An Old Looking Glass For the Laity and Clergy, 1770

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An Old Looking-Glass For the Laity and Clergy,1770

This pamphlet usually circulates under the title "Considerations Touching the Likeliest Means To Remove Hirelings From the Church." It was first published in 1659 and was part of a longstanding debate over who should pay state- enforced tithes to support the clergy. Milton maintains that those not truly dedicated to the ministry--the Hirelings--will be expelled if pay is withheld. Milton claims in support of his views pre-Levitical Jewish practice, and the practices of the primitive Christian church and of the early church in Britain. The argument runs along anti-Erastian lines that the state should not control the church. "Considerations" is one of Milton's most complete expressions of disestablishmentarianism, and conservative vestiges of state control led Milton to call the protectorate under Oliver Cromwell "a short, but scandalous night of interruption" in the preface. Bibliographic Description

Letter to Parliament.

Note the stub of a singletonleaf in the gutter of these pages.

This paperback book may have deteriorated to this degree because it was printed in Philadelphia in 1770, where resources were scarce and standards of printing were not so high as in England. One may also speculate that a treatise opposing state enforced taxes would be popular in Philadelphia in 1770.

English Department | Emory College | Emory University