of Peers (amongst whom they sat, and had yet their votes) would reject it."[164] What became of this measure we shall see before long. In March and April, Bills were brought before the Commons for removing the Star Chamber and High Commission Courts, but they were not presented to the Lords till the fate of Strafford had been sealed. After a fruitless attempt by the Peers to modify the Bill respecting the Star Chamber, that and the measure for extinguishing the other despotic tribunal were allowed to pass.[165] [Sidenote: 1641, April.] Before entering on the principal events of the month of May, it is proper to glance at a controversy, pending about that time, between bishops Hall and Ussher on the one side, and certain Presbyterians, together with John Milton, on the other. Hall had, at an earlier period, written his "Episcopacy by divine right." Now he appeared as the author of "An Humble Remonstrance," in defence of liturgical forms and diocesan Episcopacy. He was answered by five Presbyterian divines, the initials of whose names formed the word _Smectymnus_, under which ugly title their polemical production figures in literary history.[166] The prelate insisted on the antiquity of liturgical forms, and on the apostolical origin of diocesan bishops. The Presbyters contended that free prayer was the practice of the early Church, and that no genuine liturgy can be traced up beyond the third century. They further maintained that the primitive bishop was a parochial pastor, or preaching presbyter, without superiority of order or any exclusive jurisdiction; that Presbyters of old ordained, and ruled, and that what they did at the beginning they had a right to do still. Hall published a rejoinder in defence of the Remonstrance. The Presbyters soon produced a Vindication. The Bishop now sought assistance from his friend Ussher, entreating him to bestow "one sheet of paper in such distracted times on the subject of Episcopacy." Ussher complied, and entitled his tract, "The original of Bishops and Metropolitans briefly laid down." This, as well as another tract from the same pen, on the position of the bishops of Asia Minor, issued from the Oxford press in the course of the year, in a collection which further included extracts from the writings of Hooker and Andrewes. Ussher argued, that from the writings of the Fathers a succession of bishops may be shown to have existed ever since the age of the Apostles; and that the Seven Angels of the Seven Churches were "seven singular bishops who were the constant presidents" over them.[167] [Sidenote: _Debates respecting Bishops._] [Sidenote: 1641, April.]