Clement of Alexandria · a new plain-English translation from the original language
If, then, we have shown that the arrangement concerning the checking of humanity, being good and salutary, is necessarily undertaken by the Word both for repentance and for the restraining of sins, and has proved fitting for these ends, it would next be proper to consider the gentle side of the Word. For he has been shown to be just, and he sets forth his own counsels that exhort us toward salvation, through which, following the Father's own purpose, he desires that both what is noble and what is advantageous become known to us. Consider this: the noble belongs to the encomiastic mode, the beneficial to the advisory mode. For indeed the advisory mode has as its province the exhortative and the dissuasive, while the encomiastic has the praising and the blaming. For in what state of mind the advisory faculty becomes exhortative, and in what state dissuasive; likewise also in what state the encomiastic faculty becomes blaming, and in what state praising — these are the very matters with which the just Instructor, aiming at our benefit, is especially occupied. But the blaming and dissuasive kind has already been shown to us before; now, in turn, we must handle the exhortative and the praising, and, as on a balance, let us weigh out the equally-poised scale-pans of justice.
To the exhortation toward what is beneficial, then, the Instructor makes use, through Solomon, of words something like these: "I call upon you, O men, and I send forth my voice to the sons of men; hearken to me, for I will speak solemn things," and so on. And he counsels the things that lead to salvation, since counsel is fit for both choosing and avoiding, just as he does through David, saying, "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat among the seats of the scornful, but whose delight rests in the Lord's instruction." And counsel has three parts: one that takes its examples from past times, such as what the Hebrews suffered for worshiping the golden calf as an idol, and what they suffered for fornicating, and the like; another that is discerned from present times, grasped as it were by perception, as when it was said to those who questioned the Lord, "Are you the one who comes, or must we watch for someone else?" — "Return and report to John: sight comes to those without it, hearing to the deaf, cleansing to lepers, the dead stand up alive, and fortunate is whoever finds no stumbling-block in me." This, then, was what David spoke prophetically when he said, "As we have heard, so also have we seen." And from the things to come is constituted the third part of counsel, by which he bids us to guard against what will result; whence also that saying: "But those who fall into sins will be thrown into the darkness outside, where there is lamenting and the grinding together of teeth," among other such sayings — making it evident from all this that the Lord, proceeding through every kind of therapy, is calling humanity to salvation. And by consolation he soothes our sins, at once diminishing desire and giving hope of salvation. For he says through Ezekiel: "Should you return with the whole of your heart and cry, Father, I shall listen to you as though to a consecrated nation." And elsewhere he declares: "Come toward me, everyone toiling and weighed down with burdens, and rest shall be given to you," together with what continues after, which the Lord speaks in his own person. Most plainly he calls to goodness through Solomon, saying: "Blessed is the man who has found wisdom, and the mortal who has found understanding." For the good is found by the one who seeks, and loves to be seen by the one who finds it. Indeed, through Jeremiah too he expounds understanding, saying, "We are blessed, O Israel, because the things that are pleasing to God are known to us" — known through the Word, on account of whom we are blessed and understanding. For understanding is knowledge, as is signified through the same prophet, saying, "Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life; give ear to know understanding." And through Moses he further promises a gift, on account of the loving-kindness that belongs to him, to those who hasten toward salvation. For thus he speaks: "And I shall lead you into the fine land the Lord promised by oath to your forebears"; and again, elsewhere, "And I shall lead you onto my sacred mountain and cause you to rejoice," as he declares through Isaiah.
There is also another kind of his instructing, the beatitude. And "fortunate is that man," as he declares through David, "who has committed no sin, for he will resemble a tree set beside flowing streams, which shall yield its fruit in its season, and its leaf shall not fall" (this he darkly hinted also at the resurrection) "and whatsoever he does shall prosper for him." Such does he wish us to become, that we may be blessed. Conversely, showing the opposite pan of the scale of justice, "but not so," he says, "are the ungodly, not so, but rather like husks that a gust scatters off the surface of the ground." Having shown the penalty of sinners and how easily dispersed and windborne they are, the Instructor turned us away from the cause by means of the rebuke, and by holding out the punishment they deserve, he displayed the beneficence of his kindness, most skillfully leading us to the use and possession of noble things through these noble words. Indeed, he also calls us to knowledge, saying through Jeremiah: "If you had walked in the way of God, you would have dwelt in peace forever." For by showing here the reward of knowledge, he summons the wise to love it, and, granting pardon to the one who has strayed, he says, "Turn back, turn back, as the dove to its own dovecote." Do you see the goodness of justice as it counsels repentance? Further, through Jeremiah he sheds light on the truth for those who have gone astray: "So speaks the Lord: Stand at the crossroads and look, and inquire after the age-old tracks belonging to the Lord — that is the worthy road; walk upon it, and you will discover cleansing for your souls." And he leads to repentance for the sake of our salvation. Therefore he says: "If you repent, the Lord will thoroughly cleanse your heart and the heart of your offspring." Now it would have been possible for us to draw upon philosophers as advocates for this inquiry, who say that only the perfect is praiseworthy, and that the base alone is blameworthy. But since some slander the beatitude, as though it were something that troubles no one, neither itself nor anyone to whom it is given, failing to understand its loving-kindness, it is on account of these, and also on account of those who still do not attach the just to the good, that this argument has been declined by us. For it would follow for us to say that the reproving and blaming kind of instruction is fitting for humankind, since they say all men are base; but God alone is wise, from whom wisdom comes, and he alone is perfect, and therefore he alone is praiseworthy. But I do not employ this reasoning; rather I say that praise or blame, or something resembling praise and blame, are of all things the most necessary remedies for human beings. Those, then, who are hard to heal, like iron by fire and hammer and anvil — that is, by threat, refutation, and rebuke — are driven along; but those who hold fast to faith itself, being as it were self-taught and acting by choice, grow through praise; for virtue, when praised, grows like a tree. And it seems to me that Pythagoras of Samos, understanding this, gives the precept: having done cowardly things, be rebuked; but in good things, take delight. Now to rebuke is also called admonishing, and the word is derived etymologically — admonition (nouthesia) being the implanting of mind (nous) — so that the reproving kind is a means of acquiring understanding. But indeed countless precepts besides have been devised for the acquisition of good things and the avoidance of evil: "For there is no peace for the ungodly, says the Lord." On this account he bids the simple, through Solomon, to be on guard: "My son, let not sinners lead you astray, nor go with them in their ways, nor go if they urge you, saying: Come with us, share in innocent blood, let us hide the righteous man in the earth unjustly, let us make him vanish as Hades does the living." This, indeed, is also prophesied concerning the Lord's Passion. And through Ezekiel too the commandments are laid down as life: "The soul that sins shall die. But the man who is righteous, who does justice, shall not eat upon the mountains, and has not raised his gaze toward the idols belonging to Israel's house, and has not violated his neighbor's wife, and has not approached a woman in her separation, and has not oppressed any man, but has restored the pledge of the debtor and has not seized plunder, has given his bread to the hungry and has covered the naked with a garment, has not given his silver at interest and has not taken increase, and has turned back his hand from injustice, and has executed true judgment between a man and his neighbor, has followed my decrees and observed my judgments so as to carry them out — such a man is righteous; he will certainly live, declares the Lord." These things contain a sketch of Christian citizenship, and a notable exhortation to a blessed life, the prize of good living, life eternal.
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