|
|
Translated by J.B.
Lightfoot.
 Chapter 1
Brethren, we ought so to think of Jesus Christ, as of God, as of
the Judge of quick and dead. And we ought not to think mean things of our
Salvation: for when we think mean things of Him, we expect also to receive mean
things. And they that listen as concerning mean things do wrong; and we
ourselves do wrong, not knowing whence and by whom and unto what place we were
called, and how many things Jesus Christ endured to suffer for our sakes. What
recompense then shall we give unto Him? Or what fruit worthy of His own gift to
us? And how many mercies do we owe to Him! For He bestowed the light upon us; He
spake to us, as a father to his sons; He saved us, when we were perishing. What
praise then shall we give to Him? Or what payment of recompense for those things
which we received? We who were maimed in our understanding, and worshipped
stocks and stones and gold and silver and bronze, the works of men; and our
whole life was nothing else but death. While then we were thus wrapped in
darkness and oppressed with this thick mist in our vision, we recovered our
sight, putting off by His will the cloud wherein we were wrapped. For He had
mercy on us, and in His compassion saved us, having beheld in us much error and
perdition, even when we had no hope of salvation, save that which came from Him.
For He called us, when we were not, and from not being He willed us to be.
Chapter 2
Rejoice, thou barren that barest not. Break out and cry, thou
that travailest not; for more are the children of the desolate than of her that
hath the husband. In that He said Rejoice, thou barren that barest not, He spake
of us: for our Church was barren, before that children were given unto her.
And in that He said, Cry aloud, thou that travailest not, He meaneth this; Let
us not, like women in travail, grow weary of offering up our prayers with
simplicity to God. Again, in that He said, For the children of the desolate are
more than of her that hath the husband, He so spake, because our people seemed
desolate and forsaken of God, whereas now, having believed, we have become more
than those who seemed to have God. Again another scripture saith, I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners. He meaneth this; that it is right to save them
that are perishing. For this indeed is a great and marvelous work, to establish,
not those things which stand, but those which are falling. So also Christ willed
to save the things which were perishing And He saved many, coming and calling us
when we were even now perishing.
Chapter 3
Seeing then that He bestowed so great mercy on us; first of all,
that we, who are living, do not sacrifice to these dead gods, neither worship
them, but through Him have known the Father of truth. What else is this
knowledge to Himward, but not to deny Him through whom we have known Him? Yea,
He Himself saith, Whoso confesseth Me, Him will I confess before the Father.
This then is our reward, if verily we shall confess Him through whom we were
saved. But wherein do we confess Him? When we do that which He saith and are not
disobedient unto His commandments, and not only honor Him with our lips, but
with our whole heart and with our whole mind. Now He saith also in Isaiah, This
people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.
Chapter 4
Let us therefore not only call Him Lord, for this will not save
us: for He saith, Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, shall be saved, but he
that doeth righteousness. So then, brethren, let us confess Him in our works, by
loving one another, by not committing adultery nor speaking evil one against
another nor envying, but being temperate, merciful, kindly. And we ought to have
fellow-feeling one with another and not to be covetous. By these works let us
confess Him, and not by the contrary. And we ought not rather to fear men but
God. For this cause, if ye do these things, the Lord said, Though ye be gathered
together with Me in My bosom, and do not My commandments, I will cast you away
and will say unto you, Depart from Me, I know you not whence ye are, ye workers
of iniquity.
Chapter 5
Wherefore, brethren, let us forsake our sojourn in this world
and do the will of Him that called us, and let us not be afraid to depart out of
this world.
For the Lord saith, Ye shall be as lambs in the midst of wolves. But Peter
answered and said unto Him, What then, if the wolves should tear the lambs?
Jesus said unto Peter, Let not the lambs fear the wolves after they are dead;
and ye also, fear ye not them that kill you and are not able to do anything to
you; but fear Him that after ye are dead hath power over soul and body, to cast
them into the Gehenna of fire. And ye know, brethren, that the sojourn of this
flesh in this world is mean and for a short time, but the promise of Christ is
great and marvelous, even the rest of the kingdom that shall be and of life
eternal. What then can we do to obtain them, but walk in holiness and
righteousness, and consider these worldly things as alien to us, and not desire
them? For when we desire to obtain these things we fall away from the righteous
path.
Chapter 6
But the Lord saith, No servant can serve two masters. If we
desire to serve both God and mammon, it is unprofitable for us: For what
advantage is it, if a man gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Now this
age and the future are two enemies. The one speaketh of adultery and defilement
and avarice and deceit, but the other biddeth farewell to these. We cannot
therefore be friends of the two, but must bid farewell to the one and hold
companionship with the other. Let us consider that it is better to hate the
things which are here,because they are mean and for a short time and perishable,
and to love the things which are there, for they are good and imperishable. For,
if we do the will of Christ, we shall find rest; but if otherwise, then nothing
shall deliver us from eternal punishment, if we should disobey His commandments.
And the scripture also saith in Ezekiel, Though Noah and Job and Daniel should
rise up, they shall not deliver their children in the captivity. But if even
such righteous men as these cannot by their righteous deeds deliver their
children, with what confidence shall we, if we keep not our baptism pure and
undefiled, enter into the kingdom of God? Or who shall be our advocate, unless
we be found having holy and righteous works?
Chapter 7
So then, my brethren, let us contend, knowing that the contest
is nigh at hand, and that, while many resort to the corruptible contests, yet
not all are crowned, but only they that have toiled hard and contended bravely.
Let us then contend that we all may be crowned. Wherefore let us run in the
straight course, the incorruptible contest. And let us resort to it in throngs
and contend, that we may also be crowned. And if we cannot all be crowned, let
us at least come near to the crown. We ought to know that he which contendeth in
the corruptible contest, if he be found dealing corruptly with it, is first
flogged. and then removed and driven out of the race course. What think ye? What
shall be done to him that hath dealt corruptly with the contest of incorruption?
For as concerning them that have not kept the seal, He saith, Their worm shall
not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be for a spectacle
unto all flesh.
Chapter 8
While we are on earth then, let us repent: for we are clay under
the craftsman's hand. For in like manner as the potter, if he be making a
vessel, and it get twisted or crushed in his hands, reshapeth it again; but if
he have once put it into the fiery oven, he shall no longer mend it: so also let
us, while we are in this world, repent with our whole heart of the evil things
which we have done in the flesh, that we may be saved by the Lord, while we have
yet time for repentance. For after that we have departed out of the world, we
can no more make confession there, or repent any more.
Wherefore, brethren, if we shall have done the will of the Father and kept
the flesh pure and guarded the commandments of the Lord, we shall receive life
eternal. For the Lord saith in the Gospel, If ye kept not that which is little,
who shall give unto you that which is great? For I say unto you that he which is
faithful in the least, is also faithful in much. So then He meaneth this, Keep
the flesh pure and the seal unstained, to the end that we may receive life.
Chapter 9
And let not any one of you say that this flesh is not judged
neither riseth again. Understand ye. In what were ye saved? In what did ye
recover your sight? if ye were not in this flesh. We ought therefore to guard
the flesh as a temple of God: for in like manner as ye were called in the flesh,
ye shall come also in the flesh. If Christ the Lord who saved us, being first
spirit, then became flesh, and so called us, in like manner also shall we in
this flesh receive our reward. Let us therefore love one another, that we all
may come unto the kingdom of God. While we have time to be healed, let us place
ourselves in the hands of God the physician, giving Him a recompense. What
recompense? Repentance from a sincere heart. For He discerneth all things
beforehand and knoweth what is in our heart. Let us therefore give unto Him
eternal praise, not from our lips only, but also from our heart, that He may
receive us as sons. For the Lord also said, These are my brethren, which do the
will of My Father.
Chapter 10
Wherefore, my brethren, let us do the will of the Father which
called us, that we may live; and let us the rather pursue virtue, but forsake
vice as the forerunner of our sins, and let us flee from ungodliness, lest evils
overtake us. For if we be diligent in doing good, peace will pursue us. For this
cause is a man unable to *attain happiness*, seeing that they call in the fears
of men, preferring rather the enjoyment which is here than the promise which is
to come. For they know not how great torment the enjoyment which is here
bringeth, and what delight the promise which is to come bringeth. And if verily
they were doing these things by themselves alone, it had been tolerable: but now
they continue teaching evil to innocent souls, not knowing that they shall have
their condemnation doubled, both themselves and their hearers.
Chapter 11
Let us therefore serve God in a pure heart, and we shall be
righteous; but if we serve Him not, because we believe not the promise of God,
we shall be wretched. For the word of prophecy also saith: Wretched are the
double-minded, that doubt in their heart and say, These things we heard of old
in the days of our fathers also, yet we have waited day after day and seen none
of them. Ye fools! compare yourselves unto a tree; take a vine. First it sheds
its leaves, then a shoot cometh, after this a sour berry, then a full ripe
grape. So likewise My people had tumults and afflictions: but afterward they
shall receive good things. Wherefore, my brethren, let us not be double-minded
but endure patiently in hope, that we may also obtain our reward. For faithful
is He that promised to pay to each man the recompense of his works. If therefore
we shalt have wrought righteousness in the sight of God, we shalt enter into His
kingdom and shall receive the promises which ear hath not heard nor eye seen,
nor eye seen, neither hath it entered into the heart of man.
Chapter 12
Let us therefore await the kingdom of God betimes in love and
righteousness, since we know not the day of God's appearing. For the Lord
Himself, being asked by a certain person when his kingdom would come, said, When
the two shall be one, and the outside as the inside, and the male with the
female, neither male or female. Now the two are one, when we speak truth among
ourselves, and in two bodies there shall be one soul without dissimulation. And
by the outside as the inside He meaneth this: by the inside he meaneth the soul
and by the outside the body. Therefore in like manner as they body appeareth, so
also let thy soul be manifest by its good works. And by the male with the
female, neither male nor female, he meaneth this; that a brother seeing a sister
should have no thought of her as a female, and that a sister seeing a brother
should not have any thought of him as a male. These things if ye do, saith He,
the kingdom of my father shall come.
Chapter 13
Therefore, brethren, let us repent forthwith. Let us be sober
unto that which is good: for we are full of much folly and wickedness. Let us
wipe away from us our former sins, and let us not be found to be men pleasers.
Neither let us desire to please one another only, but also those men that are
without, by our righteousness, that the Name be not blasphemed by reason of us.
For the Lord saith, Every way My Name is blasphemed among all the Gentiles; and
again, Woe unto him by reason of whom My Name is blasphemed. Wherein is it
blasphemed? In that ye do not the things which I desire. For the Gentiles, when
they hear from our mouths the oracles of God, marvel at them for their beauty
and greatness; then, when they discover that our works are not worthy of the
words which we speak, forthwith they betake themselves to blasphemy, saying that
it is an idle story and a delusion. For when they here from us that God saith,
It is no thank unto you, if ye love them that love you, but this is thank unto
you, if ye love your enemies and them that hate you; when they hear these
things, I say, they marvel at their exceeding goodness; but when they see that
we not only do not love us, they laugh us to scorn, and the Name is blasphemed.
Chapter 14
Wherefore, brethren, if we do the will of God our Father, we
shall be of the first Church, which is spiritual, which was created before the
sun and the moon; but if we do not the will of the Lord, we shall be of the
scripture that saith, My house was made a den of robbers. So therefore let us
choose rather to be of the Church of life, that we may be saved. And I do not
suppose ye are ignorant that the living Church is the body of Christ: for the
scripture saith, God made man, male and female. The male is Christ and the
female is the Church. And the Books and the Apostles plainly declare that the
Church existeth not now for the first time, but hath been from the beginning:
for she was spiritual, as our Jesus also was spiritual, but was manifested in
the last days that He might save us. Now the Church, being spiritual was
manifested in the flesh of Christ, thereby showing us that if any of us guard
her in the flesh and defile her not, he shall receive her again in the Holy
Spirit: therefore, when he hath defiled the copy, shall receive the original for
his portion. This therefore is what He meaneth, brethren; Guard ye the flesh,
that ye may partake of the spirit. But if we say that the flesh is the Church
and the spirit is Christ, then he that hath dealt wantonly with the flesh hath
dealt wantonly with the Church. Such and one therefore shall not partake of the
spirit, which is Christ. So excellent is the life and immortality which this
flesh can receive as its portion, if the Holy Spirit be joined to it. No man can
declare or tell those things which the Lord hath prepared for His
elect.
Chapter 15
Now I do not think that I have given any mean council respecting
continence, and whosoever performeth it shall not repent thereof, but shall save
both himself and me his councilor. For it is no mean reward to convert a
wondering and perishing soul, that it may be saved. For this is the recompense
which we are able to pay to God who created us, if he that speaketh and heareth
both speak and hear with faith and love. Let is therefore abide in the things
which we believed, in righteousness and holiness, that we may with boldness as
of God who saith, Whiles thou art still speaking I will say, Behold, I am here.
For this word is the token of a great promise: for the Lord saith of Himself
that He is more ready to give than he that asketh to ask. Seeing then that we
are partakers of so great kindness, let us not grudge ourselves the obtaining of
so many good things. For in proportion as the pleasure is great which these
words bring to them that have performed them, so also is the condemnation great
which they bring to them that have been disobedient.
Chapter 16
Therefore, brethren, since we have found no small opportunity
for repentance, seeing that we have time, let us turn again unto God that called
us, while we have still One that receiveth us. For if we bid farewell to these
enjoyments and conquer our soul in refusing to fulfill its evil lusts, we shall
be partakers of the mercy of Jesus. But ye know that the day of judgment cometh
even now as a burning oven, and the powers of the heavens shall melt, and all
the earth as lead melting on the fire, and then shall appear the secret and open
works of men. Almsgiving therefore is a good thing, even as repentance from sin
Fasting is better than prayer, but almsgiving better than both. And love
covereth a multitude of sins, but prayer out of a good
conscience delivereth from death. Blessed is every man that is found full of
these. For almsgiving lifteth off the burden of sin.
Chapter 17
Let us therefore repent with our whole heart, lest any of us
perish by the way. For if we have received commands, that we should make this
our business, to tear men away from idols and to instruct them, how much more is
it wrong that a soul which knoweth God already should perish! Therefore let us
assist one another, that we may also lead the weak upward as touching that which
is good, to the end that we all may be saved: and let us convert and admonish
one another. And let us not think to give heed and believe now only, while we
have departed home, let us remember the commandments of the Lord, and not suffer
ourselves to be dragged off the other way by our worldly lusts; but coming
hither more frequently, let us strive to go forward in the commandments of the
Lord, that we all having the same mind may be gathered together unto life. For
the Lord said, I come to gather together all the nations, tribes, and languages.
Herein He speaketh of the day of His appearing, when He shall come and redeem
us, each man according to his works. And the unbelievers shall see His glory and
His might: and they shall be amazed when they see the kingdom of the world given
to Jesus, saying, Woe unto us, for Thou wast, and we knew it not, and believed
not; and we obeyed not the presbyters when they told us of our salvation. And
Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall
be for a spectacle unto all flesh. He speaketh of that day of judgment, when men
shall see those among us that live ungodly lives and dealt falsely with the
commandments of Jesus Christ. But the righteous, done good and endured torments
and hated pleasures of the soul, when they shall behold them that have done
amiss and denied Jesus by their words or by their deeds, how that they are
punished with grievous torments in unquenchable fire, shall give glory to God,
saying, There will be hope for him that hath served God with his whole heart.
Chapter 18
Therefore let us also be found among those that give thanks,
among those that have served God, and not among the ungodly that are judged. For
I myself too, being an utter sinner and not yet escaped from temptation, but
being still amidst the engines of the devil, do my diligence to follow after
righteousness, that I may prevail so far at least as to come near unto it, while
I fear the judgment to come.
Chapter 19
Therefore, brothers and sisters, after the God of truth hath
been heard, I read unto you an exhortation to the end that ye may give heed to
the things which are written, for that ye may save both yourselves and him that
readeth in the midst of you. For I ask of you as a reward that ye repent with
your whole heart, and give salvation and life to yourselves. For doing this we
shall set a goal for all the young who desire to toil in the study of piety and
of the goodness of God. And let is not be displeased and vexed, fools that we
are, whensoever any one admonish us and turneth us aside from unrighteousness
unto righteousness. For sometimes while we do evil things, we perceive itnot by
reason of the double-mindedness and unbelief which is in our breasts, and we are
darkened in our understanding by our vain lusts. Let us therefore practice
righteousness that we may be saved unto the end. Blessed are they that obey
these ordinances. Though they may endure affliction for a short time in the
world, they will gather the immortal fruit of the resurrection. Therefore let
not the godly be grieved, if he be miserable in the times that now are: a
blessed time awaiteth him. He shall live again in heaven with our fathers, and
shall have rejoicing throughout a sorrowless eternity.
Chapter 20
Neither suffer ye this again to trouble your mind, that we see
the unrighteous possessing wealth, and the servants of God straitened. Let us
then have faith, brothers and sisters. We are trained by the present life, that
we may be crowned with the future. No righteous man hath reaped fruit quickly
but waiteth for it. For if God had paid the recompense of the righteous
speedily, then straightway we should have been training ourselves in
merchandise, and not in godliness; for we should seem to be righteous, though we
were pursuing not that which is godly, but which is gainful. And for this cause
Divine judgment overtaketh a spirit that is not just, and loadeth it with
chains. To the only God invisible, the Father of truth, who sent forth unto us
the Savior and Prince of immortality, through whom also He made manifest unto us
the truth and the heavenly life, to Him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
|
