the first Mouer and she had a practize of maintayning Warres among her Neighbours which became a Woman well that she might be quier at home And whatsoeuer prosperity or honour there was in her dayes or is yet remayning in England I cannot but ascribe it to the Church of Rome and to Catholike Religion which was for many hundred yeares togither the first Moouer of that Gouernment and it is still in euery setled Kingdome and hath yet left the steps and shadow thereof behind it which in all likelihood cannot continue many yeares without a new supply from the Fountaine 5 As for the honour and greatnesse of the TVRKE and other Infidells as it reacheth no farther then this Life so it hath no beginning from aboue this World and if we may belieue Saint AMBROSE in LVC. 4. Et alibi Those honours are conferred rather by Gods permission then by his donation being indeed ordayned and ordered by his Prouidence but for the sinnes of the People conferred by the Prince that rules in the Ayre It is true that the Turkish Empire hath now continued a long time but they haue other principles of State to stand vpon The continuall Guard of an hundred thousand Souldiers whereof most of them know no Parents but the Emperour The Tenure of all his Subiects who hold all in capite ad voluntatem Domini by the seruice of the Sword their enioyned silence and reuerence in matters of religion and their facility in admitting other religions as well as their owne to the hope of saluation and to tolerate them so that they be good subiects These and such like are principles of great importance to encrease an Empire and to maintaine a Temporall State But there is no State in Christendome that may endure these principles vnlesse they meane to turne Turkes also which although some be willing to doe yet they will neither hould in Capite nor hould their peace in religion nor suffer their King to haue such a guard about him nor admit of Catholike religion so much as the Turke doth 6 It is most true which I gladly write and am so out with all the honor I can of your Maiestie to speake that I thinke there was neuer any Catholike King in England that did in his time more embrace and fauor the true body of the Church of England then your Maiesty doth that shadow thereof which is yet left and my firme hope is that this your desire to honor our blessed Sauiour in the shadow of the Church of England will moue him to honor your Maiesty so much as not to suffer you to die out of the bodie of his true Catholike Church and in the meane time to let you vnderstand that all honor that is intended to him by Schisme and Heresie doth redound to his great dishonor both in respect of his Reall and of his Mysticall body 7 For his Real body it is not as the Vbiquitaries would haue it euery where as well without the Church as within but only where himselfe would haue it and hath ordained that it should be and that is only amongst his Apostles and Disciples and their successors in the Catholike Church to whom he deliuered his Sacraments promised to continue with them vntil the worlds end so that although Christ be present in that Schisme by the power of his Deity for so he is present in hell also yet by the grace of his humanitie by participation of which grace only there is hope of saluation he is not present there at all except it be in corners and prisons and places of persecution And therefore whatsoeuer honor is pretended to be done to Christ in Schisme and Heresie is not done to him but to his vtter enemies 8 And for his Mysticall body which is his Church and Kingdome there can be no greater dishonour done to Christ then to maintaine Schisme and dissention therein What would your Maiesty think of any subiects of yours that should goe about to raise ciuill dissention or warres in your Kingdome and of those that should foster and adhere vnto such men It is the fashion of all Rebels when they are in Armes to pretend the safety of the King and the good of the Countrey but pretend what they will you cannot account such men any better then Traytors And shall we beleeue that our blessed Sauiour the King of Kings doth sit in heauen and either not see the practises of those that vnder colour of seruing him with Reformation doe nothing else but serue their owne turnes and distract his Church that is his Kingdome on earth with sedition Or shall we thinke that he will not in time reuenge this wrong Verily he seeth it and doth regard it and will in time reuenge it 9 But I hope and pray that he may not reuenge it vpon you nor yours but rather that he will shew that your desire to honor him is accepted of him and therefore will moue you to honor your selfe and your posteritie with bestowing the same your fauour vpon his Church in the vnitie thereof which you doe now bestow in the Schisme and that he will reward both you and yours for the same according to his promise not only with euerlasting glory in heauen but also with long continued temporall honor and securitie in this world And this is the first reason of my hope grounded vpon the promise of God The second Reason of my hope that Catholike Religion may be a great meanes of honour and security to your Maiesties posteritie is taken from the consideration of your Neighbours the Kings and Princes of Christendome among whom there is no State ancient and truly Honorable but only those that are Catholike The reason whereof I take to be because the Rules of Catholike Religion are Eternall vniuersall and constant vnto themselues and withall so consonant vnto Maiestie and Greatnesse as they haue made and preserued the Catholike Church most Reuerent and Venerable through out the World for these thousand and six hundred yeares and those temporall States that haue been conformable therevnto haue been alwaies most honorable and so are like to continue vntill they hearken vnto Schisme And as for those that haue reiected and opposed the rules of Catholike Religion they haue been driuen in short time to degenerate and become either Tyrannicall or Popular your Maiesty I know doth abhorre Tyrannie but if Schisme and Heresie might haue their full swing ouer the Seas the very shadow and Rehques of Maiesty in England should be vtterly defaced and quickly turned into Heluetian or Belgian popularitie for they that make no conscience to prophane the Maiesty of God his Saints in the church will after they feele their strength make no bones to violate the Maiesty of the King and his children in the common wealth 11 I know well that the Puritans of England the Hugenots of France and the Geuses of Germanie togither with the rest of the Caluinists of all sorts are a
great faction of christendom and they are glad to haue the pretence of so great a Maiesty to be their chiefe and of your posterity to be their hope but I cannot be perswaded that they euer will or can ioyne togither to aduance your Maiesty or your children farther then they may make a present gaine by you They are not agreed of their owne religion nor of the principles of vniuersall and eternall truth and how can they be constant in the rules of particular and transitory honor where there is Nullum Principium ordinis there can be Nullum Principium honoris such is their case there is a voice of confusion among them as well in matters of State as of Religion Their power is great but not to edification They ioyne together only against good order which they call the Common Enemy and if they can destroy that they will in all likelihood turne their fury against themselues and like Diuells torment like Serpents deuour one another In the meane time if they can make their Bourgers Princes and turne old Kingdomes into new States it is like enough they will do it but that they will euer agree together to make any one Prince King or Emperour ouer them all and yeeld due obedience vnto him further then either their gaine shall allure them or his sword shall compell them that I cannot perswade my selfe to beleeue And therefore I cannot hope that your Maiesty or your posterity can expect the like honor or security from them which you might doe from Catholike Princes if you were ioyned firmely to them in the vnity of Religion 12 The third reason of my hope that Catholike religion should be most auailable for the honor and security of your Maiesty and your children is taken from the consideration of your subiects which can be kept in obedience to God and to their King by no other religion and least of all by the Caluinists for if their principles be receiued once and well drunke in and digested by your subiects they will openly maintaine that God hath as well predestinated men to be Traitors as to be Kings and he hath as well predestinated men to be Theeues as to be Iudges and he hath as well predestinated that men should sinne as that Christ should die for sinne which kinde of disputations I know by my experience in the Country that they are ordinary among your country Caluinists that take themselues to be learned in the Scriptures especially when they are met in the Ale-house and haue found a weaker brother whom they thinke fit to be instructed in these profound mysteries And howsoeuer they be not yet all so impudent as to hold all these conclusions in plaine termes yet it is certaine they all hold these principles of doctrine from whence working heads of greater liberty doe at their pleasures draw these consequences in their liues and practises And is this a Religion fit to keepe subiects in obedience to their Soueraignes 13 Heere I know the great Masters of Schisme will neuer leaue obiecting the horrible treason of certaine Catholikes against your Maiesty which if the Diuell had not wrote to their hands they had had little to say against Catholike Religion before this day But I humbly intreat that the fact of some few men may not be for euer obiected against the truth of a generall Rule It is not the question which Religion will make all your subiects true but which religion is most like to make all true It is certaine there be Traytors against God and man of all Religions and Catholikes as they are the best subiects so when they fall to it they are the worst Traytors But if we will looke vpon examples or consider of reasons The Catholike is the only Religion which as it doth duely subordinate Kings vnto God so doth it effectually binde subiects to performe all lawfull obedience vnto their Kings I will not repeate examples because the Ancient are tedious and the present are odious But if there can be but one King named in all the world that did euer receiue honor from Caluinists farther then to be their Champion or Protector vntill their turne were serued then I may be content to beleeue that your Maiesty and your Family shall receiue perpetuity from them But if your Caluinists doe professe to honor you and all other Caluinists doe ouerthrow their Kings and Princes wheresoeuer they can preuaile I can hardly beleeue that yours doe meane any more good earnest then the rest There is certainly some other matter that they are contented for a time to honor your Maiesty it cannot be their religion that tyes them to it for it doth not tye them to it selfe There is no principle of any religion nor no article of any faith which a Caluinist will not call in question and either altogether deny or expound after his owne fancie and if he be restrained he cries out by and by that he cannot haue the liberty of his conscience And what bond of obedience can there be in such religion 14 It is commonly obiected by Statesmen that it is no matter what opinions men hold in matters of Religion so that they be kept in awe by Iustice and by the sword Indeed for this world it were no matter at all for Religion if it were possible without it to doe Iustice and to keepe men in awe by the sword In Military estates whilest the sword is in the hand there is the lesse need of religion and yet the greatest and most Martiall States that euer were haue beene willing to vse the conscience and reuerence of some religion or other to prepare the subiects to obedience But in a peaceable Gouernment such as all Christian Kingdomes doe professe to be if the reines of religion be let loose the sword commonly is too weake and comes too late and will be like enough to giue the day to the Rebell and seeing the last and strongest bond of Iustice is an oath which is a principall act of religion and were but a mockry if it were not for the punishment of hell and the reward of heauen it is vnpossible to execute Iustice without the helpe of Religion And therefore the neglect and contempt of religion hath euer been and euer shall be the fore-runner of destruction in all setled States whatsoeuer 15 The Diuell that intendeth the destruction as well of bodies as of soules and of whole States as of particular men doth not commonly beginne with mens bodies and with matters of State but being himselfe a spirit and the father of lyes he doth first insinuat himselfe into mens vnderstandings by false principles of religion whereinto he hath the more easie entrance because he hath perswaded their Gouernours to beleeue that it is no great matter what opinions men hold in matters of religion so that they looke well into their actions and keep them in obedience which perswasion is all one as if the Enemy that besiegeth a Citie
A Treatise VVritten by M. Doctor CARIER vvherein hee layeth downe sundry learned and pithy considerations by which he was moued to forsake the Protestant Congregation and to betake himselfe to the Catholike Apostolike Roman Church Agreeing verbatim with the written Copye addressed by the sayd Doctor to the King his most Excellent MAIESTIE PSALM 44. Mine heart will vtter forth a good matter I will entreat in my workes of the King 1614. The Preface to the Reader HAuing exactly pervsed good Reader this Treatise here presented to thy view and finding it both in stuffe and stile to be learnedly and eloquently contriued I tooke my selfe in some sort obliged in Christian duety to divulge it in Print to the World vnwittingly I confesse to the Author Howbeit encroching vpon his charitable consent who I am well assured is most forward to defray his Talent in ought wherein the Catholike Roman Religion may be aduanced Of this full and firme resolution he hath made effectiue proofe not only in wordes but also in workes The Author as it is notoriously knowne hath gained Name and Fame among the Protestants Hauing beene a Teacher in their Colleges a Preacher in their Pulpits a Doctor in their Schooles a Canon in their Churches Chapplain to the King his most excellent Maiestie flowing in wealth supported with the credit of the Court most likely in short time to aspire to higher Ecclesiasticall preferments had he persisted in the course of his former Profession yet notwithstanding all these worldly allurements which are in good sooth wonderous intycing baites to hooke and to hold an vnstayed Soule M. Doctor Carier hauing from his greener yeares wallowed himselfe in the choicest Writings of the most learned Protestants and confronting in his mature Age their wauering opinions with the vniforme and setled consent of the auncient Fathers found the New so opposite to the Old that at length receiuing gracious light from the Father of lights did teare at a trice all these forementioned earthly snares resoluing not to wander any longer like a lost sheep but to come to the fold of the Catholike Roman Church and conscquently choosing like a zealous Moyses to be afflicted with the people of God then to haue the pleasure of temporall sinne These and the like pregnant points are sufficiently debated in this Treatise which I wish thee gentle Reader to pervse with heedfull attention whereby the Authour his paines may turne to thy profit if happily thou be altenated from the Catholike Roman Religion Alwayes presenting thy prayers to our Lord sweet Iesus that he vouchsafe to illuminate thy minde in the passage of thy eternall salvation that thou mayest prefer light before darknesse truth before falshood Catholike Religion before particular opinions as M. Doctor Carier hath done vpon such sound and grounded reasons as he hath opned in this Treatise And this wishing that good to thy Soule which I wish to mine owne I betake thee good Reader to the direction and protection of the Author and giuer of grace and glory MOST EXCELLENT AND RENOWNED SOVERAIGNE IT is not vnknowne to all that know me in England that for these many yeares I had my health very ill And therefore hauing from time to time vsed all the meanes and medicines that England could afford Last of all by the aduice of my Physitions I made it my humble sute vnto your Maiestie that I might tranell vnto the Spaw for the vse of those waters purposing with my self that if I could be well I would goe from thence to Heydelberg and spend this Winter there But when I was gone from the Spaw to Aquisgrane and so to Colin I found my self rather worse then better then I was before And therefore I resolued with my selfe that it was high time for me to settle my thoughts vpon another world And seeing I was out of hope to enioy the health of my body at the least to looke to the health of my soule from whence both Art and experience teacheth me that all my bodily infirmities haue their beginning for if I could by any studie haue proued Catholike religion to be false or by any meanes haue professed it to be true in England I doubt not but the contentment of my soule would haue much helped the health of my body But the more I studied the Scriptures and most ancient Fathers to confute it the more I was compelled to see the truth thereof And the more I laboured to reconcile the religion of England thereunto the more I was disliked suspected and condemned as a common enemie And if I would haue beene either ignorant or silent I might perhaps with the pleasures and commodities of my preferments haue in time cast off the care of religiō But seeing my study forced me to know and my place compelled me to preach I had no way to auoid my griefe nor no means to endure it I haue therefore apprehended the oportunitie of my Licence to trauell that I may withdraw my selfe for a while from the sight and offence of those in England which hate Catholik religion and freely and fully enioy the presence of our blessed Sauiour in the vnitie of his Catholike Church wherein I will neuer forget at the daily oblation of his most blessed bodie and bloud to lift vp my heart vnto him and to pray for the admission of your Maiesty therevnto And in the meane time I haue thought it my dutie to write this short Treatise with mine owne hand wherein before I publish my selfe vnto the world I desire to shew to your Maiestie these two things 1. The meanes of my conuersion vnto Catholike Religion 2. The hopes I have to doe your Maiestie no ill seruice therein I humbly craue your Maiesties pardon and will rest euer Your Maiesties faithfull and truely denoted seruant B. CARIER Liege Decemb. 12. 1613. CHAP. I. The meanes of my Conuersion To Catholike Religion I Must confesse to Gods honor and my owne shame that if it had bin in my power to choose I would neuer haue bin a Catholike I was borne and brought vp in schisme and was taught to abhorre a Papist as much as any Puritane in England doth I had euer a great desire to iustifie the Religion of the State and had great hope to aduance my selfe thereby Neither was my hope euer so great as by your Maiesties fauour it was at the very instant of my resolution for Catholike religion and the preferment I had together with the honor of your Maiesties seruice was greater by much then without your Maiesties fauour I looke for in this world But although I was as ambitious of your Maiesties fauour and as desirous of the honors and pleasures of my Countrey as any man that is therein yet seeing that I was not like any long while to enioy them and if I should for my priuate commodity speake or write or doe any thing against the honour of Christ his Church and against the euidence of mine
or nothing left at the yeares end to lay vp for his children that encrease and grow vpon him may remember that in Catholike times there were better peny-worthes to be had when the Clergie had a great part of the land in their hands who had no need to rayse their Rents themselues and did what they might to make other Lords let at a reasonable rate which was also an inestimable benefit to the Commons So that whereas ignorant men caried with enuie against the Clergie are wont to obiect the multitude of them and the greatnesse of their prouisions they speake therein as much against themselues as is possible For the greater the number is of such men as are Mundo Mortus the more is the exoneration of the Commons and the more the lands is of such as can haue no proprietie in them the better is the prouision of the Commons For themselues can haue no more but their food and regular apparell all the rest either remaines in the hands of the Tenants or returnes in hospitalitie and reliefe to their neighbours or kept as in a liuing Exchequer for the seruice of the Prince and Countrie in time of necessitie So that the Commons doth gaine no wealth at all but rather doe lose much by the Schisme 42 And as for libertie they are indeed freed from the possibilitie of going to shrift that is of confessing their sinnes to God in the care of a Catholie Priest and receiuing comfort and counsel against their sinnes from God by the mouth of the same Priest which duetie is required of Catholike people but only once in the yeare but performed by them with great comfort and edification very often so that a man may see and wonder to see many hundred at one Altar to communicate euery Sunday with great deuotion and lightly no day passe but diuers doe confesse are absolued and receiue the blessed Sacrament The poore Commons of England are freed from this comfort neither is it possible vnlesse their Ministers had the seat of secresie for them to vse it And what is the libertie that they haue in stead thereof Surely the seruants haue great libertie against their Masters by this meanes and the children against their parents and the people against their Prelats and the subiects against their Ring and all against the Church of Christ that is against their owne good and the common saluation for without the vse of this Sacrament neither can inferiours bee kept in awe but by the gallowes which will not saue them from hell nor superiours be euer told of their Errors but by Rebellion which will not bring them to Heauen These and such like bee the liberties that both Prince and People doe enioy by the want of Confession and of Catholike Religion 43 As for the libertie of making Lawes in Church matters the common Lawyer may perhaps make an advantage of it and therefore greatly stand vpon it but to the common People it is no pleasure at all but rather a great burthen For the great multitude of Statutes which haue beene made since the Schisme which are more then fiue times so many that euer were made before since the name of Parliament was in England hath caused also an infinite number of Lawyers all which must liue 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 soone be marred And therefore most of your Lawyers in this point are Puritans and doe still furnish the Parliament with grieuances against the Clergie as knowing very well that their owne glory came at the first from the Court Infidel and therefore cannot stand with the authoritie of the Church which came at the first from the Court Christian. I speake 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 honor all good men among them and doe for better times by the Learning Wisedome and 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 trouble and preiudice your Maiestie and pleasure none at all but the Puritan and Petty-fogging Lawyer that would faine fetch the Antiquitie 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 libertie of the Commons of England if the Puritan Preacher and Puritan Lawyer who both doe seeke the ouerthrow of the Church and deceiue and consume the people would let them alone there would quickly appeare no reason of their State at all why they should hate the Catholike Church that is so comfortable and beneficiall vnto them or maintaine the Schisme that with sugred speeches and counterfeit faces doth so much abuse them 44 I am therefore in very assured hope that by my comming to the Catholike Church besides the satisfying and sauing of mine owne soule I shall doe no ill seruice to your Maiestie 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 if any of these that is sufficient to disswade vnitie There is onely the Clergie left which if Caluinisme may goe on and preuaile as it doth shall not in the next age be left to be satisfied And there is little reason that any man that loues the Clergie should desire to satisfie such Clergie men as doe vnderhand fauour Caluinists and maintaine such points of Doctrine as if your Maiesties fauour were not would out of hand ouerthrow the Clergie and in stead of them set vp a few stipendarie Preachers 45 There neuer was is nor shall be any well setled State in the world either Christian or Heathen but the Clergie and Priest-hood was is and must be a principall part of the Gouernment depending vpon none but him only whom they suppose to be their God But where Caluinisme preuaileth three or foure stipendarie Ministers that must preach as it shall please Master Maior and his brethren may serue for a whole Citie And indeed if their opinions be true it is but a folly for any State to maintaine any moe For if God hath predestinated a certaine number to be saued without any condition at all of their being in the visible Church by faith or their perseuering theroin by good workes if God hath reprobated the greatest part of the world without any respect at all of their infi delitie Heresie or wicked life if the faith of Christ benothing else but the assured perswasion of a mans owne 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 Couenant of his parents faith if Priest-hood
owne conscience I must shortly appeare before the same Christ in the presence of the same his Church to giue an account thereof Therefore I neither durst any further to pursue my owne desire of honor nor to hazard my soule any farther in the iustification of that religion which I saw was impossible to be iustified by any such reason as at the day of Iudgement would goe for payment and that it may appeare that I haue not respected any thing so much in this world as my dutie to your Maiestie and my loue to my friends and Country I humbly beseech you giue me leaue as briefely as I can to recount vnto you the whole course of my studies and endeuours in this kinde euen from the beginning of my life vntill this ptesent 2 I was borne in the yeare 1566. being the sonne of ANTY CARIER a learned and deuout man who although he were a Protestant and a Preacher yet he did so season me with the principles of pietie and deuotion as I could not chuse but euer since be very zealous in matters of Religion Of him I learned that all false religions in the world were but policies inuented of men for the temporall seruice of Princes and States and therefore that they were diuers and alwayes changeable according to the diuers reasons and occasions of State But true Christian religion was a truth reuealed of God for the eternall saluation of soules and therefore was like to God alwayes one and the same so that all the Princes and States in the world neuer haue beene nor shall be able to ouerthrow that Religion This to mee seemed an excellent ground for the finding out of that religion wherein a man might finde rest vnto his soule which cannot be satisfied with any thing but eternall truth 3 My next care then was after I came to yeares of discretion by all the best means I could to informe my selfe whether the Religion of England were indeed the very same which being prefigured and prophecied in the old Testament was perfected by our blessed Sauiour and deliuerd to his Apostles and Disciples to continue by perpetuall succession in his visible Church vntill his comming againe or whether it were a new one for priuate purposes of Statesmen inuented and by humane lawes established Of this I could not chuse but make some doubt because I heard men talke much of those dayes of the change of religion which was then lately made in the beginning of Queene ELIZABETHS raigne 4 I was sorie to heare of change and of a new Religion seeing me thought in reason if true religion were Eternall then new religion could not be true But yet I hoped that the religion of England was not a change or new religion but a restitution of the olde and that the change was in the Church of Rome which in processe of time might perhaps grow to be superstitious and Idolatrous and therefore that England had done well to leaue the Church of Rome and to reforme it selfe and for this purpose I did at my leasure and best oportunitie as I came to more iudgement read ouer the Chronicles of England and obserued all the alterations of religion that I could find therein but when I found there that the present religion of England was a plaine change and change vpon change and that there was no cause of the change at all of the first but only that King HENRY the eight was desirous to change his old Bed-fellow that he might leaue some heires male behind him for belike hee feared that females would not be able to withstand the Title of Scotland and that the change was continued and increased by the posterity of his latter wiues I could not choose but suspect something but yet the loue of the world and hope of preferment would not suffer me to beleeue but that all was well and as it ought to be 5 This I satisfied my selfe at schoole and studied the Artes and Philosophie and other humane learning vntill being Master of Artes and Fellow of Corpus Christi Colledge in Cambridge I was at the last by the Statutes of that house called to the studie of Diuinitie and bound to take vpon me the order of Priest-hood then I thought it my duty for the better satisfaction of mine owne soule and the sauing of other mens to looke as farre into the matter as possibly I could that I might find out the truth And hauing the oportunity of a very good Library in that Colledge I resolued with my selfe to studie hard and sâ—tting aside all respect of men then aliue or of Writers that had moued or maintained controuersies further then to vnderstand the question which was betwixt them I fell to my praiers and betooke my selfe wholy to the reading of the Church historie and of the ancient Fathers which had no interest in either side and especially I made choise of Saint AVGVSTINE because I hoped to finde most comfort in him for the confirming of our Religion and the confuting of the Church of Rome 6 In this sort I spent my time continually for many yeares and noted downe whatsoeuer I could gather or rather snatch either from the Scriptures or the Fathers to serue my turne But when after all my paines and desire to serue my selfe of antiquitie I found the doctrine of the Church of Rome to be euery where confirmed and by most profound demonstrations out of holy Scripture made most agreeable to the truth of Christs Gospell and most conformable to all Christian soules and saw the current opinions of our great Preachers to bee euery where confuted either in plaine termes or by most vnanswerable consequence although my vnderstanding was thereby greatly edified for which I had great cause to render immortall thankes to our blessed Sauiour who by these meanes had vouchsafed to shew himselfe vnto me yet my heart was much grieued that I must be faine either not to preach at all or else to crosse and varie from the doctrine which I saw was commonly receiued 7 Being thus perplexed with my selfe what course I were best to take I reflected back again vpon the Church of England and because the most of those Preachers which drew the people after them in those dayes were Puritans and had grounded their Diuinitie vpon CALVINS Institutions I thought peraduenture that they hauing gotten the multitude on their side might wrong the Church of England in her doctrine as well as they desired to doe in her Discipline which indeed vpon due search I found to be most true for I found the Common-prayer-booke and the Catechisme therein contained to hold no point of doctrine expressely contrarie to antiquitie but only that it was very defectiue and contained not enough And that for the doctrine of Predestination Sacraments Grace Free-will Sinne c. the new Catechismes and Sermons of those Preachers did run wholly against the Common-prayer book and Catechismes therin and did make as little account of the Doctrine
established by law as they did of Discipline but in the one they found opposition by those that had priuate interest in the other they said what they list because no man thought himselfe hurt 8 This truely was a great increase of my griefe for knowing diuers of those Preachers to be very honest men and such as I did loue with all my heart I was very loth to discent from them in priuate much more loth to oppose them in publike And yet seeing I must needs preach I was lothest of all to oppugne mine owne conscience together with the faith wherein I was baptized and the soules of those to whom I preached Neuerthelesse hauing gotten this ground to worke vpon I began to comfort my selfe with hope to proue that the Religion established by law in England was the same at the least in part which now was and euer had beene held in the Catholike Church the defects whereof might be supplied whensoeuer it should please God to moue your Maiesty thereunto without abrogating of that which was already by law established which I still pray for and am not altogether out of hope to see and therfore I thought it my duty as farre as I durst rather by charitable constru ctions reconcile things that seemed different that so our soules might for euer be saued in vnitie then by malicious calumniations to maintaine quarrells that so mens turnes might for a time be serued in dissention 9 In this course although I did neuer proceed any farther then law would giue me leaue yet I euer found the Puritans and Caluinists and all the creatures of Schisme to be my vtter enemies who were also like the sonnes of ZERVIACH too strong for DAVID himselfe but I wel perceiued that all temperat and vnderstanding men who had no interest in the Schisme were glad to heare the truth honestly and plainly preached vnto them And my hope was by patience and continuance I should in the end vnmaske Hypocrisie and gaine credit vnto the comfortable doctrine of Antiquity euen amongst those also who out of misinformation and preiudice did as yet most dislike it And considering with my selfe that your right to the Crowne came only by Catholikes and was ancienter then the Schisme which would very faine haue vtterly extinguished it and that both your disposition by nature your amity with Catholike Princes your speeches and your proclamations did at the beginning all tend to peace and vnitie I hoped that this endeuour of mine to enforce Catholike religion at the least as farre as the Common-prayer booke and Catechisme would giue me leaue should be well accepted of your Maiestie and be as an introduction vnto farther peace and vnitie with the Church of Rome 10 But when after my long hope I at the last did plainly perceiue that God for our sinnes had suffered the Diuell the author of dissention so farre to preuaile as partly by the furious practise of some desperate Catholikes and partly by the fiery suggestions of all violent Puritans he had quite diuerted that peaceable and temperat course which was hoped for and that I must now either alter my iudgement which was impossible or preach against my conscience which was vntollerable Lord what anxietie and distraction of soule did I suffer day and night what strife betwixt my iudgement which was wholly for the peace and vnitie of the Church and my affection which was wholly to enioy the fauour of your Maiestie and the loue of my friends and country This griefe of soule growing now desperate did still more and more increase the infirmities of my bodie and yet I was so loth to become a ptofessed Catholike with the displeasure of your Maiesty and of all my honourable and louing friends as I rather desired to silence my iudgement with the profits and pleasures of the world which was before me then to satisfie it with reconciling my selfe vnto the Catholike Church But it was Gods will that euer as I was about to forget the care of Religion and to settle my selfe to the world among my neighbours I met with such humors as I saw by their violence against Catholikes and Catholike Religion were like to waken my soule by torture rather then bring it a sleepe by temper And therefore I was driuen to recoile to God and to his Church that I might finde rest vnto my soule 11 And yet because I had heard often that the practize of the Church of Rome was contrary to her doctrine I thought good to make one triall more before I resolued and therefore hauing the aduise of diuers learned Phisitions to goe to the Spaw for the health of my body I thought good to make a vertue of necessity and to get leaue to goe the rather for the satisfaction of my Soule hoping to finde some greater offence in the seruice of the Church of Rome then I had done in her books that so I might returne better contented to persecute and abhorre the Catholikes at home after I should find them so wicked and Idolatrous abroad as they were in euery Pulpit in England affirmed to be For this purpose before I would frequent their Churches I talked with such learned men as I could meet withall and did of purpose dispute against them and with all the wit and learning I had both iustifie the doctrine of England established by Law and obiect the Superstition and Idolatry which I thought they might commit either with the Images in the Church or with the Sacrament of the Altar 12 Their common answer was that which by experience I now find to be true vz. that they doe abhor all Idolatry and superstition and doe diligently admonish the people to take heed thereof And that they vse Images for no other purpose but only for a deuout memory and representation of the Church Triumphant which is most fit to be made in the time and place of prayer where after a more speciall manner we should with all reuerence haue our conuersation amongst the Saints in heauen And for the B. Sacrament they doe not worship the Accidents which they see but the Substance which they belieue and surely if Christ be there truly and really present as your Maiesty seemeth to grant he is he is as much to be worshipped as if we saw him with our bodily eyes Neither is there any more Idolatrie in the one then in the other If our blessed Sauiour himselfe should visibly appeare in person as he was vpon the earth Iewes and Infidels would hold it for Idolatrie to worship him and would crucifie him againe and so would all Heretikes also who refuse to worship him in the Sacrament where he is really present 13 After diuers other obiections which I made not so much because I was not as because I desired not to be satisfied I came to the Popes supposed pride and tyranny ouer Kings and Princes and told them of the most horrible treason intended practised by Catholikes against your Maiestie
like manner made and confirmed that it is death to exhort the people of England to Catholike Roman religion I am perswaded that the religion prescribed and practised by the Church of Rome is the true Catholike religion which I will particularly iustisie and make plaine from point to point if God giue time and oportunitie and therefore I cannot choose but perswade the people thereunto It may be these are not all seuerall Statutes some of them may be members of the same for I haue not my books about me to search but I am sure all of them doe make such felonies and treasons as were the greatest vertues of the Primitiue Church and such as I must needs confesse my-selfe I cannot choose if I liue in England but endeauour to be guilty of and then it were easie to finde Puritans enough to make a Iury against me and there would not want a Iustice of Peace to giue a sentence and when they had done that which is worse then the persecution it selfe they would all sweare solemnely that Doctor CARIER was not put to death for Catholike Religion but for felony and treason I haue no hope of protection against the crueltie of those lawes if your Maiestie be resolued vpon no conditions whatsoeuer to haue no society at all nor no communion at all with the Church of Rome And therfore whilest the case so stands I dare not returne home againe But I cannot be altogether out of hope of better newes before I die as long as I doe beleeue that the Saints in heauen doe reioyce at the conuersion of a sinner to Christ and doe know that your Maiesty by your birth hath so great an interest in the Saints of heauen as you shall neuer cease to haue vntill you cease to be the sonne of such a mother as would reioyce more then all the rest for your conuersion And therefore I assure my selfe that she with all the rest doe pray that your Maiestie before you die may be militant in the communion of that Church wherein they are triumphant And in this hope I am gone before to ioyne my prayers with theirs in the vnity of the Catholike Church And doe humbly pray your Maiesty to pardon me for doing that which was not in my power to auoide and to giue mee leaue to liue where I hope shortly to die vnlesse I may hope to doe your Maiesty seruice and without the preiudice of any honest man in England to see some vnity betwixt the Church of England and her Mother the Church of Rome And now hauing declared the meanes of my conuersion to Catholike Religion I will briefely also shew vnto you the hopes I haue to do your Maiesty no ill seruice therein CHAP. II. The hopes I haue to doe your Maiestie no ill seruice in being Catholike MY first hope that your Maiesty will accept of that for the best seruice I can doe you which doth most further the glorie of our blessed Sauiour and my owne saluation Indeed there are Kingdomes in the world where the chiefe care of the Gouernour is Non quam bonis prosme sed qua subditis such were the Heathen Kingdomes which S. AVGVSTINE describes in his 2. De ciuit Dei cap. 20. In such common-wealths the way to be good subiects is not to be a good man but to serue the times and the turnes of them that beare the fway whatsoeuer they are But if it be true that as some holy and learned Fathers teacheth that in a well ordered gouernment there is eadem faealicitas vnius hominis ac totius ciuit atis then I am sure that it must follow that in a cōmon wealth truly Christian there is eadem virtus boni viri ac boni ciuis And therefore being a Minister and Preacher of England if I wil rather serue your Maiesty then my selfe and rather procure the good of your Kingdom then my owne preferment I am bound in duty to respect and seeke for those things aboue all other that may aduance the honour of God and the saluation of my owne soule and the soules of those which doe any way belong to my charge and being sufficiētly resolued that nothing can more aduance the honor of our Sauiour and the common saluation then to be in the vnitie of his Church I haue done you the best seruice I could at home by preaching peace and reconciliation and being not able for the malice of the times to stand any longer in the breach at home I thinke it safest in this last cast to looke to mine owne game and by my daily prayers and dying to doe your Maiesty the same seruice in the vnity of the Church which by my daily preaching and liuing I did endeauour to doe in the midst of the Schisme 2 And although it be sufficient for a man of my profession to respect only matters of heauen and of another world yet because this world was made for that other I haue not regarded mine owne estate that I might respect your Maiesties therein and after long and serious meditation which Religion might most honor your Maiesty euen in this world I haue conceiued vndoubted hope that there is no other Religion that can procure true honor and securitie to your Maiesty and your posteritie in this world but the true Catholike Roman Religion which was the very same whereby all your glorious predecessors haue beene aduanced and protected on earth and are euerlastingly blessed in heauen 3 The first reason of my hope is the promise of God himselfe to blesse and honor those that blesse his Church and honor him and to curse and confound those that curse his Church and dishonor him which he hath made good in all ages There was neuer any Man or Citie or State or Empire so preserued and aduanced as they that haue preserued the vnitie and aduanced the prosperitie of the Church of Christ. Nor euer any beene made more miserable and inglorious then they that haue dishonored Christ and made hauoke of his Church by Schisme and Heresie 4 If I had leasure and bookes it were easie for me to enlarge this point with a long enumeration of particulars But I thinke it needlesse because I cannot call to minde any example to the contrarie except it bee the State of Queene ELIZABETH or some one or two other lately fallen from the vnity of the Catholike Church or the State of the great Turke that doth stil persecute the Church of Christ and yet continues in great glory in this world But when I consider of Queene ELIZABETH I find in her many singularities she was a Woman and a Maiden Queen which gaue her many advantages of admiration she was the last of her Race and needed not care what became of the World after her owne dayes were ended She came vpon the Remainders of deuotion and Catholike Religion which like a Bowle in his course or an Arrow in his flight would goe on for a while by the force of
should perswade the garrison that they might surrender the castle vnto him well enough and keepe the base towne to themselues But when the Diuell hath preuailed so farre as by false opinions in matters of the first truth that is of Religion to get the vnderstanding in possession which is the castle as it were watch-tower of both the soule and body and state and all he will peraduenture dissemble his purpose for a while and by slandering of the truth and pleasing them with the trifles of the world which by Gods permission are in his power make men beleeue that the world is amended for Nemorepentè fit pessimus but shortly after when he seeth his time he will out of his Arsenale of false apprehensions in vnderstanding send forth such distorted engines of life and actions as will easily subdue both body and goods and states and all to his deuotion 16 The Caluinisticall Preacher when he hath gotten his honest abused and misguided flock about him will cry out against me for this Popish collection and cal God and them to witnes that he doth daily in his Sermons exhort men to good workes and to obedience vnto the Kings Maiesty and am not I and my brethren saith he and our flocks as honest and as ciuill men as any Papist of them all For mine owne part I will not accuse any Caluinist though I could neither can I excuse all Papists though I would Iliacos inter muros peccator extra But I must neuer forget that most true and wise obseruation which the Noble and learned Sir FRANCIS BACON maketh in one of his first Essayes vz. that all Schismatikes vtterly failing in the Precepts of the first Table concerning the religion and worship of God haue Necessity in Policie to make a good shew of the second Table by their ciuill and demure conuersation towards men For otherwise they should at the first appeare to be as afterwards they shew themselues to be altogether out of their ten Commandements and so men would be as much ashamed to follow them at the first as they are at the last It is a sure rule of Policie that in euery mutation of State the Authors of the Change will for a while shew themselues honest rather of spite then of conscience that they may disgrace those whom they haue suppressed but it doth neuer hold in the next generation You shall scarce heare of a Puritan father but his sonne proues either a Catholike or an Atheist Mutinous souldiers whilest the enemy is in the field will be orderly not for loue of their Generall but for feare of the enemie but if they be not held in the ancient discipline of warres they will vpon the least truce or cessation quickly shew themselues 17 And as for their exhortations to obedience to your Maiesty when they haue first infected the vnderstanding of your subiects with such principles of rebellion as haue disturbed and ouerthrowne all other States where they had their will it is a ridiculous thing to thinke vpon such exhortations and all one as if a phantasticall fellow finding a herd of yong cattell in a close should first breake downe the hedges and then cry alowd to the cattell they do not venture to go out nor to seeke any fatter pasture for feare they be put into the pound and if they chance to feed where they are because they haue no experience of other and to tary in the close for an houre or two then the vnhappy fellow should runne to the owner of the cattell and tell him what great seruice he had done him and how he had kept his cattell in the close by his goodly charmes and exhortations Let them say what they list of their owne honesty and of their exhortations to obedience as long as they do freely infect the peoples soules with such false opinions in Religion they do certainly sow the seeds of disobedience and Rebellion in mens vnderstandings which if they be not preuented by your Maiesties giuing way to Catholike Religion will in all likelihood spring vp in the next generation to the great preiudice and molestation of your Maiesty and your posterity So that whether I do respect heauen or earth mine owne soule or the seruice of your Maiesty God or your Neighbours or your subiects my assured hope is that by ioyning my selfe to the Catholike Church I neither haue done nor euer shall do any ill duty or seruice vnto your Maiesty 18 But perhaps there is such opposition both in matter of doctrine and in matter of State as it is impossible that euer there should be any reconciliation in at all betwixt the Church of England and the Church of Rome of which I humbly pray your Maiesty to giue me leaue to shew to you what I haue obserued 19 It is true the breach hath continued now these many years and it is much increased by so long continuance so that it was neuer greater then it seems to be at this day nor neuer more dangerous to deale withall for if a man do but go about to stop it there ariseth presently a great and fearfull noise and roaring of the waters against him but yet neuerthelesse the greatnes of the noise ought not to discourage vs but rather to giue vs hope that although it be wide yet it is but shallow and not far from the bottome as proceeding from affection which is sudden and violent and not from iudgement which is quiet constant and alwayes like it selfe for if a man aske in cold bloud whether a Roman Catholike may be saued the most learned Church-man will not deny it And if a man aske whether a Roman Catholike may be a good subiect the most wise Statesman will easily grant it May we be both saued then we are not diuided in God May we be both good subiects then we are not diuided in the King What reason is there then that we should be thus hotly and vnplacably diuided 20 Truely there is no reason at all but only the violence of affection which being in a course cannot without some force be stayed The multitude doth seldome or neuer iudge according vnto truth but according vnto customes And therefore hauing been bred and brought vp in the hatred of Spaniards and Papists cannot choose but thinke they are bound to hate them still and that whosoeuer speaketh a word in fauour of the Church of Rome or of Catholike Religion is their vtter enemy And the Puritanicall Preacher who can haue no being in charity doth neuer cease by falsifications and slanders to blow the coales that he may burne them and warme himselfe But if your Maiesty shall euer be pleased to command those make-bates to hold their peace a while and to say nothing but that they are able to proue by sufficient authority before those that are able to iudge and in the meane time to admit a conference of learned and moderate men on either side the people who are now abused and
of Schisme and raised your Maiestie to restore it as your most wise and Catholike Progenitor King HENRY the seuenth did leaue it 34 But perhaps the Schisme though it serue you to no other vse at all for your Title yet it doth much encrease your authoritie and your wealth and therefore it cannot stand with your honor to further the vnitie of the Church of Christ. Truely those your most famous and renowned Ancestors that did part with their authority their wealth to bestow them vpon the Church of Christ and did curse and execrate those that should diminish and take them away againe did not thinke so nor finde it so and I would to God your Maiestie were so powerfull and so rich as some of those Kings weré that were most bountifull that way You are our Soueraigne Lord all our bodies and our goods are at your command but our soules as they belong not to your charge but as by way of protection in Catholike Religion so they cannot encrease your honor or authoritie but in a due subordination vnto Christ and to those that supply his place in ijs quae sunt Iuris diuini It was essentiall to Heathen Emperors to be Pontifices as well as Reges because they were themselues Authors of their owne Religion But among Christians where Religion comes from Christ who was no worldly Emperour though aboue them all the Spirituall and Temporall authoritie haue two beginnings and therefore two Supreames who if they be subordinate doe vphold and increase one another But if the Temporall authoritie doe oppose the Spirituall it destroyeth it selfe and dishonoreth him from whom the Spirituall authority is deriued Heresy doth naturally spread it selfe like a canker and needs little help to put it forward so that it is an easie matter for a mean Prince to be a great man amongst Heretikes but it is an hard matter for a great King to gouerne them When I haue sometimes obserued how hardly your Maiestie could effect your most reasonable desires amongst those that stand most vpon your Supremacie I haue beene bold to be angrie but durst say nothing only I did with my selfe resolue for certaine that the Keyes were wont to doe the Crowne more seruice when they were in the Armes of the Miter then they can doe now they are tyed together with the Scepter and that your Title in Spirituall affaires doth but serue other mens turnes and not your owne 35 As for your wealth it is true that the Crowne hath more pence payed vnto it now then in Catholike times it had but it hath neuer the more wealth It is but the gaine of the Tellers to haue more money true wealth is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is the richest Prince that hath meanes to maintaine the greatest Armie and to doe most magnificent workes both in warre and in peace wherein the facts of Catholike Ancestors doe appeare vpon good Record your Maiesties are but yet hoped for and if euer you haue the helpe of Catholike religion to assist you I hope you shall excell them all otherwise I assure my selfe the Schisme will do what it can to make you poore and then complaine that you are not Rich. It was indeed one of the maine pretenses in the Statutes of HENRY the eight that the Schisme might enrich the King and maintaine his warres but God did not blesse it for notwithstanding all the Church-lands and goods and tenths and fruits and premuniries King HENRY the eight was faine to abase his coyne more then once and yet he died not so rich as his Catholike father left him And since his time what is become of the Court of augmentation what benefit you receiue of all the Church-lands more then your Progenitors did when they were in the hands of the Clergie what ease your subiects haue of subsidies thereby or in briefe how much your coffers are enriched you may be pleased to be informed by those that haue to doe with those offices and can readily giue you an account for mine owne part I haue diligently read ouer all the Statutes made by HENRY the eight and doe finde that the Euent are so cleane contrary to the Prefaces and pretences of them as if God of purpose would laugh them to scorne 36 There is yet another obiection or two in Reason of State concerning your Maiestie which seeme to be harder to answere then all the rest whereof the one is that your Maiestie hath vndertaken the cause in writing and set out a booke in print and it must needs be great dishonor to you to recall it This indeed is that which I haue heard the Caluinists of England often wish for before it was done and much boast of after it was by means effected that your Maiestie should be no longer able to shew your selfe indifferent as you did at the first but were now engaged vpon your honor to maintaine their partie and to oppugne the Catholikes and altogether to suppresse them But there is nothing in that booke why your Maiestie may not when you please admit the Popes supremacie in spiritualls And you are partly engaged thereby to admit the triall of the first generall Councels and the most ancient Fathers And as for the question of Antichrist it is but an Hypotheticall proposition and so reserued as you may recall your selfe when you will And howsoeuer that booke came forth either of your owne disposition or by the daily instigation of some others that did abuse your clemencie and seeke to send you of their owne errand it cannot serue their turnes nor hinder your Maiestie from hearkening to an end of contention For if King HENRY the eight in the iudgement of Protestants might saue his honor and contradict his booke from very good to starke naught they must not deny but that your Maiestie may encrease your honor by altering your booke from lesse good to much better 37 The other and the greatest obiection that howsoeuer your Maiestie before your comming to the Crowne and in the beginning of your raigne were in different yet after the Gunpowder-treason you were so angred and auerted as now you are resolued neuer to be friends And therefore he is no good subiect that will either himselfe be reconciled to the Church of Rome or perswade any of your subiects thereunto It is true I confesse your Maiestie had great cause to be throughly angrie and so had all good men whether Catholikes or Protestants but if your Maiestie will hearken to those that worke their owne purposes out of your anger you shall be driuen to liue and die out of charitie which although it be not so horrible to the bodie yet is it more harmefull to the soule then violent or sodaine death It is hard I confesse for a priuate man to asswage his anger on the sodaine and there is as much difference betwixt the anger of a priuate man and the indignations of a Prince as betwixt a blast vpon the riuer which is
soone downe and a storme vpon the sea which hauing raised the billowes to the height is nourished by the motion thereof and cannot settle againe in a long time But there is a time for all things And seuen yeares is a long time when a man is in the middest of his anger it pleaseth him not to be entreated by his neighbours much lesse by his seruants but when a man hath chidden and punished vntill he is wearie he will be content to heare his seruant speake reason And though he be not the wisest yet hee is the louingest seruant that will venter to speake to his Master in such a case God himselfe is exorable and it pleaseth him to be intreated by his seruants for his enemies I am perswaded there is no good Catholike in the world that can be your Maiesties enemie And therefore I doe assure my selfe that God will be pleased with you to heare them speake and not angrie with mee for mouing you thereunto And if your Maiestie doe but vouchsafe so much patience as to giue equall hearing I doubt not but you shall receiue such satisfaction as will giue you great quiet and contentment and disquiet none of your subiects but those onely that doe for their aduantage misinforme your Maiestie and mislead your people And if your Maiestie haue no such vse of the Schisme as King HENRY the eight and Queene ELIZABETH had and that it doth neither encrease your authoritie nor your wealth nor your honor but rather hinder them all and depriue you of that blessing which otherwise you might expect from Christ and his Church from your Catholike neighbour Princes and subiects and from the Saints in heauen in whose communion is the greatest comfort of euery Christian both in life and death then whatsoeuer some great Statesman may say to the contrarie I doe verily beleeue they doe but speake for themselues and that there is no true reason that may concerne your Maiestie to hinder you from admitting a toleration of Catholikes and Catholike Religion that those who cannot command their vnderstanding to thinke otherwise may finde the comfort they doe with so great zeale pursue in the vnitie of the Catholike Church amongst whom I confesse my selfe to be one that would thinke my selfe the happiest man in the world if I might vnderstand that your Maiestie were content that I should be so 38 But although your Maiestie sit at the sterne and command all yet you are caried in the same ship and it is not possible to weild so great a Vessell against winde and tide And therefore although it doe not concerne your Maiestie in your owne Estate yet if your Lords and your Commons and your Clergie doe reape any great benefit by the Schisme it will be very hard for your Maiestie to effect vnitie But if vpon due examination there be no such matter then it is but the crie of the passengers who for want of experience are afraid where there is no danger and that can be no hindrance to any course your Maiestie shall thinke to be best for the attaining of the Hauen 39 For mine owne part for the discharge of my dutie and conscience I haue considered of all their states and can resolue my selfe that I haue not preiudiced the state of any good subiect of yours but mine owne in comming to the Catholike Church And first for your Lords and Nobles It is true that many of their Ancestors were allowed a very good share in the diuision of the Church when the Schisme began and therefore it concerned them in reason of their State to maintaine the doctrine of Diuision But I thinke there are very few in England either Lords or other now possest of Abbey lands which haue not paid well for them and might not aswell possesse them in the vnitie of the Church as in the Schisme And there was a declaration made by the Pope to that purpose in Queene MARIES dayes so that there is now no need at all to preach against the merits of good Workes nor the vertue of the Sacraments nor the Inuocation of Saints nor the rest of Popery that built Churches vnlesse it be to helpe the Hugonots of France to pull them downe 40 But perhaps the Commons of England doe gaine so much by the Schisme as they cannot abide to heare of vnitie Indeed when the Puritan Preacher hath called his flocke about him and described the Church of Rome to be so ignorant so Idolatrous and so wicked as hee hath made himselfe beleeue she is then is he wont to congratulat his poore deceiued audience that they by the means of such good men as himselfe is are deliuered from the darkenesse and Idolatrie and wickednes of Poperie and there is no man dare say a word or once mutter to the contrarie But the people haue heard these lyes so long as most of them beginne to bee wearie and the wisest of them cannot but wonder how these Puritan Preachers should become more learned and more honest then all the rest that liued in ancient times or that liue still in Catholike Countries or then those in England whom thâ—se men are wont to condemne for Papists Neuerthelesse I confesse there bee many honest Men and Women amongst them that being caried away with preiudice pretext of Scriptures doe follow these Preachers more of zeale and deuotion to the truth as my selfe did vntill I knew it was but counterfeit And these good people if they might be so happy as to heare Catholikes answere for themselues and tell them the truth would be the most deuout Catholikes of all other But the most of the people were neuer led by Sermons if they were the Catholike Church is both able and willing to supply them farre better then the Schisme But it was an opinion of wealth and libertie which made them breake at the first and if they doe duely consider of it they are neuer the better for either of both but much the worse 41 For wealth the Puritan vnthrift that lookes for the ouerthrow of Bishops and Churches Cathedrall hopes to haue his share in them if rhey would fall once and therefore he cannot choose but desire to encrease the Schisme that he may gaine by it but the honest Protestant that can endure the State of the Church of England as it is could be content it were as it was for he should receiue more benefit by it euery way The poore Gentleman and Yeoman that are burthened with many children may remember that in Catholike times the Church would haue receiued and prouided for many of their sonnes and daughters so as themselues might haue liued and died in the seruice of God without posteritie and haue helped to maintaine the rest of their families which was so great a benefit to the Common-wealth both for the exoneration and prouision thereof as no humane policie can procure the like The Farmer and Husband-man who laboureth hard to discharge his payments and hath little
can do nothing but preach the Word as they call it which Lay-men must iudge of and may preach to if they will where occasion serues if the studie and knowledge of Antiquity Vniuersalitie and Consent be not necessarie but euery man may expound Scripture as his owne spirit shall moue him if I say these and such like opinions be as true as they are among the Caluinists in the world common and in England too much fauoured and maintained there will certainly appeare no reason at all vnto your Parliament whensoeuer your Maiestie or your Successor shall please to aske them why they should be at so great a charge as they are to maintaine so needlesse a partie as these opinions doe make the Clergie to be They can haue a great many more Sermons a great deale better cheape and in the opinion of Caluinisme the Clergie doe no other seruice They that doe in England fauour and maintaine those opinions and suppresse and disgrace those that doe confute them they although themselues can be content to be Lords and to goe in Rochets are indeed the greatest enemies of the Clergie And it were no great matter for the Clergie they might easily turne Lay and liue as well as they doe for the most part But it is a thing full of compassion and commiseration to see that by these false and wicked opinions the Diuell the father of these and all other lies doth daily take possession of the soules of your subiects both of Clergie and Laytie These kinde of Clergie men I confesse I doe not desire to satisfie any other way then as I haue alwaies done that is by the most friendly and plaine confutation of their errors to shew them the truth As for other Clergie 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 iudgements approue the truth of Catholike Religion and if it were not for feare of losse or disgrace to their wiues and children they would be as glad as my selfe that a more temperate course might be held and more libertie afforded vnto Catholikes and Catholike Religion in England These Clergie men I am and euer shall be desirous to satisfie not only in respect of themselues but also in respect of their wiues and children whom I am so far from condemning and misliking as that I do account my selfe one of them and I desire nothing more in this world then in the toleration of Catholike Religion to liue and die among them And therefore I haue had so great care in this point as before I did submit my selfe to the Catholike Church I receiued assurance from some of the greatest that if your Maiestie would admit the ancient subordination of the Church of Canterburie vnto that Mother Church by whose authoritie all other Churches in England at the first were and still are subordinate vnto Canterburie and the first free vse of that Sacrament for which especially all the Churches in Christendome were first founded The Pope for his part would confirme the Interest of all these that haue present possession in any Ecclesiasticall liuing in England And would also permit the free vse of the Common-prayer book in English for Morning and Euening prayer with very little or no alteration And for the contentment and securitie of your Maiestie he would giue you not only any satisfaction but all the honor that with the vnitie of the Church and the safetie of Catholike religion may be required which seemed to me so reasonable as being before satisfied for the truth of Catholike Religion I could aske no more So that I am verily perswaded that by yeelding to that truth which I could not deny I haue neither neglected my duetie and seruice to your Maiestie and your Children nor my respect and honor to your Lords and Commons nor my loue and kindnesse to my honest friends and brethren of the Clergie but rather that my example and my prayers shall doe good vnto all 46 But that which I must trust to when all the rest will faile me is the seruice of God and the sauing of my soule in the vnitie of that Church which was founded by Christ himselfe and shall continue vntill his comming againe wherein all the Saints of God haue serued him on earth and doe enioy him in heauen without which Catholike Church there is no communion of Saints no forgiuenesse of sinnes no hope of resurrection vnto life euerlasting I beseech your Maiestie let not CALVINS Ecclesia Predestinatorus deceiue you it may serue a Turke as well as a Christian it hath no Faith but opinion no Hope but presumption no Charitie but lust no Faith but a fancie no God but an Idoll For Deus est omnibus Religionibus commune Nomen Aug. Ep. All Religions in the world beginne their Creede with I beleeue in God But homini extra Ecclesiani Relligio sua est culius phantasmatum suorum and error suus est Deus suus as S. AVGVSTINE affirmeth 48 I haue more things to write but the hast of answering your Maiesties commandement signified to mee by Sir THOMAS LAKE his Letters haue made mee commit many faults in writing this very sodainly for which I craue pardon and cut off the rest But for my returning into England I can answere no otherwise but thus I haue sent you my SOVLE in this Treatise and if it may finde entertainment and passage my BODIE shall most gladly follow after And if not I pray God I send my Soule to heauen and my Bodie to the graue assoone as may be In the meane time I will reioyce in nothing but only in the Crosse of CHRIST which is the glorie of your Crowne And therefore I will triumph therein not as being gone from you to your Aduetsarie but as being gone before you to your Mother where I desire and hope for euer to continue Your Maiesties true seruant and Beadsman B. CARIER Liege Decemb. 12. An. 1613. PSAL. 119. VERS 5. 6. Multum incola fuit anima mea Cum bis qui oderunt pacem eram pacificus cùm loquebar illis impugnabant me gratis Pac. 17. 19. Luc. 15. 4. Heb 15. 25 Psa. 83. 12.