510 The HISTORY of the PURITANS. Chap. Ill. K. Charles I. the prelates, in the prefence of king = fames, gave it as their unanimous Lev opinion, that the high common could fine in no cafe, and imprifbn only in cafes of bereft' and incontinence ofa minger, and that only after conviction, but not by way of procefs before it : So that the jurifdie-tion of the court to fine was not only queflionable, but null andvoid. hlotwithftanding which they hunted after their prey with full cry, " and brought in the greatefl " and moli fplendid tranfgreffors: Perfons of honour and great quality, " fays the noble hiflorian, wereevery day cited into the high commiflion, " upon the fame of their incontinency, or fcandal of life, and very heavy " fines were levied upon them, and applied to the repairing of St. Paul's " cathedral." State ofAr. Upon the acceflion of kingCHARLES to the throne, the duke ofBuck- miniandm ingham threw off the mask, and 'hook hands with his old friend Dr. Pref. ton, whom he never loved, any further than as a tool to promote his in- tereft among the people. LAUD was his confeffor and privy-counfellor for the church, whole firft care was to have none but arminien and anti- puritanical chaplains about the king: For this purpofe, he drew up S fmall,treatife and put it into the duke's hand, proving the Arminian doelrines to be Orthodox; and fhewing in ten particulars, that the anti- arminian tenets were no better than doctrinal puritanifm. Agreeably to this fcheme, he prefented the duke [April g.] with a lift of divines for his majefty's chaplains, diftinguifhing their charaEters by the two capital letters, O. for Orthodox, [that is Arminian] and P. for Puritans, [that is Calvinifts.] At the fame time, he received orders to confult bifhop An- drews how to manage, with refpeEt to the five diftinguifhing points of Cal- vinifm, in the enfuing convocation ; but the wife bifhop advifed his bro- ther by all means to be quiet, and keep the controverfy out of the houle " For, fays he, the truth in this point is not fo generally entertained " among the clergy; nor is archbifhop Abbot nor many of the prelates, " fo inclinable to it, as to venture the deciding it in convocation." It was therefore wifely dropt, the majority of the lower houle being zealous Calvinifts; and forty -five of them (according to Dr. Leo who was one of the number,) had made a covenant among themfelves to oppofe every thing that tended towards pelagianifm, or fimipelagianifm: But the con- troverfywas warmly debated without doors, till the king put a flop to it by his royandeclaration. And ofpope- Popery advanced hand in hand with armianifm, and began the difputes ry. between the king and his first parliament, which met yune 16 1625. His majefty towards the dole of his fpeech, having afked their ailif- tance for the recovery of the Palatinate, affured them that though he had been fufpecled as to his religion, he would let the world fee, that none Jhould be more deforous to- maintain the religion he ìrofed than him- fe
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