Page:Ante-Nicene Fathers volume 1.djvu/75

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
THE SECOND EPISTLE OF CLEMENT.
61

Chap. ix.We shall he judged in the flesh.

And let no one of you say that this very flesh shall not be judged, nor rise again. Consider ye in what [state] ye were saved, in what ye received sight,[1] if not while ye were in this flesh. We must therefore preserve the flesh as the temple of God. For as ye were called in the flesh, ye shall also come [to be judged] in the flesh. As Christ[2] the Lord who saved us, though He was first a Spirit, became flesh, and thus called us, so shall we also receive the reward in this flesh. Let us therefore love one another, that we may all attain to the kingdom of God. While we have an opportunity of being healed, let us yield ourselves to God that healeth us, and give to Him a recompense. Of what sort? Repentance out of a sincere heart; for He knows all things beforehand, and is acquainted with what is in our hearts. Let us therefore give Him praise, not with the mouth only, but also with the heart, that He may accept us as sons. For the Lord has said, "Those are my brethren who do the will of my Father."[3]


Chap. x.Vice is to be forsaken, and virtue followed.

Wherefore, my brethren, let us do the will of the Father who called us, that we may live; and let us earnestly[4] follow after virtue, but forsake every wicked tendency[5] which would lead us into transgression; and flee from ungodliness, lest evils overtake us. For if we are diligent in doing good, peace will follow us. On this account, such men cannot find it [i.e. peace] as are[6] influenced by human terrors, and

  1. Literally, "looked up."
  2. The MS. has εἲς "one," which Wake follows, but it seems clearly a mistake for ὡς.
  3. Matt. xii. 50.
  4. Literally, "rather."
  5. Literally, "malice, as it were, the precursor of our sins." Some deem the text corrupt.
  6. Literally, according to the ms., "it is not possible that a man should find it who are"—the passage being evidently corrupt.