Exhortation to Martyrdom, Addressed to Fortunatus.

 Heads of the Following Book.

 On the Exhortation to Martyrdom.

 2. That God alone must be worshipped.

 3. What is God’s threatening against those who sacrifice to idols?

 4. That God does not easily pardon idolaters.

 5. That God is so angry against idolatry, that He has even enjoined those to be slain who persuade others to sacrifice and serve idols.

 6. That, being redeemed and quickened by the blood of Christ, we ought to prefer nothing to Christ.

 7. That those who are snatched from the jaws of the devil, and delivered from the snares of this world, ought not again to return to the world, lest t

 8. That we must press on and persevere in faith and virtue, and in completion of heavenly and spiritual grace, that we may attain to the palm and the

 9. That afflictions and persecutions arise for the sake of our being proved.

 10. That injuries and penalties of persecutions are not to be feared by us, because greater is the Lord to protect than the devil to assault.

 11. That it was before predicted that the world would hold us in abhorrence, and that it would stir up persecutions against us, and that no new thing

 12. What hope and reward remains for the righteous and for martyrs after the conflicts and sufferings of this present time,

 13. That we receive more as the reward of our suffering than what we endure here in the suffering itself,

3. What is God’s threatening against those who sacrifice to idols?

In Exodus: “He that sacrificeth unto any gods but the Lord only, shall be rooted out.”22    Ex. xxii. 20. Also in Deuteronomy: “They sacrificed unto demons, and not to God.”23    Deut. xxxii. 17. In Isaiah also: “They worshipped those which their fingers have made; and the mean man was bowed down, and the great man was humbled:  and I will not forgive them.”24    Isa. ii. 8, 9. And again: “To them hast thou poured out drink-offerings, and to them thou hast offered sacrifices. For these, therefore, shall I not be angry, saith the Lord?”25    Isa. lvii. 6. In Jeremiah also: “Walk ye not after other gods, to serve them; and worship them not, and provoke me not in the works of your hands, to destroy you.”26    Jer. vii. 6. In the Apocalypse too:  “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, he shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in the cup of His wrath, and shall be punished with fire and brimstone before the eyes of the holy angels, and before the eyes of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torments shall ascend for ever and ever: and they shall have no rest day or night, whosoever worship the beast and his image.”27    Rev. xiv. 9–11.

CAP. III.---QUAE COMMINATIO DEI SIT ADVERSUS EOS QUI IDOLIS SACRIFICANT.

In Exodo : Sacrificans diis eradicabitur, nisi Domino soli (Exod. XXII, 19). Item in Deuteronomio: Sacrificaverunt daemoniis, et non Deo (Deut. XXXII, 17). 0657C Item apud Esaiam: Adoraverunt eos quos fecerunt digiti eorum, et curvatus est homo, et humiliatus est vir, et non taxabo illis (Isa. II, 8). Et iterum: Illis fudistis libamina, et illis imposuistis sacrificia. Super haec ergo non indignabor, dicit Dominus (Isa. I, VII, 6)? Item apud Hieremiam: Nolite ambulare post deos alienos ut serviatis eis, et ne adoraveritis eos, et ne incitetis me in operibus manuum vestrarum ad disperdendosvos (Hier. XXV, 6). Item in Apocalypsi: Si quis adoratbestiam et imaginem ejus, et accipitnotam 0658Ain fronte sua aut in manu, bibet et ipse de vino irae Dei mixto in poculo irae ejus, et punietur igne et sulphure sub oculis sanctorum Angelorum et sub oculis Agni: et fumus de tormentis eorum in saecula saeculoruma scendet; nec habebunt requiem die ac nocte quicumque adorant bestiam et imaginem ejus (Apoc. XV, 9-11).