Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/381

 JOAN OF ARC. 3G5 In this she was sustained by the state of habitual spiritual ex- altation resulting from the daily and nightly visions with which she was favored, and the unalterable conviction that she was the chosen of the Lord, under whose inspiration she acted and whose will she was prepared to endure with resignation. In her prison her ecstatic raptures seem to have become more frequent than ever. Her heavenly visitants came at her call, and solved her difficulties. Frequently she refused to answer questions until she could consult her Voices and learn whether she was permitted to reveal what was wanted, and then, at a subsequent hearing, she would say that she had received permission. The responses evi- dently sometimes varied with her moods. She would be told that she would be delivered with triumph, and then again be urged not to mind her martyrdom, for she would reach paradise. When she reported this she was cunningly asked if she felt assured of salva- tion, and on her saying that she was as certain of heaven as if she was already there, she was led on with a question whether she held that she could not commit mortal sin. Instinctively she drew back from the dangerous ground — " I know nothing about it ; I depend on the Lord." * Finally, on one important point her judges succeeded in en- trapping her. She was warned that if she had done anything con- trary to the faith she must submit herself to the determination of the Church. To her the Church was represented by Cauchon and his tribunal ; to submit to them would be to pronounce her whole life a lie, her intercourse with saints and angels an invocation of demons, herself a sorceress worthy of the stake, and only to escape it through the infinite mercy of her persecutors. She offered to submit to God and the saints, but this, she was told, was the Church triumphant in heaven, and she must submit to the Church militant on earth, else she was a heretic, to be inevitably abandoned to the secular arm for burning. Taking advantage of her igno- rance, the matter was pressed upon her in the most absolute form. When asked if she would submit to the pope she could only say, " Take me to him and I will answer to him." At last she was brought to admit that she would submit to the Church, provided it did not command what was impossible ; but, when asked to de-
 * Procfes, p. 487.