Chapter LXXI

Chapter LXXI.—Separation from the Unclean.

But Peter, most benignantly regarding me, lest haply that separation might cause me sorrow, says to me:  “It is not from pride, O Clement, that I do not eat with those who have not yet been purified; but I fear lest perhaps I should injure myself, and do no good to them. ⁶⁷¹   For this I would have you know for certain, that every one who has at any time worshipped idols, and has adored those whom the pagans call gods, or has eaten of the things sacrificed to them, is not without an unclean spirit; for he has become a guest of demons, and has been partaker with that demon of which he has formed the image in his mind, either through fear or love. ⁶⁷²   And by these means he is not free from an unclean spirit, and therefore needs the purification of baptism, that the unclean spirit may go out of him, which has made its abode in the inmost affections of his soul, and what is worse, gives no indication that it lurks within, for fear it should be exposed and expelled.”

Footnotes

116:671

[Comp. book i. 19, vii. 29; Homilies I. 22, XIII. 4.—R.]

116:672

1 Cor. x. 20.