Page:The Rebellion in the Cevennes (Volume 1).djvu/220

Rh betrays us and belies the Lord, let him fall a sacrifice to his own malice, but the harmless labourer, the helpless priest, the defenceless woman, the child under age, let them be spared, what have they done to us? what can they accomplish against us? we have certainly always struggled to put our enemies to shame and to convince them by Christian charity, that our course is a just one; but here, Catinat has again acted in opposition to my express command, in his expedition he has set fire to three churches with his own hands, he has massacred two priests, his troop according to his orders has reduced villages to ashes, and women and chidren have been murdered and burned in the most terrible manner. Their lamentations, the cries of the orphans, the wailings of the parents rise up to heaven, and arouse and call upon the enduring goodness of the Lord to thrust and to fling us in his wrath far away from him, like useless vessels. If we ourselves act in this manner, wherefore