Chap. VI. The HISTORY of the PuRITANs. 183 the warmer fpirits in the houfe, feeing noperiod of their calamities this K. Charles I. way, apprehended a decifive battle ought to be fought as foon as poffible, ~ for which purpofe, after a folemn fafl:, it was moved that all the prcfen t officers fhould be difcharged, and the army intrufl:ed in fuch hands as they could confide in. Dec. 9· it wa5 refolved, that no member of either houfe lhould execute any office civil or military, during the prefent war; accordingly the ordinance commonly called the SELF DENYING ORDINANCE was brought in, and paifed the commons ten days after, but was laid afide by the lords till after the treaty of Uxbridge, when it was revived and carried - with fome little oppofition. The earls of E:ffex, Manch'!fler, Warwick, . and Dmbigh, the lord Robet·ts, Wi!lougbby, and others were difmiifed by this ordinance, and all members of the houfe of commons, except lieutenan t general Cromwe/1, who after a few months was difpenfed with , at the requefl: of the new general. All the regiments were diihanded, and fuch only lifted under the new commanders, as were determined to con-· quer or die. Sir 'Tho. Faitj'ax was appointed general, ar.d 0/iver Cromwe/1, after fome time, lieutenant-general; the claufe for priji:r•uation of the king's perfon was left out of Sir Thomas's commiffion; nor did it run in the name of the king and parliammt, but of the parliament only. The army confii1ed of twenty- one thoufand refol ute foldiers, and was called in contempt by the royalifts the new modelled army; but their courage quickly revenged the contempt. Sir 'Thomas Faiifax wa.s a gentleman of no quick parts or elocution ; Charafler' of'" but religious, faithful, valiant, and of a grave, fober, refolved·difpofition; thegeneral, , ' h · b d' .n d b h I' O'' Baxrer's nelt er too great, nor too. cunmng to e Jre~,.,te y t e par tament. tt- 1 ·i ver Crom~ou/1 was more bold and afpiring; and being a foldier of undaunt- "1 e, p. 49 '· ed courage and intrepidity, proved at length too powerful for his mafl:ers. The army was more at bis difpofal than at Faiifax's, and the wonders: they wrought iprung chiefly from his counfels. When the old regiments were broken, the chaplains being difcharged of Rife of m~· eourfe, returned to their cures; a:nd as new ones were formed, the officers thujiajin in ' applied to the parliament and affembly for a fre01 recruit ; but the prdby- the anny. terian minill:ers heing poifeJJed of warm benefices, were unwilling to undergo the fatigues of another campaign, or it may be, to ferve with men , of iuch defperate meafu res, This fatal accident proved the ruin of the caufe, in which the parliament were engaged; for the army being defiitute of chaplains, who n'iight have reftrained the irregularities of their. zeal, the officers fet up for preachers in their feveral regiments, dcp~r.ding upon a kind of miraculous afiiftance of the divine fpirit, without any ftud y or pre paration; and when their imaginations were heated, they gave · v.ent to the mo!t crude and undigeiled abfurdities; nor did the evil reil there, . fur from preaching .at the head of their regiments, they took poJJeffion of; the"
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