To Florus 5.2

The book called Wisdom also shows this, expressing the words of the ungodly who, after the shadow of present things, see the merits of the blessed laid bare: ‘We considered their life madness; and how have they been counted among God’s children?’ (Wisdom 5:4–5). This is why the perseverance of the faithful, resisting the wickedness of the times and choosing ‘to suffer with God’s people rather than enjoy the passing pleasure of sin’ (Hebrews 11:25), is accused of stubbornness and contentiousness by those who say, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’ (1 Corinthians 15:32; Isaiah 22:13). Nothing is thought more consistent with prudent planning than buying the servitude of a degraded soul, or the unreliable peace of passing moments. It is chiefly this baseness of cowardly hearts that has allowed the filthy Manichaean doctrine to sail amid the churches’ shipwrecks. If a free and manly authority had stood firm in those exercising the priestly office, public agreement would have crushed the inventions of the advocates of inherited sin just as invincible reason overthrows them. But since lovers of present things value nothing less than religion, they have advanced into accusations against God. We have thus been forced to prove through such lengthy arguments that our God, who is the true God, is faithful in his words, just in his judgments, and holy in his works (Psalm 145:13, 17; LXX/Vulgate 144:13, 17).