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A17962 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 Catholke Apostolike Roman Church. Agreeing verbatim with the written copye, addressed by the sayd doctor to the King his most excellent Maiestie. Carier, Benjamin, 1566-1614. 1614 (1614) STC 4623.5; ESTC S115898 33,947 58

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to giue 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 contemne all ancient learning and authority and saue themselues by a strong fancy which he called faith And this pleased the Bourgers of Geneua so well that they called a meeting 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 Geneua haue lost much of Master CALVINS greatnes yet the City hath had the fortune euer since by the helpe of their neighbours to hold out against their Bishop and their Duke and all their ancient Gouernours 28 Now it is the nature of all Common-people especially of Ilanders not only still to affect more and more Nouelty and liberty and to be weary of their old Clergie but also to admire any thing that comes from beyond the seas and to cherish and comfort one another with reporting the good successe which Schismatikes and Rebels happen to haue against their lawfull Prelats and ancient Gouernours and to impute all their good fortune vnto their new Religion Hence it is come to passe that that Doctrine which is indeed the lawfull Doctrine of the Church of England is neglected and contemned as a Relike or a Ragge of Popery and CALVINS Institutions being come from Geneua and fairely bound vp 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 vp by voyces to be the only current Diuinity in Court and Country In hope belike that it may one day serue the turne in England as well as it hath done in Geneua and in other places where it hath preuailed 29 These Reasons or rather corruptions of State haue so confounded the Doctrine of the Church of England and so slandred the Doctrine of the Church of Rome as it hath turned mens braines and made the multitude on both sides like two fooles who being set back to back do thinke they are as far asunder as the Horizons are which they looke vpon But if it might please your Maiesty to command them to turne but each of them a quarter about and looke both one way to the seruice of God and your Maiesty and to the saluation of soules they should presently see themselues to be a great deale more neere together in matters of Doctrine then the Puritanicall Preachers on both sides do make them beleeue they are I cannot in the breuity of this discourse descend into particulars But if it please your Maiesty to command me or any other honest man that hath taken pains to vnderstand and obserue all sides freely and plainly to set down the difference betwixt Caluinisme and the Doctrine of England established by law and then to shew Locos concessos and Locos controuersos 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 Maiesty be easily compounded 30 But perhaps there is so great oppositions in matter of State that although the Doctrine might be compounded yet it is impossible to heare of agreement And if there be the same reason of State which there was in the beginning continued all Queene ELIZABETHS daies there is as little hope now that your Maiesty should hearken vnto reconciliation as there was that King HENRY the eight or Queene ELIZABETH would But when I doe with the greatest respect I can consider the state of your Maiestie your Lords your Commons and your Clergie I doe finde as little cause of holding out in reason of State as I doe in truth of Doctrine 31 King HENRY the eight although he had written that booke against the Schisme of LVTHER in the defence of the See Apostolike for which he deserued the Title of Defensor fidei yet when he gaue way to the lust of ANNE BOLEINE and the flattery of his fauorites and saw he could not otherwise haue his will he excluded the Pope made himself supreame head of the Church that so he might not only dispence 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 wiuing nor in his thriuing he was weary of his supremacie before he died wished himselfe in the Church againe but hee died in the curse of his father whose foundations he ouerthrew and hath neither childe to honor him nor so much as a Tombe vpon his graue to remember him which some men take to be a token of the curse of God 32 Queene ELIZABETH although shee were the daughter of Schisme yet at her first comming to the Crowne shee would haue the Common-prayer booke and Catechisme so set downe that shee might both by English Seruice satisfie the Commons who were greedy of alteration and by Catholike opinions gaue hope to her neighbour Princes that she would her selfe continue Catholike And all her life long shee carried her selfe so betwixt the Catholikes and the Caluinists as shee kept them both still in hope But yet being the daughter of the Breach-maker and hauinig both her Crowne and her life from the Schisme it was both dishonorable and dangerous for her to hearken to reconcilement And therefore after shee was provoked by the Excommunication of PIVS QVINTVS she did suffer such lawes to be made by her Parliaments as might crie quittance with the Pope and the Church of Rome And this course seemed in policie necessarie for her who was the daughter of King HENRY the eight by ANNE BOLEINE borne with the contempt of Rome the disgrace of Spaine the preiucice of Scotland 33 But now that your Maiesty is by the consent of all sides come to the Crowne and your vndoubted Title setled with long possession the case is very much altered for your Maiestie hath no need of dispensations nor no will to pull downe Churches nor no dependance at all on HENRY the eight and if this Schisme could haue preuented your Title with the diuorce of one wife and the marrying of fiue more neither your Mother nor your selfe should euer haue made Queen ELIZABETH afraid with your Right to the Crowne of England And therefore although it were necessary in reason of State to continue the Doctrine of Diuision as long as the fruit of that Doctrine did continue yet now the fruit of Schisme is all spent and that Parenthesis of State is at an end there is no reason but that the old sentence may returne againe and be continued in that sence as if the Parenthesis had beene cleane left out and that God had of purpose crossed the fleshly pretence
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 s●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
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