{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/002/0020409.htm","path":"chr/ecf/002/0020409.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/002/0020409.htm","text":"(Gentlemen of the Jury, cap. ii. p. 485.)\nThis strange rendering of \u1f66 \u1f04\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03b5\u03c2 \u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u1f76 (which we were taught to translate O judices, in our school-days) occurs three times on this page, and I felt bound to retain it. But why import such an anachronism into the author\u2019s work, and the forensic eloquence of the Athenians? Better do violence to idiom, like our English Bible (\u201cmen and brethren\u201d), and say, O men and judges. Why not judges? See Sharon Turner (Anglo-Saxons, i. p. 476) and Freeman (Norman Conquest, v. p. 451).\n(Aristobulus, cap. iii. p. 487, note 7.)\nIn addition to the note in loc., it may be well to mention the Stromata (book i. cap. xv. p. 316), as another place where this name occurs. The learned Calmet (Works, tom. ix. p. 121), in his Dict. Critic., has a valuable statement as to the difficulties connected with this name and the probability that there were two so called, who have been confused in the citations and references of authors.\nThe paradoxical genius of Warburton ought not to dissuade us from enjoying the amusement and instruction to be found in his Divine Legation. In many respects he reminds me of this great Alexandrian Father, and they are worthy of being studied together. Let me instance, in connection with this subject, the second book, e. g. p. 151, on Metempsychosis (Hurd\u2019s Edition, vol. ii. 1811).\np. 521\n(Egyptian Women, book vi. cap. iv. p. 488.)\n\u201cLast, about women,\u201d says our author; and one would infer least. But Rawlinson (Herod., vol. ii. p. 47, ed. New York) has a long and learned note on this subject. \u201cQueens made offerings with the kings, and the monuments show that an order of women were employed in the service of the gods.\u201d \u2026 Then he says, \u201cA sort of monastic institution seems to have originated in Egypt at an early time, and to have been imitated afterwards, when the real conventual system was set on foot by the Christians, in the same country.\u201d This may be worthy of being borne in mind, when we come to the c\u0153nobitic life of the Thebaid, which lies, indeed, beyond the limits of our ante-Nicene researches. But persecution had already driven Christians to the desert; and the ascetic type of piety, with which the age and its necessities imprinted the souls of many devout women, may have led them at a very early period to the \u201cimitation\u201d of which Rawlinson speaks. The \u201cwidows\u201d recognised by the ante-Nicene canons, would naturally become the founders of \u201cwidows\u2019 houses,\u201d such as are to be seen among the pious Moravians in our times. (See Bunsen, Hippol., iii. p. 81.)\n(Philosophy, cap. vii. p. 493.)\nIn justice to Clement\u2019s eulogies of philosophy, we must constantly bear in mind his reiterated definitions. We have here a very important outline of his Christian Eclecticism, which, so far from clashing with St. Paul\u2019s scornful references to Gentile wisdom, seems to me in absolute correspondence with his reference to \u201cscience falsely so called\u201d (1 Tim. vi. 20). So, when the apostle identifies philosophy with \u201cthe rudiments of the world,\u201d he adds, \u201cand not after Christ.\u201d Now, Clement\u2019s eclectic system yokes all true philosophy to the chariot-wheels of the Messiah, as in this instance; making all true science hinge upon \u201cthe knowledge of the Son of God.\u201d How these chapters shine in contrast even with Plato.\nThe marvellous system of numbers which runs through all revelation, and which gives us the name Palmoni (English margin) in a remarkable passage of Dan. viii. 13, has lately excited fresh interest among the learned in England and America. Doubtless the language of St. John (Rev. xiii. 18), \u201cHere is wisdom,\u201d etc., influenced the early Church in what seems to us purely fanciful conjectures and combinations like these. Two unpretending little books have lately struck me as quite in the spirit of the Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Number Counted, and the Name Counted, by J. A. Upjohn (Appleton, Wis., 1883).\n(The Gnostic, cap. xi. p. 501.)\nThe Gnostic \u201cconjectures things future,\u201d i.e., by the Scriptures. \u201cHe shall show you things to come,\u201d said the Divine Master, speaking of the Blessed Comforter. To what extent did these ancients, in their esoteric conjectures, anticipate the conversion of the empire, and the evils that were to follow? This they could not publish; but the inquiry deserves thought, and there are dues for inquirers.\np. 522\n(Ultimate Issues, cap. xiii. p. 504.)\nWith reference to the choice of Judas to be an apostle, and like mysteries, this seems to me a bit of calm philosophy, worthy of the childlike faith of the early Christians. I confess great obligations to a neglected American author, with reference to such discussions (see Bledsoe, Theodicy, New York, 1854).\nWe are often troubled by this Oriental tendency to teach by myth and mysteries; but the text here quoted from the Proverbs, goes far to show that it is rooted in human nature, and that God himself has condescended to adopt it. Like every gift of God, it is subject to almost inevitable corruption and abuse.\n(Omissions, cap. xvi. p. 515.)\nThe omissions in Clement\u2019s Decalogue are worthy of remark, and I can only account for them by supposing a defective text. Kaye might have said more on the subject; but he suggests this as the solution of the difficulty, when he says (p. 201), \u201cAs the text now stands, Clement interprets only eight out of the ten.\u201d\nP.S.\u2014I have foreborne to say anything on \u201cthe descent into hell,\u201d in my annotations (on cap. vi.), for obvious reasons of propriety; but, for an entire system of references to the whole subject, I name Ezra Abbot\u2019s Catalogue, appended to Alger\u2019s History, etc. (Philadelphia, 1864.)","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol II: CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Elucidations","type":"page"}