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

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 couch. She keeps us for God. She appoints the sons whom she has born for the kingdom. Whoever is separated from the Church and is joined to an adulteress, is separated from the promises of the Church; nor can he who forsakes the Church of Christ attain to the rewards of Christ. He is a stranger; he is profane; he is an enemy. He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother. If any one could escape who was outside the ark of Noah, then he also may escape who shall be outside of the Church. The Lord warns, saying, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who gathereth not with me scattereth.”20    Matt. xii. 30. He who breaks the peace and the concord of Christ, does so in opposition to Christ; he who gathereth elsewhere than in the Church, scatters the Church of Christ. The Lord says, “I and the Father are one;”21    John x. 30. and again it is written of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, “And these three are one.”22    1 John v. 7. And does any one believe that this unity which thus comes from the divine strength and coheres in celestial sacraments, can be divided in the Church, and can be separated by the parting asunder of opposing wills? He who does not hold this unity does not hold God’s law, does not hold the faith of the Father and the Son, does not hold life and salvation.

VI. Adulterari non potest sponsa Christi, incorrupta 0502B est et pudica. Unam domum novit, unius cubiculi 0503A sanctitatem casto pudore custodit. Haec nos Deo servat, haec filios regno quos generavit assignat. Quisquis ab Ecclesia segregatus, adulterae jungitur, a promissis Ecclesiae separatur: nec perveniet ad Christi praemia, qui relinquit Ecclesiam Christi. Alienus est, profanus est, hostis est. Habere jam non potest Deum patrem, qui Ecclesiam non habet matrem. Si potuit evadere quisquam qui extra arcam Noe fuit, et qui extra Ecclesiam foris fuerit evadit. Monet Dominus et dicit: Qui non est mecum, adversus me est; et qui non mecum colligit, spargit (Matth. XII, 30). Qui pacem Christi et concordiam rumpit, adversus Christum facit. Qui alibi praeter Ecclesiam colligit Christi Ecclesiam spargit. Dicit Dominus: Ego et 0504APater unum sumus (Joan. X, 30). Et iterum de Patre et Filio et Spiritu sancto scriptum est: Et hi tres unum sunt (I Joan. V, 7). Et quisquam credit hanc unitatem de divina firmitate venientem, sacramentis coelestibus cohaerentem, scindi in Ecclesia posse et voluntatum collidentium divortio separari? Hanc unitatem qui non tenet, Dei legem non tenet, non tenet Patris et Filii fidem, vitam non tenet et salutem .