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Show 46 With the blessings of King Charles, already Bishop Laud was on a fixed course to see that there was one church in England and one church only, the Anglican. Tomlinson drew near, ready to confide his latest findings to Laud. "I've been going by Archbishop Abbot's at night. Puritans have been coming to him in secret, by the droves, pleading their cause before him. They are there at all hours, midnight to dawn." He hoped to get a further rise from Bishop Laud. "It's no secret he's sympathetic to their views," Laud reminded Tomlinson. "He's a traitor to the King!" insisted Tomlinson. "He's just soft." Laud knew that Abbot's listening to the Puritan nicodemites would not altar the course he and the King were effecting. The Puritans in their desperation had turned to the Archbishop because they no longer had a Parliament who would hear their complaints. Laud thought it had been wise of the King to do away with that Puritan tool. It was only a matter of time before the Puritan movement would be entirely extinguished. "He allows the pests of the Kingdom to multiply and flourish unchecked," fretted Tomlinson who was becoming heated in his contempt of Abbot. |