_Rome_, and to the whole Church it is, in express Terms, ascribed by _Irenæus_[120], and _Clement_ of _Alexandria_, who calls it the Epistle of the _Romans_ to the _Corinthians_[121]. However, it was composed by _Clement_, in the Name of the Church; for, in the primitive Times, Bishops did nothing by themselves, but every thing jointly with their Churches: _We advise_, _We exhort_, _We recommend_, &c. was their usual Style; which the Popes still observe, though they mean only themselves; for they scorn to join either with the People or Clergy. The Style of this excellent Letter is plain, clear, full of Energy, without any useless Ornaments; and the Whole written with the Simplicity, as _Photius_ observes[122], that the Church requires in Ecclesiastical Writers. There is so great an Affinity, both as to the Sense and the Words, between this Epistle, and the Epistle to the _Hebrews_, that some have concluded _Clement_ to have been the Translator, nay, and the Author of that Epistle[123]. [Sidenote: _Unjustly criticized by_ Photius.] In _Clement_’s Epistle _Photius_ discovers, as he thinks, Three Faults; _viz._ that he supposes other Worlds beyond the Ocean; that he speaks of the Phœnix as a real Bird; and that he uses Words expressing the Humanity of our Saviour, and not his Divinity. But, as to the first of these Objections, there can be no Difficulty now, that we know for certain what was but doubtfully advanced by the Antients: in speaking of the Phœnix he complies with the Opinion universally received in those Days by the Learned, both among the Christians and Pagans. As to the Third Objection, _Photius_ must not have observed, that he styles our Saviour’s Sufferings, the _Sufferings of God_, which was acknowleging his Divinity. [Sidenote: _Thought lost, but appears again._] This Epistle, the most precious and valuable Treasure the Church can boast, after the holy Scriptures, was for many Ages bewailed as lost; but, in 1633. it was again restored to the Christian World, by _Patricius Junius_, a _North Briton_, who published it from a Manuscript, written by an _Egyptian_ Lady, named _Thecla_, about the Time of the great Council of _Nice_, and afterwards brought over into _England_[124]. That this Piece is genuine, appears from a great many Passages quoted out of it by the Antients.