sionate upon the interests of your glory; you who perhaps enjoy a reputation which you have never merited; you, who, were you to be known such as you are, would be covered with eternal shame and confusion; you, in a word, of whom the most injurious discourses only imperfectly represent the secret wretchedness, and of which God alone knoweth the extent? Great God! how little shall sinners have to say for themselves when thou wilt pronounce against them the sentence of their eternal condemnation!
You will probably tell us that you perfectly agree to the duties which religion hereupon imposes, but that the laws of honour have prevailed over those of religion; that if discourses and proceedings of a certain description be tranquilly submitted to, lasting dishonour and infamy in the sight of men must necessarily follow; that to forgive through motives of religion, is nevertheless a stain of cowardice, which the world never pardons, and that on this point, honour acknowledges neither exception nor privilege.
What is this honour, my brethren, which is to be bought only at the price of our souls and of our eternal salvation? And how worthy of pity, if guilt alone can save from ignominy! I know that it is here that the false laws of the world seem to prevail over those of religion; and that the wisest themselves, who execrate this abuse, are, however, of opinion that it must be submitted to. But I speak before a prince, who, wiser than the world, and filled with a just indignation against a madness so contrary to the maxims of the gospel, as well as to the interests of the state, hath shown to his subjects what is the true honour, and who, in forcing criminal arms out of their hands, hath marked with lasting infamy those barbarous modes of revenge to which the public error had attached a deplorable glory.
What, my brethren, an abominable maxim, which the barbarity of the first manners of our ancestors alone hath consecrated, and handed down to us, should prevail over all the rules of Christianity and all the most inviolable rules of the state! It should be no dishonour to bathe your hands in your brother's blood, while it would be one to obey God, and the prince who holds his place in the world! Glory would no longer then be but a madness, and cowardice but a noble respect for religion, and for our master. You dread passing for a coward! Show your valour, then, by shedding your blood in the defence of your country; go and brave dangers at the head of our armies, and there seek glory in the discharge of your duty; establish your reputation by actions worthy of being ranked among the memorable events of a reign so glorious; such is that valour which the state requires, and which religion authorizes. Then despise these brutal and personal vengeances; look upon them as a childish ostentation of valour, which is often used as a cover to actual cowardice; as the vile and vulgar refuge of those who have nothing signal to establish their character; as a forced and an equivocal proof of courage, which the world wrests from us, and against which the heart often revolts. Far from imputing shame to you, the world itself will make it a fresh title of honour to you;
