{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/002/0020255.htm","path":"chr/ecf/002/0020255.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/002/0020255.htm","text":"That, then, P\u00e6dagogy is the training of children (\u03c0\u03b1\u03af\u03b4\u03c9\u03bd \u1f00\u03b3\u03c9\u03b3\u03ae), is clear from the word itself. It remains for us to consider the children whom Scripture points to; then to give the p\u00e6dagogue charge of them. We are the children. In many ways Scripture celebrates us, and describes us in manifold figures of speech, giving variety to the simplicity of the faith by diverse names. Accordingly, in the Gospel, \u201cthe Lord, standing on the shore, says to the disciples\u201d\u2014they happened to be fishing\u2014\u201cand called aloud, Children, have ye any meat?\u201d 1049 \u2014addressing those that were already in the position of disciples as children. \u201cAnd they brought to Him,\u201d it is said, \u201cchildren, that He might put His hands on them and bless them; and when His disciples hindered them, Jesus said, Suffer the children, and forbid them not to come to Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.\u201d 1050 What the expression means the Lord Himself shall declare, saying, \u201cExcept ye be converted, and become as little chidren, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven;\u201d 1051 not in that place speaking figuratively of regeneration, but setting before us, for our imitation, the simplicity that is in children. 1052\nThe prophetic spirit also distinguishes us as children. \u201cPlucking,\u201d it is said, \u201cbranches of olives or palms, the children went forth to meet the Lord, and cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord;\u201d 1053 light, and glory, and praise, with supplication to the Lord: for this is the meaning of the expression Hosanna when rendered in Greek. And the Scripture appears to me, in allusion to the prophecy just mentioned, reproachfully to upbraid the thoughtless: \u201cHave ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise?\u201d 1054 In this way the Lord in the Gospels spurs on His disciples, urging them to attend to Him, hastening as He was to the Father; rendering His hearers more eager by the intimation that after a little He was to depart, and showing them that it was requisite that they should take more unsparing advantage of the truth than ever before, as the Word was to ascend to heaven. Again, therefore, He calls them children; for He says, \u201cChildren, a little while I am with you.\u201d 1055 And, again, He likens the kingdom of heaven to children sitting in the market-places and saying, \u201cWe have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned, and ye have not lamented;\u201d 1056 and whatever else He added agreeably thereto. And it is not alone the Gospel that holds these sentiments. Prophecy also agrees with it. David accordingly says, \u201cPraise, O children, the Lord; praise the name of the Lord.\u201d 1057 It says also by Esaias, \u201cHere am I, and the children that God hath given me.\u201d 1058 Are you amazed, then, to hear that men who belong to the nations are sons in the Lord\u2019s sight? You do not in that case appear to give ear to the Attic dialect, from which you may learn that beautiful, comely, and freeborn young maidens are still called \u03c0\u03b1\u03b9\u03b4\u03af\u03c3\u03ba\u03b1\u03b9, and servant-girls \u03c0\u03b1\u03b9\u03b4\u03b9\u03c3\u03ba\u03ac\u03c1\u03b9\u03b1; and that those last also are, on account of the bloom of youth, called by the flattering name of young maidens.\nAnd when He says, \u201cLet my lambs stand on my right,\u201d 1059 He alludes to the simple children, as if they were sheep and lambs in nature, not men; and the lambs He counts worthy of preference, from the superior regard He has to that tenderness and simplicity of disposition in men which constitutes innocence. Again, when He says, \u201cas suckling calves,\u201d He again alludes figuratively to us; and \u201cas an innocent and gentle dove,\u201d 1060 the reference is again to us. Again, by Moses, He commands \u201ctwo young pigeons or a pair of turtles to be offered for sin;\u201d 1061 thus saying, that the harmlessness and innocence and placable nature of these tender young birds are acceptable to God, and explaining that like is an expiation for like. Further, the timorousness of the turtle-doves typifies fear in reference to sin.\nAnd that He calls us chickens the Scripture testifies: \u201cAs a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings.\u201d 1062 Thus are we the Lord\u2019s chickens; the Word thus marvellously and mystically describing the simplicity of childhood. For sometimes He calls us children, sometimes chickens, sometimes infants, and at other times sons, and \u201ca new people,\u201d and \u201ca recent people.\u201d \u201cAnd my servants shall be called by a new name\u201d 1063 (a new name, He says, fresh and eternal, pure and simple, and childlike and true), which shall be blessed on the earth. And again, He figuratively calls us colts unyoked to vice, not broken in by wickedness; but simple, and bounding joyously to the Father alone; not such horses \u201cas neigh after their neighbours\u2019 wives, p. 213 that are under the yoke, and are female-mad;\u201d 1064 but free and new-born, jubilant by means of faith, ready to run to the truth, swift to speed to salvation, that tread and stamp under foot the things of the world.\n\u201cRejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion; tell aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh, just, meek, and bringing salvation; meek truly is He, and riding on a beast of burden, and a young colt.\u201d 1065 It was not enough to have said colt alone, but He added to it also young, to show the youth of humanity in Christ, and the eternity of simplicity, which shall know no old age. And we who are little ones being such colts, are reared up by our divine colt-tamer. But if the new man in Scripture is represented by the ass, this ass is also a colt. \u201cAnd he bound,\u201d it is said, \u201cthe colt to the vine,\u201d having bound this simple and childlike people to the word, whom He figuratively represents as a vine. For the vine produces wine, as the Word produces blood, and both drink for health to men\u2014wine for the body, blood for the spirit.\nAnd that He also calls us lambs, the Spirit by the mouth of Isaiah is an unimpeachable witness: \u201cHe will feed His flock like a shepherd, He will gather the lambs with His arm,\u201d 1066 \u2014using the figurative appellation of lambs, which are still more tender than sheep, to express simplicity. And we also in truth, honouring the fairest and most perfect objects in life with an appellation derived from the word child, have named training \u03c0\u03b1\u03b9\u03b4\u03b5\u03af\u03b1, and discipline \u03c0\u03b1\u03b9\u03b4\u03b1\u03b3\u03c9\u03b3\u03af\u03b1. Discipline (\u03c0\u03b1\u03b9\u03b4\u03b1\u03b3\u03c9\u03b3\u03af\u03b1) we declare to be right guiding from childhood to virtue. Accordingly, our Lord revealed more distinctly to us what is signified by the appellation of children. On the question arising among the apostles, \u201cwhich of them should be the greater,\u201d Jesus placed a little child in the midst, saying, \u201cWhosoever, shall humble himself as this little child, the same shall be the greater in the kingdom of heaven.\u201d 1067 He does not then use the appellation of children on account of their very limited amount of understanding from their age, as some have thought. Nor, if He says, \u201cExcept ye become as these children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of God,\u201d are His words to be understood as meaning \u201cwithout learning.\u201d We, then, who are infants, no longer roll on the ground, nor creep on the earth like serpents as before, crawling with the whole body about senseless lusts; but, stretching upwards in soul, loosed from the world and our sins, touching the earth on tiptoe so as to appear to be in the world, we pursue holy wisdom, although this seems folly to those whose wits are whetted for wickedness. Rightly, then, are those called children who know Him who is God alone as their Father, who are simple, and infants, and guileless, who are lovers of the horns of the unicorns. 1068\nTo those, therefore, that have made progress in the word, He has proclaimed this utterance, bidding them dismiss anxious care of the things of this world, and exhorting them to adhere to the Father alone, in imitation of children. Wherefore also in what follows He says: \u201cTake no anxious thought for the morrow; sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.\u201d 1069 Thus He enjoins them to lay aside the cares of this life, and depend on the Father alone. And he who fulfils this commandment is in reality a child and a son to God and to the world,\u2014to the one as deceived, to the other as beloved. And if we have one Master in heaven, as the Scripture says, then by common consent those on the earth will be rightly called disciples. For so is the truth, that perfection is with the Lord, who is always teaching, and infancy and childishness with us, who are always learning. Thus prophecy hath honoured perfection, by applying to it the appellation man. For instance, by David, He says of the devil: \u201cThe Lord abhors the man of blood;\u201d 1070 he calls him man, as perfect in wickedness. And the Lord is called man, because He is perfect in righteousness. Directly in point is the instance of the apostle, who says, writing the Corinthians: \u201cFor I have espoused you to one man, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ,\u201d 1071 whether as children or saints, but to the Lord alone. And writing to the Ephesians, he has unfolded in the clearest manner the point in question, speaking to the following effect: \u201cTill we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we be no longer children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by the craft of men, by their cunning in stratagems of deceit; but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up to Him in all things,\u201d 1072 \u2014saying these things in order to the edification of the body of Christ, who is the head and man, the only one perfect in righteousness; and we who are children guarding against the blasts of heresies, which blow to our inflation; and not putting our trust in fathers who teach us otherwise, are then made perfect when we are the church, having received Christ the head. Then it is right to notice, with respect to the appellation of infant (\u03bd\u03ae\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2), that p. 214 \u03c4\u1f78 \u03bd\u03ae\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd is not predicated of the silly: for the silly man is called \u03bd\u03b7\u03c0\u03cd\u03c4\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2: and \u03bd\u03ae\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 is \u03bd\u03b5\u03ae\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 (since he that is tender-hearted is called \u1f24\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2), as being one that has newly become gentle and meek in conduct. This the blessed Paul most clearly pointed out when he said, \u201cWhen we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ, we were gentle (\u1f24\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03b9) among you, as a nurse cherisheth her children.\u201d 1073 The child (\u03bd\u03ae\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2) is therefore gentle (\u1f24\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2), and therefore more tender, delicate, and simple, guileless, and destitute of hypocrisy, straightforward and upright in mind, which is the basis of simplicity and truth. For He says, \u201cUpon whom shall I look, but upon him who is gentle and quiet?\u201d 1074 For such is the virgin speech, tender, and free of fraud; whence also a virgin is wont to be called \u201ca tender bride,\u201d and a child \u201ctender-hearted.\u201d And we are tender who are pliant to the power of persuasion, and are easily drawn to goodness, and are mild, and free of the stain of malice and perverseness, for the ancient race was perverse and hard-hearted; but the band of infants, the new people which we are, is delicate as a child. On account of the hearts of the innocent, the apostle, in the Epistle to the Romans, owns that he rejoices, and furnishes a kind of definition of children, so to speak, when he says, \u201cI would have you wise toward good, but simple towards evil.\u201d 1075 For the name of child, \u03bd\u03ae\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2, is not understood by us privatively, though the sons of the grammarians make the \u03bd\u03b7 a privative particle. For if they call us who follow after childhood foolish, see how they utter blasphemy against the Lord, in regarding those as foolish who have betaken themselves to God. But if, which is rather the true sense, they themselves understand the designation children of simple ones, we glory in the name. For the new minds, which have newly become wise, which have sprung into being according to the new covenant, are infantile in the old folly. Of late, then, God was known by the coming of Christ: \u201cFor no man knoweth God but the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal Him.\u201d 1076\nIn contradistinction, therefore, to the older people, the new people are called young, having learned the new blessings; and we have the exuberance of life\u2019s morning prime in this youth which knows no old age, in which we are always growing to maturity in intelligence, are always young, always mild, always new: for those must necessarily be new, who have become partakers of the new Word. And that which participates in eternity is wont to be assimilated to the incorruptible: so that to us appertains the designation of the age of childhood, a lifelong spring-time, because the truth that is in us, and our habits saturated with the truth, cannot be touched by old age; but Wisdom is ever blooming, ever remains consistent and the same, and never changes. \u201cTheir children,\u201d it is said, \u201cshall be borne upon their shoulders, and fondled on their knees; as one whom his mother comforteth, so also shall I comfort you.\u201d 1077 The mother draws the children to herself; and we seek our mother the Church. Whatever is feeble and tender, as needing help on account of its feebleness, is kindly looked on, and is sweet and pleasant, anger changing into help in the case of such: for thus horses\u2019 colts, and the little calves of cows, and the lion\u2019s whelp, and the stag\u2019s fawn, and the child of man, are looked upon with pleasure by their fathers and mothers. Thus also the Father of the universe cherishes affection towards those who have fled to Him; and having begotten them again by His Spirit to the adoption of children, knows them as gentle, and loves those alone, and aids and fights for them; and therefore He bestows on them the name of child. The word Isaac I also connect with child. Isaac means laughter. He was seen sporting with his wife and helpmeet Rebecca by the prying king. 1078 The king, whose name was Abimelech, appears to me to represent a supramundane wisdom contemplating the mystery of sport. They interpret Rebecca to mean endurance. O wise sport, laughter also assisted by endurance, and the king as spectator! The spirit of those that are children in Christ, whose lives are ordered in endurance, rejoice. And this is the divine sport. \u201cSuch a sport, of his own, Jove sports,\u201d says Heraclitus. For what other employment is seemly for a wise and perfect man, than to sport and be glad in the endurance of what is good\u2014and, in the administration of what is good, holding festival with God? That which is signified by the prophet may be interpreted differently,\u2014namely, of our rejoicing for salvation, as Isaac. He also, delivered from death, laughed, sporting and rejoicing with his spouse, who was the type of the Helper of our salvation, the Church, to whom the stable name of endurance is given; for this cause surely, because she alone remains to all generations, rejoicing ever, subsisting as she does by the endurance of us believers, who are the members of Christ. And the witness of those that have endured to the end, and the rejoicing on their account, is the mystic sport, and the salvation accompanied with decorous solace which brings us aid.\np. 215\nThe King, then, who is Christ, beholds from above our laughter, and looking through the window, as the Scripture says, views the thanksgiving, and the blessing, and the rejoicing, and the gladness, and furthermore the endurance which works together with them and their embrace: views His Church, showing only His face, which was wanting to the Church, which is made perfect by her royal Head. And where, then, was the door by which the Lord showed Himself? The flesh by which He was manifested. He is Isaac (for the narrative may be interpreted otherwise), who is a type of the Lord, a child as a son; for he was the son of Abraham, as Christ the Son of God, and a sacrifice as the Lord, but he was not immolated as the Lord. Isaac only bore the wood of the sacrifice, as the Lord the wood of the cross. And he laughed mystically, prophesying that the Lord should fill us with joy, who have been redeemed from corruption by the blood of the Lord. Isaac did everything but suffer, as was right, yielding the precedence in suffering to the Word. Furthermore, there is an intimation of the divinity of the Lord in His not being slain. For Jesus rose again after His burial, having suffered no harm, like Isaac released from sacrifice. And in defence of the point to be established, I shall adduce another consideration of the greatest weight. The Spirit calls the Lord Himself a child, thus prophesying by Esaias: \u201cLo, to us a child has been born, to us a son has been given, on whose own shoulder the government shall be; and His name has been called the Angel of great Counsel.\u201d Who, then, is this infant child? He according to whose image we are made little children. By the same prophet is declared His greatness: \u201cWonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace; that He might fulfil His discipline: and of His peace there shall be no end.\u201d 1079 O the great God! O the perfect child! The Son in the Father, and the Father in the Son. And how shall not the discipline of this child be perfect, which extends to all, leading as a schoolmaster us as children who are His little ones? He has stretched forth to us those hands of His that are conspicuously worthy of trust. To this child additional testimony is borne by John, \u201cthe greatest prophet among those born of women:\u201d 1080 Behold the Lamb of God!\u201d 1081 For since Scripture calls the infant children lambs, it has also called Him\u2014God the Word\u2014who became man for our sakes, and who wished in all points to be made like to us\u2014\u201cthe Lamb of God\u201d\u2014Him, namely, that is the Son of God, the child of the Father.\n[The dignity ascribed to Christian childhood in this chapter is something noteworthy. The Gospel glorifying children, sanctifies marriage, and creates the home.]\n212:1053 212:1054 212:1055 212:1056\nMatt. 11:16, 17. [In the Peshitoi-Syraic version, where are probably found the very words our Saviour thus quotes from children in Nazareth, this saying is seen to be metrical and alliterative.]\n212:1057 212:1058 212:1059 212:1060 212:1061\nLev. xv. 29, xii. 8; Luke ii. 24.\n212:1062 212:1063\nIsa. 65:15, 16.\n213:1064 213:1065 213:1066 213:1067 213:1068\nTheodoret explains this to mean that, as the animal referred to has only one horn, so those brought up in the practice of piety worship only one God. [It might mean lovers of those promises which are introduced by these words in the marvellous twenty-second Psalm.]\n213:1069 213:1070 213:1071 213:1072 214:1073 214:1074 214:1075 214:1076 214:1077\nIsa. 66:12, 13.\n214:1078 215:1079 215:1080 215:1081","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol II: CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Chapter V.\u2014All Who Walk According to Truth are Children of God.","type":"page"}