{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/002/0020259.htm","path":"chr/ecf/002/0020259.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/002/0020259.htm","text":"With all His power, therefore, the Instructor of humanity, the Divine Word, using all the resources of wisdom, devotes Himself to the saving of the children, admonishing, upbraiding, blaming, chiding, reproving, threatening, healing, promising, favouring; and as it were, by many reins, curbing the irrational impulses of humanity. To speak briefly, therefore, the Lord acts towards us as we do towards our children. \u201cHast thou children? correct them,\u201d is the exhortation of the book of Wisdom, \u201cand bend them from their youth. Hast thou daughters? attend to their body, and let not thy face brighten towards them,\u201d 1210 \u2014although we love our children exceedingly, both sons and daughters, above aught else whatever. For those who speak with a man merely to please him, have little love for him, seeing they do not pain him; while those that speak for his good, though they inflict pain for the time, do him good for ever after. It is not immediate pleasure, but future enjoyment, that the Lord has in view.\nLet us now proceed to consider the mode of His loving discipline, with the aid of the prophetic testimony.\nAdmonition, then, is the censure of loving care, and produces understanding. Such is the Instructor in His admonitions, as when He says in the Gospel, \u201cHow often would I have gathered thy children, as a bird gathers her young ones under her wings, and ye would not!\u201d 1211 And again, the Scripture admonishes, saying, \u201cAnd they committed adultery with stock and stone, and burnt incense to Baal.\u201d 1212 For it is a very great proof of His love, that, though knowing well the shamelessness of the people that had kicked and bounded away, He notwithstanding exhorts them to repentance, and says by Ezekiel, \u201cSon of man, thou dwellest in the midst of scorpions; nevertheless, speak to them, if peradventure they will hear.\u201d 1213 Further, to Moses He says, \u201cGo and tell Pharaoh to send My people forth; but I know that he will not send them forth.\u201d 1214 For He shows both things: both His divinity in His foreknowledge of what would take place, and His love in affording an opportunity for repentance to the self-determination of the soul. He admonishes also by Esaias, in His care for the people, when He says, \u201cThis people honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.\u201d What follows is reproving censure: \u201cIn vain do they worship p. 229 Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.\u201d 1215 Here His loving care, having shown their sin, shows salvation side by side.\nUpbraiding is censure on account of what is base, conciliating to what is noble. This is shown by Jeremiah: \u201cThey were female-mad horses; each one neighed after his neighbour\u2019s wife. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?\u201d 1216 He everywhere interweaves fear, because \u201cthe fear of the Lord is the beginning of sense.\u201d 1217 And again, by Hosea, He says, \u201cShall I not visit them? for they themselves were mingled with harlots, and sacrificed with the initiated; and the people that understood embraced a harlot.\u201d 1218 He shows their offence to be clearer, by declaring that they understood, and thus sinned wilfully. Understanding is the eye of the soul; wherefore also Israel means, \u201che that sees God\u201d\u2014that is, he that understands God.\nComplaint is censure of those who are regarded as despising or neglecting. He employs this form when He says by Esaias: \u201cHear, O heaven; and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have begotten and brought up children, but they have disregarded Me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master\u2019s crib: but Israel hath not known Me.\u201d 1219 For how shall we not regard it fearful, if he that knows God, shall not recognise the Lord; but while the ox and the ass, stupid and foolish animals, will know him who feeds them, Israel is found to be more irrational than these? And having, by Jeremiah, complained against the people on many grounds, He adds: \u201cAnd they have forsaken Me, saith the Lord.\u201d 1220\nInvective 1221 is a reproachful upbraiding, or chiding censure. This mode of treatment the Instructor employs in Isaiah, when He says, \u201cWoe to you, children revolters. Thus saith the Lord, Ye have taken counsel, but not by Me; and made compacts, but not by My Spirit.\u201d 1222 He uses the very bitter mordant of fear in each case repressing 1223 the people, and at the same time turning them to salvation; as also wool that is undergoing the process of dyeing is wont to be previously treated with mordants, in order to prepare it for taking on a fast colour.\nReproof is the bringing forward of sin, laying it before one. This form of instruction He employs as in the highest degree necessary, by reason of the feebleness of the faith of many. For He says by Esaias, \u201cYe have forsaken the Lord, and have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger.\u201d 1224 And He says also by Jeremiah: \u201cHeaven was astonished at this, and the earth shuddered exceedingly. For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewn out to themselves broken cisterns, which will not be able to hold water.\u201d 1225 And again, by the same: \u201cJerusalem hath sinned a sin; therefore it became commotion. All that glorified her dishonoured her, when they saw her baseness.\u201d 1226 And He uses the bitter and biting 1227 language of reproof in His consolations by Solomon, tacitly alluding to the love for children that characterizes His instruction: \u201cMy son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord; nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth;\u201d 1228 \u201cFor a man who is a sinner escapes reproof.\u201d 1229 Consequently, therefore, the Scripture says, \u201cLet the righteous reprove and correct me; but let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head.\u201d 1230\nBringing one to his senses (\u03c6\u03c1\u03ad\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2) is censure, which makes a man think. Neither from this form of instruction does he abstain, but says by Jeremiah, \u201cHow long shall I cry, and you not hear? So your ears are uncircumcised.\u201d 1231 O blessed forbearance! And again, by the same: \u201cAll the heathen are uncircumcised, but this people is uncircumcised in heart:\u201d 1232 \u201cfor the people are disobedient; children,\u201d says He, \u201cin whom is not faith.\u201d 1233\nVisitation is severe rebuke. He uses this species in the Gospel: \u201cO Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee!\u201d The reduplication of the name gives strength to the rebuke. For he that knows God, how does he persecute God\u2019s servants? Wherefore He says, \u201cYour house is left desolate; for I say unto you, Henceforth ye shall not see Me, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.\u201d 1234 For if you do not receive His love, ye shall know His power.\nDenunciation is vehement speech. And He employs denunciation as medicine, by Isaiah, saying, \u201cAh, sinful nation, lawless sons, people full of sins, wicked seed!\u201d 1235 And in the Gospel by John He says, \u201cSerpents, brood of vipers.\u201d 1236\np. 230\nAccusation is censure of wrong-doers. This mode of instruction He employs by David, when He says: \u201cThe people whom I knew not served me, and at the hearing of the ear obeyed me. Sons of strangers lied to me, and halted from their ways.\u201d 1237 And by Jeremiah: \u201cAnd I gave her a writing of divorcement, and covenant-breaking Judah feared not.\u201d 1238 And again: \u201cAnd the house of Israel disregarded Me; and the house of Judah lied to the Lord.\u201d 1239\nBewailing one\u2019s fate is latent censure, and by artful aid ministers salvation as under a veil. He made use of this by Jeremiah: \u201cHow did the city sit solitary that was full of people! She that ruled over territories became as a widow; she came under tribute; weeping, she wept in the night.\u201d 1240\nObjurgation is objurgatory censure. Of this help the Divine Instructor made use by Jeremiah, saying, \u201cThou hadst a whore\u2019s forehead; thou wast shameless towards all; and didst not call me to the house, who am thy father, and lord of thy virginity.\u201d 1241 \u201cAnd a fair and graceful harlot skilled in enchanted potions.\u201d 1242 With consummate art, after applying to the virgin the opprobrious name of whoredom, He thereupon calls her back to an honourable life by filling her with shame.\nIndignation is a rightful upbraiding; or upbraiding on account of ways exalted above what is right. In this way He instructed by Moses, when He said, \u201cFaulty children, a generation crooked and perverse, do ye thus requite the Lord? This people is foolish, and not wise. Is not this thy father who acquired thee?\u201d 1243 He says also by Isaiah, \u201cThy princes are disobedient, companions of thieves, loving gifts, following after rewards, not judging the orphans.\u201d 1244\nIn fine, the system He pursues to inspire fear is the source of salvation. And it is the prerogative of goodness to save: \u201cThe mercy of the Lord is on all flesh, while He reproves, corrects, and teaches as a shepherd His flock. He pities those who receive His instruction, and those who eagerly seek union with Him.\u201d 1245 And with such guidance He guarded the six hundred thousand footmen that were brought together in the hardness of heart in which they were found; scourging, pitying, striking, healing, in compassion and discipline: \u201cFor according to the greatness of His mercy, so is His rebuke.\u201d 1246 For it is indeed noble not to sin; but it is good also for the sinner to repent; just as it is best to be always in good health, but well to recover from disease. So He commands by Solomon: \u201cStrike thou thy son with the rod, that thou mayest deliver his soul from death.\u201d 1247 And again: \u201cAbstain not from chastising thy son, but correct him with the rod; for he will not die.\u201d 1248\nFor reproof and rebuke, as also the original term implies, are the stripes of the soul, chastizing sins, preventing death, and leading to self-control those carried away to licentiousness. Thus also Plato, knowing reproof to be the greatest power for reformation, and the most sovereign purification, in accordance with what has been said, observes, \u201cthat he who is in the highest degree impure is uninstructed and base, by reason of his being unreproved in those respects in which he who is destined to be truly happy ought to be purest and best.\u201d\nFor if rulers are not a terror to a good work, how shall God, who is by nature good, be a terror to him who sins not? \u201cIf thou doest evil, be afraid,\u201d 1249 says the apostle. Wherefore the apostle himself also in every case uses stringent language to the Churches, after the Lord\u2019s example; and conscious of his own boldness, and of the weakness of his hearers, he says to the Galatians: \u201cAm I your enemy, because I tell you the truth?\u201d 1250 Thus also people in health do not require a physician, do not require him as long as they are strong; but those who are ill need his skill. Thus also we who in our lives are ill of shameful lusts and reprehensible excesses, and other inflammatory effects of the passions, need the Saviour. And He administers not only mild, but also stringent medicines. The bitter roots of fear then arrest the eating sores of our sins. Wherefore also fear is salutary, if bitter. Sick, we truly stand in need of the Saviour; having wandered, of one to guide us; blind, of one to lead us to the light; thirsty, \u201cof the fountain of life, of which whosoever partakes, shall no longer thirst;\u201d 1251 dead, we need life; sheep, we need a shepherd; we who are children need a tutor, while universal humanity stands in need of Jesus; so that we may not continue intractable and sinners to the end, and thus fall into condemnation, but may be separated from the chaff, and stored up in the paternal garner. \u201cFor the fan is in the Lord\u2019s hand, by which the chaff due to the fire is separated from the wheat.\u201d 1252 You may learn, if you will, the crowning wisdom of the all-holy Shepherd and Instructor, of the omnipotent and paternal Word, when He figuratively represents Himself as the Shepherd of the sheep. And He is the Tutor of the p. 231 children. He says therefore by Ezekiel, directing His discourse to the elders, and setting before them a salutary description of His wise solicitude: \u201cAnd that which is lame I will bind up, and that which is sick I will heal, and that which has wandered I will turn back; and I will feed them on my holy mountain.\u201d 1253 Such are the promises of the good Shepherd.\nFeed us, the children, as sheep. Yea, Master, fill us with righteousness, Thine own pasture; yea, O Instructor, feed us on Thy holy mountain the Church, which towers aloft, which is above the clouds, which touches heaven. \u201cAnd I will be,\u201d He says, \u201ctheir Shepherd,\u201d 1254 and will be near them, as the garment to their skin. He wishes to save my flesh by enveloping it in the robe of immortality, and He hath anointed my body. \u201cThey shall call Me,\u201d He says, \u201cand I will say, Here am I.\u201d 1255 Thou didst hear sooner than I expected, Master. \u201cAnd if they pass over, they shall not slip,\u201d 1256 saith the Lord. For we who are passing over to immortality shall not fall into corruption, for He shall sustain us. For so He has said, and so He has willed. Such is our Instructor, righteously good. \u201cI came not,\u201d He says, \u201cto be ministered unto, but to minister.\u201d 1257 Wherefore He is introduced in the Gospel \u201cwearied,\u201d 1258 because toiling for us, and promising \u201cto give His life a ransom for many.\u201d 1259 For him alone who does so He owns to be the good shepherd. Generous, therefore, is He who gives for us the greatest of all gifts, His own life; and beneficent exceedingly, and loving to men, in that, when He might have been Lord, He wished to be a brother man; and so good was He that He died for us.\nFurther, His righteousness cried, \u201cIf ye come straight to me, I also will come straight to you but if ye walk crooked, I also will walk crooked, saith the Lord of hosts;\u201d 1260 meaning by the crooked ways the chastisements of sinners. For the straight and natural way which is indicated by the Iota of the name of Jesus is His goodness, which is firm and sure towards those who have believed at hearing: \u201cWhen I called, ye obeyed not, saith the Lord; but set at nought my counsels, and heeded not my reproofs.\u201d 1261 Thus the Lord\u2019s reproof is most beneficial. David also says of them, \u201cA perverse and provoking race; a race which set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful with God: they kept not the covenant of God, and would not walk in His law.\u201d 1262\nSuch are the causes of provocation for which the Judge comes to inflict punishment on those that would not choose a life of goodness. Wherefore also afterwards He assailed them more roughly; in order, if possible, to drag them back from their impetuous rush towards death. He therefore tells by David the most manifest cause of the threatening: \u201cThey believed not in His wonderful works. When He slew them, they sought after Him, and turned and inquired early after God; and remembered that God was their Helper, and God the Most High their Redeemer.\u201d 1263 Thus He knew that they turned for fear, while they despised His love: for, for the most part, that goodness which is always mild is despised; but He who admonishes by the loving fear of righteousness is reverenced.\nThere is a twofold species of fear, the one of which is accompanied with reverence, such as citizens show towards good rulers, and we towards God, as also right-minded children towards their fathers. \u201cFor an unbroken horse turns out unmanageable, and a son who is let take his own way turns out reckless.\u201d 1264 The other species of fear is accompanied with hatred, which slaves feel towards hard masters, and the Hebrews felt, who made God a master, not a father. And as far as piety is concerned, that which is voluntary and spontaneous differs much, nay entirely, from what is forced. \u201cFor He,\u201d it is said, \u201cis merciful; He will heal their sins, and not destroy them, and fully turn away His anger, and not kindle all His wrath.\u201d 1265 See how the justice of the Instructor, which deals in rebukes, is shown; and the goodness of God, which deals in compassions. Wherefore David\u2014that is, the Spirit by him\u2014embracing them both, sings of God Himself, \u201cJustice and judgment are the preparation of His throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.\u201d 1266 He declares that it belongs to the same power both to judge and to do good. For there is power over both together, and judgment separates that which is just from its opposite. And He who is truly God is just and good; who is Himself all, and all is He; for He is God, the only God.\nFor as the mirror is not evil to an ugly man because it shows him what like he is; and as the physician is not evil to the sick man because he tells him of his fever,\u2014for the physician is not the cause of the fever, but only points out the fever;\u2014so neither is He, that reproves, ill-disposed towards him who is diseased in soul. For He does not put the transgressions on him, but only shows the sins which are there; in order to turn him away from similar practices. So p. 232 God is good on His own account, and just also on ours, and He is just because He is good. And His justice is shown to us by His own Word from there from above, whence the Father was. For before He became Creator He was God; He was good. And therefore He wished to be Creator and Father. And the nature of all that love was the source of righteousness\u2014the cause, too, of His lighting up His sun, and sending down His own Son. And He first announced the good righteousness that is from heaven, when He said, \u201cNo man knoweth the Son, but the Father; nor the Father, but the Son.\u201d 1267 This mutual and reciprocal knowledge is the symbol of primeval justice. Then justice came down to men both in the letter and in the body, in the Word and in the law, constraining humanity to saving repentance; for it was good. But do you not obey God? Then blame yourself, who drag to yourself the judge.\nJer. iii. 9, vii. 9, xi. 13, xxxii. 29.\n228:1213 228:1214\nExod. 3:18, 19.\n229:1215 229:1216 229:1217 229:1218\nHos. iv. 14: \u201cunderstood not\u201d in the A.V.\n229:1219 229:1220\nJer i. 16, ii. 13, 29.\n229:1221 229:1222 229:1223\nLowth conjectures \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bc\u1ff6\u03bd or \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bc\u03af\u03b6\u03c9\u03bd, instead of \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bc\u1ff6\u03bd.\n229:1224 229:1225 229:1226 229:1227\nH. reads \u03b4\u03b7\u03ba\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc\u03bd, for which the text has \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03b4\u03b5\u03b9\u03ba\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc\u03bd.\n229:1228\nProv. 3:11, 12.\n229:1229 229:1230 229:1231 229:1232 229:1233 229:1234 229:1235 229:1236\nNothing similar to this is found in the fourth Gospel; the reference may be to the words of the Baptist, Matt. iii. 7, Luke iii. 7.\n230:1237 230:1238 230:1239 230:1240 230:1241 230:1242 230:1243\nDeut. 32:5, 6.\n230:1244 230:1245\nSir. 18:13, 14.\n230:1246 230:1247 230:1248 230:1249 230:1250 230:1251 230:1252 231:1253\nEzek. 34:14, 15, 16.\n231:1254 231:1255 231:1256 231:1257 231:1258 231:1259 231:1260\nHere Clement gives the sense of various passages, e.g., Jer. vi., Lev. xxvi.\n231:1261\nProv. 1:24, 25.\n231:1262 231:1263 231:1264 231:1265 231:1266 232:1267","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol II: CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Chapter IX.\u2014That It is the Prerogative of the Same Power to Be Beneficent and to Punish Justly. Also the Manner of the Instruction of the Logos.","type":"page"}