Selected Prose Writings of John Milton Author:John Milton Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ANIMADVERSIONS UPON THE REMONSTRANT'S DEFENCE AGAINST SMECTYMNUUS 1641. Smectymnuus was a signature composed of the initials of the names of five ... more »writers of a pamphlet against episcopacy, controverted by Bishop Hall and supported by Milton. The following extracts are from the fourth and thirteenth of thirteen sections. ANIMADVERSIONS UPON THE REMONSTRANTS DEFENCE AGAINSJ SMECTYMNUUS. IF you require a further answer, it will not misbecome a Christian to be either more magnanimous or more devout than Scipio was ; who, instead of other answer to the frivolous accusations of Petilius the tribune, " This day, Romans, (saith he,) I fought with Hannibal prosperously; let us all go and thank the gods that gave us so great a victory:" in like manner will we now say, not caring otherwise to answer this unprotestantlike objection : In this age, Britons, God hath reformed his church after many hundred years of popish corruption ; in this age he hath freed us from the intolerable yoke of prelates and papal discipline ; in this age he hath renewed our protestation against all those yet remaining dregs of superstition. Let us all go, every true protested Briton, throughout the three kingdoms, and render thanks to God the Father of light and Fountain of heavenly grace, and to his Son Christ our Lord, leaving this Remonstrant and his adherents to their own designs ; and let us recount even here without delay thepatience and long-suffering that God hath used toward our blindness and hardness time after time. For he being equally near to his whole creation of mankind, and of free power to turn his beneficent and fatherly regard to what region or kingdom he pleases, hath yet ever had this island under the special indulgent eye of his providence; and pitying us the first of all...« less