ain." Matt. vii. 1, 2.
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Again; "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, for he said, Woe to that
man by whom offences come; it were better for him that he had not been
born, than that he should offend one of my elect; it were better for him
that a millstone should be tied about his neck, and that he should be
drowned in the sea, than that he should offend one of my little ones."*

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* Matt. xviii. 6. "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which
believe in me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged
about his neck, and that he were cast into the sea." The latter part of
the passage in Clement agrees exactly with Luke xvii. 2; "It were better
for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into
the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones."
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In both these passages we perceive the high respect paid to the words of
Christ as recorded by the evangelists; "Remember the words of the Lord
Jesus;--by this command, and by these rules, let us establish ourselves,
that we may always walk obediently to his holy words." We perceive also
in Clement a total unconsciousness of doubt whether these were the real
words of Christ, which are read as such in the Gospels. This observation
indeed belongs to the whole series of testimony, and especially to the
most ancient part of it. Whenever anything now read in the Gospels is
met with in an early Christian writing, it is always observed to stand
there as acknowledged truth, i. e. to be introduced without hesitation,
doubt, or apology. It is to be observed also, that, as this epistle was
written in the name of the church of Rome, and addressed to the church
of Corinth, it ought to be taken as exhibiting the judgment not only of
Clement, who drew up the letter, but of these churches themselves, at
least as to the authority of the books referred to.

It may be said that, as Clement has not used words of quotation, it is
not certain that he refers to any book whatever. The words of Christ
which he has put down, he might himself have heard from the apostles, or
might have received through the ordinary medium of oral tradition. This
has been said: but that no such inference can be drawn from the absence
of words of quotation, is proved by the three following
considerations:--First, that Clement, in the very same manner, namely,
without any mark of reference, uses a passage now found in the epistle
to the R