This last teacher was (according to Eusebius) Pan- tos, head of the catechetical school at Alexandria, ^7 whose influence some suppose Clemens, as yet only * sincere inquirer, was led fully to embrace the Chris- ^Q fiiith. He is called a presbyter by early Chris- ^n writers, having probably been appointed to that <^ce by the Church at Alexandria, and about 190 be- ^^OM, according to some the assistant, according to <>^rt the successor to Panteenus, when the latter set ^ on his missionary tour to the East. He continued ^o>thst office until the persecution under Severus, A.D. ^ coapeUed him to leave Alexandria. The writers ^the articles in Smithes Diet, of Greek and Rom. Biog. j ^Miftkol, and the Hew Amer. Cydopadia state that |
Clemens returned to Alexandria before A.D. 211, and then became the master of the school as successor of Pantaenus ; but the weight of authority favors the ear- lier date, and his return to that place is doubtful. We know scarcely anything of the closing years of his lifb. He appears to have been about 210 or 211 in Jerusa- lem, for he is mentioned by Eusebius (lib. vii, ch. ii) as the bearer of a letter from Alexander, bishop of Je- rusalem, then himself a prisoner for the Gospel's sake, to the Church at Antioch. This Alexander and the more famous Origen are reckoned among his pupils.
Of the early Christian writers, Clemens was the most learned in the history, philosophy, and science of the nations of his day, and die influence of hb stod- ies is apparent in his writings, which display rather the speculative philosopher than the accurate theolo- gian—more the fancifid interpreter than the careful expounder of the Scriptures on true exegetical princi- ples. Many of his works have been lost, but those ex- tent are the largest belonging to that early period, and very valuable for the light they throw on the social condition of the Roman Empire in his day, and for the information which they contain in regard to the S3r8- tems of ancient philosophy, the heresies and schitons in the primitive Church, as well as for the numerous extracto from non-extent authors. His three chief writings form a series, and were written apparently with a common object, viz. to convert the heathen and educate them in the principles and practice of the Christian life. They are, 1. \6yog vporpcjmKd^ irphc 'EXX^aC) Cokortatio ad HeUenet (Appeal to the Greeks), an apologetic work, in which the absurdity, obscenity, cruelty, impostures, and sordidness of hea- then worship are clearly set forth in contrast with the simplicity and purity of Christian faith and practice. 2. Ilai^ayfaryoc, Pcedagogue (Instructor), a treatise on Christian education, in three books, addressed to those who had been converted from heathenism. In Book I we have set forth the fbnction, the means, methods, and ends of the '* Instructor,*' who is Christ, leading the believers *' through paths of virtue and truth" to salvation, not through fear as. he did the Israelites, but by love, the guiding principle of the new and bet- ter covenant. Book II contains rules for the regular tion of lifof embracing minute details as to food, drink, behavior, eto., recommending temperance, purity, mod- esty, and frugality. Book III begins with an exam- ination of the grounds of true beauty, showing it to be intellectual, and founded on reason and love ; then, in considering the various modes in which men have sought to add to beauty, strongly reprobates luxurious dress and living, ete. Ito satire of the follies and vices of the times is caustic and humorous. 8. Srpw/iarf i^ or Srp(i>/tara, in eight books, of which the eighth is lost (the imperfect treatise on logic, standing at present as such, belonging to some other woik). The word itrom- ateis^ meaning patch-work (pptu varie contextum), is significant of the miscellaneous character of the work, which is discursive and unmethodical, and not unaptly likened by ito author to '*a thickly-planted mountain, where fruit and other trees are confusedly grouped to- gether, so as to baffle the plunderer, while the careftil husbandman would find and transplant in fitting order such as were desirable for fruit or ornament ; so the mysteries of Christian foith, veiled herein from imper- tinent or ignorant curiosity, will discover their rich treasures to the honest and intelligent seeker of the truth" (Strom, lib. vii, p. 766, Potter's ed.). The ob- ject of the work is ** to furnish materials for the con- struction of a true gnosis," or '* Christian philosophy, on the basis of faith," for those who had been trained Aht it by the preceding works. Book I, of which the beginning is lost, descants on the utility of philosophy, as preparing the heathen for the reception of the Gos- pel, and Christians for the defence of their foitfa, main- taining that the good in heathen phOosophy was de- rived from the Hebrews. Book II treate first of foith
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and repentance, combating the errors of the Basilidi- ans and Valentinians ; asserts the ft^edom of man's will, and presents the views of difRBrent philosophers in regard to marriage, which Clemens defends on the grounds of the natural conformation of the sexes, the command of God (Gen. i, 28), and the mutoal aid in sickness and age rendered by hnsband and wife, and parents and children. In Book III, continuing the same subject, he condemns the opinions of the Mar- cionites, Carpocratians, and other heretics who opposed marriage for different and contradictory reasons,' al- leging in support, of it the words of St Paul (1 Tim. iv, 1-8), and the examples of the apostles Peter and Philip, who were married and had children. Book IV discourses of Christian perfection as exemplified in the Christian martyr, who is led to martyrdom not through fear of punishment or hope of reward hereafter, but from love to Christ, and who does not needlessly pro- voke his fate, but only accepts it cheerfully when called upon to be in that way a witness for the truth. The chief aim of Book Y is to prove that the Greeks derived most of their wisdom from- those called by them barbarians, and especially from Moses and the Hebrew prophets ; but it also enters upon a long and interesting digression on the origiti and use of sym- bols, and makes many valuable statements in regard to the Egyptian hieroglyphics, and the dress and cere- monial services of the Hebrew priests. This episode is one of the most curious relics of antiquity, and the book abounds in quotations frt>m ancient authors. Books VI and YII portray the true Gnostic, the per- fect Christian, who is presented as a ** complete model of moral conduct,'' not so much desirous of living as of living rightiy, controlling his passions and regula- ting his desires in conformity with the laws of Christ