On the new forcers of Conscience under the Long PARLAMENT
John Milton 1645
Annotations by James Renihan, Ph.D., March 2008
(Orthography as in original--see The Poetical Works of John Milton, 2:157)
Because you have thrown of your Prelate Lord,[1]
And with stiff Vowes[2] renounc'd his Liturgie
To seise the widdow'd whore Pluralitie[3]
From them whose sin ye envi'd, not abhor'd,
Dare ye for this adjure the Civill Sword 5
To force our Consciences that Christ set free,
And ride us with a classic Hierarchy[4]
Taught ye by meer A. S.[5] and Rotherford?[6]
Men whose Life, Learning, Faith and pure intent
Would have been held in high esteem with Paul 10
Must now be nam'd and printed Hereticks
By shallow Edwards[7] and Scotch what d'ye call:[8]
But we do hope to find out all your tricks,
Your plots and packing wors then those of Trent,[9]
That so the Parlament 15
May with their wholsom and preventive Shears
Clip your Phylacteries, though bauk your Ears,[10]
And succour our just Fears
When they shall read this clearly in your charge
New Presbyter is but Old Priest writ Large. 20
[1]Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud
[2]The Solemn League and Covenant of 1643, adopted by the English Parliament in order to ensure Scottish support in its war with King Charles I.
[3]The practice of ministers taking multiple pastorates and benefiting from the accumulated incomes from them.
[4]The imposition of Presbyterian/Erastian polity in place of Episcopalian/Erastian polity.
[5]Adam Steuart (or Stewart), Scottish professor who taught at Leyden.
[6]Samuel Rutherford.
[7]Thomas Edwards, controversial author of the three headed tome Gangraena.
[8]Perhaps a reference to Robert Baylie, Scottish Commissioner to the Westminster Assembly and self-appointed heresy hunter.
[9]The well-known Romanist Counter-reformation synod.
[10]A reference to the punishment Charles I meted out through William Laud to the Parliamentary leaders William Prynne, John Bastwick and Henry Burton. In 1633, Prynne was sentenced to have a portion of his ears cut off; in 1637 the job was completed when he received a second judgment, along with Bastwick and Burton. Prynne was also branded with the letters “S L” (seditious libeler), but he proudly referred to the wounds as the ‘stigmata Laudis.’
