cultivate peace, and not with those whose peaceful intentions
CLEMENT OF ROME
and I did not find it. Cherish guilelessness and aim at sincerity, for posterity belongs to the peaceable man.
15. Therefore let us associate with those who piously cultivate peace, and not with those whose peaceful intentions are but a mask. 2 For somewhere it is said: °° This people honors me with its lips; but its heart is far away from me.
3 And again: With their lips they blessed, but with their hearts they cursed. 4 And again it is said: ** They loved Him with their lips, and with their tongue they lied to Him; but their heart was not sincere with Him, nor did they prove faithful to His covenant. 5 Therefore struck dumb shall be the treacherous lips that speak evil against the good man.
And again: May the Lord destroy all the deceitful lips, the boastful tongue, the men that say: " Great glory will we win by our tongue, our lips are our own: who is lord over us?"
6 Because of the wretchedness of the needy and the sighs of the poor, I will now rise, says the Lord; I will bring relief,
7 and boldly will I act in bringing it.
16. For it is to the humble-minded that Christ belongs, not to those who exalt themselves above His flock. 2 The Sceptre of the Divine Majesty, the Lord Jesus Christ, did not, for all His power, come clothed in boastful pomp and overweening pride, but in a humble frame of mind, as the Holy
Spirit has told concerning Him; for He says: ** 3 Lord, who has believed our teaching? And the arm of the Lord—to whom has it been revealed? Looking at Him, we announced, as it were, a child, a root, as it were, in thirsty ground; there is no shape, no comeliness in Him; yes, we saw Him, and neither shape nor beauty did He have; but His shape was dishonorable and shrunken beside the shape of men; a man covered with wounds and the marks of hardship; one acquainted with infirmity; because His face is turned away, He