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by him the declared enemies to loyalty and true chap.piety , and that every exercise of his anger , by lii.

that means , became in his eyes a merit and a iszo.

virtue. This was the man who acquired so greatLn ascendant over Charles, and who led him,by the facility of his temper, into a conduct,which proved so fatal to himself and to hiskingdoms.

The humor of the nation ran at that time into In novatiousthe extreme opposite to superstition; and it was ln thewith difficulty that the ancient ceremonies, towhich men had been accustomed, and which hadbeen sanctified by the practice of the first reform-ers , could be retained in divine service! Yetwas thi's the time which Laud chose for the in-troduction of new ceremonies and observances.

Besides that these were sure to displease as in-novations, there lay, in the opinion of the public,another very forcible objection against them.

Laud, and the other prelates who embraced hismeasures, were generally well-instructed in sacredantiquity, and had adopted many os those reli-gious sentiments , which prevailed during thefourth and fifth, centuries; when the Christianchurch, as is well known, was already funk intothose superstitions , which were afterwards con-tinued and augmented by the policy of Rome.

The revival, therefore, of the ideas and practicesof that age, could not fail of giving the Englistifaith and liturgy some resemblance to the catholicsuperstition, which the kingdom in general, andthe puritans in particular, held in the greatest