Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IX/The Epistles of Clement/The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians/Chapter 39

Chapter XXXIX.&#8212;There is No Reason for Self-Conceit.

Foolish and inconsiderate men, who have neither wisdom nor instruction, mock and deride us, being eager to exalt themselves in their own conceits.&#160; For what can a mortal man do, or what strength is there in one made out of the dust?&#160; For it is written, &#8220;There was no shape before mine eyes, only I heard a sound, and a voice [saying], What then?&#160; Shall a man be pure before the Lord?&#160; Or shall such an one be [counted] blameless in his deeds, seeing He does not confide in His servants, and has charged even His angels with perversity?&#160; The heaven is not clean in His sight:&#160; how much less they that dwell in houses of clay, of which also we ourselves were made!&#160; He smote them as a moth; and from morning even until evening they endure not.&#160; Because they could furnish no assistance to themselves, they perished.&#160; He breathed upon them, and they died, because they had no wisdom.&#160; But call now, if any one will answer thee, or if thou wilt look to any of the holy angels; for wrath destroys the foolish man, and envy killeth him that is in error.&#160; I have seen the foolish taking root, but their habitation was presently consumed.&#160; Let their sons be far from safety; let them be despised before the gates of those less than themselves, and there shall be none to deliver.&#160; For what was prepared for them, the righteous shall eat; and they shall not be delivered from evil.&#8221;