Chap. VII. The HISTORY of the PURITANS. 642 " had all imaginable duty for the king, and affection for the govern- K.Charles I. " ment eftablifhed by law or ancient cuftom; and without doubt the ' v " majority of that body were perlons of gravity and wifdom, who being Claret,. " pofieffed of great and plentiful fortunes, had no mind to break the peace Vol. 1. " of the kingdom, or to make any confiderable alterations in the govern- P' r84' fi`' ment of the church or fiate." Dr. Lewisdu Moulin, who lived through thefe times Pays, " that both lords and commons weremolt ifnot all peace- " able orthodox church of England men, all conforming to the rites " and ceremonies of epifcopacy, but greatly averle to popery and tyran- " ny, and to the corrupt part ofthe church that enclined towards Rome." This is further evident from their order of Nov. 20. 1640. that nonefhould ft in their houle butfuch as would receive the communion according to the ufage of the church of England. The commons in their grand remon- ftrance of Dec. 1. 1641. declared to the world, " that it was far from " their purpofe to let lode the golden reins ofdifcipline and government " in the church, to leave private perlons or particular congregations, to " take up what form of divine fervice they pleafed ; for we hold it re- " quifite (fay they) that there fhould be throughout the whole realm a " conformity to that order which the law enjoins, according to the word " of God." The noble h/orian adds further, " that even after the bat- " tleofEdgehill the defign againft the church was not grown popular in " the houle; that in the years 1642. and 1643. the lords and commons " were all in perfect conformity to the church of England, and fo was " their army, the general and officers both by fea and land being neither " prefyterians, independents, anabaptJs, nor conventiclers; and that when " they calf their eyes upon Scotland, there were in truth very few " in the two houles who defired the extirpation of epifcopacy. " Nay his lordfhip is of opinion, that the nation in general was lets in- dined to the puritans than to the papifts, at leaft that they were for the eftablifhment; for when the king went to Scotland [1645.] the corn- " mon prayer was much reverenced throughout the kingdom, and " was a general object of veneration with the people There was a " full fubmiffion and love to the eftablifhed government of the church " and fiate, efpecially to that part of the church which concerned the " liturgy and book of common prayer ; " which though it be hardly credible, as will appear hereafter by the numbers of petitions from leve- ral counties againft the hierarchy, yet may ferve to filence thofe of his lordfhip's admirers, who through ignorance and illwill have reprefented the long parliament, and the body of the puritans at their firft fitting down, as in a plot againft the whole ecclefiaftical eftablifhment. 4N2 If
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