Chapter XXXV.—Immense is This Reward.  How Shall We Obtain It?

How blessed and wonderful, beloved, are the gifts of God!  Life in immortality, splendour in righteousness, truth in perfect confidence,180    Some translate, “in liberty.” faith in assurance, self-control in holiness!  And all these fall under the cognizance of our understandings [now]; what then shall those things be which are prepared for such as wait for Him?  The Creator and Father of all worlds,181    Or, “of the ages.” the Most Holy,182    I. ὁ δημιοῦργος τῶν αἰώνων καὶ ποτὴρ πανάγιος (the Creator Eternal and Father All-Holy.) alone knows their amount and their beauty.  Let us therefore earnestly strive to be found in the number of those that wait for Him, in order that we may share in His promised gifts.  But how, beloved, shall this be done?  If our understanding be fixed by faith towards God; if we earnestly seek the things183    I. τὰ ἀγαθά (good things) added. which are pleasing and acceptable to Him; if we do the things which are in harmony with His blameless will; and if we follow the way of truth, casting away from us all unrighteousness and iniquity,184    I. πονηρίαν (wickedness). along with all covetousness,185    I. omits πλεονεξία (covetousness). strife, evil practices, deceit, whispering, and evil-speaking, all hatred of God, pride and haughtiness, vain glory and ambition.186    The reading is doubtful:  some have ἀφιλοξενίαν, “want of a hospitable spirit.”  For they that do such things are hateful to God; and not only they that do them, but also those that take pleasure in them that do them.187    Rom. i. 32.  For the Scripture saith, “But to the sinner God said, Wherefore dost thou declare my statutes, and take my covenant into thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee?  When thou sawest a thief, thou consentedst with188    Literally, “didst run with.” him, and didst make thy portion with adulterers.  Thy mouth has abounded with wickedness, and thy tongue contrived189    Literally, “did weave.” deceit.  Thou sittest, and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest190    Or, “layest a snare for.” thine own mother’s son.  These things thou hast done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest, wicked one, that I should be like to thyself.  But I will reprove thee, and set thyself before thee.  Consider now these things, ye that forget God, lest He tear you in pieces, like a lion, and there be none to deliver.191    I. omit “σὺ δὲ ἐμίσησας...ὁ ῥυόμενος Ps. l. 17–22, and connects by ἐν τῶ τέλει (in the end).  The sacrifice of praise will glorify me, and a way is there by which I will show him the salvation of God.”192    Ps. l. 16–23.  The render will observe how the Septuagint followed by Clement differs from the Hebrew.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΛΕ’. Ὡς μακάρια καὶ θαυμαστὰ τὰ δῶρα τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀγαπητοί. Ζωὴ ἐν ἀθανασίᾳ, λαμπρότης ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, ἀλήθεια ἐν παρρησίᾳ, πίστις ἐν πεποιθήσει, ἐγκράτεια ἐν ἁγιασμῷ· καὶ ταῦτα ὑπέπιπτεν πάντα ὑπὸ τὴν διάνοιαν ἡμῶν. Τίνα οὖν ἄρα ἐστὶν τὰ ἑτοιμαζόμενα τοῖς ὑπομένουσιν; Ὁ δημιουργὸς καὶ πατὴρ τῶν αἰώνων ὁ πανάγιος αὐτὸς γινώσκει τὴν ποσότητα καὶ τὴν καλλονὴν αὐτῶν. Ἡμεῖς οὖν ἀγωνισώμεθα εὑρεθῆναι ἐν τῷ ἀριθμῷ τῶν ὑπομενόντων, ὅπως μεταλάβωμεν τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων δωρεῶν. Πῶς δὲ ἔσται τοῦτο, ἀγαπητοί; Ἐὰν ἐστηριγμένη ᾖ ἡ διάνοια ἡμῶν πιστῶς πρὸς τὸν θεόν, ἐὰν ἐκζητῶμεν τὰ εὐάρεστα καὶ εὐπρόσδεκτα αὐτῷ, ἐὰν ἐπιτελέσωμεν τὰ ἀνήκοντα τῇ ἀμώμῳ βουλήσει αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀκολουθήσωμεν τῇ ὁδῷ τῆς ἀληθείας, ἀπορρίψαντες ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν πᾶσαν ἀδικίαν καὶ πονηρίαν, πλεονεξίαν, ἔρεις, κακοηθείας τε καὶ δόλους, ψιθυρισμούς τε καὶ καταλαλιάς, θεοστυγίαν, ὑπερηφανίαν τε καὶ ἀλαζονείαν, κενοδοξίαν τε καὶ ἀφιλοξενίαν. Ταῦτα γὰρ οἱ πράσσοντες στυγητοὶ τῷ θεῷ ὑπάρχουσιν, «οὐ μόνον δὲ οἱ πράσσοντες αὐτά, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ συνευδοκοῦντες αὐτοῖς». Λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφή· «Τῷ δὲ ἁμαρτωλῷ εἶπεν ὁ θεός· Ἱνατί σὺ διηγῇ τὰ δικαιώματά μου καὶ ἀναλαμβάνεις τὴν διαθήκην μου ἐπὶ στόματός σου; Σὺ δὲ ἐμίσησας παιδείαν καὶ ἐξέβαλες τοὺς λόγους μου εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω. Eἰ ἐθεώρεις κλέπτην, συνέτρεχες αὐτῷ, καὶ μετὰ μοιχῶν τὴν μερίδα σου ἐτίθεις. Τὸ στόμα σου ἐπλεόνασεν κακίαν, καὶ ἡ γλῶσσά σου περιέπλεκεν δολιότητα. Καθήμενος κατὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου κατελάλεις, καὶ κατὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς μητρός σου ἐτίθεις σκάνδαλον. Ταῦτα ἐποίησας, καὶ ἐσίγησα· ὑπέλαβες, ἄνομε, ὅτι ἔσομαί σοι ὅμοιος. Ἐλέγξω σε καὶ παραστήσω σε κατὰ πρόσωπόν σου. Σύνετε δὴ ταῦτα, οἱ ἐπιλανθανόμενοι τοῦ θεοῦ, μήποτε ἁρπάσῃ ὡς λέων καὶ μὴ ᾖ ὁ ῥυόμενος. Θυσία αἰνέσεως δοξάσει με, καὶ ἐκεῖ ὁδός, ἣν δείξω αὐτῷ τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ.»