§4quid si et senes inputent christianis quod minus ualeant in senectute, quod non perinde ut prius uigeant auditu aurium, cursu pedum, oculorum acie, uirium robore, suco uiscerum, mole membrorum, et cum olim ultra octingentos et nongentos annos uita hominum longaeua procederet, uix nunc possit ad centenarium numerum peruenire.
What if the elderly should also impute it to Christians that they have less strength in old age, that they are not as vigorous as before in the hearing of their ears, the running of their feet, the sharpness of their eyes, the robustness of their strength, the moisture of their viscera, and the bulk of their limbs; and that whereas of old the long-lived life of men proceeded beyond eight hundred and nine hundred years, it can now scarcely reach the hundredth year?
canos uidemus in pueris, capilli deficiunt antequam crescunt, nec aetas in senectutem desinit, sed incipit a senectute.
We see gray hairs in children, hair fails before it grows, and age does not end in old age, but begins from old age.
sic in ortu adhuc suo ad finem natiuitas properat, sic quodcumque nunc nascitur mundi ipsius senectute degenerat, ut nemo mirari debeat singula in mundo deficere coepisse, cum ipse iam mundus totus in defectione sit et in fine.
Thus, even in its very rise, birth hastens to its end; thus whatever is now born degenerates with the old age of the world itself, so that no one ought to wonder that individual things in the world have begun to fail, since the whole world itself is already in decline and at its end.
§5Quod autem crebrius bella continuant, quod sterilitas et fames sollicitudinem cumulant, quod saeuientibus morbis ualitudo frangitur, quod humanum genus luis populatione uastatur, et hoc scias esse praedictum in nouissimis temporibus multiplicari mala et aduersa uariari et adpropinquante iam iudicii die magis ac magis in plagas generis humani censuram Dei indignantis accendi.
But as for the fact that wars continue more frequently, that sterility and famine heap up anxiety, that health is broken by raging diseases, and that the human race is wasted by the devastation of pestilence, you should know this too has been foretold: that in the last times evils are multiplied, and adversities are varied, and as the day of judgment already approaches, the censure of an indignant God is kindled more and more for the plagues of the human race.
non enim, sicut tua falsa querimonia et inperitia ueritatis ignara iactat et clamitat, ista accidunt, quod dii uestri a nobis non colantur, sed quod a uobis non colatur Deus.
For these things do not happen, as your false complaint and ignorance devoid of truth boasts and clamors, because your gods are not worshiped by us, but because God is not worshiped by you.
nam cum ipse sit mundi dominus et rector et cuncta arbitrio eius et nutu gerantur nec quicquam fieri possit nisi quod aut fecerit aut fieri ipse permiserit, utique quando ea fiunt quae iram Dei indignantis ostendunt non propter nos fiunt a quibus Deus colitur, sed delictis et meritis uestris inrogantur, a quibus Deus omnino nec quaeritur nec timetur nec relictis uanis superstitionibus religio uera cognoscitur, ut qui Deus unus est omnibus unus colatur ab omnibus et rogetur.
For since He Himself is the Lord and ruler of the world, and all things are directed by His will and nod, nor can anything happen except what He Himself has either done or permitted to be done, surely when those things happen which show the anger of an indignant God, they do not happen on account of us by whom God is worshiped, but are inflicted upon your sins and deserts, by whom God is neither sought nor feared at all, nor is the true religion recognized by abandoning vain superstitions, so that He who is the one God for all may be worshiped as one by all and prayed to.
§6Ipsum denique audi loquentem, ipsum uoce diuina instruentem nos et monentem: Dominum Deum tuum [inquit] adorabis et illi soli seruies, et iterum: non erunt tibi dii alii absque me, et iterum: nolite ambulare post deos alienos ut seruiatis eis et ne adoraueritis eos: et ne incitetis me in operibus manuum uestrarum ad disperdendos uos. propheta item sancto Spiritu plenus contestatur et denuntiat iram Dei dicens: haec dicit dominus omnipotens: eo quod domus mea deserta est, uos autem sectamini unusquisque in domum suam, propterea abstinebit caelum a rore et terra subtrahet procreationes suas, et inducam gladium super terram et super frumentum et super uinum et super oleum et super homines et super pecora et super omnes labores manuum eorum. item propheta alius repetit et dicit: et pluam super unam ciuitatem et super unam non pluam.
Finally, hear Him Himself speaking, hear Him Himself with His divine voice instructing and warning us: "You shall worship," He says, "the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve"; and again: "There shall be no other gods for you besides me"; and again: "Do not go after strange gods to serve them, and do not worship them; and do not provoke me with the works of your hands to destroy you." Likewise, a prophet filled with the Holy Spirit witnesses and denounces the anger of God, saying: "Thus says the Lord Almighty: Because my house is desolate, and you run each one to his own house, therefore the heaven shall withhold itself from dew, and the earth shall withdraw its products, and I will bring a sword upon the land, and upon the corn, and upon the wine, and upon the oil, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labors of their hands." Likewise, another prophet repeats and says: "And I will rain upon one city, and upon another I will not rain; one part shall be rained upon, and the part upon which I shall not rain shall wither.
pars una compluetur et pars super quam non pluero arefiet. et congregabuntur duae et tres ciuitates in unam ciuitatem potandae aquae causa nec sic satiabuntur: et non conuertimini ad me, dicit Dominus.
And two and three cities shall gather into one city for the sake of drinking water, and even so they shall not be satisfied; and you have not returned to me, says the Lord."