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| That God is so angry against idolatry, that He has even enjoined those to be slain who persuade others to sacrifice and serve idols.
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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.
In Deuteronomy: “But if thy brother,
or thy son, or thy daughter, or thy wife which is in thy bosom, or thy
friend which is the fellow of thine own soul, should ask thee secretly,
saying, Let us go and serve other gods, the gods of the nations, thou
shalt not consent unto him, and thou shalt not hearken unto him,
neither shall thine eye spare him, neither shalt thou conceal him,
declaring thou shalt declare concerning him. Thine hand shall be
upon him first of all to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of
all the people; and they shall stone him, and he shall die, because he
hath sought to turn thee away from the Lord thy God.”3725
And
again the Lord speaks, and says, that neither must a city be spared,
even though the whole city should consent to idolatry: “Or
if thou shalt hear in one of the cities which the Lord thy God shall
give thee, to dwell there, saying, Let us go and serve other gods,
which thou hast not known,3726
| 3726 The
Oxford edition inserts here, “Thou shalt inquire diligently; and
if thou shalt find that that is certain which is said.” | slaying thou shalt kill all who are in
the city with the slaughter of the sword, and burn the city with fire,
and it shall be without habitation for ever. Moreover, it shall
no more be rebuilt, that the Lord may be turned from the indignation of
His anger. And He will show thee mercy, and He will pity thee,
and will multiply thee, if thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy
God, and wilt observe His precepts.”3727
Remembering which precept and
its force, Mattathias slew him who had approached the altar to
sacrifice. But if before the coming of Christ these precepts
concerning the worship of God and the despising of idols were observed,
how much more should they be regarded since Christ’s advent;
since He, when He came, not only exhorted us with words, but with deeds
also, but after all wrongs and contumelies, suffered also, and was
crucified, that He might teach us to suffer and to die by His example,
that there might be no excuse for a man not to suffer for Him,3728
| 3728
Or, “for a man who does not suffer.” | since He
suffered for us; and that since He suffered for the sins of others,
much rather ought each to suffer for his own sins. And therefore
in the Gospel He threatens, and says: “Whosoever shall
confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father which
is in heaven; but whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also
deny before my Father which is in heaven.”3729
The Apostle Paul also
says: “For if we die with Him, we shall also live with Him;
if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also
will deny us.”3730
John too: “Whosoever
denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; he that acknowledgeth
the Son, hath both the Son and the Father.”3731
Whence the Lord exhorts and
strengthens us to contempt of death, saying: “Fear not them
which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear
Him which is able to
kill soul and body in Gehenna.”3732
And again: “He that
loveth his life shall lose it; and he who hateth his life in this
world, shall keep it unto life eternal.”3733
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