seized by the officers of the Inquisition and dragged off to prison. In
consequence of the information given by the wife of Juan Garcia, eighty
persons were immediately apprehended in Valladolid, among those who had
been present at the meetings; and in Seville and its neighbourhood two
hundred were betrayed into the hands of the inquisitors by the treachery
of a pretended member of the Protestant Church, and the superstitious
fears of another. The first, suspecting that some of his acquaintances
entertained Lutheran opinions, insinuated himself into their confidence
for the express purpose of learning their secrets and of betraying them.
The latter, hearing Lutheran principles denounced in the most fearful
language, as the only means of saving himself from the results of the
anathemas, hurried off and informed against all those he knew to be
Protestants. Dismay seized upon large numbers of the most timid of the
Protestants; and as people are often panic-struck when a ship strikes
the rocks, and leap overboard into the raging surf, so some of them
hurried off to the Triana, and accused themselves to the inquisitors of
entertaining doctrines for which the stake was the sure punishment.
Others, who had been before unsuspected, betrayed themselves by the
hurried manner of their flight. Thus in a few days the chief members of
all the Protestant Churches throughout Spain were either in prison, or
fugitives, or hiding in the caves of the earth, among mountains and
forests. In no place, however, were they safe, and many even of those
abroad were betrayed into the hands of the emissaries of the
Inquisition, and dragged back to Spain to suffer death at the stake.
The inquisitors were not content with those who denounced themselves.
Every possible means was employed to discover heretics, and to assist
the object Philip renewed a royal ordinance--fallen into desuetude--
allowing to informers the fourth part of the property of those guilty of
heresy. This abominable edict greatly increased the zeal and activity
of the vile tribe. Pope Paul the Fourth also assisted with eagerness in
the object, and issued a bull enjoining all confessors to examine their
penitents, from the highest to the lowest, and to charge them to
denounce all whom they knew to be guilty of buying, selling, reading, or
possessing any book prohibited by the Holy Office, the punishment being
death. The great aim of the papists was to strike terror into the minds
of the whole nation; and while they had not the most distant intention
of extending mercy to those who professed themselves penitent, they were
nevertheless anxious to secure a triumph to the Catholic faith (as they
called their system of idolatry and tyranny), by having in it their
power to read, in the public _auto-da-fe_, the forced retractions of
those who had embraced the truth.
Antonio Herezuelo stood before the council of inquisitors. So
well-known is the scene that it scarcely requires description. It is
too true a picture--an exhibition of devilish ingenuity of man when he
desires to tyrannise over his fellow-creatures, unsurpassed in cruelty
by the heathen or most barbarous nations of ancient or modern days.
There sat the inquisitors in a gloomy vaulted chamber--on one side the
fearful rack, with grim, savage executioners ready to perform their
office, a black curtain only partly concealing other instruments of
torture, with hooded familiars standing silently round; while at the
table sat two secretaries, ready to note every word uttered by the
prisoner, to be wrested, if possible, to his destruction. The only
person whose countenance could have been regarded with satisfaction was
the prisoner. He stood calm and undaunted amidst those cruel men, who
had resolved on his death. Hark! the president addresses him in a
harsh, pitiless voice:
"Antonio Herezuelo, you have been accused by most credible witnesses of
holding in disrespect many of the principal articles of our most holy
faith. What have you to answer for yourself?"
"That I hold most sincerely and truly all the doctrines necessary for my
eternal salvation, and all other doctrines which I find clearly set
forth in God's blessed Word, sent in His mercy and love as a sure guide
to perishing man," answered Antonio, boldly.
"Then you consider the Bible, by which so many are misled, as the only
guide and rule of faith?" said the Chief Inquisitor. "You set at nought
the authority of the Church?"
"I bow with all submission to the authority of the Church in all points
in which she is clearly guided by Holy Scripture," answered Herezuelo,
who still clung, as did many of the Protestants of those days, to the
false idea that there exists only one sole visible Church on earth; and
believing that such a Church does exist, supposed it to be, in spite of
all its errors, the Church of Rome.
"Then, heretic, you dare to say that the Bible is above the Church?"
exclaimed the Inquisitor. "Why, fool, it is through the Church that you
have a Bible; but it is not fit that the laity should possess it, for
they can only, as we have evidence that you and others have done, make a
most improper use of it. Therefore it is a prohibited book, and yet you
dare to acknowledge that you have both possessed one and studied it.
Ay, you have done so, and to your own utter destruction of body and
soul."
"To the salvation of my soul," said Antonio, boldly. "Our blessed Lord
Himself appealed to Scripture on many occasions, and to Scripture I
appeal and trust."
"Then you reject the traditions of the Church?" said the Inquisitor,
looking towards the secretary, who was busily noting down all the
questions he put, and the answers made by the prisoner.
"By tradition we may be deceived. Scripture is a sure guide, which,
through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, will lead us infallibly
aright," answered Herezuelo.
"Oh, what abominable--what terrible heresy!" exclaimed the Inquisitor.
"You deny, too, that the Blessed Virgin should be adored and honoured
above Christ, as, being His mother, and, from being a woman, more ready
to hear the prayers of the faithful than He can be?"
"The Virgin Mary was blessed in that she became the earthly mother of
Jesus, and thus she was peculiarly honoured among women; but I find
nowhere in Scripture that prayers should be made to her; on the
contrary, at the marriage feast of Cana of Galilee, our Lord says,
`Woman, what have I to do with thee?' when she ventured to interfere in
a matter she was incapable of understanding. Saint Mark tells us of the
remark made by our Lord when told that His mother and His brethren
waited without: `Who is My mother or My brethren? Whosoever shall do
the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother.'
When hanging on the cross, too, and looking down on Mary and His beloved
disciple John, He said, `Woman, behold thy son!' and then, addressing
His disciple, He said, `Behold thy mother!' `And from that hour that
disciple took her to his own home.' Not a word more does the Holy
Spirit reveal to us of the history of the mortal mother of Jesus. All
we know is, that, as a mortal child of Adam, she must have been saved by
His precious blood shed on Calvary, for without that blood shed there is
no remission of sins."
The Inquisitor rose from his seat as if he would tear off his clothes,
and sat down again, exclaiming, "Blasphemy! blasphemy! You deny, too, I
hear, the necessity of confession and of priestly absolution?"
"I nowhere find it written that we are to confess our sins to man, but
always to God. `A broken and a contrite heart, O Lord, Thou wilt not
despise.' In the Epistle of James (chapter verse 16), he says, `Confess
your faults to _one another_, and pray for _one another_, that ye may be
healed'; that is to say, if you have trespassed one against another, or
if one brother has offended another. Nowhere do I find, however, that
on sinners coming in faith to our blessed Lord, does He require them to
confess their sins to Him before He will hear them. He says, simply,
`Thy faith hath made thee whole; go, and sin no more.' I find it also
written, `Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none
other name given among men whereby we may be saved!' When our Lord sent
out His disciples, He said to them that all those who would accept the
offers of the Gospel would be forgiven, or would have their sins
remitted through them, or rather through their preaching; and those who,
in spite of the preaching, refused to accept the offer, would have their
sins retained. Through faith in Jesus Christ only can a person obtain
forgiveness of sins; and John says, `He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life;
but the wrath of God abideth on him.' This great truth a minister has
the power to declare, but in no other way has he, according to the
Scriptures, the right to absolve any persons from their sins. I hold
that when our Lord said to His disciples, `Whose soever sins ye remit,
they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are
retained,' He said it not only to all the ministers of the Gospel, but
to all Christian men who go forth with the Bible in their hands, that
they should declare the glorious Gospel truth that all who trust in Him,
Jesus Christ, are forgiven; but that all who refuse to trust in Him
still remain in their sins--their sins are retained."
"Oh, what hideous blasphemy!" exclaimed the Inquisitor, he and his
associates lifting up their hands as if in horror at what Antonio had
said. "But go on, go on, fill up the measure of your iniquities. How
do you interpret, `Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven'?"
"Much in the simple way that I interpret the previous passage. The
apostles, as employed in preaching the Christian doctrine among the
Jews, were to release or loose them from certain obligations of the
Mosaic law; but as they were not to release them from them all, they
were to pronounce what were to be retained, or by what they were still
to be bound; in other words, when a thing might lawfully be done among
the Jews, it was a common mode of expression to say that that thing was
loosed to them, and that if anything was unlawful for them to do, it was
bound to them. The meaning of the expression was thus very clear to the
Jews who heard Him. So Peter understood the same expression, and he
knew perfectly well that he was simply to declare, both to Jew and
Gentile, what was to be believed, and what was not to be believed, thus
unlocking to them the doors of the kingdom of heaven, inviting them to
come in, to become subjects of Christ. Such are his keys. On the great
truth which he had confessed, `Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God,' was Christ's spiritual Church to be founded, as on a rock
against which the powers of hell are never to prevail."
"Most horrible! most horrible!" cried the Inquisitor. "Then you do not
acknowledge the authority of the Church, that his Holiness the Pope is
the successor of Saint Peter, that the priesthood have power to forgive
sins?"
"The Scriptures speak nowhere of Saint Peter having a successor, nor
does our Lord give authority to him to appoint one," said Herezuelo,
boldly. "No Church can have authority with regard to spiritual matters
except such as is clearly derived from the Bible, which is equally open
to all men, while the only priest a Christian can acknowledge is the one
great High Priest standing at the right hand of God, ever making
intercession for us."
"Horrible! horrible!" again cried the Inquisitor. "Then, if you do not
acknowledge the priesthood, you deny the doctrine of transubstantiation,
the great work performed at the Mass, the chief glory of the Church?"
"Certainly, I deny that the bread and wine at the Mass are changed in
any way into the body and blood of Christ, with the soul and deity, the
bones and sinews," answered Herezuelo, solemnly. "I deny that when
Jesus said, `I am the living bread which came down from heaven,' He was
even speaking of the Last Supper, or that He intended that it should be
supposed that He was to become literally bread and wine, or rather that
bread and wine should become Him, any more than that He should become a
door, or a shepherd, or a rock, to all of which He likens Himself. He
says, `The words that I speak unto you they are spirit, and they are
life'; and then He continues, as if he would say, `Come to Me, and
believe on Me, for that is what I mean by eating My flesh and drinking
My blood; He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth
on Me shall never thirst. As by eating bread and drinking wine your
physical body is sustained, so by believing that My body was broken for
you on the accursed tree, and that My blood was shed for you, will your
spiritual life be sustained; and I enjoin you to meet together
occasionally to break bread and to drink wine in remembrance of Me.
Moreover, I promise you that as oft as you do this in My name, through
love of Me, I will be spiritually in the midst of you.' No other
construction can I put on these words of our Lord, and in that faith I
am prepared to die."
"And die you shall, audacious heretic!" exclaimed the Inquisitor, who
was no other than the infamous Munebrega, Archbishop of Tarragona, who
had come over from Seville in consequence of the illness of his
colleague. His eyes rolled; he gnashed with his teeth in fury at
finding himself unable to intimidate the prisoner--he, before whom so
many men of rank and condition had been compelled to humble themselves.
He remembered, too, whose husband the prisoner was--the daughter of one
who had despised and rejected him. "To the rack with him! to the rack!
We must learn from him what other persons hold these abominable
opinions, while we teach him to abandon them himself. Spare him not:
for his soul's good his body must be afflicted."
Antonio Herezuelo cast his eyes to heaven, and from the depths of his
heart there came up a prayer, earnest, solemn, of mighty power. Not for
himself he prayed--not even for the beloved wife of his bosom; but he
prayed that in the fiery trial he was to undergo he might not dishonour
his holy faith; that he might hold fast to the truth; that the love of
Christ, by which He keeps His own, might be exhibited through him. To
resist would have been useless; and yet it cost him a hard struggle to
submit to the indignities to which he was subjected by the brutal
executioners ordered to carry out the Inquisitor's sentence. There he
stood, full of life and strength and energy, capable of enjoying to the
full all the blessings that God has bestowed in this life on man. Even
the confinement to which he had been subjected had not been able
sensibly to diminish the strength of his well-knit frame. In another
instant he was thrown, naked, and bound hand and foot, on to the cruel
rack, every sinew and muscle of his body extended to the utmost, whilst
agonising wrenches were given of the most fearful character, as the
screws and ropes of the horrid instrument were set in motion. Not a
word did he utter; scarcely a groan escaped from his bosom, though every
limb was suffering the most excruciating torture; the blood gushed from
his nostrils and mouth, his eyes well nigh started from their sockets.
His physical nature at length gave way, though his courage did not fail
him. He fainted. Death would have been a happy release, but his
torturers took pains not to allow him that boon; restoratives were
administered, and consciousness again returned. The surgeon who stood
by, however, gave notice that he must not be subjected, for a time, to
equal torture, or he would sink under it. He was therefore removed on a
blood-besprinkled stretcher to another chamber, and the inquisitors
proceeded with callous indifference to examine a fresh prisoner who was
now brought forward.
The person who was next led before the inquisitors was of a character
very different from that of Herezuelo. A glance at the rack made him
tremble in every limb. The inquisitors saw immediately that he would
afford them but little trouble, though, at the same time, that he might
be made useful by his giving information regarding others. He might
have passed in the world in quiet times as an earnest true Christian,
but now alarm for his personal safety overcame every other
consideration. He at once incriminated himself, and was soon induced to
bring damnatory accusations against his friends. When all the
information which could thus be obtained from him was secured, he was
dismissed, though still ignorant of the fate which awaited him--it might
be, if victims were required, to be consigned to the flames, or perhaps
to add to the sad band of penitents supposed to have recanted their
errors. Such was the character of several of those accused of heresy,
though by far the larger number of persons seized by the Inquisition
gladly suffered death rather than deny the truth. And now another
prisoner appears--a female. She is clothed in black from head to foot.
As the light from the lamp which hangs from the roof falls on her
countenance, it is seen to be very pale, but not enough so to detract
from the beauty of those young and fair features.
"Leonor de Cisneros, you are brought here accused of holding opinions
which, if generally entertained, would be subversive of the opinions of
our holy faith," said the Inquisitor, in a peculiarly harsh voice.
"Have you become sensible of your errors? and are you prepared to recant
them?"
"I hold to the doctrines which I have been taught from my earliest days,
and which I find clearly set forth in the blessed Word of God. I am,
therefore, not aware that I hold any errors," answered Leonor, calmly.
"What do you mean by God's holy Word?" asked the Inquisitor.
"The Bible," said Leonor, firmly.
"Are you aware that the Bible is prohibited to the laity, and that, were
it not so, it is not susceptible of any private interpretation?" asked
the Inquisitor.
"I am aware that without the aid of God's Holy Spirit, which when Christ
ascended up on High, He promised to us as our Instructor and
Enlightener, we cannot expect to read aright this blessed Gospel," said
Leonor. "I am aware that in the Second Epistle of Saint Peter, 1st
chapter, 20th verse, there is this expression--`Knowing this first, that
no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.' 21st,
`For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men
of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.' I am aware,
however, that the Greek word epilusis, which has been translated
interpretation, means rather _impetus_, _impulse_; and therefore that
the clear meaning is that no writer of the Scripture wrote according to
his own mind or thoughts, but entirely as he was moved or impelled by
the Holy Spirit. Therefore Peter in no respect contradicts his Lord,
who says, addressing the people, `Search the Scriptures; for in them ye
think ye have eternal life: and they are they which speak of me.' Oh,
my lords, what I have done--what thousands have done in Spain--has
simply been to obey our loving Saviour in reading His holy Word, in
striving to carry out His precepts by assembling ourselves together in
prayer, by exhorting and comforting one another. If this be a crime, I
am a criminal; but if not, why imprison us? why torture us? why kill
us?"
She stretched out her hand as she spoke. Her youth and beauty, her
pathetic look, the truth which came from her lips, might have moved
hearts of stone, but nothing could move the demon-inspired minds of the
Inquisitors of Spain--the base instruments of the Pope and his
supporters, Valdes and Philip. They compressed their lips as Leonor
spoke.
"You have disobeyed the Church," answered the Inquisitor, with an
unmoved countenance. "Unless you recant your errors, your punishment is
certain. It may be that you will see the wisdom of so doing, and follow
the example of those you love best. Remove the woman."
So ended the first trial of Leonor de Cisneros. The inquisitors
consulted together how she should be treated. She was evidently not
likely to change her opinions by argument; the Archbishop was unwilling
to have her subjected to torture. He had made up his mind that her
husband must die. He was too clever a heretic, even should he recant,
to be allowed to live. He was not likely ever to recant. But Leonor,
she must be won over; her life must be saved. Notwithstanding her
knowledge of Scripture, the clear declaration she had made of Protestant
principles, the Archbishop did not despair. He had seen many who, firm
at first, had, after a few weeks' solitary confinement and scanty food,
with occasional visits from friends desirous of saving them, completely
recanted, and acknowledged their errors. He knew, too, the subtle
arguments, the system of deception, the threats, the promises, the
various artful methods of proceeding which could be brought to bear on a
prisoner. Should these fail, he had other means in store by which he
hoped to make her give up what he honestly thought her folly. How could
a weak woman venture to set herself up in opposition to the Church?
Many others, to be sure, had ventured to do the same, but few had spoken
as she had done, and several had at sight of the rack recanted, and
given all the information required of them.
CHAPTER EIGHT.
THE STAKE.
It was midnight. Eighteen days had passed since Antonio Herezuelo had
been stretched on the rack. His lacerated flesh had healed, his
stretched sinews had recovered somewhat of their original strength. His
cheeks were still pale, his voice, when he spoke to himself, was hollow,
his eye had lost its brightness, yet his mind retained much of its usual
vigour; his spiritual life had never flagged nor had his faith grown
dim. He was pacing slowly and still painfully up and down his cell,
when the door silently opened, and a friar stood before him.
A harsh voice uttered these words: "Antonio Herezuelo, I have come to
announce to you that unless you renounce your errors, and are forthwith
reconciled to the Church, you will to-morrow suffer the just punishment
of your infidelity, your blasphemies, your crimes."
"I have confessed myself to God, who can alone forgive sins, as a lost,
undone sinner, though washed in the precious blood of Jesus, and
redeemed through faith in His perfect and complete sacrifice. I have,
therefore, become one of the Church of the first-born. I am reconciled
to God, from whom I was once separated," answered Herezuelo. "What more
would you have me do?"
"The Church knows nothing of the expressions you utter. Be reconciled
to her; that is what you have to do, or you and your errors will be
burnt together."
"I cannot abandon the faith I hold, even to escape the cruel death you
threaten," answered the advocate.
"Prepare, then, obstinate heretic, to meet it!" answered the friar,
savagely. "Be assured that there will be no mitigation of your sentence
unless you recant; and then, in her loving mercy and kindness, if you
are reconciled and confess, you will enjoy the privilege of being
strangled before the flames reach your body."
A scornful smile came over the features of the prisoner.
"A gracious boon, forsooth! And this Church calls itself after the name
of the gentle, loving Saviour, who went about doing acts of kindness and
mercy, and saving from physical suffering all who came to Him desiring
to be cured!"
"I came not to bandy words with you," cried the monk; "the flames which
you will feel to-morrow will give you a foretaste of those you will have
to endure throughout eternity as the consequence of your obduracy."
"Our blessed Lord says, `I say unto you, My friends, be not afraid of
them which kill the body, and after that have no more than that they can
do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, which after
He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear
Him.'" Herezuelo spoke these words calmly, and added, "Now, friar, I
own that you and those you serve can kill my body, but you can do no
more: my soul is in the keeping of my loving Saviour; neither the powers
of earth nor hell can prevail against it; therefore I am fearless."
With a curse, the friar turned and left the cell. Herezuelo sought
strength in prayer for the fiery trial he was to go through. "It will
endure but for a few minutes, and oh, then the eternity of bliss which
will follow!" he ejaculated. "Why should I fear? why should I tremble?
My trust is in God."
Ere the sun, rising in a cloudless sky, gilded the spires of the
numerous churches of Valladolid, on the 21st of May, 1559, their bells
began to toll solemnly, and crowds to assemble in vast numbers in the
streets. It was Trinity Sunday; but it was not because it was the
Sabbath that the citizens were so early afoot, but there was to be a
grand spectacle, looked for with almost the same eagerness as a
bull-fight. The first grand _auto-da-fe_ of Protestants was to take
place that day, and all the people were eager to gaze at it--most of
them for the sake of seeing so many lost and abandoned monsters put out
of the world.