On the Shows 27

We ought to hate those gatherings and assemblies of the heathen, if only because there the name of God is blasphemed, there the lions are demanded against us every day, from there persecutions are decreed and temptations sent out. What will you do if you are caught in that surging tide of impious voting? Not that you can suffer anything there from men (no one recognizes you as a Christian); but consider what becomes of you in heaven. Do you doubt that at the very moment when the devil is raging against the church, all the angels look out from heaven and mark down each one: who spoke blasphemy, who listened to it, who lent his tongue and who his ears to the devil against God? Will you not, then, flee the seats of the enemies of Christ, that chair of pestilences, and the very air that broods above it, befouled with wicked cries? Granted that some things there are sweet, pleasant, simple, even decent. No one mixes poison with gall and hellebore; he puts that evil into seasoned dishes, well flavored and mostly sweet. So too the devil steeps the deadly draught he prepares in the things of God that are most pleasing and acceptable. Everything there, whether brave or honorable, sonorous or melodious or subtle, regard as drops of honey from a poisoned cake; and do not value your appetite for the pleasure more than the danger that comes through its sweetness.