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<DATE>2014-06-09</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="1">
<PB N="1" REF="2" MS="y">
<HEAD>A LETTER TO THE ANSWERER OF THE APOLOGY FOR THE CATHOLICKS.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>THat tho&s;e may find their mi&s;take without any more trouble than to read the fir&s;t lines, who &s;eeing this addre&s;t to the <HI>An&s;werer of the late Apology,</HI> will be apt to Imagine it takes up the Cudgels in that quarrel, permit me to begin with de|claring, that it means nothing le&s;s, and that it has no other relation to the <HI>Apology,</HI> then as That has occa&s;ioned the <HI>An&s;wer;</HI> of which, &s;ince the benefit of the Reader is the de&s;ign of all who expo&s;e their thoughts to be publickly read, Its Author conceiv'd it allow'd, be|cau&s;e intended, he &s;hould make his profit.</P>
<P>In the next place I &s;hall a&s;&s;ure you that, though the de&s;ign of this be &s;o far from the temper of tho&s;e, which you wi&s;h us not to pub|li&s;h, that 'tis the direct contrary, and aims at uniting, not inflam|ing parties, yet it &s;hould not have been expo&s;ed to more Eyes than your own, if I were acquainted with any other means to convey it to you than the Pre&s;s: for I fore&s;ee 'twill unavoidably draw a frank|ne&s;s with it, le&s;s peradventure than the occa&s;ion requires, yet more
<PB N="2" REF="3">than well &s;uits with the publick. But &s;ince nece&s;&s;ity pleads, I hope you will judge favourably, e&s;pecially where your party has &s;o little of Adver&s;ary, that w<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">e my good fortu<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">e favourable to my de&s;ires, and I in any capacity to pretend to the honour, I would offer you my friend&s;hip with abundance of reality.</P>
<P>After this, I am &s;ure, true profe&s;&s;ion, I will hope you will not take ami&s;s the freedom with which I mu&s;t acquaint you, that the re|putation of &s;incerity, which you challenge to your Religion (Pag. 3.) when you &s;ay that <HI>We are more &s;ure of your Vows, (or Promi&s;es) than you can be of ours,</HI> is not &s;o clear as you would have it thought. At lea&s;t I meet with frequent complaints, which repre&s;ent your carriage toward us very di&s;-advantagiou&s;ly, and affirm there is much di&s;-pro|portion betwixt your tongues and hearts, and the Logick, which from your fair words would conclude fair meaning, very fallacious. My own thoughts indeed are nothing forward to your prejudice: for not having examined what I have heard, I conceive that to believe ill of another without certain proof; is a certain proof of no great good in ones &s;elf. And be&s;ides I cannot but think, that a man of Honour is a man of Honour, let his Religion be what it will. And truly, though I think not well enough of yours, to dare venture my Soul in it, yet neither do I think &s;o ill of it, that it rai&s;es you nothing above the low pitch of corrupted nature, for in my judgement it gives you advan|tages beyond all, even Chri&s;tian communities that I know, except the <HI>Catholick;</HI> whereas <HI>Honour</HI> is a thing whereof the Heathens them&s;elves have left very notable examples. Notwith&s;tanding I was not &s;orry to meet with an occa&s;ion of making tryal, e&s;pecially &s;uch a one, wherein if I &s;ucceed as I de&s;ire, and find your Religion fal&s;ly a&s;per&s;t, be&s;ides the ju&s;tice I &s;hall do to wrong'd innocence (which even in an Enemy, if I had one, I &s;hould &s;erve with much labour, and much joy) my happy curio&s;ity may po&s;&s;ibly prove more benefi|cial to my Country, than the Wit and labour of many and Wi&s;e men: whereas if I mi&s;carry, all the harm is to &s;it &s;till, and acknowledge my thoughts have been more charitable than rea|&s;onable.</P>
<P>To come then to the bu&s;ine&s;s, the &s;ub&s;tance of your An&s;wer &s;eems to con&s;i&s;t in dividing us into two &s;ors, tho&s;e <HI>who wholly intend the com|mon
<PB N="3" REF="3">Intere&s;ts of Chri&s;tian Religion, and Civil Government;</HI> and others, who are <HI>Papalin<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">, A&s;&s;erters and Promoters of the Popes U&s;urpations.</HI> The fir&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 word"> there yo<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> claim for <HI>your Ance&s;tors;</HI> allow to be <HI>Loyal, and Men of Honour;</HI> affirm, <HI>They have no cau&s;e to fear</HI> (<HI>Death,</HI> indeed, you &s;ay, <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 chunk">ted by your Adver&s;aries words, but mean, I pre&s;ume, They have no cau&s;e to fear any thing; and that you intend no way to puni&s;h Loyal Subjects, and Men of Honour) And la&s;tly, exempt them from all Concern in the Severity of the Laws, <HI>By which,</HI> &s;ay you. <HI>(if others &s;hall <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="3 letters">a&s;e to di&s;tingui&s;h them&s;elves from the re&s;t, by renoun|cing their <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">lo<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">l Principles) only the di&s;loyal and &s;editious will be kept weak, that they may be harmle&s;s.</HI> For the di&s;loyal Principles, which you would have renounc'd, you put the&s;e two: <HI>That the Pope has a Power to Depo&s;e Kings; And to di&s;charge Subjects from their Allegiance. 'Tis only from the&s;e Dangers, to which the&s;e Principles would expo&s;e you, that you de&s;ire to be &s;afe;</HI> and di&s;own all <HI>Anger,</HI> more than <HI>a nece&s;&s;ary Care,</HI> that the Trea&s;ons (of which you apprehend the&s;e have been the &s;ource) flow not again from them. And this, contracted into another order, &s;eems to be the &s;ub&s;tance of what you oppo&s;e to the Apologi&s;t: the re&s;t being either to dilate &s;ome of the Particulars, or otherwi&s;e pro&s;ecute the Advantages you conceive he gives you, and &s;hew that ma&s;tery of Wit and Language wherein you excell.</P>
<P>If you de&s;ire my &s;en&s;e of this, I mu&s;t frankly avow, your Plea is to my judgement very fair: For I cannot deny, but you have rea&s;on to be jealous of tho&s;e Doctrines, and &s;ubjection to a foreign Power. I cannot deny, but they have beer maintained, and, which is wor&s;e, proceeded upon (I cannot &s;ay, in <HI>England,</HI> but) at lea&s;t again&s;t <HI>England.</HI> And if they be both dangerous and abetted, who can blame your care and ju&s;t de&s;ires of &s;afety? So that if there be as much &s;inceri|ty, as rea&s;on, in what you &s;ay, I mu&s;t needs profe&s;s, I cannot think well of tho&s;e, who think otherwi&s;e than well of it. But this we mu&s;t now put to tryal.</P>
<P>And Fir&s;t, To perform fully what you require on my part, I do unfeignedly, as in the &s;ight of Almighty God, <HI>renounce</HI> (if that word be proper for him, who never held them, but however) utterly di&s;claim and di&s;avow tho&s;e Doctrines, and in my heart beileve the <HI>Pope has not a Power to Depo&s;e Kings,</HI> or <HI>to di&s;charge Subjects from their
<PB N="4" REF="4">Allegiance;</HI> but contrariwi&s;e, That the Doctrines which a&s;&s;ert it, are, (as all the Univer&s;ities of <HI>France</HI> have declared) Fal&s;e, Erroneous, Con|trary to the Word of God, Pernicious, Seditious, and Dete&s;table. And this Sentiment I conceive to be an Inheritance left me by my Catholick Ance&s;tors, who have declar'd in Parliament, That <HI>the Crown of</HI> England <HI>hath been &s;o free at all times, that it hath been in &s;ub|jection to no Realm, but immediately &s;ubject to God, and to none other, in all things touching the Regalitie of the &s;ame;</HI> and provided by &s;everal pe|nalties, that <HI>it be not &s;ubmitted to the Bi&s;hop of</HI> Rome. I conceive you do not, and indeed cannot well, require more of me; &s;o that having fully performed on my &s;ide, it remains that you do &s;o on yours.</P>
<P>And Fir&s;t, Since you a&s;&s;ure me, That, <HI>He who is Loyal, and a Man of Honour, has no cau&s;e to fear;</HI> Now by your Standard I have tryed, and approved my &s;elf &s;uch, let me intreat you, to appear a Man of Honour too. Di&s;charge. if you plea&s;e, your Pledge, the Word you have publickly pawn'd, and make me &s;ee, I truly have no cau&s;e to fear. For I mu&s;t confe&s;s my weakne&s;s, and acknow|ledge, that Goods, and Liberty, and Life (to all which the pe|nalties of &s;ome Laws extend) are things which my cowardly nature fears to lo&s;e. Not but that I know how much tru&s;t a good Subject ought to have in His Maje&s;ty's mercy: but I know too, that Laws may be executed without His privity; I know that &s;everal Ca&s;es are beyond even His Power to remedy; and if yet you think me &s;crupu|lous, I be&s;eech you change Ca&s;es with me but one moment, while you con&s;ider how much the World were altred with you, if the &s;ecu|rity of Life and Fortune, which you have by Law, were chang'd into a hope of Mercy in the Execution; and how likely he were to prevail, who, to &s;hew your &s;elves good Subjects, and te&s;tifie the tru&s;t you have in his Maje&s;ty, &s;hould motion to you the making your &s;elves lya|ble to the&s;e Laws.</P>
<P>Next, Since upon the Credit of your Word, that <HI>only</HI> the di&s;loyal and &s;editious will be kept weak, if others &s;hall di&s;tingui&s;h them&s;elves from them, I have di&s;tingui&s;h'd my &s;elf in the manner you pre&s;cribe; I be&s;eech you inform me, in what my Ca&s;e is better, than that of the mo&s;t di&s;loyal and &s;editious, if any &s;uch there be, among&s;t us. You have indeed one pretty word, when in&s;tead of the &s;everity we appre|hended
<PB N="5" REF="4">from the late heats, you talk of a <HI>Di&s;creet</HI> execution of the Laws. But alas! what &s;mal relief is it to a Patient, that a medicine which gives no ea&s;e, was brought him in a &s;ilver cup? Ju&s;tice you know is blind, and though di&s;cretion indeed have, or rather be, the power to di&s;tingui&s;h, you will not &s;ure continue to per&s;wade us that the &s;ame effects will proceed from blindne&s;s. If the Letter of the Law lye equally again&s;t Loyal me, and my fellow Traytor, and all my hopes be reduc't to the di&s;cretion of a Judge, who&s;e Oath ty's him from making u&s;e of it, and obliges him to give &s;entence according to Law, I &s;ee not what fear my Companion can have, from which I can be free.</P>
<P>Again you de&s;ire us to content our &s;elves, as our fathers have done, with &s;uch Prie&s;ts as are known and protected by the civil power: and this advice you addre&s;s to all, whether Loyal or other, without di&s;tinction. In return, I mo&s;t earne&s;tly and humbly de&s;ire you to commend me to &s;uch a one, a&s;&s;uring you I &s;hall receive the favour, not only with much content, as you de&s;ire, but with much obligati|on, and as an ample reward of the hone&s;ty, whereof by your coun|&s;el I have given te&s;timony; my Ance&s;tors have not inform'd me they enjoy'd any &s;uch content; and for my own part I know no other but tho&s;e at St. <HI>James's</HI> and <HI>Somer&s;ethou&s;e,</HI> and &s;ure you do not mean to offer me the&s;e for Confe&s;&s;ors, whom the Law forbids me to apprach by 10 miles. 'Tis true I have not heard it has been much executed; but yet to make a bargain flatly contrary to Law, &s;eems too much to affront the re&s;pect due to it: And be&s;ides who knows how &s;oon it would be, if all <HI>Catholicks</HI> &s;hould, from all quarters where they are di&s;per&s;t, come up to live at <HI>London,</HI> which yet the expedient would oblige them to do, it being to all el&s;e wholly u&s;ele&s;s.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, &s;ince you profe&s;s there is <HI>no Anger</HI> in your proceedings, but only nece&s;&s;ary care and de&s;ire of &s;afety; And I have taken away what you a&s;&s;ign for the ground of your jealou&s;ie, and left you nothing to fear, Let me intreat you tho&s;e words may &s;ignifie &s;omething. Make it appear you truly have no Anger for tho&s;e, in whom I have made appear there is no cau&s;e for it, and in whom you acknowledge both Loyalty and Honour. For I plead not in behalf of any other. Rather, if there be, as you &s;uppo&s;e, Knaves among&s;t us, I con&s;ent they be
<PB N="6" REF="5">doubly puni&s;ht; fir&s;t for being Knaves, and then for abu&s;ing their Religion, and drawing It into the guilty fellow&s;hip of their wicked|ne&s;s. But for us, whom your &s;elf di&s;tingui&s;h from them, I be&s;eech you let not all the comfort of our hone&s;ty be a few tinkling words which chime plea&s;antly, but when we come to gra&s;p the &s;en&s;e, va|ni&s;h away, and leave nothing but the empty &s;ound.</P>
<P>I will hope the&s;e Reque&s;ts, &s;ince you have put them into my mouth, will appear rea&s;onable, and that you will take ca<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">e to effect, what you thought fit, by propo&s;ing, to undertake. Give me leave to recommend them, with all the earne&s;tne&s;s, with which men u&s;e to pre&s;s honourable, and ju&s;t, and great concerns, &s;uch as I conceive the&s;e, both to me, and you too. <HI>I</HI> might peradventure enlarge into &s;ome efficacy, but that I write to one, to whom a Remembran|cer is as much as an Orator, and to mention, the &s;ame thing as to plead. Permit me only to mind you of the blemi&s;h it is to a man of Honor, not to make good his word, and his word publickly given, and pub|lickly challenged. Permit me to mind you of the inju&s;tice there is in treating equally unequal ca&s;es, and puni&s;hing, with all the diffidence, and all the &s;u&s;pitious fears merited by di&s;loyalty, per&s;ons confe&s;&s;edly Loyal. Permit me to beg of you, in your own behalf, you will not give people cau&s;e to apprehend your writings have no other aim than to &s;peak han&s;omly, and make them lo&s;e their efficacy on all, but &s;uch as will be carryed away by &s;mooth language. I &s;hall end with adding to the obligation of your word, a con&s;ideration, which alone is, in my judgement, an obligation to all Lovers of their Country; And that is the great good which mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily flow from the conde&s;cen|dence I de&s;ire, For by that means the affections of two parties will be be reconcil'd into a right intelligence, a mutual love and confi|dence, and both united into a &s;trength &s;erviceable to our King and Country, when all jealou&s;ie and diffidence being taken away, there will be no &s;trife left betwixt us, but who &s;hall &s;hew him&s;elf the ho|ne&s;te&s;t man. I wi&s;h with all my heart the late &s;torms were &s;o calm'd that this con&s;ideration might be &s;light and trivial; but I fear I &s;hall not be happy enough to &s;ee the day, in which it will be of little concern to the publick, that tho&s;e who are heartily hone&s;t and faithful be hearti|ly united. And yet who can tell, whether this be all the benefit we
<PB N="7" REF="5" MS="y">may hope from hence? I confe&s;s your writing plea&s;ingly flatters me with imaginations I had not before, and I would fain hope the di&s;tance between us is not &s;o great as many apprehend. For if a <HI>Papi&s;t</HI> be, as it &s;eems by you it is, a name of faction, not Religion, and imports an a better of u&s;urpations, and one oblig'd to believe the Doctrines I have di&s;claim'd, I perceive I am no <HI>Papi&s;t.</HI> And if you be true to what you profe&s;s, that <HI>you agree with us in all that is truly Catholique,</HI> I for my part have no more to de&s;ire of you, and think him unrea&s;on|able that has; nor do I know why you &s;hould be call'd a <HI>Prote&s;tant.</HI> The Bias of affections, which unadvi&s;edly draws awry the ca&s;ts even of the be&s;t Game&s;ters, being once taken off, that fair Field of Controver|&s;ie, which you fairly leave open, may, for ought I know, produce the&s;e advantages; which, as all good men have alwayes de&s;ired, &s;o few wi&s;e men have hitherto hoped. But we mu&s;t leave the future to Providence, and 'tis time I leave the&s;e Con&s;iderations to your judge|ment, and leave them with this reque&s;t, that you will look upon them as the re&s;t of tho&s;e reports which goe abroad to your di&s;advantage, which by your procedure in this occa&s;ion will appear, or cau&s;ele&s;s, or ju&s;tly grounded. You will plea&s;e then to re&s;olve, what opinion you would that men &s;hould have of the &s;incerity of your Profe&s;&s;ion; and whether you, who u&s;e to reproach <HI>our</HI> Religion, with holding, that Faith is not to be kept with <HI>Hereticks,</HI> will con&s;ent to have it be|liev'd, 'tis practis'd in yours, not to value what you &s;ay to <HI>Catholicks.</HI> In all events, I &s;hall have the &s;atisfaction to have done &s;ervice to the Innocence (if you plea&s;e, of Prote&s;tants, however) of my fellow Catholicks, who&s;e Title to Loyalty and Honour, &s;ince you acknow|ledge, I hope you will not be di&s;pleas'd, if one of them pretend to that of</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><DATE>20. May 1667.</DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED>Your mo&s;t humble and faithful Servant, <HI>P. M.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="postscript">
<PB N="8" REF="6">
<HEAD>Po&s;t&s;cript.</HEAD>
<P>I Mu&s;t beg the Ju&s;tice, not to be mi&s;taken, and be thought, becau&s;e I do not deny, there are bad Principles among&s;t us, that I there|fore grant it. I can a&s;&s;ure you, I know none that own any; whether it be, that men have purchas'd Wi&s;dom and Wit at the co&s;t of their Progenitors, or that the narrow limits of my Accquaintace extend not to tho&s;e you mean. So that I hope, by judging of the temper of tho&s;e who live now, by the di&s;tempers of &s;ome who lived in the for|mer age, you judge ami&s;s of us. Notwith&s;tanding, as I cannot di&s;|prove you, nor &s;ay but your intelligence is better than mine, if you know any &s;uch, I am no Advocate for them.</P>
<P>Where I &s;peak doubtingly of your Candor, I be&s;eech you under|&s;tand me of private men; for as for the actions of Princes, they are beyond my humble level. And to deal plainly, as I know nothing which can &s;hadow the fame of tho&s;e, by whom <HI>England</HI> has had, and has the happine&s;s to be governed; &s;o if I did, I would not di&s;cover my knowledge, believing that their Actions are as their Per&s;ons, Sa|cred, and not to be mentioned, but with Honour.</P>
</DIV1>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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