3 Str. τ. 28, 98, v1. 68. + Str. 1. 30. 5 Str. vu. 70.
6 Str. vi. 11. ‘


CH. 11. INFLUENCE OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY. XXXlil


all the books in the world taken together cannot compare
with the value of the revelation contained in the Scriptures:
are we to censure him if he finds more of divine truth in the
writings of Plato than in the books, say, of Chronicles and
Esther, in other words, if he holds that the portion of the
Διαθήκη which is contained in the latter is of less importance
than that which is contained in the former ?

I am far from asserting that Clement was never mis-
taken in accepting the Greek ideas. Whether he was or was
not mistaken, is a matter for investigation; but we need
not embarrass ourselves beforehand by the use of question-
begging terms, and condemn his proceeding off-hand as a ‘de-
potentiation’ and ‘secularization’ of the Christian religion}.
