The Count von Lindburg had been anxiously waiting news from Eric, but
none had arrived. The Lady Margaret had been assured by Father Nicholas
that his message had been safely delivered to the Abbess of Nimptsch,
and that, in spite of all master Eric and his plausible friend might do,
she would take very good care her little prisoner should not escape her.
The Knight was growing anxious; he was afraid that something had gone
wrong, when, one afternoon, a light waggon, the horses which drew it
covered with foam, drove up to the gate of the Castle. Over the
drawbridge it dashed, for the porter did not hesitate to admit it, and a
venerable-looking old gentleman, habited as a merchant, descending,
handed out two young girls in peasants' dresses. The Knight caught
sight of the waggon, and hurrying down, one of the girls was soon in his
arms.
"My own Ava! My pet little bird, and you have escaped from your cage!
Welcome--welcome home, and praised be God who has given me this great
blessing!" he exclaimed, again and again kissing her cheek.
His child wept as she hung on the old man's neck. While this was taking
place, the other young lady looked about very much astonished and
frightened, though there was nothing particularly to frighten her, and
the grave merchant was doing his best to reassure her.
"Well done, Eric, my boy--well done, Albert von Otten!" exclaimed the
Knight, when he could bring himself to turn his attention for a moment
from his recovered daughter.
"Oh! thank Albert, father; it was he thought of the plan; he designed
the whole of it. I merely acted the part he selected for me," answered
Eric.
"I thank him heartily, then; for very well done it has been, and you
have both my eternal gratitude," said the Knight. "And this young lady,
I conclude that she helped you in the undertaking?"
"No; it was they helped me to run away, as Ava did not like to go alone,
and she promised me an asylum under your roof."
"And you shall have it, if the Pope and all the cardinals were to come
and demand you. They shall pull the walls down before I will give you
up. And now tell me who you are, my dear fraulein?"
"I am Beatrice von Reichenau, of Swabia. My father, Count von
Reichenau, and my mother decline to receive me, and yet they love me, I
am sure; but, alas! they little know the horrors of the life to which
they had devoted me."
"Better times will come, my sweet fraulein!" said the Knight, who just
then saw everything in a bright light.
Meantime, Dame Margaret, Father Nicholas not being in the Castle, having
seen the waggon and the young ladies get out of it, and guessing what
had happened, and that her fine scheme had failed, went to the great
hall, accompanied by Laneta, that she might receive Ava with becoming
dignity, and reprimand her in a manner suitable to her offence. She had
just taken her post when the Knight entered with timid little Ava
clinging to his arm, looking more sweet and lovable than ever in her
becoming peasant's dress, and not a bit like a wicked runaway nun. As
soon as she saw her mother, she ran forward and threw herself into her
arms, half weeping and half smiling.
"Oh, mother--mother, I am so thankful to see you again!" she cried.
Dame Margaret began her speech, but it would not come out. Nature
asserted her rights over bigotry and superstition; she burst into tears,
and, folding her daughter to her bosom, exclaimed, "And I, Ava, am glad
to have you, darling!"
"I always said that she was a good woman, and now I am convinced of it,"
said the Knight. "Father Nicholas has done his best to spoil her, but,
thank Heaven! he has not succeeded, and his reign is pretty well over, I
suspect."
Laneta, who really in her way loved her sister, followed her mother's
lead, and embraced Ava affectionately. The Dame Margaret was also not a
little gratified when she found that her daughter's companion in her
flight was so high-born a girl as Beatrice von Reichenau.
"If a young lady of her rank could do such a thing, it surely could not
be so very wrong," she said to herself.
Her reasoning was not very good, but it served just then to smooth
matters.
Ava and her friend were not idle in the Castle, nor did they confine
their labours to it. Their mild, gentle, subdued manners and earnest
and zealous spirits attracted all hearts with whom they came in contact.
The glorious truths they had received into their own souls they were
anxious to impart to others, nor did they feel that any trouble, any
exertion, was too great for them to take to forward that object. Still
it was very evident that to effect any speedy change on a large scale
among the peasantry a preacher was required. Albert von Otten had been
made a priest in the days of his ignorance, before he went to
Wittemburg, and he remembered the Knight's offer to let him preach in
the neighbouring church. Father Nicholas somewhat demurred, but the
Knight assured him that Albert von Otten, he was sure, would only preach
sound doctrine, and advised him to hold his tongue. Such a sermon as
Albert preached had never been heard in that church. He said not a word
about himself. He held up but one object--Christ Jesus walking on
earth, Christ Jesus crucified, Christ rising again, Christ ascending
into heaven, Christ sitting on the right hand of God pleading for
sinners. Then he added:
"Dear friends, once a man came among you to sell you what he called
indulgences; were they indulgences to commit sin, or indulgences to
obtain pardon? What impious imposition! Oh! dear friends--dear
friends! God's gifts of grace are free--are priceless. The blood of
His only Son purchased them for us once for all. Gifts, gifts--free,
free gifts--are what God offers; no selling now, no purchasing now--that
has all been done. Christ has paid the price for every sin that man has
committed or ever will commit, and man can by his works not add one jot,
one tittle, to that all-sufficient price. God's offer is all of free
grace. Man has but to look to Christ, to repent, to desire to be
healed, and he will be forgiven, he will be accepted and received into
heaven. Dear friends, when Moses was leading the Israelites out of
Egypt, the land of persecution, of slavery, of idolatry, through the
wilderness, they were visited by a plague of venomous serpents whose
bite sent fiery pains through their bodies, which speedily terminated by
their death. God then ordered Moses to make a brazen serpent (the
serpent being among the Egyptians the emblem of the healing power, which
was well understood by them [Note 1]). This serpent he was to raise up
on a pole in a conspicuous part of the encampment, and all who simply
looked at it, desiring to be healed, were instantly to be healed. Moses
asked no price, no reward; the bitten sufferers were only to exert
themselves to look to ensure being healed. Christ Himself told His
disciples, `As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so shall
the Son of man be lifted up'--that was Himself on the cross, `that
all'--of every tongue, and kindred, and nation,--`who believe in Him'--
that is to say, look on Him as the Israelites at the brazen
serpent--`shall not perish'--shall not die of the fiery bite of
sin--`but have eternal life.' This is Gospel--Gospel truth. Then what
becomes of indulgences, penances, fasts, invocations to saints, to the
Virgin Mary, gifts, alms, if bestowed with the idea of purchasing aught?
All useless, vain, insulting to God's generosity, mercy, kindness. It
is as if a great noble were to pardon a poor man who had grossly
offended him, and, moreover, to bestow a favour on him, and the poor man
were to offer him a groat as payment, saying, `No, I cannot receive your
pardon and your favour as a free gift; I must return you something;
indeed, a groat is not much, neither do I very greatly value your
pardon, because I do not think my offence was very great, nor your
favour, which, after all, is but small.'
"`Foolish man,' the lord would say, `I bestowed that pardon and that
favour on you in my beneficence. I require nothing in return but your
gratitude and your obedience, and that you should speak of my name and
fame among my other vassals, and live in amity with them, doing them all
the service in your power. Say, foolish man, what else can a poor,
helpless, decrepit, broken-down creature like yourself do for me?' What
should you say, dear friends, if this poor wretched man were to answer,
`No, but there are a set of people in your dominions, who assume to be
your ministers, though to be sure they make a mockery of your name and
love to send people over to serve your enemies,' I can buy of them what
they call indulgences, which they say are much better than your free
pardon; besides, I may offend as often as I please, and you will be
compelled to forgive me because I have paid them; and if it were not for
these indulgences, I could fast, I could beat myself, and perform
numberless other penances; I could mumble petitions to you, not thinking
of what I was saying; indeed, I have no fear but what I can make ample
amends to you for this gift which you have bestowed, for this pardon
which you have offered. Dear friends, you will say what a weak,
conceited, foolish, impudent wretch is that man of whom you speak; and
yet what are you doing when you perform penances, and fasts, and
such-like works? What did you do when you purchased that mountebank
impostor Tetzel's indulgences? Confess--confess that he swindled you
out of your money, but O do not, by trusting to them, which you might as
well do as a sinking man to a feather or a straw in the raging ocean,
allow the arch-deceiver Satan to swindle you out of your souls."
This address, of which many similar were delivered at that time
throughout Germany and Switzerland, produced a great effect in the
village. No one heard it more eagerly, or with greater delight, than
Ava and her companion. It brought out clearly so much of what they had
read in the convent.
"God's free grace! God's free grace!" they repeated to each other.
"Oh, what a loving, merciful God he must be!"
It made Father Nicholas very uncomfortable. Had he, then, all his life
been encouraging a system of imposture? It was a question he would have
to answer somehow. Dame Margaret also went back to the Castle sorely
troubled in mind. She thought that she had by purchasing Tetzel's
indulgences, secured the salvation of herself and all her family. She
was fond of a bargain, and she thought that really she had made a good
one by the expenditure or a few gold ducats, considering the advantage
to be gained. And now she was afraid that she, and her husband, and
children were no nearer heaven than they were before she had bought the
indulgences; and from the description Tetzel gave of it, purgatory must
be a very disagreeable place, but she comforted herself by thinking that
Tetzel might have imposed on his hearers in that matter also.
As, however, there was no lack of Testaments in simple, clear German,
and parts of the Bible also, and Albert, and Eric, and Ava, and Beatrice
too, able and anxious to explain it, gradually both Dame Margaret's and
Laneta's eyes were opened, and their faith in the system to which they
had before clung was greatly shaken. Father Nicholas, however, could
not be so easily turned from his old notions, and now came that terrible
convulsion caused by the outbreak of the peasantry and the sad
blood-shedding which followed.
"Ah," he exclaimed, triumphantly, "see the work which Luther and his
followers have produced!"
"No such thing," answered the Knight, indignantly; "you ought to know
that these attempts were commenced long before Dr Luther was heard of.
Discontent has been fermenting among them for many years. They have
some reason and a great deal of folly on their side. They have done
their work like foolish savages as they are, and they will suffer the
fate of fools, though, in the meantime, they may do a great deal of
mischief."
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Note 1. An interpolation of the author's, this fact probably not being
known in Luther's days.