It is upon these principles that I beg all that I have advanced in the history of the Vaudois may be judged. If I have expressed myself warmly against their enemies, it is only when they have violated the first duties of Christianity; then I neither wish or ought to spare them, for truth, in the judgment of an honest man, is one and immutable. He ought to purchase it, to use the words of the gospel, to publish and defend it, at the price of all he has in the world. I have nothing to do with Catholicism, but with the excesses which Catholics have committed. If I have anathematized the ministers of the Inquisition, it is because so execrable an establishment does not exist under heaven. The sun may well have withdrawn his light in horror, when he first illuminated the dark and bloody walls of this abominable tribunal! And they dare to assert that it is established for the propagation of the Christian faith. What a horrible blasphemy is this! We may ask of the most ardent partizans of the Propaganda,* whether Jesus had recourse to an Inquisition? if the Apostles used such a means of extending their doctrine, or proving the faith of their brethren? Did the first preachers use tortures to force men to adopt their creed? Did not Jesus, himself say to those who remained with him, when others fled--"And ye! will ye also go away?"** Is this the expression of a persecutor? or can the infernal rules of the Inquisition be founded upon the feelings which dictated this question?
* The College of Propaganda fide, in Rome, is synonymous with the Italian Inquisition.
Nay! is there in the whole of the sacred Scriptures, one single line or word which can excuse persecution for the sake of religion? If there is, let it be produced, and I will on the instant make full reparation to this host of executioners and fanatics. But if the precepts of Christianity tend to recommend to us the love of God and of our brethren, it follows that the Inquisitors and their adherents, have been Christians in name only, and that their conduct has tended to the discredit of true religion and greatly injured the cause of Christ; for light and darkness are not more different than a true Christian, and a bigoted fanatic. I have more than once remarked, in the course of my history, that we should rather accuse the Inquisition, than the House of Savoy of the atrocities committed on the Vaudois. If the latter deserves censure, it is for want of courage to oppose the perfidious and criminal instigations of this bloody tribunal. The frightful tyranny of Rome, at that time, may be considered as an excuse; and our history will show to what excesses the anti-christian policy of that proud court was led. And as the picture of such cruelty is disgusting, it will be pleasing to turn from it to the mildness which reigns in the present government....