I therefore exhort you in the Lord to receive with all tenderness those that repent and return to the unity of the Church, that through your kindness and forbearance they may recover
And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil.
What he says amounts to this. Perhaps there will be a reformation. Perhaps! For it is uncertain. So that we ought to withdraw only from those, of whom we can show plainly, and concerning whom we are fully persuaded, that whatever be done, they will not be reformed. In meekness, he says. In this temper, you see, we ought to address ourselves to those who are willing to learn, and never cease from conversing with them till we have come to the demonstration.
Who are taken captive by him at his will. It is truly said, Who are taken captive, for meanwhile they float in error. Observe here how he teaches to be humble-minded. He has not said, if perhaps you should be able, but, if perhaps God should grant them a recovery; if anything be done, therefore, all is of the Lord. Thou plantest, you water but He sows and makes it produce fruit. Let us not therefore be so affected, as if we ourselves wrought the persuasion, even i...
