Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Pseudo-Clementine Literature/The Clementine Homilies/Homily IV/Chapter 23

Chapter XXIII.&#8212;&#8220;Whither Shall I Go from Thy Presence?&#8221;

When I had thus spoken, Appion broke in upon my discourse.&#160; &#8220;What!&#8221; said he; &#8220;do not the laws of the Greeks also forbid wickedness, and punish adulterers?&#8221;&#160; Then said I:&#160; &#8220;Then the gods of the Greeks, who acted contrary to the laws, deserve punishment.&#160; But how shall I be able to restrain myself, if I suppose that the gods themselves first practised all wickednesses as well as adultery, and did not suffer punishment; whereas they ought the rather to have suffered, as not being slaves to lust?&#160; But if they were subject to it, how were they gods?&#8221;&#160; Then Appion said:&#160; &#8220;Let us have in our eye not the gods, but the judges; and looking to them, we shall be afraid to sin.&#8221;&#160; Then I said:&#160; &#8220;This is not fitting, O Appion:&#160; for he who has his eye upon men will dare to sin, in hope of escaping detection; but he who sets before his soul the all-seeing God, knowing that he cannot escape His notice, will refrain from sinning even in secret.&#8221;