Chapter 23.—25. In conclusion, the Testament is said to have been given to the flames by certain men in the time of persecution. Now let its lessons be read, from whatever source it has been brought to light. Certainly in the beginning of the promises of the Testator this is found to have been said to Abraham: "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;"1959
and this saying is truthfully
interpreted by the
apostle: "To thy
seed," he says, "which is
Christ."
1960
No betrayal on the part of any man has made the
promises of
God of none effect. Hold
communion with all the
nations of the
earth, and then you may
boast that you have
preserved the Testament from the
destruction of the
flames. But if you will not do so, which party is the rather to be believed to have insisted on the burning of the Testament,
save that which will not assent to its teaching when it is brought to
light? For how much more certainly, without any
sacrilegious rashness, can he be held to have joined the
company of
traditors who now
persecutes with his
tongue the Testament which they are said to have
persecuted with the
flames! You charge us with the persecution: the true
wheat of the
Lord answers you, "Either it was done justly, or it was done by the
chaff that was among us." What have you to say to this? You object that we have no
baptism: the same true
wheat of the
Lord answers you, that the form of the sacrament even
within the
Church fails to
profit some, as it did no good to
Simon Magus when he was
baptized, much more it
fails to
profit those who are without. Yet that
baptism remains in them when they depart, is
proved from this, that it is not restored to them when they return. Never, therefore, except by the greatest shamelessness, will you be able to
cry out against that
wheat, or to call them false
prophets clad in
sheep’s
clothing, whilst inwardly they are ravening
wolves; since
either they do not know the wicked in the unity of the Catholic Church, or for the sake of unity bear with those whom they know.
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