I Can Meet Any Attack

In the meantime, I wanted to free myself from suspicion in the reader’s unspoken judgment, and to refute the gravest of the charges in the eyes of my friends. I did not want it to appear that I had struck first, since even when wounded I have not aimed a blow at my attacker, but have only tried to heal my own wound. I ask the reader to let the blame rest on the one who struck the first blow, without respect of persons. He is not content with striking. As if he were dealing with a man he had reduced to silence and who would never speak again, he has written three elaborate books and has drawn up from my works a list of “Contradictions” worthy of Marcion. Our minds are all on fire to know at once what his teaching is, and what this madness of mine is that we never expected. Perhaps he has learned, though the time has been short, all that is needed to make him my teacher, and a sudden flood of eloquence will reveal what no one imagined he knew. [a]

He may brandish the spear of his accusations and hurl them at us with all his might, but we trust in the Lord our Savior that his truth will surround us like a shield, and we will be able to sing with the Psalmist, “Their blows have become like the arrows of the little ones,” and, “Though an army should camp against me, my heart will not fear; though war should rise against me, even then I will be confident.” But more of this another time. Let us now go back to where we began. [c]