Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol IX: The Epistles of Clement.: Chapter LVI

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Chapter LVI.—Let Us Admonish and Correct One Another.

Let us then also pray for those who have fallen into any sin, that meekness and humilp. 246 ity may be given to them, so that they may submit, not unto us, but to the will of God. For in this way they shall secure a fruitful and perfect remembrance from us, with sympathy for them, both in our prayers to God, and our mention of them to the saints. 4298 Let us receive correction, beloved, on account of which no one should feel displeased. Those exhortations by which we admonish one another are both good [in themselves], and highly profitable, for they tend to unite 4299 us to the will of God. For thus saith the holy Word: “The Lord hath severely chastened me, yet hath not given me over to death.” 4300 “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” 4301 “The righteous,” 4302 saith it, “shall chasten me in mercy, and reprove me; but let not the oil of sinners make fat my head.” 4303 And again he saith, “Blessed is the man whom the Lord reproveth, and reject not thou the warning of the Almighty. For He causes sorrow, and again restores [to gladness]; He woundeth, and His hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea, in the seventh no evil shall touch thee. In famine He shall rescue thee from death, and in war He shall free thee from the power 4304 of the sword. From the scourge of the tongue will He hide thee, and thou shalt not fear when evil cometh. Thou shalt laugh at the unrighteous and the wicked, and shalt not be afraid of the beasts of the field. For the wild beasts shall be at peace with thee: then shalt thou know that thy house shall be in peace, and the habitation of thy tabernacle shall not fail. 4305 Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thy children like the grass of the field. And thou shalt come to the grave like ripened corn which is reaped in its season, or like a heap of the threshing-floor which is gathered together at the proper time.” 4306 Ye see, beloved, that 4307 “protection is afforded to those that are chastened of the Lord; for since God is good, 4308 He corrects us, that we may be admonished” 4309 by His holy chastisement.