9
"Brothers, let us die like brothers for the sake of the law; let us imitate the three youths in Assyria who despised the same ordeal of the furnace.
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Let us not be cowardly in the demonstration of our piety."
11
While one said, "Courage, brother," another said, "Bear up nobly,"
12
and another reminded them, "Remember whence you came, and the father by whose hand Isaac would have submitted to being slain for the sake of religion."
13
Each of them and all of them together looking at one another, cheerful and undaunted, said, "Let us with all our hearts consecrate ourselves to God, who gave us our lives, and let us use our bodies as a bulwark for the law.
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Let us not fear him who thinks he is killing us,
15
for great is the struggle of the soul and the danger of eternal torment lying before those who transgress the commandment of God.
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Therefore let us put on the full armor of self-control, which is divine reason.
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For if we so die, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will welcome us, and all the fathers will praise us."
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Those who were left behind said to each of the brothers who were being dragged away, "Do not put us to shame, brother, or betray the brothers who have died before us."
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You are not ignorant of the affection of brotherhood, which the divine and all-wise Providence has bequeathed through the fathers to their descendants and which was implanted in the mother's womb.