Chapter XLVI.—Let Us Cleave to the Righteous:  Your Strife is Pernicious.

Such examples, therefore, brethren, it is right that we should follow;247    Literally, “to such examples it is right that we should cleave.” since it is written, “Cleave to the holy, for those that cleave to them shall [themselves] be made holy.”248    Not found in Scripture.  And again, in another place, [the Scripture] saith, “With a harmless man thou shalt prove249    Literally, “be.” thyself harmless, and with an elect man thou shalt be elect, and with a perverse man thou shalt show250    Or, “thou wilt overthrow.” thyself perverse.”251    Ps. xviii. 25, 26.  Let us cleave, therefore, to the innocent and righteous, since these are the elect of God.  Why are there strifes, and tumults, and divisions, and schisms, and wars252    Or, “war.”  Comp. James iv. 1. among you?  Have we not [all] one God and one Christ?  Is there not one Spirit of grace poured out upon us?  And have we not one calling in Christ?253    Comp. Eph. iv. 4–6.  Why do we divide and tear in pieces the members of Christ, and raise up strife against our own body, and have reached such a height of madness as to forget that “we are members one of another?”254    Rom. xii. 5.  Remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, how255    This clause is wanting in the text. He said, “Woe to that man [by whom256    This clause is wanting in the text. offences come]!  It were better for him that he had never been born, than that he should cast a stumbling-block before one of my elect.  Yea, it were better for him that a millstone should be hung about [his neck], and he should be sunk in the depths of the sea, than that he should cast a stumbling-block before one of my little ones.”257    Comp. Matt. xviii. 6, xxvi. 24; Mark ix. 42; Luke xvii. 2.  Your schism has subverted [the faith of] many, has discouraged many, has given rise to doubt in many, and has caused grief to us all.  And still your sedition continueth.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΜϚ’. Τοιούτοις οὖν ὑποδείγμασιν κολληθῆναι καὶ ἡμᾶς δεῖ, ἀδελφοί. Γέγραπται γάρ· «Κολλᾶσθε τοῖς ἁγίοις, ὅτι οἱ κολλώμενοι αὐτοῖς ἁγιασθήσονται.» Καὶ πάλιν ἐν ἑτέρῳ τόπῳ λέγει· «Μετὰ ἀνδρὸς ἀθώου ἀθῷος ἔσῃ, καὶ μετὰ ἐκλεκτοῦ ἐκλεκτὸς ἔσῃ, καὶ μετὰ στρεβλοῦ διαστρέψεις.» Κολληθῶμεν οὖν τοῖς ἀθώοις καὶ δικαίοις· εἰσὶν δὲ οὗτοι ἐκλεκτοὶ τοῦ θεοῦ. Ἱνατί ἔρεις καὶ θυμοὶ καὶ διχοστασίαι καὶ σχίσματα πόλεμός τε ἐν ὑμῖν; Ἢ οὐχὶ ἕνα θεὸν ἔχομεν καὶ ἕνα Χριστὸν καὶ ἓν πνεῦμα τῆς χάριτος τὸ ἐκχυθὲν ἐφ' ἡμᾶς, καὶ μία κλῆσις ἐν Χριστῷ; Ἱνατί διέλκομεν καὶ διασπῶμεν τὰ μέλη τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ στασιάζομεν πρὸς τὸ σῶμα τὸ ἴδιον καὶ εἰς τοσαύτην ἀπόνοιαν ἐρχόμεθα, ὥστε ἐπιλαθέσθαι ἡμᾶς, ὅτι μέλη ἐσμὲν ἀλλήλων; Μνήσθητε τῶν λόγων Ἰησοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν. Eἶπεν γάρ· «Oὐαὶ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐκείνῳ· καλὸν ἦν αὐτῷ, εἰ οὐκ ἐγεννήθη, ἢ ἕνα τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν μου σκανδαλίσαι· κρεῖττον ἦν αὐτῷ περιτεθῆναι μύλον καὶ καταποντισθῆναι εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, ἢ ἕνα τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν μου διαστρέψαι.» Τὸ σχίσμα ὑμῶν πολλοὺς διέστρεψεν, πολλοὺς εἰς ἀθυμίαν ἔβαλεν, πολλοὺς εἰς δισταγμόν, τοὺς πάντας ἡμᾶς εἰς λύπην· καὶ ἐπίμονος ὑμῶν ἐστὶν ἡ στάσις.