rve the
ignorant from danger.[115] S. Clement naturally confined the higher
instruction to the learned. "Our Gnostic will be deeply learned,"[116]
he says. "Now the Gnostic must be erudite."[117] Those who had acquired
readiness by previous training could master the deeper knowledge, for
though "a man can be a believer without learning, so also we assert that
it is impossible for a man without learning to comprehend the things
which are declared in the faith."[118] "Some who think themselves
naturally gifted, do not wish to touch either philosophy or logic; nay
more, they do not wish to learn natural science. They demand bare faith
alone.... So also I call him truly learned who brings everything to bear
on the truth--so that, from geometry, and music, and grammar, and
philosophy itself, culling what is useful, he guards the faith against
assault.... How necessary is it for him who desires to be partaker of
the power of God, to treat of intellectual subjects by
philosophising."[119] "The Gnostic avails himself of branches of
learning as auxiliary preparatory exercises."[120] So far was S.
Clement from thinking that the teaching of Christianity should be
measured by the ignorance of the unlearned. "He who is conversant with
all kinds of wisdom will be pre-eminently a Gnostic."[121] Thus while he
welcomed the ignorant and the sinner, and found in the Gospel what was
suited to their needs, he considered that only the learned and the pure
were fit candidates for the Mysteries. "The Apostle, in
contradistinction to Gnostic perfection, calls the common faith _the
foundation_, and sometimes _milk_,"[122] but on that foundation the
edifice of the Gnosis was to be raised, and the food of men was to
succeed that of babes. There is nothing of harshness nor of contempt in
the distinction he draws, but only a calm and wise recognition of the
facts.

Even the well-prepared candidate, the learned and trained pupil, could
only hope to advance step by step in the profound truths unveiled in the
Mysteries. This appears clearly in his comments on the vision of
Hermas, in which he also throws out some hints on methods of reading
occult works. "Did not the Power also, that appeared to Hermas in the
Vision, in the form of the Church, give for transcription the book which
she wished to be made known to the elect? And this, he says, he
transcribed to the letter, without finding how to complete the
syllables. And this signified that the Scriptu