claimed unwillingness to accept any king but Jesus." Among these fighting Baptists and their Independent brethren, whose favorite relaxation in camp was attendance at a prayer-meeting, there was a fertile field for the development of new religious ideas. And here developed the other party we have set out to consider— the Fifth Monarchy men. In these army circles, the idea characterizing all the Evangelical churches, that of turning to the Scriptures for justification of every act, was naturally very much at the fore, and it is not strange that the most fruitful sources for the preachers who sought the explanation of current events should be those most obscure and mystical books, the prophecy of Daniel and the Revelation of John. There were certain portions of the book of Daniel which in the seventeenth century gave rise to little controversy, because they were supposed to be so well understood. These were Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the image, and Daniel's vision of the four beasts which succeeded one another. The interpretation of these visions as representing four kingdoms, which were to follow one another on earth, before the coming of the Ancient of Days and the establishment of an everlasting kingdom ruled by the saints, had, in accordance with the accepted ideas of the time, been justified in the successive establishment of the Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and Roman empires." The events of 28" We have not only proclaimed Jesus Christ, the King of Saints, to be our King by profession, but desire to submit to him upon his own terms, and admit him to the exercise of his Royal Authority in our hearts." Manchester Declaration, cited by Feake, Beam of Light, 1659. The agreements of Triploe Heath and Windsor were also cited by Fifth Monarchy men. 24 Hearne, in his Ductor Historicus, published in 1705, says that objec and that the time was drawing near when the Monarchy, with Christ at its head, would after war and tumult be established upon earth. And England was being rent with civil wars, it strange that men began to feel that perhaps these the wars of the latter days, or that the soldier w spired to better service by the great thought th promise might be fulfilled in his lifetime, and t was one of the saints who were to bring in th order. It is difficult in these days to follow with pa or even with complete seriousness, all the ramific of Fifth Monarchy speculation, but reduced fundamentals, surely nothing could be finer tha simple faith and hope upon which it was fou Professor Firth, in his life of Thomas Harrison, a to him the well-known lines of Blake: Bring me my Bow of burning gold: I will not cease from mental Fight, In England's green and pleasant land. Here speaks the true spirit of the Fifth Mo man, and the realization of this lends a dignity t the wildest projects of these enthusiasts. In this spirit, indeed, the Parliamentary armi fought the Civil Wars. The Fifth Monarchy me it alive when for others it had lost its potency. A 1 who follows the course of events in England be 1642 and 1650 cannot fail to be struck by the lence, among the leaders of the forces as well as a the rank and file, of the idea that they were fig the battles of Christ, and preparing for his king Soldiers and preachers alike considered the E mentary victories as victories of Armageddon. From the discussions on the Agreement of the an excellent idea can be gained of the mingling o lenary ideas with notions of government, and part of the saints in the warfare of Christ. In ref to the claim of the king to authority in religious ters Lieutenant-colonel Goffe said: "Certainly, a mistery of iniquity. Now Jesus Christ his wo the last dayes is to destroy this mistery of iniquity because itt is so interwoven and intwisted in the est of States, certainly in that overthrow . . must bee great alterations of states. Now the doth hold out in the Revelation, that in this wo Jesus Christ hee shall have a companie of Saints low him, such as are chosen, and called, and fai Now itt is a scruple amonge the saints, how farr should use the sworde, yett God hath made use of in that worke. Many of them have bin employed five or six yeares." A year later, when the A ment of the People was again under discussion, C Thomas Harrison said: " The Worde of God dot notice, that the powers of this world shall bee 25 Barclay, op. cit., 186; Christ's coming Opened in a Sermon be Honourable House of Commons... May 17, 1648, by William (Prince collection, Boston Public Library); The Vengeance Temple Discovered in a sermon preached before... the Lord .. May 17, 1648... by William Strong. 26 Clarke Papers (Camden Soc.), I, 282-283. glory in the world, and hee doth putt forth h very much by his people, and hee sayes in th wherein hee will thresh the Mountaines hee will use of Jacob as that threshing instrument . . . will worke on us soe farre that we are [to be] able in wisedome and power to carry through thir a way extraordinarie, that the workes of men sh answerable to his workes." 27 The convictions of the men of the sword strengthened by the speculations of divines. I Henry Archer had published a pamphlet under t of The Personal Reign of Christ upon Earth, in he analyzed in detail the coming kingdom. It wa preceded by a general darkness, and troubles Gentiles and Jews; the Jews would finally be con and would then suffer for forty-five years fro Mahometans, heathen, and Papists. Then Christ come, uplift the saints, and chastise the wicked would thereupon withdraw, and the saints would until his final coming, a thousand years later. A ful computation, and comparison of Daniel with ation, made Archer fix the date for the convers the Jews at either 1650 or 1656, and for the com Christ at about 1700. John Owen, preaching the House of Commons in 1649, showed that the aration for the kingdom of Christ was to be destruction of monarchy, and pointed out that a g 28 27 Id., II, 185. Goffe was never identified with the Fifth M party, but Harrison was to be its most distinguished member. 28 Thomason. In 1650 appeared an elaborate confutation: Th ation Unrevealed. A copy is in the Prince collection, Bosto Library. attack on monarchical power was going on." Preaching before the same body again, three years later, on the seventh chapter of Daniel, he declared once more that the wars of the day were those which were to prepare for the kingdom. He had come to believe, however, that it was still far off, since before it came the Turk and the Pope must be overthrown and the Jews brought back to their own." Thomas Goodwin also drew a picture of the Fifth Monarchy, representing it as an earthly kingdom, in which the saints were to have a part, and indicating that it was close at hand." 30 From across the Atlantic came testimony of the same sort. John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians of New England, wrote of his faith that the work of Christ in the destruction of the Beast was well under way: "The faithful Brethren in Scotland gave the first blow at the dirty toes, and feet of this Image; with whom the faithful brethren in England, presently concurred. But the Iron of the Civil State, stuck so fast to the miry clay, that according to the Word of Christ, they are (beyond all the thoughts of men) both fallen together . . . and all his faithful Word shall be accomplished . . . Christ is the only right Heir of the Crown of England 20" Are not all the Controversies, or the most of them, that at this day are disputed in Letters of Blood among the Nations, somewhat of a distinct Constitution from those formerly under debate? Is not the hand of the Lord in all this? Are not the shakings of the Heavens of the Nations from him? . . . Is it not . . . that he may revenge their opposition to the Kingdom of his dear Son? . . . That so the Kingdoms of the Earth, may become the Kingdoms of our Lord Jesus." Sermon preached April 19, 1649; copy in the New York Public Library. 30 Sermon . . . concerning the Kingdom of Christ, and the Power of the Civil Magistrate, preached Oct. 13, 1652; copy in New York Public Library. 31 This, and two other sermons, were published later in the interests of the Fifth Monarchy party: A Sermon on the Fifth Monarchy, 1654; The |