Struggling With Serpents

Cum enim ex Scripturis arguuntur, in accusationem convertuntur, ipsarum Scripturarum, quasi non recte habeant, neque sint ex auctoritate, et quia varie sint dictae, at quia non possit ex his inveniri veritas ab his, qui nesciant Traditionem. Non enim per litteras traditam illam, sed per vivam vocem: ob quam causam et Paulum dixisse: Sapientiam autem loquimur inter perfectos; sapientiam autem non mundi hujus. Et hanc sapientiam unusquisque eorum esse dicit, quam a semetipso adinvenerit, fictionem videlicet, ut digne secundum eos sit veritas, aliquando quidem in Valentino, aliquando autem in Mearcione, aliquando in Cerintho: postea deinde in Basilide fuit, aut et in illo qui contra disputat, qui nihil salutare loqui potuit. Unusquisque enim ipsorum omnimodo perversus, semetipsum, regulam veritatis depravans, praedicare non confunditur. Cum autem ad eam iterum Traditionem, quae est ab apostolis, quae per successiones presbyterorum in Ecclesiis custoditur, provocamus eos; adversantur Traditioni, dicentes se non solum presbyteris, sed etiam apostolis exsistentes sapientiores, sinceram invenisse veritatam. Apostolos enim admiscuisse ea quae sunt legali Salvatoris verbis: et non solum apostolos, sed etiam ipsum Dominum, modo quidem a Demiurgo, modo autem a medietate, interdum autem a summitate fecisse sermones: et se vero indubitate, et intaminate, et sincere absconditum scire mysterium: quod quidem impudentissime est blasphemare suum factorem. Evenit itaque, neque Scripturis jam, neque Traditioni consentire eos. Adversus tales certamen nobis est, o deliectissime, more serpentum lubricos undique resistendum est illis, si quos ex his retusione confundentes, ad conversionem veritatis adducere possimus. Etenim si non facile est ab errore apprehensam resipiscere animam, sed non omnimodo impossibile est errorem effugere, apposita veritate. Sanctus Ireneaus Lugdunensis, Adversus Haereses, Lib III, Cap II.  Source: Migne PG 7.846a-847b

When, however, they are condemned from the Scriptures, they turn around and accuse these same Scriptures, as if they were not correct, nor of authority, but they say many different things, and that the truth cannot be found in them by those who are ignorant of tradition. For the truth was not delivered by means of writing, but by the living voice, for which reason Paul said, 'But we speak wisdom among those that are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world.' 1 And this wisdom each one of them says to be whatever is found among them, a fiction certainly that is worthy according to them to be truth, so that at one time it is in Valentinus, at another in Marcion, at another in Cerinthus, then afterwards in Basilides, or even in any other man who disputes and was able to speak nothing for the cause of salvation. For every one of these being perverse, corrupting the rule of truth, does not blush to preach himself. And when we call them to attend to that tradition which is from the Apostles, which is preserved by the succession of presbyters in the Churches, they set themselves against tradition, calling themselves wiser, not only than the presbyters, but even the Apostles, because they have found the pure truth. For the Apostles, they say, mixed the things of the law with the words of the Saviour, and not only the Apostles, but even the Lord Himself, spoke at one time from the Demiurge, at another from the intermediate place, and again from the Pleroma, and they themselves, indubitably, without defilement, purely, know the hidden mystery, which is, indeed, most impudently to blaspheme their Creator. So it comes about that they neither hold to Scripture nor to tradition. Against such folk is our struggle, my dear friend, who like slippery serpents must be opposed at all points, that some of them, dismayed by their quelling, we might lead to turn back to the truth. Even if it is not easy for a soul in error to return to reason, it is not altogether impossible to escape from error when the truth is brought near.   Saint Ireneaus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book 3, Ch 2 1 1 Cor 2.6