Cromwell knew not, at first, whether he should become a churchman or a
soldier. He partly became both. In 1622 he made a campaign in the army
of the prince of Orange, Frederick Henry, a great man and the brother of
two great men; and, on his return to England, engaged in the service of
Bishop Williams, and was the chaplain of his lordship, while the bishop
passed for his wife's gallant. His principles were puritanical, which
led him to cordially hate a bishop, and not to be partial to kingship.
He was dismissed from the family of Bishop Williams because he was a
Puritan; and thence the origin of his fortune. The English Parliament
declared against monarchy and against episcopacy; some friends whom he
had in that parliament procured him a country living. He might be said
only now to have commenced his existence; he was more than forty before
he acquired any distinction. He was master of the sacred Scriptures,
disputed on the authority of priests and deacons, wrote some bad
sermons, and some lampoons; but he was unknown. I have seen one of his
sermons, which is insipid enough, and pretty much resembles the holdings
forth of the Quakers; it is impossible to discover in it any trace of
that power by which he afterwards swayed parliaments. The truth is, he
was better fitted for the State than for the Church. It was principally
in his tone and in his air that his eloquence consisted. An inclination
of that hand which had gained so many battles, and killed so many
royalists, was more persuasive than the periods of Cicero. It must be
acknowledged that it was his incomparable valor that brought him into
notice, and which conducted him gradually to the summit of greatness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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