CHAPTER XII.

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.