Part 18 (1/2)

The count evaluated the advantages of each option-carefully. Ed Piazza was a little surprised by some of the a.n.a.lysis. n.o.body else who had spoken at the whole colloquy thus far had, for instance, addressed the question of just how far any given arrangement would require the Grantville paris.h.i.+oners to walk in order to attend church.

Clearly, the count said, the first option would be preferred by the theologians from Tuebingen and Wittenberg and, indeed, by those of Jena, as well as by the clerical members of the consistory of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. However, in his capacity asLandesvater , advised also by the lay members of his consistory, he found that his duty to ensure the provision of religious services to so many Lutheran immigrants, displaced from their former homes by this tragic war, was more important than the maintenance of the strictest orthodoxy. He did not feel that he could agree to an arrangement by which St. Martin's and St. Thomas would not be open to them.

Steadily, Count Ludwig Guenther moved through the points. He had, he said, concluded that on the basis of experience with applying parity between Catholics and Lutherans for using the churches in certain German Imperial cities, the arrangement was most inconvenient for all concerned and led to ongoing, persistent, disputes and ceaseless controversies. Such an arrangement would be very difficult to administer.

The whole parity idea was new to Ed. He'd never heard of any such thing. But once more he pulled to the front of his mind the general maxim that in the 1,000-plus little political ent.i.ties that made up the Holy Roman Empire, any imaginable arrangement probably existed somewhere.

Yeah, Ed thought, contemplating Tino n.o.bili's probable reaction to any such proposal if it were inst.i.tuted at St. Mary's.I can see how it might cause ceaseless controversies .

Tino was one of the crosses he had to bear. If Opus Dei had ever invited Tino to join, he would have been honored to accept. Tino's kids had already finished CCD cla.s.ses by the time Ed took over as chairman of the parish education committee; his grandchildren hadn't been old enough yet. Ed breathed a short prayer of thanks for G.o.d's infinite mercies and brought his attention back to the count.

Who, clearly, had moved on quite a s.p.a.ce while Ed's mind was wandering.

”Thus, in the matter of the faculty appointments at both of the Grantville schools that our consistory is currently subsidizing, given that the teaching of religion to children prior to the age of confirmation rarely demands more than a good knowledge of theShorter Catechism , we will not require more than a willingness to subscribe to the Augsburg Confession, with no specification as to altered or unaltered.”

Ed looked around the room and saw young Muselius smiling brilliantly. And, why not? He had just been told that he was going to keep his job. Carol Koch had formed her thumb and forefinger into a circle.

Gary Lambert's face was completely impa.s.sive.

”In regard to the ministerial appointments...” The count paused.

”While we do not believe that it would be feasible to inst.i.tute simultaneous parity, we have decided that the ministers appointed to each parish shall be, alternately, of the Flacian and Philippist persuasions.

There is sufficient legal precedent for this in the arrangements for some of the North German dioceses, whereby the administrator is alternately Catholic and Lutheran. No candidate for the ministry will be required to accept an appointment to these parishes. Therefore, any man of the orthodox persuasion who has qualms of conscience about extending communion to all of his paris.h.i.+oners may simply refuse the post. This, we believe, should be an adequate reservation in cases of conscience.”

When Ed looked at the Tuebingen theologians, the expressions on their faces gave him the distinct impression that they didnot regard it as an adequate reservation in cases of conscience.

But the count was not finished. Switching from the formal ”we,” he continued: ”I specifically wish to avoid the problem that the northern dioceses have encountered, of both Catholic and Lutheran rulers appointing young, untried, untested, and insufficiently mature men to the dioceses in hopes that they will be long-lived and extend either Protestant or Catholic control for as long as possible. Such pursuit of purely political advantage is unconscionable among those who claim to hold a divinely entrusted responsibility for the spiritual welfare of their subjects.”

He looked rather firmly at the ”personal observer” from the Duchy of Brunswick, who had almost single-handedly caused the Monday evening meeting at Margrave George's quarters to run so late by insistently demanding that Ludwig Guenther remove this comment.

”We have decided to apply, in these cases, a concept that is not entirely strange to our own law, and which was well established in the law of the ancient Romans, but is in practice much more frequently applied by our American friends.” He bowed toward Ed-the first official recognition of his presence inside the lecture hall since the first day, when all the ”personal observers” had been introduced. ”The appointments to these parishes shall be five-year terms, alternating. If one inc.u.mbent dies during his term of office, another candidate of the same opinion shall be nominated by the consistory to complete the term.”

”This decision shall stand.” The count publicly signed and sealed about two dozen copies of it that were neatly stacked on the table next to him.

”The County of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt extends its most sincere thanks to all who have contributed to its deliberations on this important matter. The colloquy is adjourned.”

To the work! To the work! There is labor for all...

None of the university students, whether Jena's own or the visitors, would be attending the state dinner, of course. Now that the formal closing ceremonies were over, they were milling around, somewhat at loose ends-and, in the case of those from Tuebingen and Wittenberg, bitterly disappointed with Count Ludwig Guenther's decision. Most of them decided to have another beer, since the booths that sold beer weren't even starting their close-out.

None of the ordinary visitors who had come to Jena to have a look at colloquy would be going to the state dinner, either, but those who hadn't already started for home were still wandering around, hoping to pick up bargains from some vendor who would rather not carry his stuff home. The marketplace was also full of apprentices and day-laborers who were packing up unsold merchandise, dismantling booths, and loading carts and wagons, trying to get things out of the way before the late-afternoon formal procession from the medical school to the city hall, which was where the banquet would be held.

Aside from them, as the booths were removed, the center of the square, beyond the cordoned-off route, was gradually filling up again, mostly with people from Jena itself who wanted to see the parade. Along the sides of the square, there was an unscheduled procession of maidservants and errand boys, delivering to the city hall, which had no kitchen of its own, all the dishes that the housewives of Jena had devoted their day to preparing from the provisions brought in by Count Ludwig Guenther. After they handed the roasts and pies in, at least half of them, whether with or without permission from their employers, were not returning home, but augmenting the group of spectators.

The procession was forming up, Count Ludwig Guenther's steward ensuring that all diplomatic representatives and their guests were in their proper places-that always minimized protocol disputes. It should be coming into the marketplace in just a few minutes.

Since Benny Pierce didn't have a booth, but just an upside down keg and an old backpack, he kept on performing. The sheet music sales of ”The Romish Lady” had been really good. He wanted to pick up any last-minute loose change that might be flying around.

After the wild success of the week before, he'd decided to add more old-time Gospel to his Mother Maybelle mix. In spite of the fact that any thinking seventeenth-century theologian would ask a lot of questions in regard to doctrinal issues pertaining to ”certainty of salvation,” he'd gotten away with: Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till set of sun, Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care.

Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done, And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

Even ”Work, for the Night is Coming” hadn't caused any catastrophe.

Alas! Joachim had just given him a quickly translated German version of ”Toiling On.” Joachim hadn't stopped to think about the theological implications-it had just struck him as a rousing call to action, usable as a song for the Committees of Correspondence meetings with only minor modifications.

He had, unfortunately, left out the line aboutSalvation is free .

As the formal procession to the state dinner rounded the corner and the heralds in front entered the marketplace, Minnie sang:

Schaffe nun, schaffe nun!

Es gibt noch viel zu tun!

The town was tense enough, as it was. One of the apprentices, more than half-drunk, and obviously not having been present during the rendition of ”The Romish Lady,” suddenly yelled: ”Work Righteousness! The Americans are secretly teaching Popery! Right here in Jena!”

Minnie reacted fast when she saw the first cobblestone coming. ”Save the fiddle!” she shrieked, pus.h.i.+ng Benny to the ground and s.n.a.t.c.hing up the herring keg, which she proceeded to wield as a three dimensional s.h.i.+eld above his body.

Benny saw nothing wrong with her priorities. He scrabbled around the ground with his right hand until he located the violin case, pulled it over, tucked in the instrument and bow, and covered them both with his body.

Minnie's past life experiences had not been such as to give her much confidence in the civil authorities.

However, Benny had firmly told her that if there was trouble, she should call, ”Help! Police!” Minnie's voice really did have carrying quality. On general principles, she switched to, ”Hilfe! Polizei!” Under the hail of cobblestones, the keg was coming apart in her hands. She started throwing the staves.

Tanya and Jamie Lee were back at the inn with the radio, which was never left unattended, but the other four kids who had come to Jena with Ed were at one of the picnic tables behind the brewery booth.

Pete, Joel, and Zack headed over toward Benny Pierce at a dead run. Staci grabbed a tub of very dirty dishwater from the back of the booth and dumped it over the head of the guy who had started it.

The police had been positioned to guard the procession of notables. To get to the scene of the fight, they had to go through the crowd on the south side of the parade route, toward the booths lining the edge-since these weren't in the way of the procession, they were the last ones that would be taken down.

It was slow going. The crowd was starting to turn to see what was going on. Parents with children were trying to go at a perpendicular angle to the police movement, to get them out to safety.

Somebody yelled, ”What's going on?”

At the edge of the crowd, the reply came. ”Papist spies! Somebody found a nest of Papist spies!”