HKB
stand still and engage in the accusation of your enemies without any acknowledgment of your own faults, which far surpass, by many degrees of ascent, those of the holy Seer?
In so far as we ourselves are concerned, if there is any occasion to argue our case against the ungodly and calumniators who would charge offence upon us, I know that not only is our conscience clear to answer before God, but we have also wherewithal to purge ourselves before the whole world. And this assurance we have testified sufficiently when we demanded to be heard in our defence; yea, even in the face of our adversaries, in answer to every thing which they would lay against us. A man had need to be well furnished with his justifications when he presents himself at so great disadvantage, being inferior in every way to his opponents, except in the goodness of his cause. As oft as the question recurs of compearance before God, I make no doubt that he has humbled us in this way to make us acknowledge our ignorance, our imprudence, and those infirmities which, for my own part, I feel in myself, and do make no difficulty in confessing before the Church of the Lord. In doing so we must not be afraid lest thereby we might give occasion to our enemies; for Daniel did not justify Nabuchodonosor when he attributes to the sins of the Israelites the oppression which they suffered under that tyrant, but rather he has confounded him, shewing that he was the rod of God's wrath as well as the devil and his underlings. Neither is there any danger that we might subject our cause to reproach or shame; for if we have presented ourselves before all the Churches, shewing again and again that duly and faithfully we have discharged our duty; and if still from day to day we are ready to do so, it is no sign that we have thereby given the opportunity to bite, or to detract from us; and if we cannot hinder them from miscalling us--seeing that some of them are transported, not simply by an unruly temper, but even by ungovernable rage, we know the promise which is given, that the Lord will make our innocence appear like the bright and morning star, and will cause our righteousness to shine forth like the sun. We may boldly lay hold on this confidence whenever there is occasion to contend against the wicked, albeit that we ourselves may be answerable in a very high degree to the justice of the Lord.