Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

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“I profess to be one of those whom, with so much enmity, you
assail and stigmatize. For though religion was already established,
and the form of the Church corrected, before I was invited to
Geneva, yet having not only approved by my suffrage, but studied
as much as in me lay to preserve and confirm what had been done
by Viret and Farel, I cannot separate my case from theirs. Still, if
you had attacked me in my private character, I could easily have
forgiven the attack in consideration of your learning, and in honor
of letters. But when I see that my ministry, which I feel assured is
supported and sanctioned by a call from God, is wounded through
my side, it would be perfidy, not patience, were I here to be silent
and connive.
“In that Church I have held the office, first of Doctor, and then of
Pastor. In my own right I maintain that, in undertaking these
offices, I had a legitimate vocation. How faithfully and religiously I
have performed them, there is no occasion for now showing at
length. Perspicuity, erudition, prudence, ability, or even industry, I
will not claim for myself, but that I certainly labored with the
sincerity which became me in the work of the Lord, I can in
conscience appeal to Christ, my Judge, and all his angels, while all
good men bear clear testimony in my favor. This ministry,
therefore, when it shall appear to have been of God (as it certainly
shall appear after the cause has been heard), were I in silence to
allow you to tear and defame, who would not condemn such silence
as treachery ? Every person, therefore, now sees that the strongest
obligations of duty—obligations which I cannot evade—constrain
me to meet your accusations, if I would not with manifest perfidy
desert and betray a cause with which the Lord has intrusted me. For
though I am for the present relieved of the charge of the Church of
Geneva, that circumstance ought not to prevent me from embracing
it with paternal affection—God, when he gave it to me in charge,
having bound me to be faithful forever.”
He repels with modest dignity the frivolous charge of having embraced the
cause of the Reformation from disappointed ambition.
“I am unwilling to speak of myself, but since you do not permit me
to be altogether silent, I will say what I can consistently with
modesty. Had I wished to consult my own interest, I would never