A LETTER TO A MEMBER OF THE House of COMMONS, In Answer to a Book entitled A LETTER to the catholics of England, Ireland, Scotland, and all other His Majesties, &c.  
Written by a lover of his Country.  Aeneid. lib. 2. 
— ulla putatis  
〈…〉 Danaum?—   

A LETTER, &c.  
SIR,  
MEeting the other day with Father welsh his Dedicatory Address of a large, and, I suppose, an Elaborate Book, in which he hath set forth all the Encroachments of the Popes, successively in a manner from Hildebrand, upon the Monarchs of christendom, together with a short Narrative of all the Irish, and English Treasonable, as well as Unfortunate practices, about setting up the Papal Power, from Henry the Eighth's time until the last Rebellion of Ireland: Together with an account of the Oath, by printing the Oath itself( a thing I must confess I am beholden to him for) which, he says, is the strictest that could be sworn or penned, especially, 
P. 54. Which Oath all their Reverend Lordships of that Communion on course take. P. 16. and so on to p. 23. Aestimant Papam esse unum Deum qui habet potestatem omnem in coelo& terrâ. Joh. Gers.  being the Pope himself is the onely Interpreter thereof; As likewise an account of the grand Positions of Popery, which are such as must render the Abettors to be a sort of Bigots, like the Zealous at last amongst the Jews, not fit to be Members of any human, much less Christian Society: for he brings it amongst the rest of the Positions, that the Pope is Dominus Deus Noster, Our Lord God, and so styled by the Glossatour of his own Canon Law, with many incongruities of theirs( that is, of them that are given up to the Pope) to all ends of Civil Government, which Positions he has divided into Eighteen Paragraphs, too many to particularise. Which labour of his seems to be popular enough at this time. For in making the Popes wicked, he hath far o'redone John Fox himself, nay the Zeal of the Rabble, on a Gun-powder day, may pass for Devotion comparatively to his descriptions. And which is more, after this specious preamble he concludes as plausibly as he begun; for he directs the Catholics( by which, I suppose, he means them we call Papists) to address without any procrastination to his Majesty, 
p. 103.  and Both Houses of Parliament so, as shall convince all Protestants whatsoever, that they have at last, ingenuously bid an eternal Adieu to all those new Positions, which, not disowned, might continue th●ir jealousy of them; by which means, the Gentleman hopes to see the Penal Laws first repealed, and then immediately the great work of Reconciliation. 
P. 104. and to this end p. 94.  This I conceive is the great scope, and design, of his three or four years contrivement.  
Now give me leave, Noble Sir, according to my wonted freedom, to give you an account of my Animadversions upon the premises.  
The Devil as cunning as he is, they say, can never disguise himself so, but he shall be discovered by his Cloven foot, or some other little Criterion; so the Father discovers, in his very Title page., more of the old leaven than is fit at this time for his design, or suits with the Sugar-Candy words, in the fourth Appendage, p. 83. of breaking down the wall of Partition, &c. By the direction of his Letter to the catholics of England, Ireland, &c. All men will grant, I suppose, that by catholics, he means onely Christians of the Roman persuasion, otherways his labours had as little design, as they deserve success. That being then so; he very charitably takes it for granted, That the Church of England, from whose Sons he hopes such great favours, is no part of the catholic Church and so not much better than Heathens; otherwise he would not have treated the Papists there by the name of catholics, 
p. 73.  when in other places he can call them Roman catholics. The latter Title being as much voided of common sense, under that great Man's correction, as the former is of Christian charity.  
Having now done with the Title page., I beg your pardon a little to say something of the Gentleman, and his great and healing design. Good man, he was persecuted a long time by the Pope with Censures, Precepts, 
P. 74.  Monitories, Denunciations, Affixions, Decrees, and what not, for mere Loyalty, he mist his preferment, 
P. 68.  was imprisoned in a foreign Country, as far as Spain, upon some such account as he intimates. To all which I only say, That Zopirus was worse used by Darius his Master; you know what followed, the Babylonians trusted him upon that account, and he betrayed them; for Darius and he understood one another all the while, as 'tis possibly others may do. I'll only ask the Good man this Question, What was he in Prison in Spain for? It must be either for ill Manners, or Religion: For the former I am sure he'l not own, and none e're came out for the latter, without the powerful solicitation of some ambassador, which I do not hear he stood in need of; but there can be no counterfeit in this, He has been so long in persecution, as he says, has wrote a Book of three or four years study; and yet that all this may be practised 'tis very possible, if you consider that the third and last opportunity of read integration was lost 1666, 
P. 80.  by not signing the loyal Remonstrance or Formulary, at Dublin, as he says, which may be was neglected or slighted out of either the fore-sight, or accident of the fatal fire in London, immediately succeeding the most terrible Pestilence that ever was: so this famous City lying, with the Nation, under those terrible Judgments, of Fire, War, and Pestilence, that Party might then morally hope there would never be opportunity of putting any strict Test upon them, considering the supposed ruin of this City, and the potency of the Enemy, the Dutch, and French being leagued in a War against us, which they expected more from a great deal than happened, and possibly soon after that time our Author might go about the large Book the Stationer talks on, knowing that if the projects failed, which by some were then designed, as thanks be to God, and the Industry of you, and your Fellow Members, they have almost to miracle; then his Address, as the last effort, might do their business as well as if they had been white Boyes all along, and by his fine Harangue, stuffed now and then with misapplied Scripture, and some passionate Adjurations to his Country-men, by all civil and religious ties, 
p. 94.  to submit to his Formular, or Recognition, by that means to endear the Parliament to break down the partition wall, as he calls it, by letting them into immunities, which they at present are destitute of. But Sir, remember you have heard of one Squire Sinon, a crafty Knave, who made as many pious pretences to King Priam, to break down the Wall to let in the Trojan Horse, and then you know what followed. Another Argument that all may be practise, is this: Why does not he, seeing the Pope is so naughty a man, and all have in a manner been so, since Hildebrand, as he intimates often in his Book, reconcile himself to our Church by renouncing his Order, and other fopperies, founded solely upon the Popes Authority, without any ground in Scripture, or Four first General councils; as, praying to Saints, Purgatory, Transubstantiation, Communion in one kind, and the like? For certainly no man that is satisfied of the Popes fallibility in definitions of Faith, as he says he is, can forbear to give himself that satisfaction as to comform to the dictates of right reason. Another Argument he proposes, and that he thinks a strong one, That, conditionally, the Laws may be taken off so, 
P. 79.  as they, viz. the Priests, might live in their native Country, and so by degrees serve themselves and their Friends into all preferments, above five hundred English Priests, besides more of Irish, should declare by a public Instrument under their hands, as amply, and as clearly against all the new Doctrines, and all vain Pretences of Rome, as he has done, and shall be ready to renew that assurance as oft as shall be required. In Answer to this, I'll remind you of a Story: A Scotch Lord, and an English Gentleman, were contending about the bigness of a Park; the Lord said that he had a Park had five hundred Dear of Antler in it; the Gentleman made a kind of wonder at it: Sbread, quoth the Scot, do you not believe me? Yes, says the English man, but my wonder arises to think what a world of rascals there must be. The story applies itself: For if we have so many well principled Priests, there are shoals of the rest; and can you forbear, Noble Sir, to be instrumental in performing this good Man's request, seeing he promises you such plenty of excellent Company. I remember a passage in a certain French author, which is called the Conversation, not much amiss to this purpose: A marshal of France invited a certain Friend to dinner, to maintain Discourse against half a dozen scholars; Who certainly, says he, are passable Company if they understood Common sense. Examine all his Arguments at leisure, and you will find that they are grounded upon a self-end, or worldly-account as well as Religious; for he conjures them, viz. the Papists, by all the designs they have of their own, 
P. 94.  and their Posterities living comfortably in this world, to make this Recognition, 
P. 95.  thereby to take away that grand Rock of Scandal( meaning their constant Rebellion) that thereby they may have the better opportunity, I suppose, to bring us into their Communion; that is, to invade all that we count dear to us, our Religion and Property: the latter being as inconsistent with Popery, as our Bodies are with everlasting burnings. In answer, I'll give you some politics from self-love too: You may remember who, in a manner, engrossed all the preferments before this late Test, and what impossibility is there, that they shall not again, if you take away the wall of Partition: that Party being like the Children of this world, wiser in their generation than others; viz. industrious in preserving, and preferring one another, whereas others do not so much regard such carnal practices perhaps.  
I must confess they have one Argument which I wonder is not made use of, though he does of many weaker: That the English Papists were generally for the King, not any one Arming against him, and this so true that Malice itself cannot object against it; but yet withal, you cannot but remember, that they were beaten into the Kings Garrisons, to preserve themselves from the Rabble; but they were so frighted with the terror, and noise of War, that they would never be got into any thing like it again, for if any body can make out, that there were three engaged in any plot for this Kings Service: you may safely, I think, grant their desires, whereas the restless endeavours, and constant strugglings against the Government, by the Sons of our Church, tired out the Usurpations, 
L. K. Sp. p. 19.  as a great Person hath candidly observed, and therefore they are the fittest Objects of Yours, and the Kingdoms kindness, or marks of favour.  
One thing I had like to have omitted, very well worth taking notice of, though the Father be so particular in giving a List of all the Popish Treasons all ●●●g, as if they had been an Inventory of Goods to be prized, yet he omits Father Watsons: This Watson you must know was a healing man like himself, wrote against the jesuits, and what not; yet upon King James's coming into England, for want of a little skill in Law 
He pled 〈◇〉 u●●n his trial that the King was not C ●wn'd, and some Treason: but that maxim of the Kings never dying, took him off. , as well ●s Obedience to his Majesty, fell into a Conspiracy, and was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Winchester; which shows they cannot forbear that old trade of Trencher making, but like Cats upon opportunity will be Cats still.  
One observation of his I cannot omit, speaking of the Penal Statutes: Do not we perceive, says he, that they are with-held at present from execution, by a very small and weak thread, not only of one life that is mortal, but even of one will alone, that yet may be altered of a sudden upon many occasions, 
p. 11.  which may happen when least expected? But I hope you have so much logic amongst you, to make the Argumentative to serve our Religion by stricter Laws, as he does to induce the Papists to make a hollow Recognition.  
One thing more I have to hint to you. The most extravagant Princes that ever swayed this sceptre, nay Henry the Eighth himself, whose Will like a torrent bore down all before it, never upon State account, entrenched so far upon Magna Charta, as to force Confessions by Torture: yet, and even after the Popes Supremacy was abrogated, the Rack was used in order to the extorting of Confession about Religion, by the zealous assertors, of the six Articles to a person of Quality, 
Mr. Kyme, after the Pope's restoring cuthbert, Symson, and others.  the Lord chancellor Wriothesley, and Sir John Baker, playing the Torturers themselves, so dangerous is that Religion, by whomsoever managed to our Laws and Liberties.  
Now in Conclusion of all, you after Thirteen years sitting, and Loyally, as became you, asserting our Laws, both as to Religion, and Property, which is all our concerns in this world: You, Noble Sir, after all this will not, I hope, be whedled out of all by an Irish Priest, and this is the earnest desire of,  
Your humble Servant, PHILANAX.  
FINIS.