Note 322 — Chapter X
Reading edition
"Though he should swear it," says Baillie, "no man will believe that he sticks upon episcopacy for any conscience."—ii. 205. And again: "It is pity that base hypocrisy, when it is pellucid, shall still be entertained. No oaths did ever persuade me, that episcopacy was ever adhered to on any conscience."—224. This looks at first like mere bigotry. But, when we remember that Charles had abolished episcopacy in Scotland, and was ready to abolish protestantism in Ireland, Baillie's prejudices will appear less unreasonable. The king's private letters in the Clarendon Papers have convinced me of his mistaken conscientiousness about church government; but of this his contemporaries could not be aware.