"I am willing to confess, and this august assembly will be willing to
confess, that to the rulers of Christ's ark--those who have to answer
for the guidance of the peoples of the world, and who know far better
than we can the difficulties and dangers which environ such a task--this
allowance to the lower masses of the people, so prone to run to extremes
and to err in excess, would seem unwise; and I am not unwilling also to
admit that we may have erred in making this way too public, before the
world was sufficiently prepared for it. Both for this, and for any
other fault, we are willing to suffer penance, and to submit to the Holy
Church in silence; but, this acknowledged and performed, we must be
allowed, within certain limits, to retain the freedom we have enjoyed,
and some manifest token must be given us that such will be the case."
A singular murmur again filled the room--a murmur compounded of intense
sympathy and of admiration at the boldness of the speaker.
Inglesant went on.
"But you will ask me, how is this to be obtained? I am allowed to say
that I have not undertaken the mission save at the request of others
whom it well becomes to direct my service in all things. They consider
that for some reason I am fitted for the task. I am--and I speak with
all gratitude--a pupil of the reverend and holy Society of Jesus, and
whatever I possess I owe to its nursing care. I am besides, though I
have never acted in such capacity, still an accredited agent of the
Queen Mother of England, that most faithful daughter--I had almost said
Martyr--of the Church. I will see the General of the Order, and if this
assembly will allow me to speak in its name, I will offer to him our
dutiful submission if he, on his part, will give us some public sign
that we are allowed our private interpretation upon the late events, and
our liberty upon the point which I have named."
When Inglesant sat down Cardinal Howard spoke. He was followed by
several others, all of whom complimented the Cavaliere upon his devotion
to so good a cause; but abstained from expressing any decided opinion on
the expediency of his proposal. But when two or three speeches had been
made, the mixed character of the assembly began to show itself. It is
true that it had been carefully selected, yet, in order to give it
importance and influence, it had been necessary to include in the
invitations as many as possible, and the result was soon apparent.
There were many present who had joined the ranks of the Quietists more
from a weariness of the existing order than from sincere devotion.
There were many present who had joined them sincerely, but who, from
timidity and caution, were desirous to escape the anger of the
Inquisition by submission and silence, and who deprecated any risk of
exciting a still more harsh exertion of authority. Both these parties,
increased by waverers from the more devoted portion of the company,
united in advising that no action should be taken, farther than that
which had been already used, and which, it might be hoped, had secured
the principal object of their wishes, the release of their friends.
They argued that confession before each communion could not be
burdensome to those who were in a state of grace, and therefore had
nothing to confess; and even if it were, as the Fathers of the Church
judged it necessary for the suppression of error, and for the good of
the ignorant and unenlightened, it ought to be submitted to most
willingly by those farthest advanced in the spiritual life. These
speakers also argued that many things which were held by the Quietists
harmlessly to themselves were liable to be misunderstood, and that
anything which tended to draw off the mind from the mystery of the
Sacrifice of the Mass, or from the examples of the saints, tended to
divert the vulgar from devotion to the Saviour, and savoured of Deism.
They argued that although perhaps many things were unnecessary to those
whose religious life was far advanced, such as the breviary, beads,
images, many prayers, etc., yet it was not so to others, and that no
doubt, where it was suitable, relaxation would be easily obtained from
one's director. No one had insisted more upon the necessity of a
spiritual guide than had Molinos, and it was now the time to prove the
reality of our obedience to the voice of the Church.
It was argued that many things in Molinos's writings seemed to tend
towards Calvinism, and the doctrine of Efficacious Grace, which no one
present--no true child of the Church--could defend,--a doctrine which
limited the Grace of God, and turned the free and wide pastures of
Catholicism into the narrow bounds of a restricted sect; and it was
finally hinted that there was some reason to believe that the promoters
of the meeting were acting with a farther intention than at first
appeared, and that they desired to introduce changes into the Catholic
faith and discipline, under cover of this discussion.
This last insinuation was a home thrust, and was so felt by the meeting.
The subject of Efficacious Grace had also been introduced very skilfully
by a young priest, a pupil of the Jesuits himself.
After a brief consultation with his party Inglesant replied that a great
deal of what had been advanced was unanswerable; that he himself, a
pupil of the Jesuits, was as much opposed to the doctrine of Efficacious
Grace as any one could be; that it was the intention of no one present
to urge any course of action unless the meeting unanimously approved of
it; and that, as it appeared that the majority of those present were
prepared to submit to the Holy Office, and did not desire any
negotiation, nothing farther would be attempted.
There weighed, in truth, upon the hearts of all, and had probably
oppressed Inglesant as he spoke, a sense of hopelessness and of
contention with an irresistible power. In spite of this feeling,
however, the decision of the chiefs drew forth expressions of impatience
and regret from the more enthusiastic partisans; but as these were
mostly women, who could not address the assembly, or such as were not
prepared to make themselves prominent in face of almost certain arrest,
the discussion became desultory and ineffectual, and the meeting finally
broke up without any decision having been arrived at.
The Piazza was full of carriages and servants, and the Duke di Ceri had
an enormous train of equipages following his carriage to escort him
beyond the gate, on the way to his villa near Civita Vecchia, whither he
returned immediately, not choosing to stay in Rome.
The meeting being over, Don Agostino urged Inglesant to leave Rome;
indeed, the Duke had already pressed him to accompany him to Civita
Vecchia, but Inglesant declined.
The motives which influenced him were of a mixed nature. He was prompted
by the most sincere desire to find out a way, both for himself and for
others, in which the highest spiritual walk, and the purest condition of
spiritual worship, might be possible within the Church of Rome. There
was probably nothing in this world which he desired more than this, for
in this was included that still more important freedom, the liberty of
the reason; for if it were possible for the spirit to be free, while
fulfilling the outward observances, and participating in the outward
ordinances of the Church, so also it must be possible for the reason to
be free too.
It had been this very desire, singular as it may seem, which had
attached him to the Society of the Jesuits. Not only were their
tenets--notably that of sufficient grace given to all men--of wider and
more catholic nature than the Augustinian doctrines held by most bodies
both of Churchmen and Protestants, but the Society had always, in all
its dealings with men, shown a notable leaning to tolerance, even, so
its enemies asserted, of sin and vice.
But besides these motives which had something of a refined and noble
character, Inglesant had others. A life of intrigue and policy had,
from training and severe practice, become a passion and necessity of his
life. To leave the field where such a fight was going on, to remain in
Rome, even, an inactive spectator, allowed to pursue his own path merely
from the ignoble fact that he was not worth arrest,--both these courses
of action were intolerable to him. He had promised Molinos that he
would not be wanting in the hour of trial, and he would keep his word.
He was utterly powerless, as the events of the last few moments would
have shown him had he not known it before. The most powerful, the
noblest confederacy fell away impotently before an invisible yet
well-understood power, and a sense of vague irresistible force oppressed
him, and showed him the uselessness of resistance.
Nevertheless he requested the loan of Don Agostino's carriage that he
might go at once to the General of the Society. He was shown at once
into a small cabinet, where he was kept waiting a few moments, the
General in fact being engaged at that moment in listening to a detailed
account of the meeting, and of the speeches delivered at it. He however
entered the room in a few minutes, and the two men saluted each other
with the appearance of cordial friendship. Inglesant had not changed his
dress, and the General ran his eyes over it with somewhat of an amused
expression, doubtless comparing the account he had just received with
the appearance of his visitor, the purpose of which he was fully alive
to.
Inglesant began the conversation.
"Your reverence is probably acquainted already with the meeting in the
Piazza Colonna, and with its objects and results. I, however, have come
to relate what passed as far as you may be disposed to listen, and to
give any information, in a perfectly open and sincere manner, which you
may wish to receive. In return for this I wish to ask your reverence two
or three questions which I hope will not be unpleasant, and which you
will of course answer or not as it pleases you."
"As I understand the meeting, Signore Cavaliere," said the General with
a slight smile, "it rejected your mediation, in spite of the elaborate
care with which the proposal was brought before it, a care extending to
the minutest particulars, and the chastened eloquence and perfect style
in which it was offered."
This sarcasm fell comparatively harmlessly upon Inglesant, preoccupied
as his thoughts were. He therefore bowed, saying,--
"The meeting rejected my mediation, or rather it thought that no
mediation was necessary, and trusted itself implicitly to the fatherly
care of the Society of Jesus."
"What does the meeting representing this new heresy demand?"
"It demands nothing but the deliverance of its friends now in prison."
"And nothing else?"
"Nothing else from the meeting. I am here to demand something else."
"On your own behalf alone?"
"On my own responsibility solely; but if my request is granted, many
will be benefited by my work."
"Have you no abettors? You came here in Don Agostino's coach."
"I am Don Agostino's dear and intimate friend, and it is not much that
he should lend me his coach. I have many friends in Rome."
"I know it," said the Jesuit cordially, "and among them the Order of
Jesus is not the least sincere."