P R E F A C E. fire qj London, but I ha~e given a large. and jzijl account if their pro– ceedings, from a manufcrzpt if one of thezr members, and.fome ~ther p~pers that have fallen into my hands, and have entered as far znto th~zr debates with the eraftians, independents, and others, as was conf!flent wzth tbe life and fi;irit of the hijlort . . Whatever views the [cots mzght have from the begmmng of the war, the parliament would certainly have agreed with the king upon the foot of a limited epijcopacy, till the calling the qjjembly if divines, after which· the folemn league and covenant became the llandard of all their treaties, and qvas dejigned to introduce the prejbyterian government in its full ex– tent, as the ejlablijhed religion if both kingdoms. T'his tied up the parlia– ment's hands, from yielding in time to the king's moft reafonable conci!Jjions at Newport, and rendered an accommodation impraClicab!e; 1 have there– fore trarifi:ribed the covenant at large, with the reafonsfor and againjl it; qvhether .fuch obligations upon the corifciences if men are jziflijiable fro11z· the neceility of affairs, or binding in all events and revolutions of govern– ment, Ijhall not determine; but the impqfing them upon others qvas certain– ly a very great hardjhip. 'The remarkable trial of arcbbijhop Laud, in which the antiquity and ufl if the flveral innovations, complained of by the puritans, are flated and argued, has never been publijhed entire to the world. 'The archbijhop· left in his diary a fummary if his mlj1ver to the charge of the commons, and Mr. Prynne in his Canterbury's doom, has pub!ijhed the Jirfl part if. his grace's trial, relating principally to points of religion ; but all is im– perfttl and immethodical. 1 have therefore compared both accounts toge– ther, and jitpplied the dijeCls of one with the other; the whole is brought' into a narrow compafs, and throqvn into fuch a method, as will give the reader a clear and dijtinCl view if the equity if the charge, and how far· the archbijhop deferved the z!fage he met with. · I have drawn out abflraCls q/ the feveral ordinances relating to the rife · aud progrifs of prejb)'tery, and traced the proceedings if the committee for pbmdered _and fcanda!o~s minifi:rs,. as far _as was nec~lfary to my general dtflgiZ, wtthout ~e{cendzng too jar mto partzculars, or attempting to jzijtifj the whole if thetr. co11duCl ; and though I am if opinion, that the number if clergy '(l.!bo fujjered purely on the account if religion, was not very confiderable, 'tis certain that many able and learned divines, who were content to lz'1Je quietly, anti mind the duty of their places, had very hard meafure– from the violence of parties, and deferve the compa!Jionate regards if po– flerity; Jome being dzJCharged their livings fir rifufing the covenant, and others plundered o/ ~very . thing the unruly .foldiers could lay their hands upou, for not complyzng ~vzth the change if the times. ]JZ, V
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