A TREATISE AGAINST NOVATIAN. 431 dogs, beware of evilworkers,"1he doesnot ceasestirringup his frenzywith barkings,afterthe manner of wolves seeking the gloomy darkness,where with his brutalcrueltyhe may easilyrend in hisdark caves the sheep snatched away from the Shepherd. Certainlyhe declaresthathe and hisfriends whom he collectsaregold. Nor do we doubt but thatdeserters of the church who have become apostatescouldnow easilybe converted intogold,but itmust be thatgold inwhich the first sinsof the peopleof Israelwere designated.But thegoldand silvervesselswhich were wrested from the Egyptians con tinue in theLord'spower,thatis,in Christ'schurch; inwhich house ifthou hadstcontinued,Novatian,thou hadstperchance been alsoa preciousvessel; but now thou neitherperceivest nor complainestthatthou artchanged intochaffand straw. 2. Why, therefore,shouldstthou be liftedup with vain things? Thou wiltgain lossratherthan profit.Why, from the very factthatthou artbecome poorer,believestthou thy selfrich? Hear in theApocalypse theLord'svoicerebuking thee with righteousreproaches: " Thou sayest,"saysHe, " I am rich,and increasedwith goods,and have need of nothing; and knowest not thatthou artwretched,and miserable,and blind,and poor,and naked."2 Let him thinkforcertainthat he possessestheserichesof poverty,whoever he may be,that, forsaking the church of Christ,with his darkened reason does not shrink from being turned to thoserash leadersof schisms and authorsof dissension,whom John callsAnti christs,whom the Evangelistlikensto chaff,whom the Lord Christ characterizesas thievesand robbers,as He Himself declaresin the Gospel,saying that" he who enterethnot by the door into the sheep-fold,but goeth down by some other way, the same is a thiefand a robber."3 Moreover, in the same He also says," All who have come are thievesand robbers."4 Who are such but the desertersof the faith,and the transgressorsof God's church,who striveagainstGod's ordinance?— whom the Holy Spiritrightlyrebukes by the prophet,saying," Ye have takencounsel,but not by me ; and [ye have made] a convention,but not by my Spirit,to add 1 Phil.iii.2. 2 Rev.iii.17. 3 Johnx.1. * Johnx.8.