or introduction into doctrine
of what is false, whether it pertains to works or faith. The Word of
God, faith and conscience are very delicate things. The old proverb
says: "Non patitur jocum fama, fides, oculus;"--Good reputation, faith
and the eye--these three will bear no jest.

Just as good wine or precious medicines are corrupted by a single drop
of poison or other impurity, and the purer they are, the more readily
defiled and poisoned; so, also, God's Word and his cause will bear
absolutely no alloy. God's truth must be perfectly pure and clear, or
else, it is corrupt and unprofitable. And the worst feature of the
matter is, the sway and intrenchment of evil is so strong that it
cannot be removed; just as leaven, however small the quantity, added
to the lump of dough, soon penetrates and sours the whole lump, while
it is impossible to arrest its influence or once more to sweeten the
dough.

8. The proposal of certain wise minds to mediate, and effect a
compromise, between us and our opponents of the Papacy, is wrong and
useless. They would permit preaching of the Gospel but at the same
time retain the Papistical abuses, advocating that these errors be not
all censured and rejected, because of the weak; and that for the sake
of peace and unity we should somehow moderate and restrict our
demands, each party being ready to yield to the other and patiently
bear with it. While in such case no perfect purity can be claimed to
exist, the situation can be made endurable if discretion is used and
trouble is taken to explain.

Nay, not so! For, as you hear, Paul would not mix even a small
quantity of leaven with the pure lump, and God himself has urgently
forbidden it. The slight alloy would thoroughly penetrate and corrupt
the whole. Where human additions are made to the Gospel doctrine in
but a single point, the injury is done; truth is obscured and souls
are led astray. Therefore, such mixture, such patchwork, in doctrine
is not to be tolerated. As Christ teaches (Mt 9, 16), we must not put
new cloth upon an old garment.

9. Nor may we in our works and in our daily life tolerate the yielding
to the wantonness of the flesh and at the same time boast the Gospel
of Christ, as did the Corinthians, who stirred up among themselves
divisions and disorder, even to the extent of one marrying his
stepmother. In such matters as these, Paul says, a little leaven
leavens and ruins the whole lump--the entire Christian life.

Th