"I HAVE sent for you, Master Cole," spoke the Dean of Cardinal
College, "because it is told to me that you, whilst yourself a
blameless son of Holy Church, have strong friendship for some of
those unhappy youths who are lying now in ward, accused of the
deadly sin of heresy; and in particular, that you are well known to
Anthony Dalaber, one of the most notable and most obstinate
offenders."
"That is true," answered Arthur readily. "I have had friendship
this many years with Dalaber, long ere he took with these perilous
courses against which I have warned him many a time and oft. Apart
from his errors, which I trust are not many or great, he has ever
appeared a youth of great promise, and I have believed him one to
make his way to fame and honour in days to come, when once these
youthful follies are overpast."
"I have heard the same from others," answered Dr. Higdon; "and
albeit he has never been a student here, nor come under my care, I
have oftentimes come across him, in that he has sung in our chapel,
and lent us the use of his tuneful voice in our services of praise.
I have noted him many a time, and sometimes have had conversation
with him, in the which I have been struck by his versatility and
quickness of apprehension. Therefore (having in this matter certain
powers from my lord cardinal in dealing with these hapless young
men) I am most anxious so to work upon his spirit that he show
himself not obstinate and recalcitrant. Almost all his comrades
have proved their wisdom and the sincerity of their professed
devotion to Holy Church by promising submission to the godly
discipline and penance to be imposed upon them; but Dalaber remains
mutely obstinate when spoken to, and will neither answer questions
nor make any confession or recantation of error. I have therefore
avoided his company, and abstained from pressing him, lest this
only make him the more obstinate. I would fain use gentle and
persuasive measures with all these misguided youths, and I trow
that we shall thus win them, as we might never do by harshness and
cruelty. Loneliness and the taste they have had--some amongst
them--of prison life has done somewhat to tame them; and for the
rest, we have had little trouble in persuading them to be wise and
docile."
"I am right glad to hear it," spoke Arthur quickly, "for I have
consorted with many amongst these same men; and I know right well
that they are godly and well-disposed youths, earnestly desirous to
be at peace with all men, and to live in obedience to Holy Church,
whom they reverence and love as their mother. They have been
something led away through such men as Master Garret, who--"
Arthur paused, for a curious smile had illumined Dr. Higdon's face.
He looked full at Arthur as he said:
"Yes, Master Garret has been much to blame in this matter; but the
cardinal has so dealt with him by gentleness and kindness, and by
the clear and forceful reasoning of which he is master, that Thomas
Garret himself is now here in Oxford, ready to do penance for his
sins of disobedience and rebellion; and to this submission do we
owe that of his confederates and lesser brethren. When they heard
that he had promised compliance to the cardinal's commands, they
themselves yielded without much delay."
"Garret here in Oxford!" exclaimed Arthur, in surprise, "and a
penitent, submissive to the cardinal! Then, truly, no others should
be hard to persuade. But what is it that the cardinal asks of
them?"
Dr. Higdon smiled that rather subtle smile which on many faces, and
especially on those of ecclesiastics, tends to grow into one of
craft.
"He calls it an act of recantation, but we speak of it to the young
men as one of obedience and reconciliation. There will be here in
Oxford a solemn function, like unto what was seen not more than a
year ago in London, when those who have been excommunicated, but
are now about to be reconciled, will appear in procession, each
carrying a fagot for the fire which will be lighted at Carfax; and
having thrown their fagot, they will then throw upon the flames
some of those noxious books the poison of which has done such hurt
to them and others; and having thus humbled themselves to
obedience, they will be received and reconciled, and on Easter Day
will be readmitted to the holy ordinances from which they have been
excluded all these weeks."
"And Garret will take part in that act of obedience?" asked Arthur,
in subdued astonishment.
"He will. The cardinal has persuaded him to it. What means he has
used I know not, save that all has been done by gentle suasion, and
nothing wrung from him by cruelty or force. And thus it is that I
would deal with Anthony Dalaber. If I know aught of his nature, he
would stand like a rock against the fierce buffeting of angry
waves, he would go to the rack and the stake with courage and
constancy. But a friend may persuade where an adversary would only
rouse to obstinacy. And therefore have I sent for you, hoping that
you may have wisdom to deal with him and persuade him to this step;
for if he submit not himself, I fear to think what may be his
fate."
"I will willingly try my powers upon him," answered Arthur,
speaking slowly and with consideration. "I trow that the world will
lose a true and valuable man in losing Anthony Dalaber. It will go
far with him that Master Garret has consented to this act of
obedience and submission. But there is one other of whom he is sure
to ask. Is Master Clarke also about to take part in this ceremony
of reconciliation?"
A very troubled look clouded Dr. Higdon's face.
"Alas! you touch me near by that question. With Clarke we can
prevail nothing. And yet there is no more pious and devoted son of
the church than he; and God in heaven is my witness that I know him
for a most righteous and godly man, and that to hear him speak upon
these very matters brings tears to the eyes. His face is as the
face of an angel; his words are the words of a saint. My heart
bleeds when I think of him."
"Why, then, is he accounted heretic and excommunicate?"
"You may well ask. I have asked myself that same question, for, as
one of the canons of this college here, he is to me as a son. I was
wroth at the first when it was told that here in this place we had
a nest of pestilent heretics; but since I have come to know more of
John Clarke, the more do I grieve that such doctrine as he holds
should be condemned as heresy. It is true that he is unsound on
some points--that I may not deny; but he is so full of sweetness,
and piety, and the love of God and of the church, that I would hold
his errors lightly and his graces and gifts in esteem. But alas!
the bishop has heard much about his readings and his expounding of
the Scriptures. He vows that he and Garret and the monk Ferrar have
been the ringleaders in all this trouble, and that, unless they
formally recant and join in this act of open submission, they shall
be dealt with as obstinate heretics, and handed over to the secular
arm, to perish by fire."
Arthur's face grew suddenly pale to the lips.
"They would burn a saint like Clarke! God forgive them even for
such a thought! Truly men may say--"
Dr. Higdon raised his hand to stop Arthur's words, but his face was
full of distress and sympathy.
"We will trust and hope that such a fearful consummation will not
be necessary. The others have submitted; and Clarke is but a shadow
of himself, owing to the unwholesome nature of the place in which
he is confined. I do not despair yet of bringing him to reason and
submission. He is not like Dalaber. There is no stubbornness about
him. He will speak with sweet courtesy, and enter into every
argument with all the reasonableness of a great mind. But he says
that to walk in that procession, to take part in that act of
so-called recantation and reconciliation, would be in itself as a
confession that those things which he had held and taught were
heretical. And no argument will wring that admission from him. He
declares--and truly his arguments are sound and cogent--that he has
never spoken or taught any single doctrine which was not taught by
our Lord and His apostles and is not held by the Catholic Church.
And in vain do I quote to him the mandates of various Popes and
prelates. His answer ever is that, though he gives all reverence to
God's ministers and ordained servants in the church, it must ever
be to the Head that he looks for final judgment on all difficult
points, and he cannot regard any bishop in the church--not even the
Bishop of Rome--as being of greater authority than the Lord.
"It is here that his case is so hopeless. To subvert the authority
of the Pope is to shake the church to her foundations. But nothing
I say can make Clarke understand this. It is the one point upon
which he is obstinately heretical."
"But you still have hopes of inducing him to submit?"
"I shall not cease my efforts, or cease to hope," answered Dr.
Higdon earnestly, "for in truth I know not what will be the end if
he remain obstinate or, rather, I fear too much what that end will
be. If it lay with the cardinal, there would be hope; but the
bishop is obdurate. He is resolved to proceed to the uttermost
lengths. Pray Heaven Clarke may yet see the folly of remaining
obstinate, and may consent at the last to submit as the others have
done!"
"Have all done so?"
"There is Dalaber yet to win," answered the dean, "and there are a
few more--Sumner for one, and Radley for another--who have not
given the assurance yet. If Clarke would submit, they would do so
instantly; but they are near to him in the prison, and they can
speak with each other, and so they hang together as yet, and what
he does they will do. But their peril is not so great as his. The
bishop has not named any, save Garret, Ferrar, and Clarke, as the
victims of the extreme penalty of the law. Dalaber may well be
included if he remains obdurate, and therefore I am greatly
concerned that he should be persuaded.
"Think you that you can work upon him, were I to win you permission
to see him? I have heard that you did visit him awhile since, when
he was kept less strictly than is now the case. What was his frame
of mind then? and what hopes have you of leading him to a better
one?"
Arthur sat considering awhile, and then said:
"Dalaber is one of those upon whom none can rightly reckon. At one
moment he will be adamant, at another yielding and pliable. One day
his soul will be on fire, and nothing would move him; but in
another mood he would listen and weigh every argument, and might be
easily persuaded. One thing is very sure: gentleness would prevail
with him a thousand times more than harshness. A friend might
prevail where a foe would have no chance. I will gladly visit him,
and do what I can; but I would fain, if it might he accorded, see
Master Garret first, and take word to Dalaber of mine own knowledge
that he has promised submission."
The dean considered awhile, and then rose to his feet.
"Come, then," he said. "It is not known in Oxford yet; but the
cardinal has sent Garret here to me, to be kept in close ward till
the day of the reconciliation, now at hand. This is what is to take
place. The men who have been excommunicated and set in ward, but
who are ready to make submission, will be brought to trial a few
days hence, and will sign their recantation, as we call it, to the
cardinal, in the presence of the judges, who will then order them
to take part in this act of penance, after which they will be
admitted once more to communion, and have liberty to resume their
studies, or to return to their homes and friends, as best pleases
them. Thus we trust to purge Oxford of heresy. But if Master Clarke
remain obdurate, and others with him, I fear me there will be some
other and terrible scene ere this page of her history closes."
"Let me see Master Garret," said Arthur abruptly. "I would I might
also see Master Clarke. But whenever I ask this boon it is refused
me."
The dean shook his head slowly.
"No one is permitted access to him, save those who go to reason
with him; and so far we reason in vain. But I will admit you to the
other prisoner for a few minutes. You have been acquainted with him
in the past?"
"Slightly. He has never ranked as my friend, but I have known him
and met him. He is of my college, and I have been sorry that he has
used his knowledge of Oxford to spread trouble there."
Garret sprang up as Arthur entered the bare but not unwholesome
room where he was confined. He had grown very thin with the long
strain of flight, imprisonment, and hardship that had been his
portion of late. He greeted Arthur eagerly, his eyes aglow, and on
hearing somewhat of his errand he broke out into rapid and excited
speech.
"Tell Dalaber that the time is not ripe--that it lingers yet. I
have been warned of God in a dream. My hour has not yet come. There
is work yet for me to do, and how am I straitened till it be
accomplished! Yes; you need not shrink from me as from a
blasphemer. I hold that every man must follow in the steps of the
Lord, and drink of His cup, and be baptized with His baptism. But
He waited for His hour. He hid Himself and fled and conveyed
Himself away. He paid tribute to kings and rulers. He submitted
Himself to earthly parents, earthly potentates. And shall we not do
likewise? I would lay down my life in His service, and He knows it.
But something within me tells me that my work is not yet done. And
the church is yet holy, though she has in part corrupted herself.
If she will but cleanse herself from her abominations, then will we
work in her and not against her. Even the cardinal has spoken of
the purifying which must be accomplished. Yes, he has used good and
godly words, and I will wait and hope and trust. The Lord would be
served by one body, of which He is the Head. He wants one, and not
many. Let us have patience. Let us wait. Let us watch and pray. And
if we have to submit ourselves to painful humiliation in this life,
let us fix our eyes upon the crown of glory which is laid up for us
in the heavens, and which fadeth not away."
Arthur was convinced of the truth of what Dr. Higdon had spoken,
and saw that Garret's mind was made up to do what was required of
him. The young man was glad enough that this should be the case;
but he felt a certain contempt for the facile disposition of the
man, who, after spending years of his life and running innumerable
perils in the circulation of these books, could in a few weeks
consent to become a participant in the ceremony of solemnly burning
them, in acknowledgment that they were dangerous and evil in their
tendencies. Far greater was his admiration for Clarke, who, in
obedience to the vows he had taken, would have no hand in
distributing the forbidden volumes, yet in the hour of trial and
peril refused to take part in the ceremony which would be regarded
by the spectators and by the world at large as an admission that
the Word of God was not for the people, and that he, as a teacher
and preacher, had spoken unadvisedly with his lips in expounding
the living Word to his hearers.
With his mind full of these things Arthur found his way to the
prison, and was conducted to Dalaber's cell, which was more closely
guarded than at first. The young man, who had been prostrated by
fever at the first, had recovered in a measure now, but looked very
gaunt and wan and haggard; and he seized Arthur's hands, and wrung
them closely in his, whilst tears of emotion stood in his eyes.
"I thought you had forgotten me, Arthur!"
"Surely you know that I would have come had I been able. But of
late neither bribes nor entreaties have availed to gain me
entrance. How has it been with you, my friend?"
"Oh, I am weary of my life--weary of everything. I would they would
end it all as soon as may be; death is better than this death in
life. I am sick for the sight of the sun, for a breath of heaven's
pure air, for the sight of my Freda's face. Tell me, was it all a
dream, or did she indeed come to me?"
"She came, and she would have come again, but they made your
captivity closer at that time. She grows thin and pale herself in
grief and hunger for your fate, Anthony.
"But today I come to you with glad tidings of hope. In a few days
from this, if you act but wisely and reasonably, as your friends
and companions are about to do, you will stand a free man, and you
will see your Freda face to face, none hindering."
He staggered back almost as though he had been struck.
"I shall be free! I shall see Freda! Speak, Arthur! Of what are you
dreaming?"
"I am not dreaming at all. I come from the Dean of Cardinal
College, and from Master Garret, whom he has there in ward, but who
is also to be released at the same time. I was permitted speech
with him, that I might bring word to you, and that you might know
in very truth what was about to happen."
"And what is that? Speak!" cried Anthony, who was shaking all over
like an aspen.
To some temperaments hope and joy are almost more difficult to bear
than the blows of adverse fortune. Had the commissary come with
news that Dalaber was to suffer death for his faith, he would not
have found him so full of tremors, so breathless and shaken.
"I have come to speak," answered Arthur kindly, as he seated
himself upon the low pallet bed, and made Dalaber sit beside him.
"It is in this wise, Anthony. When you and your comrades were
taken, the heads and authorities were in great fear that all Oxford
was infect and corrupt by some pestilent heresy; but having found
and carefully questioned the young men of their faith, and having
read your confession, and heard more truly what hath been the
teaching they have heard and received, they find nothing greatly
amiss, and are now as anxious to deal gently and tenderly with you
all as at first they were hot to punish with severity. Had they the
power to do as they would, you might all be sent speedily to your
homes; but they have to satisfy the cardinal, and, worse still, the
bishop, and hence there must somewhat be done ere peace be
restored, to assure him that Oxford is purged and clean."
"And what will they do?" asked Dalaber, who was still quivering in
every nerve.
"Marry, nothing so very harsh or stern," answered Arthur, who was
feeling his way carefully, trying to combine truth and policy, but
erring distinctly on the side of the latter. "But those later books
which were found in your hiding place and Radley's room, which are
more dangerous and subversive than any that have gone before, are
to be cast solemnly out of the place; and, in truth, I think with
cause. See, I have brought you one or two to look at, to show you
how even Martin Luther contradicts himself and blasphemes. How can
the Spirit of God be in a man who will say such contrary things at
different times?"
And Arthur showed to Anthony a few marked passages in certain
treatises, in which the reformer, as was so often the case in his
voluminous and hastily-conceived and written works, had flatly
contradicted himself, to the perplexity and confusion of his
followers.
"Such books are full of danger," pursued Arthur, speaking rapidly
now. "I say nothing about the translated Scriptures; but the works
of a man, and one who is full of excitement and the spirit of
controversy, are like to be dangerous to the young. Let the church
read and decide, but do not you disseminate such works. It may be
more sinful than you have thought.
"And now for what will soon happen. You did see the same in London
once. There will be a fire in Carfax, and those who have circulated
and read such books will walk each with his fagot, and cast first
these and then the books upon the flames. So will the bishop be
satisfied, and so will peace be restored.
"Be not proud and disobedient, Anthony, and refuse to be reconciled
with the mother you have offended. The cardinal has shown even to
Master Garret the error of his ways, and he will be one to share in
this act of submission and reconciliation. He bid me tell you that
the hour has not yet come for any further blow to be struck. He,
like Master Clarke, now begins to hope that, having pleaded with
their mother, she will hear and cleanse herself from all defilement
and impurity. He will submit and be reconciled; and if he will do
this, surely you, friend Anthony, need not stand aloof."
Anthony was pacing the floor in hot excitement. He recalled the
scene at St. Paul's the previous year, and his face was working
with emotion.
"Am I to be called upon to burn the Word of God, as though it were
an unholy thing, to be cast forth from the earth?"
"No," answered Arthur boldly; "you will only be required to burn a
few pamphlets of Martin Luther and other reformers."
And he vowed in his heart that he would make good this word, and
that, whatever other men might do, Anthony's basket should contain
nothing but those later and fiery diatribes, which were certainly
not without their element of danger and error and falsehood.
"And if I refuse?"
Arthur answered with a patience and gentleness that went farther
than any sort of threat could have done.
"If you refuse, friend Anthony, I fear you will find yourself in
danger, and that not in a good or holy cause. For if Master Garret
and your comrades are willing to make a small sacrifice of pride,
and do a small penance to satisfy the bishop, who is in some sort
your lawful ruler in the church, so that peace and amity may be
restored, and hatred and variance banished from our university, it
were an ungracious act that you should refuse to join with them,
for they have sought by patience and kindliness to restore you to
your places; and surely it cannot be God's will that you should
hold back for this small scruple, and remain cut off from His
church by excommunication, as must surely be if you will not be
advised and humble yourself thus."
"What would Freda bid me do?" suddenly asked Anthony, who was much
agitated.
Arthur was thankful that he did not ask a question about Clarke.
The young man was doing his utmost to win his friend, and had been
reared in a school where it was lawful to do evil for the sake of
the good which should follow. But he did not wish to be driven to
falsehood, and it was with relief that he heard this question.
"When Freda came to see you she bid you live--live for her sake,"
he answered, without hesitation. "Let me leave that word with
you--live for her sake. Do not fling away your life recklessly. She
has begged that you will live. Therefore, for love of her, if for
no other reason, make this submission--be reconciled, and live."
Anthony's face was working; he was greatly moved; the tears rained
down his cheeks. But at last he seized Arthur's hands in his, and
cried:
"I will! I will! God forgive me if I judge amiss; but for her sake
I will do it, and live."