so base a thing as to forsake him." He was not prepared to exclaim, "I chose rather to lose my life, which I am sure I shall do, to preserve and defend those things which are against my conscience;" but he might have adopted the words of the same brave soldier, "I will deal freely with you, I have no reverence for Bishops for whom this quarrel subsists."[279] The heart of many a Royalist went more with King than Church.[280] [Sidenote: _Secessions from the Popular Party._] These changes left the staunch opponents of Episcopacy more unfettered in action, and served to consolidate party elements which, for a long time, had been held in a state of solution. Though it would be inaccurate to speak of two distinct and compact parties before the end of 1641, such parties are to be recognized after the beginning of 1642. Men were then forced to take a side, to assume a definite position. A grand issue was joined. Half measures were no longer possible. Questions became distinct. The device and cognizance on each of the opposite banners might be as unmistakably understood as they were plainly emblazoned--on the one side, "Church and King," on the other, "Constitutional Reform in Church and State." There may be quibbles about the accuracy of such watchwords, but those now mentioned are as applicable to the two parties of the seventeenth century, as any familiar ones now are to the political distinctions of the nineteenth. [Sidenote: 1642, January.] Politicians who remained staunch in the defence of Parliamentary power against Kingly despotism were much more agreed in reference to the State than in reference to the Church. On the negative side of ecclesiastical revolution they pretty well understood each other. What should be put down they knew; but not precisely what should be set up. That prelacy of the Stuart type should be expelled was a foregone conclusion in 1642; but what sort of rule should take its place, whether very moderate Episcopacy, or thorough Presbyterianism like that of Scotland, the leaders of the movement had not determined. It is, however, quite evident that great modifications in the direction of Presbyterianism were under contemplation: for Presbyterians were numerous in London; their leaders were active amongst the citizens; and the Scotch, through their commissioners, were earnestly doing all they could to promote the cause which was dear to their hearts. But the sectaries, who were hated equally by the Presbyterian and Prelatist, were also on the increase. So numerous indeed had they become that Bishop Hall, in his last speech in the House of Lords, declared with spleen unworthy of so good a man, that there were eighty congregations of them in London, "instructed by guides fit for them, cobblers, tailors, felt-makers, and such like trash, which all were taught to spit in the face of their mother, the Church of England, and to defy and revile her government."[281] Letters of the Royalists