A TREATISE AGAINST NOVATIAN. 435 which! could not any further climb upon the asp and the basilisk,and treadupon the dragon and the lion. For this power the Lord gave to His disciples,as He says in the Gospel : u Lo, I giveunto you power totreadon allthepower of the enemy, and upon serpentsand scorpions;and they shallnot harm you."1 When, therefore,theseso many and such malignant spiritsare attackingand bestirringthem selvesforthe destructionof the lapsed,a way of salvationis provided forthe wounded, thatwith whatever strengththey have they may drag themselveswith theirwhole body, and betake themselvestotheircamp, whereinbeingreceived,they may heal theirwounds with spiritualmedicaments. Thus the dove received,afterthe interventionof a few days, is again sentforthfrom the ark ; and returning,not onlyshows its firm footsteps,but moreover the signsof itspeace and victory,in those oliveleaveswhich it bore in itsmouth. Therefore that twofold sending forth shows to us a twofold trialof persecution:the first,in which they who have lapsed have fallenconquered; the second,in which they who have fallenhave come out conquerors. For to none of us isit doubtful or uncertain,beloved brethren,that they who in the firststruggle— that is,in the Decian persecution— were wounded ; afterwards,that is in the second encounter,per severed so bravely,that,despisingthe edictsof the princes of the world,2they maintained that unconquered; in that they did not fear,afterthe example of the good Shepherd, to give up theirlife,and to shed theirblood,and not to shrink from any barbarityof the raging tyrant. 7. Behold how glorious,how dear to the Lord, are the people whom these schismaticsdo not shrink from calling u wood, hay, stubble,"8— the equalsof whom, thatis,those who are even stillplaced in the same guiltof theirlapse, they presume must not be admittedtorepentance; from that utterance of the Lord, where He says,"Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I deny before my Father which isin heaven."4 Oh grief! why do they striveagainst 1 Luke x.19. a Scil.GalluaandVolusianus(Parcel.). 8 1 Cor.iii.12. 4Matt.x.33.