Irenaeus of Lyons · a new plain-English translation from the original language
The shepherds to whom the apostles committed the churches, who all hold one and the same doctrine of salvation, must be heeded; heretics, on the other hand, must be shunned, and we must be sound-minded regarding the mysteries of the faith. For these men come long after, in point of time, the bishops into whose hands the apostles delivered the churches, a matter we have laid out with full care in the third book. The aforesaid heretics, then, since they are blind to the truth, are of necessity compelled to wander off, one down this path and another down that; and because of this the tracks of their teaching are scattered inconsistently and incoherently. But the path of those who belong to the Church goes around the whole world, since it holds a firm tradition from the apostles, and lets us perceive that a single, identical faith belongs to all, seeing that every believer alike acknowledges one selfsame God the Father, and holds the identical arrangement concerning the Son of God's becoming flesh, and recognizes the identical gift of the Spirit, and practice the same commandments, and keep the same form of order with respect to the Church, and await the same coming of the Lord, and hold to the same salvation of the whole human being, that is, of both soul and body. And what the Church proclaims stands true and firm, seeing that a single, unvarying road to salvation is displayed by it across the whole earth. For the light of God has been committed to the Church's keeping, and hence God's wisdom, through which he brings all men to safety, rings out at her going forth and cries aloud in her streets — while Valentinus and Marcion and the rest are proclaimed on the tops of the walls and speak with confidence at the gates of cities. For the Church everywhere preaches the truth, and it is the seven-branched lamp that bears the light of Christ. Those, then, who abandon the preaching of the Church accuse the ignorance of the holy presbyters, not considering how much more valuable a devout simple believer is than a blasphemous and shameless sophist. Such are all the heretics, and all who think they have discovered something more than the truth, following the paths already described, walking their way in various, manifold, and feeble fashion, never holding the same opinions about the same things, but, like blind men led by the blind, they will justly fall into the pit of hidden ignorance that lies concealed beneath them, always seeking and never finding the truth. It is fitting, therefore, to flee their opinions, and to watch closely lest we be troubled by them; and to take refuge in the Church, and to be brought up in her bosom, and to be nourished by the Scriptures of the Lord. For the Church stands in this world as a paradise that has been set down within it. "Of every tree of the paradise you shall eat," says the Spirit of God, that is, eat of every scripture of the Lord; but do not eat with a proud mind, nor touch any heretical dissension. For such people claim to have knowledge of good and evil, and against the God who made them they hurl their impious opinions. They think, then, above the measure of the dispensation given to them. Hence the Apostle likewise declares, "Set your mind on nothing loftier than sound measure allows, but keep your wisdom within the bounds of sobriety," so that, refusing to taste that knowledge which oversteps due measure, we might not find ourselves driven from the paradise of life, into which the Lord brings those who obey his preaching, recapitulating in himself all things that are in the heavens and that are on earth — but the things in the heavens are spiritual, while the dispensation with regard to the things on earth is according to man. He therefore recapitulated in himself these things, uniting man to the Spirit, and placing the Spirit in man; he himself came to be the head over the Spirit, and made the Spirit the governing head over man. It is through him that we have sight, hearing, and speech.