Introduction
Milton wrote and published five tracts opposing the episcopal governmental structure of the Church of England; this is the second. Its full title may be seen on the Title Page. Unlike the first of his anti-prelacy tracts, Of Reformation, it was composed in direct response to a treatise defending the prelatical government of the Church of England published by James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh. Ussher's publication was just one of a number of tracts in defense of episcopal church government, and Milton takes note of, and responds to, several others, but Milton's marginal notes in this tract point readers directly to specific pages in Ussher's sixteen-page tract. Ussher's full title is The Judgement of Doctor Rainoldes touching the Original of Episcopacy. More largely confirmed out of Antiquity. It was published in May 1641, shortly after Milton's Of Reformation appeared in print. It was published at the urgent request of another pro-prelacy pamphleteer, Joseph Hall, Bishop of Exeter, and author of Episcopacie by Divine Right Asserted (1640).
A full account of the pamphlet war, for and against prelatical church government, is beyond the scope of this introduction, but a brief sketch will help readers to a sense of the context. Unlike John Calvin's reformed church in Geneva, the English Church retained its governmental structure—rule by bishops and archbishops—when Henry VIII rejected Papal authority and proclaimed himself Head of the Church in England. Many who came to be called Puritans insisted that the Church needed further reform in order to conform to the earliest descriptions found in Christian scripture, where, they insisted, one could find no support for government by bishops, archbishops, popes and the like. As Milton argues here, the scriptures (the book of the Acts of the Apostles and Pauline epistles in particular) speak of only two ordained church offices—deacon and presbyter, though presbyters were also known sometimes as bishops. Milton's crucial claim is that both words designate the same church office, not one above the other.
Anti-prelatical sentiment gained steam during Elizabeth I's reign and the Presbyterian reform of the Church of Scotland. A series of anonymous tracts published under the name of Martin Marprelate prompted a defensive response from Richard Bancroft in a sermon preached at Paul's Cross on February 9, 1589 (1588 in the old calendar). In it he attacked sectarian reformers as dangerous to state and church, and declared that bishops held their positions by divine right. John Rainolds published a reply proclaiming mildly Puritan views.
Antiprelatical sentiment gathered political strength with the Root and Branch Petition of December 1640. Signed by 15,000 Londoners it called on Parliament to abolish episcopacy from the "roots" and in all its "branches." This prompted a fresh flurry of pamphlets, for and against episcopacy. In response to Bishop Hall's Episcopacie by Divine Right Asserted (1640), the antiprelatical faction reprinted Rainold's 1589 pamphlet as The Judgement of Doctor Reignolds Concerning Episcopacy, Whether it be Gods Ordinace. This was answered by Ussher's pamphlet that misleadingly repeats Rainold's name in its title,The Judgement of Doctor Rainoldes touching the Original of Episcopacy. More largely confirmed out of Antiquity. Ussher actually ignores Rainold's Puritan points and instead claims that "Antiquity" offers robust support for prelatical church government. By "Antiquity" Ussher means traditional practices and the writings, some of them textually corrupt or even fraudulent, of the ancient Apostolic Church Fathers.
Ussher's appeal to "Antiquity" Milton regards with utter contempt, and though he sometimes misrepresents Ussher's arguments, and at least once misreads one of his sources, Milton succeeds brilliantly in trashing Ussher's sloppy scholarship and self-serving claims. The piece is as fine an example of contemporary debate oratory as one could wish. As in Of Reformation, Milton prompts readers to feel visceral disgust for prelates and their defenders (largely prelates themselves, of course), and contempt for their self-interested gullibility.
The copy text for Of Prelatical Episcopacy is found on Early English Books Online.
