184# 三位上帝的观念内居于基督徒心中，虽因羞耻而被他们口头否认；这一点，从许多人竭力施展机巧，试图证明“三是一，一是三”，便可清楚看出。他们或借平面几何学、立体几何学、算术与物理学中的种种例证，或借衣服与纸张的折叠之法，来证明此事；如此，他们竟把神性三一当作术士彼此戏弄的把戏来玩弄。
他们关于三一的这类术士把戏，可比作发热病人眼中的视觉错乱：一个对象，无论是人、桌子或蜡烛，他们都看成三个；或者三个对象，他们又看成一个。也可比作那些把柔软蜡块放在指间揉弄的人所玩的戏法：他们将蜡捏成种种形状，时而捏成三角形，以示三一；时而捏成球形，以示合一，并说：“这岂不仍是同一且相同的实体么？”
然而，神性三一实如一颗极贵重的珍珠；若将它分成三个位格，就如把这颗珍珠切成三份；如此，它便全然、彻底地毁坏了。
184# 三神的三位一体占据了基督徒的心智，尽管他们羞于否认，这一点从他们当中的许多人通过各种事物，以平面和立体几何、算术、物理，甚至通过叠布或折纸来证明这三个是一个，一个是三个很明显地看出来。因此，他们玩弄神性三位一体，就像魔术师表演魔术一样。他们在这个主题上的魔术可以比作那些发烧的人产生的幻觉，他们把一个物体，无论是人，桌子，还是蜡烛，看成三个，或把三个物体看成一个。它也可以比作那些用手指捏软蜡，把它塑成各种形状之人的把戏，他们时而把它捏成三角形来展示三位一体，时而又捏成球形来展示一体性，同时还问：“难道这个物质不是那同一个吗？”然而，神性三位一体就像一颗重价的珍珠（马太福音13:46），但当被分成三个位格时，它就像这颗珍珠被分成了三个部分，从而被彻底、明显被毁掉了。
184. You can clearly tell that a trinity of gods dwells in the minds of Christians - although out of shame they would never say so - by the way many of them ingeniously demonstrate that three are one and one is three. They use various phenomena in plane geometry, solid geometry, arithmetic, and physics, as well as folding pieces of clothing and pieces of paper. Like a bunch of clowns, they horse around with the divine Trinity.
Their clowning is like people's eyesight when they have a fever: they see one object, be it a person, a table, or a candle, as three objects, or three objects as one. It is like the trick people play by softening wax in their fingers and pressing it into different shapes. First they make a three-sided shape to show the trinity; then they make a ball to show the unity, and they say, "Isn't the substance one and the same?"
Truly, though, the divine Trinity is like the pearl of great price [Matthew 13:46]. Dividing the Trinity into persons is like cutting a pearl into three parts: it completely destroys the pearl.
184. The fact that the minds of Christians are obsessed with the idea of a Trinity of Gods, for all that shame makes them deny it, is perfectly clear from the ingenuity many of them display in proving that three are one and one is three. They use various devices in geometry, solids, arithmetic and physics for the purpose, as well as folds in garments and sheets of paper. So they make the Divine Trinity a subject for games, like scenes between comic actors. This farce can be likened to the vision of patients in fevers, who see a single object, whether it be a person, a table or a candle, as three, or see three objects as one. It can also be likened to the game in which the players knead soft wax between their fingers, and pinch it into various shapes, now making it triangular to represent the Trinity, now into a ball to show it is all one, saying, 'Is it not still one and the same substance?' Yet the Divine Trinity is like a pearl 1 of great price; but divided into persons it is like a pearl cut into three, which is obviously completely ruined.
Footnotes:
1. The Latin word for 'pearl' is here unio, which also means 'union'.
184. That a trinity of Gods is fixed in the minds of Christians, although from shame they deny it, is very evident from the ingenuity of many of them in demonstrating by means of various things in plain and solid geometry, in arithmetic, and in physics, and also by foldings of cloth and paper, that the three are one and the one is three. Thus they play with the divine trinity as jugglers play with each other. Their juggling on this subject may be compared to the visions of those suffering from fever, who see one object (whether a man, or a table or a candle) as three, or three as one. It may also be compared to the tricks of those who work soft wax with their fingers and mould it into various shapes, now making it triangular to exhibit the trinity, and again spherical to exhibit the unity, meanwhile asking, "Is not the substance still one and the same?" And yet the Divine trinity is like the one pearl of great value, but when divided into persons it is like that pearl divided into three parts, whereby it is utterly and manifestly ruined.
184. That a trinity of gods occupies the minds of Christians, although they deny it for very shame, is plainly evident from the ingenuity displayed by many in proving that three are one and one three by geometry, stereometry, arithmetic and physics, and even by folding pieces of cloth and paper: thus they make play with the Divine Trinity, like conjurers taking part in a conjuring performance. Such conjuring may be likened to the vision of those in a fever who see one object, as a man, a table, or a candle, as three, or three as one. It may also be compared to the amusing performance of those who work soft wax with their fingers, and mold it into various forms, now into a triangle to illustrate the Trinity, and now into a ball to illustrate the Unity, asserting that it is still one and the same substance. Nevertheless the Divine Trinity is like the pearl of great price; but when it is divided into Persons, it is like a pearl divided into three parts, 1 which is thereby completely and irretrievably ruined.
Footnotes:
1. Trinitas Divine, est sicut Unio maximi pretii, at... est sicut unio. Here Unio with initial capital = the pearl, but unio with small initial = a pearl.
184. Quod Trinitas Deorum insideat Christianorum Mentibus, tametsi ex pudore contradicunt, constat clare ex ingeniositate plurium demonstrandi, quod tria sint unum ac unum tria, per varia in Geometricis, Stereometricis, Arithmeticis, et Physicis, et quoque per plicaturas vestium et chartarum; ita cum Trinitate Divina ludunt sicut harioli inter se. Horum hariolatio de illa comparari potest visui oculi febricitantium, qui unum objectum, sive sit homo, sive mensa, sive candela, vident ut tria, aut tria ut unum. Comparari etiam potest cum ludibrio illorum, qui ceram mollem versant inter digitos, et compingunt illam in varias formas, nunc in triangularem ut ostendant Trinitatem, nunc in sphaericam ut ostendant unitatem, dicentes estne usque substantia una et eadem. Cum tamen Trinitas Divina, est sicut Unio maximi pretii, at illa divisa in Personas, est sicut unio divisa in tres partes, ex quo illa prorsus 1 et plane perit.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: porsus.