I therefore, yet not I, but the love of Jesus Christ, " en-
treat you that ye all speak the same thing, and that there
be no divisions among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined
together in the same mind, and in the same judgment." ^
For there are some vain talkers ^ and deceivers, not
Christians, but Christ-betrayers, ^ bearing about the name
of Christ in deceit, and " corrupting the word " '° of the
Gospel ; while they intermix the poison of their deceit with
their persuasive talk," as if they mingled aconite with
sweet wine, that so he who drinks, being deceived in his
taste by the very great sweetness of the draught, may
incautiously meet with his death. One of the ancients
gives us this advice, " Let no man be called good who
mixes good with evil." '5 For they speak of Christ,
not that they may preach Christ, but that they may. re-
ject Christ ; and they speak '^ of the law, not that they
may establish the law, but that they may proclaim things
contrary to it. For they alienate Christ from the Father,
and the law from Christ. They also calumniate His be-
ing born of the Virgin; they are ashamed of His cross;
they deny His passion; and they do not believe His resur-
rection. They introduce God as a Being unknown ;
they suppose Christ to be unbegotten ; and as to the
Spirit, they do not admit that He exists. Some of them
say that the Son is a mere man, and that the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit are but the same person, and that the
creation is the work of God, not by Christ, but by some
other strange power.