The Ways of Heretics

Cum sit igitur tale illorum argumentum, quod neque prophetae preadicaverunt, neque Dominus docuit, neque apostoli tradiderunt, quod abundantius gloriantur plus quam caeteri cognovisse, de iis quae non sunt scripta legentes, et, quod solet dici, de arena resticulus nectere affectantes, fide digne aptare conantur iis quae dicta sunt, vel parabolas Dominicas, vel dictiones propheticas aut sermones apostolicos, ut figmentum illorum non sine teste esse videatur; ordinem quidem et textum Scripturam supergredientes, et, quantum in ipsis est, solventes membra veritatis. Transferunt autem, et transfigunt, et alterum ex altero facientes, seducunt multos, ex iis, quae aptant ex Dominicis eloquiis, male composito phantasmati. Quomodo si quis regis imaginem bonam, fabricatam diligenter ex gemmis pretiosis a sapiente artifice, solvens subiacentem hominis figuram, transferat gemmas illas, et reformans faciat ex iis formam canis, vel vulpeculae, et hanc male dispositam, dehinc confirmat et dicat, hanc esse regis illam imaginem bonam, quam sapiens artifex fabricavit, ostendens gemmas, quae bene quidem a primo artifie in regis imaginene compositae erant, male vero a posteriore in canis figuram translatae sunt; et per gemmarum phantasiam decipiat idiotas, qui comprehensionem regalis formae non habeant et suadeat quoniam haec turpis vulpeculae figura illa est bone regis imago: eodem modo et hi anicularum fabulas assuentes, post deinde sermones, et dictiones, et parabolas hinc inde auferentes, adaptare volunt fabulis suis eloquia Dei.   Sanctus Ireneaus Lugdunensis, Adversus Haereses, Lib I, Cap VIII.

As it is, then, such is their system, which neither Prophets announced, nor the Lord taught, nor the Apostles handed on, but by which they boast abundantly that they have more knowledge than everyone else, gathering from that which is not Scripture, and, as it is said, striving to weave ropes from sand, while they try to adapt, with an appearance of noble honesty, to their own pronouncements, either the parables of the Lord, or the sayings of the Prophets, or the words of the Apostles, in order that their fantasies may not seem to be lacking witness, and so they pass over the order and the connection of the Scriptures, and so far as it in them lies, twist the limbs of truth, throwing them around, thrusting them here and there, making one thing out of another, and seducing by the adaptation the words of the Lord to their own poor fantastic arrangement. It is just as if the fine image of a king fashioned by the skill of a diligent artist out of precious jewels should be taken apart by someone, and then that he should rearrange the gems to fit them together as to make them into the form of a dog or a small fox, and that poorly executed, and he should then stand there boldly and declare that this was truly the fine image of the king a wise artist constructed, pointing to the jewels which had been admirably fitted together by the first artist to form the image of the king, but which have now been clumsily transferred by the latter to the shape of a dog, and by the mere appearance of the jewels, he should deceive the ignorant who had no conception what the king's form was like, persuading them that an inferior likeness of a small fox was, in fact, the fair image of the king. In such a way do these persons patch together old women's chatter, and then endeavour, by taking away from their proper connection, words, expressions, and parables, to adapt the word of God to their fictions. Saint Ireneaus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book 1, Ch 8.