And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words.
Ver. 22. Suffer the word] Sharp though it be, and to the flesh tiresome, yet suffer it. Better it is that the vine should bleed than die. But many are like the nettle, touch it never so gently, it will sting you. Tange montes et fumigabunt. Offer to wake men out of their sleep, and they will brawl in that case with their best friends; yea, though it be with them here, as once it was with those that had the sweating sickness, if they slept they died. Few are now-a-days of Vespasian's mind, of whom Quintilian reporteth that he was patientissimus veri, very patient of truth, though never so tart. Or of Gerson's temper, who delighted in nothing more than a friendly reproof. This is now become as stronger physic, not fit for every complexion and state, &c.