Letters of Ignatius 92

1If you love good students, that is no credit to you. Rather, bring the more pernicious into submission through gentleness. Not all wounds are healed by the same ointment. Soothe sharp pains with compresses.

2Be prudent as the serpent in all things and always guileless as the dove. You are made of flesh and spirit so that you may accommodate the things visible before your eyes; and as for the invisible things, pray that they may be revealed to you, so that you may lack nothing but abound in every spiritual gift.

3The season requires you, as pilots require winds or as a storm-tossed sailor requires a harbor, so that it may attain to God. Be sober, as God’s athlete. The prize is incorruption and eternal life, of which you too are persuaded. In all things I am devoted to you—I and my bonds, which you cherished.