William Laud

"Ever since I came in place, I laboured nothing more, than that the external public worship of God might be preserved, and that with as much decency and uniformity as might be; being still of opinion, …"

"Now though in nature the Commonwealth go first; first men, before religious and faithful men; and the Church can have no being but in the Commonwealth: yet in grace the Church goes first; religious an…"

"For my care of this Church, the reducing of it into order, the upholding of the external worship of God in it, and the settling of it to the rules of its first reformation, are the causes of all this …"

"I was borne and baptized in the bosome of the Church of England established by Law; in that profession I have ever since lived, and in that I come now to dye; This is no time to dissemble with God, le…"

"I had a serious offer made me again to be a Cardinal. ... But my answer again was, that something dwelt within me which would not suffer that, till Rome were other than it is."

"...it is versus altare, 'towards His altar', as the greatest place of God's residence upon earth. I say the greatest, yea, greater than the pulpit; for there 'tis Hoc est corpus meum, 'This is My body…"

"...the King is God's immediate lieutenant upon earth; and therefore one and the same action is God's by ordinance, and the King's by execution. And the power which resides in the King is not any assum…"

"There is a great deal of difference, especially as Romanists handle the question of the Church, between the Church and a Church; and there is some between a true Church and a right Church, which is th…"