Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol I:
CLEMENT OF ROME: Chapter XXXVII.—Christ is our...

Chapter XXXVII.—Christ is our leader, and we His soldiers.

Let us then, men and brethren, with all energy act the part of soldiers, in accordance with His holy commandments. Let us consider those who serve under our generals, with what order, obedience, and submissiveness they perform the things which are commanded them. All are not prefects, nor commanders of a thousand, nor of a hundred, nor of fifty, nor the like, but each one in his own rank performs the things commanded by the king and the generals. The great cannot subsist without the small, nor the small without the great. There is a kind of mixture in all things, and thence arises mutual advantage. 162 Let us take our body for an example. 163 The head is nothing without the feet, and the feet are nothing without the head; yea, the very smallest members of our body are necessary and useful to the whole body. But all work 164 harmoniously together, and are under one common rule 165 for the preservation of the whole body.

Footnotes

Literally, “in these there is use.”

1 Cor. xii. 12, etc.

Literally, “all breathe together.”

Literally, “use one subjection.”