Chapter 9 - Truth
CHAPTER 9
TRUTH THERE are two main tendencies in Clement's account of truth. The first is to call the essential elements of Christianity true and everything else false. This is the way
Clement speaks when he is talking about heresy. The second tendency is to include within truth not only all valid Christian teaching, but also everything that is consistent with it. This is the way Clement speaks when he is talking about philosophy.
I.TRUTH AND HERESY
Section 1. There is such a thing as Christian truth which is distinct from heresy and which can be known in the essential beliefs of a confession, through the canon of the Church and through logical examination.
At the end of Book vii 1 Clement turns to the problem of truth and how it is distinguished from heresy. Both Greeks and Jews object that the presence of so many sects (each claiming to be Christian and each disagreeing with the others) invalidates the claim of Christianity to the possession of truth. Clement points to the many sects among the Greeks and Jews and asks why the objectors never applied this criticism to their own profession. 2 Besides, our Lord foretold that tares would grow among the wheat and a beautiful thing is always followed by a caricature of itself. The unfaithfulness of others gives no reason for us to transgress the rule of the Church 3 in any respect. We keep the confession of the most important articles 4 while the heretics do not. Those who hold on firmly to the truth are to be believed.
It is not easy to find the truth and the heretics try to take a short ____________________ 1Chs. 15-18, beginning Strom. VII, 89; III, 63, 19.
2Again later he asks why they go to a doctor when there are so many different schools of medicine.
cut. They do not really learn or receive knowledge, but receive only a false notion 1 of it. Their failure is all the more reason why we should try harder. We should search more carefully for the real truth which alone concerns the real God. If real fruit and wax imitations are put before us, we should decide which is which by apprehending vision 2 and authoritative reasoning 3 and not refuse to touch either.
If there were one safe royal road and lots of dangerous by-roads we should not refuse to travel but should choose the royal road. The gardener does not stop gardening because weeds spring up among the plants. We have no excuse if we do not find the sequence of truth and give our assent 4 to the things we should believe, if we do not distinguish what is contradictory, unseemly, contrary to nature and false, from what is true, consistent, seemly and according to nature. 5 These qualities are aids to the discovery of real truth. If the Greeks admit that there can be any kind of demonstration, then from the Scriptures they may learn that only in the truth and in the original church are the most accurate knowledge and the really best school of thought. 6 Some people think that they have found the truth but have not a true demonstration. They steal fragments of the truth and bury them in their man-made systems of thought.
Section 2. Truth is derived from Scripture in such a way as not to be dependent on it, and is found by patient logical examination of the text.
On the other hand, 7 those who are ready to work for the most excellent things will not stop searching for truth until they receive the demonstration from the Scriptures themselves. They will not be satisfied with common tests of truth like the evidence of the senses but will use logical criteria. It is most important to put away selfconceit, to be prepared to work hard, and after receiving the Gospel not to turn away from the true Father and Teacher of the Truth. Truth comes from Scripture in a mysterious way. The Scriptures of the Lord bring forth truth and yet (like Mary) remain virgin, the mysteries of the truth being hidden
____________________ 1οἴνωισ
ϑεωισ 5Strom. VII, 91; III, 65, 8.
6Strom. VII, 92; III, 65, 20.
7Ch. 16. Strom. VII, 93; III, 66, 1.
within them. 'She has given birth and not given birth', says the Scripture, as of one who has conceived from herself and not from coition. 1 For the gnostics the Scriptures are pregnant with truth; for the heretics who have not really learned from them they are barren. The pursuit of truth is a great enterprise and correspondingly great is the failure of those who have not received the canon of truth from the truth itself.
Section 3. Scripture derives its authority from the Lord who speaks through it and is the first principle of truth.
The first principle of instruction is the Lord himself who leads from the beginning to the end of knowledge through prophets, Gospels, and apostles. As first principle he stands in no need of further proof. We receive him by faith without proof and get our proofs from him. We cannot accept men's opinions in this way; but the voice of the Lord is more reliable than all demonstrations. In this way we get a perfect demonstration from the Scriptures. But the heretics do not find the truth, because they do not use. the whole of the Scriptures and do not examine the context of any statement. They pick out scattered, ambiguous phrases and twist them to mean what they want them to mean. Truth is not found in this kind of verbal juggling. The heretics do not learn the mysteries of the Church's knowledge 2 and they are not big enough to receive the greatness of truth. They are too lazy to get down to the bottom of things; so, after a superficial reading, they set the Scriptures aside.
Section 4. Heretics start from other first principles, cannot see clearly, desert their
Lord, miss the truth, and are unclean animals.
The heretics do not start from first principles which are necessarily true, 3 but from the opinions of men. Nevertheless they go to a lot of trouble to make their conclusions follow from flimsy premisses and through fear and vanity argue interminably ____________________ 1Strom. is a citation from the apocryphal Ezekiel and appears to have achieved proverbial use. It occurs in Tertullian, De Carne Christi,23,
Epiphanius, Haer. XXX, 30, Actus Petri cure Simone, 24, Gregory of Nyssa, Adv. Jud.3. Some account of this extract and of the work from which it comes is given by M. R. James in JTS, vol. XLV, p. 236, and by Karl Holl, Gesammelte Aufsätze, vol. II, p. 33.
2Strom. VII, 97; III, 69, 8.
3Strom. VII, 98; III, 69, 14.
against the true pnilosophy. On the other hand, the Christian knowledge of the truth provides a sound basis for valid proofs. But as a troubled eye cannot see, so the troubled soul cannot see the truth. (Eels cannot see and are easily caught in water that has been stirred up.) Christians are bound to the Lord who is their first principle by the bonds of loyalty.
It is as wrong to turn from him as it is for a soldier to desert his post. If a Christian feels inclined to heresy he should go to someone who can explain things to him and can show him how the Scriptures fit together. We tend to accept popular beliefs even if they are contradictory rather than to accept the truth which is austere and solemn. The follower of the Lord becomes divine like him, so that deviation means a great falling off.
The heretics 1 have entered into the Church by a side door which they cut secretly, not through the main door which is the tradition of Christ and which is prior to all heresy. The ancient Church is one as God is one and the heretics are doing an evil thing in trying to split it up. Clement ends with a note concerning unclean and clean animals. 2 To have the stability of two-fold faith in Father and Son is to part the hoof. To meditate on God's words night and day is to chew one's cud. Those who do both are clean animals. The Jews chew their cud (i.e. meditate), but have not the double faith and the sureness of foot that it gives. The heretics claim to stand on faith in Father and Son (i.e. part the hoof), but do not examine God's words. Finally there are those who do neither and these are beyond all classification. They are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Here ends Clement's most prolonged discussion of truth. The main characteristics of this truth will be separately considered and evidence will be drawn from other parts of his work as well as from the above passage.
____________________ 1Ch. 17, which begins Strom. VII, 106; III, 74, 29.
2Ch. 18, which begins Strom. VII, 109; III, 76, 31.
II. PROPERTIES OF TRUTH
(1) One and only Clement divides truth from error very sharply. It is distinguished from opinion 1 and from images. 2 The truth itself is distinct from partial truths or names, as things about God are distinct from God. 3 'Guessing at truth is one thing and truth is another. Likeness is one thing and the real thing another. The one is the result of learning and practice and the other the result of power and faith.' 4 To turn from truth to heresy is a tragic thing. There is only one truth as there is only one Church.
Variety, falsehood, and deceit go together and contrast with the simplicity and uniqueness of truth. 5 Truth is to error as wheat is to tares, as real fruit is to wax imitation, as the king's highway to dangerous by-roads, as plants to weeds.
(2) Very powerful There is nothing greater than this truth. 6 It is strong to deliver. 'Let us bring truth down from heaven above . . . and let her, making her light shine to the farthest point, send out light all around to those who are tossed about in darkness. Let her deliver men from deception, holding out her strong right hand.' 7 Truth cannot be overthrown. People who are afraid that philosophy will destroy their faith are like children who are frightened of hobgoblins. If persuasive argument can dissolve their faith, they cannot believe in the truth, 'for truth is unconquerable but false opinion dissolves?'. 8 Clement's faith in the power of truth made him ready to examine all sorts of teaching without fear of being led into error. The Excerpta ex Theodoto provide evidence of 'the audacious optimism of Clement, his confidence in the power and authority of truth'. 9 People who have received the truth are more stable and sure in themselves. 'Faith then and the ____________________ 1Strom. VII, 65; III, 46, 31. See also above.
2Paed. II, 126; 1, 232, 22.
3Strom. VII, 94; III, 67, 4. Strom. VI, 150; II, 509, 22.
4Strom. I, 38; II, 25, 13.
5Paed. III, 53; I, 267, 5.
6Strom. VII, 105; III, 74, 13.
7Prot. 2; I, 4, 8.
8Strom. VI, 81; II, 472, 5.
9Mondésert, Climent d'Alexandrie, p. 257.
knowledge of the truth make the soul which chooses them always constant in form and manner of life. Shifting, turning aside and revolt are natural to the man of falsehood as stillness, rest and peace are to the gnostic.' 1 The animals who part the hoof have a firm footing. Truth is as necessary for life as bread is. 2 It is eternal, 3 austere and solemn.
(3) Divine Origin The greatness of truth is due to its divine origin or even its divine identity. Our Lord said, 'I am the Truth.' He is the indemonstrable first principle whose authority gives us a firm basis for our demonstrations. He speaks through the prophets, Gospels, and apostles. Truth is derived from the Scriptures which are of God and of the Lord.
4 The Greeks claim to have the truth but admit that they have only received it from men. But no man can speak worthily the truth about God, as the weak and perishing cannot speak about the unborn and immortal, nor the work about its maker. . . . For human speech is essentially weak and unable to declare God. . . . The only wisdom then is that taught by God and this wisdom is ours. On it depend all the sources of wisdom which aim at the truth. 5
Our adherence to the truth is loyalty to our Lord and to abandon the truth is a disloyalty similar to that of the soldier who deserts his post. Part of the work of the Logos was to simplify the truth. 6 The Law was given through Moses, but eternal grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The law, says Clement, was only 'given' and 'temporary', but truth, being 'grace' of the Father, is the eternal work of the Logos. Truth is not said to have been given, but to have come through Jesus, apart from whom nothing came into being. 7
(4) Tradition Clement connects truth very closely with 'the teaching', 'the canon of the Church the confession' and 'the tradition'. The ____________________ 1Strom. II, 52; II, 141, 10.
2Strom. I, 100; II, 64, 3.
3Paed. I, 20; I, 102, 7.
θϑ αι Prot.77; 1, 59, 10 and elsewhere. κυπιακαí, Strom. VI, 91; II, 477, 34 and elsewhere.
5Strom. VI, 91; II, 517, 13.
6Prot.116; 1, 81, 33.
7Paed. I, 60; 1, 125, 21.
teaching of which he speaks is derived from the Lord as first principle. 1 It is one, apostolic, 2 of the Lord, 3 divine, 4 and kingly. 5 Clement regards the canon of the Church as important for the recognition of truth. Eusebius and others mention a work by Clement called The Canon of the Church, or Against the Judaisers. 6 Of this work one fragment has survived, an interesting piece of exegesis which is not relevant to the first part of the title. 7 The existence of the work confirms what has been already seen, that Clement used a norm of Church conduct and belief as a standard by which to judge those who were considered to be less orthodox. The Churcfi found itself compelled to set up such standards in order to preserve its identity and maintain its position. 8 Irenaeus and Clement are the first to maintain the importance of a 'canon'. Clement uses the word in each of the phrases which were of importance for the Church of the second and third centuries. He speaks of the 'canon of truth' as the essential truth proclaimed by the Church, 9 of the 'canon of faith' or 'regula fidei', 10 and of the 'canon of the Church' which is both the rule of faith and the rule of Church practice. 11 The canon of the Church maintains against heretics the unity of the Law, the Prophets, and the New Covenant. 12 There are a catechesis and a gnosis 13 according to the rule of the Church. We should not break this rule because other people break their agreements. 14 We should not steal from it as the heretics do, 15 taking parts of it and calling them our own.
The 'confession of the important things' 16 refers to the baptismal creed, a statement of essential Christian beliefs. 'Tradition' is important as providing a ground of unity in the presentation of the truth. Clement has a keen sense of the importance of the one ____________________ 1Strom. VII, 95; III, 67, 16.
10Strom. IV, 98; II, 292, 2.
11Strom. VII, 105; III, 74, 22; Strom. I, 96; II, 61, 30; Strom. VI, 125; II, 495, 7.
12Strom. VI, 125; II, 495, 5.
13Strom. VI, 165; II, 517, 3.
14Strom. VII, 90; III, 64, 1.
15Strom. VII, 105; III, 74, 22.
16Strom. VII, 90; III, 64, 6.
2Strom. VII, 108; III, 76, 22.
3Paed. II, 61; 1, 194, 9; Strom. VI, 89; II, 467, 16; Strom. VII, 57; III, 42, 5; Strom. VII, 90; III, 64, 17.
4Prot.87; I, 65, 2.
5Strom. I, 80; II, 52, 21.
6Frag.36; III, 218, 23.
7Discussed by Mondésert, RSR, 1949, p. 580.
Kittel, TWB.
9Strom. VII, 94; III, 67, 5; Strom. IV, 3; II, 249, II; Strom. VI, 124; II, 494, 29.
Church as a preserver of this unity. There is something esoteric about this truth. It is unwritten. it is given to us 1 but not to all. 2 It is the wisdom spoken in a mystery.
The hidden traditions of the truth are interpreted in a sublime and lofty manner. 3
The uninitiated cannot readily discover them. 4 There are preparatory exercises for the reception of the exact tradition of truth. 5 The gnostic tradition is the fullness of Christ, the revelation of the mystery concealed in all ages, and the spiritual gift which St Paul longed to impart to the Romans. 6 This tradition is one, of the apostles, 7 and of the Lord. 8
Truth was in this way linked to a living tradition, delivered by our Lord and the apostles, preserved in the unity of the Church, this unity which is not only a unity of social life but a unity of faith, unity of instruction and unity of truth, as also a unity of the means of salvation. Church and Tradition for him are blended into one unique, living, present reality.' 9
The foregoing description of truth presents it as something which is one, powerful, divine, and part of a living tradition. It can be concisely and simply expressed, though the way to it may be exacting. Deviations from truth can be readily established and there lies a great gulf fixed between truth and heresy. If those outside the Church have any truth it is because they have stolen it. Truth is lofty and exclusive. It is chosen by 'apprehending vision' and 'authoritative reasoning' and its first principle is received by faith. Clement does not give us an account of what he considers to be the essential elements of Christian truth. 10 But he senses the need which Origen speaks of in his preface to the De Principiis.
Many of those, however, who profess to believe in Christ, hold conflicting opinions not only on small and trivial questions but also on some that are great and important; on the nature, for instance, of ____________________ 1Strom. VI, 131; II, 498, 15.
ἀ ν was not to be a separate work but a part of the Stromateis, and concerned with the way philosophers had talked about ἀπχαí. See Stälin translation, BKV, vol. I, p. 40.
2Strom. I, 55; II, 35, 15.
3Strom. I, 56; II, 35, 31.
4Strom. VII, 110; III, 78, 22.
5Strom. VI, 82; II, 473, 6.
6Strom. V, 64; II, 369, 15. Rom. i. 11, xv. 29, xvi. 25.
7Strom. VII, 108; III, 76, 22.
8Strom. VII, 104; III, 73, 20.
9Mondésert, Clément d'Aexandrie, p. 117.
God or of the Lord Jesus Christ or of the Holy Spirit, and in addition on the natures of those created beings, the dominions and the holy powers. In view of this it seems necessary first to lay down a definite line and unmistakable rule in regard to each of these and to postpone the inquiry into other matters until afterwards. 1
Yet Clement does not deny the need for reasoning when dealing with ultimate truth.
The Christian uses logical techniques to find the truth in Scripture. He connects the different elements of the truth with the first principle by means of demonstration, and the tests for truth are tests of consistency.
III. TRUTH AND PHILOSOPHY
Elsewhere Clement speaks more widely of truth and regards it as embracing rather than excluding human opinions. This second view of truth is connected with a second attitude which Clement held towards those outside the Christian Church. He was concerned in the first place to vindicate the Church as having the. divine truth and to condemn the heretics as having departed from this truth. He was also concerned to show to the pagan world on the one hand that Christianity was not a narrow isolated religion, which ignored culture and philosophy, and to show to Christians on the other hand that they had nothing to lose and much to gain by appropriating culture and philosophy. He maintained that Christianity included all that was good in non-Christian thought. When he speaks of the heretics, the truth is an exclusive, unique and transcendent thing. When he speaks of philosophy, the truth is an inclusive, all-embracing thing. 'The way of truth is one but into it as into an everflowing river flow rivulets from every side.' 2 We find this view of truth particularly in Book I of the Stromateis where Clement describes and justifies his use of philosophy.
(1) Philosophy. Clement's attitude to philosophy 3 was impor____________________ 1Origen, De Principiis, Preface. Butterworth translation.
2Strom. I, 29; II, 18, 8.
3De Faye work, Clément d'Alexandrie, shows the extent of Clement's contribution to this subject. He tends to exaggerate the importance of the question for the Stromateis. Einar Molland paper, "Clement of Alexandria on the Origins of Greek Philosophy", covers the subject well. ( Symbolae Osloenses,
1936.)
tant, because here he departed from previous Christian tradition. Religion and philosophy had gone together at various periods in the history of the Greeks, but Christians, except for Justin and Athenagoras, had little to do with philosophy. Even these two had practically nothing to contribute to the rapprochement of Christianity with classical philosophy. The attitude of most Christians was one of suspicion and antagonism. Tertullian's denunciation was violent and Hippolytus classed philosophy with the heresies. Pagan philosophers, of whom Celsus was an example, were equally hostile to Christianity.
Clement defines the philosophy which he finds acceptable. Philosophy is 'an investigation concerning truth and the nature of things and this is the truth of which the Lord himself said, "I am the Truth"'. 1 'And philosophy -- I do not speak of the Stoic or Platonic or Aristotelian philosophy, but whatever has been well said by each of these sects, which teaches righteousness with reverent understanding -- this eclectic whole I call philosophy.' 2 Philosophy must teach a Creator God, the mutability of physical elements, the good as assimilation to God, and the dispensation of the Gospel as the chief part of all training. 3 Philosophy is from God but was stolen from him like the fire of Prometheus. 4 It is inferior to truth 5 but it is not worthless. 6 It is necessary because we would have to use it to show that it was unnecessary. It is desirable because a money changer must know what false coins are like if he would distinguish the true.
The problem for Clement lay in the fact that while philosophy was not truth, it was not merely error. A similar problem faced Plato when he was dealing with art. Art, says Plato, is not truth, 7 but it is not error. 8 It is like philosophy for Clement, some kind of intermediate thing. Both Clement and Plato use the same argument.
Philosophy or art is a preparatory education for truth. 9 Clement compares philosophy to the Law of Moses, which St Paul had described as a schoolmaster to the Jews to prepare ____________________ 1Strom. I, 32; II, 21, 17.
2Strom. I, 37; II, 24, 30.
3Strom. I, 52; II, 34, 9.
4Strom. I, 87; II, 55, 31.
5Strom, I, 98; II, 63, 2.
6Strom. I, 15; II, 11, 22.
7Rep. x.
8Symposium, 211. Phaedrus, 245.
9Strom. I, 28; II, 17, 33. Plato, Rep. III.
them for the truth. 1 Philosophy was a schoolmaster to the Greeks in the same way.
2 The same idea is conveyed by other similes. Philosophy is the irrigation of the land
3 in preparation for the truth, a stepping stone to the truth. 4 Another justification of philosophy complicates the explanation. The Law and philosophy not only fulfilled the same function but were identical in content. The Greeks stole their ideas from the Hebrews and from one another. The subject of Greek plagiarism is discussed with masses of evidence throughout the Stromateis. Clement quotes Numenius: 'For what is Plato but Moses speaking Attic Greek?'. 5
Among the remaining descriptions of philosophy which Clement gives, the most important 6 has been analysed as follows:
The four alternatives which Clement puts forward form a climax. He begins with the possibility that the truth contained in philosophy is to be ascribed to an accident involved in God's providential economy. He continues with explanations attributing the element of truth in philosophy to the general revelation or even making the Greek philosophers prophets similar to those of the Old Testament. And he ends by indicating that philosophy owes its existence to a reflection of the eternal truth itself, and that the philosophers have belield God -- an imperfect, vague, unclear, yet true vision. 7
(2) Truth. We can now examine the different attitude to truth which Clement's treatment of philosophy necessitated.
The truth being one, for falsehood has countless by-roads, just as the Bacchantes tore apart the limbs of Pentheus, so the schools of philosophy, both barbarian and Greek, have done with truth and each claims that the part he has obtained is the whole truth. But all things, I consider, are illumined by the dawning light. It may therefore be shown that all, both Greeks and barbarians, who have sought after truth possess either no small amount or at least some part of the word of truth.
Eternity, indeed, unites in one moment present and future time besides the past as well. But truth is more capable than eternity of bringing together its own seeds though they have fallen on foreign ground. For we shall find that many of the opinions entertained by the schools which are not utterly absurd and are not cut off from natural connection, although they seem unlike one another, agree in their
____________________ 1Gal. iii. 24.
2Strom. I, 28; II, 18, 2.
3Strom. I, 17; II, 12, 26.
4Strom. VI, 67; II, 465, 21.
5Strom. I, 150; II, 93, 10.
6Strom. I, 94; II, 60, 12.
7Molland, op. cit. p. 71.
basis and with all the truth (as a whole). For as a limb, or as a part, or as a species, or as a genus, they come together into one; just as the lowest note is the opposite of the highest, but both are one harmony, and in numbers the even number differs from the odd but both have their place in arithmetic. This is the case also in form, where there are the circle, the triangle, the square, and whatever shapes differ from one another. Also in the whole cosmos, all the parts though they differ among themselves preserve their relation to the whole. Similarly, then, barbarian and Greek philosophy have torn off a piece of the eternal truth not from the mythology of Dionysus but from the theology of the Logos who eternally is. And he who brings together again the divided parts and makes them one, mark well, shall without danger of error look upon the perfect Logos, the truth. 1
This truth is a whole of many parts. The many parts when separated are not the whole truth but are pieces of truth. Their truth in this separated condition depends on what they were originally, and will be, one complex whole. The important thing about them is not that they 'seem unlike' but that they 'agree in their basis and with all the truth as a whole'. They have the same starting point and fit together in the same whole. The different metaphors used -- eternity, genus, species, part, harmony, number, figure, universe, body -- indicate the kind of thing which truth is.
Each example is something whose parts preserve their relation to the whole'.
Perhaps the most interesting thing is the conciliatory tone of the whole passage.
The truth is as before divine in origin, a consistent system, powerful and one. But each of these qualities is interpreted not (as before) to exclude error but to include it and to regard it as partial truth. The divine truth was contrasted with the human opinions of the heretics. Now the light of Christ shines on all. The heretics were too lazy to think consistently. Now consistency and coherence provide a means of reconciling conflicting views. The power of truth and the stability of those who follow it were contrasted with the weakness of human opinion and the insecurity of those who follow it. Now the power of truth enables it to collect the seeds which have fallen on foreign soil. The unity of truth, like the unity of the Church, was unique
____________________ 1Strom. I, 57; II, 36, 8.
and separate from all else. Now the unity of truth enables it to make all things one.
Clement speaks of the truth of philosophy as partial. Truth, he says, is commonly ascribed to all things whether perceived by intellect or sense-perceived. There is true painting in contrast to vulgar, dignified music in contrast to chaotic, true philosophy in contrast to other philosophy, and a true beauty in contrast to art artificial one. But one should be concerned with the truth itself, not just with true things or partial truths. There is a difference between seeking God and seeking things about God as there is between substance and accidents. Christians have the substance of truth. 1 Others have its accidents. Another description of the truth of Greek philosophy as partial says that it is revealed by the real truth in the same way as the sun shines on colours and shows what they are. 2
The inclusive reconciling idea of truth never suggests that there is an equality between philosophy and the real truth. Philosophy, says Clement, is a joint cause in the comprehension of truth. 3 Truth is one while many things contribute to its investigation, and it is found through the Son. Virtue is one thing with many forms - - wisdom, self-control, bravery, justice. Truth is one thing, but there is a truth of geometry in geometry, of music in music, and there is truth in the right Hellenic philosophy. 'But there is only one truth, supreme and impregnable -that in which we are instructed by the Son of God.' 4 The truth of Greek philosophy is distinct from our truth in the extent of the knowledge which it gives, its demonstrative force and its divine power. We are taught by God, learning our sacred letters by the Son of God. The saving doctrine is complete and self-sufficient. Greek philosophy cannot make it any stronger. It can only hedge it round. The truth of faith is as necessary to life as bread. Philosophy is like a dessert which is very nice but not essential to the meal.
____________________ 1Strom. VI, 150; II, 509, 18.
2Strom. VI, 83; II, 473, 14.
3Strom. I, 97; II, 62, 8. The idea of a joint cause is illustrated by the various virtues which cause happiness and the different ways of getting warm -- through sunshine, fire, bath, clothing.
4Strom. II, 62, 23.
IV. CONCLUSION
Clement speaks of the truth in two ways -- an exclusive way and an inclusive way.
There is a solid core of essential Christian truth. Other kinds of truth may be denied, as when he speaks of the heresies, or they may be given a subordinate place, as when he speaks of philosophy. He may consider the real truth as separate from all else or as embracing all other truth within it in a consistent whole. He never wavers on the unique perfection of the real truth which Christians possess, but he varies in his attitude to the 'truth' which might be found elsewhere. In these accounts of truth may be seen the same pattern as has been seen in the accounts of God and of goodness. The exclusive idea of truth portrays truth as unique, simple, 1 ultimate and transcendent. The inclusive account of truth portrays truth as an all-embracing complex unity. 2
____________________ 1Paed. III, 53; I, 267, 5; Prot.116; 1, 81, 33.
2Strom. I, 29; II, 18, 8; Strom. I, 57; II, 36, 8.