"My valiant
brethren, my fault is evident and undeniable, it consists in
transgression against subordination, and as I have been as good a
soldier as brother Roland, I know well that nothing can be said to
extenuate it. If you speak in accordance with the letter of the law, I
am then condemned, and I will lay down my command as obediently as I
accepted it from Roland. But I again ask you here openly, as I have
already expressed my opinion privately on this point, can we, the
immediate instruments of the Most High, penetrated with his spirit,
measure commands and quietly follow them? shall we, are we permitted to
pursue this war as with men like ourselves, and may we obstinately
withdraw the holy zeal, when the spirit descends upon us, and rules the
sword in our hand, and hurls the burning brand into the idolatrous
temples? Where then is truth, confidence, and faith, if I am not
allowed to do what the Lord himself designs to exact from me. No my
friends, my inspired brethren! let other self-sufficient, self-willed
men then, who fight without heaven be your soldiers, I can never be
such. Roland and Cavalier pardon the prisoners we make, send them back
comforted, refresh and succour their wounded, and hope by their
well-meaning kindness to arouse the hearts of the villains, that they
may feel humane and brotherly towards us. But no such thing! they mock
at this our weakness and call it folly, nay, they publicly term it
cowardice and say, that we dare not act otherwise, for we are only
rebels and outlaws. Assuredly we are a reproach to men, and when they
catch, or wound us, they show us less compassion than they would
testify to a dog, even if it had torn their dearest child to pieces. Is
it then necessary to remind you of the barbarities they have practised
upon our brethren, who have struggled and died for the faith? I will
only recall to your recollection the holy father Brusson, who
gloriously won the crown of martyrdom at Montpellier, the pious man,
who preached the gospel to us poor abandoned flocks in the wilderness,
and then took leave of us, drew no sword, lighted no torch, lived and
died in the spirit of peace, and who only came once more to take a last
farewell of the old mountains, and of the brethren, whom the faith had
collected around him as his own children, with the gospel in his
pocket, and with the bread of tears he wished to return to the strange
land, which had become to him as his native country; and wh