In religion, theory is nothing without practice, and of all species of knowledge none requires less speculation than that of the Gospel. Its Divine Author has declared, that the religion which he came to announce to us consists not in words, but in virtues, which important declaration at once defines the spirit of Christianity, in placing charity even above faith. However this great truth may be forgotten by many of the Christians of these days, or rendered nugatory by the pretensions of their teachers, it is not the less incontestable at the tribunal of reason and revelation, and let us hope, for the good of humanity, that it will soon prevail over the vain phantoms which have been substituted for it throughout the greatest part of Europe. Yes, indeed! I delight in believing that the march of knowledge is a guarantee of this, and that we are approaching that happy time when a man will not be required to prove he is a Christian, merely by repeating, like a parrot, the articles of belief, which have been drawn up by the chiefs of the sect to which he belongs, when it will not suffice alone coldly to admit some Evangelical truths, but when those who call themselves Christians will acknowledge--"That pure religion is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep themselves unspotted from the world."* It cannot be too often repeated, that this is real Christianity. And such have ever been the sentiments of the Vaudois, never have they been known to waste, _in pernicious disputes or useless discussions_ that time which might have been employed in good works; and thus, by a natural consequence, they have formed a Christian society of virtuous conduct and irreproachable morals. * Epistle of St. James, chap. i. ver. 22. We have above quoted that remarkable passage of the Inquisitor Reynerus Sacco, in which he has borne witness in favour of our ancestors. We will add the testimony of Claude de Seyssel, who affirms that, "for their lives and moral behaviour, the Vaudois are without reproach before men, and do their utmost endeavours to keep the commandments of God." The respectable French historian, De Thou, says that "the Vaudois keep the commandments of the decalogue, and allow among them of no wickedness, detesting perjuries and imprecations, quarrels, seditions, and all debaucheries, usury, &c. &c." The Cardinal Baronius bears witness to their chastity, and Thuanus (also a Catholic historian) adds to this, "that they are such scrupulous observers of honour and chastity, that their neighbours, though of a contrary faith, intrusted them with the care of their wives and daughters, to preserve them from the insolence of the soldiery."