3. Not that I think it is absolutely our
duty to cut ourselves off from those who do not receive the faith, but
rather to have regard to them in accordance with the old law of love,
and to write to them with one consent, giving them all exhortation with
pity, and to propose to them the faith of the fathers, and invite them
to union. If we succeed we should be united in communion with
them; if we fail we must be content with one another and purge our
conduct of this uncertain spirit, restoring the evangelical and simple
conversation followed by those who accepted the Word from the
beginning. “They,” it is said, “were of one
heart and of one soul.”
Acts iv. 32. If
they obey you, this will be best; if not, recognise the real authors
of the war, and, for the future do not write me any more letters
about reconciliation.