{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>But if human wisdom, as it remains to understand, is the glorying in\r\nknowledge, hear the law of Scripture: “Let not the wise man glory in\r\nhis wisdom, and let not the mighty man glory in his might; but let him\r\nthat glorieth glory in the Lord.”<a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_238\" id=\"FNanchor_238\">[238]</a> But we are God-taught, and glory\r\nin the name of Christ. How then are we not to regard the apostle as\r\nattaching this sense to the milk of the babes? And if we who preside\r\nover the churches are shepherds after the image of the good Shepherd,\r\nand you the sheep, are we not to regard the Lord as preserving\r\nconsistency in the use of figurative speech, when He speaks also of\r\nthe milk of the flock? And to this meaning we may secondly accommodate\r\nthe expression, “I have given you milk to drink, and not given you\r\nfood, for ye are not yet able,” regarding the meat not as something\r\ndifferent from the milk, but the same in substance. For the very same\r\nWord is fluid and mild as milk, or solid and compact as meat. And\r\nentertaining this view, we may regard the proclamation of the gospel,\r\nwhich is universally diffused, as milk;<span class=\"pagenum\" id=\"Page_140\">[140]</span> and as meat, faith, which\r\nfrom instruction is compacted into a foundation, which, being more\r\nsubstantial than hearing, is likened to meat, and assimilates to the\r\nsoul itself nourishment of this kind. Elsewhere the Lord, in the Gospel\r\naccording to John, brought this out by symbols, when He said: “Eat ye\r\nmy flesh, and drink my blood;”<a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_239\" id=\"FNanchor_239\">[239]</a> describing distinctly by metaphor\r\nthe drinkable properties of faith and the promise, by means of which\r\nthe Church, like a human being consisting of many members, is refreshed\r\nand grows, is welded together and compacted of both,—of faith, which\r\nis the body, and of hope, which is the soul; as also the Lord of flesh\r\nand blood. For in reality the blood of faith is hope, in which faith\r\nis held as by a vital principle. And when hope expires, it is as if\r\nblood flowed forth; and the vitality of faith is destroyed. If, then,\r\nsome would oppose, saying that by milk is meant the first lessons—as\r\nit were, the first food—and that by meat is meant those spiritual\r\ncognitions to which they attain by raising themselves to knowledge,\r\nlet them understand that, in saying that meat is solid food, and the\r\nflesh and blood of Jesus, they are brought by their own vainglorious\r\nwisdom to the true simplicity. For the blood is found to be an original\r\nproduct in man, and some have consequently ventured to call it the\r\nsubstance of the soul. And this blood, transmuted by a natural process\r\nof assimilation in the pregnancy of the mother, through the sympathy\r\nof parental affection, effloresces and grows old, in order that there\r\nmay be no fear for the child. Blood, too, is the moister part of flesh,\r\nbeing a kind of liquid flesh; and milk is the sweeter and finer part\r\nof blood. For whether it be the blood supplied to the fœtus, and sent\r\nthrough the navel of the mother, or whether it be the menses themselves\r\nshut out from their proper passage, and by a natural diffusion, bidden\r\nby the all-nourishing and creating God, proceed to the already swelling\r\nbreasts, and by the heat of the spirits transmuted, [whether it be the\r\none or the other] that is formed into food desirable for the babe, that\r\nwhich is changed is the blood. For of all the members, the breasts\r\nhave the most sympathy with the womb. When<span class=\"pagenum\" id=\"Page_141\">[141]</span> there is parturition, the\r\nvessel by which blood was conveyed to the fœtus is cut off: there is an\r\nobstruction of the flow, and the blood receives an impulse towards the\r\nbreasts; and on a considerable rush taking place, they are distended,\r\nand change the blood to milk in a manner analogous to the change of\r\nblood into pus in ulceration. Or if, on the other hand, the blood from\r\nthe veins in the vicinity of the breasts, which have been opened in\r\npregnancy, is poured into the natural hollows of the breasts; and the\r\nspirit discharged from the neighbouring arteries being mixed with it,\r\nthe substance of the blood, still remaining pure, it becomes white by\r\nbeing agitated like a wave; and by an interruption such as this is\r\nchanged by frothing it, like what takes place with the sea, which at\r\nthe assaults of the winds, the poets say, “spits forth briny foam.” Yet\r\nstill the essence is supplied by the blood.</p>","headings":["THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.","THE INSTRUCTOR.","BOOK I.","CHAPTER VI. THE NAME CHILDREN DOES NOT IMPLY INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES."],"marker_anchor":"FNanchor_239","paragraph_id":"pg71937-paragraph-253"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"2fe0adfa7173ae639133566f9d426e1fbc800f79a1bdb4645a63544f1a3214bd","edition_title":"The writings of Clement of Alexandria, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["William Wilson"],"edition_year":1867,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"JHN","chapter":6,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"John vi. 54","verse":54,"verse_end":54}],"headings":[],"id":"pg71937-Footnote_239","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Existing 1867 English translation; translator died 1875. Electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"Footnote_239","source_ebook":71937,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a class=\"label pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_239\" id=\"Footnote_239\">[239]</a> John vi. 54.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"8e5c5bc39922dbad2626ac7651c2eb2e3d94cdcbd721f781e9792143ebb1cd03","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/71937/pg71937-images.html#Footnote_239","text_sha256":"0ca09c4efb2acea496a92e35db0aa2ca96d8607b571ccc0dc24198640df444c8","verified":false,"work_id":null}