Clement of Alexandria — Paedagogus (Chapter 9. That It is the Prerogative of the Same Power to Be Beneficent and to Punish Justly. Also the Manner of the Instruction of the Logos)

With all His power, therefore, the Instructor of humanity, the Divine Word, using all the resources of wisdom, devotes Himself to the saving of the children, admonishing, upbraiding, blaming, chiding, reproving, threatening, healing, promising, favouring; and as it were, by many reins, curbing the irrational impulses of humanity. To speak briefly, therefore, the Lord acts towards us as we do towards our children. Do you have children? Correct them, is the exhortation of the book of Wisdom, and bend them from their youth. Do you have daughters? Attend to their body, and let not your face brighten towards them, Sirach 7:23-24 — although we love our children exceedingly, both sons and daughters, above anything else whatever. For those who speak with a man merely to please him, have little love for him, seeing they do not pain him; while those that speak for his good, though they inflict pain for the time, do him good for ever after. It is not immediate pleasure, but future enjoyment, that the Lord has in view.

Let us now proceed to consider the mode of His loving discipline, with the aid of the prophetic testimony.

Admonition, then, is the censure of loving care, and produces understanding. Such is the Instructor in His admonitions, as when He says in the Gospel, How often would I have gathered your children, as a bird gathers her young ones under her wings, and you would not! Matthew 23:37 And again, the Scripture admonishes, saying, And they committed adultery with stock and stone, and burnt incense to Baal. For it is a very great proof of His love, that, though knowing well the shamelessness of the people that had kicked and bounded away, He notwithstanding exhorts them to repentance, and says by Ezekiel, Son of man, you dwell in the midst of scorpions; nevertheless, speak to them, if perhaps they will hear. Ezekiel 2:6-7 Further, to Moses He says, Go and tell Pharaoh to send My people forth; but I know that he will not send them forth. Exodus 3:18-19 For He shows both things: both His divinity in His foreknowledge of what would take place, and His love in affording an opportunity for repentance to the self-determination of the soul. He admonishes also by Esaias, in His care for the people, when He says, This people honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. What follows is reproving censure: In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Isaiah 29:13 Here His loving care, having shown their sin, shows salvation side by side.

Upbraiding is censure on account of what is base, conciliating to what is noble. This is shown by Jeremiah: They were female-mad horses; each one neighed after his neighbour's wife. Shall I not visit for these things? Says the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Jeremiah 5:8-9 He everywhere interweaves fear, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of sense. Proverbs 1:7 And again, by Hosea, He says, Shall I not visit them? For they themselves were mingled with harlots, and sacrificed with the initiated; and the people that understood embraced a harlot. He shows their offense to be clearer, by declaring that they understood, and thus sinned wilfully. Understanding is the eye of the soul; wherefore also Israel means, he that sees God — that is, he that understands God.

Complaint is censure of those who are regarded as despising or neglecting. He employs this form when He says by Esaias: Hear, O heaven; and give ear, O earth: for the Lord has spoken, I have begotten and brought up children, but they have disregarded Me. The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel has not known Me. Isaiah 1:2-3 For how shall we not regard it fearful, if he that knows God, shall not recognise the Lord; but while the ox and the ass, stupid and foolish animals, will know him who feeds them, Israel is found to be more irrational than these? And having, by Jeremiah, complained against the people on many grounds, He adds: And they have forsaken Me, says the Lord .

Invective is a reproachful upbraiding, or chiding censure. This mode of treatment the Instructor employs in Isaiah, when He says, Woe to you, children revolters. Thus says the Lord, You have taken counsel, but not by Me; and made compacts, but not by My Spirit. Isaiah 30:1 He uses the very bitter mordant of fear in each case repressing the people, and at the same time turning them to salvation; as also wool that is undergoing the process of dyeing is wont to be previously treated with mordants, in order to prepare it for taking on a fast color.