Category: St. Clement of Alexandria

Exhortation to the Heathen by St. Clement of Alexandria

St. Clement of Alexandria penned this book, Exhortation to the Heathen, to pagans during the second century in an attempt to convince them to take up Christianity. He utilizes both reason and historical evidence to demonstrate the errors of paganism and the truth of Christianity.
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Excerpts From Exhortation to the Heathen

“If eternal salvation were to be sold, for how much, O men, would you propose to purchase it? Were one to estimate the value of the whole of Pactolus, the fabulous river of gold, he would not have reckoned up a price equivalent to salvation.”

“The only refuge, then, which remains for him who would reach the portals of salvation is divine wisdom. From this, as from a sacred asylum, the man who presses after salvation, can be dragged by no demon.”

“The divine Scriptures and institutions of wisdom form the short road to salvation. Devoid of embellishment, of outward beauty of diction, of wordiness and seductiveness, they raise up humanity strangled by wickedness, teaching men to despise the casualties of life; and with one and the same voice remedying many evils, they at once dissuade us from pernicious deceit, and clearly exhort us to the attainment of the salvation set before us.”

“And the Lord, with ceaseless assiduity, exhorts, terrifies, urges, rouses, admonishes; He awakes from the sleep of darkness, and raises up those who have wandered in error.”

“The Lord, in His love to man, invites all men to the knowledge of the truth, and for this end sends the Paraclete.”