lV P R E F A C E. tion ; exhaujted his treafure ; drained all his arbitrmy JPrings of .fupply; and (after an intermijjion of twelve years), reduced him to the neceffity of returning to the conJlitution, and calling a parliammt ; but whm the pub– lic grie7.'anm came to be opened, there appeared .Jitch a colleflion of ill hu– mours, a11d Jo general a d!ftrufl between the king and his two boz!fes, as threatened all the mifcbief and defolation that followed. Each party laid the blame on the other, and agreed in nothing, but in throwing ofl the odium qf the civil war from tbemjelves. <Jhe affairs of the church bad a very conjiderable influence on tbe wd– fare if the jlate: The epijcopal cbara!Jer was grown into contempt, not from any drjr!J of learning in the bijbops, but from tbeir cloje attachment to the p~trogative, and their o~vn infatiahle thirfl of power, which tbey jlrained to the utmrjt in their fpiritual courts, by reviving old and obfolete cu/loms, leV)'ing large fines on the people for contempt qf their canons, and projecuting good men and zealous prote/lants, for rites and ceremonies tend. ing to fuperjlition, and not 'Wan-anted by the laws qf the land. <Jbe king .Jitpported them to the utmoji; but was obliged, after Jome time, to give way firjf to an aB: for aboltfhing tbe high commiG1on, by a clauje in which tbe po~ver of tbe bijbops fpiritual courts was in a manner dtjirored; and at la)f to an a!J depriving them qf their feats in parliament. If at this time any methods cou!rl have been tbougbt if, to reflore a mutual corifidence be– tween tbe king and bis two boz!Ji!s, tbe remaining diflerenets in the church might ea.Jily bave bem compromijl:d; but the .JPirits qfmen ~vere heated, and as ti-e flames of the civil ~var grew fiercer, and Jpread wider, the wounds cf tbe church were enlarged, till the di/lrefs of the parliament's qfj'airs obliging them to call in the fcots, with their folemn league and covenant, they became incurable. When the king bad lojl bis caufe in the field, he put himfe!f at tbe hMd qf his divines, and dre-w his learned pen in defence qf his prerogative, and the church qf England ; but his arguments ~vere no more .fuccefifid thtm his Jword. I have brought the debates between the king and Mr. Hender– fon, and between the divines qf both fides at the treaties of Uxbridge and Newport upon the head of epijcopacy, into as narrow a compa(s as pof fiNe ; my chiif d:ftgn being to trace the proceedings qf the parliament and their ajfembly at Weftminfl:er, which (whether jujlifiable or not), ought to be placed in opm view, thougb none of the hijlorians of thrfe times have ventured to do it. 'Ihe Wefl:minfter ajJembly was the parliament's grand council in matters. tj' religion, and made a very co1?Jiderable figure both at bome am/ abroad tbrough the courfe of the civil war, 'till they difputcd the power of the– keys with their Juperion, and Jplit upon the rocks of divine right and co– venant u11iformity. <Jhe records of tbis wnerab!e ajfembly ~vere lofl in the }ire
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