.. are now in the
sadle & at the helme, so high that _non datus descensus nisi cadendo_:
Some cheere up their spirits with the impossibilitie of another fall or
turne, so doth Major G. Harrison ... a very gallant most deserving
heavenly man, but most highflowne for the Kingdom of the Saints & the 5th
Monarchie now risen & their sun never to set againe &c. Others, as, to my
knowledge, the Protector ... are not so full of that faith of miracles,
but still imagine changes & persecutions & the very slaughter of the
witnesses before that glorious morning so much desired of a worldly
Kingdome, if ever such a Kingdome (as literally it is by so many
expounded) be to arise in this present world & dispensation." Poor
General Harrison lived to be one of the witnesses so slaughtered. The
practical good sense of Cromwell is worth noting, the English
understanding struggling against Judaic trammels. Williams gives us
another peep through the keyhole of the past: "It pleased the Lord to
call me for some time & with some persons to practice the Hebrew, the
Greeke, Latine, French & Dutch. The secretarie of the Councell (Mr
Milton) for my Dutch I read him, read me many more languages. Grammar
rules begin to be esteemed a Tyrannie. I taught 2 young Gentlemen, a
Parliament man's sons, as we teach our children English, by words,
phrazes, & constant talke, &c.
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