Chapter

VIII.—The Present and the Future.

“If, then, you wish to have an accurate account of

the matter, listen.  Those of whom you said a little before that

they receive injustice, rather act unjustly themselves; for they who

have chosen the future blessings, live along with the bad in the

present world, having many enjoyments the same as the bad,—such

as life itself, light, bread, water, clothing, and others of a like

nature.  But they who are thought by you to act unjustly, shall

not live with the good men

in the coming age.”  And our

father replied to this:  “Now when you have convinced me

that those who act unjustly suffer injustice themselves, while those

who suffer injustice have by far the advantage, the whole affair seems

to me still more the most unjust of transactions; for those who seem to

act unjustly grant many things to those who have chosen the future

blessings, but those who seem to receive injustice do themselves commit

injustice, because they do not give in the other world, to those who

have given them blessings here, the same advantages which these gave to

them.”  And Peter said:  “This is not unjust at

all, because each one has the power to choose the present or the future

goods, whether they be small or great.  He who chooses by his own

individual judgment and wish, receives no injustice,—I mean, not

even should his choice rest on what is small, since the great lay

within his choice, as in fact did also the small.”  And our

father said:  “You are right; for it has been said by one of

the wise men of the Greeks, ‘The blame rests with those who

chose—God is blameless.’

Footnotes

Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Pseudo-Clementine Literature/The Clementine Homilies/Homily XV/Chapter 8