Not that I know there is anything of this kind among you; but I put you on your guard, inasmuch as I love you greatly, and foresee the snares of the devil. Wherefore, clothing⁷⁷⁵

775 Literally, “taking up.”

776 Or, “renew yourselves.”

777 Isa. lii. 5.

Now I write these things unto you, not that I know there are any such persons among you; nay, indeed I hope that God will never permit any such report to reach my ears, He “who spared not His Son for the sake of His holy Church.”⁷⁷⁸

778 Rom. viii. 32.

But foreseeing the snares of the wicked one, I arm you beforehand by my admonitions, as my beloved and faithful children in Christ, furnishing you with the means of protection⁷⁷⁹

779 Literally, “making you drink beforehand what will preserve you.”

against the deadly disease of unruly men, by which do ye flee from the disease⁷⁸⁰

780 Or, “from which disease.”

[referred to] by the good-will of Christ our Lord. Do ye therefore, clothing⁷⁸¹

781 Literally, “taking up.”

yourselves with meekness, become the imitators of His sufferings, and of His love, wherewith⁷⁸²

782 Comp. Eph. ii. 4.

He loved us when He gave Himself a ransom⁷⁸³

783 Comp. 1 Tim. ii. 6.

for us, that He might cleanse us by His blood from our old ungodliness, and bestow life on us when we were almost on the point of perishing through the depravity that was in us. Let no one of you, therefore, cherish any grudge against his neighbour. For says our Lord, “Forgive, and it shall be forgiven unto you.”⁷⁸⁴

784 Matt. vi. 14.

Give no occasion to the Gentiles, lest “by means of a few foolish men the word and doctrine [of Christ] be blasphemed.”⁷⁸⁵

785 1 Tim. vi. 1; Tit. ii. 5.

For says the prophet, as in the person of God, “Woe to him by whom my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles.”⁷⁸⁶

786 Isa. lii. 5.

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