future. Cleared before men, before Thee I shall be cleared never,
unless Thy mercy shall be my succour. I confess I have sinned
against Thee, nor shall I do so more. Thou seest how this paper on
which I write is now all wet with my tears: pardon me, Redeemer
mine, and grant that the vow I now take to Thee I may sacredly
perform. Let a thousand dogs bark at me, a thousand bulls of Bashan
rush upon me, as many lions war against my soul, and threaten me
with destruction, I will reply no more, defended enough if only I
feel Thee propitious. I will no more waste the time due to Thee,
sacred to Thee, in mere trifles, or lose it in beating off the
importunity of moths. Whatever extent of life it shall please Thee
to appoint me still, I vow, I dedicate, all to Thee, all to Thy
Church. So shall we be revenged on our enemies. Convert us all,
Thou who only canst. Forgive us, forgive them also; nor to us, nor
to them, but to Thy name, be the glory!"

Milton read this, but was not moved. On the 8th of August, 1655,
there was published his Rejoinder to the original _Fides
Publica_, with his notice of the _Supplementum_ appended. It
is a small volume of 204 pages, entitled _Joannis Miltoni_, _Angli_,
_Pro Se Defensio contra Alexandrum Morum_, _Ecclesiasten_, _Libelli
famosi_, _cui titulus 'Regii Sanguinis Clamor ad Caelum adversus
Parricidas Anglicanus'_, _authorem recte dictum. Londini_, _Typis
Newcomianis_, 1655 ("The English, John Milton's Defence for
Himself, in reply to Alexander Morus, Churchman, rightly called the
author of the notorious book entitled 'Cry of the King's Blood to
Heaven against the English Parricides,' London, from Newcome's Press,
1655"). This is perhaps the least known now of all Milton's writings.
It has never been translated, even in the wretched fashion in which
his _Defensio Prima_ and _Defensio Secunda_ have been; and
it is omitted altogether in some professed editions of Milton's whole
works.[1]

[Footnote 1: The date of publication is from the Thomason copy in the
British Museum.]

After a brief Introduction, in which Milton remarks that the quarrel,
which was originally for Liberty and the English People, has now
dwindled into a poor personal one, he discusses afresh, as the first
real point in dispute, the question of the authorship of the _Regii
Sanguinis Clamor_. Morus's denials, or seeming denials, go for
nothing. Any man may deny anything; there are various ways