Smectymnuus

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Smectymnuus was the name of a Presbyterian group active in the early 1640s.

The name is an acronym derived from the initials of the five Presbyterian authors: Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William Spurstow. Their first pamphlet, An Answer to a booke entituled, An Humble Remonstrance. In Which, the Original of Liturgy and Episcopacy is Disussed, appeared in March, 1641. The pamphlet was written in response to Joseph Hall's An Humble Remonstrance to the High Court of Parliament. It is thought that John Milton wrote the postscript for Smectymnuus's reply.

This response provoked Hall to write another reply: A Defence of the Humble Remonstrance, against the Frivolous and false Expectations of Smectymnuus. Smectymnuus answered Hall again with their A Vindication of the Answer to the Humble Remonstrance, from the Unjust Imputations of Fivolousnesse and Falsehood. Milton also published tracts defending the Smectymnuus group from Hall.¹

[edit] References

¹ Lewalski, Barbara K. The Life of John Milton (2003) Oxford: Blackwells Publishers. p. 128, 131.