Prescription against Heretics 9

I now yield this point of my own accord. Let it be said to all, “Seek, and you will find”; still, even here the sense must be settled under the helm of interpretation. No divine saying is so loose and diffuse that the words alone are defended while their meaning is not established. But first I lay this down: that there is some one and definite thing taught by Christ which the nations must by all means believe, and for that reason must seek, so that when they have found it they may believe. Now of one and definite teaching there cannot be endless inquiry. You must seek until you find, and believe when you have found; and nothing more, except to keep what you have believed, while you believe this besides: that nothing else is to be believed, and therefore nothing else sought, once you have found and believed what was taught by him who bids you seek nothing other than what he has taught. If anyone doubts about this, it will be shown that what was taught by Christ is with us. Meanwhile, trusting in the proof, I anticipate it, warning some that nothing is to be sought beyond what they have believed, which is what they ought to have sought, lest they interpret “Seek, and you will find” without the discipline of reason.