The writings of Clement of Alexandria, Vol. 1 (of 2)Clement, of Alexandria, Saint
Religion
The writings of Clement of Alexandria, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Clement, of Alexandria, Saint
Theology -- Early works to 1800; Theology -- History -- Early Church, ca. 30-600
The Spirit, distinguishing from such revelry the divine service, sings,
“Praise Him with sound of trumpet;” for with sound of trumpet He shall
raise the dead. “Praise Him on the psaltery;” for the tongue is the
psaltery of the Lord. “And praise Him on the lyre.”[503] By the lyre is
meant the mouth struck by the Spirit, as it were by a plectrum. “Praise
with the timbrel and the dance,” refers to the church meditating on the
resurrection of the dead in the resounding skin. “Praise Him on the
chords and organ.” Our body He calls an organ, and its nerves are the
strings, by which it has received harmonious tension, and when struck
by the Spirit, it gives forth human voices. “Praise Him on the clashing
cymbals.” He calls the tongue the cymbal of the mouth, which resounds
with the pulsation of the lips. Therefore He cried to humanity, “Let
every breath praise the Lord,” because He cares for every breathing
thing which He hath made. For man is truly a pacific instrument; while
other instruments, if you investigate, you will find to be warlike,
inflaming to lusts, or kindling up amours, or rousing wrath.
In their wars, therefore, the Etruscans use the trumpet, the Arcadians
the pipe, the Sicilians the pectides, the Cretans the lyre, the
Lacedæemonians the flute, the Thracians the horn, the Egyptians the
drum, and the Arabians the cymbal. The one instrument of peace, the
Word alone by which we honour God, is what we employ. We no longer
employ the ancient psaltery, and trumpet, and timbrel, and flute, which
those expert in war and contemners of the fear of God were wont to make
use of also in the choruses at their festive assemblies; that by such
strains they might raise their dejected minds. But let our genial
feeling in drinking be twofold, in accordance with the law. For “if
thou shalt love the Lord thy God,” and then “thy neighbour,” let its
first manifestation be towards God in thanksgiving and psalmody, and
the second towards our neighbour in decorous fellowship. For says the
apostle, “Let the Word of the Lord dwell in you richly.”[504] And this
Word suits and conforms Himself to seasons, to persons, to places.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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