A letter from St. Omers to a friend in London

A LETTER FROM St. OMERS To a FRIEND in LONDON.

Most Respected Sir,

WHen first imparted to you my design to travel, you desired (which was to me a Command) to take some observation of the deportment of the Roman Ca∣tholicks abroad, in Relation to the English Affairs about the late Plot; and though it's impossible to have that account of things of this nature, as you might have from a Person under other Circumstances, (being never out of my native Country before) yet, in compliance with your request, I have sent you, what occurr'd to my observation in that little Society I had with those sort of men, and this being so eminent a place for corre∣spondence with the English Catholicks; I thought it might most effectually answer your expe∣ctation, to spend sometime in it, for here the whole time (almost) of the Priests is taken up in receiving and sending dispatches to England, Ireland, and Scotland, so that wherever the Plot was Coin'd, we may rationally conclude here it was Mill'd.

Upon my arrival here, I delivered your Letter commendatory to your Friend, whom I found very ready in a kind Reception, to afford me a share in the Company he kept with the Fathers, and others of Eminency, by which in the General, I was informed, that the late discovered Plot for the killing of the King and Subversion of the English Government charged upon them, was so far from being the Invention of the Witnesses, (as some have given out) that it was the politick Result of grand Councels, influenc'd principally by those of the jesuitical Order; who as the Papists say, are the only Men for projects in Europe; which assertion seems to be con∣firm'd by some Instructions, one of that Faction gave to some Puny Catholicks, lately, deputed from this Place to England upon the Catholicks Service, a Copy of which, by the Assistance of a Friend, came to my hands, the substance of which (transcribed for your information) fol∣lows.

The Father took for his Theme Genesis 18. verse the 19, from whence, the Doctrin of equi∣vocation is peremptorily asserted to be according to holy Scripture, and that when a Persons Integrity, and the Churches interest stand in Competition, that then it is lawful by the assistance of this Doctrin, to assert the Churches honor in publick; though it be circumstanced with the highest suspition of our own sincerity, and this was an undoubted article of the Catholick faith, which upon pain of damnation, they ought to submit to.

And to prevent any scruple, that might arise about the receiving of this Doctrin, the ex∣ample of the holy Patriarch Jacob was urged by the Father, which he desired they would set before them, and conform to as often as occasion required, which he told them would be of great use in the work they was to ingage in, for the propagating of the Faith of the Roman Church in England, and that it might be safely made use of, without any hazard to their

Souls, even at the hour of Death, when the confessing of the truth, would be of great detri∣ment to the Catholick Cause, upon a stedfast belief of which, the souls of those Catholicks, that died upon the score of the Plot was supported; and made their souls invincible under all the heretical sollicitations, for the discovering the secrets of Holy Church. It's impossible to perfect our designs, but under the shelter of this Doctrin, no ••anquishing of that pestilent heresie without a firm belief, and an undubitable assent to it; therefore, all the successes that the Churches interest has met withal in England, since the miscarriage of that great project, is to be attributed to this, had those of the Ignatian order owned their guiltiness, and that the charge against them was consonant to truth, what a Loss had the Church sustained by such a cowardly deportment, nay so obliging is this upon us, that we don't only secure the Churches credit by it, and upon that account, it's a debt we all owe her, but we merit Salvation, like∣wise together with the obtension of a Crown of Martyrdom, to be ranked among all those noble Confessors in the sacred Kalender, where our names shall be perfumed with a perpetual esteem, and have the honor of being supplicated by the Church Militant; yea those exquisite Flames of Purgatory, wherein the Patriarchs before the Advent of Christ lay, so long for a Purgation, are by a serviceable mental Reservation for the advantage of the Church, excused from under∣going: There is no point so necessary in the present Juncture as this, nor none so seasonable to be pressed upon; you that have taken the holy vow of mission, and are appointed to go for England, where you will find it very serviceable in your Assistance, for the discharging those important Affairs, that will be committed to your Conduct, the due consideration whereof, impressed upon your minds, will mingerate your souls for action, and to wade through the difficulties that may be met with.

The Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy, those bitter Pills are easily swallowed, when guilded with a Mental Reservation, by the help of which, they may be taken by the Devoutest Catho∣licks, without which, they would be nauseous to the Palate: No true Catholick being able to take them in their literal signification, by this Heretical Assemblies may be frequented, and their Sa∣cramental Administrations joined withal, when it may conduce to the Interest of the Church, which otherwise would be impractible, by this you may take up the Cudgels of Episcopacy against Dissenters, and when you see it necessary, those of the Dissenters against Episcopacy, and yet at the same time seek the subversion of both, which leads to the main thing I have in Commission, & that is, to give you some particular Instructions about your Deportment in England, in the present conjuncture of things, as I received them from a solemn Consult of the Fathers.

You must upon all occasions decry, that which the Hereticks call the Popish Plot, which was no other but a holy Combination to propagate the Catholick Faith, and to extirpate that Bri∣tish heresie, the accomplishment whereof, much honor would not only redound to God, but much emolument to the Church, which should inspirit the Soul of every true Catholick to in∣gage in it, and to call nothing by the name of hardship, that tends to the effecting thereof, but yet secrecy is essentially necessary, and the denial of any such thing of absolute use, among those Heretical People, who amidst of all the clear discoveries, they boast of want, the dying Testimony of those Charged, to have been the Instruments in this Sacred undertaking, who to their eternal honor, be it spoken, preferr'd the Interest of our holy Mother, even before their own Salvation, and were it possible, would have been content to have had the Infernal Punish∣ments inflicted upon them, rather than to have been guilty of Revealing those Secrets, the Church have enjoyned a concealment of those pious examples, are proposed for your Imitati∣on, that you should follow their steps; its no small confidence the Church reposes in you, in sending you of this Blessed Errand, and having these secrets imparted to you, oh betray not your trust, remember you have sworn secrecy in the receipt of the holy Eucharist, and now to divulge those secrets you are intrusted withal, indispensably concludes under a state of Dam∣nation, you are sent upon the great Affairs of the Church, and one principal duty incumbent upon you is, to insinuate among the Hereticks, that there was no design against them, by the Catholicks; you will meet with abundance of credulous Souls among them, that will believe you, and so the work will be the less difficult: Former Success pleads for farther Attempts, a perswasion the discover'd design was but a fiction, makes a future the more feasable, when we are pittied as sufferers for our Innocence, we cannot easily be thought Conspirators. You will find those good natured Souls, even amongst the Hereticks themselves, that will joyn in the Consort in crying out no Plot, no Plot except it be a Presbyterian one, (which opinion we shall suddenly take care to confirm), and that it was the indigency of the Witnesses, that invented all this Bustle about a Popish Plot, these are a sort of Men, that are in their kind servicable to

our Interest, although they don't design it so, that care must be taken to nourish this Notion among them, and not to despise this day of small things.

In all your publick Discourses, Usher in something about the Procedures of the Parliament, and Represent them as odious as possible you can, to lessen their Esteem amongst the People; let 41 and 42 bear a great Part in your Discourse, and give out that their present Propensions are to repeat those Practices, devote your selves to compose Pamphlets, against those pestilent sort of Men; Roger Lestranges elaborate Pieces will furnish you with Sentences to sute your pur∣pose, scatter Reports, that most of the House of Commons in the late Parliaments were Fanaticks, and that their Votes were highly arbitrary, and illegal, and that their Pha∣natical Principles was appearant by making War upon the conforming Clergy, in their ordering a Bill to be brought in against Pluralities, which must be represented as the Prodromus to Hudibrasses Cry: no Bishop by this you will secure the superior Clergy, on your side, especi∣ally those of London, most of which keep their Country Livings, as the Citizens their Houses; but above all, admire at their Presumption about the Bill of Exclusion, and that their inter∣medling with a thing of this Nature, implies a great Heigth of Sedition, and Faction in their Bo∣dy, that every Member that voted in favor of it, needed a Pardon stampt by Creation, as much as my Lord Danby. That it was more proper for them to consult the best way, to make Tan∣gier tenable, and the raising of Mony for the Rebuilding af Charles and Henrietta Forts: This is a work also of indispensable necessity, they being the great Bull-wark against our Designs, which must by means be battered down, before we can make any considerable Progress in those va∣rious Works, that now are under our Management.

This hath likewise been the continual Imployment of Catholiks in that Kingdom, with no small Success; so that some Sort of People question whether there be any such Constitution in the Government, and others to wish there were not.

You must also mightily inveigh against the Dissenters, from the established Church among them, and lament the Negligence of Subordinate Majestrates, in not putting the Laws in Execution a∣gainst these Sort of People, commend those Clergy Men most, whose zeal leads them that way, oppose the Union of different Opinions, as a thing unattainble, and that it proceeds from a spi∣rit of faction to design it, that it will be the way to ruine the conforming Party, cry out of dan∣gers, impendant from the Presbiterians against the Covernment; This must be effectually done, for it is from those Sort of Men, that poor Catholicks have of late suffered most exstreamly, they, being most of wallerising Spirits, by this, you will strangely amuse and divert the Hereticks hot pursuits against the Catholicks, whilst they are in their full Cry, against one another, our Designs may go on the more smoothly, and unsuspectedly, and the Laws against us lie down on't, for Designs cannot be so well managed in a Prison, this hath likewise been experienced, to have been mighty succesful since the Discovery of that glorious Project. In a word make it your Busi∣ness to expose all, as infamous Persons, and Enemies to the King and Kingdom, that oppose the Interest of the Catholick Cause, more especially the petitioning Lords of the Monmouth facti∣on, who shall in due time have that Retribution for their Pains, as will make them Repent of being such great Sticklers for Protestantism.

I thought Sir, to transcribe this Paper for your information, that you might see how inno∣cent these Men are, as to a Plot, and what well wishers they are to the present Constitution, as a traiterous Peer lately professed upon the Scaffold, and how infinitely they are wrong'd, that upon the Evidence of such Persons, their Lives should be taken away, when their endeavors are not to justifie their pretended Innocence, but to conceal their devilish Guilt, and to facilitate the perpetration of their hellish Designs against the Protestant Interest, nothing being more com∣mon than when their Company corresponds to justifie their Conspiracies, against the English Government, and yet in Protestant Countries pretend to abhor any such Proceedings, as much as Sir Francis Withins does petitioning.

The Priests here was strangely exhillerated at the Receipt of the Lord Stafford's Speech, to find that he finished his testimony with a Lye in his mouth, for they looked upon his Lordship as staggering in his belief, as to the Doctrine of equivocation, and had a mind to outlive Treason as well as B— but being constant to the death, hath obtained with the Rest to be privately Laughed, by the subtle Priests, to suffer himself to be so imposed upon, when as they are not afraid to whisper, that he knew himself guilty, and it was pleasantly expressed by a Papist, that his Lordship Rode to heaven upon a Jesuits back.

The Priests of late are mightily transported at their English Intelligence, and say it will shortly appear to the world, that the Popish Plot was no other but a Republican, and Presby∣terian Design; for all the Gentry in England are accounted as Presbyterians, that are vigorous against the Papal interest, and they openly Report that things shall be reduced to those cir∣cumstances

before it be long, that those which will talk of a Popish Plot, must do it in their Closets, and that a grave was making in England, wherein the Protestants themselves should be forced to bury it; what these things mean, is obvious to every ones understanding, which God of his infinite mercy prevent.

You cannot, Sir, imagine with what inveteracy of Spirit they mention the English Na∣tion, and that the Crown hath been usurped by all Protestant Kings, since the Marian days, and that they are therefore in Conscience obliged to endeavour to recover what the Church hath lost by that means, and this they will by no means call Treason, nor allow to be un∣justifiable; to which degree of confidence, I am informed, they are almost armed in Eng∣land; there you have them in pretence, siding with the motions of the Court, in opposi∣tion to those of the Parliament, though implacable enemies to both, likewise in appearance joyning with the Conformists against the Nonconformists, though equally (by them) are ha∣ted, for here they are manifest, and the men appear as they are; nothing being more fre∣quent, then to hear them mention his Sacred Majesty, with an irreverence not to be par∣doned, with such villifying Expressions, that would amount to the highest affront, if given to an ordinary Person.

So Sir, that which naturally Results from the whole is this, that the great Design of these sort of men, is to Ruin that Kingdom, and to divide in order to the effecting thereof, as a Roman Catholick once told me in Brussels, it was worth twenty years purchase, after the annuity of St. Pauls Deanery to find that good Dean leave off his heats against Popery in such a Juncture as this, and worry and tare his own Irenicum, till he made it cry out, that Separation was both mischievious and unreasonable, thereby surprising the poor Dissenters who had a great affection for him, to find the good Doctor loose the Scent of Popery, in the midst of the Plot, and fall upon them.

Sir, this little account of the Disposition and temper of these Persons, we may see the absolute Necessity, for Protestants to live in the supreamest Exercises of Love and good Affection, tho they may dissent in some particulars Punctillioes in Judgement, in reference to render them the more capable to withstand the common Enemy of both their civil and religious Priviledges; why should two or three Ceremonies be the occasion of raising Feuds, and animosities between them? certainly Men are exstreamly to blame, that think they owe not the Debt of common Love to one another, where these small Differences are found between them, there being no original Cause in the things themselves, to produce a dividedness of affection; therefore it must be attri∣buted not to the Religion of the Protestant Profession (although considered in those different ways of worship now in England, that there is not a spirit of love and kindness, as there ought to be, which is so absolutely requisite under their present Circumstances), but to the ill Tempers and Passions of Men, the evil Tendency of which, I the more apprehend, in having this Prospect of the English Affairs in these Popish Counties.

Thus Sir, I have given you this small Account of Matters, as a Testimony of my Obedience, I shall still have a Sence of my Duty, in imparting any thing else of moment, that may occur in this or of a∣ny other Nature.

I am Sir your most obedient Servant B. B.

St. Omers June the 5th. Stil. Nov. 1681.