Theorema de sacramentorum nucleo

The same thing usually happens to those who give place to a false teacher, who teaches the shadows of things like flashes of lightning, but not Christ, who is the Sun of Justice. His description is this: Let no voluntary moderator decide about you from subjection and the worship of angels, intruding himself into things which he has not seen, and rashly puffed up by the sense of his flesh (Colossians 2:18). For they are always learning, yet never arrive at the knowledge of the truth, as our Apostle speaks concerning certain silly women (2 Timothy 3:7).

Athenaeus, contradicting Pliny somewhat, says: When the sky thunders and flashes, and there is a horrible storm, then the pearls become larger and brighter. But when the pregnant shells are not submerged by the waves, but float on the sea, the pearls redden in the sun and lose their whiteness.

When the Gospel thunders and flashes in the world, and when the sky seems to be mixed with the earth, the confessors of the truth and the martyrs become more ardent and illustrious. But when they are not pressed, but are lifted up on high and enervated by luxuries, then their exceptional glory is obscured. Therefore Paul said: There must be heresies, so that those who are approved may become manifest among you (1 Corinthians 11:19). For they are like a house built upon a Rock, which does not fall from the summit, nor is it even shaken, even if the rain descends, the rivers come, and the blowing and counter-blowing winds rage (Matthew 7:24-25).

By use, says Pliny, there is no doubt that they are worn down, and their color is changed by negligence. The Gospel, on the contrary, shines and increases by use; but it must be guarded diligently, so that it remains sincere and unmixed.

The entire value of pearls, says the same author, is in their whiteness, size, roundness, smoothness, and weight—qualities not easily found—so much so that no two are ever found identical; hence the luxuries of Rome imposed the name of uniones uniques.

The gifts of the Gospel are that it is not only καθ' αὑτὸ in itself clear, greatest (Ephesians 3:18), round—that is, perfect in all its parts, alien to all roughness and inequality—and of the highest weight, and therefore εὐπύργατον well-fortified/reliable; but it also illuminates