Page:The Rebellion in the Cevennes (Volume 1).djvu/221

Rh should we complain, when the enemies open wide the jaws of cruelty and show less compassion than the wolf in the wilderness, or the beast of prey of the mountains, then, with justice, their stakes blaze threateningly to meet us! why are we angered, when their barbarous executioners, with greedy looks, grin up towards our mountains, and in malicious joy whet their instruments of death? then fight brute against brute, and devil against Belzebub! By what then shall the good cause be recognised? I will also remind you, my beloved brethren, that these deeds alienate the best people in the country from us; not only the Catholic, but such as are in their hearts our brothers, will desert us, as well as those newly converted ones, who would willingly help us. Have you then forgotten, how pious men of foreign lands, priests and leaders of armies have warned us not to stain our hands with innocent blood, and our holy cause with firebrands and cruelty? all pious minds in