A LETTER From His HOLINESS the POPE of ROME, To His HIGHNESS the PRINCE OF ORANGE: CONTAINING Several Proposals, and Overtures of Agreement, betwixt the Church of England, and the Church of Rome.  
Translated out of Latin, for the benefit of all true Protestants.  
reprinted at Edinburgh, Anno 1689.   

A LETTER from his Holiness the POPE of Rome, to his Highness the PRINCE of ORANGE.  
Great PRINCE,  
ALthough the Semicircle of Your Highness be (at present) Elivate above the full Orb of my Holiness, I Conjure you by Bell, Book, and Candle, seriously to consider your Proceed against me, and my Catholic Church; which (as a Lily among Thorns) I lately Planted in England and Scotland; and you (to the great grief of all the Members of my Sacred Conclave, and Zealous Favourites of my Spiritual Court) have almost rooted up. Call to mind and tremble at my Great Power, Prudence, and Supremacy; and that I am God upon Earth, Seventy Seven times greater than the greatest Emperor in the World. Remember what I have done to mighty Monarches, Kings, and Puissant Princes, whose Glory and high Looks I have laid in the Dust, till they have willingly submitted their stubborn Necks to my Iron Yoke, and humbly bowed their Heads to salute my holy Feet. Did not my Predecessor Pope Gregory the 7th. (who Poisoned Nine Popes, in Thirteen Years space, to make way for himself to the Popedom) for want of due Worship and Honour, Excommunicate and Depose the Emperor Henry, both from his Crown and Empire; Discharge all his Subjects of their Allegiance, and give his Crown to Rodolphus Duke of Swevia? till he, with his Empress and young Son, clothed in Sackcloth, came bare Foot, in the cold of Winter, and begged Pardon three days, without Access, at his Sumptuous Gates. Did not Pope Pascal the 2d. stir up Henry the 5th. to rebel against his Old Father the Emperor? who by the assistance of his Holiness) beat him from his Empire; so that he lived and died miserable, and lay five Years above ground, without burying, at the Pope's command. Did not Pope Alexander the 3d. put his Foot upon the Emperor Frederick's Neck, and tread upon him as he had been a Dog? Did not Pope Celestine the 3d. Crown the Emperor Henry the 6th. and his Empress Constantina with his Feet? and (throwing off the Crowns with his Toe) say, I have Power to make and unmake Kings and Emperors? Did not Adrian the 4th. fall out with the Emperor Frederick, for holding his wrong Stirrup? and would not Crown him for three days, till he begged his Holiness pardon. Did not Clement the 5th. cause his Hangman to take Francis Dandalus a Venetian Duke, bind him with Chains, and throw him under his Table, to gnaw Bones with his Dogs? Did not Innocent the 4th. call Henry the 3d. King of England, his Vassal, Slave, and Page; whom (at pleasure) he might Imprison, and put to open shame? Did not Pope Benedict the 9th. send to France, the two Sons of Charlemagne, with their Mother Birtha, the Widow Queen? who humbly brought them to his Holiness to be Crowned; where, (with the poor King of Lombardy, and his Wife and Children) they were kept in Prison, till the day of their death; for disobliging their Uncle, the Emperor Charles, the Pope's special Friend, and great Favourite. The Cries of poor Widows and Orphans, I value no more than the cackling of Hens. Blood and Wounds are my daily Delight. Murders, Battles, Treasons, Conspiracies, and the turning of Kingdom's up-side down, are to me but ordinary Recreations, and May-Games. With my Tail or Cynosure, I drew the Stars of Heaven backwards, and throw them to the Earth. I bewitch the World with Signs and lying Wonders, and persuade people out of their Senses; to believe that I can Make, Worship, and Eat, an Immortal Deity, of ordinary Bread. How many Princes have I poisoned in my Sacrament? which my Emissaries have Transubstantiate into a Devil, rather than a God. How many Kingdoms have I ruined? How many Commonwealths have I overturned? How many Cities have I razed? And how many Millions of Christians have I sacrificed to my vindictive Power and Greatness? And dare you Cope with me? Remember what I did to John King of England, whom my holy Monk Stephan poisoned in Lincolnshire. Come then to me in a humble manner, as to God's Deput, Christ's Vicar, and St. Peter's Successor, and restore all my Church-Lands, which my Ancestors have (for several Generations) purloined from Kings and Princes, for the sanctified Use of the holy Chair; and swear fealtly to me, as to your Supream-Head, and holy Father; and I will be reconciled to you and all English-Men. Yea, (tho' Peter King of Arragon, willingly bought his Salvation from Pope Innocent the 3d. at the rate of his Crown and Kingdom,) I will freely pardon you all your Sins, past, present, and to come. And for your unruly Rabble; (that indigested lump of Ignorance, and percipitancy) I will have compassion on them, and send them as many old useless Merits, and Works of Supererogation, as would laden a Spanish Armado; which will send them (in a perpendicular line) to Heaven, without touching at Purgatory. And (to ingratiate myself further in the Kingdom of England's Favour) I will Licentiate your Ladies of pleasure in London, and all Females in general there, to Whore, pick pockets, for a Julio or Six pence a week: which is no more than my own Order of Harlots pay at Rome, and all Italy over. And to all Men within the Walls of London, and Westminster, I will freely give Liberty to be as intimate with their Neighbour's Wives, as ever Pope Hildebrand was with Mathilda, the Marquis of East's Lady: Or Pope Alexander the 6th. was with his own Daughter Lucretia. And (in one Word) I will let the Inhabitants of the whole Isle of Britain fulfil their Heart's desire, in all kind of Villainies and Abominations, without sinning. For (as Bellarm. tells you,) I can make that which is Sin, no Sin; and that which is no Sin, Sin. But if you will not submit yourself, nor humble your Highness to my Holiness; then will I  myself with cursing, and take the Thunderbolt of Excommunication in my mouth, with the Sword of Supremacy, I will cut asunder the Cords of Unity, and with the breath of my mouth, will I dissipate the peace of all Nations. I will incense my Rebellious first born, His most Christian Majesty of FRANCE, to invade your Territories, burn you● Cities, put your Males to the edge of the Sword, and rip up your Women with Child, without pity or compassion; as he lately served your Tribe in his own Kingdom: And as I once served the Waldenses and Albigenses. I will privately contrive your overthrow, by my desperate Jesuits, Monks, and Friars; whom I will after Death Canonize, for Murder, Mischief, and Conspiracy. I will found an Order of Irish Cutthroats, (men mighty for Mischief) who will divide the Wind-pipes of all Protestants, and subtract breath from their whole Bodies. They shall dig as deep as Purgatory for the Contrivance of a new Gun powder Treason; and make a Covenant with Hell, for your Destruction. And (if I can bring my projects to a period) I will hold a Spiritual Court in Smith field, and decide all Controversies with Fire and Faggot; till I levil the Nation with the Dust, and make the Isle of great Britain acknowledge me for their Superior. Finally, I cannot but resent your Deportment towards my Niece, your Glorious, Queen, who left England without bidding Farewill to her favourites; only taking along with her the Prince of Wales, whom you term her supposed Son. But it is an Hyperbole, beyond the Conception of Humanity, that a King, pretending to so much Reason, Religion and Piety, should Praise, (or rather mock) God for a Child, whilst his Queen had lonely conceived a Pillow, and was brought to Bed of a Cushion, to Cheat his Subjects of their Ancient and Royal Line, and his own Posterity of their Crowns and Kingdoms. This was the old contrivance of another Mary-Queen; but Philip was more a man than to own the Brat of Sophistry, and Father the Impudence of so villainous a Fact. But let the Production be what it will, Real or Imaginary, my Singing of Te Deum in Saint Mary's Church in Rome, is enough both to Naturalise and Legitimate it Lawful Prince of Wales, and Apparent Heir to the Crowns of Three Kingdoms. I have sent you this Letter by Guido Faux, the Younger; whose Brains are big of a Gunpowder Plot: therefore (as you love your Life and Wellbeing) honour him, with all and as much Respects as it were I myself. Father Peter Saluteth you with my whole Consitory of Cardinals, and Clargy-men of my Sacred Conclave. I desire to be Remembered to Titus Oats, and Samuel Johnson, If the Tide turn, I will talk with them, and reward them, according to their Fidelity. Thus expecting a speedy Answer, before I proceed any further, in my great Designs I continue  
Your Hurtful INNOCENT. Written from my Court at Rome, Prid. Calend. Jan. 1689.   

The Church of England's Answer to the preceding Letter.  
Grand Impostor,  
Whether you, with your Clergy, be possessed with the Spirit of Error and Delusion, and cast in a Bed of Sensuality, to wallow in your own Filthiness; with your Eyes darkened, and your Ears deafened, we know not; but certainly there must be a great Mystery in your Obstinacy: For you shut your Senses (which are the Gates of your Understanding) against the clearest Evidences of Truth, Scripture, and Reason. Our learned Divines have these several years, confuted your opinions of ridiculous Nonsense, by sound Arguments, and undeniable Demonstrations; till (being wearied with your contradictions) Grooms, Pages, and Porters began to discover your Nakedness, in your Ignorance and Superstition; and by writing against you to convince you of your Foolries, Fopperies, and Chimerical Fancies. Yet for all this, are you not ashamed of your Abominations and Filthiness, Thus (since you shut your Ears against the word of manifast Truth, and the Kingdom of Heaven, against the whole World, denying the principles of sure and unquestionable Faith) we desire none of your Converse; for there can be no Fellowship betwixt Light and Darkness, nor between God and Belial: for they that are wilfully filthy, will be filthy still; neither can we send you any answer, fit than that the Grecian Church sent to Pope John 23. when he wrote to them to bow and submit to him as to their Terrestrial God and infallible Supreme: We do assuredly (said they) acknowledge your high Power over your Subjects, but we cannot abide your high Pride, we cannot quench your gridy Covetousness: The Devil is with you, but God is with us. Thus (with the Eastern Churches) we must leave you, and let you alone: Yet with the Prophet will we wa●l over you, and cry out, We would have Healed Babylon, But she is not Healed. Remember what the Lord saith, Isaiah 50 11. Behold all ye that Kindle a Fire, that compass yourselves about with Sparks: Walk in the Light of your Fire, and in the Sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down in Sorrow. Thus (not Fearing your Power, Curses, nor Thunderbolts of Excumunication, nor all the Train of your Infernal Court, whilst God is with us,) we continue still steadfast in that Faith, whereof Christ Jesus is both the Foundation and chief Corner Stone; who is able to preserve and present us spottless, before the Throne of his Grace, with exceeding great joy. To whom, with the Father and Holy-Ghost, be ascribed Glory, Honour, and Praise; with Dominion, Majesty, and Power; World without end, Amen.  
London, Jan. 6th. 1689.