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An ancient Homily, commonly styled the second epistle of Clement
Chap. xii.--we are constantly to look for the kingdom of god.
Let us expect, therefore, hour by hour, the kingdom of God in love and righteousness, since we know not the day of the appearing of God. For the Lord Himself, being asked by one when His kingdom would come, replied, "When two shall be one, and that which is without as that which is within, and the male with the female, neither male nor female." 1 Now, two are one when we speak the truth one to another, and there is unfeignedly one soul in two bodies. And "that which is without as that which is within" meaneth this: He calls the soul "that which is within," and the body "that which is without." As, then, thy body is visible to sight, so also let thy soul be manifest by good works. And "the male with the female, neither male nor female," this 2 ...
[The newly recovered portion follows: ] 3 --
... meaneth, 4 that a brother seeing a sister should think nothing 5 about her as of a female, nor she 6 think anything about him as of a male. If ye do these things, saith He, 7 the kingdom of my Father shall come.
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These words are quoted (Clem. Alex., Strom., iii. 9, 13) from the Gospel according to the Egyptians, no longer extant. ↩
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Thus ends the ms., but what followed will be found in Clem. Alex. as just cited. ↩
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For details respecting the version here given, see Introductory Notice, [311]pp. 514, 515. ↩
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Or, more correctly, both here and above, "by this He meaneth." ↩
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All editors read oude
n phrone, but C has phronei which is ungrammatical. In this clause, after hina we would expect meden; but as Lightfoot suggests, ouden may be combined as a substantive idea with theluko'n; comp. the use of ou with participles. ↩ -
For mede' (so C) Gebhardt would substitute med' hede, while S supplies in full, quum soror videbit fratrem, an obvious interpretament. ↩
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This seems to be an explanation of the saying above referred to, and not a citation; similar cases occur in the homily. ↩
Translation
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The Second Epistle of Clement
Chapter XII.--We are Constantly to Look for the Kingdom of God.
Let us expect, therefore, hour by hour, the kingdom of God in love and righteousness, since we know not the day of the appearing of God. For the Lord Himself, being asked by one when His kingdom would come, replied, "When two shall be one, that which is without as that which is within, and the male with the female, neither male nor female." 1 Now, two are one when we speak the truth one to another, and there is unfeignedly one soul in two bodies. And "that which is without as" that which is within meaneth this: He calls the soul "that which is within," and the body "that which is without." As, then, thy body is visible to sight, so also let thy soul be manifest by good works. And "the male, with the female, neither male nor female," this 2 He saith, that brother seeing sister may have no thought concerning her as female, and that she may have no thought concerning him as male. "If ye do these things," saith He, "the kingdom of my Father shall come." 3