“Against... the Bishops” 1639–1642Almighty Father hath bequeath’d thee; for now the voice of thy Bride calls thee, and
all creatures sigh to bee renew’d. (706–7)Later, in the Apology, he defends this prayer against the charge that it is “big-mouth’d”
and “theatricall,” terming it rather prophetic poetry: it is not “a prayer so much as
a hymne in prose frequent both in the Prophets, and in humane authors” (CPW I,
930).
Throughout the summer and autumn of 1641 the pamphlet warfare escalated,
with some tracts denouncing the bishops and demanding reforms and others decry-
ing the threat of civil and religious anarchy and the proliferation of sects. In August
the Commons impeached and sent to the Tower 13 bishops who had most vigor-
ously suppported Laud’s canons, including Joseph Hall. On September 1 they re-
moved altar rails, relics, crucifixes, images, and sabbath sports. Plague and smallpox,
as well as the king’s decision to visit Scotland, forced parliament to recess in early
September, but when it reconvened on October 23 the Commons again passed an
Exclusion Bill to remove bishops from the House of Lords, prompted in part by the
king’s appointment of four new bishops at a time when the status of bishops was
under debate. At about the same time came horrific news of an uprising in Ireland,
with perhaps 30,000 English and Scottish Protestants massacred and mutilated by
the enraged Catholic populace they had degraded and dispossessed. But parliament
refused to support an invasion of Ireland unless it could wrest away the king’s
traditional control of the army, fearing that after putting down the Irish revolt he
would turn the army on the obstreperous English parliament and people.
Through November and December debates in parliament and petitions to it
revolved around the Grand Remonstrance, 206 articles summarizing the grievances of
the past 16 years, detailing the parliament’s notable accomplishments, calling for a
general synod to settle church government, and urging removal of obstacles to
further reform, notably the bishops in the House of Lords and the king’s “papist”
privy counsellors. Though addressed to the king, publication of that document was
intended to whip up popular agitation for the reforms, to the dismay of some
supporters in parliament.^65 Sir Edward Dering demanded, “Wherefore is this
Descension from a Parliament to a People?... And why are we told that the
People are expectant for a Declaration?... I neither look for cure of our com-
plaints from the common People, nor do desire to be cured by them.”^66 Demon-
strations and threats by mobs of London apprentices throughout the Christmas
season prompted twelve bishops to sign a protest on December 27 declaring that
they could not attend the House of Lords without protection, and that anything
done in their absence must be considered void. This was construed as a treasonous
effort to subvert parliament and the petitioning bishops were sent to the Tower, an
act that virtually eliminated bishops from the House of Lords in fact if not by law.
On January 4, 1642, the king committed a major gaffe when he sent armed troops
to the Commons’ chamber to arrest for treason five redoubtable parliamentary