To an Unknown Correspondent, on an Unjust Sentence

Your piety is annoyed and distressed at the sentence passed on me unjustly and without a trial. It comforts me that you feel this way. Had I been justly condemned, I would have been sorry to have given my judges reasonable grounds for what they have done. But as it is, my conscience is quite clear. I feel joyful and glad, and I look forward to the forgiveness of my other sins because of this injustice. Naboth lives on in people’s memories only because he suffered that unjust death. Only pray that we are not abandoned by God, and let the enemy go on doing his worst. God’s good will is enough to make me very cheerful, and if he is on my side, I despise all my troubles as trifles. [a]