13. Would you have me say something still more
venturesome? Do you see the tongues of the enemy made gentle, and
those who made war upon the
Godhead against me tranquillised? This also is the result of our
Spirit, of our husbandry. For we are not undisciplined in our
exercise of discipline, nor do we hurl insults, as many do, who assail
not the argument but the speaker, and sometimes strive by their
invective to hide the weakness of their reasoning; as the cuttlefish
are said to cast forth ink before them, in order to escape from their
pursuers, or themselves to hunt others when unperceived. But we
show that our warfare is in behalf of Christ by fighting as Christ, the
peaceable and meek, S. Matt. xi. 29. Who has borne our
infirmities, fought. Ib.
viii. 17; Isai. liii. 4. Though
peaceable, we do not injure the word of truth, by yielding a jot, to
gain a reputation for reasonableness; for we do not pursue that which
is good by means of ill: and we are peaceable by the legitimate
character of our warfare, confined as it is to our own limits, and the
rules of the Spirit. Upon these points, this is my decision, and
I lay down the law for all stewards of souls and dispensers of the
Word: neither to exasperate others by their harshness, nor to
render them arrogant by submissiveness: but to be of good words
in treating of the Word, and in neither direction to overstep the
mean.