d Ioasaph to the king, "To honour one's father, and to obey his
commands, and to serve him with good will and affection is taught us by
the Lord of us all, who hath implanted in our hearts this natural
affection. But, when loving devotion to our parents bringeth our soul
into peril, and separateth her from her Maker, then we are commanded,
at all costs, to cut it out, and, on no account, to yield to them that
would depart us from God, but to hate and avoid them, even if it be our
father that issueth the abominable command, or our mother, or our king,
or the master of our very life. Wherefore it is impossible for me, out
of devotion to my father, to forfeit God. So, prithee, trouble not
thyself, nor me: but be persuaded, and let us both serve the true and
living God, for the objects of thy present worship are idols, the works
of men's hands, devoid of breath, and deaf, and give nought but
destruction and eternal punishment to their worshippers.

"But if this be not thy pleasure, deal with me even as thou wilt: for I
am a servant of Christ, and neither flatteries nor torments shall
separate me from his love, as I told thee yesterday, swearing it by my
Master's name, and confirming the word with surest oath. But, whereas
thou saidest that thou didst neither wilfully do wrong, nor didst fail
of the mark through ignorance, but after much laborious enquiry hadst
ascertained that it was truly a good thing to worship idols and to be
riveted to the pleasures of the passions--that thou art wilfully a
wrong doer, I may not say. But this I know full well, and would have
thee know, O my father, that thou art surrounded with a dense mist of
ignorance, and, walking in darkness that may be felt, seest not even
one small glimmer of light. Wherefore thou hast lost the right
pathway, and wanderest over terrible cliffs and chasms. Holding
darkness for light, and clinging to death as it were life, thou deemest
that thou art well advised, and hast reflected to good effect: but it
is not so, not so. The objects of thy veneration are not gods but
statues of devils, charged with all their filthy power; nor is the
life, which thou pronouncest sweet and pleasant, and thinkest to be
full of delight and gladness of heart, such in kind: but the same is
abominable, according to the word of truth, and to be abhorred. For
for a time it sweeteneth and tickleth the gullet, but afterwards it
maketh the risings more bitter than gall (as said my teac