Religion in Ordinary Life.
But it is said we do not all philosophize. Do we not all, then, follow after life? What sayest thou? How hast thou believed? How, pray, dost thou love God and thy neighbour, if thou dost not philosophize? And how dost thou love thyself, if thou dost not love life? It is said, I have not learned letters; but if thou hast not learned to read, thou canst not excuse thyself in the case of hearing, for it is not taught. And faith is the possession not of the wise according to the world, but of those according to God; and it is taught without letters; and its handbook, at once rude and divine, is called love--a spiritual book. It is in your power to listen to divine wisdom, ay, and to frame your life in accordance with it. Nay, you are not prohibited from conducting affairs in the world decorously according to God. Let not him who sells or buys aught name two prices for what he buys or sells; but stating the net price, and studying to speak the truth, if he get not his price, he gets the truth, and is rich in the possession of rectitude. But, above all, let an oath on account of what is sold be far from you; and let swearing, too, on account of other things be banished.
And in this way those who frequent the market-place and the shop philosophize. "For thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain." [1721]
But those who act contrary to these things--the avaricious, the liars, the hypocrites, those who make merchandise of the truth--the Lord cast out of His Father's court, [1722] not willing that the holy house of God should be the house of unrighteous traffic either in words or in material things.
Going to Church.
Woman and man are to go to church [1723] decently attired, with natural step, embracing silence, possessing unfeigned love, pure in body, pure in heart, fit to pray to God. Let the woman observe this, further. Let her be entirely covered, unless she happen to be at home. For that style of dress is grave, and protects from being gazed at. And she will never fall, who puts before her eyes modesty, and her shawl; nor will she invite another to fall into sin by uncovering her face. For this is the wish of the Word, since it is becoming for her to pray veiled.
They say that the wife of Æneas, through excess of propriety, did not, even in her terror at the capture of Troy, uncover herself; but, though fleeing from the conflagration, remained veiled.
Out of Church.
Such ought those who are consecrated to Christ appear, and frame themselves in their whole life, as they fashion themselves in the church [1725] for the sake of gravity; and to be, not to seem such--so meek, so pious, so loving. But now I know not how people change their fashions and manners with the place. As they say that polypi, assimilated to the rocks to which they adhere, are in colour such as they; so, laying aside the inspiration of the assembly, after their departure from it, they become like others with whom they associate. Nay, in laying aside the artificial mask of solemnity, they are proved to be what they secretly were. After having paid reverence to the discourse about God, they leave within [the church] what they have heard. And outside they foolishly amuse themselves with impious playing, and amatory quavering, occupied with flute-playing, and dancing, and intoxication, and all kinds of trash. They who sing thus, and sing in response, are those who before hymned immortality,--found at last wicked and wickedly singing this most pernicious palinode, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." But not to-morrow in truth, but already, are these dead to God; burying their dead, [1726] that is, sinking themselves down to death. The apostle very firmly assails them. "Be not deceived; neither adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers," and whatever else he adds to these, "shall inherit the kingdom of God." [1727]
Love and the Kiss of Charity.
And if we are called to the kingdom of God, let us walk worthy of the kingdom, loving God and our neighbour. But love is not proved by a kiss, but by kindly feeling. But there are those, that do nothing but make the churches resound with a kiss, [1728] not having love itself within. For this very thing, the shameless use of a kiss, which ought to be mystic, occasions foul suspicions and evil reports. The apostle calls the kiss holy. [1729]
When the kingdom is worthily tested, we dispense the affection of the soul by a chaste and closed mouth, by which chiefly gentle manners are expressed.
But there is another unholy kiss, full of poison, counterfeiting sanctity. Do you not know that spiders, merely by touching the mouth, afflict men with pain? And often kisses inject the poison of licentiousness. It is then very manifest to us, that a kiss is not love. For the love meant is the love of God. "And this is the love of God," says John, "that we keep His commandments;" [1730] not that we stroke each other on the mouth. "And His commandments are not grievous." But salutations of beloved ones in the ways, full as they are of foolish boldness, are characteristic of those who wish to be conspicuous to those without, and have not the least particle of grace. For if it is proper mystically "in the closet" to pray to God, it will follow that we are also to greet mystically our neighbour, whom we are commanded to love second similarly to God, within doors, "redeeming the time." "For we are the salt of the earth." [1731] "Whosoever shall bless his friend early in the morning with a loud voice, shall be regarded not to differ from cursing." [1732]
The Government of the Eyes.
But, above all, it seems right that we turn away from the sight of women. For it is sin not only to touch, but to look; and he who is rightly trained must especially avoid them. "Let thine eyes look straight, and thine eyelids wink right." [1733] For while it is possible for one who looks to remain stedfast; yet care must be taken against falling. For it is possible for one who looks to slip; but it is impossible for one, who looks not, to lust. For it is not enough for the chaste to be pure; but they must give all diligence, to be beyond the range of censure, shutting out all ground of suspicion, in order to the consummation of chastity; so that we may not only be faithful, but appear worthy of trust. For this is also consequently to be guarded against, as the apostle says, "that no man should blame us; providing things honourable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men." [1734] "But turn away thine eyes from a graceful woman, and contemplate not another's beauty," says the Scripture. [1735] And if you require the reason, it will further tell you, "For by the beauty of woman many have gone astray, and at it affection blazes up like fire;" [1736] the affection which arises from the fire which we call love, leading to the fire which will never cease in consequence of sin.
[1668] 1 Pet. ii. 12.
[1669] [Surely the costly and gorgeous ecclesiastical raiment of the Middle Ages is condemned by Clement's primitive maxims.]
[1670] Plato's words are: "The web is not to be more than a woman's work for a month. White colour is peculiarly becoming for the gods in other things, but especially in cloth. Dyes are not to be applied, except for warlike decorations."--Plato: De Legibus, xii. 992.
[1671] [Another law against colours in clerical attire.]
[1672] Kara Logon. The reading in the text is katalogon.
[1673] Rom. xiii. 14.
[1674] [Natural instinct is St. Paul's argument (1 Cor. xi. 14, 15); and that it rules for modesty in man as well as women, is finely illustrated by an instructive story in Herodotus (book i. 8-12). The wife of Gyges could be guilty of a heathenish revenge, but nature taught her to abhor exposure. "A woman who puts off her raiment, puts off her modesty," said Candaules to her foolish husband.]
[1675] Prov. xi. 22.
[1676] [Possibly used thus early as a distinction of matrons.]
[1677] Heutuchousais, for which the text has entochousais.
[1678] Ecclus. xxi. 21.
[1679] [How this was followed, is proved by the early Christian devices of the catacombs, contrasted with the engraved gems from Pompeii, in the Museo Borbonico at Naples.]
[1680] Masculine.
[1681] geglummenous, written on the margin of Codex clxv. for gegumnomenous (naked) of the text. [Royal Library, Naples.]
[1682] Ps. cxxxiii. 2.
[1683] [Here Clement's rules are arbitrary, and based on their existing ideas of propriety. If it be not improper to shave the head, much less to shave the face, which he allows in part.]
[1684] "Not" does not occur in the mss.
[1685] For dedoikotes, the conjectural emendation dedukotes, has been adopted.
[1686] phulassein, Sylburg and Bod. Reg., agree better than malassein with the context.
[1687] [The chrism (confirmation) was thus administered then, not with material oil, and was called anointing, with reference to 1 John ii. 27. Consult Bunsen, however, who attributes great antiquity to his canons (collected in vol. iii. Hippolytus), p. 22, Church and House Book.]
[1688] 1 Cor. xi. 3. Nov. reads "Christ," as in St. Paul, instead of "God."
[1689] 1 Tim. ii. 9.
[1690] 1 Pet. iii. 1-4.
[1691] In reference to Prov. xxxi. 22.
[1692] Prov. xxxi. 26, 27, 28, 30, quoted from memory, and with variety of reading.
[1693] Prov. xii. 4.
[1694] Prov. v. 3-5, Septuagint.
[1695] We have read from the New College ms. sophrosune for sophrosunes.
[1696] From some comic poet.
[1697] Some read oran apoleipei . [New College ms.] In the translation the conjecture ora apoleipein is adopted.
[1698] An adaptation of Prov. v. 5, 6.
[1699] An imitation of Zeno's saying, "It is better to slip with the feet than the tongue."
[1700] Quoting from memory, he has substituted ekkopson for exele (Matt. v. 29).
[1701] Prov. x. 10.
[1702] Ecclus. xxvi. 9.
[1703] Col. iii. 5, 6.
[1704] [A similar practice, very gross and unbecoming, prevails among the lower class of girls brought together in our common schools.]
[1705] Prov. ix. 13-18.
[1706] to aschemon schema (Isa. iii. 16, 17), Sept.
[1707] a kuon, catella. The literal English rendering is coarser and more opprobrious than the original, which Helen applies to herself (Iliad, vi. 344, 356).
[1708] 1 Pet. ii. 18.
[1709] 1 Pet. iii. 8. Clement has substituted tapeinophrones for philophrones (courteous).
[1710] This passage has been variously amended and translated. The reading of the text has been adhered to, but orthonou has been coupled with what follows.
[1711] Sylburg suggests pariouas (passing by) instead of parizousas.
[1712] kubos, a die marked on all the six sides. [This prohibition would include cards in modern ethics.]
[1713] dia ?on astragalon. The astragaloi were dice marked on four sides only. Clemens seems to use the terms here indifferently.
[1714] Lowth's conjecture of eros instead of era has been adopted.
[1715] Lev. xi. 13, 14; Deut. xiv. 12.
[1716] Ps. i. 1, Septuagint.
[1717] Acts iii. 14.
[1718] anamixias adopted instead of the reading amixias, which is plainly wrong.
[1719] lichneuouses on the authority of the Pal. ms. Nov. Reg. Bod.
[1720] [Jeremy Collier's Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage (London, 1698) and the discussions that followed belong to literature, and ought to be republished with historic notes.]
[1721] Ex. xx. 7.
[1722] In allusion to the cleansing of the temple (John ii. 13-17; Matt. xxi. 12, 13; Luke xix. 45, 46).
[1723] [This early use of the word "church" for the place or house of worship, is to be noted. See Elucidation ii.]
[1724] 1 Cor. xi. 5. [This helps to the due rendering of exousian epi tes kephales in 1 Cor. xi. 10.]
[1725] [1 Cor. xi. 22. But I cannot say that the word ekklesia is used for the place of Christian worship, even in this text, where it seems to be in antithesis with the dwelling-house.]
[1726] Matt. viii. 22.
[1727] 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10.
[1728] [The sexes sat apart in the primitive churches, and the kiss of peace was given by women only to women (Bunsen, Hippol., iii. p. 15). Does the author, here, imply that unholy kissing had crept in? Among the Germans, even in our days, nothing is more common than to see men, not at all related, salute one another in this way. It was therefore all one with shaking hands, in the apostolic ordinance. For some very fine reflections on the baiser de paix, see De Masitre, Soirèes, ii. p. 199, ed. Paris, 1850.]