Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IX/The Epistles of Clement/The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians/Chapter 37

Chapter XXXVII.&#8212;Christ is Our Leader, and We His Soldiers.

Let us then, men and brethren, with all energy act the part of soldiers, in accordance with His holy commandments.&#160; Let us consider those who serve under our generals, with what order, obedience, and submissiveness they perform the things which are commanded them.&#160; All are not prefects, nor commanders of a thousand, nor of a hundred, nor of fifty, nor the like, but each one in his own rank performs the things commanded by the king and the generals.&#160; The great cannot subsist without the small, nor the small without the great.&#160; There is a kind of mixture in all things, and thence arises mutual advantage. &#160; Let us take our body for an example. &#160; The head is nothing without the feet, and the feet are nothing without the head; yea, the very smallest members of our body are necessary and useful to the whole body.&#160; But all work harmoniously together, and are under one common rule for the preservation of the whole body.