law in his university at
Heidelberg. Unwilling to expose himself to further importunities from
abroad which he was resolved to discourage, the prelate gave the signal
for the closing of the tragic scene. The sentence was announced to Du
Bourg in his cell by the deputed judges. It was that he should forthwith
be taken to the place of execution and suspended above the flames until
life should be extinct. But the courage of Du Bourg did not fail him.
When the counsellors had fulfilled their commission and were about to
retire, the fettered prisoner detained them, and uttered a speech of
exquisite pathos. It was the bewitching spirit of delusion, he said, the
messenger of hell, the capital enemy of truth, that had accused him
before them, because he had abandoned her. To that evil spirit had they
too readily listened and condemned him and others like him, the children
of the God of infinite mercy. It was in no sense disobedience to their
prince that they refused to offer sacrifice to Baal. Was it disloyalty
to be willing to give up to their sovereign everything, even to the last
garment they possessed; to pray for the prosperity and peace of his
realm, and that all superstition and idolatry might be banished from its
borders; to entreat the Almighty to fill him and those under him in
authority with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding, that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all
pleasing? Was it not rather disobedience to dishonor and anger God by
impiety and blasphemy, and by transferring His glory to another?

[Sidenote: He depicts the constancy of the victims.]

The judges themselves were moved to tears as the prisoner pictured the
fearful tortures which were daily inflicted upon the innocent
Protestants at the bidding of that "red Phalaris," the Cardinal of
Lorraine.[795] "Sufferings do not intimidate them," he said, "insults do
not weaken them, satisfying their honor by death. So that the proverb
suits you well, gentlemen: the conqueror dies, and the vanquished
laments.... No, no, none shall be able to separate us from Christ,
whatever snares are laid for us, whatever ills our bodies may endure. We
know that we have long been like lambs led to the slaughter. Let them,
therefore, slay us, let them break us in pieces; for all that, the
Lord's dead will not cease to live, and we shall rise in a common
resurrection. I am a Christian, yes, I am a Christian. I will cry yet
louder, when I