38. The Lord said indeed to Mary Magdalene, “Touch Me not,” S. John xx. 17. but He Who was pure did not say, “because I am pure.” Do you, Novatian, dare to call yourself pure, whilst, even if you were pure as regards your acts, you would be made impure by this saying alone? Isaiah says: “O wretched that I am, and pricked to the heart; for that being a man, and having unclean lips, I dwell also in the midst of a people having unclean lips,” Isa. vi. 5. and do you say, “I am clean,” when, as it is written, not even an infant of a day old is pure? Job xiv. 4 [LXX.]. David says, “And cleanse me from my sin,” Ps. li. [l.] 2. whom for his tender heart the grace of God often cleansed; are you pure who are so unrighteous as to have no tenderness, as to see the mote in your brother’s eye, but not to consider the beam which is in your own eye? For with God no one who is unjust is pure. And what is more unjust than to desire to have your sins forgiven you, and yet yourself to think that he who entreats you ought not to be forgiven? What is more unjust than to justify yourself in that wherein you condemn another, whilst you yourself are committing worse offences?