The six sisters of the valleys : an historical romance - University Library

152 THE SIX SISTERS OF THE VALLEYS.
before liim ; but their superficial gloss
could not mask the guilt of shedding blood.
There was a sublime simplicity shown in the
words and actions of those so-called heretics,
and if creeds must be judged by their fruits
his conscience scrupled not as to its verdict.
Was heaven to be colonized with fire and
sword ? Had the conscience to be trained
to virtue with racks and thumbscrews ?
Had souls to be ushered into eternal bliss
by refinements of torture which heathendom
could not exceed, and indeed hardly equal ?
Look at those snow-clad crags, bathed
in sunshine, piercing to heaven. Let those
Alps, the crystal habitation of the God of
nature, surround the seething, lurid cities
of the plain which edge the shore of the
Dead Sea. Look on this picture and on that,
and read in nature the parable of our present
history. As Echard paced before the cell
rent with these feelings his thoughts turned
to his prisoner, and partly from compassion
and partly from desire to allay the agonies