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
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
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
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
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
with the light of the Gospell held in extreame ignorance are not yet so vncapable but they will be glad to heare of the truth when it shall be simply and euidently deliuered by honest men and then they will plainly see that their light of the Gospell which they so much talke of is but a counterfeit light in a Theeues lanterne whereby honest mens eyes is dazeled and their purses robbed And it will also appeare that there is not indeed any such irreconciliable opposition betwixt the Church of England and the Church of Rome as they that liue by the Schisine doe make the world beleeue there is neither in matter of Doctrine nor matter of State 21 For matter of Doctrine there is no reason that your Maiesty or the Kingdome should be molested or burthened for the maintenance of Caluinisme which is as much against the religion of England as it is against the religion of Rome and will by necessary consequence ouerthrow not only the Catholike Church the Communion of Saints and the forgiuenes of sins but also all the Articles of the Creed sauing only so much as the Turke himselfe will be content to beleeue which will be easie to proue vpon better leasure The Doctrine of England is that which is contained in the Common-prayer booke and Church Catechisme confirmed by Act of Parliament and by your Maiesties Edict wherein all English-men are Baptised and ought to be confirmed and therefore there is some reason that this should be stood vpon But this Doctrine in most of the maine points thereof as hath bin touched before and requireth a iust treatise to set downe in particular doth much differ from the current opinions and Catechismes of Caluinisme or doth very neere agree with or at least not contradict the Church of Rome if we list with patience to heare one another And those points of Doctrine wherm we are made to be at warres with the Church of Rome whether we will or not do rather argue the corruptions of that State from whēce they come then are argued by the grounds of that religion whereupon they stand and the contradiction of Doctrine hath followed the alteration of State and not the alteration of State bin grounded vpon any truth of Doctrine 22 For when the breach was resolued vpon for the personall and palticular ease of King HENRY the eight and the children of his latter wiues it was necessary to giue euery part of the Common-wealth contentment for which they might hold out in the heat of affection and studie to maintayne the breach otherwise it was likely that in the clearnesse of iudgement it would quickly haue growne together againe then the Authors therof must haue been excluded and giuen account of their practise 23 Therefore to the Lords and Fauorites of the Court were giuen the lands and inheritance of the Abbeyes and Religious houses that hauing once as it were washed their hands in the bowels and bloud of the Church both they and their posteritie might be at vtter defiance therewith And so hauing ouerthrowne and prophaned the good workes of the Saints it was necessarie for them to get them Chaplains that might both dispute preach and write against the merits of good Works the Invocation of Saints the sacrifice of the Altar praier for the Dead and all such points of Catholike doctrine as were the grounds of those churches and religious houses which they had ouerthrowne and prophaned And it was not hard for those Chaplains by some shew of Scripture to proue that which their Lords and their followers were so willing to beleeue 24 To the Commons was giuen great hope of reliefe for their poucrtie ease of Subsidies and of the burden of so great a Clergie and many other goodly gay Nothings And for the present they should haue libertie and the benefit of common law that is leaue to liue by such Lawes as themselues list to make and to contemne the authority of the Church which although it were for their benefit euery way yet because it crossed their affections like way ward children they could neuer abide it And was not this reason enough for them to hold out the breach and to studie Scripture themselues that they might be able to confute Confession Satisfaction Penance and to declaim against all that Tyrannie of the Church of Rome whereby themselues and their forefathers had beene kept in awe and obedience vnto God and their Kings 25 To the Clergy men that would turn with the times besides the possibilitie of present preferment by the alteration was giuen shortly after leaue to Marrie and to purchase and to enioy the profit and pleasure of the World as well as the Laitie And what carnall minded Monke or Priest would not with might and maine keepe open the breach after he was once plunged in it rather then be in danger to forgoe so pleasing a commoditie Hence did arise a necessitie of speaking and writing against Vowes Virginitie Pouertie Fasting Praying Watching Obedience and all that austeritie of life which is by the Lawes of the Church required in a Monasticall and Priestly conuersation 26 Vpon these conditions the Lords the Commons and the Clergie were content to beleeue that the King was supreme head of the Church of England not that they did thinke so indeede or that they desired to augment his authoritie but that they might be protected by him and freely enioy those commodities which they thought Schisme had brought vnto them and feared the vnitie of the Church might againe take from them Hence did arise a necessitie of inveighing against the Pope and the Church of Rome as against Antichrist and Babilon and the greatest Enemies of the state of England In so much that that Clergie man was most acceptable to them and in their opinion most worthie of prefermēts that could most confidently preach and write the most foule and monstruous assertions of the Pope and the Church of Rome though they were neuer so false These and such like are those temporall respects which would faine seeme the daughters of those doctrines which them selues haue brought forth and to bee diuided from the Catholike Church by doctrine when they themselues haue caused the doctrine of diuision 27 In all these and all other doctrine of diuision Men haue receiued great countenance encouragement from Geneua For although M. IOHN CALVIN were neuer any good Subiect or Friend to Bishop Duke or King yet he did so fit the Common people with new Doctrine that no Gospell can be so pleasing to them nor so lightsome as his For finding Geneua to be fallen out both with their Bishop who was their ancient Prince and their Duke to whom they pretended against their Bishop and to be all in a combustion among themselues for want of gouernment although he were then a stranger and a very yong man of some six and twenty or seuen and twenty yeares old at the most yet he thought good vpon the oportunity
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.
which hath not yet bin iudicially condemned by the Church of Rome They all seemed to abhorre the fact as much as the best subiects in the world and much more to fauour and defend the authoritie of their Kings and Princes then the Heretikes doe And they said that althoug your Maiestie were out of the Church yet they doubted not but if complaint were made in a iudicial proceeding that fact should be iudicially condemned In the meane time it was sufficient that all Catholike writers did condemne it and that the Pope by his Breue had condemned it exhorting the Catholikes of England to all Christian patience and obedience As for any other authority or superiority of the Pope then such as is spirituall and necessary for the vnitie of the Church I haue met with none that doe stand vpon it 14 So that whereas my hope was that by finding out the corruptions of the Church of Rome I should grow farther in loue with the Church of England and ioyfully returne home and by inueighing against the Papists both enioy my present preferments and obtaine more and more I saw the matter was like to fall out cleane contrary It is true indeed that there are many corruptions in all States God hath no Wheat-field in this world wherein the Diuell hath no Tares growing and there are no Tares more ranck then those that grow among the Wheat For optimi corruptio pessima and where grace aboundeth if it be cōtemned there sin aboundeth much more But seeing both my reading experience hath now taught me that the truth of Christian Religion taught and practised at this day in the Church of Rome and all the obedient members thereof is the very same in substance which was prefigured and prophesied from the beginning of the world perfected by Christ himselfe deliuered to his Apostles and by them and their Successors perpetually and vniuersally in one vniformity practized vntill this day without any substantiall alteration And that the new Religion of England wherin it doth differ hath no ground but either the pleasure of the Prince and Parliament or the common cry and voice of the People nor no constancy or agreement with it selfe what should I now doe It is not in my power not to know that which I doe know nor to doubt of that which I haue spent so much time and taken so much paines and bestowed so much cost and made so many trials to find And yet I know if I should yeeld to be reconciled to the Church I should be for this world in all likelihood vtterly vndone and that which grieued me more I should be reiected of your Maiesty my most redoubted Lord and Master and despised by all my deare friends and louers in England 15 These were my thoughts at the Spaw which did so vex and afflict my soule as that the waters could doe my bodie no good at all but rather much hurt Neuerthelesse I auoided the company of Catholikes abstained from the Church and did both dispute write against the Church of Rome as occasion was offred I still hoped that time would giue me better counsell and therefore resolued to goe from the Spaw to Heidelberg to doe my duty there In the mean time I thought with my selfe It may be God hath moued his Maiesties heart to think of peace and reconciliation I know his disposition was so in the beginning and I remember Master CAVSABON tould me when I brought him out of France that his errand was nothing else but to mediate peace betweene the Church of Rome and the Church of England Therefore I thought before I would submit my selfe to the Church of Rome I would write vnto Master CAVSABON such a letter as he might shew vnto your Maiestie containing such conditions as I thought might satisfie your Maiesty if they were performed by the Church of Rome The copy of which letter is too long heere to set downe But when Master CAVSABON answered me that he knew your Maiesty was resolued to haue no society with the Church of Rome vpon any condition whatsoeuer and that it would be my vndoing if those my letters should come to your Maiesties hands or of those that bare the sway I began to despaire of my returne into England vnlesse I would ouerthrow both the health of my body and the quiet of my minde and either vtterly damne mine owne soule or greatly endanger not only my liuing and credit but my life it selfe also by reason of your Maiesties displeasure and the seueritie of the Statutes made and in force against Catholikes and Catholike Religion 16 There is a Statute in England made by King HENRY the eight to make him supreame head of the Church in Spirituall and Ecclesiasticall causes which Statute enioynes all the subiects of England on paine of death to beleeue and to sweare they do beleeue that it is true And yet all the world knowes if King HENRY the eight could haue gotten the Pope to diuorce Queene KATHERINE that he might marry ANNE BOLEINE that Statute had neuer beene made by him and if that Title had not enabled the King to pull downe Abbeyes and Religious houses and giue them to Lay-men the Lords and Commons of that time would neuer haue suffered such a Statute to be made This Statute was continued by Queene ELIZABETH to serue her owne turne and it is confirmed by your Maiesty to satisfie other men And yet your Maiesty yeeldeth the Church of Rome to be the Mother Church and the Bishop of Rome to be the chiefe Bishop or Primate of all the Westerne Churches which I doe also verily beleeue and therefore I doe verily thinke he hath or ought to haue some spirituall Iurisdiction in in England And although in my yonger dayes the fashion of the world made me sweare as other men did for which I pray God forgiue me yet I euer doubted and am now resolued that no Christian man can take that oath with a safe conscience neither will I euer take it to gaine the greatest preferment in the world 17 There is another Statute in England made by Queene ELIZABETH and confirmed by your Maiesty that it is death for any English man to be in England being made a Priest by authoritie deriued or pretended to be deriued from the Bishop of Rome I cannot beleeue that I am a Priest at all vnlesse I be deriued by authority from GREGORY the Great from whence all the Bishops in England haue their being if they haue any being at all 18 There is another Statute in like manner made and confirmed that it is death to be reconciled by a Catholike Priest to the Church of Rome I am perswaded that the Church of Rome is our Mother Church and that no man in England can be saued that continues wilfully out of the visible vnitie of that Church and therefore I cannot choose but perswade the people to be reconciled thereunto if possibly they can 19 There is another Statute in