The Duchess of Trajetto
CHAPTER XI.
VALDES AND OCHINO.
Evening was closing on Naples and Pausilippo--bright, serene,odoriferous. The sea spread its azure surface as smooth as glass--many alateen sail was extended to the grateful breeze. The universal hum of atalkative city was continually broken by whoop and halloo, scream andlaughter, snatch of song or the sound of some stringed or windinstrument. Now and then a church bell fell musically and mournfully onthe ear.
A grave signor sat pensively at a table, with an open book before him.He was the true type of a Castilian hidalgo; tall, spare, with long,narrow face, classically cut features, the eyes almond-shaped and verydark, lighted as if from within: the face oval, the beard pointed, theskin clear olive, the brow high and pale.
His habit was of black velvet, slashed with satin and with buttons ofjet: a small starched cambric ruff, edged with lace, was closed at thethroat with white silken cords and tassels. A rapier at his side; adiamond of the purest water on his long, thin white hand.
"It must needs be so"--such was the tenor of his meditation. "The veryimage of God must be stamped on our souls like the cameo in soft wax, ifwe are to be His. Oh, my God, mould me with thine own impress! stamp mewith thine own seal! keep my thoughts--I cannot keep them!--efface eventhe memories of sin. Make me a weapon for thine own armoury, whether tobe used in actual service or to hang on the wall ready for use!"
He covered his face with his hand, and remained lost in thought, tillsome one tapped at the door. It was Fra Bernardino Ochino, theCapuchin.
I know not why Ochino should have had so white a beard; for his age, atmost, was scarcely fifty: but so it was.
"Brother," said Valdes gladly, "you come at the right moment; for I amin a singular frame of mind."
"Strange!" cried Ochino; "I, too, found myself in a singular mood, andit was on that account that I sought you. There are times when I amoppressed by vain questionings; and nobody quiets them better than youdo."
"I wonder whether your questionings relate to the same subject as myown," said Valdes, with his peculiarly sweet smile. "Come! let us talkit out. It wants half-an-hour yet to the time when Donna Isabellaexpects me."
"You know," said Ochino, "I am not book-learned--"
"My chief book is my mind," rejoined Valdes. "Therein I read a naturetotally corrupt, and find an unutterable want of God. My other book isHis word. Herein I find a solution to every question, a remedy for everywant, in the blood of Christ. And that is my peace."
"Such is the substance of all my preaching. I aim not so much at pullingdown rotten opinions as sowing good seed."
"You are right, you are right: that will carry us through. The rottenwalls will fall of themselves. They already totter and crumble."
"But oh, what a God is ours!" cried Ochino, stretching his two armsstraight upward. "His judgments are past finding out. How easy it wouldbe to Him to make all straight!--I find myself ready to pray there maybe no hell: that it may be a depopulated country--a burnt-out volcano:that all, _all_ may be saved."
"Surely you may do that," said Valdes. "The Lord's hand is notshortened, that He cannot save. He stands at the door of our hard heartsand knocks. He cries 'turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?' Could a_man_ say more? Excuse the bathos of the expression. It is man who says'I will not.'"
"But what vindictive expressions--"
"Hush, hush, my brother. David's vindictive expressions were those of aJew, not a Christian: and, after all, what a loving heart he had! If hestormed at his enemies one instant, he forgave them the next. Otherwise,he could never have been the man after God's own heart. His inner beingis subjected to a test that none of us could stand--the Psalms areliterally his heart-sighings--the thoughts and feelings that chased oneanother like cloud-shadows over waving corn. Oh! believe me, the faultis not in God, but in ourselves. Since we admit that He is not onlyround about us but within us, how is it that we have so littleperception of Him? Because His grace does not operate in us. And whydoes not His grace operate in us? Because, in reality, we do not humbly,devoutly, and earnestly desire it.[13] Why do not we both desire it andseek it? Because we do not love God with the whole heart and with allthe senses. Why not? Because we do not know Him. Why do not we know Him?Because we do not even know ourselves."
[13] Valdes. "Chain of Virtues and Vices." _Vide_ Wiffen's "Alfabeto Christiano."
"All this is true and logical enough," said Ochino; "and brings us backto your starting-point, that your first book was your own mind. But thatbook cannot be read _in the dark_. Nor without the light of the HolySpirit."
"Unquestionably not," said Valdes. "That light enables me to read my ownbook. It makes plain and full of interest what was arid, forbidding,and deeply disappointing. You know that the Scriptures have helped me tounderstand my own book. David and St. Paul are nothing to us, incomparison with God and Christ. In the Old Testament we read of a God ofvengeance, and a Lord of hosts; for to the Jews he exhibited himself butthrough a glass darkly. But _we_ know him through Christ, and, in seeingone, we see the other. Oh, then, how is it we are insensible to suchlove? A man would give the whole world, if he had it, to save the lifeof an only son: God gave His own Son to save an ungrateful world."
"That is a strong figure," said Ochino, with emotion.
"And since He and His Son are one, in a mystical manner which we cannotcomprehend," pursued Valdes, "what is His giving His Son for us, but, inother words, giving himself? His _alter ego_. 'Greater love than thishath no man, that he lay down his life for his friends.' 'For scarcelyfor a _righteous_ man (even) will one _die_:--but God commendeth Hislove towards us, in that, while we were yet _sinners_, Christ died forus.' Can you conceive a nobler antithesis?"
"Ah!" said Ochino, gladly extending his arms. "I see it! I embrace it!"
"Hold it fast, my brother. For on this rock is built the church. He wasdelivered (delivered up by _man_) for our sins, but was raised, by God,for our justification. Therefore, being justified by faith, we havepeace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Continue to hammer uponthat, as you have done, and are still doing. Did you note an honourablewoman who sate immediately before you, this morning, with VittoriaColonna?"
"Yes. She was very attentive."
"She is Giulia, Duchess of Trajetto: one on whom the pure gospel lighthas not yet shined. I believe she is much under the influence ofCardinal Ippolito: as much as the Marchioness of Pescara is under thatof Cardinal Pole. Pernicious directors, both! You must do them all thegood you can, while they are under your ministry. There is much that ishopeful in the little circle of distinguished women who are now drawntogether here. Isabella Manricha is far advanced in the spiritual life,and will faithfully guide her younger sisters along the narrow way.Speak the truth to them boldly: the word of God is not bound. And nowthe time is come for our evening reading at Donna Isabella's, and herecomes Giulio Terenziano to join us."
As he spoke, a slender, intellectual-looking young man, with eyes fullof spiritual light, entered, whom he embraced as a younger brother.This youth was afterwards a sufferer for the truth.
Nothing was more remarkable in the foregoing dialogue than the manner inwhich Valdes took the lead, though Ochino was a churchman and he wasnot, and he was Ochino's junior by twelve or fourteen years. It iscurrently believed that Valdes was at this time secretary to the SpanishViceroy of Naples, Don Pedro de Toledo: he was certainly governor of theHospital of Incurables. His remarkable personal influence was exercisedboth in conversation and by letters on special subjects; by meetings forthe purpose of reading and exposition, either at his friends' houses orin his own in Naples, or at Pausilippo. Mr. Wiffen tells us that someinteresting allusions in the "Dialogo de la Lengua" give an insight intohis manner of reading and discoursing with his friends.
"He held frequent intercourse with them at his own residence in thecity. His less divided leisure was given to them at his country house,situated in a garden, on the shore of the Bay of Naples, near Chiaja. Atthis country house, Valde
s received on the Sunday a select number of hismost intimate friends; and they passed the day together in this manner.After breakfasting and taking a few turns round the garden, enjoying itsbeauty and the pleasant prospect of the shores and purple ripples of thebay, where the isle of Capri on one side drew the eye to the luxuriousmansion of Tiberius, and Ischia and Procida rose in sight on the other,they returned into the house, when Valdes read some selected portion ofthe Scriptures, and commented upon it, or some divine 'Consideration'which had occupied his thoughts during the week.... After this, theydiscussed the subject together, or discoursed on some other points whichValdes himself brought forward, until the hour for dinner. Afterdinner, in the afternoon, when the servants were dismissed to their ownamusements, his friends and not himself proposed the subjects and ledthe conversation, and he had to discuss them agreeably to their desire.As they had been pleased to consecrate the morning according to hiswishes, in reading 'The Book of the Soul,' or upon subjects like his'Divine Considerations,' he in return devoted his acquirements to theirgratification on themes of their selection. Such was the origin of the'Dialogo de la Lengua,' a dialogue on the Spanish language, whichoccupied seven or more sittings, and was in all probability much morecopious than the text which has come down to us, and which furnishes uswith these particulars. At nightfall, Valdes and his friends returned tothe city.
"The Sunday meetings may have continued four or five years. TheseSabbaths of studious Christians, this exchange of subjects, thisinterchange of thought between the proposers, the day, the pureelevation of mind they brought as it were with them, the situation, thebeauty of the country, the transparent skies of a southern climate, thelow murmurs of the bay, would all be favourable to the purpose ofValdes."[14]
[14] Introduction to Wiffen's translation of the "Alfabeto Christiano."
The extreme beauty of this extract will preclude the need of apology forits length, especially as the general reader could not otherwise haveaccess to it; for I believe only a hundred copies for privatecirculation have been printed of the work to which Mr. Wiffen hasaffixed his delightful introduction.
"O, evenings worthy of the gods!" exclaimed The Sabine bard. "O, evenings," I reply, "More to be prized and coveted than yours, As more illumined, and with nobler truths."
Cowper, "The Task," book iv.
Verini has described the charms of Lorenzo's farm at Poggio Cajano, andPolitian has left us a delightful description of his summer evenings atFiesole.
"When you are incommoded," says he, "with the heat of the season in yourretreat at Careggi, you will perhaps think the shelter of Fiesole notunworthy your notice. Seated between the slopes of the mountain, we havehere water in abundance, and being constantly refreshed with moderatewinds, find little inconvenience from the glare of the sun. As youapproach the house, it seems embosomed in the wood; but when you reachit, you find it commands a full view of the city. But I shall tempt youwith other allurements. Wandering beyond the limits of his ownplantation, Pico sometimes steals unexpectedly on my retirement, anddraws me from my shades to partake of his supper. What kind of supperthat is, you well know; sparing, indeed, but neat, and renderedgrateful by the charms of his conversation."
Pico and Politian would doubtless be very good company; but not equal toValdes and Ochino.