The Condition of Catholics Under James I. Part 14

At the close of this short notice of Father Gerard's Rectors.h.i.+p it will be but right to record an unfavourable judgment pa.s.sed upon him, as it will help us to form a true appreciation of his character. It is the only instance that has come down to us of blame on the part of one of his own brethren. "I see a general fear in all ours, those of best judgment, of the success of Father Nelson's government, and unless he hath a companion that may moderate him, his zeal will, I fear, carry him too far; and I fear it so much the more because I see him loath to have anybody with him who is likely to propose anything to him contrary to his own zealous desires." This is in a confidential letter(168) from Father Silisdon to Father Owen, dated Oct. 31, 1614, so that, as it was written before the transfer to Liege, it was a misgiving lest he should be indiscreet as a Rector, rather than a judgment on his actual conduct as a Superior.

XXIX.

During his residence at Liege, amongst Father Gerard's correspondents were two venerable servants of G.o.d, 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 from the original Latin.

"Very Rev. and beloved Father in Christ,-I have received your Reverence's letter dated from Liege the 23rd November, with the little presents inclosed in it, an English knife, a little case (either bone or ivory, I do not know which), and three small toothpicks. I do not know whether these were sent me for use, or as having some special meaning. Whichever it be they were welcome, as a proof of friends.h.i.+p and brotherhood.

"The memory of that excellent Mr. Oliver,(170) whose acquaintance I made very late, has brought me no little sadness, or rather grief, not on his account, who is translated from this world to the joys of Paradise, but for the sake of many whom without doubt he would have converted to a good life if Divine Providence had permitted him to live awhile longer. But the good pleasure of G.o.d must ever be fulfilled, and the very same, in order that it may be fulfilled, must ever be pleasing to us under all circ.u.mstances.

"I was pleased to read what your Reverence relates in your letter of your journeys; of your office of Master of Novices; of the building which you have bought at Liege; of the visitation of His Serene Highness Ferdinand, the Prince-Bishop of Liege, and of the promise that the Priory, at its next vacancy, shall be applied to the College. If my a.s.sistance in carrying this out can be of any use to you with the Pope, it shall not be wanting.

"Of Dr. Singleton I have heard much, and have defended him to the best of my power, as long as I could, but the party opposed to him has prevailed. Nor do I see how I can help him at so great a distance, and especially as I should be suspected, because I am a Jesuit. The devil is envious of the harmony between the English at Douay and the Fathers of the Society, for which the good Cardinal Allen cared so much; but all means must be tried to re-establish a true and sincere friends.h.i.+p, and agreement in teaching; otherwise a kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation.

For many reasons I say freely that nothing can be done by me in his behalf; first, as I was just saying, because I should be under suspicion, being a Jesuit. Then because I am an old man of seven-and-seventy years of age, and I daily expect the dissolution of my tabernacle. Thirdly, because I cannot think of any manner in which I could help him. The common way of helping men of this sort is to give them ecclesiastical benefices, but here in Rome the mult.i.tude of those who aspire to and seek after such benefits is so great that their number is almost infinite. Nor are they only Italians, but Spaniards also, Frenchmen, Germans, who look for nothing but benefices at Rome. I myself, who was thought to have some influence with the Pope, have laboured for more than ten years for a Spaniard, an excellent man and a great friend of mine, to obtain for him a good benefice falling vacant in his own country. I could say the same of Flemish and German friends of mine. What then would be the case with English people, in whose country there are no ecclesiastical benefices for Catholics? But, since these temporal things are nothing when compared to eternal benefices, our friend Dr. Singleton must not be cast down if our Lord treats him now, as of old He treated His Apostles, who He willed should enter into the Kingdom of Heaven through many tribulations. But I must not be too lengthy, for I know that both he and your Reverence stand in no need of my exhortations. I know that your Reverence will have hard work to read my bad writing, but Father Coffin(171) would have it that I should write to you with my own hand.

"With this I bid your Reverence farewell. Commend me to the prayers of Dr. Singleton, and of all your College; but your Reverence's self especially, for our old friends.h.i.+p and brotherhood, must diligently commend me to the Lord our G.o.d.

"From Rome, on Christmas Day, December 25, 1618.(172)

"Your Reverence's brother and servant in Christ,

"ROBERT CARD. BELLARMINE."

"To the Very Rev. Father John Tomson, S.J., "Rector of the College of the English Novices at Liege."

The two letters which have come down to us, addressed to Father Gerard by the venerable Father Luis de la Puente, were written just as his residence(173) at Liege was drawing to a close. We translate from Father Grene's transcript of the originals.(174)

"I. H. S.

"P.C.

"When I received your Reverence's letters, I was unable to answer them at once, for I was suffering from extreme weakness, which usually afflicts me every year all through the winter. Blessed be our great G.o.d, from Whose providence come health and sickness, life and death, and whatever prosperity and adversity there is in this world. The height of felicity in this life is to be superior to all these things, seeking only G.o.d's good pleasure in all things, for life in His will, and health, honour, happiness, spiritual progress, and all sanct.i.ty consist in the fulfilment of the will of G.o.d: and so every day I would that at every breath I could say, May Thy most holy and most sweet will be done in me, concerning me, and by me and about me, in all things and by all things, now and always and for ever. Amen.(175) G.o.d always pours His spirit of prayer into those who so submit their will to His; wherefore the Psalmist says-'Be subject unto the Lord and pray to Him,' for when any one with prompt obedience and entire resignation humbly submits himself to G.o.d, G.o.d Himself, Who does the will of those that fear Him, in a certain way is made subject to him, so that He does whatever is asked, G.o.d becoming obedient to the voice of a man-not of any man soever, but of the man who obeys G.o.d. Oh, wonderful power of prayer and of obedience! Let us pray, my Father, that we may be perfectly obedient, and let us obey, that we may be able to pray, and to speak worthily with G.o.d.

"It will help wonderfully both one and the other, to meditate profoundly on these two things: to wit, Who G.o.d is in Himself, and what He is towards us, and then what we are of ourselves, and what towards G.o.d. For whilst I think of G.o.d, His Trinity and Unity, most beautiful, most wise, most holy, most full of love for me, immense and everywhere present, the fountain of all good things that are in me and beyond me, from Whom I myself depend, and all that is mine, and everything that I use and enjoy, how can I do otherwise than love Him with all my strength? How shall I not praise Him and thank Him constantly? How shall I not give my whole self to His service? And these affections become the more ardent as I ponder that I have nothing of myself; that I am nothing, and that I and all that is mine would be reduced to nothing unless I were preserved by Him. Now whilst, within this immensity of G.o.d, I consider what I have been and what I am towards Him, I am horrified and tremble as I ponder on my malice, my ingrat.i.tude, my slothfulness. Hence arise feelings of hatred of self, of humiliation and self-denial, and various acts and exercises of penance, which not only nourish humility by which a man, through a truthful knowledge of himself, becomes vile to himself, but they also arouse a most ardent charity by which he loves his Supreme Benefactor, Who has conferred and still confers so many and such great benefits on one who is ungrateful and unworthy. Thus the mind is elevated to perfect contemplation and union with G.o.d Himself, and, as it were forgetful of itself, is immersed in Him, or rather G.o.d hides it in the concealment of His countenance from all disturbance of men.

"Here is a short epitome of my mystical theology, which I have put out at rather greater length in my book; but why should I teach these things to a doctor of others and my own master? Surely I have become foolish, but your letters compelled me. Would that you would help me by your prayers, that what I write in my letters I may perform in deed. Forgive my humble and poor style, for I know not any more elegant; but I am sure that you do not care for words, but for the sense that is in the words. I value very highly the cross which you have sent me, and I will always bear it with me. I hope, by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, who appeared in that tree,(176) and who confers such benefits on those who are there and those who visit her, that I may be a partaker of those benefits, for though I am absent in the body I am present in spirit.

"I humbly commend myself to the Holy Sacrifices of your Reverence.

"Your Reverence's unworthy servant in Christ,

"[Cross] LUDOVICUS DE PONTE. [Cross]

"Valladolid, March 23, 1621.

_Postscript_-"By G.o.d's help I have finished a great work. Its t.i.tle is, _Expositio Moralis in Cantic.u.m Canticorum_, containing exhortations on all the mysteries and virtues of the Christian religion. It is divided into two volumes, and each volume into five books. The arrangement is new and singular, but not without foundation in the Sacred Text. The matter is grave in itself, and very copious, taken out of Holy Scripture and the holy Fathers.

The style is humble, but clear and chaste, and not out of harmony with matter that is spiritual and sacred, and therefore elevated.

It is printed at Paris, and will soon reach Germany and Belgium.

Would that it may be to the glory of G.o.d, the edification of the Church, and of use to one's neighbour."

The other letter from the same Father was written in reply to one from Father Gerard announcing that he was about to leave Belgium.

"I. H. S.

"P.C.

"May the Almighty and most pitiful Lord accompany you in the journey that you begin, for with such a Guide and Companion you will be everywhere safe and cheerful, and making true progress.

Let Him ever dwell in your memory, understanding, and will, for His most sweet providence especially protects those who make their journeys from obedience to Superiors, as Jacob did, who at his father's bidding journeyed through the desert into Mesopotamia, where he heard the voice of the Lord, which said to him, 'I will be thy Keeper whithersoever thou goest.' Trusting to this hope, and protected by this guardians.h.i.+p, you will happily fulfil what you have begun.

"I commend myself to your Reverence's Sacrifices and prayers, for my weakness oppresses me much; but may the will of G.o.d be done in me and about me in all things and by all things, to Whom concerning all things be glory for ever. Amen.

"[Cross] LUDOVICUS DE LA PUENTE. [Cross]

"Valladolid, Feb. 2, 1622."

With these saintly words our materials for writing the life of Father John Gerard abruptly fail us. Beyond what has been recorded we only know that he was sent first to Spain, and then to Rome, which he reached Jan. 15, 1623.(177) He was Confessor to the English College till his death, July 27, 1637, at the ripe age of seventy-three, and upwards.

x.x.x.

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 which he inspired those who lived in intimacy with him. He bore too much for principle, and made too great sacrifices, for us to think that he would deliberately and perseveringly commit sin to free himself from blame. Yet this is the supposition that is involved in an attack upon his veracity in the compilation of his Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot.

It is quite true that he, and many others, considered themselves justified, when their own lives or those of innocent persons were at stake, in the use of a.s.sertions that were simple falsehoods in the ordinary sense of the terms employed. These they called equivocations; and we find no trace in the period of which we are writing of the modern sense of the word, that is, of a true expression which is really beside the point, though it is so employed that it is very unlikely to be seen to be so by the person to whom it is addressed, who thus is said rather to be suffered to deceive himself than to be deceived. Practically the distinction is hard to draw, and it has the disadvantage of seeming to make the morality of the expression depend on the quickness and readiness of the person in danger, who may be able to think of phrases containing a real ambiguity but which yet would throw the hearers off the right scent.

According to modern feeling, Father Gerard would have been quite justified in examining the trees and hedges in search of a falcon(178) he had not lost, and inquiring of all he met whether they had heard the tinkling of the bird's bells, although it was to make them think that he had lost a falcon, in other words, to deceive them; but by the same modern feeling he would be held to be guilty of a lie when he said that he was the servant of a lord in a neighbouring county, though he might, without guilt, have worn that lord's livery as a disguise if he could have obtained it, which would have been a more effectual deception than any words.

Again, according to modern judgment, John Lilly would be held guilty of a lie when he said(179) of Gerard's books and ma.n.u.scripts, "They are mine;"

but quite guiltless when, with the same intention of making the magistrates believe him to be a Priest when he was not, he said, "I do not say I am a Priest, that is for you to prove." Yet the latter expression was far more likely to deceive than the former. It was more like what a Priest, under the circ.u.mstances, would have said. Present feeling would condemn him of a lie for saying simply, that the books were his, when it would acquit him if he had thought of using far more deceptive expressions, such as "I am not bound to compromise myself by saying whose they are."

The only difference between modern morality and that on which Father Gerard acted was that now-a-days men say, "Have recourse to evasions."

Then men said, "Say what you like, it is their fault if they think it true." It is evident that of the two courses of proceeding, the plain-spoken old way is the least open to abuse. No one certainly would have recourse to it excepting from a well-weighed plea of a sorrowful necessity. Whereas, on the other hand, evasions are not startling, and the conscience may lay but little stress on the presence or absence of justifying circ.u.mstances. For it is most necessary to bear seriously in mind that all Catholic divines then held, and now hold, that to make use of equivocation excepting under those peculiar circ.u.mstances that make it lawful, is in itself a sin, and thus no escape from the sin of lying. So Father Garnett plainly said when on his trial,(180) "As I say it is never lawful to equivocate in matters of faith, so also in matters of human conversation, it may not be used promiscually or at our pleasure, as in matters of contract, in matters of testimony, or before a competent judge, or to the prejudice of any third person: in which cases we judge it altogether unlawful."

It is but fair that, in reading the narrative of times when many lives hung on successful disguise and concealment, we should remember that the modern sense of equivocation was then unknown. Protestant moralists have spoken out their minds plainly enough on this subject.

"Great English authors, Jeremy Taylor, Milton, Paley, Johnson, men of very distinct schools of thought, distinctly say that under certain extreme circ.u.mstances it is allowable to tell a lie. Taylor says: 'To tell a lie for charity, to save a man's life, the life of a friend, of a husband, of a prince, of a useful and a public person, hath not only been done at all times, but commended by great and wise and good men. Who would not save his father's life, at the charge of a harmless lie, from persecutors or tyrants?' Again, Milton says: 'What man in his senses would deny that there are those whom we have the best ground for considering that we ought to deceive, as boys, madmen, the sick, the intoxicated, enemies, men in error, thieves? I would ask, by which of the Commandments is lying forbidden? You will say, by the ninth. If then my lie does not injure my neighbour, certainly it is not forbidden by this Commandment.' Paley says: 'There are falsehoods which are not lies, that is, which are not criminal.' Johnson: 'The general rule is, that truth should never be violated; there must, however, be some exceptions. If, for instance, a murderer should ask you which way a man is gone.' "(181)