ignorant is the
Inquisition!

"It is better to obey God than men."

I fear nothing; I hope for nothing. It is not so with the bishops.
Port-Royal fears, and it is bad policy to disperse them; for they will
fear no longer and will cause greater fear. I do not even fear your like
censures, if they are not founded on those of tradition. Do you censure
all? What! even my respect? No. Say then what, or you will do nothing,
if you do not point out the evil, and why it is evil. And this is what
they will have great difficulty in doing.

_Probability._--They have given a ridiculous explanation of certitude;
for, after having established that all their ways are sure, they have no
longer called that sure which leads to heaven without danger of not
arriving there by it, but that which leads there without danger of going
out of that road.

920

... The saints indulge in subtleties in order to think themselves
criminals, and impeach their better actions. And these indulge in
subtleties in order to excuse the most wicked.

The heathen sages erected a structure equally fine outside, but upon a
bad foundation; and the devil deceived men by this apparent resemblance
based upon the most different foundation.

Man never had so good a cause as I; and others have never furnished so
good a capture as you....

The more they point out weakness in my person, the more they authorise
my cause.

You say that I am a heretic. Is that lawful? And if you do not fear that
men do justice, do you not fear that God does justice?

You will feel the force of the truth, and you will yield to it ...

There is something supernatural in such a blindness. _Digna
necessitas.[380] Mentiris impudentissime_ ...

_Doctrina sua noscitur vir_ ...

False piety, a double sin.

I am alone against thirty thousand. No. Protect, you, the court;
protect, you, deception; let me protect the truth. It is all my
strength. If I lose it, I am undone. I shall not lack accusations, and
persecutions. But I possess the truth, and we shall see who will take it
away.

I do not need to defend religion, but you do not need to defend error
and injustice. Let God, out of His compassion, having no regard to the
evil which is in me, and having regard to the good which is in you,
grant us all grace that truth may not be overcome in my hands, and that
falsehood ...

921

_Probable._--Let us see if we seek God sincerely, by comparison of the
things which we love. It i