Book V - Snyder Bible

The Preaching of Simeon Kefa 91
propound the words of your Master, as if it were held to be
certain concerning him that he is a prophet; while I can very
easily prove that he often contradicted himself. In short, I shall
refute you from those words which you have yourself brought
forward. For you say, that he said that every kingdom or every
city divided in itself shall not stand; and elsewhere you say
that he said that he would send a sword, that he might separate
those who are in one house, so that son shall be divided
from father, daughter from mother, brother from brother; so
that if there be five in one house, three shall be divided against
two, and two against three. If, then, everything that is divided
falls, he who makes divisions furnishes causes of falling; and if
Chapter XXXIII: Authority
shly take exception, O Simon, against
the things which you do not understand. In the first place, I
shall answer your assertion that I set forth the words of my
Master, and from them resolve matters about which there is
still doubt. Our Master, when He sent us shlichim to preach,
enjoined us to teach all nations the things which were committed
to us. We cannot therefore speak those things as they were
spoken by Himself. For our commission is not to speak, but to
teach those things, and from them to show how every one of
them rests upon truth. Nor, again, are we permitted to speak
anything of our own. For we are sent; and of necessity he who
is sent delivers the message as he has been ordered, and sets
forth the will of the sender. For if I should speak anything different
from what He who sent me enjoined me, I should be a
false sholiach, not saying what I am commanded to say, but
what seems good to myself. Whoever does this, evidently
wishes to show himself to be better than he is than the one by
whom he is sent, and without doubt is a traitor. If, on the contrary,
he keeps by the things that he is commanded, and brings
forward most clear assertions of them, it will appear that he is
accomplishing the work of a sholiach; and it is by striving to