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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34212	A missive to His Majesty of Great Britain, King James written divers yeers since by Doctor Carier ; conteining [sic] the motives of his conversion to Catholike religion ; vvith a notable fore-sight of the present distempers both in the church and state of His Majesties dominions, and his advice for the prevention thereof.	Carier, Benjamin, 1566-1614.; Strange, N., 17th cent.; James I, King of England, 1566-1625.	1649 (1649)	Wing C572; ESTC R8830	50,068	94

which will not save them from hell nor Superiors be ever told of their Errors but by Rebellion which will not bring them to heaven These such like be the liberties that both Prince People do enjoy by the want of Confession and of Catholike Religion 43. As for the liberty of making Lawes in Church-matters the Common Lawyer may perhaps make an advantage of it and therefore greatly stand upon it but to the common people it is no pleasure at all but rather a great burthen For the great Multitude of Statutes which have been made since the Schisme which are five times more then ever they were before since the name of Parliament was in England hath caused also an infinite number of Lawyers all which must live by the Commons and raise new Families which cannot be done without the decay of the old And if the Canons of the Church and the Courts of Confession were in request the Lawyers market would soon be marred And therefore most of your Lawyers in this point are Puritans do still furnish the Parliament with grievances against the Clergie as knowing very well that their own glory came at the first from the Court Infidell and therefore cannot stand with the Authority of the Church which came at the first from the Court Christian I speak not against the Ancient Lawes of England which since King Ethelberts time were all Catholike nor against the honest Lawyers of England I know many and honour all good men among them and do hope for better times by the learning wisedom moderation of the chiefest But I am verily perswaded that the pretended liberties of the Commons to make Lawes in matter of Religion doth burthen the Common wealth and both prejudice your Majesty and pleasure none at all but the Puritan and petty-fogging Lawyer that would faine fetch the antiquity of his Common Law from the Saxons that were before King Ethelbert So that whether we respect the spirituall instruction and comfort or the temporall wealth and liberty of the Commons of England if the Puritan Preacher and Puritan Lawyer who both do seek the overthrow of the Church and deceive and consume the people would let them alone there would quickly appeare no reason of their Sta●e at all why they should hate the Catholike Church that is so comfortable and beneficiall unto them or maintain the Schisme that with sugred speeches and counterfait faces doth so much abuse them 44. I am therefore in very assured hope that by my coming to the Catholike Church besides the satisfying and saving of my own soule I shall do no ill service to your Majesty neither in respect of your selfe nor your Children nor in respect of your Lords and Commons and that there is no reason concerning the State in any of these that is sufficient to disswade unity There is only the * The Protestant Clergie are now like to find this a true prediction Clergy left which if Calvinisme may go on and prevaile as it doth shall not in the next age be left to be satisfied And there is little reason that any man that loves the Clergie should desire to satisfie such Clergie men as do under hand favour Calvinists and maintain such points of Doctrine as if your Majesties favour were not would out of hand overthrow the Clergie and instead of them set up a few stipendary Preachers 45. There never was is or shall be any well setled State in the world either Christian or Heathen but the Clergie or Priesthood was is and must be a principall part of the Government depending upon none but him only whom they suppose to be their God But where Calvinisme prevailes three or four stipendary Ministers that must preach as it shall please Mr. Mayor and his Brethren may serve for a whole City And indeed if their opinions be true it is but a folly for any State ●o maintain any more For if God hath predistinated a certain Number to be saved without any condition at all of their being in the visible Church by Faith or their persevering therein by good works If God hath reprobated the greatest part of the world without any respect at all of their infidelity heresie or wicked life If the Faith of Christ be nothing els but the assured perswasion of a Man 's own Predestination to glory by him If the Sacraments of the Church be nothing but signes and badges of that grace which a man hath before by the carnall Covenant of his Parents faith If Priesthood can do nothing but preach the Word as they call it which Lay-men must judge of and may preach too if they will where occasion serves If the studie an I knowledge of Antiquity Universality and Consent be not necessary but every man may expound Scripture as his own spirit shall move him If I say these and such like opinions be as true as they are among Calvinists in the world common and in England too much favoured and maintained there will certainly appear no reason at all to your Parliament whensoever your Majesty or your Successor shall please to ask them why they should be at so great a charge as they are to maintain so needlesse a party as these opinions do make the Clergy to be They can have a great many more How right this points upon the Doctrine of these times Sermons a great deale better cheap and in the opinion of Calvinisme the Clergy do no other service They that do in England favour and maintain those opinions and suppresse and disgrace those that do confute them they although themselves can be content to be Lords and go in Rochets are indeed the greatest Enemies of the Clergy And it were no great matter for the Clergy they might easily turn Lay and live as well as they do for the most part But it is a thing full of compassion and commiseration to see that by these false and wicked opinions the Divell the the Father of these and all other lies doth daily take possession of the soules of your Subjects both of Clergy and Laity These kind of Clergy men I confesse I do not desire to satisfie any other way then as I have alwaies done that is by the most friendly and plain confutation of their errors to shew them the truth As for other Clergy men that are conformable to the Religion established by Law as well for their Doctrine as for their Discipline if they be good Schollers and temperate men as I know many of them are they cannot but in their judgements approve the truth of Catholike Religion and if it were not for fear of losse or disgrace to their wives and Children they would be as glad as my selfe that a more temperate course might be held and more liberty afforded unto Catholikes and Catholike Religion in England These Clergy-men I am and ever shall be desirous to satisfie not only in respect of themselves but also in respect of their wives and

now purchased the Bishops Lands at easie rates c. Favourites of the Court were given the Lands and Inheritance of the Abbeys and religious Houses that having once as it were washed their hands in the bowells and blood of the Church both they and their posterity might be at utter defiance therewith And so having overthrowne and prophaned the good works of the Saints it was necessary for them to get them Chaplains that might both dispute preach and write against the merits of good works the Invocation of Saints the sacrifice of the Altar Prayer for the dead and all such points of Catholike Doctrine as were the grounds of those Churches and Religious Houses which they had overthrowne and prophaned And it was not hard for those Chaplains by some shew of Scripture to prove that which their Lords and their followers were so willing to believe 24. To the Commons was given great hope of reliefe for their poverty case of Subsidies and of the burden of so great a Clergie and many other goodly gay nothings And for the present they should have liberty and the benefit of the Common-Law that is leave to live by such Lawes as themselves list to make and to contemne the Authority of the Church which although it were for their benefit every way yet because it crossed their affections like wayward Children they could never abide it And was not this reason enough for them to hold out the breach and to study Scripture themselves that they might be able to confute Confession Satisfaction Penance and to declaime against all that Tyranny of the Church of Rome whereby themselves and their fore-fathers had been kept in awe and obedience unto God and their Kings 25. To the Clergy men that would turne with the times besides the possibility of present preferment by the alteration was given shortly after leave to marry and to purchase and injoy the profit and pleasure of the world as well as the Laity And what carnall minded Monk or Priest would not with might and maine keep open the breach after he was once plunged in it rather then be in danger to forgo so pleasing a commodity Hence did arise a necessity of speaking and writing against Vowes Virginity Poverty Fasting Praying Watching Obedience and all that austerity of life which is by the Lawes of the Church required in a Monasticall and Priestly Conversation 26. Upon these conditions the Lords the Commons and the Clergie were content to believe that the King was supreme Head of the Church of England not that they did think so indeed or that they desired to augment his authority but that they might be protected by him and freely injoy those commodities So our Purchasers love not to hear of peace or unity lest they should come to lose their so easie bought Bishops lands other profits which they thought Schisme had brought unto them and feared the unity of the Church might again take from them Hence did arise a necessity of inveighing against the Pope and the Church of Rome as against Antichrist and Babylon and the greatest enemies of the State of England Insomuch that that Clergie-man was most acceptable to them and in their opinion most worthy of preferments that could most confidently preach and write the most foule and monstrous assertions of the Pope and the Church of Rome though they were never so false These and such like are those temporall respects which would faine seem the daughters of those Doctrines which themselves have brought forth and to be divided from the Catholike Church by Doctrine when they themselves have caused the Doctrine of Division 27. In all these and all other Doctrines of Division men have received great countenance and incouragement from Geneva For although ● John Calvin were never any good Subject or friend to Bishop Duke or King yet he did so fit the common people with new Doctrine that no Gospell can be so pleasing to them nor so lightsome as his For finding Geneva to be fallen out both with their Bishop who was their ancient Prince and their Duke to whom they pretended against their Bishop and to be all in a combustion among themselves for want of government although he were then a stranger and a very young man of some 26. or 27. years old at the most yet he thought good upon the oportunity to give the venture and to step in himselfe to be the founder of a new Church and State amongst them and for that purpose he found them out such a Catechisme as they might easily contemn all ancient Learning and authority and save themselves by a strong fancy which he called Faith And this pleased the Burgers of Geneva so well that they called a meering and caused all the Citizens to sweare that that Catechisme was true and that all Popery was false as may appeare in Calvins life written by Beza himselfe and prefixed to his Epistles And although the Ministeriall Presbytery of Geneva hath lost much of M. Calvins greatnesse yet the City hath had the fortune ever since by the help of their neighbours to hold out against their Bishop and their Duke and all their ancient Governours 28. Now it is the nature of all common people especially of Islanders not only still to * These late times witnesse this truth sufficiently affect more and more novelty and liberty and to be wearie of their old Clergie but also to admire any thing that comes from beyond the Seas to cherish and comfort one another with reporting the good successe which Schismaticks and Rebells happen to have against their lawfull Prelates and ancient Governours to impute all their good fortune to their new Religion Hence it comes to passe that that Doctrine which is indeed the lawfull Doctrine of the Church of England is neglected and contemned as a Relique or a Rag of Popery and Calvins Institutions being come from Geneva and fairly bound up with the Preface of the Gospell is dispersed throughout all Schooles Cities and Villages of England and hath so infected both Priest and People as although it be against Law yet it is cried up by voices to be the only current Divinity in Court and Countrey In hope belike that it may one day serve the turn in England as well as it hath done in Geneva and in other places where it hath prevailed 28. These reasons or rather Corruptions of State have so confounded the Doctrine of the Church of England and so slandered the Doctrine of the Church of Rome as it hath turned mens braines and made the multitude on both sides like two fools who being set back to back do think they are as far asunder as the Horizons are which they look upon But if it might please your Majesty to command them to turne but each of them a quarter about and looke both one way to the Service of God and your Majesty and to the salvation of soules they should presently see themselves to be

a great deale more neer together in matters of Doctrine then the Puritannicall Preachers on both sides doe make them believe they are I cannot in the brevity of this discourse descend into particulars but if it please your Majesty to command me or any other honest man that hath taken paines to understand and observe all sides freely and plainely to set downe the difference betwixt Calvinisme and the Doctrine of England established by Law and and then to shew Locos concessos and Locos controversos betwixt the Church of England and the Church of Rome I doubt not but the distance that will be left betwixt for matter of Doctrine may by your Majestie be easily compounded 30. But perhaps there is so great opposition in matter of State that although the Doctrine might be compounded yet it is unpossible to heare of agreement And if there be the same reason of State which there was in the beginning and continued all Q. Elizabeths daies there is as little hope now that your Majestie should hearken to reconciliation as there was that King Henry 8. or Q. Elizabeth would But when I doe with the greatest respect I can consider the State of your Majesty your Lords your Commons and your Clergie I do find as little cause of holding out in reason of State as I do in truth of Doctrine 31. King Henry the 8. although he had written that book against the Schisme of Luther in the defence of the Sea Apostolike for which he deserved the Title of Defensor Fidei yet when he gave way to the lust of Anne Bolen and the flattery of his Favourites and saw he could not otherwise have his will he excluded the Pope and made himselfe supreme Head of the Church that so he might not only dispense with himselfe for his lust but also supply his excesse with the spoile of the Church which was then very rich But when he saw God blessed him not neither in his wiving nor in his thriving he was weary of his Supremacy before he died and wished himselfe in the Church again but he died in the Curse of his Father whose foundatitions he overthrew and hath neither child to honour him nor so much as a Tomb upon his grave to remember him which some men take to be a token of the Curse of God 32. Q. Elizabeth although she were the daughter of Schisme yet at her first coming to the Crown she would have the Common-Prayer Booke and Catechisme so set down that she might both by English service satisfie the Commons who were greedy of alteration and by Catholike opinions give hope to her Neighbour Princes that she would her selfe continue Catholike And all her life long she carried her selfe so betwixt the Catholikes and the Calvinists as she kept them both still in hope Yet being the daughter of the breach-maker and having both her Crowne and her life from the Schisme it was both dishonourable and dangerous for her to hearken to reconcilement And therefore after she was provoked by the excommunication of Pius Quintus she did suffer such Laws to be made by her Parliaments as might cry quittance with the Pope and the Church of Rome And this course seemed in policy necessary for her who was the daughter of King Henry the 8. by Anne Bolen born with the contempt of Rome the disgrace of Spaine and the prejudice of Scotland 33. But now that your Majesty is by the consent of all sides come to the Crown and your undoubted Title setled with long possession the case is very much altered for your Majesty hath no need of dispensations nor no will to pull down Churches nor no dependence at all on Henry the 8. and if this Schisme could have prevented your Title with the divorce of one wife and the marrying of five more neither your Mother nor your self should ever have made Q. Elizabeth afraid with your right to the Crown of England And therefore although it were necessary in reason of State to continue the Doctrine of division as long as the fruit of that Doctrine did continue yet now the fruit of Schism is all spent and that Parenthefis of State is at an end there is no reason but that the old sentence may return againe and be continued in that sense as if the Parenthesis had been clean left out and that God had of purpose crossed the fleshly pretence of Schisme and raised your Majesty to restore it as your most wise and Catholike Progenitor King Henry the 7. did leave it 34. But perhaps the Schisme though it serve you to no use at all for your Title yet it doth much increase your authority and your wealth and therefore it cannot stand with your honour to farther the unity of the Church of Christ Truly those your most famous and renowned Ancestors that did part with their authority and their wealth to bestow them upon the Church of Christ and did curse and execrate those that should diminish them and take them away againe did not think so nor find it so and I would to God your Majesty were so powerfull and so rich as some of those Kings were that were most bountifull that way You are our Soveraigne Lord all our bodies and our goods are at your command but our souls as they belong not to your charge but by way of protection in Catholike Religion so they cannot increase your honour or authority but in a due subordination unto Christ and to those that supply his place in iis quae sunt Juris divini It was essentiall to heathen Emperors to be Pontifices as well as Reges because they were themselves Authors of their owne Religion But among Christians where Religion comes from Christ who was no worldly Emperor though above them all the Spirituall and Temporall Authority have two beginnings and therefore two supremes who if they be subordinate doe uphold and increase one another but if the temporall authority doe oppose the spirituall it destroyes it selfe and dishonours him from whom the spirituall authority is derived Heresie doth naturally spread it self like a Canker and needs little help to put it forward So that it is an easie matter for a mean Prince to bee a great man amongst Heretikes but it is an hard matter for a great King to * K. Cha. knows this to be true by wofull experience govern them When I have somtimes observed how hardly your Majesty could effect your most unreasonable desires amongst those that stand most upon your Supremacy I have been bold to be angrie but durst say nothing only I did with my selfe resolve for certaine that the Keyes were wont to do the Crowne more service when they were in the Armes of the M●●er then they can do now they are tied together with the Scepter and that your Title in spirituall affaires doth but serve other mens turnes and not your own 35. As for your wealth it is true that the Crown hath more pence paid unto it