5 14 23e HIST ORY of the PURITANS. Chap. III. K. Charles I. feveral court bithops, who upon better confideration artfully withdrew 6Z their names from before it ; and left Dr. Francis White "to appear by him_ felf, as he complained publickly. The appeal was calculated to promote arminianfm, to attempt a reconciliation with Rome, and to advance the king's prerogative above law. The houfe appointed a committee to exa- mine into its errors; after which theyvoted it to be contrary to the articles Montague of the church of England, and bound the author in a recognizance of two renared par ianené thoufand pounds for his appearance. Bilhops letter Bifhop Laudapprehending this tobe an invafion of the prerogative, and in his favour. adangerous precedent, joined with twoother bithops in a letter to the duke Cabbala, am of Buckingh , to en g a g e his ma j y eft to take the caufe into hisown hands: p. ros. Ruthw. The letter fays, `° that the church of England when it was reformed would . x76. notbe too bufy with fchool points of divinity; now the points for which 60 Mr. Montague is brought into trouble, are of this kind ; Come are the " refolved doétrines of the church of England, which he is bound to main- " ° tain ; and others are fit only for fchools, wherein men may abound in " their own fenfe. To make men fubfcribe fchool opinions is hard, and " was one great fault of the council of Trent. Betides, difputes about doótrines in religion ought to be determined in a national fynod or " convocation, with the king's licence, and not in parliament; if we fob- 60 mit to any other judge we (hall depart from the ordinance of Chrift, " we (hall derogate from the honour of the late king, who faw and ap- " proved of all the opinions in that book; as well as from his prefent " majefty's royal prerogative, who has power and right to take this mat- " ter under his own care, and refer it in a right courfe to church con- " fideration. Some of the opinions which are oppofite to Mr. Monta- " gue's, will prove fatal to the government if publickly taught and main- " s tained : When they had been concluded upon at Lambeth, queen Eli- " zabeth caufed them to be fuppreffed, and fo they continued, till of late " fome of them received countenance from the fynod of Dort; a fynod, " whole conclufions have no authority in this country, and it is to be " hoped never will." Signed fo. Rfenfas, yo. Oxon, and Gulielmus Menevenfis, Auguft ad. 1625. Parliament This letter had its effe&, and procured Montaguehis quietus at prefent. ijtved. The king declared he would bring the caufe before the council, it being a branch of his fupremacy to determine mattersof religion. He expreffed his difpleafure againft the commons, for calling his chaplain to their bar, and for alarming the nationwith thedanger ofpopery. But thefe affairs, together with the king's aflìrfting at the fiege of Rochel, made fuch a node at Oxford, where the parliament was re-affernbled, becaufe of the plague. at Landon, that the king was obliged to diffolve them [.clugu/l 12,] be- fore they had granted the fupplies neceffary for carryingon the war. Nor did
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