Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 7

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I.
(Deception, cap. ix. [130]p. 538.)

More and more, the casuistry exposed by Pascal in the Provincial
Letters [3701] becomes an important subject for the investigation of
Americans. Nobody who has any pretensions to scholarship can afford to
be ignorant of these letters; for they belong to literature, and not
merely to theology. But they belong in a sense to the past; not that
"the Society of Jesus" has ceased to maintain all that Pascal has
exposed, and to practice even worse, but that the Latin churches have,
since the days of Pascal, been formally subjected to a system of
casuistry, in some respects superficially reformed, but in all other
respects radically bad, and corrosive to society. In Pascal's day this
casuistry could only be charged upon individuals, and upon societies
and communities: the Roman Church everywhere adopted it, but was not
formally committed to it. But in the system of Liguori this corrupt
morality has been made authoritative and dogmatic; so that in all the
Latin churches it becomes the base of the confessional. For moral
purposes, it is the Bible of the millions who resort to their
confessors and "directors." These remarks, however, are here introduced
merely with reference to the morals of Clement with regard to truth.
[3702]

I have briefly indicated, in the footnotes, the points which are to be
noted in forming an opinion of our author's conceptions of this vital
principle. They seem to me conformed to the Gospel; to the teachings of
Him who allows no hair-splittings, but says, "Let your yea be yea, and
your nay, nay." But, as the text stood in the Edinburgh translation, it
did injustice to Clement in one passage, which I have modified. It
reads, "He (the Gnostic) both thinks and speaks the truth, unless, at
any time, medicinally, as a physician for the safety of the sick, he
may lie, or tell an untruth." To this, Clement adds significantly,
"according to the Sophists." That is to say, our author tolerates the
Christian who has not got beyond the Sophists with respect to
benevolent deceptions. As killing is not always murder, so some, even
among stern moralists, have maintained that deception by word of mouth
is not always lying. This is the extent to which Clement tolerates
sophistry, and he goes on to demand the practice of truth in Gospel
terms. Now, thank God, the English word "lie" is always infamous; and
there is nothing like it, in this respect, in other languages. The
Sophists themselves did not so understand the Greek word (pseudos),
when they apply it to the benevolent deception of a physician, or to
the untruths used benevolently with the insane. Nothing infamous
attaches to the French word mensonge when used for what are deemed
"innocent deceptions." With this whole system of sophistry I have no
patience at all; but, in justice to the Sophists, let us not make them
worse than they were. They did not understand that such deceptions were
lies. Hence, for "lie," I have used the word deceive, correcting a
needless rendering of the text, and one to which Clement should not be
made to extend even a contemptuous toleration.

In this respect, the holy Jeremy Taylor and Dr. Johnson go further than
Clement, and seem to allow that benevolent deceptions may be innocent.
Sanderson sustains a sterner morality, and is more generally accepted.
Liguori's system is verbally as strong as the Gospel itself: lying is a
mortal sin, and never justifiable. But, when he comes to the definition
of a lie, it is made so feeble, that the worst liar that ever lived
need never resort to it. He may practice all manner of subterfuge, and
even perjury, without telling a lie. As, e.g., if he points up his
sleeve, while he swears that he did not see the criminal there, he
tells no lie: it is the business of the judge and jury to watch his
fingers, etc.

II.
(True Gnostic, cap. x. p. 540, note 1.)

This unfortunate word Gnostic hides the force of Clement's teaching,
throughout this work. Here he virtually expounds it, and we see that it
refers even more to the heart than to the head. It carries with it the
conduct of life by knowledge; i.e., by "the true Light which lighteneth
every man that cometh into the world." (See [131]p. 607, footnote.)

III.
(The Scriptures, cap. xvi. [132]p. 550, note 3.)

The Primitive Fathers never dream of anything as dogma which cannot be
proved by the Scriptures, save only that the apostolic traditions,
clearly proved to be such, must be referred to in proving what is Holy
Scripture. It is not possible to graft on this principle the slightest
argument for any tradition not indisputably apostolic, so far as the de
fide is concerned. Quod semper is the touchstone, in their conceptions,
of all orthodoxy. No matter who may teach this or that, now or in any
post-apostolic age, their test is Holy Scripture, and the inquiry, Was
it always so taught and understood?
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[3701] A good translation of the letters was published in New York, in 1864, by Hurd & Houghton.
[3702] For a good article on St. Alphonsus de'Liguori, see the Encyc. Britannica.

The Pastor of Hermas - Introductions

The Pastor of Hermas: Book 1

The Pastor of Hermas: Book 2

The Pastor of Hermas: Book 3

Tatian the Assyrian's Address to the Greeks

Fragments - Tatian the Assyrian

Theophilus of Antioch - Introduction

Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus: Book 1

Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus: Book 2

Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus: Book 3

Athenagoras

A Plea for Christians by Athenagoras the Athenian: Philosopher and Christian

The Treatise of Athenagoras the Athenian, Philosopher and Christian, on the Resurrection of the Dead

Clement of Alexandria - Introductory Note

Exhortation to the Heathen

The Instructor (Paedagogus) - Book 1

The Instructor (Paedagogus) - Book 2

The Instructor (Paedagogus) - Book 3

Elucidations - Clement of Alexandria

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 1

Elucidations - Purpose of the Stromata

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 2

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 2

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 3

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 4

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 4

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 5

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 5

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 6

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 6

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 7

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 7

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 8

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 8

Fragments of Clemens Alexandrinus

Clemens Alexandrinus on the Salvation of the Rich Man

Elucidations - Clemens Alexandrinus on the Salvation of the Rich Man