XXXVIIII. De Infidelitate.

XXXVIIII. De Infidelitate.

But the image also reveals infidelity, which follows disobedience, because when people have cherished that flaw, they have arrived at infidelity; thus, they will deny God. It has the form of a human being, except for the head, because it knows that God exists, yet it refuses to honor Him as it should, since its mind has been transformed to disbelief and lacks the right beginning to know God through faith. And from the knees to the feet, it is fixed in the aforementioned darkness, because it neither shows itself flexible toward true faith, nor does it reveal itself as progressing in true faith, but instead, it manifests itself as immobile, remaining in the darkness of unbelief, since it completely ignores God in word and deed. In his head, another form appears, except that to those whose eyes are filled with darkness, there is a fullness all around; among them, there is one eye, as if it were in his forehead, which sometimes burns like a blazing fire, because in his mind there is no wisdom, but rather the foolishness of human knowledge; where, through the darkening of infidelity, he brings forth the fullness of incredulity; with care, he looks around, drawing all the works of infidelity to himself, and he carelessly rejects the lights of true vision. For infidels often claim to possess the righteousness of faith, even though their actions are filled with all kinds of wickedness and deceit. Therefore, among their wicked intentions, which they cannot conceal in their minds, they sometimes place one intention in a clearer display, as if it were a shining faith, where they weave their infidelity through the elements and the arrangements of the stars, while they fix their hope in those things, deceived, yet in them they can grasp no confidence of happiness, nor any light of life. However, the one who places his right hand on his chest and holds a staff in his left hand is like those perverse individuals who, nurturing their infidelity, are idle in good and holy works according to the desires of their hearts; and they have vain confidence in their empty actions, dividing God into two parts as they scrutinize Him through superior and inferior creatures, holding no truth of life. And the same image surrounds itself with a dark-colored cloak, because it defends itself with the deception of diabolical arts, as it claims to possess a blessed life, just as it also demonstrates in its speech. What is revealed through faith is a challenge to humanity, urging them to strive toward God as if through a true mirror of purity, as they are also encouraged by the Apostle Paul, just as it is written. The Apostle speaks of the same thing. Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. He is faithful who has promised. The sense of this is such. By the guidance of the Holy Spirit, let us approach the highest happiness with sincere intention, and let us begin with a good peace, and perfect these things with piety; for in peace, brotherly love burns, and piety looks to God for the necessary things of humanity. So let us, in the pure and simple perfection of true faith in our hearts, not be led by malignant duplicity, through which a person chooses one thing for themselves and another for themselves; let us cast aside the conscience that always drives us toward evil, which has been sprinkled in our hearts by the streams of Scripture; and let us inquire into each word of the same Scriptures, who God is and what His works are. Thus, by cleansing the aforementioned conscience within us, which through the fall of Adam has been stained by the death of sin, we repeatedly deny true faith and its power. However, these things in us are not pure unless we have been washed clean from our sins, so that our body may be visibly drenched with the water of baptism, which the Holy Spirit invisibly cleanses and gives life to, so that the stains of sin may be washed away from the soul through it, and so that even the wretched nature of the flesh may be refreshed from its polluted foam through it. Once this has been done, let us hold firmly and sincerely to the faith of that confession which we openly professed in baptism, acknowledging God and renouncing the Devil; so that it may not decline from us through any seduction of diabolical arts, but that it may remain deeply rooted and firmly established in us, persevering inviolably, because in the washing of regeneration we were marked in this way, that we are called children of God through sincere justice. For he is faithful in every gift and in all his works, and he will give the promised reward of the blessed inheritance to his faithful ones and to those who truly believe in him, because from him, the true Son of God, who was truly incarnate at the end of the ages, they will receive a secure and eternal reward in this fullness of faith. The sixth sign of despair is that it walks in the footsteps of its own unbelief, for it is the source of that and other vices, since it has no hope in itself or in these things, but is as if it were nothing. 50. Despair is like a sixth sense in its significance, and it walks in the footsteps of its own infidelity, because it is the fuel of its own and others' vices; for it has no hope in itself, nor in these things, but is as if it were nothing. And you see this in the form of a wretched person, which is a sign of their defect and weakness in good things and in the right consolation; in them, there is no victory, but rather a vile trembling that shows their fallen state. Their head is covered with a dark veil, and the rest of their body is clothed in a dark garment, because their intention is fragile and weak, surrounded by the darkness of desolation and doubt. All their other deeds are truly corruptible, and they lack the garment of light and joy; where there is no glory of blessed hope, but rather the disgrace of doubt surrounds them. For people, deceived by the Devil, distrust the grace of God through despair and strip themselves of all good and the beauty of dignity. Therefore, before His face, it appears like a mountain of burning sulfur, because where such people ought to behold true faith in blessed hope, there they hold desperation, like at the height of a mountain, and of a withering and stinking foolishness, which takes away the greenness and good fragrance of the virtues of the soul, and makes the body wither and stink like sulfur. On the right and on the left, his side is like a mountain of sulfur, because where their hearts should be lifted up to God in goodness, as if to the right, they instead reject evil as if to the left; there, in their minds, they hold a suffocating pride, enduring the most intense and bitter pain and contrition of despair, thinking nothing of God's goodness, or hoping for anything, but only accumulating all the evils and adversities in their hearts miserably. Those who fall into the aforementioned darkness make a great noise in it, because when despair drags these people into destruction, it brings upon them many illusions and the shrieks of punishments and the laughter of demons. But also behind her, right next to her back, there was the sound of a great thunder, because in that contradiction, where despair puts God aside, she refuses to look at Him, and the fall of the first angel invades her, leading her with him into the ruin of many miseries and punishments, since she did not seek the mercy of God when she could have found it. Terrified by all this, she compresses her arms and hands to her chest with much groaning and trembling, and she immerses herself completely in the aforementioned darkness; for when people fall into despair through diabolical seduction, they are terrified by all their past deeds: and thus, in the groaning of desolation and in the trembling of oblivion, they do not know themselves, and they surrender their strength and understanding of their works, which they should have extended to the heights of blessed hope, to the pain of evil knowledge, without any consolation of good knowledge, and they completely surrender themselves to the most wicked misfortune, because they did not want to rise to glory, just as the same vice is shown in their words, as has been stated above. But hope responds to him, and it warns that people should not consent in their hearts.