One Snowy Night Part 26

"Speak, ye that are behind this man. Do ye accept the interpretation of Scripture taught by the Church our mother, to whom G.o.d hath committed the teaching of all her children?"

Old Berthold replied. "We believe as we have been taught, but we do not wish to dispute."

"Ye are obstinate in your heresy! Will ye do penance for the same?"

"No," answered Gerhardt.

"Let them have one more chance," said King Henry in a low voice. "If they are unsound on one point only, there might yet be hope of their conversion."

"They are unsound on every point, my Lord," replied Lincoln irascibly; "but at your desire I will test them on one or two more.--Tell me, do ye believe that the souls of the dead pa.s.s into Purgatory?"

"We do not."

"Do you pray for the dead?"

"No."

"Do you invocate the blessed Mary and the saints, and trust to their merits and intercession?"

"Never. We worship G.o.d, not men."

At this point Winchester beckoned to Lincoln, and whispered something in his ear.

"I am told," pursued the latter, addressing Gerhardt, "that you hold the priests of holy Church not to be validly consecrated, and have so said in public. Is it so?"

"It is so. The temporal power of the Pope has deprived the Church of the true consecration. You have only the shadow of sacraments, and the traditions of men."

"You reject the holy sacraments entirely, then?"

"Not so. We observe the Eucharist at our daily meals. Our Lord bade us 'as oft as we should drink,' to take that wine in remembrance of Him.

We do His bidding."

"Ye presume to profane the Eucharist thus!" cried Lichfield in pious horror. "Ye administer to yourselves--"

"As Saint Basil held lawful," interposed Gerhardt.

"Saint Basil spoke of extraordinary occasions when no priest could be had."

"But if it be lawful at any time to receive without priestly consecration, it cannot be unlawful, at every time."

It did not occur to the Bishop to ask the pertinent question, in what pa.s.sage of Scripture priestly consecration of the Eucharist was required,--nay, in what pa.s.sage any consecration at all is ever mentioned. For at the original inst.i.tution of the rite, our Lord consecrated nothing, but merely gave thanks to G.o.d [Note 1], as it was customary for the master of the house to do at the Pa.s.sover feast; and seeing that "if He were on earth, He should not be a priest." [Note 2.]

He cannot have acted as a priest when He was on earth. We have even distinct evidence that He declined so to act [Note 3]. And in any subsequent allusions to this Sacrament in the New Testament [Note 4], there is no mention of either priests or consecration. It did not, however, suit the Bishop to pursue this inconvenient point. He pa.s.sed at once to another item.

"Ye dare to touch the sacred cup reserved to the priests--"

"When did Christ so reserve it? His command was, 'Drink ye all of it.'"

"To the Apostles, thou foolish man!"

"Were they priests at that time?"

This was the last straw. The question could not be answered except in the negative, for if the ordination of the Apostles be not recorded after the Resurrection [John twenty 21-23], then there is no record of their having been ordained at all. To be put in a corner in this manner was more than a Bishop could stand.

"How darest thou beard me thus?" he roared. "Dost thou not know what may follow? Is not the King here, who has the power of life and death, and is he not an obedient son of holy Church?"

The slight smile on Gerhardt's lips said, "Not very!" But his only words were--

"Ay, I know that ye have power. 'This is your hour, and the power of darkness.' We are not afraid. We have had our message of consolation.

'Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.'"

"Incredible folly!" exclaimed Lincoln. "That was said to the early Christians, who suffered persecution from the heathen: not to heretics, smarting under the deserved correction of the Church. How dare you so misapply it?"

"All the Lord's martyrs were not in the early Church. 'We are the circ.u.mcision, who worship G.o.d in spirit, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.' Do to us what ye will. 'Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord.

Living or dying, we are the Lord's.'"

"We solemnly adjudge you false heretics," was the stern reply, "and deliver you up to our Catholic Prince for punishment. Depart in peace!"

Gerhardt looked up. "'My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you!' Be it so. We go in peace; we go to peace.

Our suffering will soon be over. Already we behold Jesus our Lord at the right hand of G.o.d, and we are ready to partake of His sufferings, that we may reign with Him."

King Henry now rose to p.r.o.nounce sentence. The condemned criminals before him were to be branded on the forehead with a mark of ignominy, to be scourged, and cast forth out of the city. No man might receive them under his roof, relieve them with food, nor administer to them consolation of any sort. And this was the sentence of the King and of holy Church, to the honour and laud of G.o.d, and of Mary, His most glorious Mother!

The sentence was carried out even more barbarously than it was p.r.o.nounced. The foreheads of all were branded with hot irons, they were whipped through the city, and their clothes having been cut short to the girdle [John twenty 21-23], they were turned into the snow-covered fields. One of the men appointed to use the branding-irons had just lost a daughter, and moved by a momentary impulse of pity (for which he afterwards blamed himself and did penance), he pa.s.sed two or three of the younger women--Ermine among them--with a lighter brand than the rest. No such mercy was shown to the men or the elder women, nor would it have been to Ermine, had it not been the case that her extreme fairness made her look much younger than she really was.

Gerhardt, being regarded as the ringleader, was also branded on the chin.

"Courage, my children!" he said to the shivering, trembling little company, as they were marched down High Street. "We are counted worthy--worthy to suffer shame for Him who suffered dire shame for us.

Let us praise G.o.d."

And to the amazement, alike of the officials and the crowd of spectators, the song was set up, and echoed into the side streets--"Blessed are ye, when men shall persecute you, for the Son of Man's sake!" varied every now and then by a joyous chorus of "Glory to G.o.d in the highest! on earth peace, goodwill towards men!"

The song was heard clearly enough in the Walnut Tree: so clearly, that Flemild even fancied she could distinguish Ermine's voice from the rest.

"Mother, will you go and look?" she asked, tears running down her face.

"I'll not go near," said Isel, in a tone of defiance very unusual with her. "I'll not get your father and you into trouble. And if I were to go, much if I didn't tear somebody a-pieces."

"O Mother! you wouldn't touch our old friends? They've enough to bear, surely."

"I said _somebody_! child!" was the growl in answer: and Flemild did not venture to reply.

Fainter and fainter grew the sounds; only strengthened for a minute when the higher notes of the chorus supervened. Then came a great roar of applause from the crowd, as the East Gate was reached, and the heretics were cast out from the priest-ridden city. But they scarcely heard that in Kepeharme Lane.

At the window of the anchorhold stood Derette, having sent Leuesa to bring her word what happened. She could see nothing, yet she heard the joyous chant of "Glory to G.o.d in the highest!" as the crowd and the condemned swept down the street just beyond her ken. Leuesa did not even try to hide her tears when she reached the shelter of the anchorhold: before that, it would have been perilous to shed them.

"Oh, it was dreadful, Lady! Gerard never looked at any one: he walked first, and he looked as if he saw nothing but G.o.d and Heaven. Agnes I could not see, nor the child; I suppose they were on the other side.

But Ermine saw me, and she gave me a smile for you--I am sure she meant it for you--such as an angel might have given who had been a few hours on earth, and was just going back to his place before the Throne."

Manning and Haimet, who had joined the crowd of sightseers, had not returned when the latch of the Walnut Tree was lifted, and Anania walked in.