Chapter XVI.--Apostolic Sanction to This Exclusion of Heretics from the Use of the Scriptures. Heretics, According to the Apostle, are Not to Be Disputed With, But to Be Admonished.

I might be thought to have laid down this position to remedy distrust in my case, ¹ or from a desire of entering on the contest ² in some other way, were there not reasons on my side, especially this, that our faith owes deference ³ to the apostle, who forbids us to enter on "questions," or to lend our ears to new-fangled statements, ⁴ or to consort with a heretic "after the first and second admonition," ⁵ not, (be it observed,) after discussion. Discussion he has inhibited in this way, by designating admonition as the purpose of dealing with a heretic, and the first one too, because he is not a Christian; in order that he might not, after the manner of a Christian, seem to require correction again and again, and "before two or three witnesses," ⁶ seeing that he ought to be corrected, for the very reason that he is not to be disputed with; and in the next place, because a controversy over the Scriptures can, clearly, ⁷ produce no other effect than help to upset either the stomach or the brain.