On the Lapsed 33

Nor let the thoughtless error or empty stupor of some move you, who, though held in so grave a crime, have been struck with such blindness of mind that they neither understand their sins nor lament them. This is a greater blow of the indignant God, as it is written: “And God gave them a spirit of stupor”; and again: “They did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And therefore God sends them the working of error, that they may believe a lie, that all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness.” Unrighteously pleased with themselves and demented by the estrangement of a stupefied mind, they despise the Lord's precepts, neglect the remedy for their wound, refuse to do penance. Thoughtless before committing the crime, obstinate after it, neither steadfast before nor suppliant afterward, when they ought to have stood they fell; when they ought to lie down and prostrate themselves before God, they think they stand. They have taken peace for themselves of their own accord, with no one giving it; seduced by a false promise and joined to apostates and the faithless, they accept error for truth, count valid the communion of those who are not in communion, and believe men against God, they who did not believe God against men.