To Florus 3.1
Respect for every virtue ought to flourish among the human race. People ought always to resist wrongdoing with a wise mind and win their Creator’s favor by good pursuits. Or at least, since this first and happier level of constant devotion seems both rare and exceedingly difficult, they ought to reject even long-cherished vices and return to the shelter of reform and repentance. Surely reverence for God ought at least to have remained untouched in this respect: we should not have to defend the divine law in so great a struggle. But the frenzy of sinners has reached the point where we must labor strenuously to teach that God is just. So, trusting in the help of the very justice whose cause we plead, let us now fulfill what we promised in the preceding book.
Latin
Oportuerat quidem apud humanum genus reverentiam omnium.vigere virtutum; oportuerat resisti sapienti semper mente criminibus et demereri bonis studiis Conditoris favorem; dignum erat postremo, ut quia hic continuae devotionis prior et felicior gradus cum rarus tum arduus etiam nimis videtur, vel diu fota vitia respui et ad emendationis ac paenitentiae praesidium rediri. Oportuerat certe vel in hoc inviolabilem Dei manere reverentiam, ut non nobis esset necesse divinam legem tanto vindicare certamine, verum, quia eo usque peccantium furore perventum est, ut summis laboribus Deum iustum esse doceamus, ipsius iustitiae, cuius causa agitur, praesumentes auxilium, quae libro promisimus praecedente, reddamus.