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

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 my name, there am I in the midst of them.”37    Matt. xviii. 20. Corrupters and false interpreters of the Gospel quote the last words, and lay aside the former ones, remembering part, and craftily suppressing part: as they themselves are separated from the Church, so they cut off the substance of one section. For the Lord, when He would urge unanimity and peace upon His disciples, said, “I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth touching anything that ye shall ask, it shall be given you by my Father which is in heaven. For wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, I am with them;”38    Matt. xviii. 19, 20. [Compare John xx. 26–29.] showing that most is given, not to the multitude, but to the unanimity of those that pray. “If,” He says, “two of you shall agree on earth:” He placed agreement first; He has made the concord of peace a prerequisite; He taught that we should agree firmly and faithfully. But how can he agree with any one who does not agree with the body of the Church itself, and with the universal brotherhood? How can two or three be assembled together in Christ’s name, who, it is evident, are separated from Christ and from His Gospel? For we have not withdrawn from them, but they from us; and since heresies and schisms have risen subsequently, from their establishment for themselves of diverse places of worship, they have forsaken the Head and Source of the truth. But the Lord speaks concerning His Church, and to those also who are in the Church He speaks, that if they are in agreement, if according to what He commanded and admonished, although only two or three gathered together with unanimity should pray—though they be only two or three—they may obtain from the majesty of God what they ask. “Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, I,” says He, “am with them;” that is, with the simple and peaceable—with those who fear God and keep God’s commandments. With these, although only two or three, He said that He was, in the same manner as He was with the three youths in the fiery furnace; and because they abode towards God in simplicity, and in unanimity among themselves, He animated them, in the midst of the surrounding flames, with the breath of dew: in the way in which, with the two apostles shut up in prison, because they were simple-minded and of one mind, He Himself was present; He Himself, having loosed the bolts of the dungeon, placed them again in the market-place, that they might declare to the multitude the word which they faithfully preached. When, therefore, in His commandments He lays it down, and says, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am with them,” He does not divide men from the Church, seeing that He Himself ordained and made the Church; but rebuking the faithless for their discord, and commending peace by His word to the faithful, He shows that He is rather with two or three who pray with one mind, than with a great many who differ, and that more can be obtained by the discordant prayer of a few, than by the discordant supplication of many.

XII. Nec se quidam vana interpretatione decipiant quod dixerit Dominus: Ubicumque fuerint duo aut tres collecti in nomine meo, ego cum eis sum (Matth. XVIII, 19, 20). Corruptores Evangelii atque interpretes falsi extrema ponunt et superiora praetereunt, partis memores, et partem subdole comprimentes; ut ipsi ab Ecclesia scissi sunt, ita capituli unius sententiam scindunt: Dominus enim, cum discipulis suis unanimitatem suaderet et pacem: Dico, inquit, vobis 0508Cquoniam, si duobus ex vobis convenerit in terra, de omni re quacumque petieritis, continget vobis a Patre meo qui in coelis est. Ubicumque enim fuerint duo aut tres collecti in nomine meo, ego cum eis sum (Ibid.), ostendens non multitudini, sed unanimitati deprecantium plurimum tribui. Si duobus, inquit, ex vobis convenerit in terra; unanimitatem prius posuit, concordiam pacis 0509A ante praemisit, ut conveniat nobis fideliter et firmiter docuit. Quomodo autem potest ei cum aliquo convenire cui cum corpore ipsius Ecclesiae et cum universa fraternitate non convenit? quomodo possunt duo aut tres in nomine Christi colligi quos constat a Christo et ab ejus Evangelio separari? Non enim nos ab illis, sed illi a nobis recesserunt. Et cum haereses et schismata postmodum nata sint, dum conventicula sibi diversa constituunt, veritatis caput atque originem reliquerunt. Dominus autem de Ecclesia sua loquitur, et ad hos qui sunt in Ecclesia loquitur, ut si ipsi concordes fuerint, si, secundum quod mandavit et monuit, duo aut tres licet, collecti unanimiter oraverint, duo aut tres licet sint, impetrare possint de Dei majestate quod postulant. Ubicumque 0509Bfuerint duo aut tres collecti in nomine meo, ego, inquit, cum eis sum, cum simplicibus scilicet atque pacatis , cum Deum timentibus et Dei praecepta servantibus. Cum his duobus vel tribus licet esse se dixit, quomodo et cum tribus pueris in camino ignis fuit (Dan. III), et quia in Deum simplices atque inter se unanimes permanebant, flammis ambientibus medios spiritu roris animavit. Quomodo Apostolis duobus in custodia clausis (Act. V), quia simplices, quia unanimes erant, ipse adfuit, ipse, resolutis carceris claustris, ut verbum quod fideliter praedicabant multitudini traderent, ad forum rursus imposuit. Quando ergo in praeceptis suis ponit et dicit: Ubi fuerint duo aut tres collecti in nomine meo, egocum eis sum, non homines ab Ecclesia dividit qui instituit et fecit Ecclesiam, sed 0509C exprobrans discordiam perfidis, et fidelibus pacem sua voce commendans, ostendit magis esse secum duobus aut tribus unanimiter orantibus quam cum dissidentibus plurimis, plusque impetrari posse paucorum concordi prece quam discordiosa oratione multorum .