setting up the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus." S that it was the duty of men to seek out the fo government prescribed by the Scriptures, Eliot ex those who had been fighting the Lord's battles you would now set the Crown of England upon th of Christ, whose only true inheritance it is, by the his Father. Let him be your Judge, let him b Law-Giver, let him be your King." As the fo government to be set up, Eliot suggested one 1 formulated for his Indians.32

This was not the first crystallization of the Monarchy idea into a serious political propositic February, 1649, "many Christian people dis abroad throughout the county of Norfolk, and ( Norwich", presented a petition to the Council ficers, proposing the establishment of the Fifth archy. Starting with the queries, "Whether th not a Kingdom and Dominion of the Church Christ and the Saints, to be expected upon Earth? "Whether this Kingdom . . . be not external an ble in the world, yea, extend not to all person things universally?" the authors of the pamphle clude in the affirmative. This kingdom, they ass to be administered "by such Laws and Offic Jesus Christ our Mediator hath appointed in his dom", will "put down all worldly Rule and Aut

32 Mass. Hist. Soc., Collections, 3d ser., IX, 127-164. This was ordered suppressed by the Massachusetts General Court Eliot recanted", saying he had sent it over to England "ab or ten years since". It would be interesting to know if there connection between the ideas of Eliot and those of William As who after living in New England returned to England, and copiously in behalf of the Fifth Monarchy.

3

(so far as relates to the worldly constitution t though in the hands of Christians", and is to pected "about this time we live in ". It is n established by "humane Power and Authority the gathering, through the spirit of Christ, of organized in churches, who, when they shall tained to sufficient numbers, "shall rule the w General Assemblies or Church-Parliaments, Officers of Christ and Representatives of the C as they shall chuse and delegate, which they sha Christ come in Person". The duty of the s therefore to organize in churches, and " for the to lay aside all differences and divisions among selves, and combine together against the Antic powers of the world . . . whom they may ex combine against them universally (Rev. xvii, 1 The petitioners propose that the government en the formation of such churches, and persuad pendents and Presbyterians that their interest movement are identical. To this end it is urg only godly preachers be sent out, and that the c be allowed to elect representatives to the p church parliaments, which will "determine al by the Word, as that Law that God will exa and make honorable "

This petition, to which it is to be feared the of Officers did not give very serious consider the first evidence of any group of people ma organized effort to establish the Fifth Monarch government of England; with it the Fifth M party emerges into the light. It is to be obser the petition came from Norwich and its vicinity

33 Certain Queries Humbly presented by way of Petition Lord General and Council of War, 1649 (Thomason).

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BAPTISTS AND FIFTH MONARCHY MEN 19

are no signatures, and there is no way of determining how wide a movement it represented. Norfolk was, throughout the history of the movement, the chief stronghold of the party outside of London, but only scattered records of its activities there have come down to us.

The first trace of an organization in London dates from the period directly after the battle of Worcester. At that time, a gathering of "divers officers and Members of several Congregations, that had not succumbed to the temptations of the day ", decided to endeavor to stir up Cromwell and his officers to hasten on the Lord's cause, and " to quicken the Parliament to some good work". These men were Baptists and Independents. Although Cromwell at first listened with interest to their representations, they 'soon observed that he was taking no steps to put into practice the suggestions they made. They accordingly decided that applications to the government should cease; and dependence be had. upon the Lord alone. Therefore, in the latter part of December, 1651, a new series of meetings was inaugurated, at the church of Allhallows the Great, in Thames Street. Here" divers Officers and Members of Churches, among whom some were Souldiers ", agreed to pray for the speedy exalting of Christ's kingdom, the removal of unfit magistrates and ministers, the ending of divisions among the Lord's people, the stirring up of Parliament, army, and people to fulfill their promises, and the prevention, in the coming negotiations with the Dutch, of any step "prejudicial to Christ's cause, and that of his kingdom"." The new movement was at

34 Feake, Beam of Light. Although this account was not published until 1659, there seems no reason to doubt the general accuracy of its statements concerning these early meetings. The negotiations with the

once regarded with suspicion in government, ar church circles. Some of the leading Independe isters undertook to persuade the agitators of th of their ways, and certain of the leaders were pe to give up the cause.

The defections were numerous enough seri affect the movement for the moment, but in the ing spring there was a revival of interest. To th were several contributory causes. The immed casion was the outbreak of the Dutch war, wh regarded as the spread to the Continent of th which were to establish Christ's kingdom." In a conditions at home were such as would engend content in the minds of millenarian enthusiasts. was danger, in the eyes of advocates of the p "No king but Jesus ", in the wave of mona enthusiasm which had followed the publica Hobbes's Leviathan, and under the influence of even Cromwell was considering the desirabili return to kingship." The Long Parliament was i ing its unpopularity by disregard of suggestio the reform of the law, and by its dilatory policy matter of the religious settlement, which, it wa pered, might take the form of an intolerant, tit ported state church. Well might a new politic ious party seize this moment to enter upon a fres of activity.

Dutch were those concerning the navigation act, and interfere Dutch trade, which were begun upon the arrival, December 1 Dutch ambassadors Cats, Schaef, and Van de Perre; see Gardin monwealth and Protectorate, II, 169.

35 Feake, op. cit., and circular letter of John Owen, Thomas Philip Nye, and Sidrach Simpson (Carte MSS., 81, fol. 16.) T written in 1654, refers to this earlier effort.

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BAPTISTS AND FIFTH MONARCHY MEN 21

Six congregations were invited to send messengers to the new series of meetings, which were held at London House and at some place in Blackfriars. The meetings were "partly to hear those Scriptures opened, which concerned the blessed Interest of Jesus Christ; and partly to wrestle with the Lord again (after our former neglect) for the fulfilling of his Word, in the Destruction of Babylon, and advancement of the Kingdom of his dear Son". It was left to the messengers "publicly to own and plead the cause of Christ's kingdom", and they set themselves earnestly to the task, but with varying success, according to the historian of the early stages of the movement, who complained that at this time" the gospel of the kingdom was published with a great mixture of human frailty"."

It is impossible to give with certainty more than a few names of those who were associated with the movement at this time. Apparently the leading spirit was Christopher Feake, a clergyman who in 1646 had begun to have scruples as to infant baptism, and who was in 1649 vicar of Christ Church, Newgate, and lecturer at St. Anne's, Blackfriars. Our knowledge of these early meetings is drawn from an account by him, published some years later, and it seems to have been to the parish of St. Anne's, Blackfriars, that the meetings, which were at first held at Allhallows the Great, were transferred. In March, 1652, there arrived from Dublin an able and zealous young preacher, a Cambridge man, named John Rogers. He had been sent to Ireland by the Council of State the preceding year, and had been preaching in the Dublin cathedral, but left on account of friction with the Baptist pastor there. On his return

39 Feake, Beam of Light; Erbery, The Bishop of London, 1653 (Thomason).