52 chapters
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52 chapters
I.
I.
The life and character of a witness are the grounds on which we base our estimate of his credibility. That he should have spoken of himself at great length and with many and minute details is a circumstance most favourable to the formation of an accurate judgment respecting him. Such is fortunately our position with regard to Father John Gerard, the author of the Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot. He has left a full and most interesting autobiography in Latin; and we have felt that we could not do
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II.
II.
“I started then on my homeward journey, 15 in company with Father Ouldcorne and two other Priests who had been students at the English College.” ... “As we passed through Rhemes, where there was an English Seminary, and through Paris, we kept the strictest incognito.” Father Gerard's passing through Paris was not as little known as he thought, and without being aware of it, he then fell into the gravest of the perils that beset the poor Catholics of England, the “perils from false brethren.” Gil
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III.
III.
“On my arrival in London, by the help of certain Catholics I discovered Father Henry Garnett, who was then Superior. Besides him, the only others of our Society then in England were Father Edmund Weston, 23 confined at Wisbech (who, had he been at large, would have been Superior), Father Robert Southwell, and we two new-comers. “My companion, Father Ouldcorne, had already arrived, so the Superior was rather anxious on my account, as nothing had been heard of me; but yet for that very reason hope
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IV.
IV.
“Besides others of less standing whom my host's mother, in her great zeal for souls, brought me to be reconciled, she had nearly won over a certain great lady, a neighbour of hers. Though this lady was the wife of the richest 32 lord in the whole county, and sister to the Earl of Essex (then most powerful with the Queen), and was wholly given to vanities, nevertheless she brought her so far as to be quite willing to speak with a Priest, if only he could come to her without being known. This the
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V.
V.
“My journeys northwards were undertaken for the purpose of visiting, and strengthening in the faith, certain persons who there afforded no small aid to the common cause. Among them were two sisters of high nobility, daughters of an Earl of very old family who had laid down his life for the Catholic faith. 35 They lived together, and manifested a great desire to have me not merely visit them sometimes, but rather stay altogether with them. The elder, who had a family, became a pillar of support t
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VI.
VI.
But Father Gerard's good works were now to be interfered with by the treachery of a servant. This man's name was John Frank, and his deposition taken before Justice Young, May 12, 1594, 39 will illustrate Father Gerard's story. The Father introduces the traitor without naming him. “There is a time for gathering stones together, and a time for scattering them. The time had now come for trying the servants of God, my hosts, and myself along with them. And that they might be more like in their suff
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VII.
VII.
“The traitor on his return to London informed our enemies of everything. Forthwith they sent two of their best messengers, or pursuivants as they call them, to two gentlemen of the county, who were Justices of the Peace, bidding them search the house carefully with their men. The traitor also returned on Easter Sunday, on pretence of bringing a fresh letter from London, but in reality to play into the hands of our enemies and acquaint them with our plans. On Easter Monday” [April 1, 1594], “on a
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VIII.
VIII.
“As soon as I had taken a little refreshment and rest, I set out and went to a friend's house, where I kept still for a fortnight. Then knowing that I had left my friends in great distress, I proceeded to London to aid and comfort them. I got a safe lodging with a person of rank. 55 A year ago it had been Father Southwell's abode, before his seizure and imprisonment in the Tower of London, where he now was. I wanted, however, to hire a house where I might be safe and unknown, and be free to trea
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IX.
IX.
“Here I stayed upwards of three months. During the first month I made from memory, as well as I could, the Spiritual Exercises; giving four and sometimes five hours a day to meditation. God lavished His goodness on me throughout, and I had proof that He opens His bounteous hands to His servants most of all when He has closed up the sources of earthly comfort to them. “When I was quietly lodged in prison, without being brought out or undergoing any further examination for many days, they examined
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X.
X.
“Mistress Line, his sister, married a good husband and a staunch Catholic. He had been heir to a fine estate; but his father or uncle (for he was heir to both) sent a message from his death-bed to young Line, then a prisoner for the Faith, asking him to conform and go to some heretical church for once; otherwise he would have to give up his inheritance to his younger brother. ‘If I must either give up God or the world,’ was his courageous answer, ‘I prefer to give up the world, for it is good to
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XI.
XI.
“In the meantime, I was so fully taken up in the prison with business, and with the visits of Catholics, that in the next room, which was Brother Emerson's, there were often six or eight persons at once, waiting their turn to see me. Nay, many of my most intimate and attached friends have oft-times had to wait many hours at a stretch, and even then I have been obliged to ask them to come another time....” “While I remained in this prison, I sent over numbers of boys and young men to Catholic Sem
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XII.
XII.
“On another occasion they examined me, and all the other Catholics that were confined in the same prison with me, in a public place called Guildhall, where Topcliffe and several other Commissioners were present. When they had put their usual questions, and received from me the usual answers, they came to the point, intending, I imagine, to sound us all as to our feelings towards the State, or else to entrap us in some expressions about the State that might be made matter of accusation. They aske
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XIII.
XIII.
“There was in the prison with me a certain Priest, 78 to whom I had done many good services. When he first came to England, I had lodged him in an excellent house with some of my best friends; I had made Catholics of his mother and only brother; I had secured him a number of friends when he was thrown into prison, and had made him considerable presents. I had always shown him affection, although, perceiving that he was not firm and steady in spirit, but rather hankered too much after freedom, I
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XIV.
XIV.
“This he allowed; and then we went together to the house of the Lieutenant, which was within the Tower walls. There I found five men, none of whom had before examined me except Wade, who was there for the purpose of accusing me on all points. “The Queen's Attorney General then took a sheet of paper, and began to write a solemn form of juridical examination.” The examination of Father Gerard on this occasion is preserved in the Public Record Office. 83 The Commissioners were Sir Richard Barkley,
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XV.
XV.
“I was helped back to my cell by the gaoler, and meeting on the way some of the prisoners who had the range of the Tower, I addressed the gaoler in their hearing, saying I wondered how those gentlemen could insist so on my telling them where Father Garnett was, since every one must acknowledge it to be a sin to betray an innocent man, a thing I would never do, though I should die for it. This I said out loud, on purpose that the authorities might not have it in their power to publish a report ab
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XVI.
XVI.
“I remained therefore in my cell, spending my time principally in prayer. And now again I made the Spiritual Exercises, as I had done at the beginning of my imprisonment, giving four or five hours a day to meditation for a whole month. I had a breviary with me, so that I was able to say my Office; and every day I said a dry Mass (such as is said by those who are practising Mass before the Priesthood), and that with great reverence and desire of communicating, especially at that part where I shou
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XVII.
XVII.
“They made no reply to me; but the Attorney General wrote everything down, and said he should use it against me at my trial in a short time. But he did not keep his word: for I was not worthy to enter under God's roof, where nothing denied can enter. I have, therefore, still to be purified by a prolonged sojourn in exile, and so at length, if God please, be saved as by fire. “This my last examination was in Trinity term, as they call it. They have four terms in the year, during which many come u
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XVIII.
XVIII.
“I thus endeavoured to conform myself to the decrees of God and the tyranny of man; when lo! on the last day of July [1597], the anniversary of our holy Father Ignatius' departure from this life, while I was in meditation and was entertaining a vehement desire of an opportunity for saying Mass, it came into my head that this really might be accomplished in the cell of a certain Catholic gentleman, which lay opposite mine on the other side of a small garden within the Tower. This gentleman 101 ha
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XIX.
XIX.
“Now while we were together that day, I—though nothing was less in my thoughts when I came over than any idea of escape (for I sought only our true deliverer, Jesus Christ, as He was prefigured in the little ash-baked loaf of Elias, that I might with more strength and courage travel the rest of my way even to the Mount of God),—seeing how close this part of the Tower was to the moat by which it was surrounded, began to think with myself that it were a possible thing for a man to descend by a rop
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XX.
XX.
“On the following day 105 John Lilly wrote me by the gaoler as usual. What could I expect him to say but this: ‘We see, and have proved it by our peril, that it is not God's will we should proceed any further in this business.’ But I found him saying just the contrary. For he began his letter as follows: ‘It was not the will of God that we should accomplish our desire last night; still He rescued us from a great danger, that we might succeed better the next time. What is put off is not cut off:
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XXI.
XXI.
“I saw also that it would soon be necessary for me to give up my present residence in the country, and betake myself elsewhere; otherwise those good and faithful friends of mine,” the Wisemans, “would always be suffering some annoyance for my sake. I proposed the matter, therefore, to them, but they refused to listen to me in this point, though in all other things they were most obedient. But I thought more of their peace than of their wishes, however pious these wishes were; and therefore I lai
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XXII.
XXII.
“John was carried to the Tower and confined there in chains. Then they examined him about my escape, and about all the places he had been to with me since. He, seeing that his dealings with the gaoler were already known to them, and desirous (if God would grant him such a favour), to lay down his life for Christ, freely confessed that it was he who had compassed my deliverance, and that he took great pleasure in the thought of having done so; he added that he was in the mind to do the same again
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XXIII.
XXIII.
“I mentioned just now that one of my hostess' servants told a friend of his, but an enemy of ours, that I habitually resided at his mistress' house, and that at that particular time I was at such a house in London. How this house was searched, and how they seized my companion and my manuscripts, but missed me, I have related. The Council, therefore, now knowing my residence in the country, issued a commission to some Justices of the Peace in that county to search this lady's house for a Priest.
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XXIV.
XXIV.
“I must now return to London, and relate what happened after John Lilly was taken, and the gentleman imprisoned with whom I rented my London house. This house being now closed to me, I sought out another, but on a different plan. I did not now join in partnership with any one, because I was unwilling to be in the house of one known to be a Catholic. I managed that this new house should be hired by a nephew of Master Roger Lee, whom with his wife I had reconciled to the Catholic Church; and, as h
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XXV.
XXV.
“The visitor was young and confident, and trusting in his own great abilities, expected to carry everything before him, so good was his cause and so lightly did he esteem me, as he afterwards confessed. So he began to allege many objections to the arguments before used. I waited with patience until he ceased speaking, and then answered in few words. He urged his points, and so we argued one against the other for a short hour's space. Afterwards I began to explain my view more fully, and to confi
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XXVI.
XXVI.
“The history of the Plot, its causes and consequences, is but too well known; since it has been written by both friends and enemies, though perhaps by neither exactly as it ought to be. I myself, when I came from England to Rome, was ordered to put in writing an account of the whole affair, and did so as well as I could. There is no need, therefore, to repeat here what I wrote at length on that occasion....” 126 “I will now add a few words about myself before closing this narrative. I have state
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XXVII.
XXVII.
Here the Autobiography of Father Gerard ends. Though he survived his escape from England thirty-one years, 129 we have not much more to relate of the events of his life. We have, however, first a few notes to record on the concluding portion of the narrative. First, with regard to the brave Elizabeth Vaux. She was re-arrested, long after the liberation of which Father Gerard has told us, for in a letter from Louvain to Father Aquaviva, the General of the Society, dated August 17, 1612, he gives
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XXVIII.
XXVIII.
We do not know exactly the date of Father Gerard's arrival at Louvain, or the office to which he was first appointed there. The letter of the 17th August, 1612, to the General, from which we have already given a large extract concerning Mrs. Vaux, is dated from Louvain. It proceeds with an account of a miraculous cure at the intercession of Father Thomas Garnett, the nephew of the Provincial, who was martyred at Tyburn on the 3rd of June, 1608. This father was the first Novice of St. John's, Lou
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XXIX.
XXIX.
During his residence at Liége, amongst Father Gerard's correspondents were two venerable servants of God, Robert Cardinal Bellarmine, and Father Luis de la Puente, better known by the Latinized form of his name, de Ponte. As by a man's friends we can obtain an insight into his character, we have thought it desirable to give the few letters from these two holy men to Father Gerard that have come down to us. Cardinal Bellarmine's autograph is preserved at Stonyhurst. 169 We translate the letter fr
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XXX.
XXX.
In this Autobiography Father Gerard has laid before us his life in all the freedom and unreserve of a confidential communication with his Religious brethren and Superiors. It is not possible, we are convinced, for any impartial person to rise from its perusal without a deep conviction that Father Gerard was a gentleman and a Christian, a man of honour and religious principle; and in many cases this sense of his integrity will be accompanied with some of that personal regard and affection with wh
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XXXI.
XXXI.
We have little doubt that the house in which the oath of secrecy was taken and holy Communion received, was really Father Gerard's house. The “house in the fields behind St. Clement's Inn,” as Faulks calls it; “behind St. Clement's,” as it appears in Winter's confession, seems to be the house described by Father Gerard as that which he occupied up to the time of the Powder Plot, “nearer the principal street in London, called the Strand,” 199 in which street most of his friends lived. But he was
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XXXII.
XXXII.
Having thus vindicated the fair fame of these Fathers from the unmerited imputations brought against them, it remains for us to produce the letters which were written expressly to prove Father Gerard's innocence of all complicity with the conspiracy. We first take from the Public Record Office 214 his letter to the Duke of Lenox, enclosing letters to the Earl of Salisbury and Sir Everard Digby. These are the letters described by Father Gerard himself in the twelfth chapter of his Narrative. 215
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XXXIV.
XXXIV.
The following extract is taken from a letter addressed by the Rev. John Thorpe from Rome, August 12, 1789, to Henry, eighth Lord Arundell. “ The collection of ancient papers at the English College here consisted of two sorts. The first belonged to the Stuart family, and was deposited there only after the old Chevalier retired into Italy. Neither Rector nor any other person in the College knew anything of the contents, which were locked up in a strong chamber, of which the keys were kept in the P
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Additional Notes.
Additional Notes.
P. x . and p. 26 .—Elizabeth, the mother of John Gerard, was the eldest of the three daughters and co-heiresses of Sir John Port, and at her father's death, June 6, 1557, Etwall became the property of Sir Thomas Gerard. This is the “dwelling-house within two miles of” Tutbury “Castle where” Mary Queen of Scots “was kept,” where Father Gerard lived when a child for three years. Sir John's second daughter, Dorothy, took Dale Abbey in Derbyshire to her husband, George Hastings fourth Earl of Huntin
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Jesus Maria. The Preface.
Jesus Maria. The Preface.
This, therefore, hath been the course and manner of proceeding of Almighty God with His elected servants; even from the beginning, and will continue unto the end of the world. So when there were but two men born upon the earth, and those brethren, yet one did persecute the other, the wicked did kill the innocent. The Patriarchs had all their several probations, and lived but as pilgrims in the world; the Prophets sustained many persecutions, and sundry of them were put to cruel deaths for avouch
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Chapter II. [I.] The State Of Persecuted Catholics At The Queen's Death And The King's Entry, With Their Hopes Of Relaxation By Him, Whereof They Failed.
Chapter II. [I.] The State Of Persecuted Catholics At The Queen's Death And The King's Entry, With Their Hopes Of Relaxation By Him, Whereof They Failed.
Of this kind the number was great that suffered (our difficulty considered in preparing them, and penury of so fit workmen), but their worth was much greater than this short treatise can or may contain: it is worthily reserved for a more full discourse, and indeed it will require a just volume by itself. It shall suffice us here to know, that as all were holy and full of spirit, fit for men that are sent in such an Apostolical mission, so many of them excelled in rare gifts, and for such were kn
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Chapter III. [II.] The Increase Of Persecution And All Kind Of Molestations Unto Catholics, With Their Failing Of All Hopes, Procured By The Puritan Faction.
Chapter III. [II.] The Increase Of Persecution And All Kind Of Molestations Unto Catholics, With Their Failing Of All Hopes, Procured By The Puritan Faction.
It hath been also a matter of no small grief and complaint, that whereas there be now in England certain hungry and ravenous people that importuned the King for relief, having no rents or revenues in the land and yet living at a high rate and great charges many ways, His Majesty to give them content hath willed them to seek out Popish recusants which he might bestow upon them; wherein they then become diligent to inquire them out and restless in prosecuting them to the uttermost, and think all t
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Chapter III. How Upon These And The Like Motives Divers Gentlemen Did Conspire And Conclude Upon Some Violent Remedy.
Chapter III. How Upon These And The Like Motives Divers Gentlemen Did Conspire And Conclude Upon Some Violent Remedy.
Others again (as since it hath appeared) were much different from these, and ran headlong into a contrary error. For being resolved never to yield or forsake their faith, they had not patience and longanimity to expect the Providence of God, “qui attingit a fine usque ad finem fortiter et disponit omnia suaviter.” 292 They would not endure to see their brethren so trodden upon by every Puritan, so made a prey to every needy follower of the Court or servant to a Councillor, so presented and pursu
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Chapter IV. How After They Had Begun Their Enterprise, They Fell Into Some Scruple, And Went About To Satisfy Their Conscience By Asking Questions Afar Off, Of Learned Men, Without Opening The Case.
Chapter IV. How After They Had Begun Their Enterprise, They Fell Into Some Scruple, And Went About To Satisfy Their Conscience By Asking Questions Afar Off, Of Learned Men, Without Opening The Case.
They hired a house by the water side (as may appear in Mr. Winter's confession) where they might first land their powder when they had bought it, and from whence they might easily transport it by boat also unto the place appointed, which was a house close by the Parliament House, hired by Mr. Thomas Percy, as a fit residence for himself near the Court, being Pensioner, and to wait daily in his quarters. And Mr. Faulks went as his man to keep the house. In this house, to prevent occasions of ofte
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Chapter V. How Father Garnett Beginning To Suspect Somewhat By Certain Generalities He Understood Of The Gentlemen, Wrote Divers Letters To Rome For Prevention Of Rebellion.
Chapter V. How Father Garnett Beginning To Suspect Somewhat By Certain Generalities He Understood Of The Gentlemen, Wrote Divers Letters To Rome For Prevention Of Rebellion.
About a month after he wrote another letter in answer of one he had received from his Superiors not long before (as I perceive by the party that hath the keeping of these letters), wherein they did require to be informed whether himself or any of the Society in England were against the peace, or did favour or further unquiet proceedings in any respect; for that such an information had been sent to Padua out of England, but not known by whom, unto which he answered as followeth: “That which was w
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Chapter VI. How In The Mean Space, The Conspirators Proceeded In Their Purpose, And Drew In More Complices, And What They Were.
Chapter VI. How In The Mean Space, The Conspirators Proceeded In Their Purpose, And Drew In More Complices, And What They Were.
Then they called in one Mr. Robert Keyes, a grave and sober man, and of great wit and sufficiency, as I have heard divers say, that were well acquainted with him. His virtue and valour were the chiefest things wherein they could expect assistance from him; for otherwise, his means were not great, but in those two, by report, he had great measure. More was the pity that such men, so worthy to be esteemed, should lose themselves in such a labyrinth of erring courses. But of all others, he that was
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Chapter VII. How, The Parliament Drawing Near, The Whole Plot Was Discovered, And That Which Ensued Thereupon.
Chapter VII. How, The Parliament Drawing Near, The Whole Plot Was Discovered, And That Which Ensued Thereupon.
“My Lord, out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care of your preservation, therefore I would advise you, as you tender your life, to devise some excuse to shift off your attendance at this Parliament, for God and man have concurred to punish the wickedness of this time. And think not slightly of this advertisement, but retire yourself into your country, where you may expect the event in safety. For though there be no appearance of any stir, yet, I say, they shall receive a ter
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Chapter VIII. How Upon Examination Of The Prisoners It Was Apparent That No Other Catholics Could Be Touched With The Conspiracy. The Same Also Confirmed By His Majesty's Own Words, To The Great Comfort Of Catholics.
Chapter VIII. How Upon Examination Of The Prisoners It Was Apparent That No Other Catholics Could Be Touched With The Conspiracy. The Same Also Confirmed By His Majesty's Own Words, To The Great Comfort Of Catholics.
Then His Majesty proceedeth in his speech, admiring “that Christian men and Englishmen, and one of them his sworn servant in an honourable place, should enter into such a practice, wherein, saith he, their following obstinacy is so joined to their former malice, as the fellow himself that is in hand cannot be moved to discover any signs or notes of repentance, except only that he doth not yet stand to avow that he repents for not being able to perform his intent” A great testimony being spoken b
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Chapter IX. How The Fathers Of The Society Were By Industry Of The Heretics Drawn Into This Matter, To Incense The King Against Them, And For Them Against The Catholic Religion.
Chapter IX. How The Fathers Of The Society Were By Industry Of The Heretics Drawn Into This Matter, To Incense The King Against Them, And For Them Against The Catholic Religion.
Therefore whereas they did know very well how great esteem Catholics did generally make of the Fathers of the Society, and how much they did all for the most part (especially the better sort) rely upon their advice, reputing them to be men of great learning and judgment, and chiefly to be of approved virtue and spirit and both skill and experience in direction of souls: at these Fathers therefore did these Puritans resolve to level their first poisoned arrows, drawn out of the quiver of malice a
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Chapter X. How Father Garnett, The Superior, Was Discovered And Taken In Worcestershire And Brought Up To London: And Of His First Entreaty And Examination.
Chapter X. How Father Garnett, The Superior, Was Discovered And Taken In Worcestershire And Brought Up To London: And Of His First Entreaty And Examination.
But this was no impediment to the forcible authority of the proclamation, which went out under the King's name. And instead of particular accusations, it must suffice for the present, “quod si non essent hi malefactores, non tradidisset eos potestas regia;” 349 and indeed other proofs they could have none at all against all the three neither then nor since, although against two of them, to wit, against Fathers Garnett and Tesimond, 350 they framed afterwards some pretended matter in particular,
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Chapter XI. Of Father Garnett, His Carriage To The Tower And Subtle Usage There. Also Of The Usage Of Fr. Ouldcorne And Nicholas Owen, Ralph, And John Grisoll In The Same Place.
Chapter XI. Of Father Garnett, His Carriage To The Tower And Subtle Usage There. Also Of The Usage Of Fr. Ouldcorne And Nicholas Owen, Ralph, And John Grisoll In The Same Place.
Being now settled in the Tower, the Council came thither to examine him, but found him always the same man, both constant in his faith and function, and faithful to his friends. For though they pretended they would not deal with him in any matter concerning his Priesthood (desiring, indeed, to have his case esteemed different from others against whom they had formerly proceeded), yet were many questions such as if he had answered either weakly or unwisely he must needs have brought many of his f
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Chapter XII. Of The Arraignment, Condemnation, And Execution Of The Conspirators, With The Full Clearing Of Some Of The Society Falsely Accused In This Arraignment.
Chapter XII. Of The Arraignment, Condemnation, And Execution Of The Conspirators, With The Full Clearing Of Some Of The Society Falsely Accused In This Arraignment.
Being brought to Westminster Hall before the Court was ready to sit, they were staid some half-hour in the Star Chamber, where in that little time of stay all men did note a great resolution in them, not seeming to fear or respect either judgment or death itself; nor showing any sign of sorrow for their attempt, in regard of their intention thereby to have pulled down heresy and set up the Catholic religion. Their state of mind and manner of carriage may in part be discerned by that printed pamp
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Chapter XIII. Of The Arraignment And Condemnation Of Father Garnett.
Chapter XIII. Of The Arraignment And Condemnation Of Father Garnett.
Therefore the day appointed being come, which was a Friday, the 28th March, about eight of the clock, he was brought from the Tower in a coach with the Lieutenant of the Tower, Sir William Wade, and another Knight, the curtains being close drawn about them. Which manner of carriage to judgment being very extraordinary and not used to any before him, the people did much wonder at it, and thought it strange he should be so carried, considering that most of those that were indeed conspirators in th
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Chapter XIV. Of The Arraignment And Execution Of Father Ouldcorne And Those That Suffered With Him, And Of The Occurrences There, With A Brief Relation Of His Life.
Chapter XIV. Of The Arraignment And Execution Of Father Ouldcorne And Those That Suffered With Him, And Of The Occurrences There, With A Brief Relation Of His Life.
As they went through Holborn, going out of London, Mrs. Abington 453 did meet her husband, Mr. Thomas Abington, and, with many tears, took her leave of him, but yet promised to labour earnestly with the King for his pardon, which she hoped to obtain the rather by her brother's means, who was the Lord Mounteagle, now in special favour, as you may guess, being the man that had discovered the Plot of Powder. 454 Mr. Abington wished her to be of good comfort, for himself was not troubled; and withal
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Chapter XV. Of The Execution Of Father Garnett, With A Brief Relation Of His Life.484
Chapter XV. Of The Execution Of Father Garnett, With A Brief Relation Of His Life.484
Wherefore when it was plainly seen that there was no hope to draw him to anything unlawful or unfit for a Religious Priest, it was then determined presently that he should suffer. And the day was assigned to be the first of May, which being told unto Father Garnett, he misliked the choice they had made of that day, as well in regard it hath not been usual to put any to death upon such great Feasts, as for that it hath long time been a custom in England upon that day in the morning early, for the
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Chapter XVI. Of The State Of Catholics After Father Garnett His Execution: How God Did Comfort Them With Some Miraculous Events, And How Their Zeal Increased, Notwithstanding The Increase Of Persecution.
Chapter XVI. Of The State Of Catholics After Father Garnett His Execution: How God Did Comfort Them With Some Miraculous Events, And How Their Zeal Increased, Notwithstanding The Increase Of Persecution.
Therefore much otherwise than was expected, this holy seed of Father Garnett's slaughtered body falling upon the earth did bring forth great fruit. His mortified and divided parts did quicken and unite the minds of many that were before distracted with fears and uncertain reports, and his innocent blood did water the field of Christ in this country, and brought forth a plentiful harvest; yea, it did mollify the hearts of some that were before very hard to believe well of the Society, touching th
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Chapter XVII. A Catalogue Of The Laws Against Catholics Made By Queen Elizabeth And Confirmed By This King, And Of Others Added By Himself.
Chapter XVII. A Catalogue Of The Laws Against Catholics Made By Queen Elizabeth And Confirmed By This King, And Of Others Added By Himself.
Therefore, although they cry out never so much that this is “contradicere Cæsari,” 549 and that whosoever doth favour this cause is not “amicus Cæsaris;” 550 yea, though they cry, “Crucifige, crucifige,” 551 against us, and lay the heavy cross of persecution upon our shoulders for this cause, we must and will have patience, because it is Christ His cause and quarrel, and not as they affirm, and would have the world believe, that we suffer for matter of State, or for stubbornness and disobedience
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