"Re

of another precept of Jefus.
member the words of Jefus, who faid,
Woe to that man; it were better for
him, that he had never been born,
than that he should offend one of my
elect. It were better for him that a
millstone should be faftened to him,
and that he fhould be drowned in the
fea, than he should offend one of my
little ones." This agrees almoft ver-
batim with the difcourfe of Jefus, in
Matthew xviii. 6. Mark ix. 42. Luke
xvii. 1, 2.—But it does not therefore
follow, that the paffages were taken
from thefe fcriptures. Clement might
have known them from oral informa
tion; or other lives of Jefus might
exift from which he felected them; for
St. Luke in his Gofpel, i. 1. actually
declares, that in his time many fuch
lives of Jefus were read among the
Chriftians. From this caufe Lardner z
alfo is in doubt, whether he could call

* Credibility, vol. ii. p. 31-33.
E 4

thefe

c For inftance, in the 30th chap. p. 45, he quotes a paffage, yet without naming its author..-" For God," fays he, "refifteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble."-This fentence is found indeed in James iv. 6.; but it ftands alfo in Proverbs iii. 34.

a The author of what is called the fecond epiftle, is speaking of the wicked, chap. iv. p. 93. and then adds "Concerning these the Lord has faid, Though ye should be joined unto me, even in my very bosom, and keep not my commandments, I would reject you, and say unto you, Depart from me, I know you not, whence you are, you workers of iniquity."-This paffage is evidently fimilar to that in Matt. vii. 23. Nevertheless, it is not taken thence, but from an apocryphal book. In the fame manner Clement, when he quotes the difcourfes or actions of Chrift, may have taken them from fome other hiftory that was extant when he wrote. For the other hiftorians of the life

of