therefore, beware lest it come upon us, as it is written; There are many
called, few chosen." From the expression, "as it is written," we infer
with certainty, that at the time when the author of this epistle lived,
there was a book extant, well known to Christians, and of authority
amongst them, containing these words:--"Many are called, few chosen."
Such a book is our present Gospel of Saint Matthew, in which this text
is twice found, (Matt xx. 16; xxii. 14.) and is found in no other book
now known. There is a further observation to be made upon the terms of
the quotation. The writer of the epistle was a Jew. The phrase "it is
written" was the very form in which the Jews quoted their Scriptures. It
is not probable, therefore, that he would have used this phrase, and
without qualification, of any book but what had acquired a kind of
Scriptural authority. If the passage remarked in this ancient writing
had been found in one of Saint Paul's Epistles, it would have been
esteemed by every one a high testimony to Saint Matthew's Gospel. It
ought, therefore, to be remembered, that the writing in which it is
found was probably by very few years posterior to those of Saint Paul.

Beside this passage, there are also in the epistle before us several
others, in which the sentiment is the same with what we meet with in
Saint Matthew's Gospel, and two or three in which we recognize the same
words. In particular, the author of the epistle repeats the precept,
"Give to every one that asketh thee;" (Matt. 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