A History of Britain 09. Revolutions (3 of 29)

A History of Britain

As Cromwell began to make his way in the world, some sort of crisis happened to his modest fortune.
But what the world might have seen as misfortune was, through the cunning of the Almighty, his saving grace.
He underwent some kind of religious conversion.
The vanities were stripped away so he might be opened to the light.
Oh, I lived in and loved darkness and hated the light!
This is true.
I hated Godliness, yet God had mercy on me.
Oh, the riches of His mercy! The sense that God had some special service for him made a new man of Cromwell.
He knew where he was going.
He knew what had to be done.

He must tear the sword out of the hands of the untrustworthy, Papist-loving king.
He went to war as a complete novice with no military experience.
His sense of divine appointment was his armour.
It made him supremely confident, cool under fire, but never reckless.
An aura of invincibility began to cling to him.
He became the driving force of the Godly Revolution.
When the vanquished king defied God's judgement, his blood was needed to expiate the crime.
But it became obvious that doing away with the monarch was no guarantee of doing away with the monarchy.
For if Charles couldn't be among his subjects in person, his proxy could.