Therefore I do not like that Answer of our _Pope Alexander_ to the Cardinal _Medicis_, who did make it his business to oblige the _Pope_ to call _Don Mario_ to _Rome_; for he answered this Cardinal’s Prayers and Entreaties with these words of Christ, _They are our Brothers and Sisters that do the Will of the Lord_; as if his Brother had done the Will of the Devil. And in the Example of Christ he was mistaken; for he did not despise his Brothers, as having never had any; wherefore his Words were mystical, and contained some more secret sense. But we see that Christ himself did shew particular favour to his Relations, as to the two _Johns_, the _Baptist_, and the _Apostle_; declaring one to be the greatest of Prophets, and giving to the other the liberty of laying his head in his lap. But more than that, he recommended his proper Mother the Blessed Virgin, to the Apostle _John_; and all the Evangelists own, that he was Christ’s Favourite, and his Beloved. After this Example, we need no other; and no body can be so bold as to pretend, That it is Piety not to own ones Relations, if Christ himself lov’d his so dearly. But the _Popes_ are not so much to blame, as those that blame the _Popes_ for their affections to their Kindred: For, alas! the _Popes_ are Men, as we are; and, as such, ought to be allowed something of our fragility. But in what a _Labyrinth_ are they engaged? For if they are really averse and cruel to their own Blood, then Nature, Heaven, the Example of Christ, and all the Reason of the World, does condemn them for inhumane, ungrateful, and barbarous. And if they are kind, and do receive them into _Rome_, advance them, give them Places and Honours, then Pasquins, Murmurs, Raileries, Affronts, and a thousand Tales of them, are the recompense they are to expect from the Vulgar, who send their Cries to Heaven, and their Complaints about the World against them. Those _Popes_ that first invented the Title of _Cardinal Padrone_, had it may be a mind to imitate our Saviour, who declared _John_ the Evangelist his Cosin, to be his Favorite and beloved Disciple: For _Gregory_ the Fifteenth was wont to call his Nephew _Ludovisio_, his beloved _John_, though his Name was _Lewis_; and he did so to shew, That since Christ declared in favour of his Cosin, the _Popes_ might also declare in favour of their Nephews. For my part, I am of opinion, that let them do what they will, it is not in their power not to love their Relations, and to abstain from doing of them all the good imaginable. And we have seen the experience of this in _Alexander_ the Seventh, who made as if he had had no affection for them; but Nature soon made him lay aside this Mask, and profess himself a Man, as the rest. This is then one of the Reasons that move the _Popes_ to be so tender of their Kindreds Advantages: But there is a second, which is not any ways inferiour to this, which is the preservation of their proper Person.