Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Pseudo-Clementine Literature/The Clementine Homilies/Homily III/Chapter 56
Chapter LVI.—Teaching of Christ.
“And to those who think that He is not good, as the Scriptures say, He said, ‘From which of you shall his son ask bread, and he will give him a stone; or shall ask a fish, and he will give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him, and to those who do His will!’[1] But to those who affirmed that He was in the temple, He said, ‘Swear not by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet.’[2] And to those who supposed that God is pleased with sacrifices, He said, ‘God wishes mercy, and not sacrifices’[3]—the knowledge of Himself, and not holocausts.