[2] On the death, in 1614, of Isaac Casaubon, with whom he had previously corresponded about the Exercitationes ad Baronii Annales (against Baronius), Montagu was directed by the King to publish the work.
This work, based on studies of classical and patristic antiquity, was at first apparently held back at Archbishop George Abbot's command, but it was issued in 1622 under the title of Analecta Ecclesiasticarum Exercitationum.
In the epistle dedicatory addressed to the King, Montagu states his object to be to trace the origins of Christian faith and doctrine, and show that the Anglican position was derived from the "ancient founts".
He also issued a defensive work,[3] rebutting Marco Antonio de Dominis who charged Montagu with supporting "praying unto saints and angels in time of need".
His Appello Caesarem: a just Appeale from two unjust Informers (London, 1625) came out with an imprimatur from Francis White, dean of Carlisle, after George Abbot's refusal to license it.
On 2 August, when the parliament was sitting at Oxford, Montagu was too ill to attend, and after discussion in which Edward Coke and Robert Heath took part, the matter was allowed to drop.
On 16 and 17 January 1626 a conference was held by Charles's command, as the result of which the bishops of London (George Montaigne), Durham (Richard Neile), Winchester (Lancelot Andrewes), Rochester (Buckeridge), and St. David's (Laud) reported to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham that Montagu had not gone further than the doctrine of the Church of England, or what was compatible with it.
It took place with the Bishop of Lichfield (Thomas Morton) and the master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge (John Preston), representing the opposition to Montagu and Francis White.
The committee of religion renewed their censure of the Appeal, and the House of Commons voted a petition to the King that the author might be fitly punished and his book burned.
[2] Montagu still had the strongest supporters at court in Laud and Buckingham himself; and on the death of George Carleton, bishop of Chichester and an opponent, he was appointed to the vacant see.
A bitter pamphlet, called Anti-Montacutum, an Appeale or Remonstrance of the Orthodox Ministers of the Church of England against Richard Mountague, was published in 1629 at Edinburgh.
The House of Commons again took up the matter, and attempts were made at conciliation, by the issue of the declaration prefixed to the Thirty-nine Articles and printed in the Book of Common Prayer, by a letter from Montagu to Abbot disclaiming Arminianism, by the grant of a special pardon to Montagu, and by the issue of a proclamation suppressing the Appello Caesarem.
His process to recover the estate and manor of Selsey, Sussex was decided against him by Robert Heath, now chief justice, in the common pleas, in 1635.
He was again attacked in the House of Commons on 23 February 1641 on account of a petition from the inhabitants of St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich, against an inhibition directed by the bishop against Mr. Carter, parson of that parish, and a commission was appointed to consider his offences.