Now I write these things unto you, not that I know there are any such persons among you; nay, indeed I hope that God will never permit any such report to reach my ears, He “who spared not His Son for the sake of His holy church.”[1036] But foreseeing the snares of the wicked one, I arm you beforehand by my admonitions, as my beloved and faithful children in Christ, furnishing you with the means of protection[1037] against the deadly disease of unruly men, by which do ye flee from the disease[1038] [referred to] by the good-will of Christ our Lord. Do ye therefore, clothing[1039] yourselves with meekness, become the imitators of His sufferings, and of His love, wherewith[1040] He loved us when He gave Himself a ransom[1041] for us, that He might cleanse us by His blood from our old ungodliness, and bestow life on us when we were almost on the point of perishing through the depravity that was in us. Let no one of you, therefore, cherish any grudge against his neighbour. For says our Lord, “Forgive, and it shall be forgiven unto you.”[1042] Give no occasion to the Gentiles, lest “by means of a few foolish men the word and doctrine [of Christ] be blasphemed.”[1043] For says the prophet, as in the person of God, “Woe to him by whom my name is blasphemed among the Gentiles.”[1044] CHAP. IX.—_Reference to the history of Christ._ SHORTER. Stop your ears, therefore, when any one speaks to you at variance with[1045] Jesus Christ, who was descended from David, and was also of Mary; who was truly born, and did eat and drink. He was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate; He was truly crucified, and [truly] died, in the sight of beings in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth. He was also truly raised from the dead, His Father quickening Him, even as after the same manner His Father will so raise up us who believe in Him by Christ Jesus, apart from whom we do not possess the true life. LONGER.