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| What Priests Should Be and Should Not Be.
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Chapter XIII.—What Priests Should Be and Should Not
Be.
Beloved brethren! that a man should build up and
establish the brethren on the faith in one God, this also is manifest
and well-known. This too, again, is comely, that a man should not
be envious of his neighbour. And moreover, again, it is suitable
and comely that all those who work the works of the Lord should work
the works of the Lord in the fear of God. Thus is it required of
them to conduct themselves. That “the harvest is great, but
the workmen are few,” this also is well-known and manifest.
Let us, therefore, “ask of the Lord of the harvest” that He
would send forth workmen into the harvest;421
such workmen as “shall skilfully dispense the word of
truth;” workmen “who shall not be ashamed;”422
faithful workmen; workmen who shall be
“the light of the world;”423
workmen who
“work not for the food that perisheth, but for that food which
abideth unto life eternal;”424
workmen who
shall be such as the apostles; workmen who imitate the Father, and the
Son, and the Holy Spirit; who are concerned for the salvation of men;
not “hireling”425
workmen; not
workmen to whom the fear of God and righteousness appear to be gain;
not workmen who “serve their belly;” not workmen who
“with fair speeches and pleasant words mislead the hearts of the
innocent;”426
not workmen who
imitate the children of light, while they are not light but
darkness—“men whose end is destruction;”427
not workmen who practise iniquity and
wickedness and fraud; not “crafty workmen;”428
not workmen “drunken” and
“faithless;”429
nor workmen who
traffic in Christ;430
| 430 [Comp. the term
χριστέμπορος
“Christ-monger,” “Christ-trafficker,” in
Teaching, chap. xii. 5, vol. vii. p. 381.—R.] | not misleaders; not
“lovers of money; not malevolent.”431
| 431 1 Tim. iii. 3; Tit. i. 7. |
Let us, therefore, contemplate and imitate the
faithful who have conducted themselves well in the Lord, as is becoming
and suitable to our calling and profession. Thus let us do
service before God in justice and righteousness, and without blemish,
“occupying ourselves with things good and comely before God
and also before men.”432
For
this is comely, that God be glorified in us in all things.
Here endeth the first Epistle of
Clement.
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