf of Grace. The world
is depreciated to the greater glory of the Gospel, and
Paulinism pushed to its most startling extreme. There is

58 GNOSTICISM
some doubt as to the exact position of the second God or
Creator, for the Dualism is obviously not complete, If the
just, creative Deity is In any degree subordinate to the good
God ; but the real Intention of Marcion's work, as Harnack
has made clear,* was religious and soteriologlcal. He has
no Cosmology and no absolute Being, but an over-mastering
consciousness of the evil of the world and of the magnificent
redemption effected by the Incarnation. If the " Gnostic
warp and woof " in his theories is sometimes evident, there
is still good ground for the claim that his " ideas were
Christian through and through," " and his system, with all
its pessimism, may well have attracted Greeks by Its entire
depreciation of the Old Testament, and Christians by its
unprecedented estimate of the Gospel. It is not given to
everyone to feel enthusiasm over a mere republication of
the moral law.
Clement's criticism of this teaching Is that the world, in
spite of its contradictions and diversity, is a unity. Goodness
and justice cannot be antagonistic' The fear and punish
ments of the Law are not irreconcilable with love, but Indeed
are one of its manifestations. It is not true that the good
God cannot \?e the Creator of the world because of His
goodness. Rather, It is because He is good that He became
Father and Creator.* There is no entire opposition, such
as Marcion taught, between the Creator and the Saviour,
the Law and the Gospel.* The truth is that the same God
works through both Dispensations ; the variety Is in the
means employed, but never in the purpose or In the directing
agency. Clement will allow no justification for the hostility
• See his account in Hist. Dogm., i. 266 sqq.
2 F. C. Burkitt, Gospel History and its Transmission, 291.
3 ^ vopLO^eoia. t\v tov Beov SiKatoffvy-rjy tifia Kai a.ya66TT]Ta KaTayyeWet, 473 ;
Cp. 153- * 150-
* 457, 542, 544-5 ; cp. his continual justification of fear as a motive ;
\oyLKhs ipo^os, 446*

OPPOSITION TO MARCION'S VIEW 59
of these heretics to Nature and the Cosmos ; their antag
onism to the Creator seems to him a piece of thankless
impiety, and their theory that existence is the prison house
of the soul neither true nor even original.* Even Marcion's
soteriology will not bear examination, for if the good God
did nothing to rescue humanity before the Advent, It dis
credits His goodness that He left redemprion till so late, and
His interference then seems a poor imitation of such saving
beneficence as the Creator Deity had already accomplished."
Moreover, consistent Pessimism was impossible : even a
celibate must eat food and breathe the air, and so avail
himself of the blessings of the evil world.' Marcion's
followers had as little esteem as the Montanists for Christians
of the merely " natural " order, but would they maintain
that even their leader himself was as wise as the great
Masters of old, whose teaching and traditions he had
handled with such reckless disregard ? *
Such Is Clement's attitude, consistently maintained, to
Marcion and his school. Two points come out in strong
relief, when we gather together his many scattered references
to this living controversy. Clement's nature, as we have
often had occasion to notice, was fundamentally unltlve,
harmonious, reconciling. He loves to collect truth from
many sources ; he hates antagonisms. Nowhere does this
native characteristic display itself more strongly than in his
attitude towards this mighty yet dangerous teacher of the
last generation, who divided the Gospels with a penknife,
set Moses at variance with Saint Paul, turned Prophecy
into an enemy of the Gospel, and even Introduced his Irre
concilable discords into the very being and nature of the
• 516, 528.
2 645. This was a common criticism : cp. Tertullian, Adv. Marcionem,
i. 22 ; ii. 28.
3516, 527-8. * 896.

6o GNOSTICISM
Godhead. " I will tear your Church," * said Marcion to
the Roman elder. To Clement It seemed that he had rent
the seamless robe of truth and the beautiful unity of God's
order. It is hard to conceive that any offence would appear
more impious and disastrous in the eyes of the Alexandrine
master of synthesis and accommodation.
But it is not less clear that Clement had never grasped
Marcion's problem. The experience of life had given him
many things, but It had never led him to those dark places
of the soul, where spiritual forces clash without fusion, and
the strife of Empedocles seems to reign supreme." He had
neither sounded the problems of evil, nor measured the depth
of humanity's needs, nor trodden those wild, tempestuous
regions of the spirit, of which the horrors of Marcion's
native Pontus, as Tertullian described them,' might well be
graphically symbolic. Therefore, while we feel that
Clement in his treatment of the most dangerous heresy of
his time is undoubtedly more right than his opponent, we
are conscious also that there is a certain superficiality in his
criticisms. They are justified and they are true. They
convince us, as similar arguments In the writings of other
Fathers do, that Marcion's theories cannot stand. But the
soul of Marcion had known the iron and the tragedy of
life as neither Clement nor Irenaeus nor Tertullian knew It,
and his orthodox opponents, while they saw his errors, did
scant justice to his greatness. Not the least notable con
sequence of his achievement Is the fact that, through
opposition to It, a convinced and usually consistent Hellene
such as Clement, comes forward as the champion of Hebraism
and the Law.
1 Epiphanius, Adv. HcBres., I., iii, 42 (2),
2 Hippolytus, vii. 29 sqq., connects Marcion's teaching with that of
Empedocles. 3 See the remarkable description of the locality in Tertullian, Adv.
Marcionem, i, 1,

COSMOLOGICAL SPECULATION 6i
There is no special difficulty In defining Clement's
attitude In relation to the foregoing controversies. If the
Gnostics denied, at least by implication, the doctrine of
Human Freedom, Clement asserted It. If Marcion and his
school declared the Cosmos was divided and two Gods
ruled, Clement stood for unity and a monistic basis. The
issues are clear and direct. But when we come to other
departments of Gnostic speculation. Cosmology, Angelology,
and the like, the case is different. It becomes at once
impossible to draw sharp contrasts between Clement and,
for example, the Valentinians. The task of distinguishing
between his criticisms and his debts grows here particularly
delicate, while the literary questions connected with the
Stromateis, the Excerpta ex Theodoto, and the Eclog<e Prophetic^,
Introduce a further complication.
We have already seen in a former chapter that Clement
left his great undertaking incomplete. His Intention of
presenting a scheme of the totality of truth from the Christian
standpoint was never fully accomplished, and the reader may
recollect that, among the possible causes for this surrender
of his purpose, the most probable appeared to be his sudden
departure from Alexandria, combined with his growing
realisation that the magnitude of the task lay beyond his
powers. But there Is good ground for the supposition that
he hoped at one time to erect, upon a Scriptural basis, a
theory of Cosmic Order, which would in part have been
suggested by the Gnostic speculations, and In part have
formed their refutation. We have already remarked the
frequency with which he refers to a projected discussion of
" Principles." * There are similar references to a proposed
treatment of the Origin of the World." When he speaks of
a Gnostic science of Nature, he most probably includes In
' i.pxai, 448, 564. 571, 604, 733, 737.
2 (pvatoXoyia, Kooixoyoyla, 564. K6<rfiov yeyeois, 325, 827 ; Cp. 779,

62 GNOSTICISM
his purpose a consideration of what, in modern terminology,
would be described as ontological problems. Now it is signi
ficant that many of these anticipations of his never fulfilled,
and highly speculative, project occur in passages in which he is
dealing with the Gnostics and their teaching.* In Clement's
mind the dream of a complete and Christian scheme of all
truth and all knowledge was never far removed from those
Gnostic cosmologies, with which he was so familiar. He
was well acquainted with Valentinian aeonology and with the
speculative philosophy of Basilides, whose purpose has been
well described as a " pantheistic representation of the evolu
tions of the world In a series of necessary developments." "
From such advanced and arbitrary theories It is evident
that Clement's system would have differed in two particular
respects. It would have been far more closely related to
Scripture. His cosmogony, for example, was to be an
interpretation of the opening section of the book of
Genesis.' Heretical vagaries were to be corrected by the
sound rule of the sacred text,* and the whole scheme was
to be firmly established on the sure basis of the received
books. So sanity and consistency and contact with reality
were to be maintained, even in those high, rare realms of
pure ideas, where great minds had so often adventured
themselves, only to end In the disaster of sublime absurdity.
It was a further point of difference that, while the Gnostics
commonly started with the Absolute, or the One,* and
attempted by grades of being, gradually descending from
this source, to bridge the gap between remotest Infinity
and the Immediately concrete Fact, Clement's purpose was
to work in the opposite direction, progressing by a series
' This is the case in pp. 448, 516, 520, 603-4.
' Mansel, Gnostic Heresies, 159,
3 564. < 891.
^ Cp. the account of Basilides' theories in Hippolytus, vii, 20, and the
passage in Clement, 524, ey^v TairiyTa k.t.\.

ITS INFLUENCE ON CLEMENT 63
of orderly advances from the common to the rare, from the
lesser to the greater mysteries, from physiology or ontology
to the transcendently divine.*
This high purpose was of course never fulfilled. But
the very fact that Clement so seriously entertained it,
differentiates him at once in his relation to Gnosticism
from all the other champions of the orthodox and Catholic
teaching of the Church. It constitutes him Basilides'
debtor as well as his critic, and justifies the view which
regards his work as a phase in the development of the
Gnosis." What survive among his writings as the Excerpta
ex Theodoto and the Ecloga Prophetic^ are no doubt a further
stage In the preparation for the great undertaking of his
dreams. They are the fragmentary and partial fulfilment
of his desire to expound and correct heretical speculation ;
yet it Is so impossible to distinguish between the words of
Theodotus and the words of Clement, there is so little
antagonism and so much sympathetic presentation, in short
it is so wholly beyond our critical powers to say where the
Valentinian ends and where the Catholic begins, that these
curious literary remnants can only be interpreted as a farther
evidence of Clement's genius for discovering affinities and
kindred teaching In quarters commonly regarded with sus
picion and dislike.
There runs In this way, all through Clement's higher
theology, a certain strain of Gnostic Influence. His de
parture from the traditional eschatology of the Church,' his
undue depreciation of historic reality, his evident interest
in speculation, his unfeigned delight in some of the better
1 564 and other passages.
2 " Das Lehrsystem, das seine Schriften enthalten, bildet selbst ein neues
wichtiges Moment in dem Entwiklungsgange der Gnosis," Baur, Die
christliche Gnosis, p. 502.
3 On this subject see C, Schmidt, op. cit., 526 sqq. : Harnack, Hist.
Dogm., i. 261.

64 GNOSTICISM
examples of Gnostic exegesis, his profound belief in the
possibility and the value of the higher " Gnosis," together
with his bold appropriation of the term itself for that ideal of
advanced Christian life, which the next chapter will describe,
are all evidences of the extent to which a tendency he felt
bound to criticise had found lodgment In his own nature.
Probably Clement was more conscious of his opposition to
Gnosticism than of his obligation to Its influence and re
sources. In any case, he would have been too cautious to
parade his debts to Valentinus. It remains true that his
sympathies as well as his antagonisms must be equally con
sidered. If we would understand his actual relationship to
those varied phases of speculative theology of which Gnosis
was the common name.
The desire to conserve the integrity and purity of
Christianity, by Its isolation from alien Influences, is a
familiar feature of all Church history. The first instinct
of every religious institution which believes In the value
of its own spiritual heritage, is to preserve this unimpaired.
So the " New Learning " In all its forms Is held suspect ;
and the contrasts between the Church and the world,
between the old and the new, between the sacred deposit
and the Impieties of innovation, are sharply drawn in the
interests of orthodoxy. The natural tendency of all that
is traditional and established is towards belief in the value
of possessions, towards distrust of the unexplored. Hence
comes the honour which we pay to the Defenders of the
Faith, who may be kings or controversialists. Inquisitors
or saints. It is sufficient that they protect the sanctuary
from the invasion of unclean abominations, and that
through their devotion Israel retains her heritage secure.
This is the normal and natural tendency of every religion,
from the moment at which It becomes conscious of Its
message. Its champions, from Tertullian to our latter-day

NEW WINE AND OLD WINESKINS 65
conservatives, express and formulate this fundamental
instinct. Clement belongs to a different line. He is an early
example of that other tendency within the Church, which
Is the corrective and correlative of the defensive attitude.
For all life involves the power of assimilation, as well as the
power of resistance, and the organism maintains its exist
ence as much by the appropriation of new forces as by self-
protection from its foes. Hence comes the Church's need
for that minority of wider minds, who discover values as
well as antagonisms in the external forces, and whose liberal
standpoint, while it inevitably loses something of religious
intensity and conviction, finds compensating gains In the
areas which stricter orthodoxy has left unexplored. The
temptation, to the man who is conscious of truths and
appeals for which the Church seems to have no ear and
no aptitude. Is to go over to the side of the new forces,
and to leave the more ancient institution to a rude and
tardy awakening. To remain within the traditional borders,
and to plead In such an environment for those elements of
truth, which are perverted or exaggerated but still vitally
progressive in the teaching of the Church's rivals. Is an
ill rewarded, though it is an invaluable, service. Neither
Clement nor Erasmus followed the line of an Immediate
success ; while many, who have prepared the way for the
reception of suspected truths, have accomplished this
honourable duty because they have preferred obscurity
or unpopularity within the Church to recognition and more
evident influence among the Heresies or Sects. To few
types of ministry Is Christianity more indebted than to that
limited succession of teachers, who have never broken with
the old ways, and never gone over to the foes or rivals of
their Jerusalem, but who, after the manner of Jeremiah,
and often with equally little popularity, have still discerned
VOL. II. S

66 GNOSTICISM
in the external forces a veritable manifestation of the divine
purpose. It is in this spirit that Clement opposes Gnosti
cism. We are sometimes inclined to wonder why he did
not break with the suspicious and querulous company of
the Orthodoxasts, and boldly add another to the many
Valentinian schools. He remained true to his earlier
allegiance, and It was to Catholicity, whatever that may
have meant in Alexandria at the time, not to Heresy, that
his services were given.
Yet he Is the disciple of the heretics as well as their
opponent. If the Gnostics had made Christianity possible
for the educated, so did he. If Gnosticism Is really Hel
lenism, Clement was a Hellene. If Gnosticism held religion
to be a matter of Ideas rather than of facts, so did the master
of the Catechetical School. If the heretics claimed that the
essence of advanced religion was the mind's apprehension
of ultimate truth, Clement taught in principle the same
scheme. It is hard to say whether criticism or assimilation
predominates in his attitude. In any case. It is due to such
recognition of the value and the necessity of higher teaching,
that the Church was able to meet and outbid this competi
tion. In controversy the truest victory lies with those who
appropriate the rival truth. And, as the mind passes the
succeeding phases of the Church's history In review, as we
watch the various tendencies of the changing ages exert
their Influence upon her development, the twofold process
of opposition and appropriation repeats itself with notable
frequency. The "Ecclesia docens" is also the "Ecclesia
discens," and " Fas est et ab hoste doceri." In the con
troversy with Arius, in the Revival of Learning, in the
Reformation, in various Puritan movements. In the modern
growth of Science, in the rise of the Critical Spirit, in the
evolution of Democracy, the Church has been confronted
by tendencies, which have in varying degrees been diverse

LEARNER AND CRITIC 67
from her modes of thought and from her accepted traditions.
From all. In varying degrees, she has had also to learn. In
some instances her power of service for future ages has
depended on such assimilation. Clement's relation to
Gnosticism owes its interest to the fact that he so admirably
exemplifies this twofold process, which is essential to
religious vitality. He Is at once the custodian of a heritage
and a pioneer of a new spirit, at once the champion of
continuity and the leader of wise and timely innovation.
When, however, all allowance has been made for the
evident influence of Gnosticism upon Clement's Interpreta
tion of Christianity, the fact remains that his one serious
controversy is with the Gnostics. In his works, as we
possess them, there Is a constant sense of the obligation to
confront and disprove the dangerous elements In their
teaching ; and though he may think Nicolaus has been mis
represented, or discover wise exegesis in Heracleon, it Is
the errors and extravagances and immoralities of Gnosticism
that even this liberal theologian has most in mind. Here,
then, so far as he ever plays the rdle of the controversialist,
we see Clement challenging the Church's rivals and doing
battle for the truth. The spirit of the man comes out in
his conduct of the argument. It cannot be claimed that he
was specially effective as a fighter, or that his avowed dislike
of rhetoric gave him that power of conviction, which some
times specially belongs to the quiet men whose words are
few. He is too discursive, and too far removed from the
partisan temper, to be a giant of debate, and when Irenaeus
or Tertullian make the same points In controversy, they
do It, as a rule, with greater inclslveness and effect than
their contemporary in Alexandria.
But In one regard Clement's treatment of Gnosticism
still remains a model for the religious teacher, who is
Involved In controversy. It Is with the great and Impor-

68 GNOSTICISM
tant issues that he deals, and the motive Is always the
assertion of truth rather than rhetorical victory. The things
he really cares to assert, as against the Gnostics, are the
goodness of the World's order, human Freedom, sane
morality, the spiritual possibilities of the unlearned, the
true method of interpreting Scripture, the supremacy of the
one God of Christian belief. It did not accord either with
Clement's disposition, or with the scheme of his work, to
give an adequate or final treatment to any one of these
great Issues. To a large extent he deals with them
Incidentally ; he is fully conscious that some inevitable
superficiality attaches to his handling of these themes. But
at least he realises where the momentous issues lie, at least
he places the controversy on its highest levels. Though
he does not argue without a sense of humour, he is neither
personal, nor violent, nor consciously unfair. He does not
make great play with the minor mistakes or extravagances
of his opponents, and even when he is dealing with Carpo
crates and his doctrine of free love, it cannot be said that he
throws mud. Probably the moral scandals of heresy were
not less frequent in Alexandria than in Gaul, and Clement
must have known episodes quite as discreditable as the
career of Marcus, which Is so fully portrayed in Irenaeus.
But, if he possessed such materials, Clement did not care to
make great use of them ; he may fairly be said to have
met his opponents on the most serious Issues they had
raised. Tertullian was as familiar with Gnostic teaching as
Clement was, but it is hard to conceive his treating any
Gnostic work with such deliberate care and honesty, as we
discover In the Excerpta ex Theodoto.
It is so easy and it is so common In theological controversy
to impute motives, to take your opponent at his worst, to
achieve trivial victories, and to involve the central issues in the
dust of irrelevant debate, that tribute is surely due to every

CLEMENT AS A CONTROVERSIALIST 69
defender of tradition who has desired to convince rather
than to exasperate his opponents, and who has risen so far
above the common temper of debate, as to retain his width
of view and his sense of proportion unimpaired through
many contests. The Christian Church cannot regard her
conduct of such discussions with any great sense of satisfac-
faction. Since party spirit reigned in Corinth, or Jerome
poured out his vituperative wrath upon Jovinian, or Luther
regretted that Savonarola's feet were soiled with theological
mud, a change for the better has come over religious
discussions, and the modern controversialist is at least more
cautious in his Imputation of motives to an adversary. But
it remains an Inherent liability of all religious argument that,
where convictions are strong and the momentous character of
the issues is keenly felt, our sense of fairness, our desire to
think no evil, our limitation of interest to the vital elements
In discussion, and, above all, our resolve to carry on the
debate upon the highest and worthiest levels, are apt to fail.
We strive to defend the Kingdom by violence, and deem
sweet reasonableness a useless weapon in the stress of
combat. To his temperament, to his nature, to his width
of sympathy, Clement owed the possession of a finer spirit.
If he did not stand out, like Athanasius or Luther, against
the world, he may at least be said, even in controversy, to
have retained something of the mind of Christ. There are
few more searching tests of the reality of a man's religion.
In closing our account of Clement's relation to Gnosti
cism, it will be well to reassert and emphasise the true
significance of his position. The Gnostics, whether of the
Oriental or the Hellenic type, were at their best religious
people, with a sincere sense of the value of redemption, and
a true allegiance to Christianity, as they interpreted Its
message. But they held, and It was the one principal
element common to all phases of the Heresy, that ultimate

7c GNOSTICISM
spiritual values were to be discovered in the realm of Ideas,
knowledge, abstract being, eternal principles, and philosophic
verity. They are the religious idealists of their day, and
few authorities on the subject fail to remark the parallel
between these early disciples of the Absolute and the
kindred idealism of Hegel and his company. But with the
Gnostics the outcome of this philosophic creed was the
entire depreciation of all the lower elements of experience,
not their transformation, or re-interpretation, through the
pervading action of the higher principle. Plato and Eastern
Dualism helped them to this result ; and, as an Inevitable con
sequence, this material world and Its diverse elements, all
historical events, the changing drama of the individual life, the
humanity of the Lord, the bodily vesture of the soul, and all
that goes to give substance and colour to the common story
of average men and women, are estimated In sharp contrast
as the valueless and positively evil obstructions to the true
life of the soul. The bulk and mass of human experience
form the dark background, against which the higher activities
of the elect minority of souls shine forth in painful and
illuminated rarity.
How far Clement Is drawn In this direction should
be known to the reader from previous chapters. He,
too, is in many respects a member of the fraternity of
the Gnosis. But, on the central Issue, he belongs to
Christianity and the Church ; he takes sides, against the
drift and prepossessions of his nature, with Irenaeus and
not with Valentinus. The world for him was God's good
order. History had a divine purpose. The Lord entered
the temporal and finite sphere. The Body had its value.
For the multitude there was a Gospel. These, in spite of
all apparent weakenings and abatements, are central articles
in his creed. It is in virtue of these convictions that his
Christianity dominates even his philosophy. Therein, for

SIGNIFICANCE OF HIS POSITION 71
all his Hellenism, he is at one with the Man of Nazareth,
in claiming, as Jesus claimed, that the temporal and the
material and the partial and the distinctively human factors
in the Cosmos have an eternal significance and value, which
is heightened and not depreciated by the pure light of
revelation. The Gnostics sought freedom by the abandon
ment or elimination of the material world and all its
associated elements. But there is a better way. It is the
principle of the Athanasian Hymn, when it speaks of the
" taking of the Manhood Into God." Christianity teaches
indeed a real redemption, a possible splrltualisation of all
elements and of all persons, under the higher influence of
which its Gospel tells. Clement, Alexandrian and philo
sopher, is with the Church in this fundamental assertion.
To-day, when the world seems once again to be in quest of
a Gospel, his attitude has Its peculiar interest.

CHAPTER XIV
THE HIGHER LIFE
The Church decided on the whole against Gnosticism. The
Church was probably right, and Clement, as the previous
chapter has shown us, was here In accord with Catholicity.
Yet the tendency, of which the organised Gnostic schools
were the expression, had existed within the Church from
Apostolic times. Saint Paul regarded " Gnosis " as a gift of
the Spirit, and knew that a certain natural satisfaction went
commonly with its possession. He had seen no difficulty
in stating the contrast between the " babes " In Christ,
whose diet must be spiritual milk, and those who, being
come to man's estate in understanding, could profit by the
stronger fare. Among them that were perfect he, like
Clement, could " speak the wisdom of God in a mystery."
The Fourth Gospel pointed clearly in the same direction
when It spoke of the further truth into which the Spirit
should guide the Lord's followers, and of the " many things "
which as yet they were unable to understand. From the
first even the spirit of Christian brotherhood could never
entirely obliterate the distinction between the Intelligent
and the simple. " Not many wise men " were called, but
there were a few. Even the Kingdom of Heaven was to
have Its Scribes with their keys of knowledge. The differ
ence between an Apollos and a Cephas did not always lead,
as in Corinth, to open friction, but It must have been found
72

GNOSIS WITHIN THE CHURCH 73
in most of the early Christian communities and never with
out its consequences. At the end of the first century
Barnabas* Is familiar with the Idea of an esoteric Gnosis,
within the Church ; and Ignatius," like Saint Paul, employed
terminology of which fifty years later the heretical schools
made abundant use. Celsus, too, writing in days when
Gnosticism was at its height, knew that it was properly a
growth Inside the Church.'
Thus the intelligence and the spirit of inquiry claimed
their own from the first. However deplorable the scandal
which erratic speculation, or advanced morals, brought
upon the faithful, still their company was never wholly
freed from the men who added the love of knowledge
to the love of Christ. The age was too Intellectual for
such a tendency to remain permanently ignored or In
abeyance, but it had not hitherto been dominant or
welcome. Charity had been more prized than learning.
The Church believed too profoundly In her message to
speculate upon it. " Knowledge puffeth up " was a much
reiterated warning ; and when the strange teaching of
Valentinus and Marcion began to spread, and the worse
dangers identified with Carpocrates or Marcus became
known, it grew more difficult than ever to plead the cause
of knowledge within circles where piety and unquestioning
orthodoxy reigned supreme. The Episcopate was developed
to secure the Church's heritage of truth, and it often seemed
that this purpose was best attained by rigorous suppression
of all questions and of all avoidable speculation.
Hence, In spite of the fact that the Apologists had been
mostly men of culture, and that learned books of " Irenaeus,
' E.g. vi. 9 ; ix. 8.
2 For references see Lightfoot's Index, Apostolic Fathers, Part II., vol.
II. (ii.), p. 1096, s.v. " Gnostic phraseology."
3 Origen, c. Celsum, iii. 12,

74 THE HIGHER LIFE
Melito, and the rest," * were current in the Church before
his time, it was a bold step for Clement to propound his
characteristic theory of an orthodox Gnosis. It may be
doubted whether the heretics or the simpler Churchmen
were the more startled by this unexpected appropriation of
a suspected term. It does not appear that any writer from
the ecclesiastical standpoint had as yet hazarded the sugges
tion, that the Gnostics were right in principle, and only wrong
in their mistaken deductions. And there was evident alarm
in many minds when Clement asserted that simple faith was
not the whole of Christianity, that higher ways of conduct,
of vision, of spiritual life, and of Christian contemplation,
were open to all who had the patience and the grace to climb
them. He was as wise as he was bold. To criticise Marcion,
and to show that Basilides was in error, like all other de
structive enterprises, was a negative method after all. If
the converted Hellene was not to find rest for his question
ing spirit in the Gnostic schools, where was he to turn ?
Back to the old philosophies } Or to the half-way house
of Philo's allegories .'' Or should he set out, as Clement
had done himself, on a tour of intellectual quest, hoping in
Rome, or Tarsus, or Edessa, to light upon a second Pan-
taenus ? There was no need, Clement assured him. The
Church could meet his needs. In her keeping, latent, un
appropriated, yet capable of carrying the human spirit to
any heights on which the atmosphere was not too rare for
it to breathe, was the esoteric tradition of the Lord and His
Apostles, at once the stimulus and the solution of all inquiry
after higher truth. To his more Intelligent pupils, many
or few, who had not been drawn away from Mother Church
by the liberty and the speculations and the prestige of the
Gnostic schools, Clement offered an adequate alternative.
1 H.E,, v. 28.

STAGES OF THE WAY 75
Orthodoxy, too, had Its Gnosis and Its advanced teaching.
Construction as well as criticism was a function of the Master.
There were further stages attainable on the Royal Way,
greater Mysteries to succeed the lesser, fairer visions than
the soul had yet beheld. All these were open and offered,
without any new departure or any dangerous alliances. So
he points the road to the Higher Life.
We shall understand him best. If we recall the stages
through which the Protrepticus and Ptedagogus guide us, and
then trace the course of the Heavenward Journey onwards,
till at length all traces of the route are lost In the splendours
of the Beatific Vision. Like all other great conceptions of
the Spirit, it has its practical and its ideal aspects : we
may no more ask Clement than we would ask his masters,
Christ or Plato, to draw the sharp defining line between the
two. Roughly, and more for our own convenience than
because they are separate in actuality, we may distinguish
the various stages on the road, or, as they may be otherwise
described, the several elements, or avenues, or manifesta
tions, of the Higher Life.
About the initial stage there is little question. It Is
Faith. The moral training of the Padagogus was for those
who had responded to this appeal. The further spiritual
advance, which is now In question. Is only open to those who
have this elementary qualification. Hence arises the In
teresting, if somewhat difficult, problem of the reladon of
Faith to those more developed gifts and graces. Beneficence,
Apathy, Vision, Knowledge, and their kind. It is impos
sible to bring all Clement's utterances on this subject into
any rigid consistency. His use of terms Is somewhat
variable, nor perhaps is he always master of his own
language. But we shall probably do him no injustice, if we
recognise that he regarded the connection between Faith
and Knowledge as being close and intimate, and yet on

76 THE HIGHER LIFE
occasion found it necessary to lay considerable emphasis on
the distinction between the two. His accounts vary with
his point of view, and are often different without being
incompatible. There is, for example. In the Padagogus, much that might
seem at first sight to lead us to the identification of Faith
and Knowledge.* Perfection, he says, is given with Baptism.
Faith Is the completion of learning. Illumination comes
with our admission to the Church, and illumination is Gnosis.
He writes strongly against those who would too completely
distinguish " milk " from " meat " In the well-known passage
of Saint Paul." All are equal, all are spiritual. It recalls the
equal penny of the Lord's parable. There seems to be no
allowance for grades and distinctions, nothing to hint at the
difference, elsewhere recognised, between the man who be
lieves and the man who knows. Yet the passage itself shows
that no such levelling equality Is intended. He is writing
to oppose the Gnostics who, as Clement thought, drew their
lines of demarcation far too sharply, and tended to inflate
the pride of the elect few and to despise the crowd.
As against this vicious separation, he emphasises the unity
of the Church. The essential matter is to be within the
boundaries of life. Only within this spiritual area is full
attainment possible. It is more Important that a man has
passed within the domain of Light, than that he has or has not
yet attained to this or that higher grade of vision. It seems,
then, that he is really asserting a conviction which elsewhere'
also finds frequent expression in his pages, the truth, namely,
that potentially the highest gifts of Christianity are for all.
With the earliest faith, as soon as God is known at all,
there comes the possibility of advancing to fullest intimacy
' See especially the sixth chapter ofthe First Book, 112-29.
2 Elsewhere he fully accepts this distinction, 659-60, 685.
' E.g. 593-

FAITH THE INITIAL STAGE 77
of communion and of vision.* Theoredcally, it was a demo
cratic Gospel ; practically, attainment was limited by human
capacity and by human choice. The whole scheme of the
Padagogus depends on the assumption that by the proper
training anyone who possessed faith might. In propordon
to the measure of their spiritual capacities, pass on to the
higher stages. The treatise, as we have seen, provided
discipline for the ordinary believer In the world, and also
fitted those who could profit sufficiently by It for the higher
way of certitude and Intuition.
Moreover, the "common faith" is never invalidated,
never abandoned. It remains the foundation, the basis,
the preparation for all later and nobler spiritual erections."
Without It, the higher gifts could not come to us.' It is
necessary, as the air we breathe ; assimilated, like the milk of
our childhood, into the more settled and developed nature.*
Nothing is further from Clement's mind than to sever Faith
from Knowledge. It finds its completion and perfection by
growing up into surer vision, only lost, as childhood is lost,
in maturity.* For there Is continuity In the spiritual life.
Faith Itself becomes of a higher quality as the soul ascends.®
In its intrinsic character It Is not alien from the Intelligence,
for It may be defined In terms which belong to the category
of the mind.' If it is the " logical assent of an independent
soul," if it can develop into "certain demonstration,"* it is
clearly not a quality divorced from reason ; we must hardly
expect any such conception from so true a Hellene as the
Stromatlst. Rather we must believe that Clement conceived
of Faith as the Initial assent of man's nature, not least yet
not solely of his Intelligence, to the message and offer of the
Gospel. There were many stages yet for him to travel, but,
> 831. 2 659^ 736. 3 643.
* 445. -re-nriyiv rf irloTei 6 yvuxmicis, \^b. ^ 865.
" 608, 644. ' 444- ^ 645, 775.

78 THE HIGHER LIFE
throughout them all, the significance and consequence of
such primary illumination are never lost.
So far, Clement Is concerned to assert the fundamental
unity of all phases of the Christian life. So far, he claims
for the ordinary believer spiritual kinship with the rare and
elect minority, and holds that " knowledge and faith may
be spoken of as In substance identical." * But within this
common area he goes on to draw sharp contrasts, recurring
again to the thought of the Higher Way, that was possible
within the Church. To say that he erected a " barrier " "
between the multitude and the few may be a partial. If not
an untrue statement ; but at least the distinction is one to
which he deliberately gives great prominence. He is pre
pared to deny that mere abstention from evil, characteristic
as it was of the ordinary believer, could ever be Identified
with Christian perfection.' He is prepared to deny that
simple faith can be placed on a level with full knowledge,
for " to know is more than to believe." * The range of
Gnosis stretches far beyond the domain of elementary
Instruction, and the " perfection," which Is potentially ours
In Baptism, must be kept carefully distinct from the realised
attainment of the Higher Way.* The first spark of fire
within our nature does but kindle all the higher faculties
to move on to clearer intuition.® Our first Inclination
towards salvation Is not its full possession, and while faith
is valued for Its precious results, for the liberation it brings
and the rewards it offers, knowledge or vision can only be
prized for its own sake, for it Is itself the best.'
Again and again there are hints of a cultivated aristocracy
of finer spirits, suggestions of an aloofness from the many,
which bring Clement, for the moment, just as near as a
1 See Bigg, Christian Platonists, p. 82, n.
2 "Scheidewand." See Harnack, Gesch. der altchrist. Litt., 11. (ii.), p. 4.
3 770. * 794. * 826. « 818. ' 789.

FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE 79
Chrisdan writer ought to come, to the dictum of Plato that
a " philosophic crowd " is impossible, or to the Pharisees'
Impatience with " this multitude that knoweth not the law."
No doubt, in his essential purpose, Clement was right. He
was claiming, as against those who sought to forbid the spirit's
quest and to limit Christianity to what the uneducated could
receive, that all the higher faculties of human nature, and
In particular the mind, had full title to recognition and
satisfaction In the scheme of the Divine Society. _So^ haying
won his convert from Paganism to the Church, and having
trained him by the wise and temperate moral discipline
which was common to all believers, he delights to point
him to the upward pathway of the soul, to assure him that
the resources of Christianity are not exhausted in our mere
licceptance of its first offers, and to disclose to his apt pupil
the motives, the Inward discipline, the outward line of
conduct, the training of the soul's vision, which should lead
him from the domain of elementary belief to that perfect
and uninterrupted communion with ultimate reality which,
though never doubtful, lay beyond the power of his pen
and tongue to describe in terms of human speech. These
things " Eye hath not seen nor ear heard," he says. In. apt
quotation.* On these lines full Gnosis is set In strongest
contrast to simple Faith. Let us again remember that it is
forbidden to none, and that it involves and not invalidates
belief. With these cautions we may follow Clement in the
blessed and arduous ascent.
If we ask what Is the motive power which determines
such spiritual advance, a threefold answer must be given,
though the process in reality Is one. To begin with, human
choice must play its part. It is of ourselves that God
desires we should be saved." Man's will is always Involved
in his progress towards perfection, and towards the more
>6i5. 2788.

8o THE HIGHER LIFE
intimate association with the divine Word, just as it was
involved In his acquirement of elementary faith.* Gnosis
is chosen : there Is no compulsion on this higher road : a
man's place among the separate company of the elect depends
on the worthy decision of his soul." So our noblest posses
sions are won by quest and effort. It is not merely a
question of the nature that Is given us. The make of a
character does not alone determine Its destiny. Again and
again we are reminded of the autonomy of the soul. The
appeal is frequently with Clement, as it was principally with
Jesus, to the central stronghold of the will. The kingdom
Is taken by violence.' We ourselves must to some extent
be the motive power of our own advance.
But the heights are not climbed by sheer decision alone.
Clement makes frequent reference to a trinity of predis
posing forces, which assist or impel the will. These are
Fear, Hope, and Love.* The relative measure of their
Influence is in some sense a key to our spiritual attainment ;
for Fear, albeit a wholesome and legitimate motive, of which
Clement has many commendatory things to say, is In the
main the motive of the crowd, while even the Hope of the
future Is sometimes severely restricted to the ordinary
believer.* No doubt there are grades of fear,® and there
are hopes which can only be surrendered when they have
been merged in full possession ; but the distinction holds up
to a point, and leaves Love as the dominant influence of
the higher way. The lower motives pass Into this supreme
spiritual force, which is at once the incentive and the satis
faction of the soul. It Is the love of affinity rather than of
desire.' It transforms the servant into the brother, friend,
* Koivii T\ -iriiTTis Tuy eXop.eyuy, 833. aiT^a ^ cXpeais rris yv^ffetas, 835,
" 734, 832.
3565,654,868-9. * 445) 569 ; cp. fi6vou rh vpoaiperiKhy Kai rrjv ayav^v fftfC^fiev, 623.
* 789. ^ 450. ^ 776-7.

FEAR, HOPE, LOVE 8i
or son.* It takes a man out of himself to unite him with
his Lord." It surpasses understanding,' and though Clement
cannot naturally agree with Saint Paul that "knowledge shall
vanish away," he is at one with the Apostle in holding that,
right on to the end, when It becomes indistinguishable from
Knowledge, Love never fails. All that he has to say of the
final goal of human life, of that likeness to God on which
the diverse teachings of Platonism, Judaism, and Christianity
seemed so wonderfully to coincide, is an appeal to this power
of Love, which has many degrees and many phases, but only
one conclusive end, the union, namely, of man with God.
Clement is afraid, as a rule, of emotion. He could hardly
have j udged fairly, and he had certainly never experienced,
the passionate longing of the soul for God in the form in
which we see it in the Psalmists or In some later Hymns.
Yet, even with Clement, there is a warmth In love. This
new Christian power, so wholly diverse from the epiiof of
Paganism, seems to touch the reason's colder nature with
its own glow and radiance.* If intellectualism has In other
respects led Clement astray. It has at least not hindered him
recognising, by instinct rather than from argument, that the
supreme influence of Christianity upon human character
lay In Love.
And yet it is not alone through deliberate choice and
the love of the highest that spiritual progress is secured.
Clement is no stranger to that paradox of the inner life,
which has Its simplest expression In the " I, yet not I " of
his favourite Apostle. Human will and human love are,
when viewed from another standpoint, indistinguishable
from the grace and the care of God. So_dIvIn? jLcdon must
also be recogn^sed^ in all stages pLthe^soul's ascent. We
* 542. " 777-
3 872. aydrri KupiiuTaTi) irdirris iiriaT-fipnis — he does not say yyiiireus.
* eepn6y Tl xp^/*« V hyiitri, Frag, in Migne, Patr. Grcec, ix. 773.
VOL. II. 6

82 THE HIGHER LIFE
choose, like Mary, the better part, but we are also chosen
for it.* " Draw if thou canst the mystic line,
Severing rightly His from thine."
We are taken back again to the thought of the divine
Word as the universal and unfailing teacher of humanity,
for all that is said of the earliest guidance of the P^edagogus
holds good of that later training towards perfection, when the
higher functions of the " Master " come Into play. With
out the divine grace we cannot attain. The Father draws
His children to Himself." If on the human side knowledge
must be sought, on the divine it Is given as a grace.' .Plato
was right : our best things come to us by divine appoint
ment.* Faith, Hope, and Love are sacred . bonds, -whicIi
draw us with our Lord upwards Into the Holy Presence.*
The God who cares for all men bestows peculiar aid and
oversight upon the Gnostic soul.® In such terms does
Clement's happy mind dwell upon the care and guidance
and inspiration of the unseen Teacher, without which,
indeed, human wills and even human love must prove of
slight avail. So the motive power, which Impels the spirit
upon Its upward course, has its threefold character. It is
a question of man's choice, and of man's love, and not less
of the grace of God. And these three are one. The
resultant is a single inward force, tending ever heavenwards.
Such being the motives of the higher way, what are Its
features or stages .'' Such a life will best be considered on
its Inner side, before we ask what manner of man Clement's
Gnostic must have appeared to the outer world. It is
remarkable to observe how moral qualities preponderate In
his description of It. The goal was vision, pure uninter
rupted communion with God's reality, a final phase of
• 803. 2 6^7^ 6g6. 3 689, 914.
* 696. S 865. 6 824, 860.

VISION DEPENDS" ON CHARACTER 83
spiritual life, for which Platonic language was less inadequate
than any other. And Clement himself was a man of the
mind, Hellenic, Alexandrine, even when he was most
Christian. Yet the upward way was largely distinguished
by its virtues of character. Choice, disposition, affections,
Inward freedom, count for more than knowledge or mere
Intellect : even the philosophy that was so dear to the
writer is Included only as an addition to the feast.* Thus he
recognises the great principle of Christianity, that purity of
heart Is the condition of the divine vision, that it is through
doing God's wIU that we come to understand His truths."
Hence conduct and morality retain their importance far
beyond the preliminary stages described In the Padagogus.
Even in the later books of the Stromateis It is with a dis
cussion on character, with a sketch of the greatness and
beauty of the Gnostic's disposition, that we are concerned.'
Speaking of his treatment of such subjects, he compares his
work to that of a sculptor modelling a figure : on the other
hand, his occasional hints of Gnostic vision and insight are
given only sporadically, here and there, as a man might
scatter seeds.* Again we notice how superficial is the view
which would regard Clement's Christianity as purely intel
lectual. His Ideal of the higher life may be open to many
criticisms, but at least it provided for the heart and character
and not only for the mind.
Nor again was there any doubt in Clement's mind about
the distance and the difficulty of the spiritual goal. He
will write with a generous enthusiasm on the universal
summons, on the free right of the humblest member of the
Church to choose this upward path. But let none Imagine
'824.
^ Cp. iroiovpres rh 04\ijfia yty<&(rKOfifVy 338 : and <i>as iKitvo rh iv rf) ^vxv
eyy€y6/j.tvov 4k rTJs Kara rits ivroXas wttoko'HJ, 53^ • ^P' ^^ John Vll. ly.
3 735, 827. * 901.

84 THE HIGHER LIFE
that it Is an easy journey, or that he may travel Its stages
carelessly, without sacrifice and without effort. " We may
not," he writes in a beautiful and impressive passage, " be
lifted up and transported to our journey's end. We must
travel there on foot, passing over all the distance of the
narrow way." * And though elsewhere he tells us that it Is
natural to the man who has faith to go on to knowledge,
and allows that the soul has wings," there Is constant
mention also of the " force and effort," of the difficulty and
long toil, of the tedious training, through which the ascent
Is made.' It Is as true of the soul's highest needs, as it is
true of the body's most elementary wants, that, figuratively,
a man shall only satisfy them "by the sweat of his brow."*
In spite of all his optimism and all the even tenor of his
happy disposition, Clement must have known something of
the inward pain of spiritual effort. To his disciples he
points the highest way as he understands It, but he never
deludes them with the false assurance that It Is all easy or
all pleasant, or that the Promised Land lies very near. He
would have had little patience with the common delusion
of the religious Philistine, that the Interior life is a facile
undertaking for those who have the inclination and the time.
A principal element in this way of attainment was the
purification of the soul from evil. The Island of Crete, so
said the naturalists, sheltered no beasts of prey.* The
Gnostic soul was to resemble this happy country and to be
as free as Crete from devastating influences. It is not the
consciousness of moral guilt, still less the fear of future
penalties, that occasions this rule. The obligation to purity
lies in the fact that it is the condition of vision. This Is
the old Platonic principle, that pure truth can only be
> 627. 2 696, 819.
2 $la Kol TrSvtpy 675 j ^^ TToW^ Kafj-drtfy 788 ; 5ta iroAA^s rrfS 'TraxSe^as, 794*
* 736. ^ 997-

THE CLEANSING OF THE SOUL 85
apprehended by the pure soul. Such KaOapa-n, then, is a
process, a long process, carried out with an end in view. It
is an equivalent. In Clement's understanding of the Higher
Life, of what the pagan world demanded in preparation for
the Mysteries.* The Pythagoreans, Apollonius of Tyana
for example, had always recognised the necessity of such
inward cleansing for the religious and philosophic aspirant,
while the prominence of the similar principle In Buddhism
is well known. Clement under some such Influences had
probably learned this truth before he became a Christian.
On few points is he more convinced than on the
impossibility of beholding the Highest without this Inward
purity. Deeds morally wrong, ideas speculatively false,
must alike go." As silver is rid of its alloy, as the
soil is rid of its weeds, so is it with the soul.' The practice
of positive virtue Is inseparable from the elimination of
evil.* God's true priests are always the pure in heart :
they are the veritable Israelites.* The Gnostic prays alike
for forgiveness and for future freedom from sin,® but the
dread of penalties is clearly a slight Influence in comparison
with his intense desire to attain. The lustrations of the
High Priest and the Baptismal rite of Christianity are alike
symbolical expressions of that inward purity, which renders
the soul fit for Its final entry on the Blessed Life.' For
the process has its term and completion. At last there
comes a rest from constant cleansing ; we pass beyond it to
a higher stage.* " Longa dies, perfecto temporis orbe,
Concretam exemit labem."
It is commonly said that Clement Is defective in his
' 844-5. Q'- Philostratus, Vita Apollonii, i. 8 ; ii. 30 ; Zeller, Die
Philosophie der Griechen, HI. (ii.), 145 (3te Auflage).
2 877. ^ 770. * 443- ^ ' 635, 794.
6 nai. ' 628, 669-70. ' irt-Travfieyoi ttIs icaBdpireas, 865.

86 THE HIGHER LIFE
sense of Sin. But no reader can gather together his different
statements on this purification of the soul, without discerning
that In reality his spiritual standard is as high and exacting
as that of many writers of other schools, who have dwelt,
as Clement never cared to dwell, on the internal terrors of
the conscience and the after sufferings of the damned. The
bondage of Egypt counts with him for but little : the
splendour of the Promised Land with all Its far distances
makes him forget the past. " Let the dead," he might
have told his hearers, " bury their dead."
The process of purification leads at last to a state of
entire "Apathy." Of this Inward condition Clement has
much to say. It is one of his dominant Ideas in the moral
domain. His fondness for the conception has laid him
open to much criticism. Perhaps it is peculiarly difficult
for western minds, under modern conditions, to be fair or
patient in their estimate of this principle. Clement held
that. In proportion as the soul attained to purity, it acquired
independence of the passions and affections. For Tradoi
meant all liability to external influence, all risk of a man's
true self, which to the Greek was his reason, being over
powered by the solicitations that came to him chiefly, though
not exclusively, through the channels of sense. To arrive
at so pure and so calm a state that all these influences found
no interior response, was the final and conclusive freedom
of the spirit, the absolute liberty essential for perfect con
templation. This Ideal is, of course, as well a gradual
process : it is Indeed another aspect of purification and
discipline. Human nature is to strip off the appetites of
the flesh, and the soul to be gradually separated from the
body.* The moderate and regulated condition of the
desires gives way at length to a state in which the desires
are not so much regulated as non-existent." Neither courage,
1 686. 2 775_ 777.

APATHY 87
nor grief, nor anger, nor jealousy, nor any sort of passion,
remain ; even ordinary affection must go with the rest.
In such a condition our nature Is Incapable of feeling
resentment, is conscious of no distinction between a sister
and a wife, regards all human beauty with the same cold
recognition with which we may be conscious of a statue's
grace.* Strangely negative as such a state of passionless
detachment appears. It is yet in reality only the obverse
side of the higher life of renewed Humanity." To attain
it so completely that it becomes, not an occasional mood
nor a difficult endeavour, but a permanent and unvarying
condition of unruffled inward serenity, is to be once and for
all master and conqueror of the passions, and the fully
qualified aspirant for the uninterrupted and unsatlating
vision of God Himself.' At times Clement Is carried away
by his ideal, at times he seems drawn back by mundane
facts and limitations. It may be of Interest to compare his
extreme statements with his concessions and his reactions in
the direction of average possibility.
On the one hand, we are told of a state In which desire
has actually ceased to occupy Its place In human nature.*
We find the strange suggestion of a passionless marriage,
entered upon purely for the discipline which wedded life
affords.* We are told that even bravery has no proper place
in such a character.® The condition of the soul becomes so
entirely homogeneous and unified, that It Is unaffected by the
shifting variations of normal experience and cosmic process.'
It seems to have passed beyond the stage at which
" Life, like a dome of many-coloured glass.
Stains the white radiance of Eternity."
And such things apparently are more than a dream and a
1 616, 884. 2 836. 3 581, 886, « 537-8.
6 869. « 776. ' 633, 694, 777.

88 THE HIGHER LIFE
vision : while we are still in the body, he says, this Apathy
and entire Tranquillity may be ours.*
Side by side with such statements must be placed many
admissions which abate Its exacting idealism. There is a
difference, he allows, between the passionless nature of the
Lord and man's hardly acquired Imitation of It." In the
case of human nature the process is lifelong and has many
stages.' And he must indeed be different from the average
of mankind, who can really treat with indifference the
aStd(f>opa of our life.* More than once he seems to be satis
fied with an " Apathy " which does not exclude the normal
and necessary demands of our nature. More than once he
recognises the Inevitable limitations of the present state :
it must be " so far as is possible for human nature." * His
general sanity of view, so manifest in his treatment of such
subjects as marriage, property, and martyrdom, does not
fail him here, and though he never loses sight of the summits,
he remembers that the higher way must not be too abrupt
for the steps of the traveller to climb.
No doubt his theory leads him into frequent incon
sistencies. Hc has not really thought out the relation
of the two phases, ideal and practical, of his conception as
above described. He denies "gladness" to his perfect
character in one passage, only to claim it for him else
where.® And when the worst has been said about Pleasure,
It is allowed that the Christian Gnostic has pleasures of his
own. Once at least he seems to have felt the difficulty,
and makes a hardly successful attempt to prove that Christian
love has in it no element of desire.' But he had made of
course, not without good authority, the initial mistake of
1 588. 2156^623,875. 3569,810,836. * 487.
5 eij Sooy SiyapLis, 642 ; Cp. 500, 792, Even the Christian Gnostic <rvniri<rxet
rf oiipiaTi, 868.
^ ev<t>po<rvyri denied, 777 ; claimed, 789,;^835, 894. ' 776-7.

THE ASCETIC ELEMENT IN CLEMENT 89
drawing his line, not between higher and lower objects of
desire, but between desire as such and the reason. The
consequences of this are frequently evident, notably so In
relation to the divine nature, for along with his reiterated
assertion that God and even the Incarnate Word are wholly
passionless and without affection, go the many references
to the divine sympathy and to the condescension of the
Word, who for man's salvation becomes liable to irdOr],
subject, at least in some measure, to the conditions of the
creature's life.* The Stoic and Christian elements are
clearly not entirely fused.
Yet we must not blame Clement too severely for this
truly Hellenic element in his Ideal of the Higher Life. He
could hardly have been the man he was, had he shed entirely,
on his entry into the Church, all that suspicion of the senses,
all that distrust of the changing shows and the evanescent
pleasures of our life, which, since the days of Heraclitus,
had been so fundamental a principle with the most serious
spirits of his race. " Eheu ! eheu ! mundi vita,
Quare me delectas ita ? "
This twelfth-century hymn shows how deeply the ascetic,
world-renouncing temper was to strike its roots in Chris
tianity, and Clement, with all his extreme demands for
" Apathy," was far less rigorous In his asceticism than much
of the Gnosticism of his day, and much of the Monastlcism
that came later. Moreover, we know something of his
surroundings. As he watched the life of the volatile
populace of Alexandria, and marked on how slight grounds
they could be stirred to pillage Jewish houses or to shout for
the lives of martyrs, as he beheld them carried beyond all
' He finds in God Th ets rifias ffv/nraSes, 956. Cp. 6 irvn-na0}is Be6s, 251. He
is aware of the difficulty involved, 686-7, But his explanation does not really
meet it.

90 THE HIGHER LIFE
control by the excitements of the theatre or the horse-race,
or by sensuous music, or Inflammatory rhetoric, or again, as
he reflected on the small percentage of those who professed
philosophy, to whom money and fame and the entry Into
great houses, and even lower things, were in reality matters
of indifference, he may well have felt that no true and full
salvation of the spirit within man was possible, until by his
own efforts or the divine grace he attained to freedom from
external things, and made his exodus from that restless,
divided, variable realm of TrdOtj, of which he remembered
that Egypt was a type.* So his environment co-operated
with the Stoicism he had heard Pantaenus teach, and
the result was his strange portrayal of the Christian Gnostic
as one who has no emotions and responds to no appeal,
seeming to anticipate the disembodied life on earth, and
to be as pure and faultless and Inhuman as the statue to
which he was compared." And yet Clement was a man of
very different type himself.
And, from his own standpoint, he had a further justifica
tion. For this " Apathy " was a quality common to the
divine and human natures, a point in which man's life could
through long training In a measure resemble the life of God.
The end of all our efforts, as he had learned from many
sources to conceive it, was likeness to God. Plato in the
well-known passage in the Th^eatetus ; ' the Book of Genesis
In the saying, " Let us make man In our image, after our
likeness " ; Philo again as he had fused these two strains
of teaching,* and Saint Paul in his admonition, " Be imitators
of me, as I am of Christ," had all recognised that to attain
first to the image and then to the likeness of God was the
true goal of the human spirit.* Clement definitely accords
* 453- Cp. 678. Egypt was toC Beiov \6yov eprifios.
2 827. 3 Plato, Thcecet., 176,
^ See Drummond, Philo fudceus, ii. 287. ' 500-2.

MAN MAY RISE TO DIVINITY 91
with this teaching, drawing, as De Faye * has pointed out,
no careful line between its intellectual aspects in Plato and
its moral aspects in Christianity, but recurring again and
again to the familiar and suggestive. If somewhat elastic
definition. It is worth noting, how frequently this like
ness of man to God is mentioned In connection with
"Apathy."" The two can hardly be said to have been
identical, for resemblance to the divine nature must have
involved much else — elements of a more positive character,
and a fuller measure of the abundant life. But of these
it was not easy to speak In human language. They be
longed to the domain that lies beyond the range of eye and
ear and understanding. Hence, in default of any detailed
account of the soul's ultimate estate, this somewhat negative
" Apathy " remains as a principal feature in his sketch of
spiritual attainment. To possess it is so far to resemble
God. And then. In language which sounds strange to our ears,
he passes even beyond this conception of resemblance.
This higher way of the soul leads to more than similarity.
It issues at last in an actual Identity with God, a state in
which man can be described as being God. That man was
to be equal with the angels, or that God was to make His
shrine within human nature, or that there v/as an ancient
and inborn affinity in man with heaven, are claims made fre
quently by Religion and Philosophy alike. Clement, like
other Greek Fathers, goes beyond them ; he says it Is possible
for the Gnostic to become God, and to walk about as a god
In human flesh.' He appeals in support to language used
by Heraclitus and by Plato and to the Psalmist's words, used
also by the Lord, " I said ye are gods." How far the
' CUment dAlexandrie, 295, n. 3. 2 5^2, 632-3, 836, 883, 886.
3 ToiiTif Svyarhy ry Tp6-irip Thy yywiTTiKhy IJS77 yeyeadtn 6e6y, 632. ev ffapnl
irepi-KoXSiy Beis, 894. Cp. 7()7, 83O.

92 THE HIGHER LIFE
deification of the Emperors, or the conviction of thoughtful
minds that many of the gods of Olympus had originally
been men, contributed to make such a conception possible,
it Is hard to say. It was generally allowed in the Greek
Church ; It was to be found even in Western writers, and
survived, Harnack tells us, till Saint Augustine brought It to
an end.* Some reduction in our conception of the godhead
is certainly involved in such phraseology. Clement, after
his manner, finds no difficulty in asserting elsewhere that
there is no Identity between divine and human virtue." It
Is hard to say exactly how much he Intended by this
OeoTTolicrii. It Is not his own Invention. Here, as often, he
is using one of the conceptions current In his world. In
other respects his supreme Deity Is not too near, but rather
too remote, from human life. The boldness of his claim,
however startling to western ears. Implies no real irrever
ence. He follows the progress of the spirit along the
higher way, and If faith and hope carry him somewhat
further than we can accompany him, we should rather envy
his optimism than criticise his terms.
One of the most beautiful traits In this ideal character
is seen In Clement's account of the Gnostic's prayers.*
Such a man prays Indeed with the understanding, for his
conception of God is true, and his standard of things
desirable rests on reality. Hence he prays, not as ordinary
men, for boons that may prove disastrous, but for such
spiritual gifts as forgiveness, freedom from sin. Indifference
to things Indifferent, Independence of the flesh, knowledge
of the will of God. He will pray aloud, sharing the
common petitions of the faithful, which are the true
incense, " composed of many tongues and voices " ; * or,
' See the note in Hort and Mayor, p. 203, and Harnack, Hist. Dogm.,
i. 119 ; iii. 164, n,
2 886. 3 See esp. 853-61, 876, 880. < 850.

THE GNOSTIC'S PRAYERS 93
preferably, he will pray silently, without utterance, speak
ing in the heart to God. He is familiar with the paradox
involved In prayer that, although God knows our wants
before they are uttered, and gives, unasked, every good gift
to those who are fit to receive it ; still prayer, even in the
sense of petition. Is right and has its use and function in
the spiritual economy. In one passage Clement makes the
illuminating observation that prayer is a return of Pro
vidence upon itself, the human will being so identified with
the divine that God receives back the suggestion of His
own purpose from ourselves. This Is almost a beautiful
anticipation of the " Da quod jubes " of Saint Augustine.
But Indeed, though God gives to such a soul in re
sponse to inward desires and thoughts, the higher purpose of
prayer is not any ulterior end even of a spiritual character ;
it is rather a converse with God and precious on its own
account. Such communion Is Independent of set times and
places ; alone or in company, walking or reading or at rest,
a man may hold this inward communion with God, " sub
consciously," as we perhaps should add. So all life becomes
a festival, and prayer is " without ceasing," and, avoiding
all wordy petitions, the soul lives in such higher fellowship,
gratefully, hopefully, yet not without humility, for there is
risk of falling even on the higher road. There is a further
touch of humility in Clement's inclusion of himself among
the number of those, who may be benefited by the prayers
of the pure in soul.* This Is a Christian sentiment and
must be set over against two prayers," one that of a Martyr,
the other that of a Greek Athlete, both of which are offered
as examples, though Indeed there is a certain ring of
philosophic complacency in them, more consonant, as
Mayor points out, with the class-room of Epictetus than
with the spirit of the Gospel. But, this apart, there is
1 880. 2 588, 860.

94 THE HIGHER LIFE
much true piety in Clement's account of the Christian
Gnostic's prayers. It contains hardly anything that jars
upon modern feeling on the subject, and is specially sug
gestive for all those more thoughtful minds, which have long
since abandoned " the battery theory of prayer." One such
spirit Clement found In his own day in Origen, whose De
Oratione bears clear traces of his master's teaching.
These are the stages and tendencies of the higher life, as
Clement describes It on its Inner side. And yet throughout
we are never allowed to forget that it has its outward as
well as Its inward aspects, and may be observed and read of
men. Though in a sense this true Gnostic has left the
world and Is " away from home to be with the Lord," he is
still liable to constant recall, as the ties of a family, the wants
of his neighbours, the claims of citizenship, the pressure of
circumstances, or the care of pupils, or the interests of
cultivated men, remind him that he has not yet received his
final summons to depart and be with Christ. Such a
character, taking its share In the affairs of the city, the
market-place, and the home, could not fail to leave an
impression on the mind alike of the Intelligent pagan and of
the average Churchman. We have frequent hints In
Clement's pages as to its most notable features. Putting
these together, we may see what manner of man this higher
life produced in the sight, not of God, but of his neighbours.
What must have struck the observer most was the
fact that this lover of contemplation was also constantly
active in well-doing. He would extol Apathy, and then
puzzle his hearers by some act of charity, or by the earnest
exhortation of a younger friend, or by his delight in the
instruction of a child.* His days were full of fair deeds ;
his kindly consideration for inferiors was often remarked ;
he had none of the clever man's contempt for simple and
1 86i, 880-1.

THE SAINT AS THE WORLD SAW HIM 95
stupid souls,* For good deeds, Clement knew, follow
knowledge as its shadow follows the body." Even In God
beneficent acdon never ceases.' And he brings a thoroughly
Hellenic principle into his Chrisdan ideal by asserting that,
though a man may do without knowing. In no case can a
man know without doing.* So the world could take know
ledge of this consecrated visionary, for indeed he differed
from other men not so much in the things he did, as in the
manner of his doing them. His action was always conscious
and intelligent. Men felt that the motive of his deeds was
often different from their own, that he saw more significance
in common duties, and discerned in circumstances the order
of the wIU of God. He would face martyrdom, if it came
to that, with unfaltering courage, though he thought It
wrong to seek it, and took no pride In Irrational bravery.*
As to details, he was frequently a vegetarian : ® on the
other hand, he might on occasion be met at a banquet where,
like his Master, he had the art of leading conversation to
more serious themes and levels. He was more often than
not a married man ; and. If public positions were offered
him, filled them sometimes remarkably well.' Though
usually a man of frugal habit, he was never known to neglect
the body's actual needs : its care, he recognised, was a duty
for the sake of the soul it enshrined.* People who had
heard him accused of asceticism and detachment from ordi
nary interests, were surprised, when they met him, to find
that he would discuss philosophy or music or geometry or
even agriculture * with them, and that, if things went well
with him, he accepted his prosperity gratefully, though it
left his nature quite unspoiled.*" They felt this saint was
still human, and even his enemies knew that, notwithstanding
1 607, 678-9, 779, 873. 2 882. 3 7g2.
* Stahlin, iii. 212, ^ 569, 871. "850. '837,874.
8 573, 779. 8 773. 10 688.

96 THE HIGHER LIFE
his advanced and illuminated piety, he might be found
sharing the common prayers and worship of slaves and sailors
and women and country labourers, who formed the Church's
rank and file.* So far he was In the world and even of It.
But they never saw him in the theatre or at the gladiatorial
shows." And they were often conscious that in many other
ways he was different from themselves, that envy and anger
and resentment had less place In his nature, that he was
somehow above the persecutions they dreaded and the
pleasures they most enjoyed, that he was less Influenced by
flattery or blame or ill repute or superstition, that he had the
strength of an inward purpose from which none could move
him, and that living In the midst of the great city, and
sharing all its lawful interests, he was still at heart a stranger
amongst them, with his real home elsewhere.'
To whatever high degree of contemplative vision and
communion such a character might be led, this outward life
of active well-doing was never here to be forgotten or
neglected. The association of practical activity with the
higher grades of insight is asserted with notable insistence.*
Contemplation is " meliorative." * These two aspects of the
perfect life. Activity and Knowledge, which, since they were
first distinguished by Aristotle, have never again been entirely
unified, are to some extent combined in Clement's scheme,
when he dwells on the Gnostic's delight In imparting higher
truth. It is the crown of his activity to train others like
himself and to fashion, as Pantaenus and our Stromatlst
himself had done, the successors who should carry on his
work.® Nowhere does the Gnostic Influence on others take
so high a form, as in this ministry of spirit to spirit, mind to
mind. Clement's own position and career give colour here
to his Ideal, and there Is something not only pardonable
1 797, 86o, 2 852. 3 878.
* 4S3-4, 581, 796, 801, 895. 6 830. 6 862-4.

THE GOAL IS VISION 97
but noble in the delight with which he magnifies his office
and dwells on the dignity of the Gnostic calling. It is a
personal touch, which gives concrete reality to his concep
tion. Of one at least of the outward aspects of this life
Clement's contemporaries and fellow-citizens must have
learned something from his own labours and "conversation."
Under such guidance we have followed the Gnostic
Christian of Alexandria along the stages of the Higher
Way. We have traced his upward journey from the
domain of primary and simple Faith. We have analysed
the motives which impel him, his choice, his Love, the
Grace of God. We have seen him pass through the many
phases of Purification to the high estate of Apathy ; and we
have also looked upon this type of spiritual life In Its
exterior aspects. Its activity, its beneficence, its dignified
share In common things. It remains to gather up the
fragmentary hints which are given us of the ultimate goal
of this journey of favoured souls. We shall not be able
fully to understand or describe It, for Clement knew well
that this could not be done. But we may learn a little
more of its direction and its character, before words and
vision fail, and the way Is lost in the glory of the Light
ineffable. Throughout his account of the higher life, Clement
never allows us to forget for long that Vision, Insight,
Contemplation, Gnosis — for the reality has many names —
are always the end in view. Much as he says about Love
and Beneficence and Salvation and Purity, these are not the
ultimate criteria of attainment : they are the conditions of
Vision or, as In the case of Love, they pass Into It and are
valued. If the question is pressed home, for their relation to
it. The end, he says. Is Contemplation.* Gnosis is the
distinguishing feature of true well-being." It Is a sort of
^ Th Te\os . . . els Bewplav vepatovrat, 883. 2 opQg evBainoyias, 733.
VOL. II. 7

98 THE HIGHER LIFE
perfection of man as man.* Obedience is good. Beneficence
Is good, but Contemplation stands first." The knowledge
of God and eternal salvation are so inseparably connected as
to be in fact Identical. But If their severance were possible,
and the Gnostic were offered his choice between the two.
It Is on the knowledge of God that, without a moment's
hesitation, his choice would fall.' This is the final stage of
the soul's progress, foreseen In the Protrepticus and the
Padagogus, and never for long out of the writer's mind,
even when he discusses marriage or digresses into a diatribe
on plagiarism. But Gnosis may be recognised as such, even
in its earlier manifestations. Initiation into the lesser
Mysteries precedes admission to the greater.* The spirit
and aptitude of the Gnostic are revealed in his power to
find profit in the old philosophies, or to pierce below the
language and symbolism of Scripture to Its hidden meaning,
or to prove himself a worthy recipient of the sacred trust
of the esoteric tradition of the Church.* These are but his
Trpoyufivda-fiaTa.^ It Is In such preliminary exercises that
the highest faculty in his nature finds its training and has
its foretaste of the immortal state.'
Three characteristic features seem to belong to this
final stage of the soul's attainment. The first of these is Its
permanence. The fluctuations of our highest moods are
among the common disappointments of all Inward experi
ence. " No human faculty," complained Aristotle, " can
maintain a continuous activity." * "A little while and
ye shall not see me ; and again a little while and ye shall
see me." We are taken beyond these limitations, when
Clement speaks of " an abiding and unalterable state of con
templation ; " of an exercise of vision that is uninterrupted ;
of a permanence of communion that corresponds with our
1 864. - 453- ' 626. See Ch. xxi., p. 309. * 564.
5 348, 376, 678, 779, ^ 624. '613, 8 Ethics, X. 4.

FINALITY, COMMUNION, PEACE 99
extremest hopes and prayers.* Such a phase of experience
Is not so much an activity of our being as a state. To
attain it is to reach a spiritual condition absolutely unified,
absolutely free from change." The feast of unending vision
never ceases and never cloys.' The soul becomes, rather
than has, its experiences.* It attains to indefectlbility, and
lives eternally on the levels where neither loss, nor power
of abatement, can touch its blest estate. Such is the per
manence of ultimate and perfect Gnosis.
The second characteristic comes out in Clement's refer
ences to the union of the spirit with its object. Both in
love and In understanding there Is a certain identification
of man's individual nature with the external fact or person,
in so far as this Is loved or understood. We are what we
see. There Is a certain kinship between the mind and what
It apprehends. The final stage of vision, as Clement seems
to conceive it. Is the fulfilment of this principle in its com-
pletest term. We have already seen how the increasing
likeness of the soul to God issues, at last. In a condition In
which man is, rather than resembles, the divine. It is the
most intimate phase of his being's contact with supreme
reality. It Is more than knowledge, though It is less than
ecstasy : " communion," perhaps. Is the nearest equivalent
in English, though the conception never loses a certain
intellectualist tone. Man has intercourse with the divine
and shares its holy nature.* " The apprehensive vision of
the pure In heart " Is consummated in fellowship with God.®
" We close with all we love," and with all we know. It
is the Pauline conception of " seeing face to face," the
entire accord and harmony that unites the soul to its
kindred environment.' Language Is a poor medium for
portraying the final intimacy of the soul with God. There
' 771, 789, 859- " 776-7- ' 835.
? 581. 5 581. « 835. ' 873.

ICG THE HIGHER LIFE
is more, Clement knows, than he can say ; it Is significant
that he can only conduct the spiritual traveller up to the
vestibule of the sanctuary. The great High Priest must
do the rest.*
Yet of one other point we are assured. This permanent
estate of spiritual communion is the soul's final peace. All
the tranquillity the philosopher had desired ; all the rest
remaining surely somewhere for the people of God, of
which old Canaan had been such a disappointing type ;
all the calm which Alexandrian mariners had found for a
time In the quiet waters of its great harbour, are gathered
up and fulfilled in this ultimate repose in God. The quest
ends in discovery, beyond the reach of debate. Quietness
and rest and peace, always kindred qualities to the Gnostic
soul," have their final development in unbroken serenity.
" The toil is over : the soul's gain abides." ' To such high
and unalterable attainment, in the full enjoyment of the
Beatific Vision and in the closest union with God, has the
human spirit been guided along the Higher Way. Ta S'' dWa
o-iyw.* It is best to say no more. Words are no longer
adequate. The account must remain Incomplete and frag
mentary. It Is sufficient, however, to make the modern
reader feel, with Clement, that it remains only to glorify
the Lord.
Such is the Alexandrian father's outline of the highest
life open to humanity. Many things might be said about
this ideal. We might examine the sources from which It
was derived, or the points at which it was most open to
criticism, or the relation it bears to subsequent developments
of religious philosophy, both inside and without the Church.
Specially might we dwell upon Its value for all who find in
Mysticism the surest element in religion. But it is best
here to omit such discussions, partly because some of these
' 858. 2 456- ' 792. * 835.

VALUE OF CLEMENT'S IDEAL loi
subjects must be dealt with in another chapter, partly because
Clement's conception may well be left to rest upon Its own
intrinsic merits. Undoubtedly It bears the evident Impress
of his own personality, of his environment, of his time.
Undoubtedly, too. It contains elements to which our busy
western Christendom can only accord a qualified admira
tion. The world moves on and our Ideals are transformed
and modified, as the years accomplish the changes which are
essential to the continuance of life. The monastic recluse,
the vigorous champion of the Church's rights and the
Church's order, the subtle controversialist, the devoted
missionary, the enthusiastic philanthropist, the fierce assail
ant of social wrong, are all types of Christian character and
enterprise, produced by the action of the world's shifting
environment upon the original and fundamental achievement
of the Gospel. They have their vogue, their day, their
validity. They have no assured permanence. Least of all
In our own century do we need to be reminded, how tran
sitory Is the dominance of even the highest Ideals. The
value of Clement's contribution to the cause of Christianity
must be estimated principally by his conception of the
Gnostic character, and this, like the Ideal of virgin woman
hood, or of crusading enterprise, can claim no unalterable
pre-eminence. But so long as the higher intuitions of finer
spirits are not entirely sacrificed to the common needs of the
devoted multitude ; so long, too, as we face the problems of
adjusting the claims of the exterior and the interior lives,
and of discovering new harmonies between Knowledge and
Love, there will be gain and profit In looking back to the
sketch that Clement has left us, and in tracing anew the
features of the highest Christian character, which It was in his
power to conceive.

CHAPTER XV
THE CHURCH
For the student of Church History a special interest and
importance belongs to the period covered by Clement's
lifetime. In many ways the epoch was one of rapid for
mation, when tendencies were being consolidated Into
institutions, when Christianity was recognising the need
and utility of organisation, and Faith deciding upon the
fashion of its apparatus. " Le christianisme," says Renan,
" 6talt entlerement fait avant Orig^ne." * The new religion
quickly acquired or developed its essential elements, and
not a few of these received substantially the form in which
they were to survive for many centuries, between a.d. 150
and 220. How the Church with her growing membership
was impelled to systematise her internal administration ; how
the presence of strange doctrines led naturally to greater
precision in her authorised teaching ; how the clearer con
sciousness that she possessed in this world a future destiny
and mission, made practical efficiency of greater moment
than it ever could have been in the days when her mind
was set wholly on her Lord's return, are subjects upon
which something has already been said In a former
chapter." It Is only natural, under these conditions, that we should
look with special expectation to Clement for information on
' Marc-Aurele, p. 511. 2 Chap. iii.

Q <•AA.J <

0!, <
-I

INSTITUTIONAL ORDER NOT PROMINENT 103
the insdtutional aspects of Chrisdanlty. He belonged to a
city second only in Importance to Rome itself, and a picture
of the Church's order and arrangements in Alexandria
during his lifetime would be a legacy of peculiar interest.
Unhappily his writings are singularly devoid of information
of this nature. His references to the details of Church life
are comparatively scanty, and their allusive character often
raises rather than resolves Inquiry. He is entirely silent
as to the origin of the great Church with which he was
connected, throwing no light whatever upon the tradition
of its foundation by Saint Mark. The vivid glimpses which
Tertullian gives us, from time to time, into the ecclesiastical
customs of Carthage have few parallels In his contemporary
of Alexandria. It Is disappointing that a writer. In other
ways so instructive and valuable, should not have contributed
more towards filling " the worst gap in our knowledge of
early Church History." *
The reason of this is twofold, nor does it lie far to seek
for one who will bear in mind the characteristic features of
Alexandria, and the mental temperament of Clement. For
indeed the great city, with its mixed population and its many
creeds and philosophies, loved nothing less than order and
definition. In all the principal departments of ecclesiastical
organisation, in respect of the Ministry, of the Sacraments,
of the Creeds, and of the Canon of Scripture, Alexandria was
notably behind the other great Churches in the rate of its de
velopment. It accorded with the spirit of the place to leave
thought free and practice unfettered for as long as possible,
and no vigorous personalities had as yet arisen to make use
and custom binding and precise. How difficult and intract
able a nature the Alexandrians brought with them, even into
their Church life, the later centuries were abundantly to
evidence. It might not have been possible for Clement to
• Harnack, Mission, ii. 158.

I04 THE CHURCH
write so warmly as he did on the subject of the Church's
unity, had the predecessors of Demetrius in this metro
politan see been insistent on unvarying uniformity of
practice. Thus, If in many matters of Interest Clement
seems singularly silent as to rule and custom, the explana
tion must partly be sought in the freer, and comparatively
unregulated, conditions of his environment.
But the further, perhaps the principal reason, lies In
his own temperament and affinities. He Is a Christian
philosopher. He Is a forerunner of the mystics, if even
he does not belong to their company. He Is a Platonist,
and cares more for the Idea than for Its partial and concrete
embodiments. So he does not set great store by form and
rule and details of Church order, and, had not the Gnostic
heretics carried liberty too far, he would probably have
cared for such things even less. His Inclination is always
to treat customs and institutions much as he treated the
letter of Scripture, on the principle of Allegory ; when the
reader is anxious to know exactly how some ceremony
or ordinance was carried out, he is led away instead Into
some lengthy and not too relevant discussion of its possible
inner significances. No doubt, in fairness to our author, we
must bear in mind that his principal extant writings have
their special purpose, and that, if the inward aspects of
Christianity predominate In them over the external, this is
part of a deliberate plan. On many points his fears of
" divulging mysteries " kept him intentionally silent. He
had no desire that Christian rites should be exposed to the
sort of ridicule he himself had poured on those of Eleusis.
Nor should It be forgotten that, among his lost works, there
was a discussion on the Easter question, another on Fasting,
and an Address to those recently baptised. These titles,
taken in conjunction with the surviving Quis Dives, may
enable us to realise the truth in De Faye's remark that " II

THE IDEAL OF THE CHURCH 105
a h6 peut-^tre plus homme d'^fegllse qu'on ne le suppose." *
But when all such allowances have been made, it remains
notwithstanding true that on many points of Interest he
tells us far less, than we might have hoped, of the ways and
customs of the Church In Alexandria ; also that In large
measure we must find the explanation of this omission in
his own character and interests.
This disappointing scarcity of information is, however,
quite compatible with a noble and exalted conception of the
Church's purpose and Ideal. Occasional references and
expressions betray a consciousness of the divine society's
mission, which proves that Clement did not always sustain
the r$le of the detached philosopher. At times he gives
utterance to an enthusiasm of churchmanship, not in every
case easy to reconcile with his poor estimate of many
particular facts. He delights, for Instance, to dwell on the
Church's unity. Essentially the Church is one." Its
membership Implies the pursuit of unity, the quest of the
" good monad." ' " The one Church " had some Inherent
affinity with the nature of ideal unity. He brings all
the Pythagorean doctrine of the One into his conception
of the Christian Body, and finds in this a supreme character
istic of the Church.* It is In this feature that he discerns
the chief superiority of the Church to the numerous heresies
of the age, advocating, on theoretical grounds, the very claims
which other teachers were already enforcing in the interests
of practical order. Many roads indeed there are, but the
King's High Way is only one.*
But the Church could claim antiquity as well as unity.
The Apostles, after Christ, founded the Church, and suffered
for it.® The Church Is the keeper of an unbroken continuity
of tradition.' The sequence of truth has been preserved by
1 p. 49. 2 103^ 542, 899, 3 72.
* V Hoxh rvs iKK\Ti<rias, 900, ^ 888. ^ 597. ' 793, 8o2.

io6 THE CHURCH
Its members, and the true treasures of the spirit are to be
found In the " ancient Church " alone.* Here Is a further
contrast with the heresies. " The heresiarchs began quite
late, about the time of Hadrian." " The Church goes back
to the date of the Lord Himself, and can claim the further
antiquity of Prophets and Apostles and the divine eternal pur
pose. The ancient things are always venerable in Clement's
eyes. Perhaps these are the two features which he prized
most highly in his conception of the Church, its unity, its
antiquity. But there are many other aspects which emerge
from time to time. We have the familiar thought of the
Church as a Mother. " The mother calls her children, and
we seek our mother, the Church." ' " Only one maiden
became a mother ; I love to speak of her as the Church." *
" Let us make the fair beauty of the Church complete, and
run like children to our good mother." * All the care of
motherhood, all the delight of the mother in her children,
find a place in his ideal of the Church ; his love of home-life
gives a quaint and tender colour to his thought.
There is, besides, the thought of the Church as a Body.
A body, of course. Is a unity, and the Idea of the one body
and many members is naturally familiar to Clement, as the
disciple of Plato and of Saint Paul. But he adds the further
thought, that the body Is the Instrument of the Spirit. As
the Saviour spoke and healed through the medium of His
bodily frame, so now " the Church subserves the Lord's
activity." ' God is ever " putting on " human nature, now
He " puts on " the Church. Some Gnostics depreciated the
body, but " how, apart from the body, could the divine
purpose for us In the Church have been realised .'' " ' The
suggestive conception of the divine society as the medium
of spiritual life Is clearly contained in such teaching. The
1 888. 2 898. 3 1 10. 4 ,23.
" 310. " 994- ' 559-

UNITY, ANTIQUITY, PURITY, ZEAL 107
Church again is the heavenly Kingdom, In which we are
enrolled as citizens.* It Is the Bride of the Lord, and, by
an extension of the figure, to forsake the Church for other
teaching is to be guilty of spiritual adultery." It is the Holy
Mount, the true Zion, aloft, above the clouds, to which the
Good Shepherd leads us.' The Church Is in the world, yet
distinct from it, with its own walls and entrances, and its
members are conscious of their separate way of life.* "We,"
he says, " or our people," follow certain rules : his recogni
tion of Christian fellowship comes out In the simple yet
significant pronouns.* And the Church, he says, is Catholic
— Catholic, as distinct from the heresies. It is strange that
a man of Clement's theology should be the first Greek
writer to use this debated term In its technical sense with
marked emphasis.®
These are some of the features or " notes " of the
Church as Clement conceived it. The best characteristics
of the ideal Christian society are all there : unity, antiquity,
purity, service — he knows the value of them all. But he
was too true to Plato and the New Testament to expect all
the excellences to be fulfilled in Alexandria. Hence comes
his crowning thought of the Church as spiritual, heavenly,
invisible, a city " laid up " In the Heavens, of which shadows
and images and approximations are all we must expect on
earth.' No one can fairly accuse Clement of indifference to
the actualities. It is of a real, live society that he writes with
such enthusiastic piety at the close of the Protrepticus. Yet
we may also be grateful that he saw beyond It, and that his
true Jerusalem was built for ever, because never built at all.
From the Ideal, however, we must turn now to concrete
facts and inquire what amount of light Clement's rare and
1 69, 74-5, 167. ' 533, 547. ' 3, 148.
* 897. ' 447, 571. * See Lightfoot, Ignatius, ll. (i.), 311, n.
' 642, 793, 873.

io8 THE CHURCH
frequently vague references throw upon the actual state and
practices of the Christian society with which he was familiar.
Who, in the first place, were the men and women who were
enrolled upon Its lists of membership ? Previous chapters
have anticipated, to a large extent, the answer to this
question. Plainly they were a mixed company, reflecting
in all their varieties of race, culture, and worldly position,
the heterogeneous characteristics of social and political
Alexandria. The majority were converts to Christianity,
born under other Influences and shedding their accustomed
habits with difficulty.* Some few were wealthy ; the majority
were of moderate means. Some few were highly educated,
but the rank and file had little culture. The Greek element
must have predominated considerably, but it is clear that
the number of converts from Judaism was no negligible
quantity." We might have expected that in Philo's city the
Law and Synagogue would have retained their own ; on the
other hand, the liberal tendencies of Alexandrian Judaism
had numerous affinities with the Christianity of Clement's
school. In any case, it Is clear that many for whom he
wrote had come over from the following of Moses, and that
he expected to make more such converts by his lectures and
his books.' There was much variety in occupation and social position.
Above the slaves, whose number in the Church was evidently
considerable, were the men who led a labourer's life.* Higher
still in the scale we hear of the retail trader and the dealer
of the market-place.* Some of the Christian company were
sailors and probably made the voyage to Puteoli many times
in the year ; ® others were soldiers, some won perhaps by
' Note especially his frequent references to kooihk^ avvi\Beia (97), iriBn
o-vyTpoipa (958), and similar influences.
2 The Jewish and Greek elements in Clement's Church are mentioned
together, 736, 770, 793.
3 429, 886. * 80, 872. <5 299. 8 80.

MANY TYPES OF MEMBERS 109
watching the fortitude of their prisoners, as Basilides became
a Christian through Potamiaena.* Even the outlying country
was not unrepresented. The new faith was a link to connect
the toiler of the fields with city folk." Some were very
poor and betrayed their poverty by their attire.' Some came
over to the Church as old people, " in the eventide of life."*
Occasionally a whole family belonged ; in other cases a single
member would come In from a pagan house. But, as we
have seen before, the tendency was setting in the direction
of the Church, and people of means and education were
already far from rare. " God's philosophers " were a recog
nised element : the rich man heard the divine call : now
and again an official would give in his name.*
As to the standard of their lives, it evidently varied.
The difference between the Gnostic Churchman, who was
well advanced on the road to "apathy," and the ordinary
believer, who still needed lectures on table manners and on
Christian deportment in the streets, was considerable enough.
And It Is evident that Clement felt the danger of the
Christian profession without the corresponding life. Many,
he complains, believe In name alone.® Many made traffic
of their religion.' The pagan life was sometimes lived
within the Christian society : * such members were the use
less flesh of the spiritual body. There were some who
attended worship and associated themselves with the faithful,
but in the rest of their lives were Indistinguishable from the
common and naughty world.^ The range of standard and
attainment was very wide, and Clement is often much
concerned at the scandal brought by unworthy professors
upon " the Name."
' H.E., vi. 5. 2 80. 3 954. 4 84.
* 793~4> 837, 0' TrXoioioi k\t|toi, 936.
« Stahlin, iii. 212.
' Dindorf, iii. 492, This is, however, a very doubtful fragment.
8 885. " 300.

no THE CHURCH
His more constant trouble did not lie, however, in the
domain of morals. The diversity of the Church was even
more marked in the matter of culture. It has already been
necessary to point out the acute division which existed be
tween the multitude of the faithful and their better-educated
fellows. It is strange that in Alexandria, with its wide dif
fusion of culture, this should have been so ; but there can be
no question as to the aggressive intolerance, with which the
majority of the behevers assailed the few who, like Clement,
associated learning with religion. For these troublesome, if
well-meaning people, he has many names. They are " my
critics," "Ignorant alarmists," "unlettered believers"; "gifted
people," he says sarcastically, " who can dispense with every
thing but faith, and expect to gather grapes without taking
any trouble about the vine." * Sometimes, too, he has them
In mind when he speaks of " the crowd." " Orthodoxasts "
was already a recognised term for them. Churchmen of this
type asked what was the use of culture, and frankly declared
that there was no advantage in understanding causes so long
as one knew the facts." Philosophy, they believed, came
from the devil : their dread of learning was like childhood's
terror of hobgoblins.' There was a certain " boorish " quality
in their religion, and often their Insistence on faith went
along with very imperfect conduct.* Clement had constantly
to face their criticism, nor was he perhaps so wholly In
different, as his own ideal Gnostic, to the ill favour of the
multitude.* There were critics, too, of an opposite type within the
Church, who from Intellectual or Gnostic standpoints
depreciated the simplicity of faith.® Clement pleads that
' 326-7, 336, 341, 01 -iroWoi, as in 780, 789, etc. In contrast with these are
Oi ipt\o0edfioyes tt)s eKK\7]trias, 900.
2 786, ^ 3 773_ 780. 4 784, 794.
^ oUrf fiefjL}^eus nvn KUKoSo^las ttjj ck twv troKKcov avriKafi&dvtrai 6 yvuariK^Sf
838. M12, 367, 466.

CRITICAL CHURCHMEN— THE MINISTRY in
these two classes, those who act, and those who know,
should lay aside their suspicions and understand one another
better. But Indeed he was between two fires. It was a
very mixed society in which he found himself. There is
no hint of any sorting out of the different elements into
separate congregations. Throughout his pages we hear the
undertone of many minor discords. Converts did not drop
the peculiarities of race and rank and temperament at the
moment of Baptism, and the plea for a philosophic Christi
anity brought fresh division, rather than the divine tran
quillity of the schools. Certain phases of modern Church
life present striking and close analogies. In regard to
Alexandria, the very diversity of these many elements is an
additional testimony to the power of the new religion,
which could blend them, all surviving distinctions notwith
standing. Into any sort of effective harmony and concord.
To the Christian Ministry Clement's references are not
numerous. He thought more of spiritual qualities than of
official position, and held antiquity to be of greater importance
than ecclesiastical rank. Hence it has been truly said, that
the Gnostic Is his real priest. Even the ordinary believer
may attain, through discipline and the perfect life, to a place
in the select list of the Apostolate.* So does he love to
spiritualise the external orders and distinctions. Yet his
occasional references to the ministry have a special Interest,
In so far as they have any bearing upon the origin of the
Alexandrian Patriarchate. Jerome, it Is well known, states
In one of his letters that down to the times of Heraclas and
Dionysius (a.d. 233 and onwards) the presbyters of this
Church "always nominated as Bishop one chosen out of
their own body and placed in a higher grade."" This
statement is supported by a story about Poemen, the hermit,
' 793-
2 Epist. cxlvi, ; see Lightfoot's Dissertation, Philippians, pp. 230 sqq.

112 THE CHURCH
which was current In Egypt in the fourth century;* also
by a letter of Severus of Antioch (c. a.d. 530) ;" and by
Eutychlus, himself a Patriarch of Alexandria (a.d. 933-40).'
The reliability of the tradition has been questioned, e.g. by
Bishop Gore on the ground of Origen's silence in regard to
It. Others have explained it away, as a fiction fabricated by
his enemies with the object of discrediting Athanasius. It
is generally admitted (not, however, by Bingham) that con
secration as well as election Is involved.* The subject Is one
of sufficient interest to justify our asking whether Clement's
language is In accordance with Saint Jerome's statement. He
was himself a Presbyter and must have been quite familiar
with this exceptional practice. If it existed in Alexandria in
his day, though Indeed he would probably have seen no
special Importance In the deviation.
He speaks of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons, as
ecclesiastical ranks which are Imitations of the angelic
hierarchy : * elsewhere he mentions Presbyters, Bishops,
Deacons, in this order.® Here, It seems. Is a threefold
ministry. It Is in accordance with such expressions that
he refers to the Pastoral Epistles, as teaching the duty of
the Bishop to preside over the Church.' Such an office
may still be described as StuKovla : we must clearly be
very careful In assigning a technical meaning to his terms.
On the other hand, he mentions more than once Presbyters
and Deacons together, without any hint of a third order.^
He speaks of himself, a Presbyter, as among " the leaders
' See Migne, Pat. Grcsc, Ixv. 341 ; also the Historia Lausiaca of Palladius
in Texts and Studies, vi. (i.), 213 ; cp. (ii.), 26.
2 See fournal of Theological Studies, ii. 612-3 ; also iii. pp. 278-82,
for Bishop Gore's view.
3 Migne, Pat. Grcec, cxi. 982.
* So Lightfoot, op. cit., 231 ; Bingham says Jerome "speaks not of the
ordination of the Bishop, but of his election," Antiquities, Book 11., Ch, iii., §5,
* 793- ^ 309- ' 546, 561-2. 8 552, 793, 830.

THE ORDERS OF THE MINISTRY 113
of the Churches," * and in the story of Saint John and the
young robber treats the terms Bishop and Elder as applicable
to the same person, though the scene of the incident was
Asia Minor." It is difficult to resist the conclusion, that he
regarded the Episcopate as an office not wholly distinct from
the Presbyterate. In this general sense his language is in
harmony with Jerome's statement. There is, besides, one
specially notable passage in which he speaks of an Elder
being " honoured with the chief seat," which may most
naturally be explained as a reminiscence of an actual practice
with which he was familiar.'
As to other functions of the Episcopate, Clement says
nothing, as Harnack has pointed out,* of any special duty
of the Bishop to conserve and protect the faith ; nor is there
any hint in his pages of Apostolic powers as inherent In
the Episcopal office ; still less, though he recognises Peter
as the first of the Apostles,* of any primacy of the Roman
see. The suggestion that ecclesiastical officials in Clement's
conception of the Church " resemble the English orders,"
is suggestive and interesting, though. Indeed, the com
parison to some extent Is one of undetermined quantities
on either side. The Episcopal office in Alexandria was to
develop into an important Patriarchate, and Demetrius, In
Clement's own lifetime, was to make his assertion of a
Bishop's claims. But his predecessors appear to have left
no mark upon the Church over which they presided. The
considerable independence of the Catechetical School Is
¦ 120. Cp. the quotation from Clem. Rom. in 612, ''¦ 959-60.
3 793. The phrases x^'po'roi'oi5;itci/os, eirl yr\s trpwTOKaBeSpit^ TifiaaBai, in con
nection with a Presbyter are significant. It is difficult to reconcile with this
passage the view expressed in Cabrol, Dictionnaire d'ArchMogie chrMenne
et de Liturgie, I. (i.), 1209: "Clement . . . suppose toujours aussi la meme
distance entre pr^tres et ^veques qu'entre diacres et pretres."
* See the important note in Hist. Dogm., ii. 70-72.

6

947-

VOL. II. 8

114 THE CHURCH
itself an evidence that they had not been strong rulers : It
was well perhaps for Clement, that he did not require
episcopal sanction for all he taught. So far as we can
construct any scheme of the Ministry from his pages. It Is
more characterised by service and freedom than by order
and power of government. We have a glimpse of the
Presbyter administering the laying on of hands In token
of divine blessing,* and another of the activity of women
in mission work to their own sex." The clergy, like the
laity, were free to marry.' Widows seem to have been a
separate order and to have been held, if they abstained from
second marriage. In high repute.* The duty of the Shepherd
to restore lost sheep Is mentioned,* and the beautiful story,
with which the Quis Dives closes, points to a high Ideal of
pastoral care. There is a reference In the same treatise to the
" man of God " who acts as a rich man's chaplain, probably,
as Bigg points out, a layman, yet a true director and spiritual
guide in spite of his unofficial standing.® It Is interesting
to compare the position of this adviser in a Christian house
hold with that of the salaried philosopher In a pagan family.'
These are the main references which Clement's pages contain
to the persons and functions of the Christian ministry. We
do not see much of any ecclesiastical hierarchy, nor are the
grades of official status defined with any exactness. On the
other hand, the standard of piety and devotion was high,
and sometimes an occasional phrase affords us a glimpse of
true pastoral care.
There is still less precision In point of doctrinal formulae,
though It could be demonstrated without difficulty from
' 291, Cp. x^'poBe<ria, 974. There were Gnostic equivalents of this rite,
510. It was apparently used for the sick, 955.
2 536. 3 552.
*309, 558, 875. 6465.
* 958. See Bigg, Christian Platonists, 102, n. 3,
' See esp. Lucian's Treatise, De mercede conductis.

THE CREED IN ALEXANDRIA 115
Clement's writings, that the substance of the Apostle's Creed
was matter of common acceptance among Christian people
in Alexandria In his day. The only Article to which It
might be said there is no reference of any kind, is that of
the Communion of Saints, in so far as this is understood
of any spiritual fellowship between the living and the
departed. But as this clause never had any place in the
Eastern Creeds, Clement's silence on the matter need
occasion no surprise. It is interesting to notice upon what
portions of the Faith he lays special stress, and In respect of
what others there is abatement of emphasis and Interest.
God is Father, Almighty,* Maker of Heaven and earth. Jesus
Christ is His Son, our Lord, who suffered in the sixteenth
year of Tiberius," and who lives eternally In Heaven in closest
association with the Father. The doctrine of the Trinity is
spoken of as profitable and even necessary to salvation.'
To these cardinal verities he assigns a primary Importance.
Beyond them, he may be said to insist or minimise accord
ing to the complexion of his theology. The Lord was born
of a Virgin, born also spiritually /rom — not by — the Holy
Ghost.* The preposition is the same as in the Creed of
Constantinople. He lays considerable stress on the Descent
into Hell, showing much interest in the doctrine of Christ's
preaching to the Departed.* He valued this tenet, on which
the Gnostics, too, set great store, as an evidence of the
universality of the Gospel. Irenaeus and Tertullian
emphasise It less : It has no place in their rule of faith.
Clement believes, as we have seen. In a Holy and Catholic
Church : he is equally clear on the Forgiveness of Sins and
Everlasting Life.® On the other hand, his only mention of
' rrayTOKpiTup, 69I, 833. ^ 407. 3 ggy_
* ^f aylov iryev/iaros, 975. So the Latin Formula has "de" or "ex" more
usually than " per Spiritum Sanctum." Cp., too, St Basil, De Spir. Sanct., v.
* 765 sqq. « 95, 138.

II 6 THE CHURCH
the Ascension, in any physical sense, must be found In his
quotation of the words In the Epistle to the Ephesians,
" He that descended is the same also that ascended." * He
speaks not infrequently of the Resurrection, but on the
future of the body It is clear that speculation was rife. The
Gnostics usually had no place for any bodily resurrection
in their systems, and whether Clement personally expected
a "restitutio carnis " must be left an open question." He
gives very little prominence to the work of the Holy Spirit.
The Logos practically fulfils all the offices of the Third
Person.' It would have been entirely foreign to Clement's
thought to use such a phrase as " Vicarius Domini " of the
Comforter.* So, too, he says little of the final Judgment.
It Is referred to, indeed, as an accepted doctrine,* but Clement
is concerned very slightly with the future episodes of the
present dispensation. He never dwells on the second
Advent and knows of no earthly Millennium. In Eschato
logy he stands at the opposite pole to Paplas, who only
preceded him by one generation. Clement's future is that
of the soul's perfect communion with God : he looks for
no cosmic catastrophes, but for the fulfilment of spiritual
hopes. Thus his " proportion of faith " Is in some sense
characteristic. The external and temporal elements are
minimised ; the stress falls on the inward side of belief ;
his creed was a " symbol," in a different sense from that
which the term usually conveyed. It Is Impossible to
say how far this Interpretation of the faith was peculiar
to Clement, how far It was commonly held In the
Church in Alexandria. The Influence of Gnosticism is
unmistakable. ' Eph. iv. lo, 979,
2 Cp. esp, Iren,, v, 31, i. The heretics erred "non suscipientes salutem
carnis suae."
3 See vol. i. 359-60. ^ Tertullian, De virgin, velandis, i.
° 721, 835.

NO AUTHORISED FORMULA 117
One point, however, seems to be clear. The formula
or summary of doctrine can hardly have had in Alexandria
the same authority, which at this date it possessed In other
places. Some baptismal Creed probably existed, for Clement
speaks of " the confession on the points of greatest Im
portance " as a special part of the Church's rule, and regards
the doctrine of the Trinity as being " sealed to the faithful,"
doubtless In their Baptism.* Of the content of such con
fessions we cannot be sure ; it may, as Harnack says," have
been as elementary as that of Hermas ; in any case Clement's
whole scheme of esoteric Interpretation Is evidence con
clusive that no precise formula was regarded in his time. In
Alexandria, as definitely regulating all belief. It is true
that he has much to say about the Church's rule, but of
this It will be best to speak in another place ; it concerns
Scripture rather than summaries of doctrine. He refers
once to " the common element in belief." He mentions
frequently " the teaching that had been transmitted from
earlier ages " and speaks even of " a Rule of faith." ' But
we are never sure of the exact Implications of these terms,
and a study of the connection in which they occur lends
some colour to the belief, that their content was as often
moral as doctrinal. The master who thought a three or
four years' course advisable for catechumens,* must have
had many things to say, and his Instruction was little fettered
by authority. Thus, In the matter of the Creed, as well as
in that of the Episcopate, the Church of Alexandria developed
more slowly than Rome or Asia Minor. Even the imminent
danger of Gnosticism did not produce, till after Clement's
time, the reaction to rigid definition. So free was even
' ri TTtpl T&y ixeylcTwy 6fio\oytq, 887 ; eiceivri {sc. ri Tpids) tois iriiTToTj ivatfipayl-
(erat, Dindorf, iii. 507, but this fragment is rejected by Stahlin,
2 See the discussion in Hist. Dogm., ii. 32 sqq.
3 Th KOiyhy TTJs niffTeois, 892 ; & Kav-iov Tris iria-Tews, 607 ; Cp. SiSaoKaKias
vapaSoots, 322. * 479-

ii8 THE CHURCH
Christian thought in that home of speculation, though It
is curious to watch how, even in Clement's case, all teaching
about the Church grows firmer and more precise through
opposition to the heretics and their notions.*
At the date with which we are concerned, Christianity
had already its separate " places of worship," and Clement
uses the term " Church " exactly as we do, both for the
company of the faithful people and for the place of assembly."
He speaks of coming to or from Church, of a Church
echoing, of the correspondence which should exist between
our worship in Church and our life outside.' So when he
expressly mentions prayer in the home, or says that to the
Gnostic no one place Is more sacred than another, his
language implies that prayer was not always domestic and
that sacred places did exist.* When he says that Saint John
" rode away from the Church " to seek the young robber,*
he is throwing back the customs of his own age to an earlier
century, incidentally proving how thoroughly established
was the assignation of separate places to the purposes of
worship. But the building apparently was still an ordinary
house. It was not till considerably later that more imposing
structures were obtained for Christian assemblies. On the
other hand, there seems to have been no secrecy as to the
locality of worship. To go home from Church was as
ordinary an event as to go home from market.® The right
of assembly seems to have been unquestioned, without the
fiction of a " Burial Club." The " areae " of Tertullian have
no parallels In Alexandria, and, though the city had many
catacombs, we have no hint that any of them were used at
this date for the gatherings of the faithful. The peace of
1 This is specially apparent in the closing portion of Sirotn., vii.
2 375, 846. ' 3 228, 300-1.
¦* 851 ; cp. "Oratio quae fit in domo," Stahlin, iii. 215.
' 960. ^ 228.

PLACES OF WORSHIP 119
the Church, which came with Commodus' accession, brought
such freedom in its train.
Alexandria and Egypt were so rich in their sacred
buildings, that the contrast between the humble houses of
Christian assembly and the elaborate shrines of other cults
must have struck even a mind so indifferent to externals as
Clement. He was quite conscious of the architectural
grandeur and costly decoration, which characterised the
temples of the Egyptian gods.* He betrays, too, some
archaeological interest in discussing the orientation of the
oldest shrines." He must have been quite familiar with
the wonderful Caesareum, most splendid, in Philo's judg
ment, of all the structures erected in the divine Imperator's
honour.' At least one shrine of an ancient divinity was
destined In after years to become a Christian Church.* In
Alexandria, too, there were many Synagogues, some of
them buildings of considerable magnificence. If the later
accounts of the famous " Diapleuston " may be trusted.
There is some evidence that the practices of Jewish worship
in Alexandria had special influence In determining the interior
arrangements of the Church.* Outside the city, beyond the
Mareotic Lake, he may have seen the chapels or " monas
teries " of the Therapeutae : they may have helped to give
meaning to one of his favourite terms.® But, for the most
part, he has little desire to see Christianity more worthily
enshrined In houses made with hands. How Impossible It
is, he says, to localise God. Zeno and Euripides, he thinks,
were right in their protests against all such attempts to
circumscribe divinity ; and it is with a certain malicious
satisfaction that he records how many temples have been
1 252. " 856-7. 3 Philo, Leg. ad Caium, 22.
* Cabrol, Dictionnaire ePArchiologie chretienne et de Liturgie, I. (i.), 1 107.
' Leclerq, Manuel d'Archhlogie chretienne, i. 343 sqq.
* /ioc^ from St John xiv. 2. See Hort and Mayor's index. fiovaoT-fiptov (the
derivation, of course, is different) occurs in Philo, De vita contemp., 3.

I20 THE CHURCH
destroyed by fire, including that of Serapis In Alexandria.*
Clement's true shrine Is the soul of man. The Inviolable
sanctuary into which we pass through the gate of salvation
Is not a building, nor even a society, but a spiritual state."
It would have been alien to his nature to think, as the
Emperor Alexander Severus did, of building an elaborate
shrine for Christ.' Or, if God must have a visible temple.
It Is the universe, as Plato said,* or perhaps the place " where
two or three are gathered together " In the home. Even
when he says that " the great shrine Is the Church," he is
probably not thinking of a building.* For the craft of the
architect, of the mason, of the mural decorator, he has no
more sympathetic appreciation than he had for the statue
of the Olympian Zeus. Art, for Clement, has no offering
to make to worship. Its medium Is necessarily material,
and, like a true Platonist, he shrinks away Into the inward
and spiritual world and erects there his habitation for the
Most High. Doubtless he was quite content with the
ordinary house, that served in his day for worship. Men
of his type may gain something by such superior detach
ment, but, on the whole. Hooker's was a wiser attitude.
The Church was to learn before very long how greatly things
material and things external may minister to the spirit, and
how subtly the shrine on earth may suggest Its prototype
In heaven. " But this," he might doubtless have rephed,
" is for the multitude."
From localities we come naturally to times and seasons.
Here, too, his real sympathies are all with those advanced
souls whose Christianity, passing beyond the limitations of
" feasts and appointed days," keeps the whole of life as a
spiritual festival.® Still, even for Clement, the year, the
' 691, 46-7. 2 55
3 " Christo templum facere voluit," Lampridius, Alexander Severus, 43.
* 691,845. ' 882. 6 851.

THE YEAR, THE WEEK, THE DAY 121
week, and the day had their special seasons. There is a
calendar and a sequence, however elementary. It was about
half way through his period of residence in Alexandria
that the Quartodeclman controversy again flared Into life
through the vigorous action of Victor, Bishop of Rome, In
excommunicating the churches of Asia Minor. Alexandria,
with her traditional Interest In all matters of chronology,
was drawn Into the controversy, and this doubtless explains
why Clement wrote a treatise on the Easter question to
oppose the views of Melito, now laid to rest in Sardis.*
He sides unhesitatingly with Rome : the Last Supper was,
he believes, on the thirteenth Nisan, and the Lord Himself
was the Passover victim on the fourteenth. This, of course,
is Saint John's view, but Clement boldly claims an entire
harmony of the Gospels for his side." A century later the
Bishops of Alexandria were to settle the date of Easter
for the whole of Christendom.' There is no hint of any
such authority as yet, though the Interest with which
Clement discusses the year of the Lord's birth, and his
mention of other calculations, which " somewhat needlessly "
attempted to define the actual day, point to the prominence
of such inquiries even in Christian circles.* But these
matters in Alexandria were still within the domain of
private judgment : there Is no hint of any authoritative
decision, no trace of any Council being held formally In
Egypt, though the Easter question was dealt with In this
manner In Palestine, in Gaul, and even in Pontus.* In
any case, Easter was the one Important season of the
Church's year ; there was no Christmas, no Lent, no
festival of the Spirit. But there is a possible reference
• H.E., iv. 26. ^ See the Fragments in Stahlin, iii, 216 sqq.
3 Bingham, Antiquities, Bk. xx., c. v., § 4, He quotes a letter of Leo's,
stating that this point was decided at Nicaea.
4 wepiepy6Tepoy. So, tOO, rh iriBos avrov i.Kpi$o\oyovfieyot, 407-8.
6 H.E., V. 23.

122 THE CHURCH
to the Epiphany : our 6th of January was observed by
some of the Basllideans as the day of the Lord's Baptism.*
There is no evidence as yet of any other annual festival.
Clement says nothing about the celebration of the birth
days of the martyrs. The Church was to learn In time
that the fuller calendars of the pagan and the Jewish years
had their practical value for religion.
As to the week, the days seem to have been observed
much as at the date of the Didache. The " Lord's day "
Is, of course, the most prominent." It was the day for
remembering the Lord's Resurrection and reappropriating
its spiritual power. The Jewish Sabbath had now been
wholly abandoned by Christians, though In the fourth
century its observance, as a day of Christian worship, was
revived. But Wednesday and Friday were already kept
with some measure of fasting.' The syncretism of Alex
andria Is curiously exemplified In the fact, that these days
of the Jewish week had been associated with the pagan
deities, Hermes and Aphrodite. In this the Gnostic read
the suggestion of abstinence from greed and indulgence.
Whether in Alexandria or elsewhere there were assemblies
for public worship on these days, or whether their
observance was still private custom, Clement's single
reference does not enable us to say. The week, at any
rate, had its seasons more fully determined than the year.
Finally, there was the day. In germ the canonical hours
were already established. " Some," he says, " assign fixed
hours to prayer, the third, the sixth, the ninth." * Ter
tullian gives us similar information. The practice of
Daniel and the Psalmist had been adopted by the Church.
' Duchesne, Origines du culte chrHien, p. 263. " Le plus lointain indice
qui se rapporte a cette fete nous est fourni par Clement d'Alexandrie." See
Hort and Mayor's note, p. 265,
'877. '877- «854;cA85i.

CHURCH DISCIPLINE 123
After his manner, Clement sees in this threefold division
of three a mystical reference to the Trinity. He regards
the Individual Christian as quite free, however, to observe
the hours or not. There Is no binding rule ; devotion by
day rested on the same ground as the prayer which was
customary on retiring to rest, or even, in some cases, during
the still hours of the night.* "A man should rise from
his bed frequently during the night and bless God." Per
haps this was a counsel of perfection. A single word gives
us the picture of the worshippers returning home In the
early morning after service : it Is the equivalent of Pliny's
" stato die ante lucem." "
Such are the few references In Clement to the times
and seasons of religion. Apart from the interest they
possess as giving colour and precision to our conception
of his environment, they are significant also as evidence of
the formative stage of customs which were to prevail in the
Church for many centuries. We watch private practice
slowly crystallising into general rule. It Is remarkable to
observe in how many applications this holds good of
Clement's portrayal of Christian life in his great city.
In the technical sense of the term he pays little attention
to Church discipline. Only rarely are we told anything
about its rules, penalties, and practical administration ; nor
does he ever enable us to say exactly what action was taken
by the Church, when one of the faithful contracted a third
marriage or another adopted the heresy of Marcion. Clearly
the Church, as Clement knew it, had need of discipline.
Laxity had come with numbers. Pagan habits were not
unknown within the Christian circle. We have referred
already to the difficulty of keeping the Alexandrian char
acter within rules and bounds. And Clement has his
remedies for all this. His threefold work is a continuous
' 216, 218, 506 ; cp. 958. 2 iaiBiyiy, 228. Pliny, Ep., x. 96.

124 THE CHURCH
scheme of education with its appropriate discipline of
character. He gives us In the first book of the Pcedagogus
a whole string of terms expressive of correction and reproof.*
He defends the beneficial severity of the Law ; refers re
peatedly to the " Church's rule " ; and asserts without
reserve the principle of " everything in order." " But the
sanctions are always of the moral kind. The authority to
which he usually appeals is not ecclesiastical, but the higher
authority of the Word, whether written or in the heart.
So he turns to Plato to enforce truth, but never to the
Bishop, and significantly recommends those, who are un
settled In opinion, to seek advice from the " peacemakers
of doctrine," whoever they may have been.' Throughout,
In morals and In theology, he speaks as the master of the
school, appealing to the highest motives, referring often to
the discipline of the providential order, but rarely hinting
that the Christian Society could insist on the observance of
its rules. Yet Demetrius was Bishop in Alexandria when
he wrote, and it is difficult to imagine that his exercise of
authority was anything but vigorous. We must refer once
more to the possibility that, for the last years of Clement's
residence in Alexandria, there was some measure of diver
gence between the Church and the School. Clement pre
ferred to rest Christian obligation on the ground of man's
higher nature ; life was a better thing than rules.
Against this general background of individual and
philosophic Christianity, must be set the occasional references
to the more definite regulation of conduct by the Church's
corporate action. Suppose her members fell into sin, were
there any remedies beyond the offender's own conscience,
or the kindly counsel of a friend .'' Alexandria was here
apparently in line with Rome and Carthage, for Clement
leaves it beyond doubt that one offence, and only one, after
I 143 sqq. ' 613. 3 894.

EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY 125
Baptism could be atoned for by repentance and confession.
But repeated repentance was practically no better than
unbelief. The Lord in His mercy has allowed a second
repentance to those who fall after receiving the call.*
Clement is so precise on this point, and shows such close
agreement with the Shepherd of Hermas and Tertullian, that
the reader Is Inclined to wonder whether, in other respects
also, there was not a good deal more positive regulation in
Alexandria than his pages would suggest. However that
may be, he is familiar with the term " Exhomologesis,"
already specifically used of public confession." Perhaps
when he speaks of reproof as " an utterance which sets our
sins in the light of publicity," he has some practice of the
Church in mind.' He also makes it clear that, after grievous
sin, restoration to the Church has Its defined conditions :
fasting, prayer, and exhortation were essential, though the
discipline was one of love.* So when he says that certain
scandalous characters are to be forbidden " our city " and
kept at a distance, the similar exercise of some positive
authority Is implied.*
Yet, when all is said, the " spiritual sword " of the Church
is an instrument of which he knows very little. Even sin
more than once repeated after Baptism must not cause entire
despair.® God is merciful and the gates are not absolutely
closed. And, after all, the severest penalty for such sin Is
the consciousness of its committal, and the spiritual loss
which it Involves.' For some offences, he says, we must give
forgiveness to ourselves — a curious doctrine which he had
learned, apparently, from the Valentinians.' Sometimes a
• 459. On the subject generally, see Swete in fournal of Theological
Studies, iv. 321-37. ^ 460, 769, 880.
3 Trpo<popi. anapTias els to /leirov (pepouira, 144.
* 960. * 226.
6 634, 957. For iir6yya>ffis see 936 and Dindorf, iii. 507.
' 795- ' 957, 993-

126 THE CHURCH
lay adviser would impose discipline, or even strengthen his
weaker brother by an informal laying on of hands.* It Is
thus clear that Clement's Church was not wholly without
the disciplinary system which must have been necessary to
maintain its standard. Besides, the asceticism of the Mon
tanists and of other sects may have often shamed believers
out of laxity. But, on the whole, Clement relied little upon
the formal exercise of authority. He sets before his pupils
many motives for the heavenward way, but among these the
fear of the Church's censure is as little prominent as the
dread of penalties hereafter. His attitude In the matter is
quite characteristic.
Postponing for separate chapters all consideration of the
Scriptures and the Sacraments, we may now pass from this
outline of the Church's life to some short notice of her
external relations. No longer an isolated and detached
society, the Church had her numerous points of contact with
forces and tendencies which were not her own. She was
conscious of their influence, though she exerted an influence
of her own In turn. If we could fully understand this
process of action and reaction, and watch In the details of
daily life the relation of the believer to those that were
without, our knowledge of the growth of Christianity
would be far more complete than it Is. Clement does not
tell us much. It is chiefly In scholarly retirement that we
know him. But the subject Is of such Interest that It is
not lost labour to collect the various references to It from
his pages. We may, for example, consider his occasional
hints of contact between the Churchman and the Gnostic,
or between the Christian and the State authority, or again
between the Missionary and the unconverted world.
Heresy, of course, is not schism, yet it Is difficult to say
whether the heretics of Clement's age were within or without
' 510, 9S8.

THE CHURCH AND THE HERESIES 127
the Church. Alexandria knew of no authoritative decision
on the point, and Clement's language is quite contradictory.
The heretics, he says, leave the Church ; to lapse into
heresy is desertion ; the heresies are cross winds or swelling
waves, through which the believer must guide his ship ;
heresy is the caricature which invariably follows excellence ;
the heretics, like other wild growths, needed to be grafted
into the tree of life, and force in their case was necessary,
wherein they were inferior to the philosophers.* He draws
sharp contrasts between the Church and a school, between
the Church and human assemblies." The heretics had their
separate meetings, their own ritual, their own appointed days.
Saint John's flight from the presence of Cerinthus and
Polycarp's recognition of Marcion as " Satan's first-born "
did not occur in Alexandria, nor in Clement's generation, but
even there and at that date it was remarked as exceptional
that " our people " should have attended heretical lectures.'
All this points to sharp and acute division, to an absence of
intercourse between the Churchman and the Gnostic, to a
defining line, which shut out the heretic in practice.
Yet the separation was far from being final and complete.
The heretics, Clement complains, break through the Church's
wall ; they have a vice key and a side entrance.* They are
inside, but they are intruders, as weeds grow in a garden or
the tares among the wheat.* If they leave the Church, still
they claim its name. They were " brothers," though at a
distance.® Moreover, there must have been much personal
intercourse. Irenaeus had met and discussed with numbers
of these dangerous guides, though he would prefer the
faithful to hold aloof.' Clement himself had listened to
heretical teachers and heard their peculiar emphasis and
' 108, 375, 800, 816, 887, 889. 2 889, 898.
3 i]neTepoi contrasted with alpeTMoi, H.E., vi. 2.
* 897. « 774, 887-8. « 374. ' ii. 17, 9.

128 THE CHURCH
intonation in the public reading of the Scriptures ; he was
familiar also with their perverted interpretations of Its
meaning.* He frequently discusses the wisdom of " accom
modation," " and It Is probable that he himself acted upon
the principle of " all things to all men " in many of his
dealings with these doubtful brethren. In this spirit he
rejects the interpretation which would refer the " seat of
the scornful " to the heresies.' He prefers the suggestion
that It is theatres and law courts that are intended. Thus
his language is not consistent and It remains to say, in brief,
that for Clement the heresies were and were not a part of
Christianity. Both estimates may be found in his pages.
His references have the Interest which belongs to an Inter
mediate stage. Perhaps his most illuminating parallel is
found In the remark, that the heresies stand to the Church
in the same relation as that In which the Epicurean stands
to other Greek Philosophy.* Each in some sense belongs to
the main body, yet there Is a difference and a separation.
But, whatever measure of connection and Intercourse
between the Church and the heresies may have existed In
other respects, there Is one mode of contact which is plainly
revealed in Clement's writings. Each side made diligent
study of the literature of their opponents. The contest was
fought as much by books as in the schools. The heretics
may have despised much of the orthodox literature as worth
less, but they read It.* Their books In turn circulated freely,
even In Church circles, and were discussed by orthodox
lecturers.® It Is hard to say what manner of theologian
Clement would himself have been, if he had never known
this abundant and eventually rejected literature.
Definitely outside the Church was the State and Its
authority. Caesar and Caesar's rule were of the earth.' The
> 490, 529, 615. M69, 863, 881, 3 464-5.
1 774. 5892. ^514,997- '995-

CONTACT OF CHURCH AND STATE 129
Church had a higher and not always compatible allegiance.
And the most notable and frequent contact between the two
arose, when the State declared " Non licet esse vos." There
were no special Edicts in force when Clement wrote, not, at
least. If the view be correct that he wrote the Stromateis
before the proclamation of Severus in a.d. 202. Yet perse
cutions went on in Alexandria, as they did In Carthage, on
the authority of the ordinary laws.* Christianity was
" Religio lUicita." To decline to sacrifice to Caesar was
" Laesa majestas." Either charge was sufficient justification.
It is clear that many prosecutions started from the Name
alone — from the mere profession of Christianity, apart from
any proved crime." Clement must have known of many
instances, or he could hardly have spoken of the daily
stream of such spectacles.' Several features in these trials
evidently arrested his attention. The magistrate was
often prejudiced, ignorant of the real tenets of Christi
anity, and unwilling to inquire.* Sometimes the attacks
were specially directed against those who, like Clement, were
public teachers of the new religion.* The motives behind
these persecutions were very varied, sheer hatred, or jealousy
of the Church's progress, or desire for the reward due to
the " delator " who proved his case, or, again, just the fury
of the crowd.® At other times it was so wholly unreason
able, that it could only be put down to daemonic influences.
Occasionally the accused would deny their faith, but more
often they were immovable and made a great Impression by
their fidelity, shaming even their persecutors and greatly
strengthening the Church.' Indeed, Clement is much
concerned at the growth of the passion for martyrdom.
' Tertullian's Ad Martyras and Apologeticus, probably dating from
A.D. 197, make this clear. See Appendix I.
2 598. 3 454. 4 598.
6 82. * 871, 949. ' 601.
VOL. II. 9

I30 THE CHURCH
He likes this excess as little as the heretical justification of
denial under stress. Christians had no right to be rash or
to " leap upon death." * A self-sought end was no true
martyrdom. He knew of numbers, whose whole life seemed
a preparation for the fiery exit which should unite them to
their Lord. Already such a death was recognised as the
purification from all sin." This, together with the abundant
honours paid to the martyr, made the stronger spirits among
the faithful more anxious to secure their place In this roll of
honour, than to assure themselves that such was the divine
purpose for them. So Clement doubtless had many critics,
when he quoted with approval the famous text, " When
they persecute you In this city, flee ye into another ; " ' and
perhaps still more when he acted on this principle a few
years later.
It Is clear that the penalties Imposed by the magistrates
were very various. Short of actual death. Christians seem
to have suffered exile, loss of civil rights, confiscation of
their property, torture, and. If finally it came to the last
extremity, this was enacted In many ways, by crucifixion, or
beheading, or the beasts of the amphitheatre, or the flames
of the " tunica molesta." * Clement, like many other char
acters of his type, was little fascinated by the glamour of
these glorious surrenders. He had nothing of the Oriental
In him, as Origen had ; and perhaps he shared Aristotle's
belief In the value of the normal span of human life. Yet
his references prove the truth of the well-known paradox
that the State, by its very efforts to suppress Christianity,
promoted Its growth. Indeed, he says as much explicitly :
r] Se Koi fxaWov dvOei.^
Finally, If we ask what was the exact secret of the
Church's power to win the world, and seek in Clement's
'571,871. ^596- 3 St Matt, X. 23, quoted 597.
4 iri/iia, ipvy-li, S-iiixevois, 587 ; ffdirayoi, 862 ; Cp. 494, 589. ^ 827.

METHODS OF THE GOSPEL 131
pages for some hints of the methods and incidents of the
propaganda, it is only a partial answer that can be given.
In Alexandria, at any rate, it was rather by teaching the
truth than by activity In " good works " that the Church, in
so far as these two can be separated, won her extraordinary
success. Clement is himself the born teacher, and his
gospel is light, rather than charity or consolation. We have
already seen how he appealed to thoughtful Greeks, how
anxiously he desired to save his converts from lapsing into
heresy, how highly he estimated the task of instructing
others In the Way.
This conception of the Church's office as an important
stage in the divine scheme for the education of humanity. Is
so congenial to his nature and so prominent In his extant
writings, that we may easily be misled by It into sup
posing that the victory was. In Clement's view, due wholly
to argument and doctrine. But Christianity, even in an
intellectual environment, is never a matter for pure reason,
and Clement, whose main Interest lies, no doubt, in tracing
the interior life through Its higher stages to perfect com
munion with God, has still left us sufficient evidence of that
other side of Christian activity, which is so much more highly
rated in the West than in the East. Though It was not his
special task In life to go out " Into the streets and lanes of
the city" and bring in the poor and the maimed, he knows
the duty of loving your neighbour even though he be
uncongenial, of praying for his faults, of caring for the aged,
the orphan, and the widow, of ministry to the sick, and of
pity for those who are in distress.* Exposed children were
not forgotten, and even for the departed generations some
share was claimed in the Christian hope." Not by the
power of her message alone, but by this in combination
'861, 880, and many passages in the Quis dives salvetur.
2 265, 999 sqq.

132 THE CHURCH
with an activity of service and of love, did the Christian
society convince the world. Divine blessings come as a
rule through human instrumentality : * many and diverse
were the modes in which this principle held good for the
Church's ministry to the world as Clement knew it.
Such, in outline. Is the picture of the Church, which we
may discover In the pages of our Stromatlst. We can
recognise without great difficulty its deficiencies, whether of
performance or of Ideal. On the other hand. It Is possessed
of qualities which may justly move our admiration, and,
according to our standpoint, we may either note the contrasts
and divergencies which separate It from the Church of our
own time, or we may fix our attention on the singularly
striking points of similarity between its conditions and our
own. In any case, it is an interesting society at an interesting
period of its development with which Clement brings us
Into contact. We would gladly have known more about It,
and watched at closer proximity the lives and customs of its
members, but our author did not write for the information
of remote posterity, so that we must needs make the most
of occasional references and incidental hints. But there
is one feature, which even Clement's scanty information
brings clearly Into light, with some mention of which our
consideration of this subject may conclude.
As Clement knew It, and as we know It through him,
the Church In Alexandria was one of many contrasts. Side
by side with the frequent claim that the Church Is " one "
must be set this particular Church's marked lack of
uniformity. Freedom, for example, strongly characterises this society.
It Is less defined In doctrine and organisation than other
Christian communities. Its discipline is not strict. Ex
ternally, It knows no authority of Pope or Council. In-
' 325-

A SOCIETY OF MANY CONTRASTS 133
ternally, its chief presbyter claims as yet no patriarchal rights.
But, in contrast with this freedom. It rejects the heretics, talks
much already about the Church's rule, forbids its members
to wear dyed raiment, and dictates the manner of their ex
penditure to the wealthy who believe.
It is a young society, with all the vitality and enthusiasm
and assimilative power of youth. Its message is " new
music." Its face is set towards the future. It is possessed
of purpose and the power of growth. On the other hand,
it is the Church of Egypt, the oldest of all the lands whose
shores were washed by the Mediterranean, and habitually
visited " cognoscendi antiquitatis." So it claims already to
be the " ancient Church," looks back to what the Elders
taught, delights to assert that the wisdom it has Inherited
from the Hebrews Is more original than that of Greece, pays
special honour to the most " ancient philosophy." It Is the
Church of hope and memory at once.
It possesses cultured members. Clement pleads their
cause. They read Homer and Plato, as well as the Bible.
They loved to find affinities between Philosophy and the
Gospel. They could appreciate Euripides. Athens as well
as Jerusalem was their city. But in the same Church were
men and women as narrow and limited as their latter-day
descendants have ever been, suspecting all culture, believing
their own road was the only road, sincerely detesting the
spirit of inquiry, holding that faith was everything and
knowledge naught. Few contrasts in Alexandria were more
acute than this.
Here, again, were those whose standard of Christianity
was of the highest. They would die as martyrs readily, if
the summons came. Or they would live with their affection
set on things above. Ascetic purity, detachment from many
interests, loyalty to ideals, marked them off from ordinary
men. But the ordinary men were there as well, bringing

134 THE CHURCH
the ways and Interests of the average world with them,
falling away when persecution threatened, lapsing often Into
grievous sin, needing elementary Instruction in the Christian
way of life, making profit of religion.
Thus in Alexandria the Church, not less than the world,
was a mixed society. Its contrasts present themselves in
every direction. It entirely justifies the peculiarly Alex
andrine phrase, vo\vfiepiii)s koi iroXvTpoTrwt, of which Clement
made such frequent and characteristic use. If there are
many theologies and many moralities in the Church of our
own day ; if we have serious reason to ask how the older
and the newer, or the broader and the narrower. Interpretations
of Christianity can cohere ; or if, by the very sincerity of
religious conviction, we are sometimes led to deny the
manifold diversity of the ways of God, there is some re
assurance, and some degree of wholesome corrective, to be
found In the actual facts of a particular Church's life, as they
present themselves with all their many contrasts in the pages
of the most multifarious of all the Fathers.

CHAPTER XVI
SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
Whatever other elements of value may have been rightly
claimed by Christian Theology for the Sacraments of the
Church, there Is little question as to their supreme utility
in one particular respect. These simple and primitive rites
have formed the centres or " nuclei," around which spiritual
associations might cluster and collect. Already in Apostolic
times they had acquired a certain measure of essential
character. The Baptism in water, the broken Bread and the
shared Cup, are among the few indisputable elements of
original Christianity. To these visible and sanctified media
religious significance and mystic value have appropriately
belonged. Their very simplicity has lent itself to a
variety of symbolism and interpretation, and this in turn
has occasioned and justified the elaboration of external ritual
and the insistence on regulated and valid forms. Men pro
tested with good reason that God dwelleth not in temples
made with hands, and that we must not attempt to localise
or define our deity. And then, in spite of this protest,
they set to work to develop and perpetuate the special and
definite channels, through which a divine presence and a
divine grace might be appropriated and brought to mind.
To the bulk of mankind a universal Love, or an all-per
vading Reason, become real only in proportion as they can
be limited, and hence arises the practical dependence of all
135

136 SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
spiritual influences upon the forms and channels through
which they operate. The pure, immediate communion of
the human spirit with the divine has been only for the very
few. Plato knew something of It, and the Mystics knew
more, but the Church has been entirely right In retaining
her consecrated elements with jealousy and Insistence, and
In so connecting her highest message with visible external
rites. Humanity, apart from its rare saints and philo
sophers, needs such aids and apparatus ; divine truth must
receive some manner of embodiment before we can truly
claim It as our own.
There is a certain interest in watching this principle
at work in Clement's mind. He is by nature a man in
different to religious forms. We have already seen him
point out the upward pathway of the soul's progress to the
stage at which thought and language altogether fail. His
spiritual Ideal lies, indeed, very far from all forms, all rules,
all organisation. And we might have expected In Clement
some impatience of even sacramental rites. In other ways,
as we have already realised, he had none too much sympathy
with the spiritual limitations of the multitude. Such an
expectation, however, receives little justification from his
writings. His references to Baptism and the Eucharist are
not, indeed, so detailed and so explicit as those which may
be found In the works of his contemporaries and even of
his predecessors. Ritual order, so far as It was developed
and established in the Alexandria of his time. Is never fully
described In his pages. It was already familiar to those
whom It chiefly concerned, and Clement had no desire to
divulge his "mysteries." From the Didache, Justin, or
Tertullian, we can derive material for a far closer and more
detailed portrayal of sacramental ceremonies, than could ever
be constructed from the evidence of Clement alone, but this
scarcity of detail need not lead us to underrate the signlfi-

VALUE OF OUTWARD SIGNS 137
cance of the wealth of symbolism and association, which he
characteristically discerns in these essential rites. In technical
language, the grace of the Sacraments, as he understood It,
stands for far more with Clement than the sign. Yet It Is
evident that he recognised the service and Importance of the
external sign as the form, channel, and embodiment of the
invisible spiritual gift, as the evident and tangible centre, to
which different interpretations and ever varied values might
profitably be attached.
One further point should be mentioned, before we examine
Clement's references to the Sacraments in greater detail.
It concerns his treatment of the Eucharist more than his
allusions to Baptism, but In some degree both are involved.
We meet not Infrequently in Clement's pages with language
which bears obvious similarity to ritual formularies, known
to have been established in the Church at a later period.
For example, Clement's terminology shows considerable
correspondence with the Prayers of Bishop Seraplon, and
with the later Liturgy of the Alexandrian Church. And,
in regard to Baptism, many usages which were unquestion
ably recognised later, have their similar anticipations In
his writings. Each hint or reference of this order must
no doubt be explained and dealt with on Its own merits.
How far, for example, the term evxapia-Tia has already in
Clement a technical sense, is a question to which the
answer can only be given by an examination of the passages
in which he employs this term. But, speaking generally,
where the language of the later sacramental formularies
seems to be anticipated in Clement's pages, two explanations
of the facts are possible, and it is a matter of some little
liturgical interest to decide between the two.
For it may either be that Clement, in his allusive manner,
is employing terminology with which he had become familiar
in the Church's already regulated, although still unwritten.

138 SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
forms ; or, in the other alternative, it is possible that such
language was as yet only the current and elastic phraseology
of Christian circles, from which, at a later date, the fixed and
authorised formularies were naturally in large measure
derived. Custom must, in any case, have preceded the
authoritative establishment of Eucharlstic and Baptismal
forms : the question Is, whether at the close of the second
century in Alexandria the stage of liturgical development
was so advanced, that Clement's language must be regarded
as borrowed or suggested, rather than as itself one among
the many origins, from which the Church's formularies were
afterwards composed. The former explanation, so far as
It applies to the Eucharist, is maintained by Probst,* who
says much of Clement's Intentional secrecy, and holds that
a " Missa Fidelium " already existed in such a measure of
detailed completeness, that the Stromatist's terminology
must be interpreted as reminiscent of this source.
Yet there Is much to be said on the other side. No
written liturgical forms can be shown to have existed for
more than a century after Clement's date." As recently as in
Justin's time the prayers at the Eucharist were mainly free
and extemporaneous. The Baptismal Order, too, In many
important respects, was still far from finality. And In all
matters of organisation Alexandria is known to have been
behind other Important Churches In the rate of development.
Liturgical authorities are In the main inclined to discover
little for their immediate purpose in Clement's writings.'
It may be Inferred that they regard his language as the
anticipation, rather than the reflection, of sacramental formu
laries. To the general question only a general answer
¦ Liturgie der drei ersten christlichen fahrhunderte, pp. 130-41, where
the writer refers to an earlier article on the same subject.
2 See F. E. Warren, Liturgy of the Antenicene Church, pp. 105 sqq.
3 This is true, e.g., of Brightman's Liturgies (see esp. Appendix J, pp.
504 sqq.), and of Duchesne's Origines du cult chritien.

LITURGICAL TERMINOLOGY 139
can be given. But, on the whole, it is the safer course,
when Clement's language corresponds, as It so frequently
does, with what is known In later days to have been the
authorised terminology of the Church, to treat It as source
and material, unformulated and undefined, out of which,
when ritual precision grew more necessary, some of the
most valuable elements of her liturgical abundance were
derived. From such general considerations we may pass to con
sider more In detail Clement's various allusions to the
Sacraments. It will be convenient to consider Baptism first,
and afterwards the Eucharist ; also. In the case of each, to
distinguish the evidence he offers us as to the actual rite
and its performance from the inward significance which he
attaches to the external form. To some extent it is legiti
mate and even necessary In dealing with such a writer to
give some greater measure of precision to what he only
allusively suggests.
Adult Baptism was clearly still the rule. This Is
evident in many ways, principally by the fact that the
Protrepticus is addressed to the unbaptlsed, the Padagogus
to those who have received the rite. Normally, then, it
took place between the two stages which these books re
present, after adherence had been given, before the more
advanced Instruction had been received. Yet some instruc
tion, more detailed and definitely Christian than the appeal
of the Protrepticus, clearly preceded Baptism. Information
and catechetical training came before the Sacrament,* though
inward experience, Clement warns us, must not be too
precisely dated. The doors and gates of salvation are
" rational " in character, and they who enter the Church by
this sacrament, act with intelligence and understand the self-
committal of their assent." Yet infant Baptism, with which
1 116. ^ 9-10, 55,

I40 SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
Tertullian and Origen were certainly familiar,* was perhaps
not wholly unknown to Clement. " Children drawn out
of the water " is a phrase which seems to Imply It, and It
would perhaps be difficult to understand such an expression
as " Christ the children's guide," if Clement's Church had
not already found a place in her membership for those of
tender years." Immersion was, of course, still practised.
The baptised " went up " out of the water.' They were as
" Fish " caught by the divine Fisherman, or born " from
the womb of water " * — a phrase which recalls the Lord's
conversation with Nicodemus in the fourth Gospel.
Other elements in the rite do not pass wholly without
notice. The baptised person received the blessed seal, by
which term Clement no doubt meant, like Tertullian, the
sign of the Cross.* " To bear the sign," or " to bear about
the stigmata of Christ," are expressions applicable to those
who have received Baptism.® The " seal " is specially con
nected with the name of the Trinity.' It appears that
the threefold invocation was made both at the Immersion
and again later, when the sign of the Cross was imposed.
Another usual adjunct of Baptism was unction. Clement,
perhaps, once refers to it : "I will anoint you," the Word
promises his disciples, " with the unction of faith." * The
symbolism is probably suggested by the rite. It Is notable,
however, that in the considerable section of the Padagogus,
In which he deals with the use of unguents and criticises its
luxurious excess, there is no hint or suggestion of the
baptismal unction of the Church. Again and again, as we
read the passage, we come upon contexts In which such a
reference would have been entirely natural. " A man must
' Tert., De Baptismo, i8 ; Origen, Hom. Vlll., in Levit. (Migne, Pat.
Gr., xii. 496).
2117,289,312. 3,72^987. ¦'312,637.
' 434, 959- " 880, 989. ' 690, 987 ; cp. Dindorf, iii. 507.
* 93-

THE RITE OF BAPTISM 141
carry about with him the scent, not of myrrh, but of nobility ;
a woman must have the aroma of Christ, the royal unguent." *
Some mention of the sacramental anointing would have been
here so appropriate, that its absence, taken in connection
with single reference to the subject made by Origen, might
well lead us to suspect that in Alexandria this element in
the baptismal ceremony was less prominent and invariable
than it was at the same period in Antioch and In Carthage."
But the argument from silence is peculiarly unsafe, when
Clement's silence is in question.
Then there is also a mention of the mixture of milk and
honey, which was administered immediately after Baptism.
This curious symbolism had special prominence in the Roman
and Alexandrian Churches. It signified the Christian hope
of final rest in the heavenly Jerusalem, " where It is written
that milk and honey fall like rain.' Through the material,"
he proceeds, " we seek the holy sustenance." It Is, in other
words, " a means whereby we receive the same." It Is
Interesting to notice how accurately Clement had caught the
principle of sacramental theology. We have already referred *
to the Infrequent mention made in his pages of " the laying
on of hands," and of the acknowledgment of the most Im
portant articles of belief. With some probability, we may
connect these with Baptism and find In them the rite of Con
firmation and the " Reddltio Symboli," in so far as these
existed In Alexandria at his time. We may summarise the
scanty Information he gives us, by saying that with Clement
Baptism Is mainly for adults, after careful preparation,
administered by Immersion, conditional upon a confession
of the faith, and followed by unction, by the sign of the
» 208. •
2 See Warren, op. cit., pp. 160-1. For the practice in Antioch see
Theophilus, Ad Autolycum, i. 12 ; for Carthage, Tertullian, De Baptismo, 7.
3 125 ; cp. 119. See Duchesne, op. cit., p. 338. * Supra, pp. 114 sqq.

142 SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
Cross, by the laying on of hands, and by the tasting of the
milk and honey. His references are In substantial agree
ment with what we know of the Church's practice from
other authorities for this period.
If we compare Clement's references to this Sacrament
with the Baptismal prayers In Bishop Serapion's Euchologion,
we notice certain developments which the intervening century
had brought. In the later authority there Is a separate
prayer for the sanctification of the water. The descent of
the Word and of the Spirit is definitely Invoked. The
anointing oil Is blessed before use. And Confirmation Is
separated from Baptism. But it does not seem that any
Important element has been added that is wholly new, and
there are notable correspondences of terminology and Ideas.
Alexandria may have had a less precise and elaborate ritual
than Carthage in Clement's day, but it does not appear that
any principal items of the later baptismal ceremonial were
wholly wanting in her ecclesiastical order.
But Clement's main Interest Is not in the actual rite or
" opus operatum." He cares more for the truths and
associations which were connected with It. His attitude Is
exactly that, which we have already seen him adopt In regard
to the historic life of the Lord. He breaks away from
events and particulars into the wider and spiritual verities.
And Baptism stood with him for many such. Indeed, if one
should raise inquiry as to the exact " gift " which Christianity
had to offer, and the reasons why it was able to attract the
world, there could hardly be any better answer than that which
lies to hand, when we have collected the various interpreta
tions which Clement and his contemporaries attached to Its
initial rite. We may enumerate the most notable of these.
The baptised person became the member of a spiritual
State, Kingdom, Commonwealth. He was registered, and
acquired a new citizenship. He possessed a fresh iroXiTela,

CITIZENSHIP, SONSHIP, PARDON 143
with all its privileges and all its obligations. By nationality
he was henceforth neither Jew nor Greek, but a part of
that " third race," whose life was centred in the spiritual
City, at once of heaven and on earth, " which no foe
may capture and no tyrant oppress." a-n-ovSaiov ydp ^ Tro'Xjy,
Clement adds, like a true Hellene.*
But the Christian conception of the Household or Family
is even more prominent. In Baptism we become sons of
God. The thought of regeneration Is frequent and em
phatic. It is our new birth, by water and the Word." The
Sacrament stands for nothing less than the full sonship of
the true Father. Clement would never have denied the
doctrine of the universal fatherhood of God. He does
Indeed assert It. But, like Saint John, he knew that for the
Christian this common truth had a deeper and more
Intimate significance.'
Forgiveness of sin, too, came by Baptism.* This associa
tion was traditional, going back to the New Testament and
to John the Baptist. The severity with which the Church
treated sin after Baptism Is a proof of the spiritual value and
importance, which was attached to such sacramental remis
sion. Clement accepts, but does not develop or accentuate,
this aspect of the rite. The legal view of religion, in spite
of all he says in praise of the Law, never really possessed
him, and the comparatively slight emphasis laid on forgive
ness and the sense of pardon is thus characteristic.
But more Is said on the kindred principle of Purifica
tion. Baptism was a " spiritual washing," and In dwelling
on this idea Clement was in line both with the Prophets
and with Plato.* He had an even closer precedent in the
Mysteries ; purificatory rites " are the first stage of the
• 642, 761. 2 156, 450, 551.
3 Note the expression roy -iraTepa i.-rro\afi.0iyety, 69, 88.
* 114, 128, 460. ' 282.

144 SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
Mysteries of the Greeks, as Baptism is with the Christian "
or " barbarian." * Cleansed and pure and fresh, he says,
should we enter upon sacred rites and prayers. In the ritual
washings of Penelope and Telemachus before their devotions
he discerns an anticipation of the Christian Sacrament."
Our very bodies are deserving of more honour through
such cleansing.' Our nature Is purified from Its worthless
elements ; indeed, the process Is one of straining or filtration,
which leaves the soul free from Infected taint : *
" purumque reliquit
aetherium sensum."
There is a further development of this aspect of Baptism
in the idea that it brought protection, and security from the
powers of evil. The demons, which might possess the
human soul, were to the world of ancient days as fully real
as the Devil was to Luther, and it is hard to say whether
Plutarch or the New Testament affords stronger evidence of
the potency of this belief. Before Baptism these evil
powers were renounced ; the Sacrament Itself was " salva
tion," because it conferred safety from their possession and
control. Within its secure doorways the soul found a
veritable asylum, whence no demon might drive it out.*
The " seal " of the rite was the symbol of complete protec
tion from such influences.® The words of the Lord's
parable are quoted ; these evil spirits might not return to
the house from which they had been expelled, for God had
occupied it and the seal had marked it as His holy place.
So the Sacrament brought security, not merely from remote
penalties elsewhere, but from very near and actual enemies
in this present world.
There were, besides, more positive aspects of Baptism.
Remission, purification, protection, did not exhaust Its
• 688-9. ^ 628-9. ' 241. * 117. s 55. « 959,992.

PURIFICATION, LIFE, ILLUMINATION 145
significance ; it conferred gifts as well as immunities. Pro
minent among them was Immortality. This was no inherent,
inalienable possession of man's nature as such. It Is rather
that in the Sacrament we put on the incorruptibility of
Christ.* It is "the Word of incorruptibility" who confers
upon us this higher birth." By spiritual unction we throw
off our liability to dissolution.' " Upon you alone of all
mortal beings do I bestow the fruit of immortal life," says
the divine Word, with a hint that through the Sacraments
the Incarnation had conferred the privilege which had been
denied to man in Paradise. " Be initiated and thou shalt
have thy place In the angels' choir, around the one true God,
unbegotten. Incorruptible." Death was gone. Eternal life
was a gift, and Baptism the outward and visible means of its
conveyance. So the Church believed.
One other aspect of Baptism remains, which was
peculiarly attractive to Clement's mind. This Sacrament,
besides its many other interpretations, was also known as
" Illumination." This conception had its special appro
priateness in Alexandrian theology and would recall, by Its
associations, both the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Pagan
Mysteries.* It is Clement's favourite synonym for Baptism.
Instruction and illumination are for him identical with
regeneration.* " We have been illuminated, which means
to know God." ® The Father summons us to cleansing, to
salvation, above all to illumination.' It is the term that
denotes the completion of all stages preliminary to the full
possession of Christianity.' Afterwards, potentially, we are
1 117. 2 90. 3 93_
¦* Heb. vi. 4 ; x. 32. For ipartirfiis in the Mysteries, and the connection of
its use there with the Christian Sacrament, see Wobbermin, Die Beeinflussung
des Urchristentums durch dasantike Mysterienwesen, 166 sqq., and E. Hatch,
Hibbert Lectures, pp. 294-300.
6 653. « 113. ' 75-6.
8 07rrfAoj8€ rb 0£s, x'^P^ira^ei' rk 0ais, 87-8 ; ^7pii7ope>' ¦ , . i ire<fiaTiOfieyos,2lS.
VOL. II. 10

146 SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
perfect and full grown. To receive Baptism is to receive
illumination, because the Sacrament marked the transition
from Ignorance to knowledge, from darkness to light, from
the outer gloom to the brilliantly lighted sanctuary of the
faith. The soul in Baptism is not unconsciously cleansed,
but is washed in " rational water," or the water of the
Word ; * it understands what the process means. Gnosis,
knowledge. Is often used In passages where the term
" Baptism " might take Its place."
Illumination, again, is the name given to the instruction
which reveals the hidden truths of God ; It Is the power
which, through the Saviour's grace, heals sick souls by leading
them to possession of the truth.' Behind all this teaching
we discern the fact that the knowledge of the Church's faith
was cautiously Imparted to the believer before his Baptism.
There was a " Traditio Symboli " or something of the kind ;
and always afterwards the baptised person was conscious that
he possessed the clue to the higher interpretation of the
world. So Clement loves, as we might express It, to Intel-
lectuallse the Sacrament, though Indeed the light of this
illumination is with him no cold dry light of the bare reason,
but a flame that warms and cheers as well. Still, there Is a
characteristic insistence, throughout his references to Baptism,
upon the right of the baptised to gather the fruits of the tree
of Knowledge as well as those of the tree of Life. We
recollect that the prisoner in Plato's cave turned his eyes
gradually towards the light. Undoubtedly there Is a certain
" Hellenlsing " of Christianity to be seen In the significance
Clement most delights to discern in this rite. With the
growth and prevalence of Infant Baptism much of Clement's
language has ceased to be applicable. The Church was right
in her decision to extend her welcome to those of tender
years. Yet something has been lost in the Inevitable separa-
' B5»p \oync6y, 79. 2 E.g. 80, 83. 3 684, 936.

TWO SACRAMENTS 147
tion from this Sacrament of all those Important associations
for which, as Clement understood it, " illumination " was the
most general and significant term. There is slight trace of
them, even in the English form " For those of Riper
Years." Nor does the " Order of Confirmation," in spite
of its reference to the " spirit of wisdom and understanding,"
wholly make up the loss.
So much Clement tells us about Baptism. We pass on
to consider his references to the Eucharist, noting incidentally
how completely these two rites overshadow all minor
ordinances. To that extent he is with the Reformers and
their two Sacraments, rather than with Rome and seven,
though his principles are Indeed elastic enough to extend
to many particular applications.
Clement's references to the Church's central act of
worship are not infrequent, but they are usually allusive and
Indistinct in character, leaving many interesting questions
still in doubt. We are quite sure of his general view and
estimation of the Eucharist, but in much uncertainty about
the details of its order. We shall consider the externals of
the Sacrament first.
The number of believers who assembled habitually for
worship was considerable. It was not a case of " two or
three " gathering together in the Name, but a " muster of
the troops of peace " with Christ as leader.* Their one
assembly was a union of many members. The blending of
the many voices In one great harmony was notable and
Impressive." The " coming together " of a congregation
may be discerned in the terms employed.'
This worship, if not elaborate, contained most of the
' ffvyaxBrjyai, 72 ; avyi^et tovs elpriviKoiis ffTpaTi^ras, go ; f^. the useof iri}<'o|is
in the Liturgies.
2 72, 848. 3 (Tvy-liXvots, 167.

148 SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
various elements, which were afterwards developed in the
Liturgies. There is a passage In which its five principal
constituents are mentioned together, and we may follow
Clement's order, without committing ourselves to its complete
accuracy.* He knew that these things were subject to regu
lation, for he refers to the Church's rule as defined and
binding in connection with the Sacrament."
There was a Homily or Exhortation. To hear this was
a part of the Eucharlstic observance. It was commonly an
exposition of Scripture.' And possibly there are hints of
the distinction, more definitely drawn in later times, between
those who are " hearers " only and those who are more
advanced.* Hearing is distinguished from full participation
in the mysteries, and they who could not read, at least
might hear.*
But the hearing was not confined to the Homily.
Scripture was read : there were lections from the Old
Testament and from the New.® The connection between the
use of the Scriptures and the Eucharlstic rite is definitely
stated to be a part of the Saviour's intention.' It is another
form of Clement's frequent plea for Intelligence in worship.
The Oblation Is next mentioned. Bread and wine were
the elements offered : this was the Church's rule, though
some heretics used water only, in defiance of the plain
language of Scripture.^ The wine was mixed with water,
according to the custom in ordinary life.* Clement never
^ 797. He mentions (i,) aKo-li, {n.) aydyyua-is, {ui.) -irpo(r<l>opd, {iv.) evx-ll, {v.)
Praise — "("wx^ • • • aiyova-a, vjiyovira, evXoyovaa, tfidWovira. The accumulation
of terms for this last item is significant and characteristic.
2 375. 3 76. 4 248. 5 299.
^ irpotjiriTat XaKoHoty, 92. The Gospels are read aloud, 794.
' 343-
^ 375 ; ^A 186. Note the insistence on ohos. On the use of water in the
Eucharist see Harnack, Brod und Wasser: die eucharistischen Elemente
bei fustin,"va Texte und Untersuchungen, vii. 115 sqq.
" 177-

ELEMENTS OF PUBLIC WORSHIP 149
speaks of an altar in connection with Eucharlstic ritual,
though he may, perhaps, have had the Sacrament in mind
when he spoke of the " table of truth." * It was a " holy "
offering, a " holy " supper, as was every meal at which
Christ was present." And man's gift to God became in
turn God's gift to man, and through the elements souls
were fed on spiritual food.' The words of Institution
were familiar to Clement,* as was the idea of the divine
Word being blended with the material substance ; but there Is
no definite reference either to the act of consecration, or to
the invocation of the Word or the Spirit. The recognised
practice was for the elements to be administered to the faithful,
but a different use was sometimes followed and the com
municants allowed each to take his share from the Table.*
Prayer comes next in Clement's order, though we must
not suppose that it did not precede as well as follow the
actual rite. Clement's language frequently resembles that
of the later liturgical forms. The " rest " of the departed,
the " loving kindness " of God, the " medicine " of hallowed
elements, the " knowledge " that comes by communion, are
all expressions which occur frequently In Clement's pages
and are found also in the Prayers of Bishop Seraplon.®
So, too, in the Alexandrian Liturgy of Saint Mark, " the
holy and only Catholic Church," the thought of the faithful
as " the flock " of God, the conception of the Lord as the
haven of the storm-tossed, and the physician of souls, have
all their obvious resemblances to phrases common In
Clement's works. We cannot, as before observed, argue
with certainty from these and other notable correspon
dences to the existence of a prescribed liturgical order in
Clement's time. But they may still form some evidence
» 173. 2 205. 3 948. 4 ,86, 343. 6 3,8.
' icydiravois, tpi\ayBpuTia, <l>dpiiaicoy, yyuois. So, too, Serapion's use of
$e\Ttai<ris, ifi-irQ\tT(ieaBai, avyKardOeiris, recalls Clement's terminology.

I50 SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
as to the style and manner of the petitions offered in public
worship in his day. The beautiful prayer to the Word,
with which the third book of the P^edagogus closes, may
afford us an even closer insight.* Standing was the usual
attitude in worship, with head erect and hands raised and
the heels lifted from the ground and the face turned to the
East." The prayer was said by the priest alone, but It
closed with a common and united utterance, in which every
voice joined, though whether more than the "Amen" was
repeated by all the worshippers. It Is impossible to say.
Finally, there was Praise, and with Clement this was an
important element. To him we owe the earliest Chrisdan
hymn still extant, and music counted for much in Alex
andria. From the many references in his pages to hymns
and praise, it is clear that Christian worship, as he knew It,
had a glad and joyous character, and that In Alexandria
the Eucharist fully deserved its name.' The Divine Word
seemed himself to join with the uplifted voices of the
worshippers.* And Clement knew, what so many moderns
have forgotten, that false theology mattered even in a
hymn.* At some point In this order, possibly before the Oblation,
place must be found for the Kiss of Peace. Clement tells
us that already this custom had fallen into some abuse.
Some people even made the Church echo with their
salutations.® The greeting lost all Its " mystical " character,
when decency and restraint were thus forgotten. Ter
tullian was scandalised at the suggestion of the omission
of the kiss, even on days of fasting.' Clement has reason
1 311. 2107^854,856.
3 But instrumental music, which Clement thought morally dangerous,
was evidently not yet used in worship ; cp. 193.
4 ffvvv^yovvTos 7]^7y tov Beov \6yov, 92.
^ 853. Cp. Bardaisan's use of hymns for purposes of teaching.
<i 301. ' De Oratione, 14.

EUCHARIST AND AGAPE 151
to deplore just the opposite defect. It is strange to find
the Carthaginian father protesting against needless strict
ness, the Alexandrian pleading for rigidity. But Ter
tullian is thinking of the Eucharist, Clement mainly of the
Agape. This last distinction is. In Clement, a point of much
perplexity. Were the Eucharist and Agape, as he knew
them in Alexandria, distinct or not .'' Does his Church
order unite the Christian Sacrament with the Christian
meal, and fall into line with that of the Didache and
Ignatius ; or does it correspond to the opposite practice,
with which Tertullian, Cyprian, Origen were familiar }
His interpreters differ and it Is hard to say. Clement Is
nowhere more mystical and allusive than In his treatment
of sacramental rites, and on this particular point his refer
ences are Interpreted by some authorities to Imply that
the Eucharist was still connected with the Agape and
celebrated in the evening, while others hold that they afford
evidence of a distinct and morning rite. There Is a very
full excursus In Hort and Mayor, and considerable reason
for their conclusion of " non liquet."*
On the whole, when we consider the various passages
in question, there seems ground for the belief that there
did exist In Clement's Church a recognised practice of
receiving the Eucharist In the morning. Morning attend
ance at Church Is in one passage clearly mentioned as a
usual custom." It could hardly be for any other service
than the Eucharist. The term Eucharist Is used by
Clement both in a technical and also In a more general
' The separation of the two in Clement's Church is maintained by Keating,
The Agape and the Eucharist in the Early Church, pp. 78-93, and by Zahn,
art. "Agapen" in Herzog's Kealenc^clopddie. It is disputed by Bigg,
Christian Platonists, pp. 102-5, by Allen, Christian Institutions, p. 522, and
by Harnack, Hist. Dogm., ii. 143, n. See Hort and Mayor, Appendix C.
2 228.

152 SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
sense, and technically employed seems to suggest a separate
rite.* In one specially important passage he writes that
our " regular food " may be a Eucharist, If we receive it
with thanksgiving, implying apparently that it was not
customary to connect the term with anything of the nature
of an ordinary meal. Moreover, in the two passages In
which Clement speaks of the Oblation, the term " Eucharist "
occurs as well, but the idea of offering does not appear to
be so closely associated with the Agape." Such considera
tions may not prove conclusively that Clement thought of
the Eucharist as a service distinct from the freer afternoon
assemblies of the faithful, but they give some probability
to the supposition. Alexandria, we may suppose, had
already separated the two elements which were latent in the
primitive Supper of the Lord.
But If here, as elsewhere, the morning Eucharist existed,
it Is also clear that the Agape was still a popular institution,
with considerable religious significance and no little liability
to scandal and abuse. The term was elastic, covering
formal assemblies of the Church and more social gatherings
In houses. Its associations, though not the actual name,
were extended to the ordinary evening meal of the family.'
Such gatherings may have commenced by daylight. In the
late afternoon ; they were continued into the evening, with
the lamps alight.* They retained a sacramental character ;
the table was a table of truth ; the food was heavenly fare ;
the Scriptures were read aloud ; the kiss of peace was given ;
' The word has a technical sense in such passages as the following ;
Kpairis TTOTov Te wal \dyov evxapiffTla ueKKiJTcu, I78 : its elyat r^y SiKalay Tpoip^y
elixapia-Tlay, 170 ; Tijy evxapiOTlay Siaye/teiy, 318 : SSup xfiiAhy evxapiiTToviri, 375.
It is used in the less restricted sense of "thanksgiving" in irply viryov Xaxe'iy
eiixaptaTetv iaioy T(f Beif, 194 ; also in 683, 85 1, 879.
2 irpoffipopd, 375, 797.
3 I cannot find that aya-ir-li in Clement ever means nothing more than the
ordinary evening meal of the family.
^ 514.

CHARACTER OF THE AGAPE 153
thanksgiving and hymns brought the evening to its close ;
contributions were made to the needs of the poorer
brethren.* A certain measure of consecration- attached to it,
in so far as it accorded with its true purpose and ideal." It
was a feast of reason, a banquet of the mind, a supper of
which love was the motive. Such were the general associa
tions of the Agape. How far its more public forms differed
from private practice, it is not possible to say. In a rich
and luxurious city like Alexandria, with men and women of
the world beginning to find their way into the Church, it is
easy to understand the liability of such an Institution to
abuse. The heretics employed the term freely, to give a
specious decency to many of their worst extravagances,' and
even in Catholic circles the religious character of the meal
tended to be obscured by licence and indulgence. So dis
credit fell upon the very ordinance of the Lord. Clement
is seriously concerned at the laxity of Christian practice in
these assemblies. He seems to feel that a beautiful and
spiritual institution is being vulgarised and spoiled. Among
the Carpocratians this might be natural, but it troubles him
to see any similar defection In the Church.
Such in its central and most sacred rite was Christian
worship In Alexandria, so far as it is possible to hazard its
reconstruction from Clement's pages. But, as with Baptism,
so with the Eucharist and the Agape, it is not in the rite that
Clement's interest lies. It is the truths and associations
gathered round it, the mystical significance it suggested, the
" grace " of the Sacrament, as in manifold fashion he loved
to interpret it, for which Clement truly cares. Not that he
is wholly indifferent to ritual, but the inward things are
always more.
The dominant conception is that of feeding upon the
1 72, 165-7, 171, 173, 228, 301, 860-1. 2 fl i,yd„n T) Tiyia/T/ieyii, 165.
3 892.

154 SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
Word. To the sound in soul He himself is spiritual
nourishment.* " I am thy sustainer," says the Christ, " and
give myself to thee as bread." " There Is a mystical element
In the Sacrament, forasmuch as It is the flesh of Christ.' It
is heavenly food that the faithful seek.* The blood of the
vine Is " the Word shed abroad for many." The divine
food that is above Is ours, of which those alone who are
worthy may have a share.* In such language Clement's
mind dwells upon the central truth of the Eucharist, finding
mystical and allegorical significance in the mixed chalice. In
the properties of the blood. In the qualities of milk, which Is
"white as the day of Christ."® For him, as for Saint John
and all his like, there Is no rigid limitation of such spiritual
feeding to the Eucharlstic rite. It Is the universal privilege
of our higher nature, as interpreted by Christianity.
Heavenly fare is the nourishment of the soul. Day by day
we drink the cup of the Lord. To all his children the
Word supplies their proper nurture. The Church had
gathered up and focussed and centralised this universal need
and privilege of human nature in her one principal rite, and
this centralisation was to be more and more marked In the
after years. For Clement, the act or process of spiritual
feeding is still inward, mystical, elastic, aided, not restricted,
by outward rules. Even he was already beginning to
recognise the need for order and regulation, but the fact
upon which his thought habitually dwelt was that of Christ,
the Word, as always, with or without the media, the meat
and drink of faithful souls.
And " the benefits whereof we are partakers thereby " .''
These are principally two. Truth and Immortality. For just
as Baptism was illumination, so are Eucharist and Agape
the continued sustenance of our rational and intelligent
• 123. ^ 948. 3 125-6,
¦¦ 165. ' 169. ' 121-2, 128, 177,

TRUTH AND IMMORTALITY 155
natures. The two Sacraments have indeed a certain natural
affinity, just as milk and water are kindred In their proper
ties.* It Is the Lord's will that we should " eat rationally." "
The Saviour's teaching is " spiritual meat and the cup which
knows not thirst."' When we eat and drink of the Word,
we have the knowledge of the divine being.* The soul's
highest fare is the uncloying contemplation of the true
reality.* In such terms he loves to translate the rite and
ordinance into mystic vision, and to appropriate angels' food
for the understanding soul. Ceremony passes Imperceptibly
into meditation, and the Supper In the upper room is Intel-
lectualised, so that Hellenes may share the feast. Thus the
Gnostic may receive sacramental grace as he needs and can
appropriate it. Because Christ Is the Truth, He is also the
true Vine and the Bread of life.
That is one Interpretation of the inward gift ; It is also
Immortality. Here, again, the implications are similar to
those of Baptism. Just as In the Initiatory rite man puts
on the incorruptibility of the Lord, so In the Eucharist he
partakes of the "medicine of immortality."® The Idea
specially connects itself with the mixed cup : the blending
of the different substances suggests the fusion of the divine
nature with our humanity. ' To drink the blood of Jesus
is to share the incorruptibility of the Lord. Day by day
He gives us the cup of immortality, and whoso eats of the
divine bread has no further experience of death. Thus
does Clement anticipate the common conception of the later
Liturgies, that in the Eucharist man obtains eternal life.'
Clement does not emphasise the sacrificial aspect of the
Eucharist. He is familiar with the conception of sacrifice
as originally a feast upon a victim,' and neither the Idea of
1 ,27-8, 2 343. 3 896. 4 686.
6 169. 6 83. ' 128, 177-8.
' E.g. f<»5s aXaiyiov Tvxe'iy in the Liturgy of St Clement. ^ 849.

156 SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
a Real Presence, nor that of Transubstantiation, are foreign
to his thought ; but he does not appropriate or expand
these principles In his treatment of the Sacrament.* He
connects, indeed, the thought of Christ's death with the gift
of the Bread and Cup, and even. In a strongly allegorical
passage, speaks of " having the Word In one's mouth."" In
a fragment, of which the authorship Is at best doubtful, the
language is more definite, and Christ is said to be both flesh
and bread, and to give Himself as both for us to eat.' But
Clement's most characteristic teaching runs upon other lines.
" We do not sacrifice to God, but we glorify the victim
offered upon our behalf." * The oblation, as he interprets
It, consists of prayer and teaching.* The true altar Is the
assembly of the believers, or the righteous soul.® The
Church's sacrifice is the utterance which rises like Incense
from holy souls, or incense itself Is prayer. His thought
in these matters is mystical, fluid, variable, rather than
precise. Both parties in later controversies have claimed
him as their ally, but indeed in this, as in so many other
connections, we have no right to demand from him a verdict
on questions which in his day had not been raised. He Is
emphatic in his demands for decency and order, and In his
regard for the Church's rule. He knows the sacred symbols
stand for a hidden and higher reality. And Christ, the
divine Word, is for him the veritable and unfailing Food of
souls. Let us be grateful for such wide and generous
doctrine : it was not wholly to his disadvantage, that
Clement lived before the Church's Eucharlstic teaching had
grown erudite, definite, and controversial.
Side by side with these ordinances of the Christian
' See Bigg, Christian Platonists, p. 106, n. 4. The idea of sacrifice came
in with Origen. Harnack, Hist. Dogm., ii. 133, n.
2 298, 948. 3 Dindorf, iii. 505. * 836.
8 Stahlin, iii. 204. ^ 848.

INFLUENCE OF THE MYSTERIES 157
Society existed the pagan Mysteries, and the heretical
Sacraments of the Gnostics. Clement was familiar with
both. We shall briefly consider the relation between these
rival ceremonies and the Church's forms of initiation and of
worship, as Clement's pages reveal them to us.
To some extent the influence of the Mysteries may be
traced in the New Testament. Saint Paul, Saint John,
the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, all made use of
the terminology proper to Eleusis, and such conceptions
as those of purification, of revelation, of an assured
Hereafter, are common to certain phases of apostolic
Christianity and to the Mysteries. How far there was
direct appropriation, how far the correspondence is explained
by the general religious atmosphere of the period, is a
difficult and undetermined question. When we pass from
the New Testament to Clement, the influence is still more
evident ; his writings are indeed of peculiar interest and
importance In any consideration of the action of pagan cults
upon developing Christianity.
Like other ecclesiastical writers, he is the severe critic of
these ancient rites, dragging forth every absurdity and every
obscenity into the light of day. Yet, paradoxical as It may
seem, he is debtor where he scorns and ridicules ; and this
indebtedness is specially evident in his treatment of the
Sacraments. Sometimes, like Tertullian, he makes direct
comparison between the Church's rites and the mysteries of
Paganism.* Sometimes, by looser association, he speaks of the
"mysteries" of the Agape or of the "mystery" of the Bread."
Certain terms specially appropriated to the Sacraments have
been derived most probably from the Mysteries: among these
" Illumination," " the Seal," " Perfection," were recognised
• 688-9. Cp. Tert., De Baptismo, 5.
2 rh fLva-Tixhy tov UpTOv, I25 ; Tci rijj ayiir-ris nvtrr-lipia, 956 (though perhaps
the word o^oinj is not used here in its special sense).

158 SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
names for Baptism. Let anyone watch In the Protrepticus
and In the P^edagogus how Clement exploits these terms, or
how, in another passage, he speaks of Eucharlstic wine as
the " mystic symbol of the Holy Blood," * and he will
hardly question, that there was a recognised parallelism in
Clement's mind between the rites of Eleusis and the Church.
This comes out specially in the closing chapters of the
Protrepticus, where the Church's membership is described as
the fellowship of the initiated, the Lord is portrayed as the
true Hierophant, and the technical language of the Mysteries
is freely employed to commend. In a strain of exalted
enthusiasm, the privileges of those who are admitted to
the spiritual shrine."
Like the Mysteries, Christianity drew the sharp line of
distinction between those who were initiated and those who
were not. " I have no concern," says Clement once, letting
his words carry him far beyond his practice, " with the un
initiated," that Is to say the unbaptised.' Like the Mysteries,
Christianity demanded long and careful preparation for share
in Its full membership. Like the Mysteries, Christianity had
its symbolic meal, its ritual responses from the novice, its
protection by sacred ceremonies from evil powers. And the
parallel Is even closer, when we consider how each, by sacra
mental acts, brought its adherents out of darkness Into light,
and how each secured in a similar manner the assurance of
immortal life. Clement is an important witness for all these
points of similarity, nor Is It in the Sacraments alone that he
discerns such correspondence. Like many men of his age,
as we have already had occasion to observe, he must in earlier
life have been profoundly influenced by his Initiation into
what was at once the most spiritual and the most naturalistic
phase of pagan religion. When he comes over to the Church
he forgets the Mysteries just as little as he forgets his Homer
' 184. 2 91 ^gq 3 936

GNOSTIC SACRAMENTS 159
and his Philosophy. All the higher and nobler elements of
their scheme are brought to the service of Christianity, and
the sacred ordinances of the Lord, which had been adapted
originally from Jewish practice, receive a Hellenic setting
and interpretation. To the Greeks they became as Greek.
The trend so given to the Church's sacramental teaching has
never since been wholly lost. Clement has a twofold
interest for us In the matter ; first. In so far as he enables
us to watch this syncretistic process in actual operation ; and
secondly, in so far as his attitude in the matter is another
evidence of the generous elasticity of his mental and spiritual
temperament. He will claim for Christianity every element
of which the new religion could make fruitful and honour
able use.
A closer parallel to the Sacraments of the Church Is to
be seen In those of the Gnostic sects. Clement's references
to these are in keeping with his whole attitude to Gnosticism
generally : at times he criticises and condemns ; at times he
commends and appropriates. The number of passages In
the Excerpta and Ecloga which refer to the Sacraments, is an
interesting evidence of the recognised Importance of these
rites In the earlier Valentinian system. Incidentally, it is to
be noticed that the influence of the Mysteries is even more
evident in the sacramental practice and teaching of the
Gnostics than in those of the orthodox Church.*
Clement naturally found much to condemn in the licence
of the Carpocratlan assemblies. Sectarian ambition and
sectarian indulgence seem to him to mark the chief places
of their misnamed Agapae." He finds fault, too, with those
who used only water In the Eucharist.' And he seems to
question the validity of heretical Baptism : It is " not proper
* See especially Wobbermin, op. cit., 70 sqq.
2 ou ydp dyd-mjy etwoifi tty eyotye t^v irvye\ev<riv aiiTwy, 5 14 j ^P- 892.
'375-

i6o SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
or genuine water," he says, extracting a condemnation of it
from the LXX version of Prov. Ix. i8.* Cyprian later
made use of the same passage, possibly influenced by the
Alexandrian father's example. Clement must have been
well aware of the importance which the Gnostics attached to
Bapdsm. The Lord's Bapdsm, In most Gnostic systems,
marked the union of the Christ with the man Jesus. There
was therefore special point In his remark that, if the Gnostics
adhered to their theories, they rendered Baptism superfluous."
But these criticisms are probably outweighed by his
appreciation of the use which the Valentinians made of the
Sacraments. To the passages he extracted from their
writings he appends few comments or objections, and we
sometimes wonder whether he thought they interpreted
these ordinances more successfully than the Church. In
any case, he has preserved for us much interesting Informa
tion as to Gnostic practice and belief. It was held that in
some cases angels received Baptism on behalf of men, and
the phrase " unto angelic redemption " is quoted from some
Gnostic liturgy, where it was used at the laying on of
hands.' The elements, bread, oil, water (wine is signifi
cantly omitted), were consecrated "by the power of the
Name."* The rite of Baptism was brought into relation
with astrological beliefs, and held to free men from the
power and influence of fate.* He mentions the curious
superstition that unclean spirits. If not successfully expelled,
might descend with the candidate into the baptismal font and
be rendered incurable by receiving the influence of the seal.
The " Baptism of Fire," of which the Lord spoke, gave rise
in these circles to the practice of branding the ear of the
baptised person with hot iron.® Also, the inward signifi-

' It was not yv-fioioy SSup. Cp. Benson, Cyprian, 412.
"449- ^974- *988.
" T] el/iapfieyn held good only M^'xP' rov ffairTltr/xaTos, 987. ' 995.

GNOSTIC SACRAMENTS i6i
cance of the rite received fresh interpretation : It was the
" escape from matter " ; It gave salvation, not by washing
alone, but also by Gnosis.* Its symbols stood for " an In
telligible water" and "a discerning fire."" So the Eucharist
confers life, both as food and as knowledge.' The "divine
fare," which Is to be received after fasting, is spiritualised
and interpreted as seven Christian virtues.* Again, prayer
on the bended knee is a recognised element in worship.
In such fragmentary, disconnected references we catch a
glimpse of Christian rites and worship, as they existed in the
heretical communities. In many respects there was devia
tion from the Church's custom or addition to her recognised
order. But In certain respects, too, there was anticipation
of later Catholic practice ; or rather customs, which originated
with the Gnostics, found eventually a lodgment within the
domain of orthodoxy. The consecration of the water In
Baptism, to which Clement's own allusions are doubtful,
has clear recognition in these Valentinian extracts.* Kneeling
in prayer seems to have been more usual with the Gnostics
than In the Church.® The correspondence between the
Coptic Gnostic writings and the later Catholic practice has
been made clear by recent inquiry,' and similar anticipations
are not lacking in the Gnostic extracts which Clement has
preserved, and whose date is probably quite early in the
second half of the second century. Thus the Church's
wisdom in learning and adopting, even where, in the main,
she was bound to criticise and oppose, is as evident in the
case of the heretical Sacraments as It Is in regard to the
Mysteries. That Clement's pages enable us to watch both
1987,990. 2991^995. 3971. 4992.
5 ri SSup . . . ayiao-iihyirpo<r\aiiPdyei,gi&-, Cp. II4, II7.
* yoyvKMiriai, 988.
^ See the treatises of Harnack and Carl Schmidt, in Texte und Unter
suchungen, VIL and VIII.
VOL. II. II

1 62 SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
phases of this process Is surely no accident. His entire
approval must have rested on both appropriations.
Since Clement led thoughtful pagans to the saving and
illuminating waters of Baptism, and shared with these, his
spiritual children, the sacred meal of the Christian house
hold, many changes and controversies have passed over
these primitive Institutions of our religion. The significance
we attach to Baptism has suffered regrettable diminution.
The Eucharist, sad as the confession is to make, has become
as much a power for division as for unity In Christendom.
Still, the Church at large has never made formal abatement
In the character and estimate she attaches to these holy
ordinances. For us, as for Clement, they remain the dis
tinctive rites of Christianity. And, at least in one respect,
we might well desire to reappropriate the sacramental
teaching of the Alexandrine Master.
For, however in other details opinion and practice may
have altered, — Infant Baptism superseding adult, fresh
elaboration of ritual attaching to the Eucharist, new attempts
at definition limiting and formulating our conception of
the sacramental presence — there are still retained In each of
these principal rites the outward and the inward elements,
the symbol and the belief in the reality symbolised, the
sign that can be seen and handled, and the grace that is
invisible, given, divine. The combination is recognised as
essential, and a sound use of these ordinances depends on
the power to assign its proper value to each of the two
parts or aspects, which in every true Sacrament are combined.
Now it Is just in this. In the balanced estimate of sign
and gift, in the singularly true distribution of stress and
emphasis in his sacramental teaching, that Clement is so
sane and valuable an example. Already within the Church
or on its borders the tendencies existed, which would de
preciate, on the one hand, the inward experience, or, on the

SIGN AND GRACE 163
other, the outward form. The mere act was sometimes
regarded as so potent, that it became hardly distinguishable
from magic, as when Baptism was described as a remedy for
evil spirits, or the Eucharlstic elements as a medicine of
eternal life. Conversely — and it is notable that both exag
gerations were found within the Gnostic schools — It was
sometimes taught that the material elements were indifferent,
and that truly spiritual religion will wholly dispense with
external aids.*
How often in later centuries were like tendencies to
operate, sometimes the mere opus operatum acquiring a hard,
unspirltual efficacy ; sometimes the soul's Inward experience
being exalted, by the abandonment of such expression and
ordered regularity as can only be secured through outward
forms. In either manner of one-sidedness It is really the
wisdom of the Lord's ordinance that is called in question, and
so long as the present conditions of human life prevail, the
Church can wisely ignore or depreciate neither outward sign
nor inward grace. And that, in singularly happy balance, Is
Clement's attitude throughout. Again and again we are
made to feel that the signs are there, prescribed, regulated,
available, parts of an established external order, tangible,
visible centres, round which associations may cluster, as elastic
in their possibilities of interpretation as they are unalterable
in their material character. Mystic as he is, he never
belittles them or speaks of them as needless. The water
matters in Baptism, for the Lord Himself was baptised In
water. The elements are important In the Eucharist, for
we must keep to the example of Scripture and the Church's
rule. In a man of Clement's temperament this Is a notable
insistence ; it is an insistence on the value of externals
from one whose religious bent might have led him to quite
a different point of view. It reminds us of his refusal to
1 Cp. Irenaeus, i. 21, 4.

1 64 SACRAMENTS AND WORSHIP
depreciate altogether either the human body, or the historic
life of the Incarnate Word. In their place we want these
outward things.
But, on the other hand, how far is he from binding
down spiritual experiences and unseen truths to the forms
which express and actualise them. Like Hooker after him,
he knew grace " was not tied unto the Sacrament." His
signs are signs of a higher thing, his symbols tokens of the
inexpressible, and there is an Infinite variety In the ways
and means of grace. " Alles Vergangliche
Ist nur ein Gleichnis,"
he might have said with Goethe, and he loves to pass In
thought from the transient Images and figures to the hidden,
inward realm, of which allegory was for him the key. And
thus, In his own figure, the outward, material elements be
come as " doors," and through them we are led into those
blessed fields of spiritual thought, where the soul is purified
and made white, and man's nature attains Its true perfection,
and the light of God shines round about His children, and
we feed on Christ, who is the very Bread of life, and the
soul closes with absolute reality In the intimate communion
of perfect knowledge.
Our Lord's bidding to baptise, and His mandate to eat
the bread and drink the cup, will not have been treasured
by the Church In vain, so long as the outward and the
Inward aspects of the religious life can be united In such
harmonious proportions, as they received In the sacramental
teaching of Clement of Alexandria.

CHAPTER XVII
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES— CANON AND TEXT
Clement's use of Scripture is an interesting and difficult
subject. It raises many problems, to some of which no
certain answer can be given ; but we are never doubtful as
to the importance he consistently attached to Scripture, nor as
to his extraordinary command of its abundant stores. How
he acquired his familiarity with the Bible is worth consider
ing, before we go on to ask what his Bible was, and in what
manner he employed It.
It Is probable that, before he finally came over to
Christianity, he paid considerable attention to the sacred
books of the new religion. Educated persons in the second
century, even while outside the Church, were frequently
acquainted with her literature. Celsus, for example, has
many shrewd things to say both about the Old and New
Testaments ; ' and Trypho had read the Gospels." More
over, Clement himself speaks of the value of the Scriptures
for inquirers,' as well as for the faithful, recalling, in all
probability, the experience of his earlier years. Thus his
study of the Bible may have been originally due to his love
of books as well as to his desire for guidance, but, however
commenced. It was never abandoned. It was a pursuit and
' He compared the Scriptures with Plato to their disadvantage : Origen,
c. Cels., vi. I.
2 Justin, Dialog., lo, i8. ^ 65-6, 429.
165

1 66 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I
interest in which he counted it happy to live and to grow
old.* After his conversion came his travels, and " the true
traditions of blessed teaching," to which he listened under
many masters, can hardly have been dissociated from the
Christian documents In which It was enshrined. Certainly,
if Tatian was his Assyrian teacher, he must have learned
much from him about both the Old and New Testaments ;
and when he finally settled In Egypt, as the pupil and
assistant of Pantaenus," It was to hear the expositions and to
share the studies of one who was a master In his own Une
of exegesis, who had gathered his " honey " from prophetic
and apostolic sources, and grown rich in treasures of inter
pretation ; whose zeal, moreover, as a missionary, did not
diminish his scholarly delight in the discovery of an un
known manuscript of the Gospel. The Biblical trend In all
Clement's writings was probably more due to the influence
of Pantaenus than to any one other cause, and competent
judges have counted Clement as more Biblical than even
Origen.' Nor, again, was his acquaintance with Scripture only a
matter of the lecture-room. The frequency with which he
mentions the reading of the Scriptures, sometimes as an
element in Christian worship, sometimes as a private habit
— as the prelude, for example, to the common domestic
meal — leads us to reflect that such frequent lections must
have largely contributed to his own famiharity with the
text of holy writ.* To this cause we may principally set
down Clement's power to quote so abundantly from memory,
as also his consequent and lamentable inaccuracy.
1 The Gnostic is described as ey aiiTois Karaynpdaas TOII ypaipats, 896.
^ kotA ToiJToy {sc. Pantaenus) tois Betats ypa<t>ats avyaaKovfityos eir' 'AKe^avSpelas
iyyuplCero K\-lifiiis. H.E.,V. II.
3 Redepenning, Origenes, i. 95 (pub. 1841), holds this view, though recog
nising that many authorities dissent. * 305, 786, 860, 997.

CLEMENT'S KNOWLEDGE OF SCRIPTURE 167
To these Influences must be added his twenty years'
work in the Catechetical School, where he dealt. Indeed, with
many subjects, but with none so frequently as the Bible ;
and where no topic lay too far afield for it to receive proof
or illustration from this source. The teacher beyond all
others Is the true learner, and Clement's mastery of Scripture
Is In part his indirect reward for his devotion to his pupils.
Moreover, in all Christian centres, and especially in
Alexandria, exegesis had become the question of the day.
The Interest in it was extraordinary ; the necessity, too, was
pressing. For the heretics were threatening to capture the
Church's books, much as the Church had captured the Old
Testament from the Synagogue ; so the orthodox had to
defend their own. Thus the literary activity of the Church
in combating heresy was fundamentally scriptural, differing
in this from the work of the Apologists. Melito signifi
cantly wrote a work entitled the Key.^ Irenaeus is scriptural
to the core. The fight with the Valentinians was largely over
Interpretation. Such was the atmosphere. The authority
of the Book, on the whole, was greater than that of the
Church. In Clement's case there is no question on this
point. Finally, there is the personal factor. Essentially Clement
was a man of books, and the books known as Scripture
came naturally first. He liked to persuade himself that,
however far he might seem to wander from the text, still
the source of all his life and inspiration as a teacher lay there
alone." There was a power In Scripture to stir the soul's
latent faculties into flame, and to direct the eye of our under
standing towards the higher vision.' Truth was given In the
Scriptures, accessible to those who would seek till they found
it, and, once found. It was to be in constant use.* The
iH.E., iv. 26. 2 829. '321-
* Cp. v XPVOts Trjs aKriBelas, 66.

1 68 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I
enthusiasm with which he will again and again refer to the
subject betrays alike the consciousness of a great spiritual
possession, and the delight of a scholar in his books, and
the confidence with which, as a champion of the faith, he
relied on these sure and adequate resources. Here, as
frequently, outward circumstances and natural disposition
lead Clement in the same direction.*
It Is to such and similar causes that we must set down
the prominence of the Scriptures in Clement's writings, and
his ready command of their material. We approach a far
more difficult question, when we ask what Clement meant
by " Scripture," and what was the nature of the distinction
he drew between these and other books. His Bible was a
whole and a unity, for he will allow of no discord between
the Old Testament and the New," but it will be convenient,
for several reasons. If we consider the older and the later
Scriptures separately.
The Canon of the Old Testament had been settled for
upwards of a century in Clement's time,' and the Church
had In the main accepted all that it contained. Melito,
Clement's contemporary, gives a list of the Jewish Scriptures
compiled by careful Inquiry, and It accords, save for the
single omission of the book of Esther, with the Hebrew
Canon.* A similar result is obtained when we examine the
quotations and references in Clement. No significance must
be attached to the fact that he does not make use of the
book of Ruth, or quote directly either from Nehemiah or
from the short prophecy of Obadiah.* The absence of quota-
' On the whole subject see Harnack's Bible Reading in the Early Church,
esp. pp, 32-89, E.T.
2 This is frequently asserted as against Marcion and others, e.g. ivhs yhp,
Kvpiov eyepyeia . . . (f T« y6/ios rd Te evayyeKiov, 424,
3 H. E. Ryle, Canon of the Old Testament, p. 172, places the "Jewish
official conclusion of the Canon about a.d. 100." * H.E., iv. 26.
° Nehemiah himself, however, is mentioned, 392.

THE OLD TESTAMENT 169
tions from these books may quite reasonably be set down
to accident, or to Clement's personal preferences. Moreover,
it is to be remembered that Ruth was usually regarded as
one book with the Judges, and Nehemiah similarly united
to Ezra. Obadiah must have had his right place In Clement's
Book of the Twelve Prophets,* or their number would have
been incomplete. No significance, then. Is to be attached
to the fact that Clement neither quotes from, nor refers to,
these three less important books of the Old Testament.
There is no reason to believe that he ever questioned their
right to a place in the Canon.
On the other hand, there is possibly some significance in
the fact that he nowhere quotes the Song of Songs. The
canonicity of this collection of poems was for long a matter
of debate among the Rabbis," and, though It had been
accepted before Clement wrote, his dread of the emotional
element in love may well have led him to question the
wisdom of the decision. It was reserved for Origen to
boldly spiritualise these beautiful and passionate lays.
Ecclesiastes, another book of doubtful canonicity, Clement
quotes three times..' It is a writing so alien to his tempera
ment that, here again, he may have wished the Synagogue
had retained Its own. But the quotations are quite clear,
so that our optimistic father gives more recognition to this
sad Scripture than his predecessor, Philo, who never refers
to the book at all.* But the most doubtful book in the
whole Hebrew Canon Is that of Esther. Clement knew,
of course, Esther's history. He mentions her with high
commendation as among admirable women,* and in one
passage It is just possible that he quotes the book Itself.®
But elsewhere he mentions It as a book known to be in
1 Oi" SiiSeKa, 392. 2 Ryle, op. cit., 137, 198. 3 349^ 350, 700.
* Ryle, Philo and Holy Scripture, Introd,, xxix. ' 617.
' 72. See Stahlin, Clemens Alexandrinus und die Septuaginta, 58,

I70 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I
circulation, though hardly as one to which much authority
attached.* Thus, to some extent, he supports Mellto's
omission of Esther from the Canon.
With these reservations the Old Testament was for
Clement what it had been, through the greater part of the
century, for all Hellenistic Judaism. He took over the
heritage as a whole, and selected from it what best
served his purposes. His Canon, so far, was the Canon
of the Synagogue, as the Church had accepted or appro
priated It.
Here arises, however, another question. Did the Canon
of the Church's acknowledged books agree with the Jewish
rule, not only in what it included, but also in the books that
it shut out ? More particularly, was Clement's attitude to
the Apocrypha of the Old Testament Identical with that of
Judaism ? The question is rendered more complicated by
the fact, that it Is extremely difficult to define the amount of
authority which Judaism did attach to the Apocrypha. In
all probability this varied considerably, Alexandria giving
these writings a higher place than Palestine, and the second
century, on the whole, paying them more honour than the
first. Still, even by Alexandrian Judaism they were never
strictly canonised, nor must Philo's complete neglect of the
Apocrypha be treated as a merely Inconclusive silence. On
the fringe of the Canon were these doubtful books, some
Hebrew In origin, some claiming the prestige of a great
name, all gaining a greater vogue and Influence through the
LXX. On the whole, the Church made more use of them
than the Synagogue did." The Christian teacher, especially
in Alexandria, was more prone to appropriation than to
criticism, and he could hardly be expected to guard the Old
1 392.
2 In the Church of Origen's time " the Old Testament Apocrypha formed
the first stage in Bible reading," Harnack, Bible Reading, p. 73,

THE APOCRYPHA 171
Testament Canon from encroachment with the jealousy that
was natural In a Jew.
Clement illustrates this tendency. For he makes con
siderable use of the Apocrypha, and will Introduce quotations
from Ecclesiasticus or the Book of Wisdom by formulae
identical with those which he places before passages from
Prophecy or the Law. Thirteen times is the former book
cited as " Scripture " ; it Is a channel through which the
divine Instructor speaks ; it is described frequently as
"Wisdom." Similar Is his estimate of the Wisdom of
Solomon ; it is " divine " ; it Is " Scripture " ; it is in some
sense authoritative.* These two books he uses most fre
quently ; but he knows Judith also, and directly quotes the
Book of Tobit." Thus his Canon of the Old Testament Is
not easy to define with complete accuracy. We cannot say
that he would ever have been prepared to dispute the finality
of the Jewish settlement. To the full he accepts all that
has been claimed for Moses and the Prophets. His estimate
of the Psalms and of the Proverbs Is almost equally clear.
Beyond these limits his views have less precision. Probably,
being a Hellene and not a Rabbi, Clement was not greatly
concerned as to the technical canonicity of the less Important
books. He found a larger measure of truth In Sirach than
In Ecclesiastes, in the Book of Wisdom than In the Song
of Songs. Into further questions he Is not concerned to
inquire. It was no part of his task to amend the list of
ancient and Inspired Scriptures. Had he ever set his hand
to such an undertaking the result would have been interest
ing. Possibly Plato would have been canonised. As it Is,
he estimates his Old Testament sources largely by the spiritual
value of their contents, claiming considerable freedom of
judgment whenever he passes outside the specially sacred
area of Law and Prophecy.
' See Stahlin, CI Al. und die LXX., 45, 46, 2 533

172 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I
From the Old Testament we turn to the New, which,
approximately speaking, Clement quotes, or refers to, twice
as often.* There Is no question as to his familiarity with
the great majority of the books In the New Testament
Canon ; with few exceptions, they are all directly quoted.
The only portions about which any doubt arises are four of
the Epistles, that of Saint James, 2 Peter, 3 John, and the
Epistle to Philemon. In the case of the first two of these
the evidence Is uncertain. Eusebius states that Clement
dealt in the Hypotyposeis with " the Epistle of Jude and the
remaining Catholic Epistles,"" and this statement Is sup
ported by Photius. As they both knew the contents of the
Hypotyposeis well, It is difficult to resist the conclusion, so far,
at any rate, as the Epistle of James and 2 Peter are con
cerned, that Clement knew them and regarded them as
Scripture. This receives some support from certain passages
in his extant works. Once, at least, he seems to betray
unquestionable acquaintance with the Epistle of Saint James,'
and a similar deduction as to 2 Peter may be drawn from
another place in his writings.* The other references, while
in some cases reaching probability, are more doubtful.*
' In Dr Stahlin's edition there are about 1300 references to the Old
Testament, about 2400 to the New. In many cases Clement has Scripture
in mind, but cannot be said actually to quote the text. Several parallel
passages, especially of course in the Synoptic Gospels and in the Pentateuch,
are frequently cited in connection with one passage in Clement. But,
substantially, the proportion of one to two in the references to the two
Testaments holds good. 2 H.E., vi. 14.
3 825. Cp. James ii. 8. The combination of $a<ri\iK6s with ayairay seems
to me to prove the reference, in spite of Stahlin's " vielleicht."
* 871. Cp. 2 Peter i, lo.
* Credner, Geschichte des N. T. Canon, p. 382 ; Harnack, Das Neue Testa-
m.ent um das fahr 200, p- 85 ; Westcott, Canon of N.T., ed. 1896, p. 364 ;
Kutter, Clemens Alex, und das Neue Testament, pp, i and 100, think there
is no evidence of the use of James and 2 Peter. Zahn, Supplementum
Clementinum, pp. 1 5 1-3, finds traces of the influence of James, not of 2 Peter ;
Hort and Mayor think both are quoted, pp, 115, 117 ; Stahlin, iii, 48, takes
the same view. The other possible references to the Epistle of James are

THE NEW TESTAMENT 173
So far as the third Epistle of Saint John is concerned,
the statement of Eusebius has still to be borne In mind. It
would certainly be among the " Catholic Epistles " when
Eusebius wrote. But the one possible quotation in
Clement's pages is extremely doubtful,* while his reference
elsewhere to " the longer Epistle " of the Apostle seems to
suggest that, after the manner of the Muratorlan Canon,
he knew of only two." There is no reference to the Epistle
to Philemon. The brevity of this charming letter, which
saved it from Marcion's criticisms, is perhaps responsible
for Clement's neglect. He might have found its purport
congenial and suggestive, when he had occasion to refer to
slavery. To sum up these doubtful points, the probabilities
are that the Epistles of James and 2 Peter were known to
him, but that 3 John, and perhaps Philemon — the only two
private letters In the New Testament and both addressed
to laymen — were not recognised portions of his collection.
John 3, at any rate, seems definitely excluded ; Philemon
must be left in doubt.
As in the case of the Old Testament, so, and even more
in the case of the New, it is exceedingly difficult to set
limits to Clement's list of Sacred Books. His Canon was
not authoritatively defined ; Indeed, it Is probable that in
Alexandria at his date there had been no final settlement
of the matter made. It is true that Clement recognised
a certain pre-eminence as belonging to the four Gospels : '
it is true also that he allowed special weight to all that could
claim " Apostolic " authority and origin.* But it Is quite
Impossible to show that all the books of the Canon, as we
have it, formed for him a distinct and separate body of
to be found in 124 {i-iroicvriBeyTes is a very doubtful reference, but see Zahn),
613, 707, 872 ; to 2 Peter in 83, 115, 955.
' 203. etp-liy-ii aoi ; cp. 3 John 1 5.
2 iy TJ ftei^oyi 4TriirT6\ri, 464. The Muratorian Canon has " Johannis duas "
epistolas, 3 553. 4 See Kutter, op. cit., 127-35.

174 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I
inspired writings. He knew of other Gospels, notably
of the " Gospel according to the Hebrews " and of that
"according to the Egyptians." Another similar Scripture
was the Traditions of Matthias.^ Again, he makes con
siderable use of the writings of the subapostollc age.
The Shepherd of Hermas Is with him a book of great
account. The Stromateis open with a quotation from this
work, and the appeal to It is always made as to an authority.
Hardly lower Is his estimate of the Epistle of Barnabas,
a work naturally much in vogue In Alexandria. Barnabas
Is quoted as an "Apostle,"" and It is constantly Implied
that quotations from his Epistle carry weight. Clement of
Rome, too, our writer's namesake. Is also termed an
" Apostle," ' and his Epistle to the Corinthians Is quoted
with the significant formula, " It Is written." * The Didache
Clement calls " Scripture." * Finally, there were the
Preaching and the Apocalypse of Peter, as to the apostolic
authorship of which Clement does not appear to have been
in any doubt.® What are we to say, in general, of our
writer's attitude to all this Hterature, which, after much
contention and debate, has finally been placed by the Church
outside the Canon of her Sacred Books ^
Leaving on one side the question as to the existence
of a New Testament Canon in Alexandria at this time — a
question which, in passing, it may be remarked depends
much for Its answer on the way in which the term
" Canon " is defined ' — an examination of Clement's use
of his authorities leads to the conclusion that his estimate
' The use he makes of these works may be best seen by consulting
E. Preuschen's Antilegomena, pp. 2-15. 2 445 3 609.
* 613. So e1pr\Tai, 764, ofthe Shepherd; (pria'iy, 677, oi Barnabas.
' 377. ^ Preuschen, op. cit., 87 sqq. ; Kutter, op. cit., 89-91.
' Harnack and Zahn, for instance, use this term in senses which differ
considerably. See the references to Leipoldt's view in the fournal of
Theological Studies, ix. 606 sqq.

DOUBTFUL BOOKS 175
of their value and importance is one which descends from
the four Gospels to the Pauline Epistles, and then on to
other books, with many nuances and gradations, but with
no final and rigid lines. He would never have admitted
books written in his own day to a place of equal authority
with the earlier Christian Scriptures. So far his list Is closed
against all further additions. But, among its lower items,
this list contained many works as to whose title Clement
has no final decision. In other words, the conception of a
" Canon " of the New Testament, as a definite and settled
collection of the Scriptures, is far less clear in the Alex
andrine father than it Is In Irenaeus, Tertullian, the
Muratorian fragment, possibly even in the scheme of
Melito, so far as our Information goes.* The two covenants,
in Clement's use of the term, are modes of revelation rather
than fixed collections of books." His rule or canon is
something other than a list of authoritative writings, and
to a very large extent his strong preferences and affinities
determine his use of the Church's literature, rather than any
decision of authority from without. Thus, while it is quite
clear that Clement attached less weight to the Epistle of
Barnabas than he did to the Epistles of Saint Paul, It would
be going beyond our evidence to declare that this was
because the latter were canonical and the former not.
The grounds for the different degrees of authority are not
explicitly declared. What the Lord had said was of
primary weight. What could claim to be " Apostolic "
came next In order. These distinctions were unquestioned
and sufficient. Beyond them, lay a domain where some
questions were still undecided or unrecognised.
The extensive use which Clement makes of Scripture
' See Harnack, Hist. Dogm., ii. 43.
2 Sn£67)Kai, 761, 800, See infra, pp. 204-5.

176 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I
has Induced many scholars to Inquire with interest, not only
as to what books he recognised as sacred, but also as to the
particular text with which, in each case, he was familiar. It
is only recently that Clement's own text has been brought
into anything like its final form, but, now that the result of
Dr Stahlin's labours Is available, there Is no obstacle to the
patient investigator, who will work out the correspondences
and deviations which appear In Clement's writings, when
their numerous quotations and references are compared with
the MSS. of the Septuagint and the New Testament. The
most Important work in the case of the LXX. has been done
by Dr Stahlin himself,* In the case of the New Testament
by the Rev. P. M. Barnard." The result In the one instance
may be regarded as disappointing, in the other as surprising.
Before considering, however, the outcome of these Inquiries,
the reader may be Invited to pay some little attention to
the serious drawbacks which beset Clement's testimony to
ancient texts.
His extreme familiarity with Scripture has been In this
connection a hindrance. He knew the Bible so well, that
he could make use of It by allusion or by reference, as it
suited his purpose, without the labour of finding and
transcribing the actual words. Thus, in proportion as he
held a book to be important and was consequently familiar
with its contents, his verbatim use of It decreases and his
less exact allusions become more numerous. For example,
Clement makes about the same amount of use of the
Epistle to the Galatians as he does of Ecclesiasticus. But
the former was more familiar to him : consequently his
actual quotations from the Epistle are about half as
numerous as his quotations from the Old Testament work.
On the other hand, his allusions and less exact references
' In Clemens Alexandrinus und die Septuaginta.
2 The Biblical Text of Clement of Alexandria, in Texts and Studies, v.

CLEMENT'S EVIDENCE FOR THE TEXT 177
are correspondingly more frequent. Thus, If there were
doubtful readings to settle, Clement would be less available
as a witness for the Galatians than for Ecclesiasticus. In
connection with the Gospels this consideration becomes
specially important.
Then again he quotes from memory. In many passages,
which are more than mere allusions, and fully justify the
inverted commas in which they stand in the Berlin edition,
the quotation was certainly made without Immediate refer
ence to any copy of the book In question. This Is suffi
ciently evident from the many unimportant deviations from
all known MSS., and not less from his habit of introducing
a passage by such a formula as " a certain prophecy says,"
or " the Spirit says somewhere," or " In some such words." *
Often, indeed, the passages are too lengthy and the quota
tions too accurate for us to account for them, except by the
supposition that the papyrus roll was actually before his
eyes. The same conclusion holds in the many instances
in which he does not transcribe a passage in full, but com
mences it, and then adds " down to," after which the
concluding sentence stands." But the majority of his
shorter quotations are from memory,' and if the scholar of
modern days is frequently tantalised by his Inaccuracy, we
must hardly on that account refuse the admiration due to
Clement's truly remarkable mastery of his resources. On
the whole, he quotes Plato more accurately than the Bible,
though, to judge Clement by the standards of his time,
* (piia-l Tts vpoipvreia, 78 (Stahlin asks "woher.?"); \eyei Se ttou ri iryevfia,
131 ; nai/Aof . . . SiSe -nus ypd<f>uy, II7; Cp. els Tuy StiSeKa -jrpo4>iJTuy, 557*
2 Kol rd i^Tjs eus, 430, 451, 524 ; eus alone, 501. He is the first Christian
writer to make frequent use of this abbreviation. See Zahn, Suppl. Clem.,
93, n- 4-
3 Dindorf, I. xxi. It is "satis manifestum codices quibus utebatur saepe
non inspectos ab eo, sed locos memoriter allatos fuisse, quod alios quoque
ecclesiae Patres saepissime fecisse novimus."
VOL. II. 12

178 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I
this does not imply that he thought Plato the more important
of the two. It Is a question of some nicety to say. In any
given case of variation, whether Clement had really a different
text before him, or whether he deviates from the authorities
simply through misquotation. On the whole, the rule laid
down by Zahn may be accepted as regards his evidence for
the text of Scripture generally, " Consentlentlbus inter se
reliquis testibus, huic uni non facile credlderls." *
But there still remains a further limitation. Clement
adapts Scripture with considerable freedom. Not only will
he alter tense, number, person, and the like, to suit his
context, he will also add words, or omit, or change, when It
fits his purpose so to do. This may be made clear by one
or two examples : " It is easier," he says, " for a camel to
go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be a
philosopher." " Christianity being in Clement's eyes the true
philosophy, the last phrase Is not an unnatural equivalent
to write In place of the words, " enter into the kingdom of
God," which stand in the Synoptic Gospels. But It Is
clearly an intentional variation, not a different reading. So,
In quoting i Cor. xiii. 8,' he substitutes for " whether there
be knowledge. It shall vanish away," the words " cures are
left behind on earth." Not even Saint Paul's authority will
Induce Clement to say that knowledge. Gnosis, shall vanish
away. He would rather risk giving offence to the whole
medical College of Alexandria, of whom many perhaps were
his personal friends. So the text of Saint Paul Is adapted
accordingly.* Thus, In spite of all he says in praise of
Scripture and In assertion of Its authority, he has few
scruples about making minor alterations in its text to suit
' Gebhardt, Harnack, and Zahn, Patrum Apostol. Opera (1876 ed.), I.,
pt. ii., Prolegomena, xxviii.
2 440. 3 956.
* So <l>6Pif, I Pet. iii. 2, is changed to K6yif, 292 ; xai ^vxmovs is added in
Phil. ii. 2, 604. See Kutter, op. cit., 32 sqq., for other instances.

DEFECTS OF HIS TESTIMONY 179
his purpose. Philo before him had done the like,* and the
Jews, if we may trust Justin, amended, or even altogether
omitted, awkward passages in the LXX." Such an attitude
may be preferable to that of slavish veneration of the letter,
but it is easy to see how it diminishes the value of Clement's
evidence for purposes of textual criticism. Such freer
handling of the Scriptures was quite natural in a Greek
father, but our more scientific modern scholarship can see
value, albeit for Its own reasons. In the jealous scrupulosity
of the Rabbis.
These and similar causes, partly due to Clement's own
habits and temperament, partly to the common literary
practice of his time, have made his abundant use of Scrip
ture less valuable and conclusive for the reconstruction of
the LXX. and New Testament texts than, from the number
of the cited passages, might have been expected to be the
case. Such results, however, as have been obtained, are not
unimportant, and more may yet be gained, perhaps especially
by the investigation of his quotations from Saint Paul's
Epistles, and by a detailed comparison of his New Testament
text with that of Origen. For the present the following,
among other points, seem clear.
Considerable interest .was taken in Clement's day in the
Greek Versions of the Old Testament. For about a century
the Christian Church had in the main used only the LXX.
translation, and Clement accepts without question the
common tradition of its origin, believing, apparendy, in its
verbal accuracy as well as in the inspiration of its ideas.'
It was, in short, the Hellenic equivalent of " Prophecy,"
and as Clement knew no Hebrew and could make no use
of those copies of Old Testament writings In their original
' Ryle, Philo and Holy Scripture, xxxv. sqq.
2 Dial. Trypho, 71 sqq.
3 409-10. Note the force of koI rds Siavoias wal TOJ \c{eii ; cp. 807.

i8o THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I
tongue, which the Library of the Serapeum is known to
have contained,* he might have been expected to pay the
greater attention to the accuracy of his Greek texts.
Moreover, he must have known that such questions were
discussed, for already in Justin's day there was controversy
over the reliability of LXX. renderings," and such topics
were always sure of their full measure of consideration in
Alexandria. Two of his contemporaries, Symmachus the
Samaritan, and Theodotion the Ephesian proselyte to
Judaism, had made their own versions of the Old Testa
ment, the latter being a revision of the LXX. by fresh
comparison with the original. Thus the question of the
true Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Scriptures was one
of recognised importance, though It would hardly have been
in keeping with Clement's genius to devote to it the minute
and laborious attention, which made the work of his greatest
pupil so justly famous.
It Is probable that Clement possessed or had access to
different versions of at least some portions of the Old
Testament ; and that of the LXX. version he was acquainted
with more than one MS. copy. He quotes, for example,
Prov. I. 7 ' and I. 33,* and other passages, in different forms ;
and the difference Is more naturally accounted for by sup
posing him to have been familiar with various renderings
of the original, than by setting the variation down to mere
inaccuracy. Certainly, in the case of a considerable passage
of Ezekiel (xviii. 4-9), which is quoted twice, the differences
are such as to point to distinct translations as their source.*
In the case of the Pentateuch, more especially in reference
' Tertulhan, ^/o/., 18. 2 jji^i Trypho, 131,
3 143, 446, 448, 874. < 449, 502, 632.
' 154, 501 ; cp. Stahlin, Clem. Al. und die LXX., 68 sqq. Ezek. xviii,
4-9, "ist zweimal citert und zwar in so verschiedener Form, dass zwei
verschiedene (Jbersetzungen zu grunde liegen miissen." One version was
probably Theodotion's.

VERSIONS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

I8l

to Genesis and Deuteronomy, It is more difficult to draw
any such Inference, as his familiarity with these books was
greater, and variations may more naturally be set down to
his practice of quoting from memory.
Clement's acquaintance with Theodotion's version, which
is clear from the form In which he quotes several other
books,* is specially important in his citations of the prophecy
of Daniel." Here he is mainly. If not entirely, dependent
on this version. In this point he is in accordance with the
subsequent practice of the Church. Theodotion's rendering
was accepted in Carthage in Cyprian's time, and its adoption,
as the standard text for the Greek version of this prophecy,
became later on universal. If the date of Theodotion's
version be rightiy located In the reign of Commodus,'
Clement's acquaintance with it may be an Interesting
evidence as to the rapid circulation of religious literature
in his age.
A further point of Interest Is the evidence to be derived
from Clement's quotations as to the reliability of the extant
manuscripts of the Septuagint. If the Vatican Codex, " B,"
" on the whole presents the version of the Septuagint in its
relatively oldest form," * we might naturally look for some
close similarity between the quotations of a writer of
Clement's date and this Important manuscript. The results
of investigation do not, however, entirely accord with this
expectation. How the case actually stands, and upon what
strangely conflicting evidence the reconstruction of Clement's
' See the passage of Ezekiel referred to above ; also Isai. ix, 7, as quoted,
112 ; Isai. xlviii. 22, as quoted, 154.
2 These, six in number, are given in Stahlin, CI. Al. und die LXX.,
71 sqq. Stahlin dissents from Swete's view that "a sprinkling of LXX.
readings can be found." He thinks Clement used Theodotion's text alone.
3 See F. C. Burkitt, art. "Text and Versions," Encyclopcedia Biblica,
iv., col, 5018.
^ Hort, quoted by Swete, An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek,
486-7.

1 82 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I
Old Testament In Greek depends, may best be seen by
definite examples.
The last four books of the Pentateuch (Genesis is almost
wanting in the Vatican MS. and so best left out of account)
are either quoted or referred to by Clement about 300 times.
From these passages 47 cases of variation may be taken. In
which Clement's text either coincides with, or approximates
to, B (Codex Vaticanus) as against A (Codex Alexandrinus),
or to A as against B. How is this support distributed }
In 22 cases Clement's version favours B, In 25 It Is nearer
to A. If the comparison be restricted to the more notable
and significant variations, the result Is 7 for B as against 10
for A. From such figures very few conclusive deductions
can be drawn.
Another example may be taken. The prophecy of
Isaiah Is quoted or referred to about 170 times, more than
twice as frequently as any other prophetical book. The
citations contain 54 instances in which support may be
claimed for B or for A, with which latter Codex the Sinaitic
frequently agrees. These 54 variations tell 28 times In
favour of B, 26 times In favour of A or A n. But the more
Important differences support A 8 times, B only 4. It may
be noticed that Clement's use of passages from Isaiah gives
clear evidence of his acquaintance with the versions of
Symmachus and Theodotion. But In this book, again,
results are not conclusive.
For a third Instance, the book of Ecclesiasticus may be
considered. It Is used, almost always in direct quotation,
about 66 times. Here 32 variations may be noticed and,
in the case of this book, the preponderance of evidence goes
the other way. Clement's text supports B 19 times, A
only 13. Of the more important of these variations 5 fall
to B, 3 to A, which is as usual often reinforced by n.
Throughout the whole of his use of Ecclesiasticus there runs

CODICES B AND A 183
a marked similarity with the Latin version, which still further
complicates the problem for the textual critic.
From these three representative books the aggregate
results are as follows : Clement's text supports B 69 times,
A 64 : of the more important variations, however, 2 1 fall
to A, 16 to B. It may be said that these figures show no
great divergence from the results of the same kind of test
when applied to Philo's quotations.* In 60 cases Philo
supports B as against the other authorities, in 52 the evidence
of his text goes the opposite way. The balance of the
testimony in Clement's case falls, no doubt, on the side of
A as against B, but the difference is not great enough to be
conclusive. It is probably an overstatement to say that
" the one result which emerges all through the Old Testa
ment Is the continuous antipathy of Clement for the text
represented by B." " His support is rather so evenly dis
tributed that indifference, more than antipathy, characterises
his attitude. If there Is no clear predominance of " B "
readings, neither is there such evidence for any other text.
B is deposed, so far as our author determines the question,
from the position of superiority which has been sometimes
claimed for It. But Clement places no other Codex or
version in the vacant place. Thus the critics have good
reason to complain that for the Greek text of the Old
Testament he is negative and disappointing.'
When we come to consider the New Testament In the
light of Clement's citations, several fresh considerations
demand our notice. To begin with, the Lord's teaching
was for Clement the most authoritative and important
element in the whole collection of the Scriptures. It is,
therefore, antecedently probable that his familiarity with the
' Swete, Introduction to O.T., 375 ; Ryle, Philo and Holy Scripture, pp.
xxxix. sqq. 2 Journal of Theological Studies, v. 140.
3 See Stahlin's summary ofthe results of his inquiry ; op. cit., 75-7.

1 84 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I
Bible will here be at Its highest, and his tendency to quote
memoriter consequently more pronounced than elsewhere.
This is borne out by the fact that his quotations from the
Gospels (and these are mainly quotations of teaching : inci
dents are referred to but rarely In the ipsissima verba of thc
text) are less closely In accordance with the MSS. than
quotations from other New Testament books. In quoting
the Acts,* for example, he appears usually to have referred
to his Codex, and his citations from Saint Paul's Epistles are
often In entire correspondence with the text, as the principal
authorities represent It. It is different with the Gospels.
The citations here are far less exact. And the whole question
is still further complicated by the fact of the parallelism of
the Synoptic Evangelists : his citations from one Gospel are
frequently coloured by his reminiscences of the phrases
peculiar to another, so that his text is not uncommonly of
a " conflate " character." A somewhat similar case arises
In connection with his use of the Old Testament, where
parallel regulations are found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
But the Synoptic parallelism is, of course, more marked
and more Important.
Perhaps the best way to enable the reader to understand
the kind of problem, which Clement's New Testament
quotations offer to the textual critic, will be to give one or
two concrete examples. Final results in such matters can
only come from the minute investigations of the specialist ;
yet the impression left by an examination of a few particular
instances Is probably sufficiently near the truth to be worth
tentative consideration.
1 See The Biblical Text of Clement of Alexandria, Texts and Studies,
v, 62. 2 Compare, e.g., the passage quoted in 570 (Stahhn, ii. 255, lines 18-20)
with St Matt. xix. 29, and with St Mark x. 29. Clement takes eyeney toD
evayye\lov from the second Gospel ; xai toC ov<</iot<(i fiov substantially from the
first.

NEW TESTAMENT QUOTATIONS 185
(I.) Clement's longest quotation from the Gospels Is
given in the Quis Dives Salvetur.^ It Is the account of the
Rich Young Rider's Interview with the Lord and forms the
text of the Sermon. The passage is taken from Saint Mark's
Gospel, X. 1 7-3 1 . The extract is prefaced by the remark
that " there is nothing like hearing again the actual words ; " "
and we are told, at the conclusion of the passage, that " these
things are written In the Gospel according to Mark," and
that the narrative is given in all (sic) the other recognised
Gospels, with occasional verbal differences. Clearly, it would
be said, Clement means to give an exact quotation from
Saint Mark's text, with full consciousness that the parallel
accounts did not entirely coincide.
What Is the condition of the text of these fifteen verses
of the second Gospel, as we find them in Clement's sermon ?
" It is Impossible to produce a fouler exhibition " of the
passage. Such was the trenchant observation of Dean
Burgon, and It is fully justified by the facts. For If Clement's
quotation, as given in Dr Stahlin's edition, be placed side by
side with the passage as given in Westcott and Hort's Greek
Testament, the following results arise. There are 265 words
In the quotation. Verse 25 (15 words), part of verse 27
(8 words), part of verse 29 (8 words), or 31 words in all, are
best omitted from detailed comparison, because the deviations
In these verses are too considerable for such a method to
be employed. Of the remaining 234 words in Clement's
text 25 differ from those found in the Gospel, as Westcott
and Hort present it ; 20 words are added ; there are 2 1
omissions, and 8 changes of order. The Influence both of
Saint Matthew's Gospel, and of Saint Luke's to a less degree,
is apparent in Clement's version of Saint Mark's text. For
at least 10 of the above-named differences there is other
' 937-8.
2 ovSey 7etp oToy avruy aSBis aKovffat Tuy j>r\T<iy, 937.

1 86 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I
MS. authority of considerable weight, but, even deducting
these as doubtful, we have as the net outcome of the com
parison 64 deviations from the best evidenced text of Saint
Mark in a total of 234 words. The proportion of diver
gence. If It can be estimated numerically, rises to something
like I difference for every 4 words. In addition to this,
the three passages left out of account because of their even
greater deviation (3 1 words) must be borne in mind. It is
extremely difficult to draw conclusions from these strange
data. Clement may have been peculiarly careless in copying
his papyrus. Or he may have been sufficiently familiar
with Saint Mark's Gospel to give the passage, as we find it,
from memory. Or his own copy of the Gospel may have
been in the " foul " condition which scandalised Dean
Burgon. On any hypothesis there Is much to puzzle the
inquiring student.
(II.) Leaving Saint Mark, let us take, at haphazard, nine
passages from the other three Gospels, of an average length
of 45 words.' There are 401 words In all. If these 401
words In Dr Stahlin's edition of Clement's text are com
pared with the corresponding passages in Westcott and
Hort, the differences In all are 7 1 . This total Is made up
of 34 words changed, 6 changes of order, 9 words added,
22 omitted. For 19 of these changes there Is some good
MS. evidence : it is right therefore to deduct them from
the total of the variations ; the figure 7 1 is thus reduced to
52. But 52 differences In a total of 401 words is almost
I in 8. This Is not so high a proportion as was found in
the passage of Saint Mark previously considered. Still, it
is very high, if compared with Westcott and Hort's dictum
that "the words In our opinion still subject to doubt can
1 St Matt, xxiii. 37-9, 145 ; xxv. 34 sqq., 307 ; St Luke vi. 29, 307 ; xii.
22-4, 27, 231 ; xii. 35-7, 218; xvi. 19-21, 232-3; St John viii. 32-6, 440;
xvii, 21-3, 140; xvii. 24-6, 140,

TEXT OF GOSPELS AND EPISTLES 187
hardly amount to more than a thousandth part of the whole
New Testament."* Clement was indeed "a bad quoter."
More regard to accuracy must not be demanded of him
than the standard of his age prescribed, but it Is easy to see
that for critical purposes the value of his abundant quotations
is not a little deceptive. It is worthy of note that, in the
nine passages considered, the variations In the case of Saint
John's Gospel are very slightly over half the proportion
found in the quotations from the Synoptists.
(III.) Let us turn to the Pauline Epistles. The con
ditions here are very different. There is no book in the
Bible of which. In proportion to its length, Clement makes
such frequent use as he does of the Epistle to the Ephesians.
Its 155 verses are quoted or referred to about no times.
The first Epistle to the Corinthians comes next, being
quoted or referred to almost as frequently in proportion to
its length. Then stands Saint Matthew's Gospel, whose
thousand and odd verses are quoted or referred to over
500 times, though in this case the frequent difficulties of
assigning a citation or a reference to any one of the Synoptic
Gospels must be borne in mind.
The Episde to the Ephesians was thus In some sense
Clement's favourite work. The nine longest quotations
from it amount to 556 words." In these there are 37
deviations from the text as given in Westcott and Hort.
This total is made up of 17 words changed, 3 differences
of order, 5 words added, 12 omitted. There Is, however,
MSS. authority for 5 of these variants, which should accord
ingly be deducted, leaving the total amount of divergence
32 in 556 words. This proportion of i difference to 17
' The New Testament in Greek, small edition, 565.
2 Ephes. iv. 11-13,624; iv. 13-15, 108; iv. 17-19, 69-70; iv. 20-4, 262;
iv. 20-4 {bis), 524 ; iv. 24-9, 371 ; iv. 25-8, 31, and v. 1-2, 308 ; v, 1-4, 524 ;
vi, 1-4, 7-9, 308.

1 88 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I
words Is an evident contrast to the i In 8 which resulted
in the case of the Gospels. The figures tell us much as
to the excellent preservation in which Saint Paul's letters had
been kept. No doubt they had been copied far less fre-
quentiy, and, highly as Clement valued Saint Paul, he still
appears to have referred usually to his copy for purposes
of quotation. (IV.) Still more striking are the results, when we apply
the same tests to an Epistle with which Clement was less
familiar, the second Epistle to the Corinthians. The seven
longest passages found In his works amount to 197 words.*
There Is i word changed. There are 3 words omitted. One
deviation to every 50 words Is a singularly low proportion
in a writer whose literary standard and habits were those
of Clement. (V.) Let us make one other comparison. No part of
the Bible was better known to Clement than the Prologue
(I. 1-18) to Saint John's Gospel : no other passage in the
Scriptures of similar length exerted an influence comparable
to that of this profound exordium upon his theology. On
certain points of interpretation, interesting to all students
of this Gospel, it is worth while to ascertain the bearing of
Clement's quotations.
(a) In verses 3-4 Clement quite definitely supports the
division of sentences which is given in the margin of the
Revised Version : " without him was not anything made.
That which hath been made was life In him." That Clement
understood the passage In this sense is placed beyond doubt
by his manner of quoting It. Origen and the other Ante-
Nicene fathers are here generally in agreement with him."
» 2 Cor. iv. 7-9, 623; V. 10, 539; vi. 4-7, 623-4; vi. 14-16, 539; vii. i,
539 ; 'f- 3-5, 588 ; X. 15-16, 826.
2 x^P^^ avrev iyevero oitSe ey. & yeyoyey 4y aiiTif ^u^ ^y k.t.\. This punctua
tion, placing a stop before, not after, i yeyoyey, is confirmed by Clement,
114, 769, 787, 803, 812, 968, and elsewhere (thirteen passages in all).

PROLOGUE TO THE FOURTH GOSPEL 189
{b) He gives, perhaps to our regret, no support to the
interesting suggestion In regard to verse 9, which Is also to
be found in the margin of the Revised Version. "The
true light, which lighteth every man, was coming into the
world" is a possible rendering, and has its clear affinities
with Clement's favourite doctrine of the varied and universal
action of the Logos. But he takes his side with the older
interpretation, which makes the clause "coming into the
world " qualify " every man." *
(f) Then there Is the doubtful reading In verse 18.
Are we to read ixovoyevijis Oeoi or novoyevrj^ uto'y ? Three
times out of five Clement supports the former reading. Thus
his evidence is Inconclusive. Both renderings were evidently
weD known to Clement, and both find support in his
theology." These Instances of the relation of Clement's quotations
to the text of the New Testament illustrate the kind of
evidence which his pages offer. When he differs from all
other authorities, he is practically certain to be wrong. No
critical scholar would admit to his text a reading which
had only Clement's evidence to support it. Where other
authorities differ, his testimony has considerable value on
one side or the other. But, on the whole, when we recollect
that he Is a man of learning, writing in a great centre of
culture, and that the Importance of textual questions was
by no means unrecognised in his day. It is disappointing to
find how largely his numerous citations of the New Testa
ment are disqualified, as evidence, by careless and inaccurate
reproduction. Finally, however, there is one really important result
^ ^y Th ipais rh d\r]9iyhy 5 (puri^ei -ndyTa dvBpu-irov ipx^l^evov els rhy Kdfffxoy.
That Clement connected the participle with dvBpu-Kov, not with (S>us, is evident
from 439, 979.
2 iiayoyeyiis Beds, 695, 956, 968 ; fioyoyey^s vl6s, 422, 968, Note the proximity
of the two readings in 968,

I90 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. I
which has been derived from the study of Clement's New
Testament text. The Rev. P. M. Barnard has made a
detailed examination of the relation of this father's quota
tions from the four Gospels and the Acts to the extant
Manuscripts.* Now, It is generally recognised by modern
textual scholars, that the two fourth-century MSS., Codices
Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, represent a tradition of far higher
authority than the Antiochene presentation, which passed
later Into the Textus Receptus of the Church. This " B "
text can be traced back in Egypt as far as the middle of the
third century, and in particular to Origen ; but what of
Origen's master ? If this type of text, which lies at the
basis of Westcott and Hort's edition, is to be securely con
nected with Apostolic times, or with the original documents,
it must be traced backwards, from Origen, through Clement
towards its source. But the trail Is lost In the earlier
father ; for Clement's quotations from the Gospels and the
Acts give no clear support to the " n B " tradition. Again
and again we find him take sides against " n B " with the
" Western " text, as represented in Codex Bezae (D) and the
Latin version. Let the reader examine Clement's text in
some of the passages quoted previously in this chapter, and
he will find certain notable correspondences between Clement
and these " Western " sources, as against the agreement of
M B and other MSS." Other similar instances are to be
found in Saint Luke vi. 31 ; ix. 62 ; or Acts xvii. 27.' The
" adnotatio critica " In Professor Souter's Greek Testament
is quite sufficient to show how frequently Codex D and the
oldest Latin versions have Clement on their side. It Is
generally recognised that the more recent tendency of
criticism has raised the authority of the Western text, and it
1 The Biblical Text of Clement of Alexandria, Texts and Studies, v.
2 E.g. St Mark x. 22, xP^/^oTa for /cT^/taro, 938, St Luke xii. 24, ovx for
¦nioit fittWoy, 23I. ^ 304, 889, 372.

BARNARD'S RESULTS 191
has even been claimed that the testimony of our Alexandrian
witnesses becomes more and more Western, the earlier they
are. The examination of Clement's quotations from the
Gospels and the Acts gives definite support to this contention.
The authorities with which he agrees are no doubt found in
very various combinations, and occasionally, though rarely,
he will side with n B against the Western text,* but the
strongly marked line of affinity, which runs throughout his
quotations from the Gospels and the Acts, leads undoubtedly
to the conclusion that his New Testament, in Its five longest
books, was closer to the Western text than to that of Origen.
Inquiry here has given us a fairly assured and definite
result. What exact deductions" are to be drawn from the
facts with which Clement has supplied us, and whether in
particvdar the textual critic Is to accept the invitation to
" come out of the land of Egypt " and betake himself
instead to Carthage and Edessa, the future developments of
this delicate and interesting science alone can show. If only
Clement, sitting in his library among the papyri that were
his most intimate friends, could have foreseen the questions
which his pages were to be asked to solve in after years !
' E.g. Eph. iv. 19. Clement reads d-irr{\yriKiTes with N B : D and Latin
have i.-r<i\\TriKiTes : 70. St Luke vi. 45, Clement omits avrov with K B, 944,
2 It is, for example, questioned how far the prevalence of a particular
text in A.D. 180 proves its originality. See Von Dobschiitz's review of
Mr Barnard's monograph, Theol. Litteratur zeitung, 1900, No. 7.

CHAPTER XVIII
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES— AUTHORITY
AND EXEGESIS
We have already had occasion to recognise it as a charac
teristic feature of Clement's nature, that he accommodates
different tendencies in his thoughts with a happy uncon
sciousness of their incompatibility. A notable instance of
this confronts us In his use of Scripture. At times, in his
treatment of the Bible, he will follow his own bent with
marked Independence : at other times he will accept without
criticism or hesitation the prevailing opinion of the Church.
His general attitude towards the Bible Is thus a strange
fusion of freedom and dependence. He will, on occasion,
be as bold In exegesis as the heretics ; or he will again keep
closely to the pathways of tradition with grateful and
unquestioning docility. Constantly the question rises.
Did this occur to the Stromatlst, sitting In solitude among
his books, as a thought of his own ; or was It a theory or
opinion derived from the older teachers, or current in
Christian circles in Alexandria .-' It is hard to say whether
freedom or dependence prevails ; on the whole, in his use of
Scripture, the mind is the mind of Clement, in spite of his
obvious indebtedness.
The extremely Biblical form Into which all his teaching,
whether on minute points of conduct or on the deeper
problems of theology, is thrown, proceeds from his un-
192

SUPREMACY OF SCRIPTURE 193
questioning recognition of Scripture as a final authority.
All truth, all sure guidance, came from the Divine Logos,
and, while the methods of his Instruction are manifold and
varied, the teaching of the Scriptures stood first and pre
eminent among them. In the Lord, as He guides us through
Prophets, Gospel, and Apostles, we have the source and
principle of instruction, beyond which no inquiry can be
made.* Scripture is thus the criterion and test of truth.
Given the right interpretation, no further question arises as
to its authority. Clement held what would to-day be
regarded as an extreme view of Inspiration. " The wise
prophet, or rather the Holy Spirit In him, reveals God." "
The power which speaks Is variously named : " the Word,"
" the Instructor," " the Spirit," employ the human writer
as their Instrument : ' it is through Moses or Jeremiah that
the truth and will of God are known. This Is the funda
mental principle in Clement's theory : Scripture is the
medium or embodiment of divine truth.
From this follow certain consequences, and first and
most obvious among them the distinction between the Bible
and other books. Highly as he prized the Greek philosophy,
he draws the contrast without abatement. " The truth of
the (jreeks," he says, " is different from truth as we know
it, though It shares the same name ; It differs in Its range of
knowledge, In the authority of its proof, In Its divine power,
and in similar ways. For the divine instruction is with us,
who are trained in the truly sacred writings by the Son of
God." * Thus a convert from philosophy, whatever his
previous stage of attainment, was still in need of the higher
lessons of Scripture : * the sufficiency of Plato Is never once
> 890. ^ 66.
3 E.g. \iyos, 129; -naiSayuyds, 227 ; ri -iryevp.a, 149 ; Sick is used in each
case of the writer. Cp. The Law was given Bii Muaeus ovxi v-rh Muaeus, oWa
6-Kh fiey toO \6yov, Sid Vluaeus Sk k.t.X., 134 ; Cp. 223, 420.
4 376. So Be'iai ypaipal are distinct from ooipia KooiiiK^i, 257. ' 347, 786.
VOL. II. '3

194 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
admitted, however great and welcome his services as an
ally. It is a second result or aspect of Clement's principle, that
proof from Scripture is final and Incontestable. It may be
difficult to determine the true meaning of a passage, but, if
this can be done, " cadit quaestio." "He who believes In
the divine Scriptures and is possessed of sure judgment,
receives as incontrovertible demonstration the voice of God
who bestowed the Scriptures."* "I suppose our method of
demonstration alone is certain, inasmuch as it is derived
from the divine Scriptures, even from the sacred writings
and the wisdom which. In the Apostle's phrase. Is ' taught
of God.'"" It is from the warrant of the Almighty that
the authority of the written Word proceeds, and upon this
basis a structure of demonstrated certainty can be erected.'
There are many references to the certain, reliable, and
demonstrative character of this proof. It Is a primary
conviction with Clement, nor does he ever seem to have
suspected the extent to which his extraordinary latitude of
interpretation nullified Its practical value.
Clement never attempts to give reasoned demonstration
of this far-reaching doctrine of inspiration. He regards It
as axiomatic and, for Christians, as uncontested. But, while
not primarily dependent on evidence, this estimate of the
Scriptures is still fortified by subsidiary support of a more
concrete character. Clement took over from other writers
the strange theory that the Hebrew Scriptures were the
source of all the better elements In Greek philosophy.
Justin had said the same thing before him, and the assertion
can be traced back, through Philo, to the uncertain authority
of Arlstobulus.* Clement knew the work of Aristobulus on
' 433. ^ 454- ' H aiiBeyrelas nayTOKparopiKris, 564 ; Cp. 888.
' Justin, Apol., i, 44. See Drummond, Philo JudcEus, i, 242 sqq. ; P. A.
Scheck, De Fontibus dementis Alexandrini, 29 sqq.

THEFTS OF THE GREEKS 195
the Mosaic law, and may have been considerably influenced
by it. In any case, however suggested, this clumsy theory
occupies a place of considerable prominence In his pages.
With laborious calculation he proves the antiquity of Moses.
He quotes repeatedly the Lord's saying, " All that ever
came before me were thieves and robbers," and is at pains
to prove Its reference to the teachers and masters of other
lands, in particular of Greece. These " thefts " consisted in
the unacknowledged appropriation of their noblest doctrines
from Hebrew sources, or, as Clement boldly says, " from
us."* With a certain sly satisfaction he quotes, too, Plato's
own words to justify the assertion of the priority of the
Law. The Egyptian priest says in the Timaus, " O
Solon, Solon, you Hellenes are ever children. Not a
Hellene Is really old. You have no learning that Is hoary
with time." " The question of the relative antiquity of
Hebrew and Egyptian wisdom, Clement discreetly forbears
to raise ; meantime, the passage does good service In sup
porting the general , thesis, that " barbarian " culture Is
anterior to that of Greece. So Plato had borrowed from
Moses, and Numa had derived his wisest legislation from
the Law.' The dicta of the Seven Wise Men had in like
manner the wisdom of Solomon for their source.* It
becomes an emphasised and laboured commonplace In
Clement's pages, and nowhere Is he more open to criticism
than in his constant use of It. It fundamentally contradicts
his own favourite thesis of the universal education of
humanity by the Logos, and ties him down to a narrow
conception of revelation, which is quite alien to the general
trend of his religious views.
It would be Interesting to know what impression was
1 752. ^ Timceus, 22, quoted 356 and 426. 3 3^^
* 466. So of Heraclitus, 442 ; Orpheus, 692 ; the Peripatetics, 705. Even
the tactics of Miltiades were learned from Moses, 418.

196 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
left on the mind of an educated Hellene by Clement's long
diatribes on Greek plagiarism, even when tempered by the
admission that, " If they stole the truth, at any rate they
possess it."* The more thoughtful can hardly have been
attracted by this novel claim for the law of an unpopular
race, which Incidentally involved the denial of the grace of
originality In Plato. On the other hand, the very intrinsic
weakness of the theory, and Its plain dissonance with so much
of Clement's other teaching, only bring into clearer pro
minence the Intention and motive to which Its adoption
on Clement's part was due. He will break. It seems, with
no current view, so long as it serves to exalt the Scriptures.
He will not abandon even a needless claim, when It Is made
on behalf of the venerable Hebrew Law. Rarely, perhaps,
in the course of its long history has a greater sacrifice been
made in the Bible's honour, than in the days when a Greek
father, steeped in the thought of the Platonic and Stoic
schools, was constrained for the moment to abandon his
Hellenism and his universalism, and to expose himself,
consciously or not, to criticism and retort, with the single
aim of asserting In the most uncompromising terms the
original and final supremacy of the written Word.
This authoritative revelation Is conceived by Clement as
a unity with recognised distinction In its elements. A
technical " Canon " of Scripture, particularly in regard to
the New Testament, was, as we have seen, at that time In
Alexandria only In process of formation. That Is to say,
the area of assured Inspiration was not yet finally determined.
But this process had so far advanced that It was possible. In
general terms, to speak of " Scripture " and " the Lord's
Scriptures " as a whole." Thus " our Scriptures " contrast
as a unified collection with other writings.' Or an argument
may be supported by going through the Scriptures and
* 377- ' e.g 786, 890. 3 583.

UNITY AND DIVERSITY 197
selecting a string or series of quotations.* When the heretics
rejected the Pastoral Epistles they were shutting out what
had been Included and accepted." Clement speaks of
"all Scripture" and "the whole of Scripture," though In
each case the primary reference, at least. Is to the Old
Testament.' His use of the term " Scripture " is not
Indeed completely defined, so that too much must not be
made to depend upon the term ; * but Clement's sense of Its
unity is still sufficiently apparent, and forms. Indeed, the
background against which the distinction of the various
elements stands out.
How the Scriptures, or Scripture, form a single body of
truth and yet contain diverse elements, each with its separate
characteristics, is expressed when Clement says that music may
be taken as a figure of the harmony of the Church, as this
is to be discovered in the Law, the Prophets, the Apostles,
and the Gospel.* The recognition of these four principal
elements as constituting a harmonious whole, and as standing
In the closest relation to the teaching and authority of the
Church, was not a new theory : it is, for example, explicitly
taught in the Epistle to Diognetus.^ But it is so fundamental
In Clement's thought, that we can hardly better analyse his
conception of the Bible than by considering how he both
connects and distinguishes these several elements, which are
included in the unity of the whole.
Between the Law and the Prophets Clement is not
concerned to draw distinctions. They had stood side by
side in the Jewish Church for at least four hundred years,'
and Christianity sought for no contrasts where the order of
• eipiids, 564 ; Cp. ixKeydpifyoi, 802. * 457- ' 664, 753.
4 " ypa(t>^ ist kein Wegweiser," Harnack, Das Neue Testament um das
Jahr 200, p. 41.
6 784. " xi. 6.
' In Alexandria " the canonicity of the Prophets had been accepted since
the beginning of the second century, B.C." Ryle, Canon, p. 108.

198 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
Providence had secured agreement. In our time fuller
knowledge of the Old Testament has brought differences
into light, and the Priestly and Prophetic standpoints
present their constant antitheses to every modern student.
Clement was untroubled by any sense of this contrariety.
The discovery of the Law in Josiah's reign stirs for him no
question of Its antiquity.* " All the ancient Scriptures "
were anterior, he believed, to the date of Ezra and even to
that of the Captivity." What is evident in this connection
from Clement's pages, is the heightened Importance of
Prophecy In the Church as compared with the Synagogue.
The limitation of Philo's Interest to the Pentateuch was
significant ; but Clement quotes the Prophets freely,' and
applies the term " Prophetic Scriptures " to the whole of
the Old Testament.* Moses Is a " Prophet," as well as
" embodied Law " : David and Solomon come Into the same
category.* The Old Testament authors as a body are
described as " Prophets," and the common tendency to
discover hints and anticipations of the Christian dispensation,
even In the details of the Law, facilitated the treatment of
the whole of the ancient Scriptures as " prophetic." Thus
Clement tends to minimise rather than to emphasise thc
distinction between Prophecy and the Law. He, of course,
employs both terms, and knows they stand for things
habitually distinguished. But it is foreign to his purpose
to dwell upon the differences.
A far more vital and momentous question arose, when
he passed on to consider the relation of the Gospel to the
' 390-1, ^ 410.
3 Comparing the Pentateuch with the Prophets, his quotations or references
stand in the proportion of 5 to 3. Genesis in the one case, Isaiah in the
other, are used most frequently, the use made of these two books being
about equal.
* 65, 467. The Law was given ey Tip atdnaTi Tuy Trpoip-r)Tuy, 439.
5 386, 421, 753.

LAW AND PROPHETS 199
Old Testament. Clement and his contemporaries, in assert
ing their harmony and connection, had to face a twofold
opposition, proceeding, curiously enough, from the extreme
champions and from the extreme assailants of the ancient
Scriptures. The extreme champions were, of course, the
Jews, who claimed Moses and David as peculiarly their own,
and whose resentment of the Church's appropriation of their
spiritual heritage seemed natural enough to independent
observers such as Celsus and his like.* The extreme assail
ants were Marcion, Tatian In his later days, and their
company ; who set the Law and the Gospel In their sharpest
antithesis, often discarding the Old Testament and denying
the identity of Its Deity with the God and Father In heaven,
whom Jesus Christ revealed. Many Greeks in Alexandria
were ready to follow Marcion In his depreciation of the Law.
The double attack is In Clement's mind, as he makes the
constant claim that the differences between the Law and the
Gospel do not Invalidate their fundamental unity, as phases
in a single revelation.
First, as against the Jews, he claims unhesitatingly the
continuity of the Gospel with the Old Testament. From
the Christian standpoint the same divine Logos, the same
watchful Educator, spoke through the Law and the Gospel.
Moses and the Apostles might be contrasted, but they
rendered service to the same "Word."" If It was easy to
draw distinctions between the Old Testament and the more
recent revelation to " the Saints," ' the point at Issue was
one of degree only, the truth revealed being Identical, only
the measure of Its manifestation various. It was one salva
tion In Christ, that belonged to the righteous men of ancient
days and to the Christians who came after them.* The
Lord, as He said Himself, came not to destroy but to fulfil ;
and Love, the distinctive grace of the New Covenant, had
> Origen, c. Celsum, ii. 4. ^ 307. 3 682. * 609.

200 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
been claimed by an earlier Christian than Clement as the
fulfilling of the Law.* The Old Testament was only fully
Intelligible In the light of the New, since the hidden signi
ficance of ancient rites needed the life and still more the
teaching of the Lord for its elucidation. In such manner,
with much conviction and a kind of sense that the times
were with him, does Clement assert, as against the Jews, the
harmony of the Gospel and the Law. The fulfilment of
ancient predictions In the circumstances of the Lord's life is
not overmuch elaborated ; and the identity of the power at
work in the old and new dispensations is asserted. In such
a manner that the reader feels it Is rather the Intelligent
Hellene than the hostile Jew that Clement has In mind."
Still the Christian claim, that the Old Testament belonged
to those who had given welcome to the new revelation, was
a crucial one, and though Clement feared the Jews less than
the heretics, they are never for very long entirely absent
from his thoughts.
But then, in the second place, if the Jew had been dealt
with, it still remained to answer Marcion. Suppose the
claim to the Old Testament made good, and the Church's
portion in the books of Israel proved, was this Indeed a
gain .'' Their harsh law, their stern, just, unloving deity
we do not want, said Marcion ; much as from a different
standpoint the Christian of to-day might hesitate to appro
priate the passionless and unforgiving God of Science.
Clement's answer to Marcion was not final : perhaps, in
some form or other, Marcion's views will survive so long as
men are confronted with the sombre contrarieties of the
world ; but in one Important particular he proves his case
against the great heresiarch. The sternness of the Law
is not really cruel. In so far as It is severe. Its severity may
be loving and beneficial. There is no necessary incompatl-
' 532, 614. 2 See esp. 429.

HARMONY OF LAW AND GOSPEL 201
bility between Justice and Love, In other words, between
the characteristic principles of the old covenant and of the
new. These things had been set in opposition, but there
was no real conflict ; " continuity " was a truer word.* Just
as a physician by treatment, which must be often stern and
rigorous, seeks his patient's good, so the Law aims at man's
highest welfare, even removing altogether in the interest of
others the cases proved incurable." The heretics made much
of the text, " By the law is the knowledge of sin." ' But
the Law, replies Clement, does not cause sin, it reveals it.
Its fears, so far from being irrational, may be the beginning
of wisdom, and with all Its sternness It is a veritable gift of
God, " ancient grace," not alien from that everlasting grace
which came by Jesus Christ.* And often we are led from
the domain of external ordinances to the Biblical conception
of an inward law, written upon the heart, and rising Into Its
highest forms as conscience and the love of God.* In
controversy Clement is not always convincing or at his best,
but he meets those who would have discarded the Old
Testament for its harshness, with admirable sanity and a
clear recognition of the spiritual value of restraint. He is
never a legalist, but he would have approved, perhaps, had
he lived in later days, of Wordsworth's Ode to Duty, or of
the philosopher's view that the " categorical imperative "
was as wonderful as the starry heavens.
Thus is the harmony of the Gospel with the Law and
the Prophets maintained against various attacks. There is
variety in the manner of revelation, but its source and aim
are one, and no element In the scheme is properly Intelligible
apart from all the rest. And yet there is a difference when
we pass from the Old Covenant to the New. In the former,
^ oi) S)\ /xdxe-rat t^ evayye\l(p d yd/xos, 507 j Cp. 549* V dxoXovBla tuv SiaB-ijKuv,
894; cp. 550.
2 422-3. 3 447. 4 ,33_4_ 448, 6 85^ 307.

202 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
the authority centres in the book : what is written is the
crucial question. In the latter, the stress lies on the Lord's
teaching, and on the fact that any given doctrine could claim
the Lord's authority : only secondarily Is it Important that
this teaching is recorded in certain books. The distinction,
of course, is not complete, but one of emphasis and propor
tion. Even in the case of the Old Testament the per
sonality and authority of the teacher still counted for much,
as is made clear by the epithets Clement applies to Moses.
Genesis and Deuteronomy are of authority because they
may claim his name. To a less degree other Scriptures
commanded attention because Solomon or Isaiah was the
writer. And, conversely, the term " Scripture " is frequently
applied to the Lord's sayings and to the writings of Saint
Paul.* Still, a certain difference is there. " It Is written "
— that Is the final authority In the Old Testament. " The
Lord said It " — there Is the equivalent in the New." What
Clement mainly quotes from the Gospels is the teaching
and actual words of the Lord. Incidents and environment
count for less, and sometimes surprise has been expressed
that he valued the mainly narrative records of Saint Mark
as highly as he did. We seem, as it were, to catch in the
pages of our Stromatlst the last echoes of the living voice
of the Son of Man. The transition from the teacher to
the book appears when we find, for example, such a
formula as " The Lord In the Gospel " uses certain lan
guage,' or when " the voice and scripture of the Lord " *
are combined, or the four authoritative Gospels distin
guished from other records. It would be easy to press this
distinction too far. Its interest lies In the glimpse which,
' E.g. 294, 440, 773, etc. So yeypa-nTci, 523 ; yeypd<p8ai, 366,
2 Cp. Kutter, Clemens Al. und das Neue Testament, p. 105 : " Man kann
. . . gar nicht sagen, dass Clemens die Evangelien als Schriften so sehr
gewertet habe."
3 246, 684, * 890 ; cp. the use of i^uyi\ in 329, 543, 698, etc.

APOSTOLIC WRITINGS 203
incidentally. It affords into one of the many processes by
which the Bible as we know It attained its recognition.
The last of the main elements in Clement's " Scriptures "
is the Apostolic. What could claim the authority of the
Apostles was important, because they were the Immediate
recipients of the teaching of the Lord. Clement does not
formally draw any distinction within their number : James,
Peter, John, Paul, are mentioned together as of great
authority : * all the Apostles were " perfect," " and when a
truth could claim " apostolic " support, no further question
need be raised. Thus In theory all their writings stood upon
the same level. In practice, however, there is an evident
prominence assigned to the Apostle Paul. Again and
again he is quoted as " the Apostle." The " blessed,"
" divine," " noble " Apostle are terms frequently employed
in his honour.' In the Important discussion on marriage
the appeal is constantly to his teaching, and, save for the
comparatively recent date at which he lived,* Clement will
hear nothing to his disparagement. Much is made of
Saint Paul's relation to the Old Testament, which perhaps in
some measure compensated for the fact that he could not
directly have received the instruction of the Lord. His
inspiration, Clement remarks, was largely derived from the
older Scriptures, with which he was in close agreement, and
in the Interpretation of which he was an acknowledged
authority.* When it Is remembered that the importance
of Saint Paul's teaching had only recently been recognised,
and that such recognition had come from heretical, before
it came from orthodox, sources, Clement's marked admira
tion for this great Innovator does credit to his judgment.
No doubt he saw that the Church could not afford to let
the heretics appropriate so valuable an asset as the Pauline
• 774- '¦' 625. 3 57_ 69, 374, etc.
4 625. ' 134, 550, 625 ; cp. 730.

204 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
Epistles, but his veneration for their author Is not the less
genuine, because It was also politic. The Apostolic writings
stand, no doubt, somewhat below the Gospels in authority,
and they are not very clearly marked off from the group of
other Scriptures (Barnabas, Hermas, and the like), to which
the previous chapter has referred. But they are an element
In Clement's Bible, and also in his theology, of consider
able moment. In his estimate of Saint Paul we are often
reminded that he himself resembled the Aposde in claiming
to be in close accordance with past tradition, while really
delivering a message of almost revolutionary novelty.
Such were the phases and sequence of Revelation.
There were great diversities, yet an essential unity of
scheme. The varied and unfading Scriptures were like
the bright pattern of flowers on the ideal robe that adorns
the Lord,* and yet the robe was single and seamless, and
must not be torn or severed by alien or heretic hands.
It Is said that Clement did not grasp the whole problem
which the Scriptures present, and the remark is true. But
in its main features his conception of their origin and
purpose is a great and noble one, not unworthy of the
master of Origen.
There are three terms of constant occurrence in his
writings, which are worthy of notice. If we would under
stand his views on the authority of the Bible. They are
the familiar terms " Covenant " or " Testament," " Canon,"
" Tradition." What did he understand by each of these .''
In the main Clement adheres to the Biblical conception
of the Covenant as an agreement or compact between God
and man, with the implied qualification that God enters Into
the relationship of His grace and goodness," man in the
spirit of duty and obedience. He speaks frequendy of the
two covenants, that under the Law and that under the
' 238. 2 cp ^ (caTo Taj SiaBi\Kas Sdats, 850.

THE TERM COVENANT 205
Gospel, once correcting himself to add that these are in
reality one covenant, transacted at different periods.* The
Old and the New Covenants are frequently mentioned, and
the word Is often hardly distinguishable in meaning from
the other term " Dispensation." The dominant element in
the conception is the Idea of God bringing man into a moral
relationship with Himself. " God Himself," Philo had said,
"is the highest covenant,"" and Clement uses similar
language, when he says that Moses used this term of the
Lord and did not mean anything in writing.' Thus the word
has not finally in Clement the definite meaning we attach to
the term "Testament" as a collection of books. But it Is
easy to see how the sense of spiritual compact or relationship
passed over into that of the Scriptures, in which these were
embodied and expressed. When Clement says that what Saint
Paul wrote depended on the old Covenant — or Testament*
— we have come very near to the " Old Testament " in our
sense of the term. The word SiadriKt] is translated " Testa
ment " In one passage by Hort and Mayor.* Thus, like
its Latin equivalent " Testamentum," the Greek term was
at the end of the second century in a fluid or transitional
state.® Incidentally Clement's use of it illustrates the
fact, that what he values primarily In the Bible is not the
mere littera scripta. Behind it are spiritual verities and
relationships. These give the written book its value :
these it Is the function of the letter to express and
guarantee. In this sense he stands far apart from the
literalist. More difficult Is his use of the term " Canon." He
takes the word in its primary sense of a " rule " or
' 899. ^ De mutatione nominum, 8.
3 427. Clement also speaks of four covenants, 666, looi ; cp. Irenseus,
iii. II, 8,
< 625, 669 ; cp. 682. ^ 894.
° See Westcott's Hebrews, 2()%sqq. Lightfoot's Galatians, 141,

2o6 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
" measure " — that to which any given material should
conform. Hence It Is the standard or ideal, by which
we may determine values or defects. He applies the
term in many different connections, but his central idea
is that the Church had her own rule in conduct and In
doctrine, and that this " ecclesiastical canon " could be used
to settle any appeal. This " rule " applied to subjects as
varied as the manner of celebrating the Eucharist, the
control of the desires, or the virtues of the Gnostic char
acter,* but also and especially to the interpretation of the
Scriptures : Kavovl^eiv tw dXijOetav means to understand
the scheme and proportion of truth, as It Is to be learned
from the Scripture by true exegesis." The " canon " In
Clement's use of the term Is thus never a collection of
books, a sense the word did not acquire till a century later.
It is the rule of Christian truth, not so much in the form
of an objective formula or creed, as rather an inner principle
of consistent interpretation.' The Bible is to be explained
and understood according to the rule of truth.* The
heretics, who did this In a perverse and arbitrary manner,
had " stolen the Church's rule." * The true principle lay
In the harmonious and concordant Interpretation of all the
various elements in Scripture.® Such interpretation was
not to be learned so much by independent study as by the
authority of the past, and thus we have a " venerable rule
of tradition," ' handed down from earlier days, and of great
Importance In Clement's scheme of truth. No doubt the
" rule " Is also to be sought through Inward guidance ;
" the canon of truth must be learned from the Truth
itself " ' Is a dictum which must be understood according
' 375, 543, 608, 806, 836, etc. 2 818.
3 Or even of Christian conduct. 6 Kovicy t^j -niareus in 607 has this sense.
« 802, 803, 826.
* 897. ^ See esp. 803.
'325. * 890.

CANON AND TRADITION 207
to his favourite doctrine of Inward Illumination, but there
Is a clear connection between the rule and " tradition,"
and thus we pass to the third of these Important terms.
Clement's high estimate of " Tradition " Is a particular
aspect of his veneration for the past. " Few are the equals
of our fathers," and no commendation of a doctrine or
practice Is so convincing as the demonstration of Its antiquity.
It is no surrender of this principle for him to trace all
tradition to the teaching of the Lord during his earthly life,
for this teaching did but bring to clearer light the truths
established before the foundation of the world, but reserved
as hidden secrets till the Incarnation.* From the Lord
himself proceeded a line of tradition, handed on through
the Apostles, and then to the successive generations, and still
accessible to those who could understand. Of this the
contents were various. The selection of the four Gospels
as of special authority was matter of tradition : " the test of
true doctrine as distinct from false was the continuity of its
tradition.' Much that was inherited in this manner was the
common property of the whole Church, and thus the Church's
tradition could be contrasted with the novel and Invented
assertions of heresy.* But more usually Tradition, as
Clement thought of It, had an element of secrecy. It was
esoteric, imparted to the few who were its chosen and
qualified recipients, and comparable In its nature to the
heathen Mysteries.* Especially was this the case in regard
to that large element In the body of Tradition, which dealt
with the Interpretation of the Scriptures. The Gnosis that
was only for the minority consisted very largely In a deeper
insight and exegesis.® This unwritten, limited, teaching was
distinct from Scripture, yet closely related to It ; It is a kind
of key by which the stores and treasures of the written Word
1 682. 2 553. 3 890. « 893, 896. 6 77,_ 845, 865,
** Cp. V rwv ypatpStv wapdBiffis re Kai dlot^tSj 454*

2o8 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
are opened to those who have the gift of Insight.* Clement's
Tradition is notably different from that of Roman Catholic
theology, because It depends not on authority so much as on
the Illuminated intelligence. He characterises it as "divine,"
" sure," and " mystic." " In relation to the Scriptures It
brings prominently to our notice the fact that, when the last
word has been said about the authority of the Bible, there
still remains the hardly less important question of inter
pretation. We must not leave the subject without examin
ing Clement's teaching from this point of view.
Properly speaking, the selection of certain books or
passages of Scripture as specially Important, is a phase of
interpretation. It Implies that the littera scripta is not taken
simply as it stands, and that the argument " It Is written "
must be in one case emphasised, in another ignored. For
the selection will be made upon some avowed principle, or
in accordance with the tendencies of the interpreter's
theology ; in either case a standard of exegesis distinct from
the mere written text comes Into operation. Now Clement
can, on occasion, say hard things of the heretics for their
manipulation of Scripture. They do not, he complains, use
the whole Bible, nor do they even accept and employ all
the contents of their favourite books.' They pick out and
select what suits their purpose, and their Bible becomes little
better than a piece of patchwork.* No doubt the charge
was true enough. But Is Clement himself wholly beyond
such criticism ^
We can hardly acquit him, when we examine his use of
Scripture. Indeed, he himself speaks frankly of " selecting
testimonies." * He commends those who " elaborate dogmas
by a selection of appropriate passages." ® The principle
which is thus admitted carries us a long way. Throughout,
1 321, 786, 806, 897. 2 768, 804, 896, 3 891.
4 528. ' 802. » 883.

EXEGESIS BY SELECTION 209
he is indeed very far from letting the Bible " speak for itself,"
and this is evidenced not least by his obvious preference for
certain books and passages. With the narrative or purely
historical element in both Testaments he has little concern.
The Books of Kings and the Acts of the Apostles are only
quoted Infrequently ; on the other hand, the Psalms and the
Pauline Epistles are in constant use. There are very few
references to our Lord's eschatologlcal teaching ; there Is little
tendency to dwell on the sterner aspects of the New Testa
ment doctrine of Sin ; there Is similar disinclination to deal
with the notable antitheses of Saint Paul's theology. In the
" Wisdom Literature " Ecclesiastes is rarely quoted, and Job's
problem never faced. On the other hand, the kindlier teach
ing of the Proverbs, the Wisdom of Solomon and of the Son
of Sirach, are In constant use. The frequent references to the
Prologue of the fourth Gospel have been previously noted.
The well-known phrase from the book of Genesis " in our
image, after our likeness," * was, of course, invaluable to
Clement, as to Philo and every other Biblical Platonist. The
most Johannine text in the Synoptic Gospels Is naturally used
several times," while the saying, " Seek and ye shall find,"
was of considerable service against those who feared all
inquiry.' Now In all this selection of books and passages,
with its alternate emphasis and diminution, a definite tendency
of thought Is at work. Clement, like other men, brings to
the Bible his own affinities, and he takes from Its pages such
elements as respond. He may claim to Interpret Scripture
by Scripture,* and to find demonstrative proof In the text ;
but his reader never remains unaware for long that, dependent
as Clement may be upon Biblical resources, the material
from this plentiful storehouse is selected with considerable
predilection and discretion. In effect he says to his reader,
> Gen. i. 26. ^ I.e. St Matt. xi. 27, quoted 10, 109, 425, 697.
3 E.g. 650. ' 891.
VOL. II. 14

2IO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
" This and this and this element In Scripture are Important ;
that and that and that may be passed by." And this con
stitutes a kind of exegesis.
iBut there is a further stage In this process, of even greater
consequence. Given the passage, what Is its meaning .'' We
come here upon a large question, in regard to which Clement
takes his place as Philo's follower and Origen's master, and
is a true representative of Alexandrian principles, as against
the greater literalism of other Churches. For all the teachers
of this school It is a fundamental rule that the Scriptures
conceal their most Important truths. The written Word is
a veil, a parable, a symbol ; the true meaning lies beyond
or below. One thing Is said, another Is Intended ; therein
Hies the whole theory of Allegorism. The Insistence on this
principle Is constant in Clement's pages. The fifth book of;|
the Stromateis Is mainly a defence of this doctrine of " con
cealment." * We are reminded that truth lies hidden In
the secret recesses of the shrine ; that poets and philosophers
have time after time expressed themselves In riddles ; that
the pathway to assured knowledge lies through the under
standing of dark sayings ; that the Lord intended this, when
He likened the Kingdom of God to leaven."
This principle is the key of Scripture, but it unlocks
other doors as well. The Hieroglyphics of Egypt, the
Gnomic utterances of the Wise, the teaching of Plato and
the Pythagoreans, have all this deeper esoteric significance,'
so that when a mystic meaning Is assigned to the Cherubim
or the candlesticks or the High Priest's robe, Clement only
deals with Scripture as he Is prepared to deal with other
books. " The Word," he says, " loves concealment." * The
sacred books, like the Blessed Virgin, are pregnant, con-'
taining hidden truth.* He speaks once of a fourfold signi-
• ewiKpv<liis, 656, and frequently, 2 659, 676, 694.
3 657-8, 680. * -iroKvKevBiis 6 \iyos, 8o6. ' 889-9O.

ALLEGORY 211
ficance of the Old Testament ; * elsewhere he recognises a
mystical (or typical), a parabolic, and a fully revealed mode
In the Lord's teaching of his Apostles." Here he is clearly
preparing Origen's way. But usually the various distinctions
(4 meaning are not so finely drawn ; he Is content with the
'assertion of an external and an inward sense ; as Joshua, he
tells us, saw two Moses, one among the Angels, the other by
the ravines upon the mountains.' The bodily Moses stood
for the body and letter of Scripture ; the Moses In glory
with the Angels is the inner meaning which underlies the
words. So we must understand the Bible " In the great
sense ; " * we must rise to the height of its argument, pene
trate to the recesses of its truth.* When we fail to do this,
we Interpret the Scripture in an unspirltual manner, or in a
merely human sense ; we resemble the Jews, who believe In
the bare word of the Law ; or the heretics, who take literally
what was spoken in parable.® Thus the real meaning lies
behind the veil, and this veil adds dignity to the hidden truth,
and protects it from vulgar Intrusion.' Only the few are
'fitted to pass within the Holy Place. There Is real insight
in his remark that what appears to be the simplest teaching
often demands our closest attention.®
This allegorical principle, of which Clement makes such
constant use. Is clearly connected with his distinction between
the different classes of believers. For the simple Christian,
who does not pass beyond the domain of Faith, the plain
meaning may suffice^ ' But the possession of Gnosis Implies,
indeed to a large extent consists in, the power to penetrate

2 985, I take a-aipus Kai yvpiyus to denote the final stage of full and clear
revelation, all the hidden meaning being brought into light. Bigg gives
the sense as "literal," apparently taking the terms differently. Christian
Platonists, p. 57, n. 3 806-7. * 897. ^ ^38^ 946, 950,
" a-apKiKus, 467 ; a-apKlyus, dyBpuiriyus, 938 ; Cp. 45I, 528.
' 665, 679-80. 8 938. 9 309.

212 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
through the text to the deeper sense^/^o the Bible has Its
grades of truth, appropriate to the different stages of the
Christian Way. And the reason which mainly induces
Clement to set such store by his principle of concealment
and allegory, is the peculiar support which It lends to his
exaltation of Gnosis. Thus he differs In his motive from
others who had used the same method. Philo used allegory
to explain away the difficulties of the Old Testament. The
Stoics had employed it in order to purge the old mythology^
of its crude anthropomorphism. It was the readiest. If not
the only, available solution of the problem which arose, when
a purer religious consciousness was confronted with the
teaching and legends of an immaturer time. But Clement
is not greatly concerned with these difficulties. They had
been dissolved so often that they retained little substance,
and he Is free to use his method with a positive rather than
an apologetic aim. The crudities of the ancient tales no
longer trouble him. His mind dwells upon the stores of,
meaning, which Revelation and Gnosis have to offer to th/
favoured children of the truth.
It would be tedious and hardly profitable to follow
Clement through the whole range of his allegorical inter
pretation. But a few examples from the Old and the New
Testaments may serve a useful purpose in illustrating the
method of exegesis, upon which he set such store. He
delights, for example, to see great significance In names, and
in this could claim, of course, the older Scriptures as well as
contemporary practice for his support. The single letter
added when " Abram " was changed to " Abra[h]am,"
symbolised the patriarch's knowledge of the one and only
God ; he is no longer a " high father," but a chosen father
" of sound," or an elect Intelligence, productive of reason or
the Word.* The explanation is not very convincing, but it
• 648. See Stahlin in loc. for the references to Philo.

ALLEGORY— THE OLD TESTAMENT 213
is largely draiyrf from Philo, though without any acknow
ledgment^ So Jerusalem is "the vision of pdace" ;* Isaac,
the laughter or delight or the playful spirit which may exist
in the divine nature ; * the upright iota in the name Jesus
Is the abiding goodness of the Lord.' In another connection
the land of Egypt and the people of Canaan are taken as
types of passions and vices, of deceits and worldly follies,
with which the Christian must have no dealing.* So when
it is said " the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the
sea," the real meaning is that the impulsive passions bring
man's nature Into the turbulent waves of worldly disorder.*
" Earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord," is an appeal to
the senseless and unbelieving, who are earthly in their
nature.® Even the details of the law are full of significance.
The three measures, which form the ephah, stand for
sensation, reason. Intelligence, In human nature.^ The
furniture and carved work in the tabernacle had a symbolic
value, even in their minutest arrangements.' Animals which
failed to chew the cud were types of the heretics ; those
which failed to divide the hoof, of the Jew.^ The pro
hibition to yoke ox and ass together was a secret intimation
of the danger of imparting advanced truth indiscriminately
to fit and unfit minds.*® A lesson on the virtue of simplicity
is extracted from the story of the golden calf ; a reproof of
the clean shaven from the ointment upon Aaron's beard.**
The tying of the colt to the vine Is the union of the children
of God with the divine Logos ; the Logos is also typified
by Abel's blood and by many other figures.*" Finally, the
Queen in a vesture of gold is the Church, as Clement would
* 332-
2 1 10-11, aiTT) i] Beia -iratSia . . . aSrri r) nvoTiKii -iraiSla. Compare Homer's
laughter among the Gods of Olympus.
3 148-9. ¦* 453- ' 677-8, « 640.
7 455, 8 784. 9 900-1. '» 478-9.
» 246, 289, '2 106-7, '26.

2 14 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
like to have seen her, arrayed In the robe of elaborate
culture.* Such is his method of extracting the inner meaning from
the Law and the Prophets. For his principles and for his
examples he Is greatly indebted to Philo, and In all this
exegesis there is scant recognition, as De Faye remarks, of
the rights of authorship. Yet Clement can also employ his
method with considerable Independence and originality, and
this naturally becomes more evident, when we turn to his
interpretation of the New Testament. Here it was no
longer possible to follow Philo In details, though there were
many Christian or half Christian exegetes already at work,
and we can never say what exact proportion of his suggestions
was due to the teaching of Pantaenus. But, whether derived
or original, there are not a few happy and appropriate pieces
of exegesis in Clement's treatment of the Gospels and
Epistles. Of them, and of others less commendable, the
following shall serve as examples.
He mentions the woman who anointed the Lord's feet
with precious ointment." It did not suit Clement's purpose
to allow this to stand as a justification of the use of
unguents, so he apologises for the literal sense — the woman
was still a sinner ; she brought what she thought was best —
and passes on to discover In the ointment a hint of the
Lord's suffering, or of His teaching. The anointed feet are
the Apostles, the woman's tears are our sinful selves, her
loosened hair the renunciation of finery. Or it may even
be that the ensnaring ointment is a hint of the treachery of
Judas. So varied and abundant are the possibilities when
we get away from the letter. Again, the five barley loaves
stand for the Law, which is earlier than and inferior to the
true wheat of the Gospel ; the two small fishes are Greek
philosophy, born in the waters of the Gentile world and
' 786. 2 205-6.

ALLEGORY— THE NEW TESTAMENT 215
swept about by its uncertain currents.* The tares sown in
the field of the Church are naturally the heresies." If we
are to leave father and mother for the Gospel's sake, this is
no literal injunction, but our " mother " stands for our
country and our "father" for the State's laws.' The
charge of " Inclvism " naturally suggests Itself, but Clement
Is thinking of the higher claims of God. Foxes who have
holes are wealthy mineowners.* Fasting is abstention from
evil deeds.* The pearl of great price is the " pure
diaphanous Jesus," a figure quite congenial to his docetic
bent.® The Lord's long robe is the variegated beauty of
the divine Scriptures.' The thorns which form His crown
signify, among other things, the once unfruitful lives now
brought closer to the Church's head.' And so examples
might be multiplied, as In his discursive way Clement leads
us on to discern in the lamps of the five wise virgins a type
of the few enlightened souls, in bread and fishes a monition
of simple fare. In "two or three gathered together" a
suggestion of the Christian home.' His allegory is a very
elastic principle and gives us very various results. He
applies it just as readily to the New Testament as to the
Old. The Gnostics also had done so, and he is not far
from their company.
It Is easy to criticise this method. The Interpretations
to which it leads are " altogether arbitrary." Its results
are " visionary and futile." It Is an " excellent means of
finding what you already possess." Sometimes only is it
" relatively so5er." *" Two defects, in particular, lie patent
to every modern reader, of which the more important is its
1 787. ^ 887. 3 570. Cp. how he explains away it-iaet, 948.
* 577- * 79'- ® 241. ' 238. 3 214. 9 J72^ 541-2, 655.
1° See Farrar, History of Interpretation, 182-7; E, de Faye, 228; M.
Denis, quoted in Bigg's Christian Platonists, 148 ; Renan, Marc-Aurile, 164,
Renan speaks of " Les docteurs orthodoxes, avec leurs interpretations alld-
goriques et typiques tout i fait arbitraires."

21 6 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
complete disregard of the literal, historic sense. " Not the
words, but the sense," pleads Clement ; and on the strength
of this principle he reads the most remote and diversified
significance Into passages wholly innocent. In their original
intention, of any such meaning. He does not seem able
to distinguish, as we might do, between the fact or meaning
which was present to the writer's mind, and the various
extended applications In which the applied principle might
be said to hold good. Thus, when he deals with the
golden calf, or with the Lord's command to the young ruler,
his exegesis leads him Into violent treatment of the original
sense : even the familiar camel of the East must not be
regarded as a literal camel, it is v^kn^oTepov rt.* Through
out we are kept far away from the facts and miss the balance
and sanity of view which their influence should secure.
This indifference to the historic and the concrete was due
in part to the Alexandrian tradition, but It is clearly also a
personal quality in Clement. We have noticed It before
In his view of the Incarnation. It Is his principal point of
contact with the Gnostics, as may be evidenced by the
difficulty of deciding whether any given fragment of exe
gesis in the Excerpta proceeds from Theodotus or his com
mentator. Yet even here opposite tendencies affect him :
witness his insistence on the historical antiquity of Moses,
and his surprising appreciation of the Gospel according to
Saint Mark.
It is a second defect that, when he employs allegory,
he Is content with such trivial identities. Parabolical
teaching In Scripture conserves in the main a true parallelism
between the symbolised principle and the illustrative tale.
There are real elements of Identity. Even when the Lord
employs the Parable as a veil, the measure of correspondence
remains considerable ; and the same Is true of Plato's myths.
1 246, 937, 950,

CRITICISMS OF ALLEGORY 217
But allegory knew little of such canons and limitations.
If the three measures which form the ephah really denote
three elements in man's nature, then there is no reason why
anything should not be the symbol of anything, for an
equivalent point of identity could usually be found. If
the " strange woman " of the Proverbs is really a figure of
secular culture,* then a system of typology is established
which demands only that it shall be possible to apply a
common epithet to either side of the parallel. Origen
complained not infrequendy of the violent and arbitrary
character of Heracleon's exegesis ; " but he must have heard
much similar exposition from his own master. It is true
that even the sober Irenaeus was convinced that the treasure
hid in the field meant Christ hidden In the Old Testament,'
and it may be urged that In this regard also Clement was
a man of his own age. If It pleased him to fancy that the
pillar of salt, Into which Lot's unhappy wife was turned,
denoted the power v/hich savours and seasons the souls of
those who have the gift of spiritual vision, we must not too
severely condemn his arbitrary exegesis. The results, it
has been truly said, are often better than the method.
And, with all its obvious defects, allegory had as well
its merits and its service. It enabled Clement to accept the
Scriptures without surrender of his broad and universallstic
outlook. It was the best available via media between
literalism and the abandonment of the Church's sacred
books. We may feel that many of the parallels which
Clement discovers or adopts between Plato, Homer, the
dramatic poets, and the Scriptures, are remote and uncon
vincing. We may have difficulty in reconciling the judg
ments which speak of him as " more Biblical than Origen "

332-
2 See the remarks of A. E. Brooke, Texts and Studies, i. p. 48 ; cp. itdyv
fitalus, ib. 53 ; iTipiSpa. drraoaiT-liTas, ib. 69. 3 Jy. 26, I.

2i8 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
and " more philosopher than Christian." But under these
divergences lies the important fact that he could retain,
without conscious contrariety, the best of the Hellenic
heritage and yet accept both the Hebrew and the Christian
Testaments. The particularism of the Jew did not trouble
him. Saint Paul's attitude to wisdom and philosophy raises
no great difficulty. The details of the Law are not an
intolerable burden. He can harmonise all these limitations
and antagonisms with something of the wide outlook, which
made the Ideal Hellenic philosopher a " spectator of all
time and all existence."* He could not do this by the
methods and principles which are available for us. He
could not even apply fearlessly to Scripture such wide
regulative ideas as were certainly his own. -^'But allegory
resolved the difficulty. There was no contradiction, because
the wider meaning c6uld always be read into the narrowej?-
letter. So Moses and Saint Paul and the Lord Himself come
into harmony with Hellenism, and Christianity becomes
the true philosophy. What is particular becomes universal,
and the special precepts of an age or a people reveal hidden
meanings, which are valid for every man, or at least for
every enlightened Christian. Allegory, says Harnack, saved
the Church from becoming " the religion of the book."" It
also, at least in Alexandria, enabled the Church to retain
her book.
Allegory also solved the difficulty which arose within
the sacred books, when the Old Testament was contrasted
with the New. The obvious differences In the two phases
of revelation had already Induced Marcion to abandon the
older Covenant, and even the Letter of Ptolemy to Flora
takes the position that, though the Law was not given by
the devil. It certainly was not given by God. Greek con
verts to Christianity were naturally inclined to stumble at
1 Plato, Republic, vi. 486. * Hist. Dogm., ii. 65. \ \

DIFFICULTIES SOLVED BY ALLEGORY 219
the Law, and sometimes this criticism was dangerous and
effective. Clement, as we have seen, asserts unhesitatingly
the fundamental unity of the two covenants. He will have
no dealings with Marcion and his kind : the Law and the
Gospel proceed from one source. This position, not wholly
an easy one to defend, he justifies in detail through allegory.
The older covenant was symbolical. Its secret meanings.
Interpreted by the key of Gnosis, are prophetic of the Lord.
All that appears to be anthropomorphic In the teaching of
the Old Testament about God's nature. Is really allegory.*
The prohibition which forbids a man to wear a woman's
garment must be taken spiritually, as a protest against
effeminacy." In this way whatever seems harsh or stern or
unreasonable in the Law Is toned down or Illuminated.
For all the ordinances of Moses there were hidden reasons :
we must not be deceived by the apparent absence of ground
for his prohibitions.' Thus, like Saint Paul, though by other
methods, he praises and abandons the Law. It is declared
to have no inherent contrariety to the Gospel, but then, on
Clement's interpretation. It is hardly any longer recognisable
as the code of Moses. But the gain is surely greater than
the loss. Clement would have fallen from his own com
prehensive principle had he expelled Moses and the Prophets
from his sanctuary. That he could retain them, and be
untroubled by any discord between things old and new, is
largely the result of his elastic method of exegesis.
In such of his works as have survived Clement's use of
Scripture is characteristically discursive.* One text suggests
another, or a line of Homer will recall a saying from the
Prophets. Thus the Stromateis retain their miscellaneous
nature, and their author's favourite quotations* on the
1 687. 2 47,. 3 ,75
* Cp. esp. the long discussion of the term rtats, 104 sqq.
« Eph. iii. 10: Heb. i, i.

220 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
variegated character of the divine Wisdom, and on the many
modes and measures of Revelation, are taken as guiding
principles for his own literary practice. But at times he
could venture on more continuous work. Once, as a speci
men of Gnostic Interpretation, he devotes a whole chapter
to the exegesis of the Decalogue. And there still survive
a few fragments from the considerable commentary, eight
books in length, which was known as the Hypotyposeis, and
which, Eusebius tells us, contained expositions of all the
canonical Scriptures. A glance at each of these will add
something to our knowledge of Clement's powers and
limitations as an Interpreter.
His summary exposition of the Decalogue * starts with
the remark that ten is a sacred, number. Its mystical
properties lie deep in the nature of things, for there Is a
physical decalogue In the heavens, another in the earth,
another in the nature of man. His Interest In number
again appears in his comments on the " two tables " : they
stand for the two covenants, or the ruling and the subject
spirits, or for the dual activities of thought and deed.
Similar are his remarks on the seventh day's rest. That
six is properly the number of completed work is shown by
the sun's motion from solstice to solstice In six months, by the
history of the human embryo, or by Pythagorean reckonings.
But seven holds the position of honour, for the whole created
world " revolves in sevens " ; the Pleiades are seven — so he
says ; there are seven sense organs on the human face ; the
moon has seven phases ; there are seven ages In the life of
man, as Solon's elegies declare. So he says with David of
the Sabbath, " This is the day which the Lord hath made."
It is curious to reflect, as we read all this, that the seventh
day of the week was probably quite unobserved in the
Alexandrian Church. But Clement was living among his
' 807 sqq.

EXPOSITION OF THE DECALOGUE 221
books, and indeed the whole section may be largely de
pendent on Jewish- Alexandrine sources. So great was the
interest in the mystical properties of number : the Church
found room for Pythagoras as well as Plato. The bare
parallel of numerical similarity seemed to denote some
inward correspondence or affinity, and the ingenious inter
preter might discern such parallels as he pleased.
There is more permanent value in Clement's remarks. In
reference to the fourth commandment, that the order of crea
tion is properly not an order In time, but an order in the divine
purpose, anterior to time ; and that God's rest is the rest,
not of inactivity, for He could not cease to do good, but of
inviolable order. We are to honour father and mother :
Father clearly means God, Father, Creator, Lord. What
of our " Mother " .'' Is it the " essence " from which we
are sprung, or the Church, or the divine wisdom and know
ledge called by Solomon — so Clement says — the " mother
of the righteous ? " Surely the latter, says Clement, the
knowledge that is desirable for its own sake and that
proceeds, like all else that is fair and venerable, from God
through the Son. It is a characteristic piece of interpreta
tion. Adultery, of course. Is to desert the Church's true
teaching for the foreign novelties of heresy. Murder is to
do away with the true doctrine of God and Immortality.
Theft Is either the work of the artist or sculptor, who. In
"making" their paintings or statues, seem to claim the
divine prerogative of creation, or else the appropriation of
the true philosophy by teachers to whom It did not properly
belong. The chapter ends with a reference, somewhat
remotely connected with the prohibition to covet, to the
universal Providence, which originates with God and works
down through secondary causes to the individual details of
life. This mystical exegesis leads us a very long way from
the Decalogue. The indifference to the natural and original

222 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
sense of its prohibitions is complete. The Lord Himself,
we recollect, had given a wider and spiritual significance to
the Law. Clement's more literary exposition, though not
without Its elements of value, suffers by comparison.
This chapter on the Decalogue Is Inserted in the
Stromateis as a specimen of Gnostic exegesis. It Is natural
to connect It with the far larger undertaking of the Hypoty
poseis, of which sufficient remains survive to afford an
Insight Into the character of the work as a whole. Of this
commentary some mention has already been made In a
previous chapter.* The reader may recollect that it con
sisted mainly of remarks or " scholia " on passages taken
from various books of both Testaments ; that It Incorporated
also certain traditions about the Apostles, some of which
are of considerable interest ; and that, in addition to the
Greek fragments which have survived, a larger and more
continuous passage is extant In the Latin translation known
as the Adumbrationes. Beyond the fragments themselves
both Eusebius " and Photius * afford us Information about the
work, the latter saying much about its heretical tendencies,
though he thinks there may have been interpolations. Our
present purpose is to give from these scanty remains some
further examples of Clement's interpretation.
A woman Is to be veiled " because of the angels."
The angels, Clement explains, mean righteous and virtuous
men, who must not be tempted into sin. " They that are
Christ's have crucified the flesh " — not, of course, in a literal
sense, but by the surrender of passion and desire. The
" due time " at which the Lord was manifested was the
period in which men were ready to believe. The care
' See vol. i. pp. 194 sqq. 2 h,E,, vi, 14,
3 Cod. 109-11 (Stahlin, I,, xiv. sqq^
* This and the following passages quoted may be best seen in Stahlin's
edition, iii, 195-215.

THE HYPOTYPOSEIS 223
" especially for those of his own house " is really a care for
the inner economy of the soul, where passion is to be
eradicated. The " many witnesses " are the testimony of
the Law and the Prophets. Such is the character of the
commentary. Even In the longer fragments which survive
in Latin, the annotations are of the same brief nature. The
things " reported unto you by them that have preached
the Gospel," are the ancient symbolical actions of the
Prophets, never understood by the world at large, only now
revealed by the Gospel. Christians are a " royal priesthood " ;
" royal " because they are called into the Kingdom ; a
" priesthood " because of their oblation of prayer and teach
ing, " quibus adqulruntur animae, quae offeruntur Deo."
To " speak evil of dignities " is to abuse the angels. The
" clouds without water " are souls bereft of the divine and
fertilising Word. To " sit on the right hand " is to rest
in the place of honour. The comments on the Johannine
Epistles are some of the most Interesting. On " that which
was from the beginning" Clement's comment Is "genera
tionem tangit sine principio filii cum patre simul exstantls."
Here is the doctrine of eternal generation, unless the trans
lator has modified the text. In God " Is no darkness at
all " ; that is, no anger, no passion, no harbouring of evil
for any man, finds place in His nature : He ruins none ;
He gives salvation to all. The Spirit, the water, and the
blood stand for life, regeneration, knowledge. " Perfect
love casteth out fear," for love, Clement comments, is the
perfection of the believer.
As we read the dozen pages which have survived from
this lengthy work of exegesis, perhaps our first impression
is to say that we feel little surprise that the greater part of
its contents has perished. Many of the comments seem to
us obvious ; many seem far fetched. Only here and there
do we find an interpretation which is of abiding value. But

224 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
so harsh a judgment is probably undeserved. It is the
commentator's office to bring the permanent text of Scripture
into relation with the ideas and Intellectual environment of
his day. As these perpetually shift and alter, we must
recognise the consequence, that most commentaries are
valuable only for the conditions of their own period. Of
the works of many greater and later exegetes than Clement,
It may be said that, if they survive to-day at all. It is mainly
In the library, on the shelf. According to his light and the
manner of his age, Clement helped his contemporaries to
realise that the value of Scripture lay not in the mere letter,
and that we must bring to the Bible our best knowledge
and Intelligence, if we would receive Its treasures for our
own. We need not altogether regret that the Hypotyposeis
have perished : nor need we doubt that they did good
service for their day and generation. They mark a stage in
exegesis. We have passed beyond It. But who will say
that even here finality Is yet attained .''
Before leaving the difficult and Interesting subject of
Clement's attitude to the Scriptures, it may be well to
consider, as a concrete example, the use he made of one
particular work. Many books In both Testaments readily
suggest themselves for such examination. His use of
Deuteronomy, or of the Psalms ; his special liking for the
Proverbs and Ecclesiasticus ; his abundant quotations from
the first Gospel ; or the manner in which he judiciously
selects from the Epistle to the Romans such elements as
can be fitted Into his own scheme of thought, might well
repay detailed consideration. Or we might find a link with
the present in ascertaining why the Epistle to the Ephesians,
perhaps the most modern book In all the Bible, Is, in pro
portion to its length, more frequently used by Clement
than any other. But perhaps the most natural book to
select is the Epistle to the Hebrews, which is always

THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 225
recognised as more or less akin in style and thought to
the Alexandrian type of Christianity. What is Clement's
view of this writing ? To what extent is he Indebted to it ?
Dr Stahlin finds between ninety and a hundred quota
tions or allusions to this Epistle in Clement's extant works.
About one-third of these may be called " quotations " ;
references or allusions account for the remaining sixty. It
Is only rarely that he makes a long quotation : * sometimes,
when he requires a passage of any length, he merely gives
the opening words, adds " down to " according to his
practice, and then appends the concluding sentence." By
far the greater part of his use of the Epistle consists of
short texts or single phrases, which occur to him readily,
and make his familiarity with the Epistle clear. With the
central lines of its teaching Clement has much evident
affinity. The typological Interpretation of the Old Testa
ment, alike of Its laws, its ritual, its persons, and its events,
is exactly in accordance with one of his own favourite
principles. Moreover, the Logos doctrine Is definitely
taught in the Epistle, even though the subject, as In the
other New Testament books which contain It, is not
elaborated. Here was a further point of contact. Then
the recognition of the value of the Law, albeit " the law
makes nothing perfect," is a further point of clear similarity.
Yet It would hardly be true to say that the book was one
upon which Clement relied. He is In sympathy with many
of its dominant ideas and draws from It much which is apt
and serviceable, but he does not employ it, though he might
have done so, as a weapon against Marcion. His use of
the Epistle for purposes of controversy is notably less than
his use of certain other Epistles against the Carpocratians.
And, generally, he Is more indebted to particular texts
' But Heb. x. 32-9 ; xi. 36-xii. i, are quoted, 608-9 ! f^- 434-5-
' So 434-5, 501.
VOL. II. 15

226 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
or ideas than to the fundamental thought of this treatise
as a whole.
But, in this lesser manner, his obligations are con
siderable. The remarkable and Illuminating phrase with
which this Epistle opens, occurs constantly in Clement's
pages.* With few Scriptural ideas Is he more entirely In
sympathy than with the conception of God's self-revelation
" in many degrees and In many modes." So, too, the con
ception of the Lord as the great High Priest, who has
entered within the veil, is of frequent recurrence." The
distinction beween those who need infant's diet and those
who can assimilate strong meat, and the reference to those
" who have their senses exercised," are naturally congenial
to the teacher of Christian Gnosis, and the passage Is
quoted more than once.' The well-known definition of
faith, and the splendid chapter on Its heroes ; * the con
ception of Moses as the typically faithful servant,* and that
of Melchlsedech as the king of peace ; ® the Christian lot as
that of strangers and pilgrims ; ' the spiritual dangers of
sin after knowledge ;' the significance of the veil ;' the
belief In angels and ministering spirits ; *® the penetrating
and incisive power of the Word of God ** — " discerning fire,"
as he calls It — are all borrowed by him and turned to good
account. Twice he employs the book in a more hortatory
fashion, to encourage faith or to hearten in persecution.*'
And there are frequent minor adoptions of its language, as
his thought falls without effort into the Scriptural phrases.
Clement held the Epistle to be of Pauline authorship ; this,
1 iroXv/iepus Ka! iroXvTpS-irus, 331, and in five other passages. voXvTpiwus
alone in two. The thought recurs constantly.
2 Heb. iv. 14, 666, 833. 3 Heb. v. 13-14, 336, 347, 685, 829.
* Heb. xi. 1, 432-3, 609. 6 Hgt, iii j^ 423^ 831.
" Heb, vii, 2, 637. ' Heb. xi. 13, 554. « j^eb. x. 26, 459.
9 Heb, ix. 3, 656. "> Heb. i. 14, 986. " Heb. iv. 12, 851.
'2 69 sqq., 608 sqq.

CLEMENT'S USE OF THIS EPISTLE 227
Indeed, was the usual view In the Church of Alexandria,
which differed here from the Churches of Rome and
Carthage. He believed It to have been written by the
Apostle In Hebrew and translated by Saint Luke Into Greek ;
hence the similarity of style between this Epistle and the
Acts.* But the work of the translator was a minor point ;
the Epistle Is regularly quoted as Saint Paul's.
When the various passages in which Clement makes
use of this Epistle are put together and compared, several
points seem to call for special notice. The readiness, with
which any apt or suitable quotation occurs to him, betrays
the constant student of Scripture. His blending of the
teaching of the Epistle with ideas drawn from other sources —
as, for example, the High Priest of the Jewish Law seems
to coalesce with the High Priest of Egyptian ritual, and the
" sharp and piercing " word of God blends with the " wise
fire " of the Stoics — is the outcome of his comprehensive
attitude and a good Instance of his keen perception of
affinities. His entire neglect of all the Epistle has to say
on the subject of sacrifice, especially on the sacrifice of the
Cross, combined with his quick appreciation of its more
congenial elements, proves how fully he retained his freedom
of thought, in spite of all his professed dependence upon
the written Word. And, finally, the really religious spirit
of the man comes out, as he follows the Biblical writer
in pleading that his readers will not neglect God's call. In
reminding them that their true country is not on earth, in
his recurrence to the figure of the faithful servant, and In
his continual recognition of the world which lies beyond
and within the veil of sense.
Such was Clement's Bible and such was the use he made
of it. The study of his text of Scripture leaves the modern
student with more problems than certainties. His Canon
' navAo; . . . toii 'K0palois ypdipuy, 771. See, too, H.E., vi. 14.

228 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
was still indeterminate. His fundamental principles of
exegesis belonged to his own city and his own age. The
results, so far, are mainly negative. Perhaps least of all In
this important element of his work, can we appropriate his
guidance and his methods for ourselves. Yet even in
regard to Scripture the reader of to-day may find the
Alexandrian Father not wholly without his services.
Interesting primarily in its historical associations, Clement's
treatment of Scripture has also suggestions of permanent
value. He illustrates, at any rate, the crucial importance of the
right to interpret. It is to little purpose that the authority
of the Book is demonstrated, unless the exegesis also can be
controlled. It was as easy for Clement to discover Platonism
In the Bible, as it was for later schools of thought to discern
Catholicism or Calvinism In its pages. When the material
is so varied and so abundant. It can be constructed by
adaptation and selection into systems of extreme diversity.
Hence the old saying, " the Church to teach, the Scripture
to prove," leaves the settlement really in the Church's
power. For what we prove from Scripture depends largely
upon what we attempt to prove. The determining element
lies not so much in the text as in the mind of the exegete.
There may, no doubt, be Interpretation so extravagant that
it is sure, sooner or later, to be corrected, just as Alexandrine
Allegorism was corrected by other Interpreters, who re
asserted the value of the historical element In the Bible.
But this leaves the limits still wide, within which the settle
ment rests in the interpreter's control. He can " quote
Scripture to his purpose," and decide its meaning, till some
rival or successor convinces the world of a better way.
In the later centuries, and already In some Churches In
the second century, this right to Interpret rested with
official authority. The debated clauses of the Creeds were

IMPORTANCE OF EXEGESIS 229
mainly so determined, and even to Irenaeus the succession
of the Episcopate was valuable principally as a guarantee
of sound doctrine. But Alexandria stood for a different
principle, for the place of the scholar, the doctor, the lecture-
room, in determining Christian truth. Pantaenus, Clement's
master, had probably been a layman, and his pupil, though
he was in Holy Orders, hardly contradicted the saying that
" le docteur . . . est tres souvent lafque." * Pressure and
opposition from heretics and self-willed amateurs compelled
the Church to concentrate her authority and to restrict
exegesis. The liberty of prophesying underwent an
inevitable restriction. Within the Society extravagance of
exegesis became too dangerous to be tolerated. So the
scholar surrendered his rights to the Bishop, and when the
Bishop was also a scholar, all went well. When he was
not, the surrender, though inevitable, had its dangerous
consequences. Under modern conditions there seems some
probability that learning will regain its old influence, if
indeed it has not already done so. The " doctor," and
even the lay doctor, exert through their books an Influence
which is independent, to a large extent, of their official
position in the Christian society. As we look back to
Clement and follow him through his exegesis, we are able
to appreciate the great value of this freedom, and also the
dangers of Its abuse In incompetent or careless hands. In
the main, with all his mistakes, he stands for the cause of
light, and sound learning, and the spirit which Is prepared
to follow wheresoever the argument or the Word may lead.
Finally, we shall not underestimate hig enthusiastic
appreciation of the Bible. No epithets are too strong for
him to apply them to its great writers. His own discursive
Intelligence found abundant delight in the manifold variety
of Scripture. Nor does his learning altogether rob him of
' Renan, Marc-Aurile, 431.

230 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. II
that simple and receptive attitude towards its teaching, which
characterises so much of true religion. He never forsakes
his old friends. Homer, Plato, and the rest. But they do
not stand for him on the same level as Moses, David, the
"blessed Apostle," and the Lord Himself. Within his
spirit there is no discord between the Hebrew and the
Hellene ; these different elements are at one In Christ.
Joyfully accepting the things written for our learning, he
derived, by those methods which his age allowed, such
comfort, hope, illumination, from the Scriptures, as sufficed
not only to direct him on his own pathway, but made him
also the valued guide of other souls.

CHAPTER XIX
THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
Much truth lies In Goethe's saying that " Thought widens
and lames." Many men, who have pondered over the
issues of life, have lost thereby the power to take active
sides in its contest. The philosopher, when he is crowned,
does not always make the best of Emperors. Nor is it an
uncommon thing in seats of learning for great knowledge
to prove itself Inimical to the spirit of Christian love. So
the mind's Interests may drive out devotion, and piety of
heart shrink and fade before the advance of intellect, while
the simple believer, in spite of his Imperfect life and lack of
knowledge, may find the entrance into the Kingdom more
readily than the learned Rabbi who has no common sins.
Of our several human faculties we may develop one or
another, as personal choice or circumstances may lead the
way ; but most advances Involve suppression or limitation
elsewhere. Hence it comes that inspiration and reflection
do not go hand In hand, that the best critic is the worst
leader, that Saint Paul betrayed no admiration for the
sculptures and architecture of Athens, and that the man who
lives in a theological library is often far from the saintly
life. " Qui multo peregrlnantur raro sanctificantur " is a
similar saying from the Imitatio.
Clement was a man of books and thought and learning ;
he had been a traveller and he loved retirement ; his
231

232 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
profession gave him academic interests and surroundings ;
he was blessed with comfortable means ; he cared for ideas
more than facts. Here are the very conditions which again
and again have stifled piety. Moreover, he was a broad
Churchman, and to fail In devotion has been the constant
liability of his school. That these various Influences did
not rob him of the spirit of true piety is therefore a fact,
which all who have regard for his memory will delight to
recognise. His learning qualified without abating his
religion. Thought widened his view without " laming "
his spirit. Not forgetting Athens, hc can still pray that the
spirit of Christ may give him wings to fly " to my Jerusalem." *
Perhaps the Church has had few teachers in whom the
characteristics of the Philosopher and of the Christian have
combined so intimately and In the like degree. As our
study of him draws to a close, we may recall some of the
features of his learned piety. Previous chapters have already
dealt with these to some extent ; the reasonable sobriety of
the Christian life ; " thc Ideal of the Christian home ; ' the
right use of wealth ; * the higher life, with Its bliss of perfect
vision,* had all their elements of religious value. These
may be recalled or supplemented In a more general survey.
We may begin by reverting once again to the instinct
for unity, which lay so deep In Clement's nature. More
than once we have seen him harmonise tendencies which
were usually set in opposition. He sees relationship where
others discern antithesis, and blends in his personality, not
less than in his teaching, factors which are far more often
contrasted than combined. He refuses, for example, to
separate Religion and Philosophy, Faith and Knowledge,
Thought and Action. For Clement, each term demands
the other. The distinctions are recognised, but the
synthesis counts for more.
' 642. 2 Chap, viii. 3 Chap, ix, ' Chap, x. ' Chap. xiv.

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION 233
Philosophy, which for Clement meant Greek philosophy
as he knew it, was, like the Law, a preparation for Chris
tianity.* It was from above, heaven sent, a gift as well as a
discovery, and its true enterprise was the quest for reality."
Even the strange alternative explanation of its origin, that
it was truth stolen from the divine revelation, is never
allowed to depreciate In any serious measure its real
value, and all criticisms of particular schools, all allusions to
the sophistries of its unworthy exponents, count for little
as against the reiterated assertion that philosophy Is a part
of the divine education of the world. But it Is inadequate
and incomplete. It needs the complement of religion.'
For all Its excellence, it failed by a twofold Infirmity, first,
because Its range of vision and knowledge was too limited
for the full apprehension of the truth, and, secondly, because
it was weak in action.* Hence the necessity for the fuller
revelation and the stronger motive power. Philosophy Is
the preliminary to the Christian life, as childhood is the
preliminary to the maturity of our powers ;* and its intrinsic
value can never outweigh Its ulterior service as the guide or
avenue to complete attainment. It achieved more by its
ministry to religion than It had ever done by its absolute claims.
From the other side of this partnership there is an
equally explicit acknowledgment. Not only was Christi
anity indebted to philosophy for its preparation of the road,
but even afterwards it stood In need of the services of
Hellenic wisdom. By such means alone could false teaching
be distinguished from true, the corrupt from what was
sound. Nor was there any other method available for the
defence of truth from the clever attacks of subde adver
saries.® In the face of considerable opposition Clement
defends with emphatic conviction this holy alliance between
Reason and Revelation. For culture within the Church he
> 335, 366. 2 453, 771- ' 770- * 366. « 347. « 377.

234 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
pleads abundant justification.* And though with a certain
diplomatic depreciation he will, on occasion, speak of
philosophy as merely one of the condiments or accessories
to the spiritual feast of life," this is very far from being his
true and serious estimate of Its value. With Clement
philosophy is so essential an element in true religion, that
he will apply the term without hesitation to the teaching of
the Old Testament and to Christianity itself. The one is
" barbarian philosophy," and the barbarians were older
than the Greeks. The other, the Gospel, Is " the true
philosophy," and the woman, child, or slave, who becomes
a Christian, is potentially a philosopher, and, though far from
perfect attainment, has at least come over into the light.'
They are on the way to the knowledge of God and of
reality, and this was the common goal of Plato and the Saints.
So Intimate In Clement's view is the connection be
tween Philosophy and Religion. It Is a common criticism
to say that he does not really blend the two, but that he
converts the Gospel Into an intellectual system and attains
a harmony by suppressing Its distinctively religious elements.
No doubt his Interest lies more in knowledge and in vision
than in feeling and in action, and every man will tend to
interpret Christianity in terms of his predominant Interest.
It Is not the less true that Clement had, in personal experi
ence, found something in Christianity which he had never
discovered in the philosophic schools, and that, with obvious
pleasure and conviction, he delights to reconcile the two.
He blends the Gospel with the best results of Hellenic
wisdom, and It Is as true to say that his philosophy is
religious as it is that his religion Is philosophic*
'786. 2 824 ; <:/. 377- '115,563-
* In this connection De Faye, CUment dAlexandrie, esp. pp. 265, 315 Jy?.,
seems to me to estimate Clement more fairly and correctly than Merk,
Clemens Alexandrinus in seiner Abhdngigkeit von der griechischen
Philosophie.

FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE 235
Similar is his attitude towards the contrasted powers of
Faith and Knowledge. What were for Clement the exact
connotations of these terms, and how the one was related to
the other, are points much discussed by his interpreters.
His language is not always strictly consistent, and the
problem Is complicated by the fact that in each domain he
recognises varieties and degrees. Without repeating what
has been said in a previous chapter,* it may be observed
that Clement does not usually employ the term faith In the
sense of an " unreserved self-committal " of our whole
nature unto the care and power of God. As an act or
experience of the religious life he Is quite familiar with
such a process : trust in the divine power Is the very
groundwork of his thoughts and confidence ; but he does
not commonly denominate this as " Faith." Though it is
the mother of the virtues," and involves the will, and is the
way to salvation, and Is possible for the unlearned. Faith is
also not unfrequently a more narrowly defined activity,
b^ing identified in many cases with the mind's initial assent
to the appeal of religion. It is thus the response on man's
part to revelation on God's.' Or, in a figure. It is the key
that unlocks the gateways of the realm of vision.* Thus It
is never properly the final stage of the religious life, or, at
most, it is only so for those whose Inward or external
limitations prevent their full spiritual development. It
must lead on to experience, to the exercise of demonstration,
above all, to search and quest.* For Faith must seek, and
so in Its higher and more advanced stages it issues in dis
covery and knowledge and certitude of apprehension, and
thus passes at last into that fullest phase of vision, in which
our whole spiritual and intellectual nature closes in unbroken
intimacy with the supreme reality which is its object. Faith
1 See supra, pp, 75 sqq. ^ 441. 3 442^
4 9-1 o. ' 72, 327, 650.

236 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
and Knowledge in this way involve one another.* Alike in
the earliest and in the final stages of the process, proof and
reasoning are out of place. Supposition, as it blends with
Reason and with Knowledge, loses Its Isolated, unrelated
character. The foundations of Faith and the superstructure
of Knowledge are seen to be one harmonious fabric." The
assent, which originally Involved venture and effort, becomes
a welcome and necessary certainty, and so experience is
unified, and the soul finds rest and peace. Clement did not
have It In his power to say the last word on this deep subject.
But the outlines of his thought are sufficiently clear for us to
realise how perfect is the eventual concord, which he discerns
between Faith and Knowledge. To appreciate the beauty
of this reconciliation at its true worth, we must remember
that Gnosticism and the simple Orthodoxy of the Church
were alike proclaiming at the time Its entire impossibility.
Hardly less pronounced is his determination to admit
no severaiice^between Thought and Action. The Gnostic,
as we have seen, is no academic theorist, but pn^. .in.whom_
outward conduct accords perfectly with, . the, dinner _li££.J
oToi} 6 Xo'yo? Toloi 6 ;8io? is a favourite maxim.' In the
preparatory stages of the Christian life the good foundation
is laid alike by right conduct and by right instruction ; and
when the perfection of our salvation comes in view, there
are still the two ways, which are not two in reality, the way
of deeds and the way of knowledge.* For right action is
for man in this present life inseparably linked with advanced
knowledge ; deeds follow knowledge, as its shadow follows
the body ; Illumination must never be dissociated from
obedience, nor the martyr's testimony in word lack the
corroboration of his life.* We may remember that among
> 436. 2 660, 683. 3 53i_ 893. * 318, 581.
' 454, 531, 57°, 882. Plotinus, too, called action a-Kid Beuplas xa! \dyov,
but with a different implication. Enn., iii. 8, 4 ; Inge, Christian Mysticism,
96 [ed. 1912].

THOUGHT AND ACTION 237
the characteristics of the Christian Gnostic are his liberality,
his habit of doing good, his prayer for others, above all, his
ready delight In the teacher's ministry. The measure of
stress which is laid throughout upon active beneficence, as
the complement of spiritual insight and interior attainment,
is really noteworthy and forms a protest, all the more
striking because It proceeds from a centre of libraries and
lecture-rooms, against every severance of knowledge from
active service. It Is like Saint John's teaching that he who
wills to do shall know ; like Saint Paul's refusal to praise
"all knowledge" where charity Is wanting. It was no doubt
a cause of this happy association of thought with action, of
words with deeds, that Clement in his own personal life had
combined the two. Once again we are reminded of the
correspondence, so often discernible, between his abundant
teaching and our scanty acquaintance with his history. And
it Is a consequence of this same association that. In spite of
all he says about the transcendent remoteness and isolation
of God, he can still not Infrequendy remind us of the active
benevolence of Deity. " For, being good, if He were ever
to cease doing good. He would cease also to be God, a thing
one should not even say." *
There Is another element in Clement's piety, difficult to
define, but of recognised importance. In virtue of which he
has close affinities with the Mystics, though he never belongs
wholly and properly to their company. The attempt to
locate him with any precision In this connection gives rise
at once to a number of problems, on which there is little
unanimity among his interpreters. How much did he
borrow from the Hellenic Mysteries, whose vogue was so
increasingly considerable in his time ? What was the true
nature of his relationship to Neoplatonism ? At what point
does he separate himself from other teachers, of whose title
•813.

238 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
to be Mystics proper there has never been any doubt .-• All
these Inquiries confront us, when we attempt to estimate this
element in his teaching. Perhaps elaborate and thorough
discussions of the subject would not carry us much further
than Bigg's conclusion that, " though the father of all the
Mystics, he is no Mystic himself," never entering " the
enchanted garden which he opened for others."* We may
indicate briefly what constitutes his affinity with Mysticism ;
also what ultimately marks his deviation from a school or
tendency with which he has so much In common.
It Is probably In terminology that his Indebtedness first
strikes the reader. Alike in reference to rites and to
doctrine, his use of the language of the Mysteries Is con
stant." He Is familiar with the three great stages of the
Mystic life, Purification, Initiation, Vision ; and these terms
are frequently employed in reference to Christianity. He
thinks of the Divine Word as the true " Mystagogue," quite
as readily as under the other figure of the great High Priest.
And if his indebtedness to Neoplatonism Is far less clear
than his obligation to the Mysteries of Eleusis, this by no
means rules out all relationship between the Christian father
and the fellowship of Plotinus. It only means that the
connection was not one of direct appropriation, in particular
that, on chronological grounds, Clement can hardly have
reckoned Ammonlus Saccas among his teachers.' But there
can be very little doubt that the tendencies, which afterwards
resulted In Neoplatonism, were actively at work in Clement's
mind. They never take him so far as Ecstasy. They never
lead him to open depreciation of understanding and intelli
gence. But there Is a certain tinge of emotion In Clement's
highest stages of spiritual vision. Something which Is not
1 Christian Platonists, 98.
2 See the list of terms in Hort and Mayor, Iv,, Ivi, ; cp. supra, pp. 157 sqq.
3 Merk, op. cit., 35, n.

MYSTICISM IN CLEMENT 239
the dry light of reason enters in. He draws near to a
country, into which he does not venture, where thought,
after finally suppressing the desires and the senses, seems
to become that passionate consciousness of union with its
Object, in which feeling reasserts its claim. So far is Clement
led by the forces which create the mystic nature. He Is
conscious of the spirit's trend to that which lies beyond.
He discerns inner meanings and values, delights In allegory
and symbols. He will write at times of the Beatific Vision
with a glow of genuine emotion. To behold the face of
God is, for him, the equivalent of absolute tranquillity and
entire content. The inward things with him are ever the
highest and the really precious. Does not all this once and
finally make good his title to the Mystic's name ?
So far, yet not completely. For, though it is probably
true that the religious element is stronger and more deter
minative in Clement's nature than the intellectual, and that
more ties of affinity unite him with the Mystics than with
the Rationalists, still he carries over his intellect into his
religion, his reason into the visions of his soul, in a manner
which is alien to the true mystic disposition. No doubt It
is as difficult to define Mysticism as it Is to define Gnos
ticism, and Clement's relative position must depend upon
where we locate or discover the central spiritual factors of
the mystic nature. Sometimes it Is spoken of as Including
" all believers In whom the emotional element predominates
largely over the Intellectual." * Sometimes its interpreters
are led to dwell upon " the hopelessly irrational character
of all great religions," and on the doom of the true intel
lectualist, who " is obliged in the end to adopt some form
of sceptical philosophy." "
1 Bigg, op. at., 99, n.
2 Evelyn Underbill, Mysticism, pp. 17, 20. See, too, the various defini
tions of Mysticism collected in Inge, op. cit., Appendix A.

240 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
Now such statements, and much more of the language
which is current in the literature of the school, take us Into
an atmosphere which would have been alien and disquieting
to Clement's spirit. It would never have been natural to
him for his soul " to divest herself of all form," * or to
employ habitually such a symbol as that of the soul's
" mystical marriage," so characteristic as It Is of the dis
tinctive experience of this interior life. So far as we know,
experience had never led Clement through the " Dark Night
of the Soul," and his even temperament would have been
steadily averse to those alternations of mood which are
implied In the well-known maxim, " gyrans gyrando vadit
spiritus." To the last he is the true Hellene, loving form
and sanity and balance and control. Reason he knows, but
not rapture ; he will possess his soul and understand it,
but he will not let it go." And though the range of his
outlook takes his thoughts to those far confines of the world
of experience, where logic and definitions seem to fail, and
thc realities to be too great for human measurement, this
is still with Clement always a goal and a prospect, rather than
a phase of personal history. Hating vagueness, and there
fore accepting or loving limitations ; never quite trusting
the soul without the mind ; at heart a man of Athens, even
when Oriental tendencies were most operative In his environ
ment, he thus stops short of that line of demarcation which
separates. In so far as such separation may or must be
drawn, the typically mystic temperament from that of the
religious philosopher, who finds the goal of the spirit's
achievement in the conscious knowledge of Reality and
God. How intimately these two elements may fuse and
be united, no one who has understood the Fourth Gospel Is
' Quoted by Inge, op. cit., 97.
2 This is generally true, in spite of el iwipplijiai/iey eavrovs els rh /ieyeBos ToS
XptffTOV, 689.

PHILOSOPHER OR MYSTIC 241
ever likely to forget. Clement, who owes so much to the
Fourth Gospel, reflects its synthesis and combination. The
things of the spirit stand first, yet the mind and the reason
retain their own.
We pass to a different aspect of Clement's piety when
we come to consider how he reconciles the divine and the
human activities. In some fashion every teacher in the
domain of things spiritual must deal with this fundamental
problem, which underlies the familiar contrasts of Grace and
Works, Providence and Freedom, the Cosmic Order and
the Individual Life, God's Sovereignty and the Responsi
bility of Man. Clement was familiar with both terms of
this antithesis, partly by his philosophical training, in which
he had learned both the self-sufficiency of the sage and the
universality of the providential order ; partly, too, by his
acquaintance with Christianity and the Scriptures, where the
duty of initiative and the sense of dependence are so closely
Intertwined. He had not thought out all the questions that
are Involved, and he hardly felt the full stress of the problem
of moral evil, but he succeeded In combining a genuinely
high estimate of human nature with a very clear recognition
of the universality of the divine order. That he never
pressed the two to the point of incompatibility may stand
as a charge against his logic, but not surely against his piety.
For man, as Clement thinks of him. Is " a heavenly
plant."* He is lovable on his own account, the fairest
element in all the range of divine workmanship, a being
naturally dear to God." " By nature man is a lofty and
majestic creature, bent on attaining excellence, as being the
workmanship of the only God." ' Though he is not born
virtuous, he is born to become so ; and though essential
kinship of nature between man and God is explicitly denied,
this is only said to save the formal principle of the incom-
' 22, 80. == 101-2, 135. 3 276.
VOL. II. 16

242 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
munlcable character of absolute Deity.* We remember how
the advanced Gnostic Is " a god while moving in the flesh." "
This he holds true of man at his best. Like many other
philosophers he means by humanity idealised humanity,
that which man in the perfection of all his faculties would
become, or that which he had become once in the single
instance of the Lord.' Fundamentally, in his estimate of
human nature, Clement is an aristocrat. His standard of
measurement is the highest and the best, and here lies the
secret and the reconciliation of his wide sympathies and of
his Intolerance of the crowd. Sometimes there seems no
limit to his generous comprehensiveness. All manner of
persons are made welcome In his Church. Old barriers
seem to have vanished. Salvation Is for all alike. The
slave and the retail trader and the simple believer have their
place equally with the wise and the learned. The doctrine
of Christian fraternity, and God's choice of the weak things
of this world, seem taught here to the full.
But elsewhere he writes in such a different tone. He
has no real trust of the multitude. They need the whole
some discipline of fear and the Law. The quality of their
faith Is lax and unreliable. Their mood is fickle and variable
as the weather. A wise man will never try to please them,
and to set before them the esoteric teaching of Christianity
is to invite ridicule and to cast pearls before swine.* This
philosopher's Impatience of the unlearned does not harmonise
at first sight with the Christian love of the brotherhood, but
perhaps there Is no fundamental contradiction. Clement has
placed absolutely beyond doubt his wide range of sympathy,
his willingness to love and serve and welcome every brother
and sister In the Lord. But no less clear is his determina
tion to refuse to see the final growth of human character
and knowledge in the average Christian as he knew him.
1 467-8, 788. » 894. 3 ,56. 4 i44_ 34,_ 348_ 566, 753, 789.

CLEMENT'S VIEW OF MAN 243
This brother's title to admission and to welcome confers on
him no right to bind the Ideal and to restrict the type.
And so Clement's mind moves far beyond the average and
normal standard of the mixed multitude, with whom he was
associated In the common Name, and with all his generosity
he insists on the highest. The fullest knowledge, the
clearest purity of nature, the most entire alienation from
lower interests, the most perfect resemblance to God — this
is what he understands by Man : this Is that " perfect man "
of the Apostle, towards which all character must slowly
develop, till the finality of completion is attained. Perhaps
it was a philosopher's ideal, but that Is only an adverse
criticism for those who are prepared to say Clement was
wrong in his fusion of religion and philosophy.
It Is In accordance with this high view of human
achievement that Clement Insists so frequently on the
Freedom of the Will. Choice is a gift,* and, though a
bad man might well deem it a blessing to be rid of so
dangerous a prerogative. It remains an inalienable posses
sion, for otherwise praise and blame could have no mean
ing." For men, after all, are not mechanical puppets ;
they know the alternatives, and each, individually, Is
responsible for his choice.' We may choose or reject
the good life.* The acquirement of knowledge lies in
our own power.* Our use of our possessions depends upon
our will.® On the one hand alienation from God, on the
other all attainable excellence, are contingent upon our
decisions." Even the plea of delusion will not hold, for
belief in a lie may be voluntary, and the mind's assent, as
well as purposed action, are said to be within the area of
choice.' " It Is God's will that our salvation should be from
ourselves ; " ' this Is a fundamental principle with Clement.
1 994. 2 368, 481. 3 207, 434. « 149. 6 468.
« 943. ^ 60s, 620, 940. 3 437-8, 458- ° 601, 788.

244 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
In this sense he is fond of quoting the Platonic maxim,
aiTia eXofievov- deoi dvaiTioi. Virtue for him. It is often
said, consists in knowledge, as it did for Socrates. But
sometimes he will so far depart from the traditional Greek
view as to push back the source of human virtue behind
the intelligence to the will, and knowledge is said to depend
on choice rather than choice on knowledge. "A fixed
decision has great effect upon our knowledge." * " In all
matters the will takes the lead. For the reasoning powers
are by nature the ministers of the will."" It can hardly
be said that he has fully thought out the relationship
between the cognitive and the initiative faculties In man's
nature. Philosophy influences him more in his treatment
than the Scriptures, and his philosophy was so eclectic that
a certain inconsistency not unnaturally resulted. But In
any case he will have no determinism. Whether such
teaching comes from the materialist or from the Gnostic,
it Is equally intolerable. The power of choice must be as
jealously defended as even the greatest of the Christian
virtues, love.' Characteristically, Clement does not recog
nise any risks or drawbacks in making these wide claims
for human freedom.
Side by side with all this discussion of the idealised
possibilities of man's nature and of his liberty to achieve the
highest if he will, there runs through all Clement's teach
ing a different and complementary strain. Not less
insistent than his assertion of man's freedom is his doctrine
of God's Providence. Here Saint Paul, Philo, and the Stoics
are alike with him. Few offences in his eyes are so serious
as to question this cardinal religious truth. Newman once
said that Providence and the Future Life were the two
religious doctrines in which the average Englishman really
' 433- _ ' 469-
3 fidvoy rh irpoaiperixhy Kol rV dyd-rTiy aip^miiiey, 623.

FREEDOM AND PROVIDENCE 245
believed. And of the former of these it might have been
said with equal truth, that it was normally held by all
serious and educated persons in the Graeco-Roman world
of Clement's day. It was the crowning scandal of the
Epicureans that they denied Providence, and they were a
marked community. Lucian knew that this charge was a
most serious and dangerous accusation.* Clement himself
thinks of it as requiring punishment rather than argument."
This theory, on which the philosophic schools had, with
the one notorious exception, attained so entire a unanimity,
harmonised exactly with Clement's conception of the office
of the Logos, and also with the more distinctively Christian
doctrine of the love and care of God. Church and World
had here a point of agreement. All good things, "whether
they belong to the Hellenes or to us," ' might with con
fidence be referred to this source. Many of Clement's
observations on this subject are extremely Interesting.
Providence has its origin with God, who rules his world,
and with it his goodness stands or falls.* But It operates
In a gradually descending series of secondary causes, till it
finally determines the most Immediate and particular events.
There Is no least fragment of the world's order which escapes
its Influence.* It Is as pervasive, he says, in a figure which
sounds quaint to modern ears, as the ointment on Aaron's
beard.® The individual life, the life of the community, the
movement of the universe, are all alike determined by its
action.' Even chance and contingency are not outside its
range.* It is good and it is sovereign.^ It is just another
aspect of the control of all cosmic process by the Word.
There is interest, too. In his assertion that Providence
overrules even wrong deeds to good ends.*® He gives a
' E.g. Calumnice non temere credendum, 14 : Juppiter Tragadus, 4, 17.
2 646. 3 331. 4 602. ' 833. « 820.
' 831-2. 8 373. 9 423. 10 367.

246 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
glance In such statements at the difficulty of reconciling all
facts with the theory of a universally beneficent order. " If
God cares for you," people asked him, " why are you per
secuted and put to death } " but, for the most part, without
probing the riddle too deeply, he is content to discern one
of the greatest achievements of the divine Providence In the
admitted fact that out of evil, out of bodily disease and base
actions, some good and useful end may triumphantly be
brought.* And in another passage, too, there Is a reflection
worth our notice, when he remarks that It is through the
lives of gifted men, great as leaders, great as teachers, that
the activity of Providence has its most signal demonstration."
Often, too, Clement will give to these philosophical con
ceptions a more definitely religious tone, and in place of the
abstract Idea of a regulative order we hear of the philan
thropy of God, of the Father's love for his children, of the
unceasing care of the Saviour and Physician of humanity, of
the Good Shepherd, of the loving Father, whose saving
activity never stays.' There is hardly any part of his creed
In which he found more genuine and unqualified delight.
This recognition of divine goodness as ordering all
things well. Is one cause of Clement's optimism : side by
side with it we must rate his singularly happy disposition
as another. Few men of thought have had so serene
an outlook upon the world ; few have been so happily
untroubled by its contrasts and Its discords ; few have
known so little of the amari aliquid, which in general
vexes the man of " many books " more than the man of
action. But Clement possessed the secret of " rejoicing
In the Lord," and neither critics nor heretics nor perse
cutors seem ever to have robbed him of it. Existence he
definitely held to be a blessing.* Being was better than
ig.* Greek poets might speak as they would on
> 369. 2 822, 3 75, 4 532. 6 819.

CLEMENT'S OPTIMISM 247
the sadness of life, but they never convinced him ; * and
when he once remarks that man cannot fundamentally be
of " one substance " with God, so evident Is the confusion
and evil of our life, the words strike the reader at once as
exceptional, and at variance with Clement's general tone."
He will have no dualism : ' It is a good world, God's
and not the Devil's. Creation is the outcome of goodness.*
"Existence, Nature, Angels, Powers, Souls, Law, Gospel,
Gnosis," are all parts of one good scheme, depending on
" Genesis," without which the Cosmos could not hold
together.* If there is suffering, goodness triumphs over
it.® If flesh and spirit are in conflict, it is " a useful con
flict." " If death comes, it Is not really an evil.® How can
the Word be Lord and Saviour, unless He Is Lord and
Saviour of all ? * All the constant process of change, which
we see In " seasons, crops, and elements," Is an onward
movement towards the better state and, under the power
which administers all things well, the cosmic order, from
the Christian standpoint of Interpretation, is an unceasing,
undevlating advance.*® He Is not wholly a stranger to the
toil and struggle of existence, but he could have felt as
confident as our modern poet that it was never aimless,
always " co-operant to an end."
This general and pervading optimism expresses itself
in particular opinions, which were at least his own even if
they were not original. His attitude towards Nature, his
view of the world unseen, his theory of punishment, his
serene disregard of the darker elements of human experi
ence, are all phases of this enviable temperament. One by
one we may briefly consider them.
It can hardly be said that " Nature," In the modern
' 516 sqq. ^ 467-8. 3 526, 993 ; cp. Chap. xiii. supra.
* Behs . . . dyaBhs ^v, ko! Sid toEto Kai Srifiiovpy6s, 150. ^ 559'
8 587. ' 591. 3 568. « 833. '» 554, 640, 819-20, 993.

248 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
sense of the term, is a prominent subject In Clement's pages.
His world is one of books and cities, rather than the forest
and the field. Moreover, his Interest, whenever he displays
it. Is more akin to the scientific than to the poetic or
religious view. Still, his occasional references are interest
ing, and when he speaks of the mount of salvation, of the
sea of blessings, of the many streams which flow into the
river of truth ; or, again, when he refers to hunting or
fishing or to a country estate or to a close-grown thicket or
to a trim garden,* his language shows him not to be wholly
devoid of that " feeling for Nature," which belongs so much
more to modern than to ancient times. Sometimes, it is
clear, the conscious admiration of Creation, or of some element
within it, would lay hold of his spirit. He would be lifted
up by the contemplation of the stars." The beauty of
flowers would prompt his praise of the Creator.' The
song of the birds In spring-time had not fallen upon his
ears unheeded.* The joyous life of all young creatures
gave him special delight ; * and, in happy ignorance of the
privations which result from the struggle for existence, he
speaks of the unfailing supply of food for the wants of all
God's creatures.® He knew that grey hairs had their
beauty.' Also he had pondered, with Ecclesiastes, on the
way " in which the bones do grow in the womb of her
that Is with child."* The sea and the welcome safety of a
great harbour are specially well known to him. Perhaps
he did not wholly discredit the theory that the rage of
demons or bad angels brought the hailstorm and the
tempest.^ But this, in any case, was an exception, for, in
general, it was all good ; the Orphic poems which saw God
in all nature were right ;*® the Lord rejoiced In His handi
work, and man could accept this " fair world " with wonder,
* 3, 86, 331, 736, etc. 2780. 3 211. 4 221. ^ los sqq.
« 173. ' 263. 8 225, 9 754. 10 724.

REFERENCES TO NATURE 249
reverence, and thanksgiving.* So there is no critical eye
for discords, conflicts, difficulties. They do not trouble
Clement, as they troubled Origen. If he notices them at
all, they are accepted without anxiety, as the diverse notes
which make up the ultimate concord." The whole creation
does not "groan and travail " as It did for Saint Paul ; nor
did Nature "lend him evil dreams," as she has done to
so many modern souls. It is God's world and very good.
His optimism, if somewhat superficial, is characteristic and
sincere. Moreover, it is far reaching, and extends beyond the
present order. His references to the world beyond and to
the last things are not very numerous, and possibly they
are not always very consistent ; certainly they came from
various origins. They are usually hopeful, rarely sombre.
Like the Apologists, Clement held the theory of conditional
immortality.' The soul Is not naturally immortal.* This
is a gift, promised on certain conditions, dependent on the
right use of our opportunities and on our advance in
Gnosis, Identical, In other words, with our participation In
the eternal life of God.* Death from the Christian stand
point is thus only a change and a new beginning : the
" robe of immortality " is assumed, and the soul, which
has here no proper country. Is formally enrolled in its
abiding polity.® But this Is only for those who have
attained. Immortality Is an acquired privilege, an object
towards which man may direct his aim and will.
Now Clement has nowhere worked out In detail the future
'431. i Ka\hs xdofios, 839 ; Cp. 63 1.
2 581. 3 Harnack, Hist. Dogm., ii. 213-4,
* " Hinc apparet quoniam non est naturaliter anima incorruptibilis,"
Frag., Stahlin, iii. 203. For an early anticipation of the doctrine, also from
an Alexandrian source, cp. the epigram of Callimachus ending Bv-fiaKetv fiii \eye
Tohs dyaBois. Mackail, Select Epigrams, iii,, 67.
* 423, 575, 953- ° '17, 278, 450, 583, 599, 774-

2 50 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
of the soul that does not attain. Judgment and future
punishment are part of his eschatology, but he knows nothing
of an eternity of pain. Explicitly he never teaches annihila
tion, but he could not consistently reject it ; for something
of the kind would be involved, if his scheme were set out
as a complete theory. Thus, negatively, his conditional
view of eternal life helped his optimism. The sombre
shadows of the Dies irae do not fall upon his pages, and no
thought of the suffering of the lost spoils the unruffled
bliss of those who see God face to face. He has no Judas
or Ardlaeus upon his hands, for whom to find a fit and
permanent habitation. And though he knows that eternal
life Is the one thing worth winning and the one thing which
it Is disastrous to lose, at least he Is saved by his theory
from the task of reconciling an eternal penalty with absolute
Goodness. This is his eschatologlcal optimism on his
negative side. Positively also his teaching is wide and
hopeful, though it Is never lax or sentimental. The process
of salvation goes on, as he believes, both In time and beyond
it.* It cannot, therefore, be limited by any historic event,
not even by the Incarnation, for the Gospel must be uni
versal." This brings him to the common topic of the Lord
and His Apostles preaching to the Departed in Hades.
This curious article of early belief is used by Clement
for a very noble purpose. He will admit no favouritism
in the divine order. Hence, if some souls did not have
their chance of salvation on earth, they must have It else
where. The dispensation In the other world Is the same as
here. Man Is " in God's universe," even when he Is " in
another place." " For," he says, with a touch of indigna
tion, as he vindicates the utter impartiality of God, " It
would have been an act of no ordinary unfairness for those
who departed hence before the coming of the Lord, but
* irdvTUS triplet rivds ev re t^ XP^*'V ^*' '''* '^V aluyi, 332. 2 763.

THE WIDER HOPE 251
who had never heard the Gospel, nor of themselves Incurred
responsibility by their faith or their unbelief, to share either
salvation or punishment. It could not surely be right for
these to be condemned without trial and only those who
lived after the Advent to share the divine justice."* So
God is fair in another world, as in this one, and our destiny
accords with our deserts. He speaks sometimes of the
ministries of departed souls, sometimes of their varied
resting-places." The thought of " many mansions " is
congenial to him, for there are stages and degrees In glory,
one advance after another, till we grow at last " unto the
perfect man." Thus the varied ranks and services of the
Church on earth are really a reflection of corresponding
grades and offices In heaven, where there are different
" mansions," proportionate to the deserts of the believer.
So clearly does he teach the great hope of spiritual progress
in another world. He would have no narrowing down of
the soul's capacity to the level and limits of experience
here. "We are no judges of our future destiny and attain
ments." ' In this confidence a good man might " bless
God for his departure," * and as for human errors and
frailties, it must have been from Clement that his great
pupil learned the bold conviction, that God had not done
with Pharaoh when He drowned him.*
Closely connected with this doctrine of the future is
Clement's theory of Punishment, which Is generally recog
nised as Platonic rather than Scriptural.® The main prin
ciple Is that all punishment is a form of education. If we
suffer, it is for our gain. As the general has a good end In
maintaining discipline, and the doctor a similar purpose in
employing severe remedies, so it Is with the divine " School-
' 765. ^ 755, 794-8._
3 tIvuv Tev^tifjieBa Kol t( eadf^tBa, ovx V^eis Kpiral, Dindorf, iii, 506.
4 640. ^ De Principiis, ill,, i. 14. " Cp. esp. 138.

2 52 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
master." Reproof, fear, correction, the most Impartial
justice, all secure the good of those on whom they are
Imposed. Thus, in reality, there was no harshness In the
Law. Even the Flood was a salutary training, and the
yoke of the Lord a kindly yoke, borne with good results, as
He " drives each of us to our salvation." * There Is no
different character In the punishments of the future state.
God's penalties are " salutary and educative " even there,
and the souls that have been blind to his goodness on earth
learn, even against their will, to acknowledge Him here
after." Once, indeed, he speaks of fruitless repentance
and requital in another state, but even In this passage he
adds a reference to the knowledge that comes by pain :
TraOoov Se Te w/Trio? eyi/o).' Thus the primary and essential
character of punishment Is remedial, instructive, purificatory.
It has secondary aims, such as the warning that comes by
example, and the protection of society from evil-doers, but
its true nature is only understood when we regard It as an
element In the divine education of the world. Even
Judgment has no more Important end.*
Let us observe how much this theory rejects, or at least
Ignores. Clement deliberately excludes everything of the
nature of revenge from the Divine Nature. God takes no
vengeance, for vengeance is a repayment of evil.* Nor has
Clement any scheme of abstract justice, with Its demand of
legal equivalents as between the offender and the offended
Judge. The Church would have been saved much forensic
and unprofitable discussion In her doctrine of the Atonement,
had she kept the Alexandrine strain of teaching more
constantly in her mind. There Is a very wide gap between
Clement's theory of divine government and the conception
which underlies Michel Angelo's great picture in the
Sistine Chapel. And yet with all his optimism the earlier
' 495, 766. 2 763_4_ 879. 3 74. 4 634, 999. 6 140, 895.

PUNISHMENT IS EDUCATION 253
master Is never careless or easy in his standards, never leads
us to think that the Ten Commandments do not matter,
never allows his favourite principle of " accommodation " to
blur spiritual distinctions, or to qualify the exacting rule that
only by purity of heart is the vision of God attained.
We may dismiss his theory of punishment with one
further illustration. From time to time he refers to Fire
as a reforming agency, and the different references are well
worth notice. Once, in connection with a passage of pro
phecy, he mentions incidentally the fiery destruction In store
for those who refuse salvation.* Elsewhere he connects
the discipline of fire with the general theory of future
punishment, and says poets and philosophers derived their
teaching on this point " from the barbarian philosophy." "
The Stoic theory of fire as the productive force in nature is
familiar to him ; ' so, of course, is the Scriptural use of the
term as an emblem of the name of God. But there are
more important references, notably two. In one he writes,
" We say that fire purifies not the flesh of the victim but
sinful souls, meaning by fire not the vulgar and devouring
fire but the discerning flame, which penetrates the soul
that passes through the fire."* In the Ecloga^ he writes
similarly : " Fire is conceived as a good and mighty force,
destroying the worse and preserving the better elements.
Consequently this fire is called ' discerning ' by the Prophets."
In the same passage, referring to the Lord's saying that He
had come to cast fire on the earth, he observes that fire Is
" evidently a force which purifies the saints, and, as our
' 73-4-
2 701. The fiery rivers of the nether world are among the KoAatrr^pia els
TtaiSevoiy. 3 708.
* 851. See the valuable note of Hort and Mayor in loc. The remedial
or preventive discipline of this ippiyi/ioy xCp is also mentioned, 280.
' 995-6.

2 54 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
opponents say, destroys, as we say, educates, the ' hylic ' or
material natures." In other words, fire purifies and preserves
all that can so be dealt with. If the chaff Is consumed, this
is but a normal part of the process.* It is a sane and reason
able view of God's remedial methods of discipline, blending
wholesome severity with the wider hope.
Matthew Arnold says of Wordsworth that his —
" eyes avert their ken
From half of human fate,"
the implication being that the sweet calm of his serenity
would have been otherwise Impossible. Perhaps Clement's
optimism must also He open to the charge that he " averts
his eyes " from a good many of the darker realities of the
world. He never, for example, discusses the Fall ; and the
divine scheme, as he sometimes describes It, seems so con
tinuous that it is difficult to find place for any Interrup
tion in the sequence." We have had occasion to remark
previously that Clement never really faced Marcion's pro
blem, and that he seems unconscious of the cruel side of
Nature. Sin, too, as he thought of it, is a negative rather
than a positive evil, a hindrance and a failure rather than a
spiritual tragedy. And he can hardly be said to have
realised all the gravity of the world's contradictions. They
are mentioned as a topic familiar to the philosophers and to
Marcion's followers,' but his own discussion of them, like
that of many other awkward problems, is " deferred till we
undertake the treatment of first principles." He knew
there were various theories as to how the tares came to be
sown among the wheat, and that matter, ignorance, and
irrational forces, had all been assigned as the real origin of
Evil. * But a glance and a reference to these problems is
enough. They never trouble or arrest him. Without doubts,
1 148. ' E.g. 156. 3 520. 4 526,837.

CLEMENT'S HAPPY BLINDNESS 255
without antagonisms, without too keen a penetration, with
out any of the weariness that comes upon Intellectualism
when divorced from the affections and the soul, he retains
throughout his dominant note of faith and hope and glad
ness, and, if his philosophy has not explained all things that
are in heaven and earth, it has at least left us a memorable
example of Christian serenity and high trust in goodness,
knowledge, and the power of love.
How great In his own spirit's life was Clement's debt to
Christianity, how seriously he is misunderstood by all who
ignore the religious element In his pages, is apparent when
we compare him In point of tone and outlook with some of
his well-known contemporaries. Two comparisons of this
nature may be suggested.
Marcus Aurelius died about the time of Clement's
arrival in Alexandria. He must have been the older man
by about thirty years, though it Is probable that a much
shorter Interval separated the composition of the Emperor's
Meditations from the period of Clement's literary activity.
In any case they both belong to the latter half of the second
century, and, when all allowance is made for the difference
of their positions and their surroundings, the two men
retain much In common. Both have revealed their own
natures and convictions with singular frankness In docu
ments which survive. Both were greatly Indebted to the
philosophic teachers of their younger days and have freely
acknowledged their obligations. Both derived some of their
most fundamental ideas from the later Stoicism. Both,
under this guidance, had come to hold ex animo the belief in
Providence and Nature, the supreme value of the Inner
life, the ascetic doctrine of detachment from the world.
Both spent their most important years In great cities, the
one In the imperial capital, the other in Its only possible
alternative, and both disliked their crowds, their excitement.

256 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
and their noise. Both, philosopher-like, distrusted the judg
ment of the multitude. Both men loved little children, could
admire old age, and had felt the spell of the starry heavens'
majesty. Both were by nature religious, disinterested,
sincere. Both, in theory at least, maintained throughout
a faith in the unity and the goodness of the world.
With so much in common the pages of the two writers
may well afford us, when comparatively estimated, some
clue as to the " differentia " of the Christian standpoint.
It is true that to some extent divergence may arise from
other sources. We must not forget that Marcus was a
Roman, Clement to the core a Greek ; nor that the Emperor
wrote under the burden of heavy responsibilities and falling
health, while the Christian philosopher put together his
voluminous memoirs In the quiet of a library. Still, in the
main, what the Stromateis possess and the Meditations lack,
will largely coincide with the elements which Christianity
had the power to add to Stoicism, Religion to Philosophy.
Most commonly the distinctive feature of the Gospel is
seen In the Cross of Christ. " The old Gnostics called the
Cross ' Horos,' the Boundary or Dividing Line. The Gnostics
were a curious people, but they were right here." * . But this
would hardly have held good for our present comparison.
The " Cross " is not prominent In Clement's teaching, and
perhaps his teaching suffers because of this. On the other
hand, few men have taken up their cross daily and borne it
with greater devotion than the Imperial philosopher, even
though he did not consciously bear it after Jesus or call It
by any name. Thus the distinctive feature of Christianity,
as between Marcus and Clement, did not lie here. But we
do find in Clement's pages a sense of the love of God, and
a hope for the future, which in degree at any rate go far
beyond the thoughts or faith of Marcus.
' Bigg, The Church's Task, xv.

CLEMENT AND MARCUS AURELIUS 257
It is true that for the Emperor, Providence rules. Nature
knows no evil, the Gods have charity even for the bad and
stupid, and, if they have counsel for the Individual life, they
take counsel well, for " a god of ill counsel one can scarce
imagine." * The order is good. The welfare of the world-
city is secure, and what is good for the city must be good
for the citizen." But this universal mind and order is
strangely remote from the needs of the Individual soul.
There is little of what the Christian understands by fellow
ship and communion. In spite of the all-pervading immanence
of the divine reason and In spite of the bidding to "live
with the gods." Will his soul ever attain to the peace of
divine fellowship, asks the Emperor in one of the later
books.' There lacks the personal element in his divinity :
" It shall be
A Face like my face that receives thee ; a Man like to me.
Thou shalt love and be loved by, for ever " 
we miss that note. There is hardly more love and care for
the individual in the splendid order of the Stoic Cosmos
than there Is In modern Science. Contrast all this with
Clement's chapters on the office of the Padagogus, or with
the divine appeals made to humanity in the Protrepticus and
the Quis Dives Salvetur, or with the Gnostic's relations to
God, as the seventh book of the Stromateis portrays them.
Something has-been added by religion, and It Is the belief
in God as personal — personal, not in the sense that He is
limited by the Infirmities inherent In human personality,
but that He Is capable of entering into personal relations
with the individual human soul.* Therein does the
Christian love of God differ from the fair, beneficent, but
' Meditations, ii. 3 ; ii. 17 ; vi. 44 ; ix. 11.
2 lb., V. 22 ; x. 33. ' X. I.
» On this point see C. C. J, Webb, Problems in the Relations of God and
Man, chap. viii.
VOL. II. 17

258 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
irresponsive cosmic order, faith in which, as Renan said,*
" may fortify, but cannot console."
So with the Future Life. With Marcus, at best. It is an
open question. The wider hope Is far stronger In the Phado
than in the Meditations, and the Mysteries of Eleusis do not
seem to have left any permanent conviction on the mind of
their imperial visitor. Throughout the Emperor's pages
comes the constant reference to the two possibilities. At
the end of life's voyage we step out, for another life perhaps,
if not, all consciousness is at end." Serenely we are to await
our end, be It extinction or transmutation.' Perhaps the soul
is reabsorbed into the seminal reason.* Quite towards the
close of the Meditations, probably towards the close of the
Emperor's own life, he raises the question, " Why do not
the good renew their being .'' " He can only answer, that if
they do not, it must so be best.* The sentiment is that of
Huxley's epitaph :
" And if an endless sleep He wills, so best."
So there is no clear outlook of hope, only the undiscovered
country. " Serenely greet the journey's end, as an olive
falls when it is ripe." ® It was thus that old Job expected
to be gathered to his fathers, " Like as a shock of corn
cometh in in his season," but that was in the days before
deeper and sadder experience had shown him the inadequacy
of this creed. And with Marcus, too, the creed is inade
quate. We feel the strain and the effort, the painful resolve
to believe that all Is well In either case, the deeper trouble
that underlies the serenity, which, without insincerity. Is
still professed and taught rather than attained. Contrast
Clement's standpoint, with Death but a transition, and the
Hereafter a great assurance, and many stages of progress
1 Marc-Aurele, 271. 2 Meditations, iii. 3.
3 lb., V, 33, * lb., iv. 14. 6 ji^^ jjii J
' lb., iv. 48 ; cp. Job v. 26 ; xxix. 18.

MAN'S DOUBTFUL FUTURE 259
awaiting the departed soul. Contrast his confident expecta
tion, with all the crude materialism of the Chlllasts refined
away, of spiritual development and fuller Gnosis and at last
the conscious and abiding rest in God. Truly the doctrine
of the Interior life, divorced from the doctrine of the future
life, is scant support for the human spirit. There have been
ages and natures for which it alone was possible. Such ages
may come again ; such natures still exist. Let them read
and re-read the Meditations ; It has been called the De
Tmitatione of Paganism, and it deserves the name. But no
one who has understood the outlook of the imperial Stoic
and compared it with that of the philosophic Christian
doctor, will ever rate the belief in the world to come as
a negligible addition to Philosophy ; or contemplate with
equanimity a time in which the Christian religion should
narrow down the range of Its message to this present world,
so marvellous, so varied, so beautiful, yet so Incomplete, so
disappointing, so inadequate to the spirit's claims.
From the constrained seriousness of the Emperor to the
kindly cynicism of Lucian, the laughing sceptic of Samosata,
his contemporary, is a considerable transition. Lucian's
literary activity must have partially coincided with that of
Clement ; the two men may have met either In Athens or,
later. In Alexandria, for Lucian held a lucrative office in
that city, and though he preferred to reside In Athens and
discharge his duties mainly by deputy, there no doubt
were occasions when his actual presence In the Egyptian
capital was necessary. So the two, both men of letters,
both lovers of books, both blessed with geniality and ease of
temperament, may conceivably have known one another ;
the contrast between their estimates of human life Is
instructive. The Dialogue Charon, or The Spectators, may be taken as
typical of Lucian's sceptical gaiety. It has all the charm

26o THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
which, from Koheleth to Heine, so often graces the literature
of pessimism, and a further element of humour which Is the
writer's own. Charon has obtained permission to leave his
ferry and spend a day in this upper world, to learn what are
its attractions and why his passengers are so greatly troubled
at leaving It. He falls in with Hermes, whom with some
difficulty he persuades to defer business, which he has in
hand for Zeus, and to act as his guide. If they are to view
the world In a day. It must be done from some exalted
eminence, and Hermes hits upon the Homeric plan of
piling the mountains, Pelion and Ossa, upon Olympus, and
then, with Mount CEta thrown in as an addition, crowning
the whole erection with Parnassus. Charon, with some risk,
for " safety and curiosity never go together," Is assisted to
the summit, and there, seated on the two peaks of the
mountain and endowed with the power of distant vision,
the grim Ferryman and his guide survey the ways of men.
All the futility and vicissitudes of life are pointed out to
Charon, as, in a kind of historic parable, Herodotus had
long ago expressed them. We see Cyrus preparing to
attack Sardis, Croesus discoursing with Solon, the royal
gifts to the oracle for its delusive utterances, Tomyrls
beheading Cyrus, and the madness of Cambyses. "Q
TToXXou yeXcoToy, cries Charon as the story ends ; laughter
and mockery are all the tale deserves. Then Polycrates of
Samos, the typical tyrant with his typical reverse, comes in
review ; and after him all the varied occupations and unrest
of life, with cities like hives of bees " In which each one has
his own sting and stings his neighbours " ; and over all, dim
and hovering, the crowd of human hopes and fears and
follies and pleasures and greed and rage and hate and all
their like. Higher still, just discernible as Charon strains
his eyes, are the Fates spinning off for each his slender
thread of existence. Hermes dwells on the folly of life. Its

LUCIAN'S CHARON 261
efforts, its hopes cut short, its carelessness in prosperity,
its whimpers in reverse, its wilful ignorance of its own
insecurity, its ironies, as one eagerly builds his house and
leaves it to his heir without taking a single meal under its
roof, another rejoices in the birth of a son who dies ere he
is seven years old, others dispute for property, others gather
wealth, only to be summoned hence without time to enjoy
their own. And Charon wonders what, indeed. Is the
attraction of such a life. Even kings have no security, and
commoners fare worse. It seems that human life is just
like the succession of bubbles on the surface of the water,
some larger and longer lived than others, but broken every
one at last. He would like to address to them a spectator's
counsel : " O fools, why take these things so seriously .''
Cease your toils, you will not live for ever ; nothing that
we admire here is lasting ; a man can take nothing away
with him when he dies." So he would admonish them, but
Hermes says that It would be useless ; their ears are so
stopped that we could not open them with a drill, and the
few, who do know and see, live apart and laugh at the crowd,
never popular and always glad to take leave of life. And
the Dialogue closes with a panorama of elaborate tombs, and
ruined cities, and fierce contests for territory, on the part
of men who will scarce be allowed a foot's space by ./Eacus
below. The Greeks were a clever and often a happy people,
and they were delightful even In their pessimism. But
they could not meet all the needs of the human spirit, at
any rate not In the second century. Lucian, the one man
of his age who had the right to smile at the world's follies,*
brings into relief by what he lacks some of the gains that
were due to Christianity. Clement's conviction that even
this life was worth while ; his patience and tenderness with
' See Renan's estimate, Marc-Aurile, 372-3.

262 THE PIETY OF AN INTELLECTUAL MAN
much human weakness ; his sense of value in ordinary
things such as farming, marriage, money, books ; his
certainty that this world is not a jest and a game but a way
leading somewhere, and a school where knowledge may
be gained ; his own personal freedom from the disease of
tedium vita ; his insistence that you could not estimate the
value of the part without a knowledge of the whole ; and,
above all, his assurance that at the heart of all things Love
and Reality, not Laughter and Vanity, prevail, are missing
elements in Lucian's brilliant and delightful pages. For
Lucian was a pessimist with all his charm ; the Alexandrian
master was an optimist, who in large measure owed his
optimism to his creed.
Such are some of the aspects of Clement's many-sided
piety. The modern reader who will take the trouble to
penetrate behind his discursive prolixity, his literary in
debtedness, his doctrinal peculiarities, until he comes Into
contact with the real spirit of the master, may gain much
from such companionship. Clement had his mistakes and
his limitations, but his religion had the great qualities of
faith and hope and love. He believed in truth and know
ledge. He had no theological bitterness. He welcomed
all good things as he found them. He found joy in
believing. He valued ideals. He sought light, truth,
purity, service. He discerned and taught the breadth and
variety of the ways of God. With such natures it is good
to dwell.

CHAPTER XX
THEN AND NOW
Whoever desires to trace the delevopment of Christian
thought from the sub-apostolic age to the Council of NIcaea ;
or to mark the various phases and tendencies of the Church's
gradually formed organisation ; or, more particularly, to
see how Christian men and women of various orders
thought and felt In Alexandria towards the close of the
second century, is not likely to undervalue what Clement
has to offer. Previous chapters In this book have
attempted to make more accessible his varied stores of
information and to portray in some degree his life, his
character, his relations to his own time. It remains to
bring into clearer prominence a further question, of which
hints and suggestions have already presented themselves to
the reader. Apart from Clement's interest to the student
of the past, has he any value for those who are confronted
by the claims and problems of to-day ? Thucydldes wrote
his history and believed that it might prove " an eternal
possession," because he expected events, like or parallel to
those he was about to narrate, would surely occur again.*
If he did not regard the course of this world exactly as a
cycle, at least he held that men could so far carry the past
with them down the ages, as to draw upon its resources for
the ever varying yet ever similar demands of life. May
the modern Christian teacher apply this principle to patristic
' Thuc. i. 22.
263

264 THEN AND NOW
studies, and hope in particular that the somewhat laborious
enterprise of an intimate acquaintance with Clement's
writings will yield him guidance and suggestions for the
discharge of his difficult office amid the actual conditions of
our own time .'' To what extent may he derive from the
second century lessons which will not be wholly out of date
in the twentieth, and feel, after conversing in spirit with
the old Alexandrine father in his library, that he comes
away better qualified to speak, whether tt/oo? TrapoVra?
or Si v-iroixvtjfJidTwv, to men who are living to-day's life In
Oxford, or Liverpool, or London .''
Whoever resolves to risk his time and pains in approach
ing Clement with this purpose, may find several encourage
ments for his quest. Not least among these will be the
very general consensus of opinion among modern interpreters
of Clement, as to his peculiar value for the Church of later
days. So far back as 1859 the Abb6 Cognat wrote in the
preface of his book on the Alexandrine father, " Notre
travail n'est done pas une ceuvre de pure Erudition historique.
C'est pour r^pondre a des besoins presents, pour r^soudre
des questions contemporaines."* Similar is the view ex
pressed by E. de Faye in his singularly valuable study,
" Ce qui rend le sl^cle de C16ment d'Alexandrie si Intdressant,
c'est qu'il est, comme le n6tre, une epoque de transition oil
fermentent les germes fdconds de I'avenir." " And Professor
Swete writes in a like strain, " Clement's conception of Chris
tianity, in its relation to the whole field of human thought,
is one that has an especial value for our own times, and
promises to be Increasingly useful in the present century." '
1 Clement d'Alexandrie, sa doctrine et sapoUmique, Preface, p. 3.
2 Preface, 1-2.
3 Patristic Study, p. 48. So Westcott, Dictionary of Christian Bio
graphy, art. " Clement of Alexandria," says his writings have " their peculiar
interest in all times of change.'' See, too, Gwatkin, The Knowledge of God,
ii, 89 sqq.

PRESENT VALUE OF CLEMENT'S WORK 265
With such sanctions the Christian teacher of our own
day may make his journey across the ages, and sojourn for
a while In Clement's world, much as the typical teacher of
that day would travel and stay for a season in one city or
another, where the voice of wisdom might be heard. The
similarities between the two ages. Then and Now, will not
fail to present themselves. Again and again the parallelism
will suggest the old question, whether present history Is
not, after all, a repetition of the past. In some such terms
as the following our supposed traveller from the modern
world to the ancient might tell the tale of what he saw,
and then be puzzled to find that his account of the second
century might. In its essential features, be said to hold good
for the twentieth as well.
" I see around me," we could imagine him to say, " a
civilisation which has stood for many centuries and has
survived many vicissitudes, yet shows evidence that it has
passed its prime. Old traditions, old sanctities are called in
question. There Is an Increasing tendency to break away
from the past, without as yet any certainty or guarantee
for the future. Outside its area are other nationalities
rising slowly Into prominence, held for many previous
generations of slight account, but now threatening a possible
challenge for the future. Principles of humanity, and of
the love of man as man, are taught by all the finer spirits
of the time, yet the lot of the unfortunate remains little
altered. The children who are born come sometimes into
a world where there is little welcome for them, and popula
tion, as the few observers who understand know well, tends
to decline among the races whose achievements have been
most marked. Many methods of reconciling old forms
and faiths with new tendencies are suggested ; many Influ
ences altogether novel In aim and character are at work ;
yet no man may so read the signs of the times as to say

266 THEN AND NOW
with any certainty in what quarter the supreme and dominant
influence of the future must be sought.
" Out of such a shifting and uncertain environment come
different moods to take possession of the human spirit.
One of these, hardly amounting to actual pessimism, is the
acquiescent recognition that great days have been, shall be,
but are not now ; the resolute surrender of many dreams
and Ideals, accompanied often by the loyal discharge of such
minor duties as are clear. In this spirit many follow life's
roadway with a certain sense of " tedium," under dim skies,
and with no knowledge of its destination, but with the sure
abiding fact that the road at least Is there. With no certain
vision many sincere spirits pass through life's stages in this
temper, without great hopes or noisy murmurs. But some
times the result of this environment Is rather the interior
mood of quest. Doubting the value, under the prevailing
conditions, of a public career, and conscious that much of
external religion had lost its significance and validity for
those who know, many a man has turned within, and sought
there for the realities upon which he may stay his soul.
On this Inward pathway of mystic quest advance Is slow
and It is the few who find. But, when the value of external
achievements is called in question, the treasure must be
sought elsewhere. For those who can tread it the inward
way Is an alternative, and few who start upon It ever finally
turn back. Religion so reclaims her proper sanctuary, and
there awaits the advent of the New Age, in which she may
issue forth Into the world again for fuller activities of service.
" For the rest, many barriers are breaking down, many
landmarks no longer separate. Systems are losing their
clearness of outline, and eclectics learn in many schools.
There are many books, there are many Ideas, many teachers ;
but their very abundance is both token and cause of the
change and uncertainty that prevail. Men travel with ease

THE PRESENT IN THE PAST 267
and security : they develop the material resources of earth
with singular success : they have a heritage from the past
rich beyond their power of appropriation : they have abun
dantly elaborated the conveniences and apparatus of exist
ence : they are so far freed from convention that any
question may be raised, any theory criticised. Yet their
wealth, their freedom, their entry into other men's labours,
leaves them in need of some new thing, of which they can
tell neither the source, nor the nature, nor the manner of
Its coming. Only they are aware that the old powers no
longer rule, and that of the many new claimants for dominion
none has yet succeeded in finally making his title clear.
The world has arrived, not so much at the Parting of the
Ways, for that implies the possibility of Immediate decision,
but rather at the Cross Roads, where several courses are
open, and there are no signposts to guide, and hesitation
falls upon the traveller."
On such lines as these might some modern spirit read
the present In the past. Sometimes resemblances of detail,
sometimes similarities of atmosphere and tone, would remind
him of the parallel, and encourage him in his effort to
appropriate ancient wisdom for to-day's problems. Yet he
would reflect, too, that, if there is approximation, there Is
also divergence. For history does not really repeat itself,
and the world Is not, as the old Stoics thought, a cycle, but
a process and an evolution. It remains so for us, even
though the goal be altogether beyond man's range of vision.
Hence arises the danger of being misled by partial similari
ties and the need of vigilance In any utilisation of the
ancient stores. For there Is, in reality, no going back,
neither to Alexandria, nor even, in the common phrase,
" back to Christ," which must ever be Interpreted as
meaning Forward, to the Christ who is to be. And this
general truth, following, as it necessarily does, from the

268 THEN AND NOW
dynamic, as opposed to the static principle in religion,
would come home to the observer of the twentieth century,
who, in spirit, should reside for a season In the second,
through various particular divergences. It Is only needful
to name a few.
He would note especially that for the age of Clement
there was no Social Question, in the sense In which our own
age is conscious of it. Property, slavery, marriage were
not, of course, wholly forgotten ; the Alexandrian father
himself had something to say on each. But the regenera
tion of the individual was then the primary concern of
Christianity, and outward conditions were only indirectly
changed. The Church was more conscious of God's
inward presence, than of the possibility of higher Ideals
for Caesar's kingdom. So, perhaps because it could not
have been otherwise, her standard was open to the charge
of " Inclvism " ; she was content to make saints instead of
attacking slavery.
In our own time it Is very different. We start with
the conditions and treat character as the consequence ; we
think that we must first build the City of God, and then
consider how to produce the angels. Christianity is ex
ploited by those whose real convictions are economic or
social rather than religious, and in a somewhat facile con
tempt for the old-fashioned " other-worldliness " we seek
the Kingdom of God In a minimum wage and an amended
Social Order. The trend of the time draws our leaders
more and more from the quest of truth in theology to the
quest of righteousness in economic conditions. Whether
the pendulum have not swung too far from the error of
inclvism towards a purely mundane Christianity, whether
the Gospel of social progress can really be proved identical
with the message of Jesus, are questions beyond our present
purpose. It is enough to note that the Christianity of the

POINTS OF CONTRAST 269
second century was predominantly individual, while that of
the twentieth is predominantly social. Certain deductions are,
of course, to be made on either side of the antithesis, but in
the main it holds good and It is a contrast of great moment.
There is another difference, hardly less important. In
both centuries, then and now, religious thought is found
in solution. Ideas are singvdarly fluid and can be run
together into various moulds. Then a man could be a
Stoic and a Christian. Now he may be a Christian and
a Hegelian, or, perhaps, a Christian Agnostic. But this
solution or fluidity of thought, in so far as Christianity
is involved as one of its constituent elements, differs in
one Important respect to-day from what it was in Clement's
time. Then the ideas in liquidation were derived from
ancient Philosophies, from Eastern Religions, from Nature
Cults, or the Mysteries, or the hoar antiquity of Egypt.
Into the ferment, as the latest added element. Its potency,
Its assimilative powers wholly unsuspected, was thrown
Christianity. The result is well known. To-day, with
ourselves, the condition of solution is found again ; the
component elements are no less varied, no less complex,
in their subtle action and reaction. But Christianity is
this time, not the latest, but the oldest of them all. It
has acquired properties and characteristics. It has crystal
lised into shapes, which may be soluble, but which may only
be capable of assimilation if first they are crushed and
broken. Something of the vitality and elasticity of youth
it has lost Inevitably with the years. The tremendous heri
tage of its history is also, in certain aspects, an obstacle and
a limitation. Only partially can we enter into other men's
labours. Our observer may note in the second century a
score of points In which the Christianity of the twentieth
has the advantage. But In one respect, a respect of primary
importance in a transitional time, the preference lies with

270 THEN AND NOW
the early Church. It was more free, just because it was so
much less deeply committed to the past. Therein lay a
second contrast, this also of great moment.
Beyond these two divergences, our imaginary visitor to
Clement's age and city would notice others of hardly less
significance. The years have brought an obvious change
in the mode of interpreting the Scriptures. Allegory is
gone, and Prophecy is more truly understood. The
Demons are no more. The belief that all non-Christian
teachers must have " stolen " their truth has vanished also.
The doctrine of the Logos, in spite of Saint John's Prologue,
was not preserved and developed as it might have been.
The Quartodeclman has been succeeded by other contro
versies. And, in place of the ancient pride In higher
spiritual Gnosis, the modern spirit Is painfully conscious
of the limitations which beset man In his search for reality.
These and many other differences would come into the
mind of one who should try to blend old and new ; as
afterthoughts, when the first impression of notable simi
larity had given place to further reflection. It has been
said by one well qualified to judge, that "At every turn
we are constrained to feel that we can learn to good effect
from the Apostolic Age only by studying its principles and
ideals, not by copying Its precedents." * What is true of the
Apostolic Age is also true of many other ages of the " Chris
tian Ecclesia," even of one presenting so many parallels
with our own as that of Clement in Alexandria.
But, after all, principles and ideas are of more value
than precedents of detail. And when there has been
deducted from Clement's work that very large element
which had only transient Interest and validity, and when
the modern teacher who would learn in Clement's school
has made, In full, the whole abatement which his religious
1 F. J. A. Hort, The Christian Ecclesia, p. 169.

PRINCIPLES NOT DETAILS 271
and didactic standpoint, as distinct from one purely his
torical, must involve, there remain still certain characteristic
elements in the Alexandrian Master which are of permanent
worth ; for whose effective operation the world renews Its
especial gratitude whenever the days of spiritual transition
recur. Let us take leave of Clement by gathering together
such abiding contributions as a fellow spirit, under latter-day
conditions, might appropriate from his abundant diversity.
He has to offer us, before all else, a great example of
the synthetic attitude of mind. Again and again we have
found him noting similarities rather than points of difference,
claiming alliance rather than scolding error. The great
scheme of his tripartite work was one of far-reaching
synthesis, never fulfilled, because his comprehensive spirit
outran his Intellectual powers. It is the same tendency we
have observed In his delight to reconcile Plato with the
Gospels ; In his readiness, unlike Tertullian, to see value
in culture ; in his wish, unknown to Irenaeus, to understand
the best in Gnosticism. He is no lover of contrasts or of
catastrophes or of rifts or of barriers. Rather he finds the
one Divine Word everywhere at work, and builds on this
faith a great habitation, in which the simple and the learned,
the Greek and the Jew, Past and Present, Church and
Cosmos, Saint and Philosopher, may meet to be at one. So
he stands among his kind, with Homer, Shakespeare,
Erasmus, Goethe, rather than with jEschylus, Paul, Luther,
Milton.* Like the ideal philosopher of his loved Plato he
was o-wo7rT(/co'?," with the faults of his qualities and all the
Inconsistences of spiritual liberality, but with an eye for
affinities, which reminds us, though the surroundings differ,
of the insight of the Lord Himself.
' For the contrast between these two types of mind, see E. Caird's art.
Hibbert fournal, October 1903.
2 Republic, vii. 537, c.

272 THEN AND NOW
This attitude, this orientation, though It ever needs its
complement in the critical, analytical, antithetic temper of
other minds. Is perhaps singularly appropriate to the con
ditions which confront the modern Christian teacher. He
has to recognise Science, Criticism, and Democracy, as
factors in to-day's world too powerful to be Ignored. He
may not refuse. If he is honest, to allow elements of value
in other great religions than his own. He is unwise, if
he fails to watch carefully the emergence of new ideals, or
to listen to the voices which call traditional and accepted
values In question. Moreover, in spite of all visions of
unity, he sees the fact of a divided Christendom. Under
such conditions must he deliver his message or write his
books. Where so many diverse elements are still in a
condition of competitive ferment, he may well warn himself
of the risk of premature synthesis, and refuse to accept any
particular adjustment of detail as certain to survive In the
final harmony. But he can hardly be wrong in conceiving
of the teacher's office to-day as fundamentally one of
Reconciliation. Many streams, he may well claim, in
Clement's words, flow into the river of truth. The spiritual
tragedy of Christendom lies in the Church's inability to
value its points of agreement beyond Its points of difference ;
In the ease with which great common truths, which should
have been the potent bonds of unity, have been permitted
to lapse into ineffective commonplace. The Modernists
may fail to maintain their position in theology, and the
Christian Socialists may be proved guilty of many economic
errors, but at least these attempts to reconcile criticism with
faith, democracy with the Church, are evidence of the
character of our present task.
The truly wonderful thing in the history of the second
and third centuries is the assimilative power of Christianity.
The world In East and West had few possessions worth

THE PROBLEM OF RECONCILIATION 273
claiming, upon which the Church did not lay its hands.
The outcome is rightly described as a " Syncretism," In
which it Is by no means easy to distinguish the original
and distinctive elements. Neither in Clement's age, nor
in our own, have men ever won general assent when they
have set out to answer the question, "What is Chris
tianity ? " Yet, however this may be defined, and even
though the true answer be that It Is a thing so spiritual
that it is best left nameless, without definition, at least it
had the power In the early centuries to unite with a large
number of concrete and recognisable factors, and so to
gather unto itself that body of media and materials with
out which, in the main, the spiritual forces are Impotent to
affect our human life. How an ancient Christian teacher
ministered with special ability to this end, and fused, in one
notable Instance of synthesis, the Christian spirit with
elements that had origin elsewhere, may be seen by every
reader of the Stromateis. For our own time It has been
truly said, that the permanence of the triumph of Chris
tianity depends not only on Its power to free itself from
the obsolete adjuncts, which were appropriate enough
in their time, but also on its power to unite itself to fresh
coefficients} In that phrase of Harnack's, which Is surely
true answer to the same brilliant writer's complaint of the
" secularisation " of Christianity, lies the suggestion of a
critical and pressing duty. And whenever this task presents
itself, whether now or In any after age, the future of the
Christian religion becomes largely dependent upon the
labours of those wide-mlnded teachers, who have the power
to discern affinities and to greet the ally In disguise.
There is a saying, twice quoted by Clement," in the
Preaching of Peter to the effect that the Saviour is both the
¦ Harnack, Mission, i. 318.
2 ydfLoy Kai \iyoy Thy Kiptov irpoae'iitey, 465 ; Cp. 427-
VOL. II. 18

274 THEN AND NOW
" Law " and the " Word." In these two terms are expressed
the diverse constituents of Christianity, the one derived
from Hebraic, the other from Hellenic sources. To what
extent the Hellenic element is discoverable in the teaching
and mind of Jesus may be regarded, for the present, as a
question In debate ; but there is no doubt as to the com
bination of Law and Logos in the case of either Saint Paul or
Saint John. The characteristics of Hebraism and Hellenism
are widely different, and it Is sometimes questioned whether
the two have ever really been so intimately fused as to
form a unity. Be this as It may, the phases of theology
and the minds of Individuals tend usually in the one
direction or the other, for the Prophet and the Philosopher
are not naturally akin. Clement, with all his genius for
synthesis, and with all his sincere appreciation of the ancient
Scriptures, Is still predominantly and representatively Hel
lenic. His philosophy never drove out his piety, but his
piety throughout Is such as the Greek spirit could entertain.
Through Christianity the world became for him one universal
Hellas, one comprehensive Athens. The rationality of the
Divine means more for him than Its Sovereignty. His
personal need is for Illumination, rather than for Pardon.
The highest grace possessed by his ideal Christian is that
of Knowledge. He holds Ideas of more moment than
events. In all this he expresses to us his fundamental
Hellenism. Trait by trait, feature by feature, the Greek
stands revealed. He never forgets Moses, but neither
does he forget Philo's interpretation of him. Can this
aspect of Clement suggest anything to our Imaginary visitor
from the twentieth century to his lecture-room ?
Huxley used to say that the real chosen people were
the Greeks * and the preference of light to heat, which the
saying implies, was natural enough in a man of Science.
> Life and Letters, ii. 426 ; (ed, 1900).

HEBRAISM AND HELLENISM 275
But It is not for Science alone that the Hellenic standpoint
has value. There are few religious needs of which our age
is so conscious, as it is of its desire for Light. The old
mediaeval dread of God Is happily gone, nor is there any
thing which men need really fear in the discipline of a Future
State. The legal conception of Christianity convinces us
no longer ; this debt, at least. Faith owes to Evolution.
Nor can it be said that our day is really lacking In the
power of responsive enthusiasm for high causes. But our
vision is not certain, our light falls in meagre radiance, and
beyond the brilliantly Illuminated circle of the scientific
knowledge of nature lies the dim, surrounding region, with
Its great ultimate problems of God, Freedom, and the
Destiny of the Soul. It is an age of quest rather than
conviction, when the Prophet frequently falls because he
cannot in reality convince himself. He would do well
sometimes If, like Isaiah's Watchman, he confessed uncer
tainty. "The morning cometh and also the night," but
whether the present dimness be the twilight of evening or
the dawn of a new day that Is very near, it were wiser to
leave time to show. In either case men wait and watch for
the light, not greatly concerning themselves whether it shall
break Inwardly upon the soul, or outwardly like a new
eastern sunrise, but surely the stronger and more resolute
In their patience for every record, such as Clement notably
affords, of an earlier day, when veritable illumination made
the way plain for the traveller, and the land of far distances
was clearly discerned. The Greek spirit had been no
stranger to our modern need, since the ancient Homeric
hero had lifted up his prayer, ev Se ipdei Koi oXeaaov, and
" to behold the daylight " became the accepted equivalent
of all that was worth possessing In the common human lot.
Perhaps more distinctively Hellenic Is the readiness to
consider new suggestions, a certain elasticity of mental

276 THEN AND NOW
temperament, a certain capacity to view the question from
a different standpoint. No power degenerates more easily,
none Is more open to criticism, than this dangerous facility
of the Greeks. Saint Paul failed in Athens ; It is no difficult
matter to contrast his depth of conviction with the super
ficiality of men who were ever ready " either to tell, or to
hear some new thing." The realities of the spirit are too
precious to be made the playthings of intellectual agility.
Moreover, with all his gifts, the Greek was brilliant rather
than reliable, and could raise problems more easily than he
could bring peace of mind. On similar grounds will our
modern teacher hear many warnings as to the perils of an
Alexandrian type of Christianity. He will be bidden avoid
the society of Clement and his kind,* on the ground that
the Church wins more by intranslgeance than by accommo
dation, on the ground that essentials are not open to
discussion, on the ground that, while great verities are in
debate, the souls of the common folk may starve. We are
all familiar with the arguments of religious conservatism,
and the liberal minded fail in sympathy, if they have never
felt the force and the pathos of its sincere appeal.
And yet, by the side of those whom the movement of
the age has not robbed of their Hebraic certitude, or of their
Latin rigidity of view, a place is open for the ministry of
the Hellenic type of mind. Such a mind knows well the
variety and multiformity of truth. It has the peculiar gift
of adjusting differences. It can suspend judgment — what
prophet ever could .'' It can discern a true tendency under
suspicious or unwelcome associations. It can recognise the
wisdom of timely surrender. It is conscious, often painfully
conscious, of the flux and movement of cosmic process. It
is fundamentally unable to hold religion Isolated and apart.
^ Perhaps the significant omission of Clement and Origen from the
Library of the Fathers is worth mentioning once again.

QUALITIES OF THE GREEK SPIRIT 277
It is conscious that different difficulties confront different
minds, and that God's mode of education is not the same
for all. If the Christian religion be a Deposit, once com
mitted to the keeping of a Divine Society, rigid, final,
static, unique, absolute in character, then It is sufficiently
evident that the Greek mind has little right to deal with
it. Having supplied the form and vehicle of Its expression,
the Greek should have departed and left the Latin and the
Hebrew in control.
But If Christianity is the life of the human spirit In its
highest yet attained expression, manifested In the Saviour,
and through Him communicated for its realisation and
perfection to the Race ; and if, further, like all other forms
of life, it is only secure by its perpetual adjustment to the
conditions, social, intellectual, physical, economic, of its
environment, then there can be little question of the world's
indebtedness to those teachers of Hellenic temper, who prize
clearness and fairness of mind, who suspect theological
violence, who hold sweet reasonableness in honour, and who
have the special ability to help their fellows In the hours of
change. They are rarely proclaimed as heroes, and it Is
often beyond their range to deal with a soul's tragedy. On
the other hand, in addition to their other distinctive powers
of service, they have frequently the special gift of recog
nising, while they discharge their own appointed task, that
there are other orders of labourers, under the same Master,
occupied in the same great field. So, like Clement, they
minister to the cause of charity, as well as to that of truth.
There is yet another service which Clement may render
to the modern teacher. In every age of Christianity it is
important to ascertain not only what beliefs men hold, but
also in what proportion they distribute their serious atten
tion among the various items of their professed creed.
For stress and emphasis fall very variously in different

278 THEN AND NOW
times upon the several aspects or elements of Christian
faith. One age has given prominence to the Atonement,
another to the Day of Judgment, another to the sufficiency
of the Scriptures. God's Sovereignty has come home to
one generation, God's Love to another. There have been
seasons marked by the vigour of Christian enterprise,
others by the value set on Contemplation and the Interior
Life. Making the same profession, and appealing to the
same authorities, the Church of different ages, and the
individuals of differently constituted natures, have thus
manifested remarkable variety In virtue of their different
distributions of value and Insistence. Clement has his
own marked features In this regard. He leaves his readers
in little doubt as to where his emphasis and interest mainly
fall.* It is perhaps In his estimate of the " proportion of
faith " that the modern spirit can follow him most closely.
This will be specially evident in relation to the Articles
of the Creed. In whatever manner the Church may
eventually agree to Interpret or restate the doctrines of
the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, the Ascension, the
Future Judgment, it will hardly be questioned that, for
the present, considerable difficulties beset their literal and
concrete presentation. True as principles, they raise many
questions if we treat them as events. Hence it is not
surprising that present-day Theology shows little inclina
tion, even when it most seriously maintains their historic
character, to build upon them, or to venture Its conclusions
upon their stability. The emphasis, in our present stage
of thought, does not lie there. But with the Incarnation
it is different. Here we have a doctrine far more capable
of relation to the dominant ideas and convictions of the
present. Science has little quarrel with It, and, philo
sophically Interpreted, It sheds light on many problems.
' See supra, pp, 240-1,

THE PROPORTION OF FAITH 279
It is a principle singularly fruitful for existing conditions
of religious thought, and involving far less effort of adjust
ment than, for example, the traditional theory of the Atone
ment. Herein there Is the closest correspondence between
present tendencies and Clement's interpretation of Christian
thought. For he says little of Sin, Reconciliation, or
Judgment. He lays no stress on the Virgin Birth, and he
tends, like the Gnostics, to spiritualise the Resurrection.
But the doctrine of God's highest or nearest act of self-
manifestation In a Human Life on earth, the extension
and implications of this principle In the Church and in
Humanity, the unity of the one spiritual Power In all the
many forms of Its self-expression, are dominant conceptions
in his theology and may be applied, with a minimum of
modification, to many questions of to-day.
So It Is, if we consider the transcendent and immanent
aspects of the Godhead. Clement has both, for he is
Platonist and Stoic at once, and his critics have found fault
with him both for banishing the divine to excessive distance,
and also for bringing it Into too intimate relations with
mankind. In any case he holds the two, and theology
to-day Is In some sense reverting to his position. God's
Sovereignty, God's Government, God's Law have in many
ages seemed to monopolise religious thought, but our more
recent guides speak to us of the Indwelling Deity. The
thought of divine immanence, incomplete as it is, and how
ever liable It may be to pantheistic exaggeration, is well
worth recovering, and we may gather suggestive expressions
of It from the Alexandrians. Whoever to-day would school
himself to recognise the Divinity, which pervades and inspires
both Cosmic Order and Nature's Beauty and Human
History and Individual Lives, may have his vision quickened
and his heart made glad by the study of Clement's numer
ous references to the Immanent operation of the Word.

28o THEN AND NOW
The source of his happy optimism lay really there, and, if
we could recover his sense of the divine nearness, we should
be more likely to share his optimism. Yet the transcendent
Sovereignty is never abandoned.
The same result is reached if we consider Christianity
as involving three elements, spiritual, intellectual, institu
tional. We are tending more and more to rate these in
the foregoing order, to lay stress on Inward experience, to
minimise the institutional apparatus, to acknowledge the
barrenness of the intellect if it be isolated and alone. There
is no question that, for Clement, the Institution comes last,
though we have already observed how real was his apprecia
tion of the Church and Its order. But it Is, no doubt,
possible to take different views as to his relative valuation
of the Spirit and the Intelligence. Authorities debate
whether religion or reason, the mystic or the philosopher,
is really the dominant element in his nature. We must
not here reopen the subject, beyond saying that if our
interpretation of Clement has been a true one, it is religion,
piety, the things of the spirit, the Inward fellowship, the
mystic principle that prevail. Whoever, then, in our own
day, conscious of the increased significance of the mystical
element in Christianity, takes note of the reaction from the
mere Intellectualism of much of our traditional theology, and,
recalling the reminder of Saint Ambrose, " Non in diabetica
complacult Deo salvum facere populum suum,"* or Harnack's
similar admission that " The intellect can produce nothing
of religious value," " recognises that the fundamental demand
is always for religion rather than theology, for life more
than for understanding ; whoever, with this fully recognised,
goes on to realise that reason, thought, intelligence, are still
essential co-operants, though they are not the spirit's life,
so that philosophy, metaphysic, and theology can never,
' De Fide, I., 5. 2 fji^t. Dogm., ii. 327, n.

SPIRIT, INTELLECT, INSTITUTION 281
save at the peril of disastrous loss, be eliminated from the
scheme of religion, since the Inward and spiritual significance
of Christianity must be perpetually expressed according to
the changing modes and conceptions of age and environ
ment ; whoever, with these two elements so secured at
their true valuation, passes on to the remaining factor of
Church, Society, Brotherhood, Civltas Dei, Ecclesiastical
Polity, with all Its necessary mechanism of rite, creed,
custom, form, buildings, membership, so infinitely valuable
as the means and organs of spiritual life, so infinitely
dangerous when they are over-esteemed as treasure, goal, and
end ; whoever desires that in his personal contribution as a
Christian teacher he may conserve these three elements in
their several values, without violence to the proportion of
faith, and scans the ages of religious history in the quest for
a kindred spirit who has served God with a like ideal —
such a man may well find fellowship In the company of our
Alexandrian father, who had so much to say on the inward
converse of the soul with God, and pleaded so earnestly the
cause of philosophy within the Church, and also had so high
an estimate of ecclesiastical tradition and the pastor's cure of
souls. There is one further lesson to be derived from Clement's
example, by which the teacher under modern conditions may
gain something for his task. In every centre of religious
thought, and more especially In ages when any " New
Learning " Is In the air, the claims of the simple majority
are apt to come into collision with the needs of the more
thoughtful few. The " Orthodoxasts " and the " Gnostics "
come Into prominence again with every movement of
religious discussion ; the interests of " Parochial Christi
anity " are set In contrast with the Professor's claim for
freedom and with the restless " intellectual's " desire to re
concile the old and the new. Mother Church, In the main.

2 82 THEN AND NOW
has cared especially for her simpler children. She has
valued their docility, their devotion, their Indifference to
the awkward questions. She has been angry, rightly angry,
with those who would put stumbling blocks In their lowly
pathway, or trouble with needless problems the serenity of
their service and their faith. Hence often her strange
harshness to the inquirer, her lack of sympathy with those
who felt the old home had grown narrow, her unwise habit
of scolding doubt. Remembering what the Lord said about
placing occasions of offence In the way of children, but
forgetting that He had also welcomed Nicodemus and
appreciated the sincerity of Thomas, she has only too often
sought to conserve the welfare of the many by Ignoring the
claims and difficulties of the few.
The conditions which are liable to occasion this error
were once prevalent In Alexandria, and they are not unknown
to-day. Clement's work Is an abiding protest against all
ecclesiastical neglect of the hesitating minority. Faith Is
harder for them than for others, but it Is less conventional
and more productive of results. So he faced, for their sakes,
the charge of being an Intellectual aristocrat and even of
economising truth. Whoever, in our age of numbers and
religious competition, seeks to minister to the questioning
few who can be won to listen from the borderlands of faith ;
whoever is prepared, if It must be so, to be criticised and
misunderstood by every sincere obscurantist of his time ;
whoever, knowing the risks of the way, and not forgetting
how easily the claim for liberty of teaching may become the
hard, contentious, illiberal, assertion of Individual whims,
still takes his stand by conviction on the side of wider In
terpretation, of greater generosity towards those without, of
larger spiritual freedom, and of sympathy for uncertain souls,
may be encouraged by recollecting with what tact, with
what kindly care for narrower susceptibilities, yet also with

OUR FAREWELL TO CLEMENT 283
what clear intention and with what quiet courage, the cause
of the thoughtful minority was once maintained in an
Alexandrian lecture-room, about which In certain Christian
circles there were doubtless great searchlngs of heart.
There, then, " fonci^rement pedagogue," in his lecture-
room, among his pupils. In the place that was peculiarly his
own, we leave this learned, happy, and wide-minded inter
preter of the Gospel. Those of us to whose lot it has
fallen to serve God within the ancient Church of the English
People, may remember that Clement has his affinities with
one of our own divines ; * that in his distrust of extremes. In
his love of peace, In his reverent and sober piety, he antici
pates some of the best religious characteristics of our race.
His Church, like ours, had its middle way, distinct from
the Roman type of Catholicism, diverse from the emotional
subjectivity of the Phrygian Montanists. It had, too, its
peculiar similarities, a like estimate of the Orders In the
Ministry, a like regard for " sound learning." Its mission,
like our own, was to win men for Christian ideals in the
midst of a busy commercial environment, and to prove the
possibility of the Christian standpoint for educated people
in times of change. To these purposes Clement's life was
devoted, and our knowledge of him justifies us In remem
bering him as among the Saints, even though his namesake.
Pope Clement VIII., removed his name from the official
list. Christian Liberalism has had few worthier exponents ;
nor need we deal unfairly either with Victor or Tertullian
or their latter-day successors, because we set an especial
value upon that different type of Christianity which was
Clement's own. Alone, by itself, this type would be
ineffective and unstable ; as a leaven and an element within
the whole it renders noble service, for charity and fairness
and intelligence and peace of mind and the reasonable
' He was " not unlike our own Jeremy Taylor." Bigg, Origins, 404.

284 THEN AND NOW
temper are among Its qualities. Therefore In every age it
is well that some men should learn, either In Clement's
school or in any other, to reappropriate the Alexandrian
standpoint, as one by one we make our several fragmentary
contributions to that great unknown consummation, so
assured yet so remote, which lies hidden in the mysterious
purposes of God.

CHAPTER XXI
SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
Hitherto the reader has been invited to consider the
substance of Clement's statements and opinions, rather than
his actual words. Quotations, even in the notes, have not
been numerous. In this concluding chapter the ipsissima
verba of our author are given, in the belief that some, who
have not time for a fuller study, may be glad in this minor
degree to come into direct contact with Clement's writings.
Some of these extracts are worth remembering for their
intrinsic interest ; most of them illustrate or confirm what
has been said in the foregoing pages.
The figures in brackets refer to the volume, page, and lines of
Dr Stuhlin's edition.
I. Divine Transcendence
'0 yap tHov oXwv Oeo^ o virep irda-av <j>u)vrjv Kat irdv votjfia Kat
irdtrav evvotav ovk av Trore ypaipn irapaSoOeii], appi]TOi &v Swa/iet
Ty avTov. — 685 (ii. 369. 26-28).
The God of the universe. Who is above all speech and all
thought and all reasoning, cannot be committed to writing, being
ineffable in His power.
2. Man's Inability to describe God
"Oiroi' yap Swafxei Oeov XenreTai avOpiairoi, Totrovrov /cal o Xo'yoy
avTov e^acrOevei, Kav fii] deov, aXXa irept Oeov Xeyu Kat tov deiov
Xoyov. dirdevrig ydp <f>v<rei 6 dvdpdnretos Xoyo? Ka\ dSvvaTOS
28s

286 SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
(ppdaai deov, ov Tovvofta Xeyto (^koivov yap tovto ov <f)tXo(ro<pu)v
ixovov ovofid^eiv, dXXd Ka\ irotrfTtiiiv) ovSe Ttjv ov<Tiav {aSvvaTov yap),
dXXd T>]v Svvap.iv Ka\ ra epya tov deov. — 826 (ii. 517. 17-23).
For as man in his potentialities falls short of God, so too his
language is weak and faltering, even in speaking not of God
Himself, but of the attributes of God and of the divine Word.
For the language of man is in its nature weak and incapable of
expressing God — I do not mean the mere name, for the use of the
name is common not only to philosophers, but also to poets ; nor
do I mean the essence, for that is impossible — but I mean the power
and the works of God.
3. How God may be Known
Ta yap Xeyofieva rj m toov irpocrovTCov avTOii prjTa eaTiv t] eK Trji
irpoi aXX>;Xa crxecetoy, otiSev Se tovtwv Xaj3eiv oiov Te irept tov
deov. aXX' ovSe eirnTT-rifxy Xan/SdveTai t;; airoSeiKTiKu' avTij yap
eK irpoTepoov Kat yvwpip.wTepwv crvvtaTaTai, tov Se ayevvijTOv ovSev
irpoiJirdpxei- XeiireTai Sri dela xa/O'Tt koi fiovw toj irap avTOv Xoyw
TO dyvwoTTOv voelv. — 695-6 (ii. 381. 3—8).
Things admit of being expressed in words either from their
attributes or from their relation to one another. But we can lay
hold of nothing of this nature in the case of God. Neither is He
apprehended by demonstrative knowledge, for this is made up of
prior and better known elements, but nothing has prior existence
to the Uncreated. So, then, it is only by divine grace and
solely through the Word which proceeds from Him, that we can
apprehend the Unknowable.
4. The Method of Abstraction
AdBotfiev S' dv TOV /J.ev KadapTtKov Tpoirov 6/j.oXoyia, tov Se
eiroiTTtKOv avaXvirei, eirt t>]v irpwTtiv vorjcnv irpoxwpovvTe; St^
avaXvirew^, eK tHov VTroKeifievwv avTw Trjv dpxhv irotovp.evot, d(peX6vTei
fxev TOV o-wfAaTOi Tag <pV(TiKa9 irotoTTjTas, irepteXovTes Se Trjv et? to
/Sa0o? StacrTacrtv, etra Trjv e('? to TrXaVo?, koi eirl toutoj? t^v et? to
fitJKOi' TO yap viroXeiipdev a-rnxeiov ecTTt, fiovai w? elireiv decriv
exovara, ^? eav irepieXw/uiev Ttjv deatv, voeiTai fiovdi. et toivvv.

SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 287
a^eXovTe? iravTa ocra irpocreiTTt tois crwfiaatv Ka\ toi? XeyoyueVoi?
aa-WfiaToii, eTnppiyl/-aiiMev eavrovs et'? to fxiyeOos tov ^pia-TOv
KaKeidev et? to dxaves aytoTijrt irpoiotp.ev, rfl vo-ficrei tov iravro-
KpaTopos af/ij] ye Trp irpoardyotfiev dv, oijx o ecrTtv, o Se fir) ecrrt
yi/fO/otcravTe?' <TX>]f-a Se Kat Kivtjcrtv r] crraaiv rj Opovov >] toitov rj
oefia >] apicTTepa tov twv oXwv iraTpos ovS'' oXws evvotjTfOV, Ka'tTOt
Kat TavTa yeypairTai ' aXX' o /Soi/Xerat SijXovv ai/TWi' eKaaTOV,
KaTa TOV otKeiov eirtSetxdricreTat Toirov. ovkovv ev tottw to irpooTOV
atTtov, aXX virepavw Kat toitov Kat xpovov Kat wo/UaTO? Kai voijcrews.
—689 (ii. 374. 4-20).
The stage of purification we may attain by confession, that
of vision by an analytic process, as we advance towards the primary
conception by this means. We make our start in this process
from the inherent properties, and strip away from body its physical
qualities, removing from it the dimension of depth, then that of
breadth, then as well that of length. The residuum is a point, a
monad, so to say, having position. If we remove its position, the
conception of the monad remains. If then we strip away all
properties of bodies and of things called incorporeal and cast our
selves upon the magnitude of Christ and thence advance by holiness
to infinity, we should in some sort draw near to the conception
of the Almighty, understanding not what He is but what He is
not. Form and motion and position or a throne or localisation or
right or left we must in no wise conceive as belonging to the Father
of the Universe, though indeed these terms are used in Scripture.
However, the sense intended by each of them will be made clear
in the proper place. Thus the First Cause is not in space, but is
beyond both space and time and name and thought.
5. The Universality of the Idea of God
Tevos S ovSev ovSafnov twv yewpyovvrwv ovSe vofidSwv, aXX'
ovSe TtJov TToXiTiKwv SwaTut ^>jv, fit] irpoKaTeiXrififxevov ry tov
KpeiTTOvos iria-Tei. Sto irav p.ev eOvoi ewwv, irav Se ecrireplwv diTTO-
fxevov ^ovwv, I36pet6v Te Kai Ta irpos too votw, irdvTa /xiav exet Kai
T>]v avTrjv irpoXr]\frtv irept tov KaTaa-Tiaa/uievov ttjv ^ye/uiovtav, et ye
Kai TO, KadoXiKWTaTa Ttov evepy>]/ui.aTWv avrov StaireipoirrjKev eir
'la-ns irdvra. — 729-30 (ii. 417. 2-8).

288 SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
No race anywhere of tillers of the soil, or of nomad tribes, no,
nor of civic communities, can live without being prepossessed by
the conviction of the Supreme Power. Therefore every nation
which reaches to the shores of East or West, the North, and all
who dwell towards the South, have one and the same precon
ception concerning Him who holds established sovereignty, since
the most universal of His operations pervade all the world alike.
6. The Divine Scheme
Ovrws dirdvTwv rwv ayadHtv deXrifiari tov iravroKparopos
irarpos a'lrios d vios Kadicrrarat, irpwrovpyos Kiv^aews Swapus,
dXrjirros atadrjcret. ov yap o >}v, rovro w(f>Oti rots x^P'i'^^'- A"?
Svva/xevots Std rr/v daOeveiav rrjs crapKOS, aiaOrjTr)v Se dvaXa/3wv
adpKa TO Svvarov dvOpwirots Kara rrjv viraKOtjv rwv evroXOiv Set^wv
dipiKero- Svvafxts ovv irarptKr] virapxwv paStws ireptytverai wv av
eOeXii, ovSe ro txiKporarov airoXeiirwv rrjs eavrov StoiKr]crews aippov-
TKTTOv' ovSe yap av ert ^v avrw ro oXov ei/ eipyacr/xevov. Svvafxews
S, oifiai, r^s p-eyiirrtis fj iravrwv rwv ixepwv Kat p-^XP^ '^'^^ p.tKpo-
rarov irpotjKovcra St dKpt/Selas e^eracris, iravrwv ets rov irpHorov
StotKijrrjv Twi' oXwv €K OeX^maros irarpos Kv^epvUvra rrjv iravrwv
crwTt]ptav d^opwvrwv, erepwv {i<j>' erepovs r/yovfuevovs rerayfievwv,
ecrr' dv Tt? eirl rov fieyav dipiKrjrat dpxtepea. — 833 (iii. 8. 4—17).
Thus by the will of the Almighty Father the Son is the per
manent cause of all good things. He is the initial activity of all
movement, inapprehensible to sense. For it was not in His real
nature that He was seen by those who were incapable of such
comprehension by reason of the weakness of their flesh, but He
took upon Him a sensible body and came to reveal what man had
power to receive through obedience to the commandments. Being
then Himself the Power of the Father, He easily prevails in
whatever He wills. He leaves not even the least item of His
administration without His care, for otherwise His conduct of
the universe would no longer be entirely good. And I regard His
minute and accurate scrutiny of all the parts, extending to the tiniest
atom, as evidence of the greatest power, while all turn their eyes
to the high Administrator of the universe, as He pilots the world's
salvation by the Father's will, rank stationed under rank in pre
cedence, until we reach the great High Priest.

SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 289
7. All Things put under Him
Oi» yap e^KTrarat irore r^s aiirov irepiwir^s d vios rov Oeov, ov
fiepi£op.evos, ovk dirorefivofievos, oil fjLerafialvwv e/c toVou ei? roVoi'i
iravrn Se wv irdvrore /cat p.riSdfj.11 ireptexdp.evos, oXos vovs^ oXos <poi>s
irarpwov, oXos 6<p0aXp.6s, iravra dpHov, iravra dKovwv, eiSias irdvra,
Svva/J.ei ras Swafieis epevvSiv. rovrio irda-a viroreraKrai a-rparia
ayyeXtoi/ re Kai Oewv, rw Xoyw rw irarpiKwrriv dyiav oiKovo/Jilav dvaSe-
SeyfAevw " Sta rov virord^avra," Si ov koi irdvres aUrov oi dvOpwirot,
aAA ot fiev Kar eiriyvwcriv, 01 oe ovoeirw, Kat 01 p.ev ws tpiXot, 01 oe
01? oiKerat irtcrrot, oi Se w? aTrXoJ? ot/cerai. — 831 (iii. 5. 25-6. 7).
The Son of God never leaves His watch-tower, never divided,
never dissevered, never migrating from place to place. He exists
everywhere and at all times and is nowhere circumscribed. He is
all mind, all light of the Father, all eye j He sees all, hears all, knows
all, and tests the Powers by His power. To Him every regiment
of Angels and of Gods is subject, even to the Word of the Father,
Who has been entrusted with the holy dispensation " by reason of
Him who hath subjected " them ; through Whom also all men belong
to Him, but some " according to knowledge," others not as yet ; some
as friends, some as faithful servants, some as servants simply.
8. The All-seeing Eye
' Ovirep yap rpoirov o rjXtos ov fiovov rov ovpavov Kat rov oXov
Kocrfiov (fxtrri^et yijv re /cat OaXaa-crav eiriXaixicwv, ahXd /cat ^ta
QvpiSwv Kat fiiKpas oirtjs irpos rovs fivxatrarovs o'ikovs airoa-reXXet
ri]v aijy^v, ovrws o Xoyo? iravry Kexvfuevos koi ra crp-iKporara rwv
tou jSt'oi/ irpd^ewv eirij3Xeirei. — 840 (iii. 15. 28—16. 2).
Even as the Sun not only illumines the heaven and the whole
world with the light that shines on land and sea, but also sends his
rays through windows and through crannies into the inmost recesses
of our homes, so the Word, shed everywhere abroad, beholds even
the minutest details of our life.
9. Man the Work of the Word
A.lrtos yovv 6 Xoyo?, 6 ^ptcrros^ Kat rov etvat TraXat ^fids (^v
ydp ev detfi), Kat rov ei) eivat' vvv Sr/ eTre<f>avri avOpwirois avros
VOL. II. 19

290 SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
oSros 6 Xoyos, 6 fxovos dfi<j>w, deos re /cat dvdpwiros, diravrwv rip,iv
airtos dyadwv' irap ov to ev ^rjv eKStSaa-KOfJievoi et? diStov ^w>]V
irapaire/j,irdp.eOa. — 6-7 (i. 7. 17-21).
The Word, even Christ, was the cause both of our first being
(for He was in God), and of our well-being. And now this self
same Word, Who alone is both God and man in one, the cause
of all things good to us, has revealed Himself personally unto men.
Learning from Him how to live aright, we are helped upon the way
to life eternal.
10. The True Shrine of the Word
MaXtcrra yap
dyaXfia Oeiov /cat Oew irpoarefiipepes
dvdpwirov SiKaiov ¦</''^X'?' ^^ tl ^'" ''"W twv icapayyeX/xarwv viraKofjs
refievl^erai Kai evtSpverai o iravrwv riyep-wv Ovrjrlhv re Kat aOavarwv,
BaaiXevs re /cat yevvr/rwp rwv kuXwv, vo/mos wv ovrws Kat Oecr/nos Kat
Xoyos alwvios, IS'ia re eKdarois Kat Kotvy irdcriv ef? wv a-wrrip. ovros
6 TW ovrt /iiovoyevjjs, 0 T>js rod Tra/U/Sao-tXew? /cat iravroKparopos
irarpos S6^>]s "xapaKTrip, evairocr(ppayt^6p.evos ro) yi/aicrri/cft) rtiv
reXeiav Oewpiav Kar eiKOva rrjv eavrov, ws etvat rpirriv ^St] rrjv Oeiav
eiKova rrjv ocr»j Svvafiis e^ofioiov/mevtiv irpos ro Sevrepov a'lrtov, irpos
rriv OVTWS ^wrjv, St' i]v ^wfxev rrjv aXt]0>j ^w^v, oiov diroypdipovres rov
yvwaiv ytvofievov rjixiv, irepi ra /3e/3aia /cat Trai/TeXoi? dvaXXoiwra
dvaa-Tpe<p6p.evov. — 837-8 (iii. 12. 14-26).
P'or, above all else, the soul of the righteous man is
" God's own resemblance, effigy divine."
In this soul is formed, by obedience to the commandments, the holy
place and shrine of Him who is ruler of all mortal and immortal
beings, King and Originator of every excellence, veritable Law
and Ordinance, and Everlasting Word, the one Saviour of every
individual and of all the race. He is the true " Only-begotten,"
the express image of the glory of the Sovereign and Almighty
Father. On the mind of the Gnostic he sets the stamp of perfect
vision, after His own image, so that the Gnostic is the divine image
in the third degree, through the closest attainable likeness to the
second Cause, who is the Life indeed. Through this Life we live

SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 291
the true life, making a sort of copy of Him who was made know
ledge unto us, and who hath converse with things sure and altogether
unalterable.

II. The Purpose of the Incarnation
Kat p.01 SoK€t avros ovros irXdcrai p.ev rov dvdpwirov etc xoo'?»
ai'ayei'i'^o-at Se vSart, av^^crat Se irvev/mari, iratSaywyrjirai Se pij/mart,
et? viodeariav Kai awrrjp'iav dyiais evroXais Karevdvvwv, "iva Si] rov
yriyevfj et? aytoi' /cat eirovpaviov fjierairXacras eK irpoa /3aiTews dvdpw
irov, eKeivt]v rijv deiKijv fiaXtara irXtipway pwvrjv' ^'' irotijaw/iev
avdpwTTOv Kar eiKova Kat KaO' ofiotwatv rip.iiiv.''^ Kat Sr] yeyovev 6
Xpiaros TOVTO irXtjpes, oirep e'tpr]Kev 6 0eo?, 6 ^e dXXos dvdpwiros
Kara pLOvrjv voeirai rijV eiKOva. — 156 (i. 148. 18—149. ^)-
It was He, I think, who fashioned man from the dust, and
regenerated him by water, and fostered his growth by the Spirit,
and instructed him by His Word, and directed his course by
holy commandments to sonship and salvation. It was His purpose,
by drawing near to him, to transform the child of earth into a
holy and heavenly man, and to fulfil that most divine of sayings
" Let us make man in our image after our likeness." Now Christ
was the perfect fulfilment of that which God hath said. But
the rest of humanity is to be regarded as possessing the " image "
alone.
12. The Educative Office of the Word
^oip'ia Se OVTOS e'lprjrat irpos airavrwv rHv irpo(f>riTwv, ovros
eartv 6 rthv yevtjrwv airavrwv SiSaaKaXos, o avp-BovXos toO deov
rov ra iravra irpoeyvwKoros- o Se avwdev eK irpwrrjs Kara/3oXtjs
Koa/JLOV " iroXvrpoirws Kat TroXu/xepw? " ireiraiSevKev re Kai reXetoi. —
769 (ii. 461. 11-14).
He is named Wisdom by all the Prophets. He is the teacher
of all the children of men, the Counsellor of God, Who foreknew
all. And He that is from above, from the first foundation of the
world, hath been training us and making us perfect " at sundry times
and in divers manners."

292 SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
13. Symbolism ends with the Advent
(On loosing the latchet of the Lord)
Taxa Se /cat rijv reXevraiav rov awrfjpos et? r/fids evepyeiav, rrjv
irpoaexfj' Xeyei, rijv Std r^? irapovaias, eirtKpvirrop.evt]v rw r^?
irpoiptireias alv'iyfxari' 6 ydp Std rrjs avrC^'ias rov deairt^op.evov
Sel^as, rijv els (pavepdv iroppwdev dSevovaav p.t]vvaas fiKovaav irapov-
aiav, ovrws eXvaev rd irepas riov Xoyiwv rfjs olKOvofiias, e/c/caXi/i/^a?
ri]v evvoiay riiov avp-^dXwv. — 679 (ii. 363. 20-25).
But perhaps he (the Baptist) means the last activity of the
Saviour for our sakes, the nearer activity of His Advent, which is
concealed in the riddle of Prophecy. For by pointing out for
eyes to see Him who had been foretold, he declared that the Presence,
which had been long upon its way towards manifestation, had now
indeed arrived. So he veritably unloosed the thread of the oracles
of the Dispensation by revealing the meaning of their symbols.
14. The Extension of the Incarnation
"Q,airep Sid rov aw/naros d awrijp eXaXet koi idro, ovrws Kat
irporepov fxev Sta rwv irpoc^tjTthv, vvv Se Sia riiiv airoaroXwv Kat rOiv
SiSaaKaXwv' ^ eKKXrjaia yap virtiperei ry rov Kvpiov evepyeia,
evdev KOI rore dvOpwirov aveXa/3ev, 'iva Si avrov virtjper^af] rw
deX^fxart rov irarpos- Kai irdvrore dvdpwirov d (j)tXavdpwiros
evSverai deos ets rrjv avdpwirwv awrijpiav, irporepov p.ev rovs irpo<f>rj-
ra?, vvv Se rijv eKKXrjaiav. ro yap o/noiov rw dfxoiw e^virtjpereiv
KardXXrjXov irpos rtjv op.oiav aumjptav. — 994-5 (iii. 143' 4— ")•
For even as through the body the Saviour spake and healed,
so also did He aforetime by the Prophets, and now by the
Apostles and Teachers. For the Church is the minister of the
activity of the Lord ; for which cause He took upon Him at that
time the nature of man, that He might be thereby the minister of
His Father's will. Thus at all times, in His love for man, doth God
put on man's nature for his salvation ; aforetime the Prophets, now
the Church. That like should minister unto like accords with the
like nature of salvation.

SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 293
15. Human Nature not "of One Substance" with
the Divine
O deos Se odSepiiav exei irpos rjp-ds (pvaiKtjv axeaiv, ws oi rwv
aipeaewv Krlarai deXovatv, {ovr' el e/c piij ovrwv irotoitj ovr et e^
iiXij? SripLiovpyoit], eirel ro p.ev ovS' oXw? ov, rj Se Kara iravra erepa
rvyxctvet rod deov) el fiij rts fiepos avrov Kat 6/j.oovatovs rjixds rw
dew ToXp.rjaet Xeyeiv' /cat ovk oTS' ottws dve^erai ns eira'twv rovrov
deov eyvwKws, diTiSwv els rov /Siov rov ^fierepov, ev daois <j>vpdp,eda
KaKois' etrj ydp dv oiirws, o p.tjS' eliTeiv dep.tSi p-eptKoos ap.apTavwv o
deos, ei ye rd peprj rov oXov peprj /cat avp-iTXrjpwriKa rov oXov, el
Se pi] avpirXrjpooriKd, ovSe fieprj e'lrj av. dXXa yap (j>vaei " TrXoi/trto?
wv d deos ev eXew " Sia rijV avrov dyaOoTi)ra KijSerai ripHov pijre
popiwv ovrwv avrov pijre (jruaet reKvwv. — 467—8 (ii. 152. 6—17).
God has no natural relationship with us, as the founders of the
Heresies try to prove. This is true, whether He created us from
non-existence or fashioned us out of matter, since the one has no
being whatever and the other is different in every way from God.
Otherwise one must dare to say that we are a part of Him and of
one substance with God. I know not how a man who hath know
ledge of God could endure to give ear to this, when he has regard
unto our life with all its evil and confusion. For in that case (though
to say it is blasphemy) God would partially be involved in sin, since
the parts are parts of the whole and complementary of the whole,
and, if not complementary, are not parts at all. But God, who by
nature is " rich in mercy," has care for us because of His goodness,
though we are neither parts of Him, nor by nature His children.
16. All Men belong to God
Ai/cato? TOIVVV SiKaiov kuOo SiKatos eanv ov. Siaipepet, eav re
vopiKOS {] edv re EXXiji/" oil yap '\ovSaiwv povwv, ituvtwv Se
dvOpwiTWV d deos Kvptos, irpoaexearepov Se rwv eyvwKOrwv irarijp. —
764 (ii. 455. 19-21).
Now one righteous man in point of righteousness does not
differ from another, whether he be under the Law or a Greek.

294 SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
For God is Lord of all men and not of the Jews alone, though He
is more intimately the Father of those who know Him.

17. The Many Ways of God
TLdvrwv ydp dvOpwiTwv 0 iravroKpdrwp KrjSopevos deos rovs pev
evroXais, rovs Se aiTeiXais, eanv (S' ovs arjpeiois repaartois, eviovs
Se rjiTiots eirayyeXiats eiTtarpeipet irpos awrrjptav. — 753 ("• 444-
10-13). God, the Almighty, in His care for mankind, turns some to
salvation by commandments, some by threats, others by signs and
portents, and yet others by tender promises.
18. The Ministry of Healing
0 ^e ayaOos iTotSaywyds, ^ aoipia, d Xoyos rov iTarpos, o
Srjpiovpyrjaas rov dvOpwiTov, bXov KtjSerat rov iTXaaparos, Kat
aSiipa Kat '^vxw a/cetrat adrov d iTavaKr/s r^s avOpwiTorrjros larpos-
loo-i (i. 93. 16-19).
Our good Instructor, Wisdom, the Word of the Father, the
Creator of man, cares for His entire handiwork and, as the all-healing
physician of humanity, heals both body and soul.
19. Providence
IIpo? yap T»;i' rov oXov awrrjpiav rw roov oXwv Kvpiw irdvra
ean Siareraypeva /cat KaOdXov Kai citI pepovs- — 835 (iii. 9. 26—28).
All things, both universally and in particular, are ordered by the
Lord of the universe with a view to its welfare.
20. Faith in the Divine Order
Jldvra pev ovv oiKOvopeirat dvwOev els KaXov. — 369 (ii. 55.
15-16). All things are administered from above for good.

SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 295
21. The Pervading Energy
T{] KaOoXiKij TOV Oeov iTpovota Sid rwv it poaexearepov kivov-
pevwv Kad' viToBaaiv ei? rd eirt pepovs StaSiSorat r] SpaariKij evepyeia.
817 (ii. 508. 18-20).
In the universal Providence of God the action of force is
successively transmitted through the more immediate motions on to
things in particular.
22. God's Goodness
To Se dyaddv, ^ dyadov eanv, ovSev dXXo iTOiei rj on wtpeXei.
irdvra dpa dxpeXei d deos- — 136 (i. 127. 13-15).
That which is good, by virtue of its goodness, cannot be other
than beneficent. God, consequently, is the Benefactor of all.
23. Philosophy a Gift
Havrwv pev yap amos rail' /caXwi' 6 deos, aXXa riiov pev Kara
TTporjyovpevov to? ri}? re StadrjKrjs rrjs iTaXaids Kai rrjs veas, rtoi/ ^e
Kar eiraKoXovdrjpa w? rrjs iptXoaoipias- rdxa Se /cat wporjyovpevws
Tois ' EXX/jcrif eSoOrj rore irptv rj rov Kvptov KoXeaai KOt rovs
EXXrjvas' eiratSaywyet yap Kai avrrj ro EXXiji'i/coi' ws d vopos rovs
'EjSpai'of? et'? X-ptarov. iTpoiTapaaKevd^et roivvv rj (f>tXoao<pia
TTpooSoTTOiovaa rov vito Xpiarov reXetov/mevov. — 331 (ii. 17. 35—
18. 5).
Now God is the author of all good things, but in the case of
some, such as the Old Covenant and the New, it is by primary
intention ; in the case of others, such as Philosophy, it is for secondary
ends. Yet perhaps it was even by primary intention that Philosophy
was given to the Greeks, before the call of the Lord had been
extended to them. For it was the Schoolmaster of the Greek race,
as the Law was the Schoolmaster of the Hebrews, unto Christ. So
then Philosophy is preliminary and preparative, giving him whom
Christ trains unto perfection a start upon the road.

296 SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
24. Correction, but never Vengeance, comes from God
'ETrerai ^e rw dyadii, rj <pvaei ayadds eanv, 17 ptaoirovrjpta.
Sto Kai KoXd^etv pev adrdv dv dpoXoy-qaatpi rovs airiarovs (^ yap
KoXaats eir dyaOw Ka\ eir' w<j>eXeia rov KoXa^opevov, ean yap
eiravdpOwats dvnreivovros), npwpeiadai Se pi] jSovXeaOai. rtpwpia
Se eanv avrairoSoats KaKov eirl ro rod npwpovpevov avp<j>epov
avaiTepTTopevtj. ovk dv Se eTTiOvprjaeie npwpeiaOai 6 viTep rOiv
eirrjpea^dvrwv rjpds it poaevxeadai StSdaKwv. — 140 (i. 131. 4— 10).
Hatred of evil, from the very nature of goodness, is inseparable
from one who is good. For this reason I should admit that God
punishes the unbelieving, but not from a wish to retaliate. For
punishment is for good and for the benefit of the person punished,
since it is the correction of one who is refractory. But retaliation
is the requital of evil, inflicted for the advantage of him who retaliates.
He who teaches us to pray for those who use us despitefully could
never desire to retaliate.
25. Repentance in Another Place
Tovn yap eirpeiTev rij deia olKovopla rovs d^iav pdXXov eaxv-
Koras ev SiKaioavvn Kat irporjyovpevws /Se;8ito/co'Ta? eTrt re rois
iTXrjppeXrjOeiai peravevorjKoras, Kav ev dXXw roirw rvxwatv e^opoXo-
yovpevoi, ev rois rov Oeov ovras rov iravroKpdropos Kard rijv
oiKetav eKaarov yvwaiv awOfjvai. — 763 (ii. 454. 23—27).
It was in accordance with the divine scheme that those who had
attained merit in righteousness, and had lived lives of excellence, and
had repented of their sins, should find salvation, each according to
his own grade of knowledge, even though it did happen that they
made their confession in another place. They were all within the
range of God's Almighty power.
26. God's Image in Man
'H^et"? yap, ^pe?s eapev oi rijv ekova rov Oeov TTeptipepovres ev
rw ^(ovrt Kai Ktvovpevw rovrw dydXpart, rw dvOpwTTw, avvoiKOv
ekova, avp^ovXov, avvdpiXov, avveariov, avpTTaOrj, vTTepTraOrj-
dvdOrjpa yeydvapev rw dew viTcp Xpiarov. — ^2 (i. 46. 15—10).

SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 297
We it is, we, who in this living and moving figure, Man, bear
about the image of God, an image that seems to share our homes,
our counsels, our intimate thoughts, our hearths, our affections, itself
affected for our sakes. We are made a votive image unto God for
Christ's sake.

27. The Writing within the Soul
KaXo? vpvos rov deov ddavaros dvdpwiTOs, SiKaioavviJ oIkoSo-
p.ovpevos, ev w ra Xdyta rrjs dXrjdetas eyKexapaKrat. itov yap
aXXaxoOt IJ ev aw<j>povt "^vxu SiKaioavvrjv eyypairreov ; irov dyaiTrjv ;
atSii) Se Troy; iTpaorrjra Se ttov; rai/ra?, oipai, ras detas ypaipas
evaiToaippaytaapevovs xph t^ '^vx}j KaXov aiperrjptov ao^iav r/yeiadat
rois eiji' onovv rov /3tov rpaireiat pepos, oppov re rrjv avrrjv
UKvpova awrrjpias ao<ptav vopt^etv' Si" rjv ayaOoi pev Trarepe?
reKvwv oi rw Trarpt tt poaSeSpaprjKores, dyadoi Se yovevaiv vioi oi
rov viov vevorjKores, ayadoi Se avSpes yvvaiKiHiv oi pepvrjpevoi rov
wpipiov, dyadot Se olKerwv SeaTTorat oi t»5? eaxarrjs SovXetas
XeXvrpwpevoi. — 84 (i. 76. 23-77. 2).
A noble hymn of God is man, immortal, built up in righteous
ness, with the oracles of truth engraven upon his nature. For
where else, save in the wise soul, can righteousness be engraven .?
or love ? or reverence ? or gentleness .? These surely are the divine
Scriptures which we must grave and seal upon the soul, deeming
such wisdom a fair port of departure for whatever quarter of life the
course is set, and no less a haven of peace and safe arrival. So shall
they who have run unto the Father be good fathers of children, and
they who have learned to know the Son be good sons to parents,
and they who remember the Bridegroom be good husbands to wives,
and they who have been ransomed from uttermost slavery good
masters of servants.
28. Man Born to become Virtuous
'Exi Tracrtv elSevai avrovs KaKeivo exprjv, on ipvaet pev yeydvapev
irpos dperrjv, ov pijv ware exetv avrrjv e/c yeverrjs, aXXa irpos rd
Krijaaadat eirirrjSetoi. w Xoyw Xverai ro iTpos rwv aipenKoav
diTopovpevov fjpiv, TTorepov reXeto? eirXaadrj d 'AtSa/x rj areX/}?'

298 SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
dXX' el pev dreXijs, ttHs reXetov deov dreXe? ro epyov Kat paXtara
dvdpwiros ; et ^e reXeio?, Trw? Trapa/3aivei ras evroXas ', OKOvaovrai
ydp Kai Trap' ripiav on re'Xeio? /card rijv KaraaKevijv ovk eyevero,
irpos Se rd dvaSe^aaOai rijv aperijv eirtr^Setos' Sta<pepet yap Srj
irov eiri rrjv aperrjv yeyovevai eiririjSeiov irpos rtjV Krrjatv avrrjs.
fjpds Se e^ rjpSiv avrS)v ^ovXerat aw^eadai. — 7°° ("• 4°°- 3~'3)-
Above all, they should bear in mind the fact that by nature we
are born for virtue, not so as to possess it from our birth, but with
an aptitude for its acquisition. By this consideration we can solve
the dilemma of the Heretics, whether Adam was formed perfect or
imperfect. If imperfect, say they, how could the work of God,
who is perfect, be imperfect, especially such a work as man ? But
if perfect, how comes his transgression of the commandments .? We,
too, will make reply that man was not created constitutionally per
fect, but only with an aptitude for the reception of virtue. Certainly,
for the pursuit of virtue, it makes all the difference to be born with
an aptitude for its acquisition. And it is God's will that we should
originate our own salvation.

29. True Beauty
To yap eKaarov kui (f>vrov Kat ^wov koXXos ev ry eKaarov dperfi
elvai avppeprjKev. dvdpwirov Se dperi] SiKaioavvrj /cat awcjtpoavvr]
Kai avSpeia /cat evaeBeta. kuXos apa dvdpwiros 0 SiKaios /cat awippwv
Kai avXXij/SSrjv d dyadds, ovx d irXovaios- — 243 (i. 230. ii— 15).
The beauty of every plant and animal must be found in its
particular excellence. Man's excellence is righteousness and tem
perance and courage and piety. Beauty, therefore, belongs to the
man who is righteous and temperate, and, in one word, good ; not
to him who has wealth.

30. In Praise of Marriage
Taprjreov ovv irdvrws /cat r>js irarpiSos 'eveKa koi rrjs riiov iraiSwv
StaSoxnt Kai r^s rov Koapov rd oaov eip' fjpiv avvreXeitiaews, eTret
/cat ydpov nvd olKreipovatv oi iroirjToi "^/xtreX^" /cat diratSa,
poKapi^ovat Se rov " dp^idaX^." ai Se awpariKal vdaot paXtara

SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 299
TOI' yapov avayKaiov SeiKvvovaiv' rj yap rrjs ywaiKOs KrjSepovia
Kat rrjs irapapovrjs ^ eKreveia ras eK riov dXXwv oUeiwv Kat ipiXwv
eoiKev VirepndeaOai irpoaKaprep-rjaeis, oaw rjj avpiradeta Siaipepeiv
Kat TrpoaeSpevetv pdXtara iravrwv irpoatpeirat, Kat rw ovrt Kara
rijv ypa(f>i]v dvayKaia" BorjOds-" — 504 (ii. 190. 15-23).
By all means we should marry, for the sake of our country, for
the succession of children, and for the completion of the world's
order so far as that depends on us. The poets speak in pity of the
sort of marriage that is incomplete and childless, but give their
blessing to one that is "fruitful." And bodily ailments are the
best proof of the necessity of marriage. For the affection of a
wife and the zeal of her solicitude seem to surpass the assiduities of
all other kinsfolk and friends. Her sympathy gives her the will
to do more than the rest in the way of attentive care. So indispens
able is she, "an help meet for him," as the Scripture says.
31. The Evils of Poverty
0 ^e avros Xoyos Kai irepi irevias, eirel /cat avrrj rwv dvayKatwv,
rrjs Oewpias Xe'yto /cat r^? KaOapds dvapaprrjatas, UTraaxoXeiv ^la^erai
rijv yfrvxnv, irepi rovs iropiapovs Starpt/Setv dvayKa^ovaa rov pi]
dXov eavrov Si dydirrjs dvareOeiKora rw dew. — 573 ("• 257- 22—26).
The same consideration applies to poverty. This, too, compels
the soul to withdraw its interest from things that are needful, from
contemplation, I mean, and sinless purity. It drives the man, who
has not entirely dedicated himself to God through love, to spend his
time over ways and means.
32. Astronomy
' E/c re av rrjs aarpovopias y^dev atwpovpevos rai vip awv'^wd-rj-
aerat ovpavw Kai ry irept^opa avpireptiroXijaet, iaropiov del rd
deia Kai rijv irpos dXXrjXa avpipwviav. — "jio (ii. 471. 27—29).
Through astronomy a man's mind shall be lifted up from earth,
and he shall dwell in heavenly altitudes, and move around with the
revolution of the spheres, for ever contemplating the works of God
and the harmony of their relations.

300 SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
33. The Christian Life
K.eiaOw Se aoi irdvra els Oeov Kat epya koi Xoyoi, Kai iravra
dvdiftepe Xptarw rd aavrov, /cat irvKvSis eirl Oeov rpeire rtjv "^vx^jv,
/cat ro vdrjpa eirepetSe ry Xpiarov Svvapet wairep ev Xtpevt rtvi rw
Oeiw cpwrt rov awrrjpos dvairavdpevov aird Trdavs XaXid? re Kat
Trpd^ews- Kai peO'' fjpepav TroXXa/ct? pev dvOpwirots koivov rijv
aeavrov ^pdvrjaiv, Oeip Se eirl irXeiarov ev vvKri opoiws Kat ev rjpepa '
prj yap virvos ae eiriKpareirw iroXvs rwv irpos deov evx<ii>v re Kat
vpvwv' davarw yap d paKpos virvos eipaptXXos- fieroxos Xpiarov
aet Kadiaraao rov rijv deiav avyrjv KuraXdpirovros e£ oijpavov'
€V(f>poavvrj yap earw aot SirjveKrjs Kai diravaros d Xpiaros. prjSe
Xve rov rfjs ^vxfjs rovov ev ei/t«X'9 '^*" ttotcoi' a^etret, iKavov Se fjyox)
rw awpari rd xpeiHoSes- — (iii. 222. 13—25).
Let thy whole life, deeds and words alike, be dedicated unto God,
and commit all thy affairs to Christ. Turn thy soul frequently to
God. Stay thy mind upon the power of Christ, finding a haven of
rest from all talk or action in the divine light of the Saviour. By
day share thy thoughts oftentimes with men, but most of all with
God, by night and by day alike. Too much slumber must not
master thee, to stay thy prayers and hymns to God, for long sleep
IS the match and mate of death. Have thy sure share in Christ,
Who sends from heaven the divine radiance. For Christ must be
thy constant and unceasing joy. Do not slacken the strings of thy
soul by feasting and drinking without restraint, but be satisfied with
suflicient for thy body's wants.
34. The Spread of the Gospel
Tdxei pev S^ dvvirepBXijrw evvoia re evirpoairw rj Svvapts rj
de'iKij eiriXdpyf/^aaa rrjv yijv awrrjplov airepparos eveirXrjae ro irav.
ov ydp dv oijrws ev oXiyw XP°^V Toaovrov epyov dvev Oeias KoptSrjs
e^Tjvvaev d Kvpios, d^l^et Karaip povov pevos, epyw irpoaKvvov pevos, 0
KaOdpaios Kai awrrjptos Kai petXixtos, 0 deios Xoyos, d <j>avepwraros
ovrws deos, 0 rep Seairory rwv oXwv e^iawdeis, on ^v vios adrov Kai
" o Xo'yo? ^v ev rip deip,'" ovd' ore rd irpHorov irpoeKrjpvxdrj, dirtarrj-

SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 301
deis, oiid ore ro dvdpwirov irpoawireiov dvaXa/Soov Kai aapKi dvairXa-
aapevos ro awrrjptov Spdpa rrjs avdpwirorrjros vireKpivero, dyvorjdeis'
yvrjatos yap rjv aywvtarrjs Kat roC irXaaparos avvaywvtarrjs, rdxiara
Se et? iravras avdpwirovs StaSodels ddrrov ^Xiov e^ avrrjs dvareiXas
rrjs irarpiKrjs /SovXijaews, paara fjpiv eireXapyp-e rov Oeov, dOev re
fjv avros Kat b? ^v, St &v eSiSa^ev Kat eveSei^aro, irapaartjaapevos, 0
airovSoipopos Kai SiaXXaKrrjs /cat awrijp fjpSov Xoyos, irriyh fwoTroto?,
eiprjviKrj eirt irav ro irpoawirov rfjs yfjs xeopevos, St' ov ws eiros elireiv
ra iravra '^Srj ireXayos yeyovev dyaOwv. — 85—6 (i. 78. 8—24).
With swiftness unsurpassed, and sped with favouring good-will,
the Divine Power poured light upon the earth and filled the world
with the seed of Salvation. For never without divine co-operation
would the Lord have in so short time achieved so mighty a result.
He was despised in appearance, but He was worshipped in deed and
act. He was Purifier, Saviour, the Most Gracious, the Divine Word,
most evident and veritable God, made equal to the Sovereign of
the universe, for He was His Son, and " the Word was in God."
Neither were the first prophecies of Him disbelieved, nor, when He
took upon Him the person of man and fashioned His being in flesh to
play out the drama of humanity's salvation, did He pass unrecognised.
He was the true champion and confederate of His handiwork, the
boon so rapidly distributed to all mankind, rising more swiftly than
the sun from the very will of the Father. And with ease did He
bring to us the light of God, convincing us of His origin and His
nature by His teaching and His signs. He is the sacred Herald and
Reconciler and our Saviour Word, a life-giving Fount, a source of
Peace, shed abroad upon all the face of the earth. Through Him the
universe has now become, so to say, a very sea of good.
35. Light and Unity
Axovaare ovv " 61 paKpdv," aKovaare " oi eyyvs' " ovk aireKpvBrj
nvas d Xoyo?' ^w? eart koivov, eirtXapiret irdatv avOpwirots' ovSels
Ktppeptos ev Xoytp' airevawpev els awrrjptav, eirt rijV iraXiyyeveaiav'
et? piav ayairtjv avvaxOfjvat oi TroXXoi /card rijv rfjs povaSiKrjs ovaias
evwatv airevawpev' ayaOoepyovpevot dvaXdyws evdrrjra StwKwpev,
rrjv ayaOrjv eK^rjrovvres povaSa. rj Se e/c ttoXXwi' evwats e'/c ttoXw-
ifrwvias Kai Staairopas dppoviav Xa/3ovaa Oe'tKijv pia yiverai

302 SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
avpipwvia, evl xopevry Kai StSaaKaXw rip Xdytp eiropevrj, eir avrrjv
rijv dX-rjOetav dvairavopevrj, "'ABBd" Xeyovaa "d Trarjjp"' ravrrjv
d deos rijv <j>wvrjv rijV dXrjdtvijv daTrd^erat Trapd rHv aijrov TraiSwv
Trpwrrjv Kapirovpevos- — 7^ ('• ^5- 25—66. 3).
Hearken ye that are far oft' ; hearken ye that are near. From
none is the Word hidden. He is the universal light. Upon all
men His radiance falls. In the Word none knows Cimmerian
darkness. Let us haste unto salvation, unto regeneration. Let us
haste in our numbers to the one assembly of the Feast of Love, in
accordance with the unity of the single Substance. Conformably
to our blessings let us follow after unity, making quest of the good
Monad. So the combination of many elements gathers a divine
harmony from various scattered voices, and becomes one concordant
strain, directed by one conductor and teacher, even the Word, and
coming to rest upon the very note of truth, saying " Abba, Father."
This is the true cry, which God welcomes as the first-fruits of the
lips of His children.
36. The Symbolism of Scripture
Ata TToXXa? roivvv airias eiriKpvirrovrat rov vovv ai ypatpat,
irpOirov pev 'Iva ^rjrrjriKoi virdpxwpev Kat irpoaaypvirvHopev aei ry
rwv awrrjpiwv Xoywv evpeaet, eireira on prjSe rois diraat irpoafJKOV
^v voeiv, ws pi] B^^l^eiev erepws eKSe^apevot ra viro rov dyiov irvev-
paros awrrjpiws elprjpeva. Std Srj rois eKXeKrois riiov avdpwirwv rois
re e/c iriarews et? yvwaiv eyKpirois rrjpovpeva ra dyia rwv irpocprj-
reiwv pvarrjpia rais irapaBoXais eyKaXvirrerat' irapaBoXiKOS yap
6 X'^P'^'^'^hp virapxei rSov ypaipSiv, Sion koi o Kvpios, ovk wv KoapiKOSt
0)? KoapiKOs els dvdpwirovs fjXdev. — 803 (ii. 495. 18—26).
For many reasons the Scriptures conceal their meaning ;
primarily, with the aim of making us diligent and unresting in our
study of the words of salvation, and, secondly, because it is not in
the province of all men to examine their meaning, lest they should
receive hurt through a mistaken interpretation of words uttered by
the Holy Spirit for salvation. For this reason the sacred Mysteries
of Prophecy are veiled in parables, and so reserved for chosen men
and for those who are selected for higher knowledge from the grade
of faith. For the fashion of the Scriptures is essentially parabolic.

SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 303
since even the Lord, though He was not of the world, came among
men as though He were of the world.

37. The Difficulties of Simple Teaching
Kat yap rd vir' adrov rov Kvpiov SoKOvvra fjTrXSiadat Trpos rovs
padrjras r5iv yviypevws viretprjpevwv ovSev rjrrovos, diXXa irXeiovos
en Kai vvv rfjs eiriardaews evpiaKerat Seopeva Std rijv virepBdX-
Xovaav rfjs <ppov-rjaews ev avrols virepBoXrjv. oirov Se /cat ra
vopt^opeva vir' avrov Sioixdat rois eaw /cat adrois rois rfjs /SacrtXeta?
re/ci/ot? iiir' adroC KaXovpevots en XPvCe^ (j>povriSos irXeiovos, ^ irov
ye ra Sd^avra pev dirX5>s e^evrjvexdai /cat ^td rovro prjSe Sirjpwrrj-
peva irpos rwv UKOvaavrwv, et? oXov Se ro reXos avro rfjs awrrjpias
Staipepovra, eaKeiraapeva Se davpaartp Kat virepovpaviw Stavoias
Bddet, OVK eiriTroXaiws Sexeadat rais dKoais TrpoafJKev, dXXd Kadievras
rov vovv eTr avro ro Trvevpa rov awrfjpos Kai ro rfjs yvwprjs
dTrdpprjrov. — 938-9 (iii. 163. 20-31).
Indeed, the apparently simple teaching given by the Lord
Himself to His disciples, by reason of the surpassing measure of its
wisdom, is found to need not less but greater study than the truths
symbolically suggested. And if teaching which we regard as fully
explained by Him to the inner circle and to the true "children of
the kingdom," as He called them, still makes demands on thought ;
far more must we refuse a superficial hearing to those utterances
which were apparently simple and therefore did not lead the hearers
to inquire further, for they make all the difference to the supreme
end of our salvation, albeit their truth is hidden in the marvellous
and heavenly depths of wisdom. Rather must our mind fathom the
very spirit of the Saviour and the secret of His meaning.
38. Tradition
Mt'a yap Travrwv yeyove rwv airoaroXwv loairep StSaaKaXia,
ovrws Se /cat TrapdSoais- — 900 (iii. 76. 22-24).
The tradition of all the Apostles, like their teaching, has been
always one.

304 SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
39. Martyrdom
"EoiKev ovv rd paprvptov diroKadapais elvai dpapriwv pera So^rjs-
— 596 (ii. 281. 25-6).
Martyrdom then may be regarded as a cleansing away of sins
with glory.
40. Many Mansions
Ettri yap irapa Kvpiw Kat ptadot Kai povat irXetoves Kar ava-
Xoyiav Bioiv. — 579 (ii. 264. 12-13).
With the Lord are many rewards and many mansions, corre
sponding to the character of our lives.
41. I, YET NOT I
'AXXa Kat ai rSiv evaperwv avdpwirwv eirtvotat Kara eirivoiav
deiav yiyvovrai, Startdepevrjs irws rfjs '^vxns Kat SiaSiSopevov rov
deiov deXijparos et? ras avdpwirivas '^vxas, riiov ev pepet deiwv
XetrovpyHov avXXapBavopevwv et? ra? rotavras StaKovias- —
822 (ii. 513. 2-5).
The thoughts of good men correspond with the thoughts of
God, as the soul in some way receives an influence and the Divine
Will permeates the souls of men, God's particular ministers mean
time co-operating in such service.
42. On Drawing Near to God
KaOaTrep ovv oi ev daXdrry aird dyKvpas rovovpevot eXKOvat
pev rrjv dyKvpav, ovk eKeivrjv Se eirtairiiovrai, dXX' eavrovs eirl rijv
ayKvpav, ovrws ol Kara rov yvwariKov ^lov eTrtaTTwpevot rov deov
eavrovs eXadov Trpoaaydpevoi Trpds rov deov' deov ydp d depaTrevwv
eavrov depairevet. ev ovv rto dewprjriKw /3ta) eavrov ns eirtpeXeirat
dprjaKevwv rov deov Kat Sta rfjs tSias eiXiKptvovs Kaddpaews eiroirrevet
rov deov aytov dyiws. — 633 (ii. 315. 27-316. 2).
As men riding at anchor on the sea pull at the anchor, but do
not draw it, but draw themselves towards the anchor, so they who

SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 305
in the Gnostic life draw upon God, do unconsciously bring them
selves more near to God. For he who does God service serves
himself. So in the contemplative life a man careth for himself in
his devotion to God, and by the purity and sincerity of his own
nature has the holy vision of God's holiness.
43. Without and Within
2x5m« toiJt' {sc. to aiJopa) eanv e^wflei' ^piv irepiBe^rjpevov
Trjs ets Koapov irapoSov irpoipdaet, Iv els ro Koivdv rovro iratSev
Ttjpiov etaeXdeiv Svvrjdwpev' dXX' evSov Kpvirros evoiKei d irarijp
Kat o TOVTOV irais d VTrep rjpSiv dTrodavwv Kat ped' rjpSiv dvaards- —
954 (iii. 182. 12-16).
The body is an outward form thrown around us to facilitate our
entrance into the world, so that we may be able to find admission
to this common school-house. But within us the Father has His
secret abode, and His Son, Who died for us and rose again with us.
44. The Kingdom taken by Force
Toi7 eivat KoiXol /cat dyadoi eveKa Xpianavol etvai B^'^^opeda,
on pdXtara " /Staffroii/ eanv fj BaaiXela," e/c ^rjrrjaews /cat padrjaews
/cat avvaaKiqaews reXeta? to yeveadat jSatriXea Kapirovpevwv. —
8i8(ii. 509. 5-8).
For the sake of virtue and goodness we are drawn with violence
to be Christians. For the kingdom belongs specially to " the men
of violence," who reap the fruit of kingly character from quest and
learning and perfectness of training.
45. The Welcome
Ilaj'Tt ydp Tip per dXrjdetas e£ oXrjs r^? KapSias eTrtarphlravri
irpos rov deov dvewyaaiv ai dvpai Kat Sexerai rptaaapevos irarijp
viov dXrjdSis peravoovvra. — 957 ("'• 185. 14—16).
To every one who turns in sincerity with all his heart to God,
the doors are thrown open and the Father with threefold joy
welcomes His truly repentant son.
VOL. II. 20

3o6 SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
46. Amaranth
'0 ydp KaXds rov dpapdvrov aretpavos airoKetrat rw KaXS)s
ireiroXirevpevw' rd dvdos rovro yfj B(i<rra^etv ov KexwprjKev' povov
Se avrd KapTrocpopeiv eTriararat ovpavds- — 214 (i. 202. 6—9).
The fair crown of amaranth is laid up for the man of fair and
noble life. Earth has not the power to bear this flower. Heaven
alone knows the secret of its growth.
47. Perfect Peace
E«j S' dv fj reXeia elprjvoTroirjats fj eTrl Travri rw avppaivovn
arpeTrrov ipvXaaaovaa to eiprjviKov, ayiav re Kai KoXrjv rrjv SioiKrjaiv
Xeyovaa, ev eTrtarrjpy deiwv Kat avOpwTrtvwv irpayparwv KaOearwaa,
Si )j? ras ev rw Koapw evavnorrjras appoviav Knaews KoXXiarrjv
Xoyi^erai. — 581 (ii. 266. 15-19).
That would be the perfection of " peacemaking " which should
preserve our peace undisturbed at any accident, and esteem the
world as a holy and beautiful scheme, and rest in understanding of
things divine and human, whereby it can regard the contrarieties in
the world's order as the admirable harmony of creation.
48. A Saying of the Lord
Oi5 Trai/crerat 6 ^rjriiov, eo>? dv evpy' evpwv Se dapBldrjaerai,
dapBrjdeis Se /3a<rtXei;o-et, B'^^^'i^evaas Se eiravaiyaijaerat. — 704 (ii.
389. 14-16).
He who seeks shall not stay until he find. When he finds he
shall wonder j when he wonders he shall reign j when he reigns he
shall have rest.
49. The Gates of Reason
"'Eyw ydp elpi fj dvpa," iprjai iroV fjv eKpadeiv Sei vofjaat
deXrjaaat rov deov, oirws fjpiv ddpdas rSov ovpaviov dvairerday rd?
TTiyXa?' Xoyt/cai yap ai rov Xoyov irvXai, iriarews dvoiyvvpevai
KXetSi.— 9-10 (i. 10. 12-15).

SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 307
" I am the door," He says somewhere. This door, if we would
understand God, we must learn to know, that He may throw open
to us abundantly the gates of Heaven. For the gates of the Word
are gates of Reason, and they open by the key of Faith.

50. Faith and Knowledge Inseparable
Iltcrr^ toivvv fj yvOiaiSi yvwarij Se fj irians deia nvi aKoXovdia
re Kai dvraKoXovdia yiverai. — 436 (ii. 121. J-S).
So by a divine sequence and counter-sequence knowledge
becomes matter of faith and faith matter of knowledge.
51. The Law and the Gospel
H ydp ei? Xpiarov irians Kai fj rov evayyeXiov yvtaats e^riyrjats
ean toO vdpov /cat irXrjpwats- — 625 (ii. 307. 33—34).
For faith in Christ and the higher knowledge of the Gospel
are the interpretation and fulfilment of the Law.
52. Proportion
Kv oiiv ns rois peptKois w? rois KadoXiKois xP^f^evos rvxjy Kai
to SovXov ft)? Kvpiov Kat fjyepova ripa, a^aXXerat rfjs aXrjdeias- —
769 (ii. 460. 16-18).
Whoever deals with the particular as though it were universal,
and esteems that which is slave as Lord and Master, misses truth.
53. Knowledge
Kat pi^ n fj yvOiats ISiwpa '^vx'js Tvyxdvet XoyiK^s els rovro
aaKOvpevrjs, iva Sta rfjs yvwaews et? adavaaiav eiriypaipy. ap<f>w
ydp Svvdpeis rfjs '^vx^js, yvwats re Kai dpprj. — 774 (''• 466. 1 1-14).
I take it that knowledge is a characteristic of the reasonable
soul when prepared for it by discipline, so that through knowledge
it may be entered on the lists of immortality. For knowledge
and impulse are both faculties of the soul.

3o8 SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
54. Philosophy, Faith, Knowledge
^iXoaocpia Se fj 'EXXrjvtKij oiov irpoKadaipet koi irpoedi^et rrjv
'^vxhv els irapaSoxhv iriarews, e<f>' y rhv yvSiatv eiroiKoSopei fj aXijdeia.
— 839 (iii. 14. 20-22).
Greek philosophy is a kind of preparatory cleansing and habitua
tion of the soul for the reception of faith, and upon that "the
Truth " erects the fabric of knowledge.
^^. The Quest of Truth
Aet S', olpat, rw r^s dXrjdetas epaary '^vxiKrjs edrovias' a<j)dX-
Xeadai yap dvdyKrj peytara rovs peyiarots eyxetpovvras Trpaypaaiv.
—890 (iii. 67. 3-5).
Of a surety the lover of truth needs a well-knit soul. For of
necessity they who undertake the greatest enterprises are liable to
the greatest disasters.
^6. The Unity of Truth
'Arap Kat ev rw Koapw Travri ra peprj avpTravra, Kav Statpepijrat
Trpos aXXrjXa, rijv Trpos ro dXov oiKetorrjra SiaipvXarret. oSrws
ovv )] re B'^P^'^pos fj re 'YiXXrjviKrj ^iXoao(f>ia rijv diStov dX-rjdeiav
airapaypov rtva, ov rfjs Aiovvaov pvdoXoyias, rfjs Se rov Xoyov rov
OVTOS del deoXoytas ireiroirjrat. 0 Se ra Styprjpeva avvdels avdis
Kai evoiroirjaas reXeiov rov Xoyov aKivSvvws ev 'tad' on Kaxo'^frerai
rijV dXrjOeiav. — 349 (ii. 36. 27-37. 2).
In the universe all the parts, even though differing from one
another, maintain their congruity to the whole. Thus it is that
the Barbarian 1 and the Greek philosophies have made a sort of dis
memberment of the eternal truth, not of the Dionysus of mythology,
but of the divine knowledge of the ever-existing Word. He who
reunites the several fragments and perfectly unifies the Word shall
surely without fail behold the truth.
' Sc. Old Testament.

SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 309
57. Knowledge or Salvation ?
AvriKa e/c irpoawirov toS Oeov rip Kvpiw Xe'Xe/crat ' " atrrjaat
Trap epov Kat Swaw aoi eOvrj rrjv KXrjpovopiav aov," a'trrjpa ro
paatXiKWrarov SiSaaKwv alreiaOat rijv rwv dvdpwirwv awrrjpiav
aptaOi, tva Srj fjpeis KXrjpovo pi/jaw pev /cat KrrjawpeOa rov Kvpiov.
ep.TraXtv yap xpeias nvos eveKev, Iva pot rdSe yevrjrai koi rdSe pij
yevrjrai, rrjs eTriarrjpris e^ieadai rfjs Trept rov deov ovk 'iSiov yvwa-
TiKov, aTroxprj S avnp alria rfjs Oewpias V yviioais avr^. roX/xiytra?
yap enrotp' av, oil ^id rd aw^eadai BovXeadat r^v yvwaiv aipeaerat
o Si avrijv rijv deiav eTrtarrjprjv pedeirwv rijv yvHatv' ro pev ydp
voeiv e/c o-i'i'ao-/c/;o-eft)? ei? ro del voeiv eKreiverat, ro Se del voeiv, ovaia
tov ytvwaKovros Kara dvuKpaatv dStaararov yevopevrj Kai diStos
dewpta, ^waa virdaraais pevet. el yovv rt? Kad' virddeaiv irpodelrj
tw yvwariKW, irorepov eXeaOai BovXoiro, rijv yviioaiv rov Oeov ^
rrjv awrrjptav rrjV alwviov, eitj Se ravra Kexwptapeva {iravrds paXXov
ev ravrorrjTi ovra), odSe KaO'' dnovv Siardaas eXoir' av rijV yvwaiv
TOV deov, St' avrrjv aiperijv Kpivas etvat rijv eiravaBeBli^viav rfjs
iriarews St' dydirrjv els yvS)aiv ISidrrjra. — 625-6 (ii. 308. 16—33).
God is represented as saying to the Lord, " Ask of me and I
will give thee the heathen as thy inheritance," teaching us that it
was the most royal request for Him to ask without price for the
salvation of men, so that we may find the Lord our heritage and our
possession. On the other hand, it is no mark of the Gnostic to
desire the knowledge of God for some advantage, " that I may
gain this or avoid that." For him higher knowledge is of itself
a sufficient motive for contemplation. For I would make bold to say,
that it will not be through the desire of salvation that he, who follows
after knowledge for the sake of the divine science itself, will make
knowledge his choice. For the act of contemplation is expanded
by practice into the state of contemplation, and this state, becoming
through indissoluble intercourse the very being of the Gnostic and
a constant activity of vision, forms at last his living and abiding
personality. At any rate, if we imagine anyone propounding to the
Gnostic which of the two things he would choose, the knowledge
of God or eternal salvation, and these two things were distinct
— though in reality they are identical — without a moment's hesita-

3IO SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
tion he would choose the knowledge of God, deeming the distinctive
character, that results from faith and rises through love into higher
knowledge, on its own account desirable.
58. The Character of the Gnostic
Odev fjpepos Kai irpdos del, evirpdairos, evairdvrrjros, dve^iKaKos,
evyvwpwv, edavveiSrjros, avarrjpos' ovros fjpiv d avarrjpos ovk
els ro aSidipdopov povov, dXXd /cat els ro direipaarov (odSapy ydp
evSoatpov odSe dXwaipov ^Sovy re Kat Xviry rrjv '^rvxijv irapiarrjatv),
SiKaarfjs, eav d Xoyo? KaXy, aKXivrjs yevopevos prjS' dnovv rois
iradeat x'^P'-t^l'-evos, dperaararws y ire<f>vKev rd SiKaiov iropeveaOai
BaSi^wv, ireireiapevos ev pdXa irayKoXws SioiKeiaOat rd irdvra /cat
et? ro apeivov aet rijv irpoKOirrjv irpo'ievat rais dperijv eXopevais
yJ/vxo.is, ear dv ew avro acpiKwvrat ro dyaOdv, " eirt irpodvpots ""
CO? etTreiV roii irarpos irpoaexeis rw peyaXtp dpxiepei yevopevai. —
858 (iii. 34. 7-17).
He is always kindly, gentle, accessible, courteous, forbearing, a
man of good heart and clear conscience and rigorous life, so rigorous
that we find him beyond the reach not only of corruption, but even
of temptation, keeping his soul at every point unyielding and
impregnable to pleasure or to pain. At the bidding of the Word
he is an unbending Judge, making no concessions whatever to the
passions or the feehngs, walking with sure steps along the path of
nature's righteousness. He is surely convinced that the universe
is admirably administered, and that for the souls who have chosen
virtue the course of life is a continuous advance towards better
things, till they reach at length the absolute goodness, arriving at
the vestibule of the Father, in proximity to the Great High Priest.
59. His Prayers
'0 pev ovv yvwariKOS St virepBoXijv datdrrjros alrovpevos pdXXov
dirorvxeiv 'erotpos '>} ph alrovpevos rvxeiv. evxh ydp avrip d Bios
diras /cat dpiXta irpos deov, Kav Kadapds y dpaprrjpdrwv, irdvrws o5
BovXerai red^erai. — 875-6 (iii. 52. 21-24).
By reason of his surpassing holiness the Gnostic would rather

SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 311
pray without receiving than receive without praying. For his
whole life is prayer and converse with God, and if he be free from
sin he shall surely receive what he desires.
60. What we should ask in Prayer
AvriKa ovSe ev^erai rvxeiv riiov rySe 6 rev^eadai ireireiapevos
riiiv ovrws dyadHov, exeaOai Se del r^s eirrjBoXov /cat KaropdwriKfjs
iriarews- /cat Trpo? roiaSe irapirdXXovs iis on paXtara dpoiovs
avrw yeveadat ev^erai, els So^av rov deov, ij Kar eiriyvwaiv reXetov-
rat' awrrjptos ydp ri? 6 rw awrfjpt e^opo tov pevos, et? oaov avdpw-
TTLvy (pvaet x'*'P^<''«' t^ ei/coVa depis, dirapaBdrws ra Kara ras
evroXds KaropdSiv. — 778 (ii. 470. S—^^)-
He who is persuaded that he will find the true good will not
pray to find earthly blessings, but rather for the preservation of his
correct and effectual faith. He will pray, besides, that as many as
possible may become like himself to the glory of God, which is
made perfect by our fuller knowledge. For he who is acquir
ing the Saviour's likeness, in so far as human nature is suffered to
receive this image, has himself something of the Saviour in him,
never deviating from the right life which is according to the
Commandments.
61. Life a Festival
"Atto? Se 6 /3to? aiirov iravrjyvpis dyia. — 860 (iii. 37. 2-3).
All his life is a holy Festival.
62. The Stability of Gnostic Character
Tavry ovSeirore irepiardaews yevopevrjs rfjs ISias e^ews d
yvwariKOS e^iararai. epireSos ydp koi dperdBXrjros fj rov dyadov
eiriarrjpovtKij Kr^ats, eirtarrjprj deiwv /cat dvdpwireiwv irpayparwv
virdpxovaa. — 874 (iii. 50. 27-51. i).
Thus no outward circumstance ever deflects the Gnostic from
his own habit and disposition. For the scientific possession of
Goodness is fixed and unalterable, consisting in the understanding
of things human and divine.

312 SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS
63. The Lord's Day
Ovros evToXijv rijv Kara to evayyeXtov Stair pa^apevos KvpiaKrjv
eKeivrjv rijv fjpepav irotei, orav diroBdXXy ^avXov vdrjpa Kat yvwariKov
irpoaXdBy, rijv ev avrw rov Kvpiov avdaraaiv So^d^wv. — 877 (iii.
54. 17-20).
Such a character, in performance of the precept of the Gospel,
regards the day on which he repels a thought of evil or receives a
deeper truth as a true " day of the Lord," giving glory to the
resurrection of the Lord within him.
64. Strangers and Pilgrims
'Arexi'to? " ^evos yap /cat irapeiriSrjpos " ev rip /St'o) Trai'rt Tra?
o5to?, o? TToXii' oIkwv tOiv Kara rijv irdXtv Karecppdvrjaev irap' d'XXoi?
davp.a^o pevwv, Kat Kaddirep ev eprjpia ry TrdXei B^oi, Iva pi] 0 roTros
adrov dvayKa^y, dXX' fj Trpoaipeat<> SeiKvvy Sikoiov. — 878 (iii. 55.
4-8). Truly such an one is but a " stranger and pilgrim " all his life.
Living in a city he despises those features of city life which are so
admirable to other eyes. In the city he lives as in a wilderness,
admitting not the mastery of the place, but letting his will declare
him just.
65. Results
0 pev TTovo? TrapfjXdev, pevet Se rd koXov, koi to pev fjSv
KaraXeiTrerat, dvapdaaerai Se rd aiaxpdv. — 792 (ii. 484. 9-10).
The labour passes, the prize abides. That which is sweet
remains, that which is foul is wiped away.
66. Our Destiny
'AXX' eKTrdvei koi pij aTroKapve' eay ydp olos ovk eXTrt'fei? ovS'
elKaaat Svvato dv. — 157 ('• 149- 22—23).
Work on and grow not weary, for thou shalt be such as thou
hast neither hope nor power to fancy.

SAYINGS AND EXTRACTS 313
67. The Journey of Life
Oti Set Se dpdevras peraredfjvai, dXXd B^di^ovras dipiKeadai ot
Sei, Sta Trdarjs rfjs arevfjs SieXddvras dSov. — 627 (ii. 309. 18-19).
We may not be taken up and transported to our journey's end,
but must travel thither on foot, traversing the whole distance of
the narrow way.

APPENDIX I
The Persecution of a.d. 202-3
It is generally allowed that the persecution of the Church under
Severus in the years a.d. 202-3 ^^s the cause of Clement's departure
from Alexandria. It will be well to examine somewhat in detail the
character of the events which so suddenly interrupted Clement's
conduct of the Catechetical School ; drove him, never to return, from
the city in which he had found or made his opportunity ; and, possibly,
brought the Stromateis to their incomplete termination.

Persecution, varying in degree and intensity, depending more on
local conditions than on imperial policy, seems to have gone on
throughout the reign of Severus. The measures taken in a.d. 202-3
were not so much a new departure, or a special outbreak, as rather
an aggravation of conditions which existed previously and continued
afterwards. (a) Before a.d. 202 we have the following evidence, Tertullian
wrote his Ad Martyres, Ad Nationes, and Apologeticus about a.d. 197.
These all imply that conditions of persecution were prevalent. The
imprisoned Christians are said to escape, at least temporarily, the
greater violence outside: "vacas . . . jam et a persecutione. Hoc
praestat career Christiano, quod eremus Prophetis," {Ad Mart., 2).
They must expect to suffer : " bonum agonem subituri estis " {ib., 3).
The existing laws against unauthorised religions were set in motion :
" Christianum puniunt leges " {Ad Nat., i. 6), The " Name " alone
was a sufficient accusation : "nomen in causa est" {ib., 3). Sometimes
the further charge of disloyalty would be added : " prima obstinatio
est, . . . quod irreligiosi dicamur in Caesares" {ib., 17). Provincial
governors were pressed by the populace to condemn those accused:
314

THE PERSECUTION OF a.d. 202-3 3^5
" sed hoc agite, boni praesides, meliores multo apud populum, si illis
Christianos immolaveritis" {Apol, 50). Some governors, however,
were themselves actively hostile : Vigellius Saturninus, who held office
in Africa in a.d. i 98, " primus hie gladium in nos egit " {Ad Scap.,
3). Clement in the Protrepticus, possibly written early in the reign of
Severus, or even before, speaks of the hostility of the crowd to Christian
teachers : rov avOpurn-ov TOV Oeov hitoKovcriv . . . <f>i\av6p<f>TriDi KarrjXovvTo.
a.-iroa-<j)d.TT£iv aTravOpunriai e-irixtipovaiv (82). The activity of Herminianus
in Cappadocia, stimulated as it was by the conversion of his wife, may
perhaps belong also to this period. Tertullian {Ad Scap., 3) seems to
place it before the fall of Byzantium in a.d. 196. There is only late
evidence (Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, i. 27) that Irenaeus
died as a martyr about this time. It is far more probable that he fell
a victim, though not for his faith, in the common vengeance which
Severus exacted from the city of Lyons after his victory over Albinus
in a.d. 197 (Herodian, in., 7, 7: Aube, Les chritiens dans I'empire
romain, p. 98). It has been suggested, too, that Victor, Bishop of
Rome, was a martyr about this date (Fuchs, Severus, 75), but there is
no direct evidence to justify the supposition. Leaving, however, Irenaeus
and Victor out of account, it is sufficiently clear that in the earlier years
of Severus, particularly about a.d, 197-8, there was persecution, inter
mittent, local, uncertain, arising mainly from the hostility of the populace
or the attitude of the Governor. It is not directly associated with the
Emperor's action before the year a.d. 202, but the number of victims
must have been considerable to judge by Tertullian's language in his
Apologeticus. "Plures efficimur, quoties metimur a vobis" (50) impHes
more than an occasional martyr. So far as general causes were at
work, we may reckon the rapid growth of Christianity under Com
modus (H.E., v. 21); the removal of Marcia from the imperial court;
and the generally troubled condition of the Empire until Severus had
made his position secure.
{b) After a,d. 202-3, as before, the amount of persecution seems
considerable, Tertullian's Ad Scapulam may be dated a.d. 212. It is
occasioned by the governor's action ; he had already condemned one
Christian, Mavilus of Adrumetum, to the amphitheatre. More victims
were clearly to be expected. The same writer's De Fuga in Persecutione
is very variously dated. It may be as early as a.d. 203, or as late as
213. In any case it relates to a period in which persecution was
constant, though not specially acute. Christians had to flee from one
city to another ; on the other hand, they could escape by flight. Some
times, too, they could purchase safety : " Christianus pecunia salvus est "

3i6 APPENDIX I
{De Fuga, 12), though the stricter sort thought this an unworthy evasion.
In Cappadocia, or some other eastern province, Alexander, Clement's
pupil, seems to have been kept in prison for several years (H.E., vi.
11). In Alexandria several pupils of Origen suffered the extreme
penalty {ib., 4) and their execution must be dated some time later than
a.d. 202-3, since meanwhile Origen had recommenced the catechetical
instruction from which Clement had been driven, and had evidently
gathered a considerable number of pupils around him.
Thus the conditions after a.d. 202-3 ^''S much the same as before.
There is no entire cessation of persecution ; on the other hand, it is not
specially acute. Christians with an ambition for martyrdom could
always attract attention, but there was no need to "leap upon death"
or to "challenge the wild beast "(^. Clem., 571, 598; and the words
of Arius Antoninus, governor of Asia, 5 SeiXot, « OiXere d-iroOv-^crKfiv,
Kprjpvovi rj fSpoxov's exfTt, Ad Scap., 5). But neither in this nor in the
earlier period is there any direct reference to the will or command of
Severus as the cause of such measures as were actually taken.

II
From these general conditions, which show great local variety but
no clearly marked difference as between one year and another, there
does, however, emerge the special attack of the authorities in the year
A.D. 202-3, which is usually set down to the initiative of Severus. The
evidence with regard to this is as follows :
{a) Spartian, writing of the period at the close of the Emperor's
Parthian campaign, states that Severus, naming Caracalla as his
colleague, entered upon the consulship (a.d. 202) in Syria : " post hoc
dato stipendio cumulatiore militibus Alexandriam petiit. In itinere
Palsestinis plurima jura fundavit, Judaeos fieri sub gravi poena vetuit.
Idem etiam de Christianis sanxit. Deinde Alexandrinis jus bouleutarum
dedit," etc. {Severus Imperator, 16, 17).
{h) Eusebius sets down the persecution to the direct action of
Severus : 'Os S\ kox ^i^fjpoi Sttoy/ioi' Kara twv iKKXrjo-iiav tKivei, Xap-irpa
piv TWV SnTtp cicre/Jetas dOXrjTwv Kara iravra toitov direTiXtiTO paprvpia,
jiaXiara S' iirX-i^Ovev iir ' AXt^avSptia^ • rwv air Al-yvirTov Kai ©rj^atSoi
diraonjs apiaTivSrjV avToOi winrtp iirl pi-yiaTov dOXriTwv @tov Trapa-irtwTrophiwv
a-raSiov . . . SeKarov pev yap i-ireixe 2f/3fjp0i rfji /3a(rtXeias eros, i7yeiT0
8c 'AXt$avSpeiai Kai rfji Xotirfji AlyvirTOv AatTOS, T<ur Se airroOi irapoiKiwv
Trjv ImaKoirrjv vewcrTi ToVe piTo. 'lovXtai'oi' Arjp-rJTpios vireiX-^(f)eL (H.E.,
vi. I, 2).

THE PERSECUTION OF a.d. 202-3 317
{c) Sulpicius Severus, writing half a century later than Eusebius,
reckons this as the sixth persecution, though he does not attribute the
responsibility for it so directly to Severus : " sexta deinde Severo
imperante Christianorum vexatio fuit ; quo tempore Leonidas, Origenis
pater, sacrum in martyrio sanguinem fudit," etc. {Historia Sacra,
ii. 32). {d) Hippolytus probably wrote his De Antichristo shortly before
A.D. 202-3, ^nd bis Commentar-y on Daniel soon after this date (see
Harnack, Geschick. deraltchr. Lit., ii. (ii.), 2x5, 250). Both these works
were written during a time of persecution, though this was apparently
more severe at the date of the latter work. The end of all things seems
to the writer to be near ; the judgment is at hand ; the eschatologlcal
outlook is marked : XSwpev tolwv to, avp^rjaoptva {de Antic, 29) ; the
writer expects t-^v iirepxopevrjv Sta TTvpo's Kpiiriv {Com. Dan., iv. 60).
All such statements, even if less lurid than those of the Apocalypse, are
entirely in keeping with a period of special stress and danger.
(e) Similar evidence is afforded us by Eusebius (H.E., vi. 7) with
regard to the historian Judas, who brought his narrative to a close at
the tenth year of Severus and clearly shared the expectation that the
end of all things was at hand. Eusebius says of him, os koI ttjv
6pvXXovp€vrjv TOV 'AvTixpiaTOv irapovaiav rjSrj Tore irXrja-id^fiv wero- ovrw
a-<f>oSpwi fj TOV Koff rjpwv toti Stcuy/xov KivrjaK Tots rmv TroXXoii' ovtrapaTTt
Siavotas. (/) Potamiaena (H.E., vi. 5) was one of the martyrs of this period,
not, however, till some time after the outbreak of the persecution, for
Laetus was governor of Alexandria when the movement against the
Christians commenced, whereas Aquila had succeeded him (H.E., vi. 5 ;
cp. ib., 2) when Potamiaena suffered.
{g) Perpetua, Felicitas, and the other members of their company
suffered martyrdom in Africa early in a.d. 203. They seem, unlike
Potamiaena, to have been all recently converted to Christianity, and
therefore were more directly affected by the order of the Emperor,
which forbade the Church to add to its membership, (Note Jieri in
Spartian's account and compare Tertullian's " Fiunt, non nascuntur
Christiani," Apol, 18).
{h) Serapion, Bishop of Antioch, who died in a.d. 203, wrote to a
certain Domninus, who sought to escape persecution by lapsing from
Christianity to Judaism. Eusebius describes him as iKiren-TWKOTa nva
irapa rov tov Siw-ypov Kaipov airb t^s eis Xpio-rov iria-Tew? iirl rrjv 'lovSa'tK-qv
idtXo&prjaKeLav (H.E., vi. 12).

31 8 APPENDIX I
III
It is evident from the foregoing facts, all of which rest upon good
evidence, that the general conditions which prevailed throughout the
reign of Severus became specially adverse to the Church in a.d. 202-3.
How far was this due to the direct action of the Emperor ?
Many considerations lead us to suppose that it was no deliberate
policy on the part of Severus to set in motion any such general and
widespread persecution, as those which are connected with the names
of Marcus AureHus before him and of Decius at a later period. In
estimating the extent of his action in a.d. 202-3, 'he following facts
should be borne in mind.
{a) Tertullian mentions no edict issued by Severus against the
Christians. Not the Caesars but the provincial governors are the
persons whose fair treatment he is anxious to secure. His Ad Scapulam
goes far to show that throughout the reign the governors were impelled
by no imperial command to persecute, but left free to be lenient or
severe towards Christianity, according as their individual sympathies or
judgment might suggest,
{b) Dion Cassius and Herodian are as silent as Tertullian in regard
to any edict. If they knew anything of the Emperor's attitude towards
Christianity, they did not, at any rate, regard it as sufficiently important
to be placed on record. The treatment of the Christians under Severus
was in their eyes, as Aube remarks (p. 81), not a matter of imperial
policy but an affair for the police.
{c) Tertullian also states {Ad Scap., 4) three facts of importance,
viz. that Severus had once been cured by a Christian physician,
Proculus Torpacion ; that Christian influences had surrounded Cara
calla in his childhood; and that on some occasion Severus had
protected well-born men and women, known to be Christians, from the
anger of the crowd. This may quite possibly have been in Carthage,
when Severus was legatus of the Proconsul of Africa, about a.d. 174
(see Spartian, 2 ; Fuchs, p. 7). Or it may have been in Rome : we
cannot say. In any case it is probable that all these events occurred
several years before Severus became Emperor. But they are sympto
matic, and hardly consistent with an attitude of hostility to Christianity.
{d) The prohibition which forbade the Jews to admit further
converts by circumcision, is not difficult to account for, since it was the
re-enactment of a similar order of Antoninus Pius (see evidence in
Aube, p. 74), and no doubt was occasioned by the fact that the Jews had
taken sides with Niger. Indeed, Severus punished their aid to his rival

THE PERSECUTION OF a.d. 202-3 319
with sufficient severity to justify the Senate decreeing to Caracalla a
" Jewish Triumph." But the Christians had taken no sides in the civil
war, "Nunquam Albiniani, nee Nigriani . . . inveniri potuerunt
Christiani" {Ad Scap., 2). They had even rejoiced when the
Emperor's armies took Byzantium. No considerations of imperial
policy existed to suggest harsh measures against them ; the most that
could be said was that they declined to pay certain kinds of honour to
Caesar. Of itself this was hardly sufficient to call for vigorous action
from the Emperor: it was a matter rather for the subordinate
authorities. (e) Directly after the issue ofthe order of a.d. 202-3 — "idem etiam
de Christianis sanxit" — whatever its exact nature may have been,
Severus returned to Rome (Herod., iii. 10, t), where he mainly spent the
years a.d. 203-8. The whole of this period falls within the episcopate
of Zephyrinus. During these years the Church in Rome was much
occupied over internal questions. Callistus and Hippolytus come
into prominence. The Monarchian movement claims attention.
Doctrine and discipline are much discussed. Such interests in a time
of special persecution would have been in abeyance. The evidence
thus leads to the conclusion that external dangers did not specially
menace the Roman Church in the first half of Zephyrinus' episcopate.
" Die romische Kirche hatte . . . auch unter ihm {sc. Severus) nicht
sonderlich zu leiden '' (Langen, Geschichte, 201). But if Severus,
while still in the east, had determined on any special policy of active
hostility towards the Church, this decision would certainly have been
made evident on his return to Rome. He had sufficient leisure then
to attend to internal affairs, and, had he intended to persecute, would
have persecuted relentlessly and with method. The peace of the
Church in Rome during the years a.d. 203-8 must prevent our inter
preting Spartian's expression as a statement of general and determined
policy on the part of the Emperor. Severus usually carried out his
intentions with unremitting pertinacity. But Tertullian says of him
"Christianorum memor fuit."
(/) It is, besides, generally recognised that Severus had no special
interest in maintaining the traditional religion, so far as the Empire in
his day possessed one, against innovations. Motives which impelled
Marcus Aurelius to persecute had no influence with him. By birth an
African, by conviction a believer in oriental astrology, by culture and
experience acquainted with many phases of religion, and by marriage
associated with Julia Domna — he was hardly the type of Caesar to sup
press Christianity in the interests of the gods of Rome. Had he really

320 APPENDIX I
suspected the Christians of disloyalty to his own rigime, he might have
taken determined action. The prohibition to make new converts
would have been a quite inadequate penalty for the graver offences of
" majestas," and there is no other ground on which Severus is likely to
have resolved on vigorous measures. This general improbability that
he would be among the persecutors, inconclusive in itself, gains
importance when we notice its congruity with such particular facts as
can be ascertained. IV
So far then the following points seem clear, (i) Persecution went
on, in varying degrees, during the reign of Severus, both before and
after a.d. 202-3. (2) During the last-named years it became more
insistent and intense, the severity being of longer duration in some
provinces than in others. (3) Whatever the cause of the special
activity of the authorities, it does not seem to have proceeded from any
settled resolve on the part of Severus to push the suppression of Chris
tianity throughout the Empire to extremes. Sulpicius' statement that
persecutions occurred, "Severo imperante," is probably more near the
truth than the SeyS-^pos . . . e/ciVci of Eusebius.
Spartian's account, "idem etiam de Christianis sanxit," must then be
understood not as a statement of general and considered policy em
bodied in an edict, but as a local and incidental order or permission,
probably given to one particular governor and occasioned by special
considerations. Is it possible to suggest the circumstances under which
it was issued ?
The evidence associates this decree, or rescript, if it is to be so
described, somewhat directly with Alexandria. Eusebius states that
the persecution was specially severe there, and mentions the name of the
prefect Laetus in a manner which suggests that he was specially active.
Spartian's account seems at first sight to imply that the prohibition was
issued while Severus was travelling through Palestine, from Antioch to
Alexandria. But Neumann {Der rom. Staat und die allgem. Kirche,
i6i)isprobably right in regarding the statement, "idem . . . sanxit," as
parenthetical. There is no need to suppose the time of this order
to have been exactly identical with the issue of the Jewish law. There
could hardly be special reasons for the issue of such an order against
the Christians in Palestine, nor does it appear that the episcopate of
Narcissus in Jerusalem was ever directly troubled by imperial action.
Spartian's mention of "Alexandria" just before, and of the "Alex-

THE PERSECUTION OF a.d. 202-3 321
andrini " immediately after, the statement quoted may thus be taken
to support the probability that the proclamation against the Christians
was issued in Alexandria.
Nothing is more likely than that this should have been the case.
Severus seems to have gone out of his way to please the citizens of this
second metropolis. Alexandria had sided with Niger. Six years before
the Emperor had dealt severely enough with Antioch for similarly
espousing his rival's cause. " Antiochensibus iratior fuit . . . multa his
ademit" (Spartian, Severus, 9). But in Alexandria he accepted the
citizen's explanation of an awkward inscription in Niger's honour,^
though he must have seen through its trickery ; gave them a local
Senate, and extended their privileges in many other respects. He
could afford to do these things now that his rule was established, and
it was true policy to keep the city, upon whose harbours Rome depended
so largely for daily bread, in a loyal and contented mood. Moreover,
Severus was delighted with Egypt, explored its antiquities, paid special
attention to its divinities, and clearly spent his time there as a visitor
ready to please and to be pleased. Spartian's and Dion's accounts
both leave this impression.
All this renders the suggestion, first made by Milman, extremely
probable : " The hour of imperial favour was likely to be seized by
the Egyptian priesthood to obtain the mastery, and to wreak their
revenge on this new foreign religion, which was making such rapid
progress throughout the province" {Hist, of Christianity, ii. 208-9).
Whether it was the priests of Serapis, or whether, as may be more
likely, it was the professors in the Museum, it is in either case a most
natural supposition that the recently rapid growth of Christianity
should have prompted one section or another of its opponents to
induce the Emperor, while in the mood to grant favours, to inform
Laetus, the prefect, that the further progress of this religion must be
checked. The proclamation would, on this supposition, be principally
local in character, however much the activity of the governors in other
provinces may have been stimulated by their knowledge of it. It is
to be noticed, in any case, that the exact order of Severus was at once
exceeded both in Alexandria and elsewhere. Neither Leonides, nor
Potamiaena, nor Domninus were converted after its issue, yet two of
them fell as victims, and the life of Domninus was evidently in danger.
The order or edict, limited in its original intention, thus became the
cause of considerably wider activity on the part of the subordinate
authorities. ' See vol. i., p. 103.
VOL. II. 21

322 APPENDIX I
The main point of interest in relation to Clement is to notice that,
if the before-mentioned probabilities hold good, Severus' action must
have been directly called forth by the work of the Catechetical School,
and in some sense directed against Clement's own activities as a teacher.
This may in part explain why he was compelled to leave the city and
to give up his work, though the work was so soon recommenced by
Origen, and Demetrius, the Bishop, in all probability never left Alex
andria at all. Such direct relation between the career of Clement and
the action of Severus cannot, it is true, be clearly proved from the avail
able evidence. But no other theory accords more fully with such facts
as are known, and in all that regards Clement's personal history it is
with probabilities that we must often rest content.

One further point of interest arises, when we ask whether Clement's
references to martyrdom have the events of a.d. 202-3 specially in
view. There is one passage which is usually taken to have been directly
occasioned by the events which followed Severus' edict. Clement has
quoted, quite incidentally, Zeno's remark, that the sight of one Indian
being roasted alive outweighed all arguments about endurance. Then
he adds, -fjpiv Sk a.tp$ovoi paprvpwv irrjyal eKa.aTrj's fjp.ipa'i ev 6<ji0aXpoii ij/xalv
Oewpo-vpevai irapoirTwpevwv dvaa-KivSvXevopevwv Tcis K€</>aXas dirorepvopivwv .
TOVTOVS TTctVTas o TTapa TOV vopov tp6po<; CIS H-pia-Tov Trat8ay<Dy»;o"as crw-qaKYjoe
TO fvXa/Se's Kai SC aipaTwv ivSeLKWcrOai (494).
Two points are here to be noticed. First, Clement is speaking of
common, not of special, experience. Martyrdom, he says, is an every
day spectacle. This does not point to a sharp, short outbreak of
special severity, such as that described by Eusebius. He has in his
mind what is a normal element in the Christian life of the period
(note a-vviqa-KYjcrt : it is not a sudden and unexpected situation he is
describing). The second point is this. Are we to suppose it probable that in
a period of special persecution, possibly, as we have seen, arising from
the very success of the Catechetical School with which he was connected,
Clement would have been allowed, peacefully and leisurely, with
uninterrupted access to his books, to go on composing his " Memoirs,"
while the tide of martyrdom flowed by before his eyes? He would
probably have been one of the first victims to fall, had he remained in
Alexandria, for it is evident from Eusebius that for a period diligent

THE PERSECUTION OF a.d. 202-3 3^3
search for important personages was made (N.B. apia-TivSrjv . . . irapa-
irepiropevwv, H.E., vi. i ; it is the opposite of " Conquirendi non sunt "
in Trajan's answer to Pliny).
Prima facie, Clement appears to write, with some touch perhaps of
rhetorical emphasis — similar to that found in Tertullian's Apology —
of the normal experience of Christians in the period, and to write, too,
from a position of personal security.
This interpretation of a passage, which more than any other is
usually interpreted as a reference to the persecution of a.d. 202-3,
receives some support from Clement's language in regard to martyrdom
and persecution elsewhere. There is no hint in these passages of any
prohibition of further conversions. Throughout the Stromateis, in the
later as well as the earlier books {cp. SfKiara, 902), he writes with the
evident desire to gSiin further accessions of the intelligent to Christianity.
No trace emerges of any knowledge on Clement's part that Severus had
directly prohibited such augmentations of the faith. On the other
hand, he has frequently in view the common facts and possibilities of
martyrdom, constant rather than acute, an element in the general
situation rather than a special and unusual crisis.
Thus, for example, Clement makes it clear that the Christian
teacher was always liable to suffer through the ignorant opposition of
the crowd {cp. 82, quoted above). The Church was full of men and
women alike who had always looked forward to the glory of a martyr's
death : p^arrj piv ovv iraa-a -fj eKKXrjo-ta twv peXeTrjcnivTwv tov ^wottowv
Odvarov cis ^pia-Tov Trap' oXov tov fiiov KaOdirep avSpwv ovtw 8e Kai
yvvaiKtuv (rw(f>p6vwv (590), Death, however, was the extreme, not the
usual penalty : Kav aripia ti'S Trepi/SdXX-i] rouTOV {sc. the Gnostic) ffiv-^'g Ti
Kixi Srjpevaei Kai iirl irdai Oavdrw, ovk diroaTraaO-rja-^TaC irore tjJs iXevBepias
K.T.X. (587). The nobility and courage of confessors had come to be
a recognised influence in strengthening and enlarging the Church :
SoO-fja-eTai Se Ticriv, eav avpfpiprj, diroXo-y-i^o-aa-daL, iva 8ia re T^s paprvpia';
Sid T€ TTJS (xTroXoyias OKJyeXwvTaL ol ;ravTcs, IcrxvpoTroiovpevoi pev ot Kar
iKKXrjcriav, 6avpd^ovTK 8c Kai cis irio-Tiv vira-yopevoL oi e^ e^vojv ttjv a-wrrjpiav
TroXvTTpaypovrjo-avTK, 01 Xoittoi Sc vir eKirX-rj^iw^ Karexopevoi (596), But
escape was usually possible ; there was no inevitable necessity to suffer,
and Clement had little tolerance for the fanaticism which courted death
{cp. 6 iavTOV irpoadywy T<3 SiKacrTTjpiw, 597' CTrtppiTTTOvcriv cavTOvs tois kivSv-
vois, 871). He had failed, it may be noticed, to teach this lesson to Origen
(cpios too-ovtos papTvpLov TTjv 'Optyevovs • . . KOTCixe ipvxrjv, H.E., vi. 2).
The martyrs, it seems, are not sought out by the authorities : they had
themselves to seek death : {iTrnrrjSav tw Oavdrw, 571). Martyrdom is a

324 APPENDIX I
subject which, apart from special circumstances, a Christian writer of
this time might naturally be expected to discuss : axoXov^ov Srj oT/xat
TTcpt paprvpCov SiaXa/3eiv k.t.X. (563). Persecution did not always originate
with officials, but often from educated opponents of Christianity : twv
'EXXtJvoov paOovrwv • • . (Ls dvoa-Lws tov 6fo<l>iXfj SiwKovrei datlSovaiv (736) :
more often from the ignorant hostility of the crowd : o t£ ovti avSpcios,
TTpotjiavf] tov KivSvvov Sia tov twv ttoXXwv i,fjXov cx<ov, K.T.X. (871).
These are the features of persecution with which Clement was most
familiar. They are characteristic of a period in which the liability to
loss and suffering and even death constantly and normally beset the
profession of Christianity. But they do not accord with a time in
which the authorities were aggressively and vigorously hostile. In
other words, it is improbable that Clement wrote with the events of
A.D. 202-3 specially in mind. His conditions rather approximate to
those under which Tertullian wrote his Apology.
The conclusions, then, to which the probabilities lead us are^ —
(i) That persecution, in varying degrees, went on throughout the
reign of Severus.
(2) That in a.d. 202-3 persecution was specially severe.
(3) That this severity was not due to any settled policy of hostility
on the part of the Emperor.
(4) But that such direct action as Severus took in the matter should
be set down to special circumstances, and with some reason may be
connected with his visit to Alexandria.
(5) That in his references to martyrdom and kindred subjects,
Clement has not the special attacks of a.d. 202-3, I"^t the normal
condition of Christian experience during the period in view.

APPENDIX II
On the Order and Date of Clement's Works
What books Clement wrote, and where and in what order he wrote
them, are questions almost as complicated as those which arise when
we ask what books he read and how he used them. The attempt will
be made in this Appendix to set out in greater detail the evidence for
the views suggested in Chapter VI of this work. The opinions of De

ORDER AND DATE OF CLEMENT'S WORKS 325
Faye, A. Harnack, C. Heussi, and P. Wendland should be carefully
considered by any who desire to understand the points at issue.
I
The Stromateis, it seems, were the first work Clement wrote for
publication. They opened with a passage, quoted from the Shepherd of
Hermas (Vis., v. 5), to justify such literary enterprise. The recurrence
of the words ypdxj/ov . . . ypd\j/eis . . . ypdfai, no doubt included in
the missing portion of the quotation, is to be noted. Clement adduces,
besides, the following considerations in the opening section ; " If
Epicurus and Archilochus may write books, surely a Christian may"
(316) : "Writing and the living voice are only different ways of preach
ing the Word" (318): "An author must look to his motives" (319):
" Some opportunities which a preacher or lecturer possesses are not
open to a writer" (320) : "What I hesitated to say in teaching, I shall
not venture to write'' (324), and much else in a similar strain. Thus
his attitude in commencing the Stromateis is that of one who is making
a new departure and wishes to justify it. The whole section, 316-28,
has only point and significance on the supposition that the writer is
making, with considerable hesitation, the transition from oral teaching
to the different method of the published book. This seems to be the
most certain fact in connection with the problem of Clement's literary
undertakings, and other probabilities should be estimated in relation
to it. The Stromateis were evidently not commenced till some time after
the death of Commodus in a.d. 192. Sufficient time had elapsed for
this event to be already a recognised terminus ad quem in chronological
calculations (aXXot Sc pexpt t^s Ko/xdSov TeXevTijs dpidp-tqa-avrfs k.t.X.,
409). In Alexandria, with its known interest in such matters, this
interval need not have been long, but in any case Book I of the
Stromateis can hardly be dated earlier than a.d. 195. It is clear that
Clement had done much in the collection of his material before he
began to write, and the actual composition of the Stromateis may there
fore have been somewhat rapid. II
But if Strom., i., is Clement's earhest work for publication and was
not written before this date, what becomes of the statement in the
Little Labyrinth (H.E., v. 28), that he wrote books before Victor
became Bishop of Rome, i.e. before a,d. 189 or 190 ? The passage runs

326 APPENDIX II
as follows : Kai dScXc^uiv 8c' tivujv co-ti ypdppara Trpco-ySvrcpa Tuiv Bi'KTopos
Xpovwv, a CKCivoi Kai Trpos to. idvr] virip T^s dXrjdeiai, Kai Trpos ras t6t(
aipctreis eypax^av- Xc'yu) Se 'Iovcttivov Kai MiXtioiSov Kai TaTiavov Kai
KXiyyttevTOS Kai erepwv TrAeidviov cv oTs aTrao"! PcoXoycirat o Xpio"Tds.
The difficulty is most naturally met by supposing that Clement's
earlier writings were not originally intended for publication. The
common practice of the time was for an author to read his book aloud
to an audience. Lucian, for example, says, to pev ovv irepivoa-TovvTa vvv
pkv 'AOrjvaiOL?, vvv Se Kopiv^iois dvayivioCTKCiv rj Apyciois rj AaKcSaipoviOK
iv TW pepei, epyioSes Kai paKpov fjyeiTO {Herodotus, i.) ; also, referring
more directly to his own experience, a 8' ev io-Topi'a Sia/tapTdvovcn, Ta
ToiavTa av cvpois e-irirrjpwv, oia Kapol TroXXaKis aKpowpivw eoo^e, koi
paXiara rjv diraaiv avrois dvaTrcTao-ijs Ta wTa {Historia quomodo con-
scribenda, vii,). It was a further stage for the original manuscript to
be copied and find its way into the booksellers' shops. The case of
Galen presents an interesting parallel to that of Clement. Many of
Galen's works were written only for his pupils or his friends. Some
even originated as notes of his lectures, taken down verbatim by his
pupils, much as Arrian took down the lectures of Epictetus. Galen, in
the De ordine librorum suorum, c. I, (ed. Kiihn, xix. 49 sqq^, remarks
to Eugenianus, in reference to his books, Ta ;u,cv yap <piXwv, iLs otcrOa,
Serj$evTwv eypdr^rj tijs ckci'viuv povov e^eios crTo;^a^d/t.cva, Ttva Sc /xeipaKiots
ficrayopivois virrjyopevOrj, (tkottov iir ovStrepwv ex^vro? pov SiaSoOfjvaL Tois
dvOpwiroii avTa, <l>vXaxOfjvai re Tol per ipe XP°^V ' again, in C, II. (Kiihn,
^'^- 53)> h-^"- f-^^ °^^ V^^ ¦'¦<"'' fjperipwv viropvqpATwv eaTiv dpxrj t^s
dvayvuio-cojs CKCivois Tilv dvSpuJv, otrot Kai (^wci o-vvcToi Kai dXj;6eias
craipoi. It would therefore entirely accord with the practice of the times, if
Clement's earlier works were primarily written for use in his lecture-
room, without any ulterior purpose of making them accessible to the
world at large. A literary propaganda was not at this time any part of
his plan. Certain terms and phrases in the Protrepticus and in the
Pcedagogus support this theory, e.g. the following : He uses the second
person, as one addressing an audience, ovk aTOTrov, w <t>iXoL k.t.X. (8) ;
pr] TToXvir pay pov eire (10) ; ma-TevijaTe . . . crwtjipov-fjo-rjTe {TJ) ', ravTa
vpiv . ¦ . rraparWepai (256-7). He Speaks of hearing, not of reading :
Tas dKoas vpwv (24); dKOvo-ai (66); aKO-ucraTe (77); dKovere (116); irr
(l^cXcia Tuiv dKovdvTiuv . . . dvo/xd^eiv (225) ; and there are other similar
expressions. The Prayer to the Word, and the Hymn, a-ropiov rrwXwv
dSaolv, with which the Pcedagogus closes, are also more appropriate to
an address than to a treatise intended for private reading.

ORDER AND DATE OF CLEMENT'S WORKS 327
The Protrepticus, indeed, is in form a sermon or a lecture rather than
a book, and similar characteristics belong, in a less marked degree, to
the Pcedagogus. Thus the statement in Eusebius need not conflict with
the fact that Clement had written nothing before the Stromateis for
publication. Ill
Clement's intention was originally to make the third portion of his
whole enterprise similar in form to the first two. The Master,
AiSdo-KoXos, was to have been addressed to his pupils. The three are
regarded as successive stages in one continuous course of oral instruc
tion : TJj KaXi^ avyxprjrai oiKovoplq. o iravra eptXdvOpwiro'; Xoyos, irpoTpeirwv
dvwOev, eireira rraiSaywywv, iirl iracriv eKSiSdaKwv (99). His pupils having
listened to the Pcedagogus are later on to hear the Master : Kai 8^ wpa
ye ipol pev irerravo-Oai riJs n-aiSayiuytas, v/ids Sc aKpodadat tov SiSaaKaXov
(309). Thus the Master, like the Protrepticus and the Pcedagogus, was
to have been addressed Trpos irapovTas (320). It appears to me that
De Faye has conclusively shown that Clement did intend the third part
of his work to be entitled the Master, and that the Stromateis are a
deviation from his earlier purpose. A series of published miscellanies
took the place of lectures or instructions composed for oral delivery.
The reasons which may have led to this modification of Clement's
scheme have been suggested in the sixth chapter and need not be
further discussed here. IV
But, as against De Faye's contention that the Stromateis are a
purely preliminary work, preparing the way for the Master, it seems to
me that Heussi's view that the Stromateis are the Master, in so far as
this part of Clement's project was ever realised, holds good. Such
alteration as he made in his scheme did not consist in its enlargement
from one of three divisions to one of four, but concerned only ths form
and method of its third portion. The passages to which Heussi refers
leave little doubt on this point. The higher Gnostic teaching is con
tained, however sporadically, in the Stromateis, as may be seen by such
language as the following : ol a-Tpwpareis r-rj -iroXvpaOia. (TwpaToiroiovpevoi
KpvTTTCtv ivrexvws rd rfj'; yvioo-cios fiovXovTai aireppara (327) ; SiacriropdSrjv
Ktti Sieppippevws iyKarea-irappevrjv exovai rrjv dXijdetav (348) ; ep,oi tc
VTvopv-rjpaTa etev dv twirvpa, tw re eis yvwcriv iiriTrjSeiw . . . irpos to
avptpepov . . . rj ^¦fjTrja-i'S ycvT^o-cTat (736) ; a-iropdSrjv, u)S vireaxrjpiOa, Kai
Sifppippevws rd ^wrrvpa Tuiv ttJs dXrjOov? yvcocrcws eyKaTao-TrcipavTcs Soypdrwv

32 8 APPENDIX II
(901). How it comes that at the end of the seventh book the great
project of a scheme of higher teaching is still in so large a measure un
accomplished {periwpev, he must still say, CTri rrjv VTrdo-^co-iv ; Tiuv e^s aTr"
aXX»;s dpxijs iroirjo-opeOa tov Xoyov, 901-2), is a question which has
already received some consideration.

Failing evidence to the contrary, it would be natural to suppose
that the three portions of Clement's work, Protrepticus, Pcedagogus,
Stromateis, were composed in the order in which we possess them.
"Es steht auch fest, dass Klemens die einzelnen Telle in der
Reihenfolge geschrieben hat, in welcher sie sich zu einem Ganzen
zusammenfiigen " (Bardenhewer, Gesch. der altkirch. Litt., ii. 38).
The reasons advanced for believing that Clement wrote the Pcedagogus
after Strom., i.-iv. (this is held by Harnack, Heussi, Wendland) are as
follows: (i) There are no references to the Protrepticus and the
Pcedagogus in Strom., i.-iv. : (2) There are passages in the Pcedagogus
which refer to the discussion on marriage in Strom., ii.-iii. (502-62)
as already written.
But the first of these reasons is an argument from silence. This is
specially precarious in dealing with a writer whose literary habits were
those of Clement. Many authorities, for example, hold that the
Hypotyposeis were written before the Stromateis, though the Stromateis
do not refer to them. Those who are so convinced must at least allow
that it may be held with equally good reason that the absence of
references to the Protrepticus and the Pcedagogus in Strom., i,-iv., does
not disprove their prior existence.
As to the discussion on marriage, the evidence is very complicated.
Three passages in the Pcedagogus have to be considered, which run as
follows : —
(i.) Ka^dXov pkv ovv rj yaprjreov rj ydpov cis to TravTcXcs Kadaptvreov
{exerai ydp ^rjTT^crews Kai tovto), iv rio Ilcpi iyKpareiai fjplv StSrfjXuyrai (226).
(ii.) AieiX-i^tjiapev Se ^aBvripw Xdyo) los dpa ovTe cv tois ovopaatv ovSe prjv
Iv tois avvovo-iao-TiKois /xopiois Kai T-rj Kara ydpov avpirXoK-fj, KaO" wv KciTat
Ta dvop,aTa Ta Trcpi rrjv avvi^Otiav ov Ttrpippiva, fj tov ovtios aio"j(pov
rrpocrrjyopia TaTTerai (199).
(iii.) Ojrios piv ovv <Tvp/3iwTf0v dv8pi rrjv yvvaiKa Kai Trcpi avTovpyt'as
Kai oiKovpias Kai oiKtTwv ^(pjyo-ctus, Trpos Se Kai ttjs lupas rov ydpov Kai Ttuv
oaa yvvai^iv dppo^ei, iv tw yapiKw SU^ipev Xoyw (278).
The first of these passages tells in favour of the supposition that

ORDER AND DATE OF CLEMENT'S WORKS 329
Strom., ii.-iii,, were already written. The question of the advisability
of marriage is certainly discussed in Strom., ii. 502 sqq. {^rp-ovpev Se el
yaprjreov k.t.X.). And neither Eusebius nor other authorities mention
any separate treatise by Clement on marriage.
On the other hand, the second passage refers to a statement which
is not found in Strom., ii.-iii. It therefore affords no reason for
believing that this section was already in existence.
The third passage refers to a projected work. Sieitptv is future {cp.
periptv in 564; Zahn, Suppl Clem., 38; Bardenhewer, op. cit., ii. 53).
This seems to imply that Clement, so far, had not had occasion to
discuss the subject of marriage, i.e. that Strom., ii.-iii., were not yet
written. Moreover, the subjects he proposes to consider, oiKovpta,
oiKCTulv xpfjais, <"pa tov ydpov, are not dealt with in the Stromateis and
therefore were probably treated, if at all, in some separate and inde
pendent work. It is difficult to draw any sure conclusions from such
conflicting data.
But, apart from these references to the treatise on marriage, there
is a further point to be considered. If when Clement wrote the
Pcedagogus he had already written Strom., i.-iv., and so determined the
character of this portion of his work, it is extremely improbable that
he would have spoken in the Pcedagogus of the Master as he has done.
The difference between his intention as expressed in the Pcedagogus
and his actual execution of it as found in Strom., i.-iv., is so marked,
that we can only suppose that he first expressed his intention and
subsequently adopted a different scheme, i.e. wrote the Pcedagogus
before commencing the Stromateis.
Finally, there is the further consideration that the fragment given
in StahUn's edition, iii., p. 228, 11. 13-15, which clearly comes from
some treatise on marriage, does not occur in the Stromateis, and there
fore also points to the work, Ilepi cyKpaTcias or Xdyos yapiKo's, having been
a separate and independent treatise. It does, indeed, directly mention
one of the subjects — Trepi t^s <5pas tov ydpov — which Clement proposed
(see 278, quoted above) to discuss.

VI
If there is sufficient reason, then, to suppose that Clement wrote
his three main works in the order in which they stand, are we to suppose
that they were written in Alexandria or elsewhere? There is a marked
tendency on the part of later critics to place the most important period
of his authorship after A.D. 202. Harnack says of the Pcedagogus thsit

330 APPENDIX II
it was in any case not written in Alexandria and that the composition
of Strom., v.-vii., may have extended beyond the first decade of the
third century. Bardenhewer would place even the Protrepticus as late
as A.D. 199 {op. cit. ii. 39). The earlier dates are maintained by Zahn.
This view, as against the general tendency of recent authorities, may
be supported by the following considerations.
{a) The Protrepticus is the address of a teacher, speaking in settled
circumstances, to an audience with whose character he is thoroughly
familiar. These conditions are those of Clement during his residence
in Alexandria, but we have no evidence that they held good for any
other portion of his life.
{b) The many references to luxury in the Pcedagogus, however
largely drawn from literary sources, would be out of place in any but
a wealthy city, in which rich people were coming over to Christianity.
It is also to be noted that the writer's circumstances are evidently
settled : he forms plans for the further instructions of his pupils
(97-99, 309) ; he has no special occasion to encourage them to face
persecution. He sometimes makes statements which exactly accord
with our knowledge of life in Alexandria, e.g. ov a-w<j>poveiv 4>-)ja-aip' av
Tas TrdXcts, ais Koi to Trai^eiv CTTroiiSd^cTai (299). These considerations
tell in favour of the theory that the Pcedagogus was written for converts
in Alexandria. {c) The Stromateis, it is usually allowed, were commenced in
Alexandria. It is, however, often urged that in Strom., ii. 494, we have
a reference to the persecution of a.d. 202-3, and that the later portions
must consequently have been written after Clement had fled from the
city. This passage, together with the other references to martyrdom,
has, however, been discussed in the previous Appendix. If the view
there taken of their significance be correct, they point not to the special
attack upon the Church in a.d, 202-3, but to the conditions normally
prevalent during the period. The passage in question would in that
case afford no ground for believing that Clement must have left
Alexandria at an early date after he had written it.
{d) Again, it is difficult to suppose that Clement wrote the important
passage {Strom., vi. 827) on the inability of Emperors, Governors, and
mobs to hinder the spread of Christianity, after he had left Alexandria
in consequence of the persecution under Severus. If the authorities
had succeeded in driving him from his school and his library, and so
brought the greatest work of his Hfe to an abrupt termination, it would
hardly have been natural for Clement to reply with the exulting boast
that Christianity "flourishes all the more." Tertullian, in his fierce

ORDER AND DATE OF CLEMENT'S WORKS 331
way, might have said this, but it was hardly Clement's manner. He
would have recognised the actuality of the check. In other words,
the close of Strom., vi., can hardly have been written after he left
Alexandria. {e) Whatever "public'' Clement had in view when he commenced
the Stromateis, were still in his mind at the end of the seventh book.
The ipiXoOedpovK TTjs iKKXr]aia<s (900 ; SO MS. : r^s dXjj^cias is suggested
by Stahlin), the <^iXd7rovoi Kai tvperiKoi (902), correspond exactly to the
few for whom yvSo-ts is appropriate (ei Se p-fj irdvrwv -tj yvSo-ts, 317) and
who have the ability to hear {tov oiov re dKoveiv, 320). The uninitiated
{dp-vrjToi, 901) and those who blamed Clement for going beyond the
Scriptures (829) are identical with the TroXXoi (323), the tj/o<j>oSeeis (326),
the ^tXeyKXiypoves (327), who were so much in his thoughts when he
began to write. Moreover, the literary conditions are the same. In
Strom., vii., the writer has access to books, just as he had in earlier
portions of his work. Such evident similarity of conditions, combined
with the complete absence of any hint in the Stromateis of a violent
change in the writer's circumstances, leads us to suppose, until the
contrary is shown, that Clement's environment, when he wrote Strom.,
vi. and vii., was the same as when he wrote Strom., i. and ii. In other
words, we may assign the composition of the whole of the Stromateis to
the period of his residence in Alexandria.

VII
If, then, it is at least possible that all three portions of Clement's
Trilogy are to be dated before a.d. 202-3, what is to be said of his
other works, particularly of the Hypotyposeis ? T'he evidence, on the
whole, seems to favour the supposition that they were written after the
Stromateis. It is difficult to suppose that in all the seven books of the
Stromateis there would have been no reference to this work of exegesis,
had it already been in existence. No doubt this is an argument from
silence, and such, it has already been admitted, are specially precarious
in Clement's case. In this connection, however, the absence of all
mention can hardly be other than significant, for Clement's references
to Scripture are specially frequent, and in many of them some allusion
to an expository treatise of his own, had such already existed, would
have been evidently natural. When, for example, Clement expounds
the Decalogue (807 sqq.), he is engaged on much the same kind of task
as occupied him in the Hypotyposeis and would probably have mentioned
them, had they been written before. Or consider such a passage as

332 APPENDIX II
the following : tSv Sc Xc^coiv twv Trpo4>rjTiKwv irrl tov TrapdvTOS ovk
iiripvrja-Orja-opeOa, Kara tovs irriKaipovi tottovs varepov Tais ypo<^ats
avyxprjcropevoi (829). The language seems almost incompatible with
the supposition that the Hypotyposeis preceded the Stromateis. Such
considerations, no doubt, are not conclusive. More certain evidence
may be derived from the fact, that Clement expressly states that he
undertook the Stromateis as an aid to memory for his later years and
as a record of the precious teaching of his masters. The Hypotyposeis
can hardly have been in existence when this statement was made, for
they must themselves have largely fulfilled this purpose. It is known
(H.E,, V. 11) that Clement referred to Pantaenus in the Hypotyposeis,
and, quite apart from this, it is improbable that he could have written
eight books of exegesis without incorporating in them many of the
"apostolic seeds" (323) he had derived from the Elders. The
opening passage of the Stromateis seems, in other words, to afford clear
probability that the Hypotyposeis had not as yet been written.

vin
As to Clement's other writings, the evidence is of a more general
character. There is a passage in the Quis dives salvetur, on the
interpretation of the term "camel" in the Gospels, which runs as
follows : a-rjpaiverw pev ovv ri koi vij/rjXorepov fj KdprjXo'; Sio, o-tcv^s oSov
Kai TeOXippevrjS tf>6dvova-a tov irXovaiov, oirep iv rrj Trcpi dp^ilv Kai
DeoXoytas i^y-fjaei pvarfjpiov rov a-wTfjpo'S virapx^i paOelv (950).
In spite of what von Arnim (p. 13) has said on this point,
the passage appears to me to be a reference to some already known
and published work, with which Clement's hearers were familiar.
Could he otherwise have said of a definite piece of interpretation,
-iirdpxei paOelv?
If, then, the Stromateis are rightly regarded as Clement's earliest
published work, the treatise mentioned in the Quis dives, and also the
Quis dives itself, must have been written later. The work entitled
Canon ecclesiasticus was dedicated to Alexander, Clement's pupil, and
probably written fairly late in Clement's own lifetime (see supra, vol. i.
p. 204; also Zahn, p. 175). The various pastoral works attributed to
Clement suit the circumstances of his later years, so far as we know
them, better than his period of residence in Alexandria. It is to be
noted that the statement, " Multa et varia conscribit," of the Eusebian
Chronicle applies to a date (a.d. 204) subsequent to his departure from
that city.

ORDER AND DATE OF CLEMENT'S WORKS 333
In any attempt to assign dates and localities to Clement's written
works, probability, in default of better evidence, is often our only guide.
The one assured fact in the whole intricate inquiry is that Clement had
written no book for publication before he undertook the composition of
the Stromateis. Starting from this evidence, I have tried in this short
Appendix to show that something may still be said for the theory that
Clement wrote his great Trilogy during his years in Alexandria, and that
it was to other works that his later literary activity was devoted. But
I fully recognise that many recent authorities would invert this order.

INDEX
The reader may also consult the summaries ofthe chapters at the
commencement of each volume.
The figures refer to the pages of the first volume, unless otherwise stated.

Abgar, King of Edessa, 140.
Adultery, 294.
Adviser, a spiritual, 138, 320.
Agape, 283 ; ii. 151 sqq.
Albinus, Clodius, 100.
Alexander, Bp., 20, 204.
Alexander, letter of, 23.
Alexandria, 31-63; ii. 40, 103, 119,
320 sqq., 329.
Alexandrine Codex, ii. 182 sqq.
Allegory, ii. 18, 210 sqq.
Alogi, the, 359.
" Amazonius" (of Commodus), 119.
Ambrose, Saint, 155 ; ii. 280.
Ammonius Saccas, 41 ; ii. 238.
Amos, commentary on, 197.
Amphitheatre, the, 90, 258.
Anagnia, inscriptions at, 122.
Angels, On, a treatise, 199.
Anselm, ii. 23 sqq.
Anthologies, 155.
Anthony, Saint, 325,
Antinous, 215.
Antitheses of theology, ii. 29.
Apathy, 267, 312 ; ii. 45, 86 sqq.
Apocrypha, the, ii. 170 sqq.
Apollonius of Tyana, 83 ; ii. 85.
Apologists, the, 155, 183, 223 sqq.
Apostolic element in Scripture, ii.
203.
Apuleius, 5, 78, 232, 300.
Arabarch or Alabarch, 36.
Aristobulus, 160; ii. 194.
Aristotle, 154, 169, 299, 331 ; ii. 98.
Arnim, J. von, 194, 200, 203.

Arnold, M., 176, 239; ii. 254.
Art, 90, 215, 266; ii. 120.
Asceticism, 266, 280 ; ii. 89.
Astrology, 106, 144.
Astronomy, 43, 129 ; ii. 299,
Athanasius, ii. 20 sqq.
Athenagoras, 12, 296.
Athens, 3 sqq.
Athens, church of, 1 1.
Attic dialect, the, 3.
Augustine, Saint, 13 ; ii. 92-93.
Authorship, motives of, 183,
Bacon, Essays of, 272, 281,
Banquet, description of a, 249-251.
Baptised, an Address to the, 201,
Baptism, ii. 135-147.
Baptism, sin after, 320 ; ii. 125.
Bardaisan, 139-148.
Bardenhewer, O,, 163 ; ii. 328.
Barnabas, Epistle of, 44 ; ii. 174.
Barnard, P. M., 201 ; ii. 190,
Basilides, ii. 37, 52 sqq.
Baur, F. C, ii. 35, 63,
Bigg, C, 186, 246, 362 ; ii. 24, 35,
78, 238, 239.
Book of the Laws of the Countries,
The, l^qsqq.
Books, Clement's written or pro
jected, 195 sqq.
Books, ancient, 151 sqq. ; ii, 326.
Browning, R., ii. 257.
Brucheum, the, 37.
Bull, Bp., 341, 347.
Byzantium, 97, 100; ii, 315.

334

INDEX

335

Caesareum, the, 57 ; ii. 119.
Caesars, cult of, 79 ; ii. 4.
Cairo, 62.
Caligula, 56.
Canon, 87 ; ii. 168 sqq., 205 sqq.
Canon Ecclesiasticus, the, 198, 204.
Caracalla, 50, 102, 290,
Carpocrates, Carpocratians, 275 sqq.
Celsus, 77, 85, 230, 241 ; ii. 5, 165.
Charity, 318, 326 sqq.
Charon, Lucian's, ii. 259 sqq.
Childhood, 288 sqq.
Chronology, 160; ii. 121.
Church, the, 44, 84-93, 3°3 '< 'i- 102-
134, 213.
Cities, Christianity in, 31.
Clemens, Titus Flavius, consul a,d.
95. I-
Clement of Alexandria, 1-30. [See
summaries of chapters.]
Cognat, ii. 264.
Comedy, 174.
Commerce, 39, 249, 330-333.
Commodus, 75, 103, 120-122, 132,
205 ; ii. 325.
Contemporaries of Clement, 5, 96-
148.
Cosmology, ii. 41, 51, 61 sqq.
Cosmopolitan tendencies, 66.
Courtesan, the, 254,
Covenant or Testament, ii. 204 sqq.
Creed, the, 87 ; ii. 115 sqq., 278-279.
Cross, the, 259 ; ii. 21, 140, 256.
Cumont, M., 79.
Cur Deus Homo, the, ii. 23-26.
Custom, influence of, 218,

Date of Clement's writings, 204-206 ;
ii. 324-333-
Days, observance of, ii. 122, 220, 312.
Decadence, periods of, 93.
Decalogue, the, ii. 220 sqq.
Deinocrates, 33.
Demetrius, Bp,, 20, 44, 48 ; ii. 113.
Demiourgos, or Creator, 277, 351 ;
ii. 57 sqq.
Democritus, 167.
Demonax, 5, 272.
Demons, the, 127, 213 sqq. ; ii, 144.
Departed, preaching to the, ii. 115,
250.
Diagoras, 213.
Di£iche, the, 329; ii. 122, 151.

Didius Julianus, 97, 99.
Dials, H., 156.
Dindorf, edition of Clement by, 209.
Dion Cassius, 97, 120.
Dion Chrysostom, 59 sqq. ; 81, 231,
327- .
Dionysius, Bp. of Alexandria, 155,
181.
Dionysius, Bp. of Corinth, 11,
Dionysius of Syracuse, 215.
Discipline, ecclesiastical, ii, 123,
Divorce, 293 sqq.
Docetism, ii, 10, 19, 24, 215.
Dualism, ii. 51, 57 sqq.
Dynamic view of Christianity, 365.
Easter, 88, no sqq., 198 ; ii. 121.
Ecclesiasticus, 260 ; ii, 176, 182.
Eclecticism, 7, T] sqq., 124, 138; ii.
269, 308.
Eclectus, 1 19.
EclogcB Frophetica, the, 202,
Edessa, 139.
Education, 5 sqq., 239 sqq., 268, 353
sqq. ; n. 291, 305.
Elders, Clement's references to the,
14. 179.273 ; ii- 332.
Emotion, 266, 301. [See Apathy.]
Empedocles, 167.
Empire, the Roman, 33, 38, 55-57,
64-76, 97-109, 117-123; ii. 128-
130, 265-267, 314-324.
English Church, the, ii. 283.
Ephesians, the Epistle to the, ii. 187,
224.
Ephrem Syrus, 139, 147.
Epicureanism, 167, 266, 281 ; ii. 128.
Epiphanes, 166, 275 ; ii. 38,
Epiphany, the, ii. 122.
Episcopate, the, 87, 109-117 ; ii. 113.
Epitaphs, 43, 286.
Eschatology, ii. 116, 249 sqq., 296.
Esther, 286 ; ii. 169.
Eucharist, the, 184 ; ii. 147-164.
Euodias, 122.
Euripides, 173 ; ii. 119.
Eusebius, 44,75. "o, 117, I43. 196,
201, 204, 306; ii. 127, 227, 316
sqq.
Excerpta ex Theodoto, the, 146, 202 ;
ii, 159.
Exegesis, ii. 208-230.
Exhomologesis, ii. 125.

336

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

Faith, 12-13, 219-223; ii. 75 sqq.,
235. 307-308.
Fall, the, ii. 20, 25, 254.
Fasting, On, a homily, 201.
Favorinus, 158, 161.
Faye, E. de, 163, 184, 189, 203, 246 ;
ii- 91, 214, 264, 327.
Fire, 170; ii. 253.
Flaccus, 38, 57.
Flavia Domitilla, I.
Fop, the, 251 sqq.
Forgiveness, 13 ; ii. 143, 305.
Freedom, 310 ; ii. 51-56, 243.
Future life [see Immortality J.
Gabrielsson, J., 161.
Galen, 69, 130-139, 163 ; ii. 326.
Gellius, Aulus, 5.
Gentleman, the true, 264.
Geta, 102-108.
Gnosis, Gnostics, Gnosticism (hereti
cal), 46, 91-92, 139-148, 166, 181,
183, 240, 275-280, 338 ; ii. 18, 33,
35-71, 127-128, 159-162, 215, 271.
Gnosis (orthodox), 21, 25, 193, 242,
341 ; ii. 8, 72-101, 109, no, 178,
281, 307-312,
God, doctrine of, 335 sqq. -, ii, 29-31
90-92, 257, 285-287.
Gods, the pagan, 41, 77-79, 125-127,
212-217.
Goethe, 266 ; ii. 164, 231.
Governors, provincial, 38, 73 sqq. ;
ii. ZHsqq-
Gwatkin, H. M., 116, 270, 278; ii.
28, 43-
Harbours of Alexandria, 34-35, 49-
Harnack, A,, 31, 41, 44, 45. 73, "2,
163, 357, 360; ii. 19, 43, 92, "7,
218, 273,280, Z2f,sqq.
Hebrews, Clement's use of the Epistle
to, ii. 224-227.
Hellenism and Hebraism, ii. 274.
Heptastadium, the, 35, 54.
Heraclas, 18.
Heracleon, ii, 38, 217.
Heraclitus, 166.
Heresies, the, 91-93 ; ii- 126-128.
[See Gnosticism.]
Hermas, Shepherd of, 1 83 ; ii. 1 74,
325-
Herodes Atticus, 5, 69, 275, 286.

Herodian, 121 ; ii. 315 sqq.
Herodotus, 171 ; ii. 260.
Hesiod, 174.
Heussi, C, 190 ; ii. 327.
Hippocrates, 136, 273,
Home life, 270-302,
Homer, 128, 174-175, 217, 220, 279 ;
ii. 275.
Homily, the, ii. 148.
Homoousios, 345 ; ii. 293.
Horse-races in Alexandria, 60.
Huxley, T. H., 363 ; ii. 258, 274.
Hyacinthus, 118, 120.
Hymns, ii. 150.
Hymn of the Soul, the, 140-143 ;
ii. 44.
Hypotyposeis, the, 196,346; ii, 172,
222 sqq., 331.
Idols, 126-127, 214-215, 230-231.
Illumination, ii. 145-147.
Image and likeness (Gen. i. 26), 343 ;
ii, 30, 209, 291, 296.
Immanence, divine, 170, 216, 234,
364-5 ; ii. 30, 279, 290.
Immortahty, 220; ii. 145, 155, 249,
258-259, 296.
Incarnation, the, ii. 1-34, 278, 288-
292, 301.
Incivism, 69, 267, 299, 331 ; ii. 312.
Inscriptions, 34, 43, 49, 83, 98, 103,
108, 122, 286.
Instruction, oral, 19-20, 45 sqq., 179 ;
ii. 325-327-
Interpolators, Jewish Alexandrine,
159-
Inventions, catalogues of, 161.
Irenaeus, 88, 112, 154; ii. 17-20,41,
127,217,315.
Isaiah, ii. 182.
Isis, 40, 79, 231.
James, Epistle of, 303 ; ii. 172-173.
Jerome, Saint, 154 ; ii. 69, in.
Jews, the, 36, 56-57, 295 ; ii. 46, 168,
199, 316.
John, Saint, and the Young Robber,
321.
John, Gospel of, ii. 187-189.
Judaisers, the, 198.
Julia Domna, 97-108, 285.
Justin Martyr, 13, 45, 78, 223-225,
349 ; ii. 38, 165.

INDEX

337

Keble, J., 234.
Kiss of Peace, ii. 1 50.
Knowledge [see Gnosis].
Kom el Chougafa, 42.
Lastus, prefect of Egypt, 23 : ii.
316 sqq.
Langen, ii. 319.
Law, the, ii. 197, 219, 274.
Learning, Clement's, 155-164.
Learning, place of, in the Church,
29 ; ii. 229, 283.
Leonides, 22, 305 ; ii, 317.
Libraries, 43, 133, 149-151-
Literature, Clement's use of, 7, 149-
177.
Liturgies, the, 11. 137-139, '49-
Logos, the, 261, 334-366 ; ii. l sqq.,
154 sqq., 274, 288-291.
Lord, sayings of the, 278, 320 ; ii.
306.
Love (divine), 220, 354; ii. 15, 290-
295.
Love (human), 300 sqq. ; ii, 80.
Lucian, 5, 81, 152, 234, 305, 327,
330 ; ii, 259-261, 326.
Luxury, 39, 247 sqq.
Lyons, 100 ; ii. 315.
Macedonians, 37.
Mahaffy, J. P., 264.
Man, Clement's view of, ii. 91, 241,
sqq., 296-297.
Manners, 239-269.
Manuscripts of Clement, 208.
Marcia, 117-123.
Marcion, ibb,2TJ; ii. 38, 50, 56-60,
200.
Marcus Aurelius, 5, 9, 65, 132 ; ii. 255
sqq.
Mark, Saint, 44 ; n. 103.
Mark, Gospel of, 308; ii. 32, 185
sqq., 202.
Marriage, 141, 270-302.
Marriage, a treatise on, 190, 195,
201 ; ii. 328.
Martyrdom, 75 ; ii. 47, 53 sqq., 304,
ZlAsqq.
Master, the, 4, 189 ; ii. 327 sqq.
Matthias, "TraditioTis of, ii. 37, 174.
Maximus of Tyre, 123-130.
Mediation, theories of, 337-338, 345-
Medicine, 43, 131 sqq., 273.
VOL. II,

Melito of Sardis, 198 ; ii. 167, 175.
Milk and honey, ii. 141,
Milman, ii. 321.
Ministry, the, 20 ; ii. 1 1 1 sqq.
Minucius Fehx, 78, 224, 231.
Miscellanies, literary, 187.
Missions, 227-229, 235 sqq. ; ii, 131
Mithraism, 79, 98, 293,
Mommsen, Th,, 33, 122.
Monotheism, •]•], 126; ii. 5,
Montanism, 114, 197, 296.
Motherhood, in the divine nature,
287, 319.
Museum in Alexandria, the, 43, 55,
61,
Music, 49, 211, 250; ii. 301-302.
Musonius, 245.
Mysteries, mysticism, 8 sqq., 193,
213,232; ii, 145, 157,237^??-
Mythology, 125, 230-231.
Narcissus, Bp., 23 ; ii, 320.
Nature, 134-135, 282 ; ii, 247 sqq.
Nau, F., 146,
Neumann, ii, 320.
Niger, 100, 103,
Oblation, ii, 148, 152,
Optimism, ii, 246 sqq., 262, 294-295,
Origen, 15, 20, 154, 294, 301, 305;
ii. 13,94, 141, 190, 217, 249, 251-
Orphic poems, 172.
Orthodoxasts, 181 ; ii. no, 133, 281.
Pcedagogus, the, 189, 239-269 ; ii.
326 sqq.
Paganism, 176, 212 sqq., 230 sqq. ;
ii, 3.
Palut, Bp., 141.
Paneum, the, 50.
Pantaenus, 14 sqq., 207 ; ii, 166.
Papyri, ancient, 1 52 sqq.
Passion, iroflos, ii, 15.
Pastoral office, the, 20, 200, 206,
306; ii. 114,
Patriarchate of Alexandria, the, ii.
III.
PauUne Epistles, ii. 187, 203.
Paul, the heretic, ii. 36.
Pentateuch, the, ii. 182.
Pergamum, 130, 151.
Persecution, 71, 316 ; ii. 130, 314 sqq.
22

33^

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

Person, personahty, 342,347-351 ; ii.
257-
Pertinax, 99, 133.
Peter, Saint, 315 ; ii. 203.
Peter, Saint, 2 Epistle of, ii. 172.
Pharos, 34. 55-
Philo, 56 J?^,, 69, 165, 353; 11.212-
213,
Philosophy, 7, 82, 126, 216, 234; ii.
233, 295-
Photius, 346 ; ii. II.
Piety, Clement's 219-223, 306 sqq. ;
ii. 231-262, 285-313.
Pindar, 172.
Plato, 168,216, 260, 262, 331 ; ii. 3,
120, 177, 195, 251.
Plautianus, 101,
Pliny, 161 ; ii, 123.
Plutarch, 69, 83, 171, 231, 264, 275,
286.
Poetry, 126, 172 sqq., 217.
Polycrates, Bp., in.
" Pompey's Pillar," 41, 62.
Populace, hostility of, 56-57, 74 ; ii.
323-
Population of Alexandria, 36.
Potter, edition of Clement by, 208.
Poverty, 311, 328 ; ii. 299.
Praise, ii. 150.
Praxeas, 113.
Prayer, 128 ; ii. 92-93, 149, 310-311.
Prefects of Egypt, 38, 74; ii. 316-
317-
Presbyters, 20; 11. 112.
Pre-Socratic philosophers, 166 sqq.,
216,
Priest, the great High, 350 ; ii. 100,
227, 310.
Principles, On, a treatise, 200 ; ii.
61
Probst, ii, 138.
Prophecy, ii. 197.
Prophecy, a treatise on, 197.
Protrepticus, the, 210-238; ii. 326
sqq.
Providence, 11. 53-55, 244 sqq., 257.
Providence, a treatise on, 199.
Ptolemies, the rule of, 33.
Punishment, ii. 53-54, 251-254, 296.
Pupils, Clement and his, 19, 210 sqq.,
239 ^79-, 354 ; ii- 283.
Purification, ii. 84, 143.
Puteoli or Dicecarchia, 39, 62.
Pythagoras, 167.

Quadratus, Bp., n.
Quartodeclman controversy, 85, no,
183, 198 ; ii. 121.
Quest, spiritual, 82 ; ii. 266.
Quis Dives Salvetur, the, 305-333 ;
ii- 332-
Reason, 360-1. [See Logos.]
Renan, 31, 108, 117, 224, 304, 327,
362 ; ii. 39, 42, 102, 229.
Renunciation, acts of, 324.
Repentance, angel of, 321.
Reserve in teaching, 188.
Resurrection, ii. 45, 122, 278, 312.
Resurrection, a treatise on the, 199.
Rdville, J., 233, 285,
Rhetoric, 6, 171.
Riches, sermon on, 303 sqq.
Robber, story ofthe young, 321.
Roman Church, 15, 109-117, 141,
276, 305 ; ii- 60.
Roman Empire [see Empire].
Rule of faith, ii. 117, 205.
Ruler, the young, 306 sqq.
Sabellianism, 113, 345.
Sacraments, 301, 325 ; ii. 135-164.
Sacrifice, 214 ; ii. 155, 227,
Saviour, 50 ; ii. 13-14.
School, the catechetical, 19, 45-48,
185 ; ii, 166, 322.
Schools, other, 140- 141, 167 ; ii. 39.
Science, 133, 273, 363.
Scripture, 47, 162, 308, 325 ; ii, 18,
148, 165-230, 270, 302-303.
Second century, 64 sqq. ; ii. 265-267.
Seneca, 152, 286, 290.
Septuagint, 43 ; ii. 179-183.
Serapeum, 40, 50, 151.
Serapion, Bp,, 360 ; ii, 137, 142, 149.
Serapis, 41, 161, 215, 231.
Severus, Sept., 22, 98-109, 133; ii.
314-324-
Shelley, ii, 87.
Shepherd [see Hermas],
Ships, 40, 129-130.
Sibylline verses, 172,
Simplicity, 256, 283 ; ii. 300, 310.
Sin, 13 ; ii. 86, 115, 304.
Slander, On, a homily, 201.
Slaves, 254, 291-293 ; ii. 108.
Social question, the, ii. 268.
Socrates, 128, 161.

INDEX

339

Son, the [see Logos].
Song of Songs, the, ii. 169.
Sophocles, 173, 300.
Soul, On the, a treatise, 199.
"Sources," Clement's, 156-164, 245,
262.
Spirit, the, 359-360; ii. 116.
Spread of Christianity, 225 sqq. ; ii,
300, 330.
Stahlin, Dr, 209 ; ii. 176.
Stoics, the, 169, 216, 234, 357 ; ii.
86-89, 256, 279.
Strabo, 54-56,
Stromateis, the, 186-194, 202, 205 ;
ii. 322, 325-331.
Style, literary, 206.
Substance, of one, 345 ; ii. 293.
Swete, ii. 125, 181-183, 264.
Symbolism, 188 ; ii. 292, 302. [See
Allegory.]
Symmachus, ii. 180.
Syncretism, 41, 51, 77, 260,357; ii.
269-271, 308.
Tatian, 16, 159, 166, 277; ii. 166.
Taylor, Jeremy, 274 ; ii. 283.
Teachers, Clement's, 1 4. [See Elders.]
Teleology, 134.
Tennyson, 348, 363, 365.
Tertullian, 70, 72, 74, 85, 113, 154,
295; ii. 47, 103, 115, 151, 175.
Testament, ii. 204 sqq.
Text of Clement, 208.
Text of Scripture, ii. 175-191.
Theatre, 258.
Theodas, ii. 37.
Theodotion, ii. 180.
Theodoto, Excerpta ex, 146, 202 ; ii.
159-
Theodotus of Byzantium, 113.
Theophilus, 117.
Therapeutae, 56; ii. 119.
Thucydides, 171 ; ii. 263.
Tiresias, 222.
Tradition, ii. 207, 303.

Traditions of Matthias, the, ii. 37,
174.
Tragedy, 173.
Transcendence, divine, 363 ; ii. 279,
285,
Travels, Clement's, 14,
Trinity, the, 318, 359; ii. 115, 140.
Tyre, 123.
Umidius Quadratus, 118.
Unction, ii. 140-141.
Unguents, 246, 251-257.
Valentinus, Valentinians, 141-146,
166, 202; ii. 37 .r??., 53, 159-161,
167.
Vatican Codex, ii. 181-191.
Vergil, 34, 290 ; ii. 85, 144.
Victor, Bp., 88, 109-117, 120, 204 ; ii.
325-326.
Virgin birth, the, ii. 12, 115, 210,
278.
Vision, ii. 83, 97, 309.
Wagner, W., 242.
Watch-tower, 50, 129, 362 ; ii. 289.
Wealth, 39, 303-333.
Week, days of the,ii. 122.
Wendland, P., 165, 245 ; ii. 325.
Westcott, Bp., 333.
Westcott and Hort's Greek Test., ii.
185 sqq.
Women, 252-258, 270-302.
Word, the [see Logos].
Worship, ii. 147 sqq., 166.
Xenophon, 287, 331.
Year, seasons of, ii. 121-122.
Zahn, O., 14, 196-205, 346-347; ii.
174, 178, 330-333-
Zeus, 12, 125, 231.

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