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
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
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
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