Chapter XXVII.

Enough has been said in these remarks to confute the charge of treason against your religion: for we cannot be held to do harm to that which has no existence. When we are called therefore to sacrifice, we resolutely refuse, relying on the knowledge we possess, by which we are well assured of the real objects to whom these services are offered, under profaning of images and the deification of human names. Some, indeed, think it a piece of insanity that, when it is in our power to offer sacrifice at once, and go away unharmed, holding as ever our convictions, we prefer an obstinate persistence in our confession to our safety. You advise us, forsooth, to take unjust advantage of you; but we know whence such suggestions come, who is at the bottom of it all, and how every effort is made, now by cunning suasion, and now by merciless persecution, to overthrow our constancy. No other than that spirit, half devil and half angel, who, hating us because of his own separation from God, and stirred with envy for the favour God has shown us, turns your minds against us by an occult influence, moulding and instigating them to all that perversity in judgment, and that unrighteous cruelty, which we have mentioned at the beginning of our work, when entering on this discussion. For, though the whole power of demons and kindred spirits is subject to us, yet still, as ill-disposed slaves sometimes conjoin contumacy with fear, and delight to injure those of whom they at the same time stand in awe, so is it here.  For fear also inspires hatred.  Besides, in their desperate condition, as already under condemnation, it gives them some comfort, while punishment delays, to have the usufruct of their malignant dispositions. And yet, when hands are laid on them, they are subdued at once, and submit to their lot; and those whom at a distance they oppose, in close quarters they supplicate for mercy. So when, like insurrectionary workhouses, or prisons, or mines, or any such penal slaveries, they break forth against us their masters, they know all the while that they are not a match for us, and just on that account, indeed, rush the more recklessly to destruction. We resist them, unwillingly, as though they were equals, and contend against them by persevering in that which they assail; and our triumph over them is never more complete than when we are condemned for resolute adherence to our faith.

CAPUT XXVII.

Satis haec adversus intentionem laesae religionis ac divinitatis, quo non videamur laedere eam, quam ostendimus non esse. Igitur, provocati ad sacrificandum, 0433A obstruimus gradum pro fide conscientiae nostrae, qua certi sumus, ad quos ista perveniant officia sub imaginum prostitutione et humanorum nominum consecratione. Sed quidam dementiam existimant, quod cum possimus et sacrificare in praesenti, et illaesi abire manente apud animum proposito, obstinationem saluti praeferamus. Dati scilicet consilium, quo vobis abutamur; sed agnoscimus, unde talia suggerantur, quis totum hoc agitet, et quomodo nunc astutia suadendi nunc duritia saeviendi ad constantiam nostram dejiciendam operetur. Ille scilicet spiritus daemoniacae et angelicae paraturae, qui noster ob divortium aemulus et ob Dei gratiam invidus, de mentibus vestris adversus nos praeliatur, occulta inspiratione, modulatis et subornatis ad omnem, 0433B quam in primordio exorsi sumus, et judicandi perversitatem et saeviendi iniquitatem. Nam licet subjecta 0434A sit nobis tota vis daemonum et ejusmodi spirituum ut nequam tamen servi metui nonnunquam contumaciam miscent, et laedere gestiunt quos alias verentur: odium enim etiam timor inspirat , praeterquam quod desperata conditio eorum ex praedamnatione solatium reputat fruendae interim malignitatis de poenae mora. Et tamen apprehensi subiguntur et conditioni suae succidunt , et quos de longinquo oppugnant, de proximo obsecrant. Itaque dum vice rebellantium ergastulorum sive carcerum, vel metallorum, vel hoc genus poenalis servitutis erumpunt adversus nos, in quorum potestate sunt, certi et impares se esse et hoc magis perditos ingratis resistimus ut aequales, et repugnamus perseverantes in eo quod oppugnant, et illos nunquam magis detriumphamus , quam quum pro fidei obstinatione damnamur.