Edward Oldcorne might have, perchance, saved his life had he told his
lawful Sovereign that he had been (_Deo juvante_) a joint efficient cause
of that Sovereign’s temporal salvation and the temporal salvation of the
Lords Spiritual and Temporal, Commons of England, Ambassadors, and Heaven
only knows whom, and how many else beside. For King James, with all his
faults, was averse from shedding the blood even of popish Priests and
Jesuits. But Oldcorne did not do so. And I hold that he had two
all-sufficient reasons for not so acting.
First, he may have thought there was a serious danger of his entangling
Thomas Ward, in some way or another, as an accessory, at least, after the
fact, in the meshes of the Law of that unscrupulous time: the time, be it
remembered, of the Star Chamber and the Court of High Commission.
And, secondly, although this great Priest and Jesuit, _by virtue and as a
result of the releasing act of his Penitent_, Christopher Wright, had
come, _practically_, to _receive a knowledge of the tremendous secret as a
Friend and as a Man_, and not as a Priest, yet, _because_ that Man and
that Friend _was a Priest_; and _because_ it was impossible for that
Priest in practice, and in the eyes of men, to bisect himself, and make
clear and manifest the different sides and aspects in which he
had——subsequent to the Penitent’s release from the seal of the
Confessional, _sigillum confessionis_——thought and acted in relation to
the revealing plotter, _therefore_ did Oldcorne, I opine,
deliberately——because, according to his own principles, he was
predominantly “a Priest,” and that “for ever”——_therefore_ did he
deliberately choose the more excellent way, aye! in the chamber of torture
and upon the scaffold of death, the way of perfect self-sacrifice for the
good of others.
For, by a Yorkshire Catholic mother, dwelling in a grey northern city——and
who in January, 1598, is described as “old and lame”[A]——Edward Oldcorne
had been taught long years ago “_to adjust his compass at the
Cross_.”[177][178]
[Footnote A: Foley’s “_Records_,” vol. iv., p. 204.]
Brother Ralph Ashley, too, possibly might have saved his life, had he
disclosed that, whatever other letter or letters he had carried to and
fro, he had carried that great Letter, that Letter of Letters, which had
proved the sheet-anchor, the lever, of his Country’s temporal salvation
through the temporal salvation of its hereditary and elected rulers.
But Brother Ralph Ashley knew he had a duty to perform of strict fidelity
to his master, a duty which, though unknown to man, would not escape the
Eye of Him to advance Whose greater glory this humble Jesuit lay-brother
was solemnly pledged.
Father Gerard says, as we have already seen, in his “_Narrative_,” that
Ralph Ashley “was divers times put upon the torture but he revealed
nothing.” Gerard furthermore says that Ralph Ashley “was indicted and
condemned upon supposition that he had carried letters to and fro about
this conspiracy.” “But,” says Gerard, “they neither did nor could allege
any instance or proof against him.”——See “_Narrative_,” p. 271.