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* “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”  Matt. v. 7.—­“Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; give, and it shall be given unto you.”  Luke vi. 37, 38.—­“Judge not, that ye be not judged; for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”  Matt. vii. 1, 2. _________

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.” _________

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 Romans; (Rom. i. 29.) which passage, from the peculiarity of the words which compose it, and from their order, it is manifest that he must have taken