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| Chapter III.—The Philanthropy of the Instructor.
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Chapter III.—The Philanthropy of the Instructor.
The Lord ministers all good and all help, both as man
and as God: as God, forgiving our sins; and as man, training us not to
sin. Man is therefore justly dear to God, since he is His workmanship. The
other works of creation He made by the word of command alone, but man
He framed by Himself, by His own hand, and breathed into him what was
peculiar to Himself. What, then, was fashioned by Him, and after He
likeness, either was created by God Himself as
being desirable on its own account,
or was formed as being desirable on account of something else. If, then,
man is an object desirable for itself, then He who is good loved what
is good, and the love-charm is within even in man, and is that very
thing which is called the inspiration [or breath] of God; but if man
was a desirable object on account of something else, God had no other
reason for creating him, than that unless he came into being, it was
not possible for God to be a good Creator, or for man to arrive at the
knowledge of God. For God would not have accomplished that on account
of which man was created otherwise than by the creation of man; and
what hidden power in willing God possessed, He carried fully out by the
forth-putting of His might externally in the act of creating, receiving
from man what He made man;1043
| 1043
Bishop Kaye (Some Account of the Writings and Opinions of Clement of
Alexandria, p. 48) translates, “receiving from man that which
made man (that on account of which man was made).” But it seems more
likely that Clement refers to the ideal man in the divine mind, whom he
indentifies elsewhere with the Logos, the ἄνθρωπος
ἀπαθής, of whom man was the
image. The reader will notice that Clement speaks of man as existing
in the divine mind before his creation, and creation is represented by
God’s seeing what He had previously within Him merely as
a hidden power. | and whom He had He saw, and what He wished
that came to pass; and there is nothing which God cannot do. Man, then,
whom God made, is desirable for himself, and that which is desirable
on his account is allied to him to whom it is desirable on his account;
and this, too, is acceptable and liked.
But what is loveable, and is not also loved by Him? And
man has been proved to be loveable; consequently man is loved by God.
For how shall he not be loved for whose sake the only-begotten Son
is sent from the Father’s bosom, the Word of faith, the faith
which is superabundant; the Lord Himself distinctly confessing and
saying, “For the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have
loved Me;”1044
and again, “And hast loved them as Thou
hast loved Me?”1045
What, then, the Master desires and declares, and
how He is disposed in deed and word, how He commands what is to be done,
and forbids the opposite, has already been shown.
Plainly, then, the other kind of discourse, the
didactic, is powerful and spiritual, observing precision, occupied in
the contemplation of mysteries. But let it stand over for the present.
Now, it is incumbent on us to return His love, who lovingly guides us to
that life which is best; and to live in accordance with the injunctions
of His will, not only fulfilling what is commanded, or guarding against
what is forbidden, but turning away from some examples, and imitating
others as much as we can, and thus to perform the works of the Master
according to His similitude, and so fulfil what Scripture says as to
our being made in His image and likeness. For, wandering in life as in
deep darkness, we need a guide that cannot stumble or stray; and our
guide is the best, not blind, as the Scripture says, “leading
the blind into pits.”1046
But the Word is keen-sighted, and scans the
recesses of the heart. As, then, that is not light which enlightens not,
nor motion that moves not, nor loving which loves not, so neither is
that good which profits not, nor guides to salvation. Let us then aim
at the fulfilment of the commandments by the works of the Lord; for the
Word Himself also, having openly become flesh,1047
exhibited the same virtue, both
practical and contemplative. Wherefore let us regard the Word as law, and
His commands and counsels as the short and straight paths to immortality;
for His precepts are full of persuasion, not of fear.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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