the path, have turned aside elsewhere, and have become the most violent enemies of God and of his disciples.
You know, dearly-beloved, that Christ’s disciples, who held converse with him, withdrew, and refused to follow him farther. Yet Christ came to separate men from one another, for he has said—“I have come to separate the son from his father, and the daughter from her mother.” And also—“You shall be delivered up to men, and persecuted for my name’s sake.” And in order that we may not be shaken by this abandonment of his disciples, or frightened by persecution or death, our Saviour added—“A hair of your heads shall not fall without the will of God.” If, then, a single hair cannot perish, how can believers themselves perish? Wherefore, dearly-beloved, preserve a real faith and a sure hope; remain steadfast in the love of God’s Word; listen with the most ardent affection to those whom the Saviour has sent you, in order that they may preach his Gospel with constancy, and resist the devouring wolves and false prophets of whom Christ has spoken, when he said—“False prophets will come, and will lead astray many.” Christ teaches believers to beware of them, and to recognise them by their works, which are avarice, simony, contempt of God’s Word, persecution of believers, calumny, zeal for human traditions, &c. These men, in fact, wear sheep’s clothing: they assume the externals of the Christian, and, as they are, within, devouring wolves, they rend and devour Christ’s flock. It is of such that
