The Pocket Bible; or, Christian the Printer: A Tale of the Sixteenth Century. Эжен Сю

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СКАЧАТЬ I had broken in, drilled and fashioned by military discipline! Nailed to a couch of tortures, which I welcomed in the hope of removing my deformity, I was seized by Grace! I felt myself full of strength and of energy. I was possessed of an invincible craving for dominion. At that juncture the Holy Ghost said to me: 'Devote thyself to the triumph of the Catholic Church. Thy dominion shall extend in the measure of thy faith.' I then asked myself what services could I render the Catholic Church. I looked around me. What did I see? The spirit of Liberty, that pestilential emanation of a fallen humanity, everywhere at war with Authority, that sacred emanation of Divinity. I promised to myself to curb the spirit of Liberty with the inflexible curb of Authority, identically as I had formerly subjugated indomitable horses. The goal being set, what were the means to reach it? I looked for them. I wished first to experiment upon myself, to determine upon myself the extent to which, sustained by faith in the idea a man pursues, he can shake off his former self. Rich by birth, I begged my bread; a haughty Grandee, I exposed myself to outrage; a skilful swordsman, I submitted to insult; sumptuous in my habits of dress, careful of my personal appearance, I have lived in rags and in the gutter. Ignorant of letters, I took my seat at the age of thirty among children on the benches of the Montaigu College, where any slight inattention was visited upon me with the whip. Some of my purposes, being detected by orthodox priests, earned for me their persecution and I was ostracised. I stood it all without a murmur. From that time, certain that I could demand from my disciples the sacrifices I imposed upon myself, I made you that which you are required to be. You have said it. You are the members, I the spirit; you are the instrument, I the will. The hour for action has come; our work calls us. What work is that?"

      "That work is the insurance of the reign of authority upon earth."

      "What authority?"

      "Master, there is but one. The authority of God, visibly incarnated in His vicar, the Pope, who is in Rome."

      "Do you understand by that the spiritual or the temporal authority?"

      "Master, he who has authority over the soul must have authority over the body also. He who dictates the Divine law must dictate the human law also."

      "What must the Pope be?"

      "Pontiff and Emperor of the Catholic world."

      "Who, under him, is to govern the nations?"

      "The clergy."

      "Must temporal authority, accordingly, also belong to the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church?"

      "All authority flows from God. His ministers are by divine right the masters of the nations, and must be invested with full authority."

      "Is that, then, the work in hand?"

      "Yes, master."

      "Are there any obstacles to its accomplishment?"

      "Enormous ones."

      "What are they?"

      "First of all, the Kings."

      "Next?" queried Loyola impatiently. "Next?"

      "The indocility of the bourgeois classes."

      "Next?"

      "The new heresy known by the name of the Reformation."

      "Next?"

      "The printing press, that scourge that every day and everywhere spreads its ravages."

      "Next?"

      "The too publicly scandalous habits of the ecclesiastics."

      "And lastly?"

      "Often the ineptness, the feebleness, the insatiable cupidity and the excesses of the papacy."

      "These, then, are the obstacles to the absolute rule of the Catholic world by her Church?"

      "Yes, master."

      "Is it possible to overcome these obstacles?"

      "We can, master, provided your spirit speaks through our mouths, and your will dictates our actions."

      "All honor to the Lord – let's begin with the Kings. What are they with regard to the Popes?"

      "Their rivals."

      "What should they be?"

      "Their first subjects."

      "Would it not be preferable for the greater glory and security of the Catholic Church that royalty were abolished?"

      "That would be preferable."

      "How are Kings to be absolutely subordinated to the Popes? Or, rather, how is royalty to be destroyed?"

      "By causing all its subjects to rise against it."

      "By what process?"

      "By unchaining the passions of an ignorant populace; by exploiting the old commune spirit of the bourgeoisie; by fanning the hatred of the seigneurs, once the peers of Kings in feudal days; by setting the people against one another."

      "Is there a last resort for the riddance of Kings?"

      "The dagger, or poison."

      "Do you understand by that that a member of the Church may and has the right to stab a King; may and has the right to poison a King?"

      "Master, it is not the part of a monk to kill a King, whether openly or covertly. The King should first be paternally admonished, then excommunicated, then declared forfeit of royal authority. After that his execution falls to others."12

      "And who is it that declares Kings forfeit of royal authority, and thus places them under the ban of mankind, and outside the pale of human and divine law?"

      "Either the people's voice, or an assembly of priests and theologians, or the decision of men of sense."13

      "Suppose royal authority is overthrown by murder, or otherwise, will not the power thereby fall either into the hands of the nobility and the seigneurs, or into those of the bourgeoisie, or into the hands of the populace?"

      "Yes, but only for a short interval. If the power falls into the hands of the populace, the seigneurs, that is, the nobility and the bourgeoisie, are to be turned against the populace. If the power should fall into the hands of the bourgeoisie, then the populace and the nobility are to be turned against the bourgeoisie; finally, in case the power falls into the hands of the nobility, the bourgeoisie and the populace are to be turned against the nobility."

      "Civil war being over, what will be the state of things?"

      "All powers being annihilated, the one destroyed by the other, only the Catholic Church will remain standing, imperishable."

      "You spoke of operating upon the populace, upon the bourgeoisie, upon the nobility, to the end of using these several classes for the overthrow of royal power, and subsequently of letting them loose against one another. What lever will you operate upon them?"

      "The direction of their conscience, especially that of their wives, through the confessional."

      "In what manner do you expect to be able to direct their conscience?"

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