6. Now I beseech you by the mercy of the
Lord, that as I will in this letter according to your desire write to
you of divine things and of the witness of a pure conscience to our
faith, no one will think to judge me by the beginning of my letter
before he has read the conclusion of my argument. For it is
unfair before the complete argument has been grasped, to conceive a
prejudice on account of initial statements, the reason of which is yet
unknown, since it is not with imperfect statements before us that we
must make a decision for the sake of investigation, but on the
conclusion for the sake of knowledge. I have some fear, not about
you, as God is witness of my heart, but about some who in their own
esteem are very cautious and prudent but do not understand the blessed
apostle’s precept not to think of themselves more highly than
they ought Rom. xii. 3.: for I am
afraid that they are unwilling to know all those facts, the complete
account of which I will offer at the end, and at the same time they
avoid drawing the true conclusion from the aforesaid facts. But
whoever takes up these lines to read and examine them has only to be
consistently patient with me and with himself and peruse the whole to
its completion. Perchance all this assertion of my faith will
result in those who conceal their heresy being unable to practise the
deception they wish, and in true Catholics attaining the object which
they desire.