The history of the Jesuits in England, 1580-1773

Front matter

SE Za os ¢ it Gheologicny Sy, ss PRINCETON, N. J. “tay

Purchased by the

Mrs. Robert Lenox Kennedy Church History Fund.

Preface

IN this book I deal with the subject of the Jesuits only so far as they belong to English History. With their purely domestic affairs I have but little to do; and only touch upon them in so far as they may be necessary for understanding the formation and ideals of men who set out to accomplish a definite work. It therefore enters into the scope of this work to attempt to discover the end they aimed at, and the means they employed to advance it. The subject of the English Jesuits demands- study. It is necessary for a full understanding of certain episodes in English History ; and the bearing on the general subject of what may at first seem to be despicable ecclesiastical squabbles, that is to say the struggles between the Jesuits and the Clergy, is seen to be profoundly important when the principle beneath the dispute is laid bare. Besides the question of the mutual relations of the principles of Authority and Personality which must affect the well-being of any State, the Clergy were sufferers for Patriotism. The Jesuits, as a body, stood for the Catholic Reaction, from first to last, a political expedient. The Clergy, on the other hand, contented themselves with the cause of Religion.

It is strange that hitherto the subject of the English Jesuits has been practically left untouched. More’s Latin History has never been translated; but perhaps his indiscreet admissions may account for the neglect. Foley’s eight volumes of Records cannot be taken as a history of the body to which he belonged. They are only a collection or, rather, selection vii viii PREFACE | of documents. Foley’s value consists almost as much in his omissions as in his admissions. And I am bound to remark that I have found him, at a critical point, quietly leaving out, without any signs of omission, an essential part of a document which was adverse to his case. His volumes of Records cannot, I regret to have to say it openly, be taken as trustworthy, unless corroborated by more scrupulous writers.

Still stranger is it that no adequate Life of Robert Parsons has been attempted either by his Society or anyone else. And yet he played no small part in the history of his times. During his lifetime, and for a short period after it, the Jesuits came into contact with the making of English history. In the eyes of the world Parsons was their one great man; and now, with the exception of Henry Garnett and Edward Petre, there is hardly the name of another English Jesuit known to the ordinary reader. And I do not think this general estimate is wrong. The personality of Robert Parsons overshadows the whole book; for, as a matter of fact, he is the History of the English Jesuits; and his successors, men of but little originality of their own, were content, when they had the chance, to put into practice what his fertile brain had conceived as desirable.

I venture to think I have found the key to his character. Puritanism certainly at one time influenced him; and his after - life shows how strong in him was this bias. Now, Puritanism, which I take it is not so much a religious as a mental attitude, gives a consistency to his life and to the efforts of those who set themselves to carry out his policy. I may add I did not approach the subject with this theory in my mind; and it was not until I had the facts of the case before me that I realised the importance of the Puritan episodes in Parsons’ life at Oxford.

There is, however, another side to the ‘story of the English Jesuits, and it is one I have been careful to point out.

PREFACE ix

While Parsons and his followers only succeeded in achieving a brilliant failure, they were acute enough to snatch the credit of Campion, Southwell, Thomas Garnett and others, who did the better and more fitting work. These, it seems to me, are the true heroes of the Society in England. Their lives and aspirations were pure and Christlike. . They were men devoted to what they considered the work of the Gospel; and with the earnest cry of their life’s blood pleaded for the rights of conscience.

I am prepared to hear regrets that I have introduced what some may call “contentious matter.” This is unavoidable, and must, in the interests of truth, be approached with fearless steps. The fact of the case is, that the history of the English Jesuits is, in the main, one long contention. And if to-day are still felt the effects of disputes which began in the sixteenth century, it surely makes for peace to know the cause. I have felt considerably at times an inclination to get relief from the task I accepted; and it has been only the serious nature of the principles at stake that has enabled me to carry it on to completion. It is very often the case that principles are best studied when they are seen at work on a small stage; for then the real methods and ways appear, and the attention of the observer is not distracted by a multiplicity of details which may or may not have a vital connection with the agencies at work. And because the stage to which I invite the reader’s attention is small, I must ask that this book be taken as a whole, and so judged; for each detail is only seen in its true light when considered in its relation to the complete story. This much I will say for myself. I have tried to follow one of Robert Parsons’ own sayings: “A man is to be judged, not by words, but by deeds, which have the truest weight of affection or disaffection.” Hence I have not always been able to accept the estimates of Jesuit writers such as More or Foley, Constable or Plowden, to say nothing of Jouvency, Tanner, x PREFACE and Bartoli. With strict impartiality I] have weighed what they had to say, but often found that they have not taken into consideration the forcible logic of facts. | Domestic affection and a certain timidity in judging their superiors are, perhaps, in themselves admirable qualities in the Society ; but they are not such in historians. Indeed, one of these writers naively remarks that, “a too keen feeling of that natural partiality which attaches individuals to their own

Society . . . always compensates by a thousand advantages the transitory diminution of good which it sometimes occasions.” In view of such writers one is reminded of the saying that while few bodies of men have met with such opposition and hatred as the Jesuits, few have suffered more from the adulation of friends.

It has been my endeavour to steer clear of these extremes. We profess to want Truth; and Truth is not served by party spirit. Hence I neither suppress anything nor explain anything away; but, as far as possible, I have thought it well to allow the actors to tell their story in their own words. In order to be unhampered with obligations, I have preferred to work, almost entirely, from authorities, manuscript or printed, which are within easy reach of the public. In these days when archives are opened to all, an abundance of light is poured in on historical matters, and an author can proceed with a firm and sure hand in unravelling the Records of the Past.

Hees

LONDON, October 17, 1900.