Great Britain -- History -- Elizabeth, 1558-1603 -- Fiction
The afternoon discussion, too, was to little purpose. More and more
Anthony, and others with him, began to see that the heart of the matter
was the authority of the Church; and that unless that was settled, all
other debate was beside the point; and the importance of this was brought
out for him more clearly than ever on the 27th of the month, when the
fourth and last debate took place, and on the subject of the sufficiency
of the Scriptures unto salvation.
Mr. Charke, who had now succeeded as disputant, began with extempore
prayer, in which as usual the priest refused to join, praying and
crossing himself apart.
Mr. Walker then opened the disputation with a pompous and insolent speech
about "one Campion," an "unnatural man to his country, degenerated from
an Englishman, an apostate in religion, a fugitive from this realm,
unloyal to his prince." Campion sat with his eyes cast down, until the
minister had done.
Then the discussion began. The priest pointed out that Protestants were
not even decided as to what were Scriptures and what were not, since
Luther rejected three epistles in the New Testament; therefore, he
argued, the Church is necessary as a guide, first of all, to tell men
what is Scripture. Walker evaded by saying he was not a Lutheran but a
Christian; and then the talk turned on to apocryphal books. But it was
not possible to evade long, and the Jesuit soon touched his opponent.
"To leave a door to traditions," he said, "which the Holy Ghost may
deliver to the true Church, is both manifest and seen: as in the Baptism
of infants, the Holy Ghost proceeding from Father to Son, and such other
things mentioned, which are delivered by tradition. Prove these directly
by the Scripture if you can!"
Charke answered by the analogy of circumcision which infants received,
and by quoting Christ's words as to "sending" of the Comforter; and they
were soon deep in detailed argument; but once more Anthony saw that it
was all a question of the interpretation of Scripture; and, therefore,
that it would seem that an authoritative interpreter was necessary--and
where could such be found save in an infallible living Voice? And once
more a question of Campion's drove the point home.
"Was all Scripture written when the Apostles first taught?" And Charke
dared not answer yes.
The afternoon's debate concerned justification by faith, and this, more
than ever, seemed to Anthony a secondary matter, now that he was
realising what the claim of a living authority meant; and he sat back,
only interested in watching the priest's face, so controlled yet so
transparent in its simplicity and steadfastness, as he listened to the
ministers' brutal taunts and insolence, and dealt his quiet skilful
parries and ripostes to their incessant assaults. At last the Lieutenant
struck the table with his hand, and intimated that the time was past, and
after a long prayer by Mr. Walker, the prisoners were led back to their
cells.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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