v. 42.) and saith that
Christ chose as his apostles, who were to preach the Gospel, men who
were great sinners, that he might show that he came "not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Matt. Ix. 13.)
II. We are in possession of an epistle written by Clement, bishop of
Rome, (Lardner, Cred. vol. p. 62, et seq.) whom ancient writers, without
any doubt or scruple, assert to have been the Clement whom Saint Paul
mentions, Phil. iv. 3; "with Clement also, and other my
fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life." This epistle is
spoken of by the ancients as an epistle acknowledged by all; and, as
Irenaeus well represents its value, "written by Clement, who had seen
the blessed apostles, and conversed with them; who had the preaching of
the apostles still sounding in his ears, and their traditions before his
eyes." It is addressed to the church of Corinth; and what alone may seem
almost decisive of its authenticity, Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, about
the year 170, i. e. about eighty or ninety years after the epistle was
written, bears witness, "that it had been wont to be read in that church
from ancient times.
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