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THE TRUE SENSE OF WORSHIP
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whether you spell the word with a small or a capital 's', will, for this reason, only lead one to trouble. What is wanted for our salvation is walking in the footsteps of One who was actually born of human parents and who attained to Godhood, and whose life has not been involved in any kind of puzzling mysteries.
It is truly impossible to follow the conduct of an allegorical figure whose doings, more often than not, are deliberately shown to be contrary to what is becoming for the pious folk, as a form of metaphorical excellence, and have a secret significance. It is, therefore, correctly demanded by the author of the Recognitions of Clement:
" But I should like if those who worship idols would tell me if they wish to become like to those whom they worship? "-A.N.C.L. vol. 111. p. 311. And Clement rightly adds (A.N.C.L. vol. sii. p. 376):
"... It is our aim to discover what doing and in what manner of living we shall reap the knowledge of the sovereign God, and how, honouring the divinity, we may become the authors of our own salvation..."
“Dost thou wish to be a Christian? Imitate Christ in every. thing. Imitate me, my brethren, as I (imitate) Christ. For those who have put on Christ,' in truth, express his likeness in their thoughts, and in their whole life and in all their behaviour."(Methodius) A.N.C.L. vol. xiv. pp. 372-373.
The conclusion is that while it is necessary to imitate the true Saviour in all He did in connection with His Great Attainment, the copying, in action, of an allegorical being must necessarily lead to a perversion of Right Conduct. No one can, surely, be advantaged
