and there is no setting forth its perfection. 2 Who is able to
40°
CLEMENT OF RoME
Lord gave His Blood for us by the will of God, His body for our bodies, and His soul for our souls.
50. You see, beloved, how great and wonderful love is, and there is no setting forth its perfection.
2 Who is able to possess it, except those to whom God grants this privilege?
Let us, therefore, earnestly beg of His mercy, that we may be found to possess a love unmixed with human partiality and above reproach. 3 All the generations from Adam down to this day have passed away; but those who are perfected in love in the measure of God's grace, have a place among the saints, and they will be made manifest when the Kingdom of Christ comes to visit us. 4 For the Scripture says: "° Enter the chambers for a little while, until my anger and fury pass away; then will I remember the good day, and will raise you from your graves. 5 Happy are we, beloved, if we observe the commandments of the Lord in the concord of love; for thus our sins will be forgiven us through love. 6 For the Scripture says: °° Happy those whose iniquities have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered up; happy the man to whom the Lord will not impute his sin, and on whose lips there is no guile. 7 This blessing was pronounced on those chosen by God through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be the glory forever and evermore. Amen.
51. Let us, then, ask pardon for our waywardness and for what we have done yielding to any wiles of the adversary; but those, too, who were the ringleaders in this quarrel and sedition, ought, for their part, to ponder on the common nature of our hope. 2 Surely, those who live in fear and love prefer that they themselves should suffer indignities rather than their neighbors; they prefer to have reproach cast on themselves rather than on that traditional concord so well and