Principles for a good Catholick ought certainly to love Holy Church better than Father or Mother Wife or Children And did not the glorious Saint Q. Mary of England endeavour to cut off her own Flesh and Blood her own Sister to set up Timothy Malt on the Throne of her Fathers She wou'd have done as much no doubt by her own Daughters if she had had any and they had been Hereticks and stood in the way as her Sister did She was as Unnatural as lay in her power for Holy Church And this Trick had taken then and in all likely-hood at this time the Malt 's had been the Reigning Family instead of the Stuarts had not K. Philip spoil'd the design partly hoping when he had buried Q. Mary he might marry that Sister of hers and so hold this Kingdom in her right and partly fearing that if his Son by his first Wife Don Carlos should happen to Die this young Malt should carry away the Crown of Spain from any Son that might be born to him afterwards or from his Daughter the Infanta Isabella that was as good a Catholick as he If K. Philip err'd in this he made amends for it afterwards for when some Years after this he came to understanding that his own Son Don Carlos was inclin'd to the Protestant Heresie in high Indignation at this and Zeal for Holy Church he threw off all natural affection at once to that his only Son and not content to exclude him from the Succession he took a surer way to secure the Catholick Religion by making him die in Prison This heroical Action of his though he modestly represented it to the then Pope Pius V. in his Letter which I doubt not your Fatherhood has read in the Life of that Pope now a Saint in your Kalendar written by Girolamo Catena the Secretary of his Favourite Nephew and Printed at Rome with a Dedication to Pope Sixtus V. yet his Holiness set a just value upon it and because he cou'd go no higher for a Parallel he resembled it to God's giving his Son for the Redemption of Mankind For says your Historian he presently call'd a Consistory and there caus'd this Letter to be read and then with Eyes and Hands lifted up to Heaven he broke out into the Apostle's Words He that spared not his only Son but gave him up for us all How shall he not with him c. That which this great Saint and Head of the Church judged to be so highly Meritorious in King Philip was indeed a higher Instance by many degrees of abandoning natural Affection than that was to which you perswaded King James But your Work was the easier especially having to do with a Prince that would think it a very Scorn to be told that any Catholick King of them all had a greater Zeal than he has for the Catholick Church And for the necessity of it that he should find out some way or other to disinhereit that Heretical Daughter whom he used to call by the Name of Queen Bess you need not tell him that she was as likely to do as much Mischief to the Church as ever Queen Elizabeth did and therefore she ought to be prevented in the same manner as that Queen should have been if King Philip had not hindred it For the doing of this in that way of a Mock-Childbirth you had such a Queen to act it for you as perhaps never was in the World an Italian by Birth that has the Blood of four or five Popes in her Veins an adoptive Daughter of France a most bigotted Disciple of your Order one that seem'd to have been sent hither for such a purpose far ' un fioliolo by all means to get a Son I would not seem by setting forth the Necessity of this or the Advantages you had for the doing of it with so much Ease Closeness and Secrefie to derogate any thing from your Merit good Father in the Advice or Contrivance of any thing else that was properly yours For whatsoever that was as no doubt your Part was very great in this whole Business it cannot be denied that it was worthy of your Self and your Order and most agreeable to the Principles of your Church Fourthly The last Accusation of the Hereticks against the late King and consequently against his Guides and against You in particular seems to me the greatest and truly it strikes a Horrour into all Men's Spirits that think on it They say How could it be propos'd to reduce this heretical Land to the Roman Catholick Religion without making it swim in Blood Your Arguments never did much any where but least of all in England where you have been so often foil'd by the Learned Men of the Church of England and where your Religion also is so much against the Interest of the Kingdom Therefore it was observ'd by an old experienced Missionary that had staid long in England That this Nation was to be reduced to the Roman Catholick Religion by nothing but the Sword And said he when the young Missionaries come first over they think they can do mighty Matters with their Arguments but after they have been in England some time they are all of my Opinion And indeed this is so known and received a Maxim amongst you That England is never to be converted but by the Sword That the late King himself in a Speech to the Parliament of Scotland told them That he knew the bringing in of the Roman Catholick Religion into these Realms must cost so much Blood and make such a Desolation that he had the greatest Horrour at it imaginable and hop'd that none of them wou'd have such hard Thoughts of him as to believe him capable of so much Cruelty and Barbarity even as Hazael said to the Prophet Well then King James knew well enough what it would cost and what must be done to bring in Popery and yet Popery he was resolv'd to bring in as I am sure every Man in England believed two years since and every Man must believe in spight of his Heart that knows the Jesuits his absolute Guides What Excuse then can be made for so great Cruelty intended 'T is the Business and End of a King or Supreme Governour to defend from Injury to Preserve and Protect the Lives and Fortunes of his Subjects How then can any one be a King over those he thinks himself bound and resolves to Destroy There are some indeed so tender-hearted in themselves and of such tender Understandings to boot that they won't believe this or at least are afraid to be known they believe it And therefore they say Surely the late King did not Design to bring in Popery at all or at least not by such rough ways But by such ways all experienced Catholicks conclude it must be brought in or not at all The Question then is only Whether the late King resolv'd to bring in Popery and if his Guides were not resolv'd to bring it in by
had stood gaping so long wait almost three Years without plainly going about their Business which was an Age to Men whose Hearts were before so sick of having their Hope 's delayed Then indeed when they thought it must be Now or Never which was the common Word among the Roman Catholicks about that time and when they drank and wished Courage and good Success to the Undertakers they fell roundly to their Business They had by their Arts before inflamed the two Parties of Church-men and Dissenters one against another and they did not doubt but the Dissenters wou'd effectually help them to pull down the Church of England the greatest Obstacle to their designs And who wou'd have thought they should have been so much disappointed of this hope Then they used the craftiest means and greatest diligence imaginable to model a Parliament that might remove the Test and Penal Laws out of the way that their Friends might be capable of all places by Law and then be sure none should have had any Offices of Trust none should have had power over the Lives and Estates of Hereticks but such as thought themselves bound in Conscience to destroy them They new Modelled the Army as much as they cou'd and brought in as many Foreigners as they cou'd without danger of an immediate Rupture And who would ever have thought that an Army compos'd as it was then for the most part of Men whose Fortune depended wholly on their Employment would not have Fought or done any thing for their Pay without examining the Cause Pray do but consider How many came over with the Prince of Orange who had Protestant Swords though they themselves were Papists No Man indeed that had ever liv'd abroad as all the Jesuits had and seen how little Soldiers mind the Cause they Fight for cou'd ever have dream'd that the whole Design shou'd have been spoil'd by the Army that was to carry it on and had been manag'd and modell'd almost four years together for that purpose Well! I am sure every body must grant that the Jesuites had at least great probabilities to build upon the Army when the Late King had made it his Business so much to oblige the Seamen and Soldiers of Fortune in the Kingdom And thus confiding in the Army they had nothing else to fear but might go on boldly since they cou'd not apprehend any suddain Rising of the Church of England Men who were the main Body of the Kingdom by reason of their habitual Loyalty and from Dissenters they hop'd they shou'd have no disturbance since they had so much carress'd and oblig'd them and made them the King 's new Friends and Darlings They therefore confidently proceeded first to cleanse the Nurseries the Universities from Heretical Plants and to plant Catholicks in their stead then they found out a way to remove all honest Church of England Men from their Churches by commanding a Declaration to be read by all the Clergy which if they did read they were Betrayers of the Law of the Land by giving such an Approbation to an Illegal Dispensing Power they had made themselves ridiculous to the People and sinn'd against their own Consciences and had likewise given a fair opportunity to the Jesuites of imposing downright Popery upon them in the next place And we know that all that wou'd not have been such Knaves or Fools were to have been deprived and when the Bishops had the Wisdom and the Courage to oppose this well-laid Project by their Petition we know they flung them into the Tower in Terrorem and presently brought forth the Babe to shew People that the Design wou'd not die with King James and that their hopes of any Relief by a Change were cut off They had set up Popish Chappels in London Oxford Bristol c. which thing alone to be able to effect in England was enough to make a Jesuites Heart leap for joy and overcome him so that he knew not where he was nor cou'd think any thing impossible for him that had brought things to pass so much beyond his Expectation Nay they had got the Pope's Nuncio to be publickly Feasted at the Guild-Hall in London which was next door to an owning of the Pope's Authority in that Protestant City they had appointed Four Roman Catholick Bishops to take care of the Souls of all the Nation instead of the Protestant Bishops they cast into the Tower and they to begin their Office writ a most loving Pastoral Letter to their whole Flock the time being not yet come for Dragooning Indeed just as they were Sailing with full Sails to all their Desires unluckily comes the Prince of Orange over and stops the Bells and all things turn'd upon a suddain it wou'd even turn a Man's head to think how Well Men may blame this or that in Councils when they don't succeed and every body can see Faults afterwards when there is no helping them but had any of those that blame the Management been Jesuites themselves they wou'd have done just as they did There was danger in carrying on things so fast and there was no less danger in delaying them for though they had made a Prince of Wales yet if K. James should have happened to have fail'd their Prince must have been taken out of their Hands and bred up by Protestants A thing of so great horror to his Queen-Mother that when it was once mentioned to her she declar'd She would rather kill him with her own hands But this she might have done with as little pain to her Bowels as she had in the Child-birth In short there was danger on all hands and no Man could divine where the greatest lay The Jesuites did as much as Men cou'd do in their Circumstances they saw as much as Men cou'd see in the Light they were in and they wrought as well as Men could work with the Tools they had and on the Stuff they were to work on If the design did not succeed it is not the first well-laid Design that has miscarried and therefore it was truly more the Jesuites Misfortune than their Fault or perhaps the Sins of the Hereticks hindred them from being knock'd on the Head or Converted they were not worthy of so great a Blessing Howsoever the good Fathers and their Devoto did all that lay in them to do them this kindness and must have the Glory of heartily endeavouring it though they did not effect it They have all done like true Zealous Roman Catholicks as they desire to be thought and would not lose the Glory of the Zeal they have shewn for Holy Church for Ten Thousand Kingdoms So that no fault either of Dishonesty or Imprudence can be laid to their Charge but rather they deserve the Character of True and Zealous Roman Catholicks Only there is one little blemish indeed that seems still to stick upon their Devoto and consequently upon the Guide of his Conscience and to soil all his Glory and to oppose his pretence
A Friendly Letter TO Father Petre. Concerning his Part in the Late KING's GOVERNMENT Published for his Defence and Justification Licens'd May 3. 1690. J. Fraser LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin in the Old-Baily MDCXC A Friendly Letter to FATHER PETRE c. Reverend Father HAving some particular Obligation to you more than every body knows I thought my self obliged in point of Gratitude which goes a great way in my Religion though it is nothing in yours to endeavour to make you some kind of Requital and not knowing now where to find you or any of your Friends I was at a great loss how to discharge my self of that Debt At last I considered that to do you a real piece of Service behind your Back were much better than an empty Thanks to your Face and I knew of no greater Service I could do you than to vindicate your Reputation to the World and to shew that you have always acted like an honest Man that is one that is true and constant to the Principles he Believes and Professes which I take to be a good definition of an Honest Man And this I do not at all fear to demonstrate to your greatest Enemies As a farther proof of my desire to serve you I will likewise make bold to offer your Reverence some Advice which if ever it has the luck to reach you and you have the Wisdom and Honesty to follow it I will presume to say shall establish your Reputation to all future Ages And in doing you these two pieces of Service I hope I shall fully discharge what Obligation I have to you and sufficiently shew my self your Friend But you will say How comes your Reputation to need a Vindication Sir I must deal plainly with you and tell you That I can go no where but I find every one blaming the strange miscarriages of the late King James and the wiser sort that knew that Prince well and how wholly devoted and given up he was to the Roman Catholic Religion say That it is impossible he should have gon on in such courses without the permission at least or rather the direction of his Spiritual Guide which you had favour to be So that whatsoever wrong course the late King fell into and persisted in you are to Answer for it to whose Guidance there is no doubt he wholly resigned himself and truly this you and I and all the World must grant But for your Vindication I will shew that in advising and encouraging the late King in all these things the Hereticks call Miscarriages you acted most agreeable to your Principles that is the true Principles of a Roman Catholic Guide of the Order of the Jesuits and therefore cannot I think but be confessed to be an honest man We will then descend to Particulars of what is laid to the late King's Charge and necessarily lights upon you the Guide of so devoted a Prince's Conscience First The Hereticks say That it is without Example and beyond any ingenuous man's Imagination that a Noble and an High-born Prince should for many years make it his Glory to have his Word esteemed most Sacred and raise men to the highest Trust and Confidence in it so that men were ready to Blaspheme when they talked of this subject and to compare his Word to the Word of God and say That Heaven and Earth could sooner pass away than his Word fail And when he had raised men to the highest confidence in it with the greatest solemnity to give this Sacred Word to his People first in his Privy Council and afterwards in full Parliament and to bind it with the highest Solemnity in his Coronation-Oath That he would invioably preserve to 'em what they accounted most dear that is the Laws of the Land and their Religion established by Law And yet that this Prince assoon as he was warm and as he thought safe in his Throne should without any regard to Honour without any fear of God or shame of Man so openly and apparently break this Sacred Word this they say is to do all that lies in a man's power to destroy all Trust and Confidence amongst Men and to put an end to humane Society Now that he did break this Sacred Word in the face of the Sun and in the sight of all Men no Man can be so senceless to deny that can but remember what was done with the Law of the Test that Bulwark of the Protestant Safety how it was wholly taken away by a total Dispensation and that with a bare-faced design to bring in Popery by making Popish Officers Masters of those they call Hereticks Lives and Fortunes which mischief that Law was only intended to prevent 'T is true a Law may be dispenced with in some particular cases where a thing is contrary to the Letter but not to the meaning of the Law because the Intent and Meaning of a Law is the Law But totally to dispence with a Law against the plain and whole Intent and Meaning of it is certainly to render the making of Laws Ridiculous and Useless and to dissolve the Constitution of the Government Then for preserving the Church of England according to his two solemn Promises in Council and Parliament and indeed his Promises an hundred times over to particular Persons Did He not say they take the right course to preserve the Church of England in setting up the Ecclesiastical Commission to call in question any that maintain'd the Doctrine of the Church of England against growing Popery which was Propagated Cherish'd and made to Grow as much as 't was possible in our cold and stubborn Climate on purpose to supplant and thrust out the Profession of the Church of England Did He not say they keep to his Word to defend and preserve the Church of England when as fast as the lesser Episcopal Sees became vacant for the good were kept for Original Catholicks he fill'd them up with such special Fellows the very Scum and Dregs of all the Clergy on purpose to make the Name of Protestant Bishops stink and be abhorr'd and to have fit Tools wherewith to Abuse Oppress Suspend and Deprive all the honest Clergy over whom he set these Beasts whose Filth and ill Manners prophan'd the very Name of Bishops Did He not say they begin finely to preserve the Church of England according to his Promise when he took care to poison the very Fountains and planted one of the best Colleges in Oxford with Jesuits This and the like stuff the Hereticks make a great noise with and say Was not Father Petre an accursed Villain to perswade and thrust on the poor Bigotted Prince to do things so manifestly contrary to his solemn and so often-repeated Profession But methinks I see you and your Brethren ready to burst your fides with laughing when you hear all this dismal Charge as Hereticks think it against you And so truly would any Man laugh heartily that understood any thing of Catholick Principles to