accepting and preserving it?

15. Sixth, our false apostles justly reward us by smiting us in the
face. That is, they consider us inferior to dogs; they abuse us, and
treat us as foot-rags. I venture to say we became sensible of such
treatment when, under the Papacy, we were readily put in the van,
cursed, condemned and delivered to the devil. We endured it all,
suffered most patiently, and yielded up property, honor, body and
soul. Fault in a sincere teacher, however, could by no means be
tolerated. Very well, then; God is just, and it is his judgment that
we must honor the messengers of Satan a thousand times more than his
own, and do and suffer everything.

"I speak by way of disparagement [speak as concerning reproach], as
though we had been weak."

16. There are two ways of interpreting this sentence: First, as
meaning: "I speak as one of the weak whose folly you must endure; for
which I deserve reproach, since I ought to bear with you." From such
meaning I to this day have seen no cause to swerve. The other
interpretation is: "I speak as one reproached--after the manner of the
weak." Or, more fully expressed: "I can speak in two ways of myself
and my class: First, with honor, because of our strength in the sight
of God and the spiritually-minded, worthy of honor, noble; not weak
but strong, able. But I will not at present employ this way, for we
are now despised; we are not known as honorable. And all because of
the false prophets. I will, then, present myself in the other light,
as I am regarded--despised, held in reproach and disrespect, weak and
incapable. But even this condition shall be an occasion of glory for
me; my reproach and weakness is more honorable than their honor, power
and strength. What would my glory be should my actual strength inspire
my speech!" "Weakness," according to Paul's own later interpretation,
implies being regarded worthless, unfit, a failure. The apostle's
meaning, then, is: "I, too, will be one of the boasting fools. You
will excuse it in me for I speak from the standpoint of my critics,
that of a man contemptible, foolish, incompetent. Before God, however,
I feel that I am a quite different being."

17. And recollect, Paul says, "Because ye are wise, ye suffer fools
gladly," implying that one fool cannot tolerate another. The saying
is, "Two fools in one house will not do." Reason and wisdom are
required, to bear with another's infirmities and to excuse them.

"Yet wherein