His
conformity in that point alone could induce them to mitigate the severity
of their other demands, to replace him on the throne of his ancestors,
and to compel the opposite faction to submit. Should he refuse, he must
attribute the consequences to himself. He had received sufficient warning:
they had taken the covenant, and must discharge their duty to God and their
country.
It was believed then, it has often been repeated since, that the king's
refusal originated in the wilfulness and obstinacy of his temper; and that
his repeated appeals to his conscience were mere pretexts to disguise his
design of replunging the nation into the horrors from which it had so
recently emerged. But this supposition is completely refuted by the whole
tenour of his secret correspondence with his queen and her council in
France. He appears to have divided his objections into two classes,
political and religious. 1. It was, he alleged, an age in which mankind
were governed from the pulpit: whence it became an object
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1646. July 13.]
of the first importance to a sovereign to determine to whose care that
powerful engine should be intrusted. The principles of Presbyterianism
were anti-monarchical; its ministers openly advocated the lawfulness
of rebellion; and, if they were made the sole dispensers of public
instruction, he and his successors might be kings in name, but would be
slaves in effect.
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