The banner of the inquisition hath a green cross in a field sable, adorned on the right hand with a branch of green olive, and brandishing on the left a drawn sword, with this motto round about the scutcheon, “Exsurge, Domine, & judica causam tuam; Psal. lxxiv. 22. Arise, O Lord, and plead thy own cause.” The branch of green olive denotes the same as the green cross. But the branch of olive is on the right hand of the cross, and the sword on the left, to shew that in the inquisition mercy is mixed with justice; and the meaning of this mixture they derive from the ark of the tabernacle, in which, together with the tables, there was the rod and the manna, the rod of severity, and the manna of sweetness; as though the rod of Aaron which blossomed, was the rod with which judges command criminals to be whipped. The branch of olive at the right hand, signifies that nothing ought to be so strictly regarded by the inquisitors as mercy and clemency, which the olive most wonderfully shadows forth, which hath branches always green, and which endures storms much longer than any other trees, and if buried under water, is not so soon destroyed, nor doth so easily lose its verdure. The drawn sword brandishing on the left, points out that the inquisitors, after having tried in vain all methods of mercy, do then as it were unwillingly come to the use and drawing of the sword, which was given by God for the punishment of offenders. The field of sable, in the midst of which the green cross is placed, intimates the repentance of the criminals, and the sorrow they conceive on account of their sins; which, however, the green mitigates with the hope of pardon. The motto round the scutcheon, “Exsurge Domine,” &c. marks out that the inquisitors, in expectation of the coming of the Lord, do in the mean while punish the wicked, that they may deter others, and defend the good.