Thus many do not eat flesh, and yet do not superstitiously regard it as unclean. And so the same people who abstain when in health take it when unwell without any fear, if it is required as a cure. When some foolishly refuse it, they counsel them as brothers not to let a silly superstition make them weaker instead of making them holier. Charity is principally attended to. There is charity in their choice of diet, charity in their speech, charity in their dress, charity in their looks.
Charity is the point where they meet, and the plan by which they act.
To transgress against charity is thought criminal, like transgressing against God. The ascetics of that age with whose history we are acquainted were not of this type. 7 See title of the Epistle of Manich us, Contra Faust . This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Calvin College. Last updated on September 11, 2000.