THE TEMPTER.
"Uladislaus on the Swedish throne? I doubt whether we shall ever live
to see that day," said Messenius incredulously.
"Hear me to the end," continued the Jesuit, engrossed by the stupendous
plan his scheming head had concocted. "You, Messenius, are the only
one who can perform this miracle."
"I ... a miserable prisoner! Impossible."
"To the saints and genius nothing is impossible. The Swede is now well
disposed towards royalty. The example of his kings leads him to good
or evil. He has especially a great reverence for old King Gustaf Vasa.
If it could now be proved that the said king on his death-bed, with
repentance, declared the Lutheran doctrine to be heterodox, that he had
abjured and cursed the Reformation, and that he had charged his
youngest son, the papistical Johan, to atone for his great errors..."
"What do you dare to say?" burst out Messenius, with undisguised
surprise. "Such an obvious lie is in direct opposition to Gustaf
Vasa's last words at death, all of whose utterances have been so
faithfully recorded..."
"Calm yourself, revered friend," interrupted the Jesuit coldly.
"Supposing it could be further demonstrated that the second founder of
Lutheranism, Carolus IX., likewise on his death-bed declared the
Reformation to be a blasphemy and a misfortune...?"
Messenius regarded the Jesuit with dismay.
"And if it can finally be proven that even Gustaf Adolf, before giving
up the ghost at Lützen, was struck by a sudden inspiration, and died a
heretic's death, under the greatest torment and anguish of soul...?"
Messenius' pale cheeks were covered with a flush.
"Then," continued the Jesuit, with the same composed daring, "there
remains of the Vasa dynasty only the demented Erik XIV., the admitted
papist, Johan III., and the professed Catholic, Sigismund, with all of
whom we need not trouble ourselves in the least. Once convinced that
all of their greatest kings either have been papistical, or have become
so in their last moments, the scales will fall from the eyes of the
Swedish people; they will penitently confess their guilt, and at last
fall back into the bosom of the only saving Roman Catholic Church.
"But how will you, revered father, in the face of all the facts,
convince the Swedes of the apostasy of their kings?"
"I have already told you," replied the Jesuit flatteringly, "that such
a great and meritorious mission can only be accomplished by the gifted
Johannes Messenius. All know that you are Sweden's most learned man
and greatest historian. They know that you possess and hold in your
care more historical documents and secrets than anyone else in the
whole kingdom. Use these advantages skilfully and judiciously; compile
documents that never existed; describe events that never happened..."
"What do you dare to say?" exclaimed Messenius with burning cheeks.
The Jesuit misunderstood his excitement.
"Yes," continued the Jesuit, "the undertaking is a bold one, but far
from impossible. A hasty flight to Poland will secure your safety."
"And it is to me ... to me that you make this proposal?"
"Yes," added the monk, in the same tone. "I realise that Gustaf Adolf
will cause you the most trouble, and therefore I will be responsible
for him. You will have therefore Gustaf I. and Carl IX. as your share,
to present in such a light as will best serve the cause of the holy
Church."
"_Abi a me, male spiritus!_" burst out Messenius in a fit of rage,
which the Jesuit with all his sagacity was far from expecting. "You
arch-villain! you liar! you infamous traitor, to lay your hand on the
holiest; do you think that I, Johannes Messenius, have worked for long
years to become Sweden's greatest historian, to all of a sudden, in
such an infamous way, violate the historical truth which I have
re-established with such long and continuous efforts? Be off this
moment, quick ... away, to _Gehenna_!" ... and with these words the old
scholar, wild with rage, flung everything that he could get hold of at
the Jesuit's head--books, papers, inkstand, sand-box--with such
violence that the monk started. The latter's face became still paler
... then he took a few steps backwards, rose to his full height, and
opened the plaited Spanish doublet which covered his breast. A
crucifix of flashing diamonds, surmounted by a crown of thorns set with
rubies, glittered suddenly in the gathering twilight.
This sight seemed to have a magical effect upon Messenius. His excited
voice was suddenly hushed ... his rage changed immediately to fear ...
his knees trembled; he staggered, and was on the point of falling, but
supported himself with difficulty against the chair at the table. The
Jesuit again advanced slowly, and looked steadily at the prisoner with
his piercing eyes, which were like those of the rattlesnake.
"Have you forgotten, old man," he said, in a measured and commanding
tone, whilst every word was followed by a pause to increase its effect,
"the penalty which the Church and the laws of our holy order inflict
for sins like yours? For apostasy: death ... and you have seven times
apostatized! ... For blasphemy: death ... and you have seven times
blasphemed! ... For disobedience: death ... and you have seven times
disobeyed! ... For sin against the Holy Ghost: damnation ... and who
has sinned like you? ... For heresy: the stake ... and who has merited
it like you? ... For offence and disrespect against the holy ones of
the Lord: the eternal fire ... and who has given offence like you?"
"Grace, holy father, grace!" exclaimed Messenius, while he writhed like
a worm under the Jesuit's terrible threats.
But Father Hieronymus continued:
"The celebrated Nicolaus Pragensis went over to Calvin's false
doctrines, and dared to defy the Head of our order. He fled to the
farthest corner of Bohemia, but our revenge found him. The dogs tore
his body to pieces, and the spirits of hell obtained his soul..."
"Grace! mercy!" sighed the prisoner, completely crushed.
"Well, then," added the Jesuit in a haughty tone or superiority, "I
have given you the choice between glory and perdition; I will once more
place it before you, although you are undeserving. Do you imagine,
miserable apostate, that I, the head of the German and Northern
Jesuits, who do not acknowledge any superior except the Holy Father at
Rome--do you believe that I, who have braved myriads of dangers to seek
you here in your miserable corner, will allow you to stop me, the
invisible ruler of the whole North, with your disobedience and
irresolution? I ask you once more, in the name of our holy order, if
you, Johannes Messenius, will be faithful to the oath you swore in your
youth, and implicitly obey the behests and commands which I, your
superior and judge, enjoin upon you?"
"Yes, holy father," answered the trembling captive; "yes, I will."
"Hear, then, the penalty I impose. You say that for your whole life
you have striven for a single aim; that of gaining the name of the
greatest historian in the North, and you think that you have at last
attained your desire?"
"Yes, holy father, that has been my object, and I have obtained it."
"Your aim is evil!" exclaimed the Jesuit in stern tones, "and it is
that of the devil, for you have worked for your own glory, and not for
that of the holy Church, as you have sworn. Therefore, I command you
to destroy, with your own hands, the idol of your life--your great fame
with posterity--by perverting history and writing it, not as it is, but
as it ought to be. I order you to cast away fame, to serve the cause
of the Roman Church in the North. You shall write the history of
Gustaf I. and Carl IX. in such a manner that all they have done for the
Reformation may redound as a ruin and curse both to them and their
kingdom. And I will that you base this new history on such reliable
documents, that in the eyes of the people they will be above suspicion
... documents which do not exist, but which you shall manufacture ...
documents of which the falsity may possibly be discovered in a future
generation, but which will at present produce the desired effect."
"And thus," said Messenius, in a voice trembling with the most varied
emotions--fear, anger, and humiliation--"I shall stand before posterity
as a base falsifier, an infamous perverter of historical truth."
"Yes, and what then?" continued the Jesuit with a sardonic smile; "what
matters it, if you, miserable tool, sacrifice your name, provided the
Church gains its great victory? Of what advantage is the praise of
men, if your soul burns in the eternal fires of hell; and what matters
humanity's contempt, if you, through this sacrifice, gain the martyr's
crown in Heaven?"
"But the cause of truth ... the inflexible judgment of posterity."
"Bah! what is historical truth? Well, is it the obedient slave who
follows at the heels of human errors ... the parrot which thoughtlessly
repeats all their folly? Or is it not rather truth, such as it _ought
to be_, purified from error, freed from crime and folly ... God's
kingdom on earth, as wise as it is almighty, as good as it is holy and
wise?"
"But is it then we who dictate to God what is good and right? Has He
not Himself told us that truth, _such as it is_?"
"Ha! vacillating apostate, you still dare to argue with your superior
about right and wrong. Choose, obey or disobey! Choose on one side
temporal and eternal death, and on the other the joys of Paradise and
the glory of the saints. Yet a word, and upon this depends your weal
or woe. Will you obey my commands?"
"Yes, I will obey," answered the crushed and terrified prisoner. And
the Jesuit went away silent and cold, with a ruler's nod that the slave
had his good grace.