Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Pseudo-Clementine Literature/The Clementine Homilies/Homily X/Chapter 5

Chapter V.&#8212;The Fear of God.

&#8220;Therefore you shall be able to persuade yourselves with respect to the things that are profitable, if, like charmers, you say to the horrible serpent which lurks in your heart, &#8216;The Lord God thou shalt fear, and Him alone thou shalt serve.&#8217; &#160; On every account it is advantageous to fear Him alone, not as an unjust, but as a righteous God.&#160; For one fears an unjust being, lest he be wrongfully destroyed, but a righteous one, lest he be caught in sin and punished.&#160; You can therefore, by fear towards Him, be freed from many hurtful fears.&#160; For if you do not fear the one Lord and Maker of all, you shall be the slaves of all evils to your own hurt, I mean of demons and diseases, and of everything that can in any way hurt you.