7. Behold how glorious, how dear to the Lord, are the people whom these schismatics do not shrink from calling “wood, hay, stubble;”21 1 Cor. iii. 12. the equals of whom, that is, those who are even still placed in the same guilt of their lapse, they presume must not be admitted to repentance. This they judge from that utterance of the Lord, where He says, “Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I deny before my Father which is in heaven.”22 Matt. x. 33. Oh grief! why do they strive against the Lord’s precepts, that this offspring of Novatian, following the example of his father the devil, should now endeavour to put in force those things which Christ will do in the time of His judgment? that is, when Scripture says, “Vengeance is mine; and I will repay, saith the Lord.”23 Heb. x. 30.
VII. Ecce, quam gloriosos, quam Domino charos, schismatici isti ligna, foenum, stipulam appellare non 1210D dubitant (I Cor. III, 12). Quorum pares, hoc est, in eodem crimine lapsus sui adhuc usque constitutos, nec ad poenitentiam admittendos esse praesumunt; ex illa Domini pronuntiatione qua ait: Qui me negaverit coram hominibus, negabo eum coram Patre meo, qui in coelis est (Matth. X, 33). Proh dolor! quid 1211A contra dominica praecepta contendunt, ut ea quae Christus judicii sui tempore sit acturus, haec nunc stirps Novatiani, patris sui exemplum diaboli secuta, exercere conetur? dicente Scriptura: Mihi vindictam, et ego retribuam, dicit Dominus (Heb. X, 30).