What we can loudly proclaim is, that still in all Europe there does not exist a people of such good faith, simplicity, frankness, and kind-heartedness, as the Vaudois of the present day. They preserve a respect for religion, a love for their duties, and a purity of opinions and morals which may in vain be sought for among other nations called Christian; and these virtues are joined to so much modesty, that they appear perfectly natural, and never ostentatious. What a touching and sublime spectacle do these people present to every kind heart and good understanding which contemplates them! They are good husbands, good fathers, kind friends, and good citizens, and have always, even in the midst of their persecutions, shown the greatest fidelity to their princes. Nay, even have, after an interval of a few days only, turned in their defence those arms which they had used against them, in the preservation of their lives and religion. During the long course of persecutions they have sustained, notwithstanding the perfidy with which they were treated, and the horrible tortures which they underwent, they have never given way to vengeance, and have contented themselves with repelling force by force. So that no instance is to be found, in their history, of a defenceless enemy having been ill used, or of their having violated their promises, even while treated with systematic perfidy. Nor have they ever shed blood, except when their absolute safety obliged them. If so many virtues, so many good qualities, are sometimes mingled with weaknesses, we must attribute it to the imperfection of human nature; observing that it is only some individuals who are worthy of reproach, and that the mass of society is (humanly speaking) irreproachable. It would, perhaps, be possible to clear off these faint stains, if the ancient ecclesiastical discipline was again enforced; and it is in aid of this object that we have consecrated the next chapter to its description. Happy, thrice happy should I be, if this, or any part of my work, should tend to draw any of my countrymen (still more than at present) into the path of life. If this whole people, by drawing daily nearer to the Eternal One, should ever render themselves worthy to have it said of them--"This is the patience of the faithful, behold them who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."