Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Series 2 - The Still Small ...

Consolatory, to the clergy of Colonia.
his good gifts to others, also to confine his favour to you, and to limit it to your own city.
A man who puts a fence round a spring, and spoils the outpour of the waters, is not free
from the disease of envy, and it is just the same with him who tries to prevent the further
flow of abundant teaching. Let him have some care for Nicopolis too, and let your interests
be added to his anxieties there. He has received an addition of labour, but there is no diminution
in his diligence on your behalf. I am really distressed at one thing that you have
said, which seems to me quite extravagant, namely, that if you cannot obtain your object,
you will betake yourselves to the tribunals, and put the matter into the hands of men, the
great object of whose prayers is the overthrow of the Churches. Take heed lest men, carried
away by unwise passions, persuade you, to your hurt, to put in any plea before the courts,
and so some catastrophe may ensue, and the weight of the result fall upon the heads of those
who have occasioned it. Take my advice. It is offered you in a fatherly spirit. Consent to
the arrangement with the very God-beloved bishops, which has been made in accordance
with God’s will. Wait for my arrival. When I am with you, with God’s help, I will give you
in person all the exhortations which it has been impossible for me to express in my letter,
and will do my utmost to give you all possible consolation, not by word but in deed.
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