Storia do Mogor 366.5.3

366.5.3

I will say more : even did his Most Christian Majesty prefer them to all his other subjects, his sense of equity equalling his greatness of heart, he could never approve what is unjust or blame what ought to be praised. To believe the contrary, gentlemen, would be an attempt to tarnish the reputation of a prince who is more jealous of doing justice than he is of his own might, who would hold it preferable to lose the title of Louis the Great than that of Louis the Just. Furthermore, religious who seek nothing beyond inspiring terror and making themselves feared ; who have no other answer to give you beyond, ' You will ruin yourselves,' or else, ' We shall destroy you ;' who follow no other rules in their acts than those directly opposed to the maxims of Christianity — these men, I tell you, instead of being feared and dreaded, deserve to be despised and held things of naught. Nor can this last result fail to come to pass, if not now, then at some future time. For, let them take what measures they please to exalt themselves and display themselves before the world, it is absolutely inevitable that the Divine oracles must be fulfilled : ' He who humbles himself shall be exalted, and he who exalts himself shall be brought low' (Matt, xxiii. 12, Lev. xiv. and xv.) — ' Qui se humiliat exaltabitur, et qui [315] se exaltat humiliabitur.'