1 Clement 46

1Therefore, brothers, we too must attach ourselves to such examples.

2For it is written, “Cling to the holy ones, because those who cling to them will be made holy.”

3And again, in another place it says, “With an innocent man you will be innocent, and with an elect one you will be elect, and with a crooked one you will become twisted.”

4Let us therefore join ourselves to the innocent and righteous, for these are God’s chosen ones.

5Why are there quarrels and anger and divisions and schisms and even war among you?

6Or do we not have one God and one Messiah and one Spirit of grace poured out upon us, and one calling in Messiah?

7Why do we pull apart and tear to pieces the members of Messiah, and rise in revolt against our own body, and come to such a pitch of madness that we forget that we are members of one another? Remember the words of Jesus our Lord.

8For he said, “Woe to that man. It would have been good for him if he had not been born, rather than to cause one of my chosen ones to stumble. It would have been better for him to have a millstone hung around him and to be sunk into the sea, than to lead one of my chosen ones astray.”

9Your schism has turned many aside, cast many into discouragement, many into doubt, and all of us into grief; and your factional strife persists.