It is true that, of course, not only did this way of writing the name of the Supreme Being then denote no irreverence, but it was commonly so written by Englishmen in the year 1605.
Still, it was certainly not by them universally so written. For in the fac-simile of “Thomas Winter’s Confession” the word “God” occurs more than once written with a handsomely made capital G,[142] to mention none other cases.
There is to be also remembered (4) the user of the expressions “as yowe tender youer lyf,” and “deuys some exscuse to shift of[143] youer attendance at this parleament for god and man hathe concurred to punishe the wickednes of this tyme.”
For these expressions are eminently expressions that would be employed by a man born in Yorkshire in the sixteenth century.
Again; there is to be noted (5) the expressions as “yowe tender youer lyf,” and “god and man hathe concurred.” Inasmuch as I maintain that as “yowe tender youer lyf” was just the kind of expression that would be used by a man who had had an early training in the medical art, as was the case with Edward Oldcorne.
For “Man to preserve is pleasure suiting man, and by no art is favour better sought.” And a deep rooted belief in the powers of Nature and in the sacredness of the life of man are the two brightest jewels in the true physician’s crown.
Once more; (6) the expression “god and man hathe concurred” is pre-eminently the mode of clothing in
language one way, wherein a rigid Roman Catholic of that time would mentally contemplate — not, indeed, the interior quality of the mental phenomena known as the Gunpowder Plot, in which “the devil” alone could “concur,” but the simple exterior designment of the same, provided he knew for certain that it could be considered as a clear transparency only — as a defecated cluster of purely intellectual acts.[A]
[A] It is manifest that if, in intent, Oldcorne by his own Letter had destroyed the Plot, he, of all other people in the world, would have the prerogative of regarding the Plot as a clear transparency; while of the Plot as a transparency, he would feel a freedom to write “god and man hathe concurred to punishe the wickednes of this tyme.” If the Writer had not the prerogative of regarding the Plot as a clear transparency then these results follow — that he regarded Him (Whose Eyes are too pure even to behold iniquity) as concurring in the designment of a most hellish crime, nay, of participating in such designment; for he couples God with man. Now the Letter is evidently the work of a Catholic. But no Catholic would regard God as the author of a crime. Therefore the Gunpowder Plot to the Writer of the Letter can have been regarded as no crime. But it was obviously a crime, unless and until it had been defecated of criminous quality, and so rendered a clear transparency. Now, as the Writer obviously did not regard it as a crime, therefore he must have regarded it as defecated, by some means or another; in other words, as a clear transparency. And this, I maintain, proves that the Writer had a special interior knowledge of the Plot “behind the scenes,” that is, deep down within the depths of his conscious being.
Furthermore, in reflecting on these preliminaries to the general discussion of the Evidence tending to prove a consciousness on Edward Oldcorne’s part, subsequent to the penning of the Letter, of being responsible for the commission of the everlastingly meritorious feat, let it be diligently noted that the Letter ends with these words: “the dangere is passed as soon as yowe have burnt the letter and i hope god will give yowe the grace to mak good use of it to whose holy proteccion i contend yowe.” (The italics are mine.)