1. Since the Lord warns us, saying, “Ye are the salt of the earth,” and since He bids us to be simple to harmlessness, and yet with our simplicity to

 2. From which an example is given us to avoid the way of the old man, to stand in the footsteps of a conquering Christ, that we may not again be incau

 3. But, beloved brethren, not only must we beware of what is open and manifest, but also of what deceives by the craft of subtle fraud. And what can b

 4. If any one consider and examine these things, there is no need for lengthened discussion and arguments.  There is easy proof for faith in a short s

 5. And this unity we ought firmly to hold and assert, especially those of us that are bishops who preside in the Church, that we may also prove the ep

 6. The spouse of Christ cannot be adulterous she is uncorrupted and pure. She knows one home she guards with chaste modesty the sanctity of one couc

 7. This sacrament of unity, this bond of a concord inseparably cohering, is set forth where in the Gospel the coat of the Lord Jesus Christ is not at

 8. Who, then, is so wicked and faithless, who is so insane with the madness of discord, that either he should believe that the unity of God can be div

 9. Therefore also the Holy Spirit came as a dove, a simple and joyous creature, not bitter with gall, not cruel in its bite, not violent with the rend

 10. Hence heresies not only have frequently been originated, but continue to be so while the perverted mind has no peace—while a discordant faithless

 11. Against people of this kind the Lord cries from these He restrains and recalls His erring people, saying, “Hearken not unto the words of the fals

 12. Nor let any deceive themselves by a futile interpretation, in respect of the Lord having said, “Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in

 13. Thus, also, when He gave the law of prayer, He added, saying, “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any that your Father

 14. Even if such men were slain in confession of the Name, that stain is not even washed away by blood: the inexpiable and grave fault of discord is n

 15. For both to prophesy and to cast out devils, and to do great acts upon the earth is certainly a sublime and an admirable thing but one does not a

 16. This evil, most faithful brethren, had long ago begun, but now the mischievous destruction of the same evil has increased, and the envenomed plagu

 17. Yet let not the excessive and headlong faithlessness of many move or disturb us, but rather strengthen our faith in the truthfulness which has for

 18. Thus Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who endeavoured to claim to themselves the power of sacrificing in opposition to Moses and Aaron the priest, under

 19. These, doubtless, they imitate and follow, who, despising God’s tradition, seek after strange doctrines, and bring in teachings of human appointme

 20. Nor let any one marvel, beloved brethren, that even some of the confessors advance to these lengths, and thence also that some others sin thus wic

 21. Confession is the beginning of glory, not the full desert of the crown nor does it perfect our praise, but it initiates our dignity and since it

 22. For the Lord chose Judas also among the apostles, and yet afterwards Judas betrayed the Lord. Yet not on that account did the faith and firmness o

 23. I indeed desire, beloved brethren, and I equally endeavour and exhort, that if it be possible, none of the brethren should perish, and that our re

 24. The Holy Spirit warns us, and says, “What man is he that desireth to live, and would fain see good days? Refrain thy tongue from evil, and thy lip

 25. This unanimity formerly prevailed among the apostles and thus the new assembly of believers, keeping the Lord’s commandments, maintained its char

 26. But in us unanimity is diminished in proportion as liberality of working is decayed. Then they used to give for sale houses and estates and that

4. If any one consider and examine these things, there is no need for lengthened discussion and arguments.  There is easy proof for faith in a short summary of the truth.  The Lord speaks to Peter,10    [On the falsifying of the text by Romish editors, see Elucidation II.] saying, “I say unto thee, that thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”11    Matt. xvi. 18, 19. And again to the same He says, after His resurrection, “Feed my sheep.”12    John xxi. 15. [Here is interpolated]:  “Upon him, being one, He builds His Church, and commits His sheep to be fed.” And although to all the apostles, after His resurrection, He gives an equal power, and says, “As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you: Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they shall be remitted unto him; and whose soever sins ye retain, they shall be retained;”13    John xx. 21. yet, that He might set forth unity, He arranged by His authority the origin of that unity, as beginning from one. Assuredly the rest of the apostles were also the same as was Peter, endowed with a like partnership both of honour and power; but the beginning proceeds from unity.14    [Here is interpolated]: “And the primacy is given to Peter, that there might be shown one Church of Christ and one See; and they are all shepherds, and the Rock is one, which is fed by all the apostles with unanimous consent.” This passage, as well as the one a few lines before, is beyond all question spurious. Which one Church, also, the Holy Spirit in the Song of Songs designated in the person of our Lord, and says, “My dove, my spotless one, is but one. She is the only one of her mother, elect of her that bare her.”15    Cant. vi. 9. Does he who does not hold this unity of the Church think that he holds the faith? Does he who strives against and resists the Church16    [Here is interpolated]: “Who deserts the chair of Peter, upon whom the Church is founded.” This passage also is undoubtedly spurious. trust that he is in the Church, when moreover the blessed Apostle Paul teaches the same thing, and sets forth the sacrament of unity, saying, “There is one body and one spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God?”17    Eph. iv. 4.

IV. Quae si quis consideret et examinet, tractatu longo atque argumentis opus non est. Probatio est ad fidem facilis compendio veritatis. Loquitur Dominus ad Petrum: Ego tibi dico, inquit, quia tu es Petrus, et 0499Asuper hancpetram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam, et portae inferorum non vincent eam. Et tibidabo clavesregni coelorum: et quaeligaveris super terram, erunt ligata et in coelis; et quaecumque solveris super terram, erunt soluta et in coelis (Matth. XVI, 18, 19). Et iterum eidem post resurrectionem suam dicit: Pasce oves meas (Joan. XXI, 15). Super illum unum aedificat Ecclesiam suam, et illi pascendas mandat oves suas . Et quamvis Apostolis omnibus post resurrectionem suam parem potestatem tribuat et dicat, Sicut misit me Pater, et ego mitto vos: accipite Spiritum sanctum; si cujusremiseritis peccata, remittentur illi, si cujus tenueritis, tenebuntur (Joan. XX, 21-23), tamen, ut unitatem manifestaret, unam cathedram constituit , unitatis ejusdem originem ab uno incipientem 0500A sua auctoritate disposuit. Hoc erant utique et caeteri Apostoli quod fuit Petrus , pari consortio praediti et honoris et potestatis, sed exordium ab unitate proficiscitur , et primatus Petro datur , ut una Christi Ecclesia et cathedra una monstretur . Et pastores sunt omnes, et grex unus ostenditur, qui ab Apostolis omnibus unanimi consensione pascatur, ut Ecclesia Christi una monstretur. Quam unam Ecclesiam etiam in Cantico canticorum Spiritus sanctus ex persona Domini designat et dicit: Una est columba mea, perfecta mea, una est matri suae, electa genitrici suae (Cant. VI, 9). Hanc Ecclesiae unitiatem qui non tenet, tenere se fidem credit? Qui Ecclesiae renititur et resistit, qui cathedram Petri, super quem fundata est Ecclesia, deserit , in Ecclesia se 0501A esse confidit? quando et beatus apostolus Paulus hoc idem doceat et sacramentum unitatis ostendat dicens: Unum corpus et unus spiritus, una spes vocationis vestrae, unus Dominus, una fides, unum Baptisma, unus Deus (Ephes. IV, 4-6).