The “tender conscience” of seventeenth-century British discourse redirected the course of political history and the history of the emotions. In the 1640s, the unimpeachable repute of the tender conscience as a spiritual identity provided lay citizens with the authority needed to voice political dissent. The growing antiprelatical movement found in the tender conscience a ready-made resistance theory. For John Milton, the work of defining this conscience is so closely tied to arguments for the legitimacy of revolutionary action that his oeuvre can be read as a protracted struggle to establish its boundaries.

中文翻译：

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天堂的眼泪

十七世纪英国话语的“温柔良知”改变了政治历史和情感历史的进程。在1640年代，温柔的良知无可否认地被视为一种精神身份，为平民提供了表达政治异议所需的权威。日益增长的反派运动在温柔的良心中发现了现成的抵抗理论。对于约翰·弥尔顿（John Milton）而言，界定这种良知的工作与对革命行动的合法性的论点紧密联系在一起，以至于他的作品可以被视为建立边界的旷日持久的斗争。