Page:A history of the gunpowder plot-The conspiracy and its agents (1904).djvu/232

 ministered unto me; and do renounce all pardon and dispensations to the contrary.

'And these things I do plainly and sincerely acknowledge and swear, according to these express words by me spoken, and according to the plain and common sense and understanding of the same words; without any equivocation, or mental evasion, or secret reservation whatsoever. And I do make this recognition and acknowledgment heartily, willingly, and truly, upon the true faith of a Christian. So help me God.'

That the Holy See (and its Jesuit agents) acted with supreme folly in striving to prevent the English Romanists from taking such an oath as this is indisputable. There was nothing in the text of the oath which attacked any Article of Faith contained in the Catholic creed. The sole but slight objection that could be made to it was the rather strong, but very true, terms in which the Deposing Power claimed by the Popes was mentioned. It was, indeed, characteristic of the Society of Jesus that its members should have exerted themselves to prevent their co-religionists in England from becoming peaceful and patriotic citizens. Father Blackwell, the Arch-priest, plainly recognized this, for after being inclined at first to withstand the operation of the oath, he had the sense eventually to see how just was the