CHAPTER XLI.

THE ARGUMENT.

Cuthbert Tonstall was ushered into the presence of the Cardinal, and it was curious to see how soon the dignitary of Rome assumed that position of manner and behaviour which even then, though declined in royal favor, Wolsey could not forget.

They bowed reverentially to each other. Both were eminently learned men, and each had a great respect for letters.

'Has Bilney submitted to the orders of the church, good father?'

'He has, my lord, and is committed unto safe custody in prison to wait thy fiat of detention or release. He has conformed, and I have here his written recantation, delivered by the heretic himself into our hands.'

It was agony indeed to De Freston to recognise the handwriting of his friend, and the tears rolled down his face as he read, line by line, that document which told so sad a tale. But the old man's prayer ascended even then for such a friend. Tonstall exchanged looks of curiosity with the Cardinal, as to what this strong feeling could mean. He said--

'Thou oughtest rather to rejoice than weep at a heretic's arising from the depths of the deluge to the safe footing of the ark of the church.'

'I weep to think,' replied De Freston, 'that he has fallen away from grace.

It would have been a marvel to Tonstall to find such a man in such company--a heretic in the Cardinal's palace! But he had been forewarned thereof by Alice De Clinton, and yet could he scarcely believe his ears and eyes.

'These are friends of Bilney,' replied the Cardinal, 'and they are my friends too, to whom I am indebted for many things. I would therefore intercede with thee, father, for thy mercy. Spare my aged friend for his grey hairs; and this, his daughter, for the love I bear her; and this, her husband, for the friendship's sake of early college days.'

'But will they promise to abjure the tenets of Bilney, and be obedient to the discipline of the church?'

'I will promise for them.'

'What?' asked De Freston.

'That they shall do nothing contrary to the authority of the church.'

'If the church command me to worship the Virgin Mary, the angels, and the host of heaven, I will not do it. If she says I ought to pay respect to pictures at altars, candles and candlesticks, saints and their statues, I will call her idolatrous. If she tells me that the blood of any of her martyrs, male or female, will wash away my sins, I will tell her she lies.

'In a word, my Lord Cardinal, and my Lord Bishop, if you think I would recant the doctrines which Bilney has preached at Ipswich, or elsewhere, you are mistaken. I desire to be tried even by the learned Tonstall, and before thyself; I will answer any question thou dost put.'

It is not the intention of these pages to record that long but interesting discussion, which then took place between four as learned men as could be well found in the realm at that day. Pain and grief did it give all parties to see that no mutual bond of union could settle the dispute between them.

Tonstall was convinced of the very superior antagonist he had met with in De Freston; and he was made to feel his lash when they talked of the destruction of those who professed to believe in Christ, and strove not to act up to that belief.

'How can the Pope make laws,' said De Freston, 'to burn, or put to the rack, or torture, or destroy any soul professing Christ's religion?

'Come, I will dispute the authority of the Church of Rome in this respect. I will maintain her to be an engine of Satan if she dares to shed any blood whatsoever, especially the blood of believers.

'Show me any authority for her putting any one to death. Did even the Apostles put Ananias and Sapphira to death? They saw that God would visit the wicked, and they told the wicked that it would be so; but they left the visitation for the Almighty's hand, in whose power alone is the life of every living thing.'

'Wouldst thou, then,' replied Tonstall, 'have the murderer live?'

'No: an apostle says, "If I have done anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die." The sword of justice is borne by the civil, not the ecclesiastical power; and if an offender against human and divine laws will not hear the voice of the preacher calling him to repentance, if neither private nor public rebuke will convince him of his danger, all the authority of the church cannot go beyond his rejection from their companionship or fellowship.

'They must then leave him to the mercies of the civil law, or criminal jurisprudence of the country he lives in, and God will do with him as he sees best. I deny the power of Rome justly to punish any man whatsoever with death, where his life is one of faith, though that faith may be exercised to overthrow all the superstitions of Rome.'

'Then the church errs in punishing heretics?'

'With persecution unto death she does; and she will have to answer for all the murders she has thus unrighteously, violently, passionately, and horribly committed. If she were to condemn me, I would protest against her power to the last, and though I might rejoice in suffering, I should sorrow for thee, Bishop Tonstall, to be my executioner.'

It was in this strain, with the purest Protestant feeling, and yet with such pious consideration for those bigoted followers of the Pope, that De Freston combatted the arguments of Tonstall, and made him shudder at his own position. Whether it was that the Cardinal interceded, countermanded, over-ruled, or prevailed with the Bishop, perhaps all these things, or whether Cuthbert Tonstall was himself confounded at the boldness and soundness of the head and heart of De Freston, it is certain that he proceeded no further with the prosecution of De Freston, as a heretic, but left York Place with a heart stricken at the very thought of the cruelties which he had in some measure been accessory to, in the supposed defence of his church.

'We will leave off our polemical divinity,' said Wolsey, 'and if you will spend one day of quiet hospitality with me, we will talk over Ipswich and early associations, and leave these heart-burnings for other thoughts.'

Well said was this by the Cardinal. It was like a spark of glory striking light into his soul. Oh, would that every member of his high and mighty, pompous church could have seen the joy which then diffused itself over the Cardinal's features.

''Twas for a day, a day of such pure bliss As friendship nurtures in a world like this: Few such are found midst sorrows to prevail; If one such visit thee, O! give it hail.'