This epistle affords, amongst others, the following valuable
passages:--"Especially remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, which he
spake teaching gentleness and long-suffering: for thus he said:* Be ye
merciful, that ye may obtain mercy; forgive, that it my be forgiven unto
you; as you do, so shall it be done unto you; as you give, so shall it
be given unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged; as ye show
kindness, so shall kindness be shown unto you; with what measure ye mete,
with the same shall it be measured to you. By this command, and by these
rules, let us establish ourselves, that we may always walk obediently
to his holy words."
_________
* "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."*
_________
* 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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