Chapter XII.—The Instructor Characterized by the Severity and Benignity of Paternal Affection.

Having now accomplished those things, it were a fitting sequel that our instructor Jesus should draw for us the model of the true life, and train humanity in Christ.

Nor is the cast and character of the life He enjoins very formidable; nor is it made altogether easy by reason of His benignity. He enjoins His commands, and at the same time gives them such a character that they may be accomplished.

The view I take is, that He Himself formed man of the dust, and regenerated him by water; and made him grow by his Spirit; and trained him by His word to adoption and salvation, directing him by sacred precepts; in order that, transforming earth-born man into a holy and heavenly being by His advent, He might fulfil to the utmost that divine utterance, “Let Us make man in Our own image and likeness.”263    Gen. i. 26. And, in truth, Christ became the perfect realization of what God spake; and the rest of humanity is conceived as being created merely in His image.

But let us, O children of the good Father—nurslings of the good Instructor—fulfil the Father’s will, listen to the Word, and take on the impress of the truly saving life of our Saviour; and meditating on the heavenly mode of life according to which we have been deified, let us anoint ourselves with the perennial immortal bloom of gladness—that ointment of sweet fragrance—having a clear example of immortality in the walk and conversation of the Lord; and following the footsteps of God, to whom alone it belongs to consider, and whose care it is to see to, the way and manner in which the life of men may be made more healthy. Besides, He makes preparation for a self-sufficing mode of life, for simplicity, and for girding up our loins, and for free and unimpeded readiness of our journey; in order to the attainment of an eternity of beatitude, teaching each one of us to be his own storehouse. For He says, “Take no anxious thought for to-morrow,”264    Matt. vi. 34. meaning that the man who has devoted himself to Christ ought to be sufficient to himself, and servant to himself, and moreover lead a life which provides for each day by itself. For it is not in war, but in peace, that we are trained. War needs great preparation, and luxury craves profusion; but peace and love, simple and quiet sisters, require no arms nor excessive preparation. The Word is their sustenance.

Our superintendence in instruction and discipline is the office of the Word, from whom we learn frugality and humility, and all that pertains to love of truth, love of man, and love of excellence. And so, in a word, being assimilated to God by a participation in moral excellence, we must not retrograde into carelessness and sloth. But labour, and faint not. Thou shalt be what thou dost not hope, and canst not conjecture. And as there is one mode of training for philosophers, another for orators, and another for athletes; so is there a generous disposition, suitable to the choice that is set upon moral loveliness, resulting from the training of Christ. And in the case of those who have been trained according to this influence, their gait in walking, their sitting at table, their food, their sleep, their going to bed, their regimen, and the rest of their mode of life, acquire a superior dignity.265    [The secondary, civilizing, and socializing power of the Gospel, must have already produced all this change from heathen manners, under Clement’s own observation.] For such a training as is pursued by the Word is not overstrained, but is of the right tension. Thus, therefore, the Word has been called also the Saviour, seeing He has found out for men those rational medicines which produce vigour of the senses and salvation; and devotes Himself to watching for the favourable moment, reproving evil, exposing the causes of evil affections, and striking at the roots of irrational lusts, pointing out what we ought to abstain from, and supplying all the antidotes of salvation to those who are diseased. For the greatest and most regal work of God is the salvation of humanity. The sick are vexed at a physician, who gives no advice bearing on their restoration to health. But how shall we not acknowledge the highest gratitude to the divine Instructor, who is not silent, who omits not those threatenings that point towards destruction, but discloses them, and cuts off the impulses that tend to them; and who indoctrinates in those counsels which result in the true way of living? We must confess, therefore, the deepest obligations to Him. For what else do we say is incumbent on the rational creature—I mean man—than the contemplation of the Divine? I say, too, that it is requisite to contemplate human nature, and to live as the truth directs, and to admire the Instructor and His injunctions, as suitable and harmonious to each other. According to which image also we ought, conforming ourselves to the Instructor, and making the word and our deeds agree, to live a real life.

Ὅτι ἀναλόγως τῇ πατρικῇ διαθέσει κέχρηται ὁ παιδαγωγὸς αὐστηρίᾳ καὶ χρηστότητι. Τούτων ἤδη προδιηνυσμένων ἑπόμενον ἂν εἴη τὸν παιδαγωγὸν ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν τὸν βίον ἡμῖν τὸν ἀληθινὸν ὑποτυπώσασθαι καὶ τὸν ἐν Χριστῷ παιδαγωγῆσαι ἄνθρωπον. Ἔστι δὲ ὁ χαρακτηρισμὸς οὐ φοβερὸς ἄγαν αὐτοῦ οὐδὲ ἔκλυτος κομιδῇ ὑπὸ χρηστότητος. Ἐντέλλεται δὲ ἅμα καὶ χαρακτηρίζει τὰς ἐντο λὰς ὡς ἡμᾶς αὐτὰς ἐκτελεῖν δύνασθαι. Καί μοι δοκεῖ αὐτὸς οὗτος πλάσαι μὲν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐκ χοός, ἀναγεννῆσαι δὲ ὕδατι, αὐξῆσαι δὲ πνεύματι, παιδαγωγῆσαι δὲ ῥήματι, εἰς υἱοθεσίαν καὶ σωτηρίαν ἁγίαις ἐντολαῖς κατευθύνων, ἵνα δὴ τὸν γηγενῆ εἰς ἅγιον καὶ ἐπουράνιον μεταπλάσας ἐκ προσβάσεως ἄνθρωπον, ἐκείνην τὴν θεϊκὴν μάλιστα πληρώσῃ φωνήν· ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν ἡμῶν. Καὶ δὴ γέγονεν ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦτο πλῆρες, ὅπερ εἴρηκεν ὁ θεός, ὁ δὲ ἄλλος ἄνθρωπος κατὰ μόνην νοεῖται τὴν εἰκόνα. Ἡμεῖς δέ, ὦ παῖδες ἀγαθοῦ πατρός, ἀγαθοῦ παιδαγωγοῦ θρέμματα, πληρώσωμεν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πατρός, ἀκούωμεν τοῦ λόγου καὶ τὸν σωτήριον ὄντως ἀναμαξώμεθα τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν βίον· ἐνθένδε ἤδη τὴν ἐπουράνιον μελετῶντες πολιτείαν, καθ' ἣν ἐκθεούμεθα, τὸ ἀειθαλὲς εὐφροσύνης καὶ ἀκήρατον εὐωδίας ἐπαλειφώμεθα χρῖσμα, ἐναργὲς ὑπόδειγμα ἀφθαρσίας τὴν πολιτείαν ἔχοντες τοῦ κυρίου καὶ τὰ ἴχνη τοῦ θεοῦ διώκοντες· ᾧ μόνῳ προσήκει σκοπεῖν καὶ δὴ μέλει πῶς καὶ τίνα τρόπον ὑγιεινότερος ἂν ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίος γένοιτο. Ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς αὐτάρκειαν τοῦ βίου καὶ ἀπεριττότητα ἔτι τε εὔζωνόν τε καὶ εὔλυτον ὁδοιπορικὴν ἑτοιμότητα εἰς ἀιδιότητα εὐζωίας παρασκευάζει, αὐτὸν αὑτοῦ ἕκαστον ἡμῶν ταμιεῖον εἶναι διδάσκων. Μὴ γὰρ μεριμνᾶτε, φησί, περὶ τῆς αὔριον, χρῆναι λέγων τὸν ἀπογεγραμμένον Χριστῷ αὐτάρκη καὶ αὐτοδιάκονον καὶ προσέτι ἐφήμερον ἐπαναιρεῖσθαι βίον. Οὐ γὰρ ἐν πολέμῳ, ἀλλ' ἐν εἰρήνῃ παιδαγωγούμεθα. Πολέμῳ μὲν οὖν πολλῆς δεῖ τῆς παρασκευῆς δαψιλείας τε χρῄζει ἡ τρυφή· εἰρήνη δὲ καὶ ἀγάπη, ἀφελεῖς καὶ ἀπράγμονες ἀδελφαί, οὐχ ὅπλων δέονται, οὐ παρασκευῆς ἀσώτου· λόγος ἐστὶν αὐταῖς ἡ τροφή, ὁ τὴν ἐνδεικτικὴν καὶ παιδευτικὴν ἡγεμονίαν κεκληρωμένος λόγος, παρ' οὗ τὸ εὐτελές τε καὶ ἄτυφον καὶ τὸ ὅλον φιλελεύθερον καὶ φιλάνθρωπον φιλόκαλόν τε ἐκμανθάνομεν, ἑνὶ λόγῳ μετ' οἰκειότητος ἀρετῆς ἐξομοιούμενοι τῷ θεῷ. Ἀλλ' ἐκπόνει καὶ μὴ ἀπόκαμνε· ἔσῃ γὰρ οἷος οὐκ ἐλπίζεις οὐδ' εἰκάσαι δύναιο ἄν. Ὡς δὲ ἔστι τις ἄλλη μὲν φιλοσόφων ἀγωγή, ἄλλη δὲ ῥητόρων, παλαιστῶν δὲ ἄλλη, οὕτως ἐστὶν γενναία διάθεσις φιλοκάλῳ προαιρέσει κατάλληλος ἐκ τῆς Χριστοῦ παιδαγωγίας περιγινομένη, καὶ τὰ τῆς ἐνεργείας πεπαιδευμέναι σεμναὶ διαπρέπουσιν πορεία καὶ κατάκλισις καὶ τροφὴ καὶ ὕπνος καὶ κοίτη καὶ δίαιτα καὶ ἡ λοιπὴ παιδεία· οὐ γὰρ ὑπέρτονος ἡ τοιάδε ἀγωγὴ τοῦ λόγου, ἀλλ' εὔτονος. Ταύτῃ οὖν καὶ σωτὴρ ὁ λόγος κέκληται, ὁ τὰ λογικὰ ταῦτα ἐξευρὼν ἀνθρώποις εἰς εὐαισθησίαν καὶ σωτηρίαν φάρμακα, ἐπιτηρῶν μὲν τὴν εὐκαιρίαν, ἐλέγχων δὲ τὴν βλάβην καὶ τὰς αἰτίας τῶν παθῶν διηγούμενος καὶ τὰς ῥίζας τῶν ἀλόγων ἐκκόπτων ἐπιθυμιῶν, παραγγέλλων μὲν ὧν ἀπέχεσθαι δεῖ, τὰς ἀντιδότους δὲ ἁπάσας τῆς σωτηρίας τοῖς νοσοῦσι προσφέρων· τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ μέγιστον καὶ βασιλικώτατον ἔργον τοῦ θεοῦ, σῴζειν τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα. Τῷ μὲν οὖν ἰατρῷ οὐδὲν πρὸς ὑγείαν συμβουλεύοντι ἄχθονται οἱ κάμνοντες, τῷ δὲ παιδαγωγῷ τῷ θείῳ πῶς οὐκ ἂν ὁμολογήσαιμεν τὴν μεγίστην χάριν μὴ σιωπῶντι μηδὲ παρενθυμουμένῳ τὰς εἰς ἀπώλειαν φερούσας ἀπειθείας, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταύτας διελέγχοντι καὶ τὰς ὁρμὰς τὰς εἰς αὐτὰς διατεινούσας ἀνακόπτοντι καὶ τὰς καθηκούσας πρὸς τὴν ὀρθὴν πολιτείαν ὑποθημοσύνας ἐκδιδάσκοντι; Πλείστην ἄρα ὁμολογητέον χάριν αὐτῷ. Τὸ γάρ τοι ζῷον τὸ λογικόν, τὸν ἄνθρωπον λέγω, ἄλλο τι φαμὲν ἢ θεάσασθαι τὸ θεῖον δεῖν; Θεάσασθαι δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν φημὶ χρῆναι ζῆν τε ὡς ὑφηγεῖται ἡ ἀλήθεια, ἀγαμένους ὑπερφυῶς τόν τε παιδαγωγὸν αὐτὸν καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ, ὡς πρέποντα ἀλλήλοις ἐστὶ καὶ ἁρμόττοντα· καθ' ἣν εἰκόνα καὶ ἡμᾶς ἁρμοσαμένους χρὴ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς πρὸς τὸν παιδαγωγόν, σύμφωνον τὸν λόγον ποιησαμένους τοῖς ἔργοις, τῷ ὄντι ζῆν.