The covenant and other
oaths were indeed sent down, but as they were not enforced, the
conscientious possessors of ecclesiastical and collegiate situations
were not ejected for contumacy. The captivity of the King imposed the
most scrupulous moderation and quiet submission on all his adherents,
and many persons hoped, from this apparent calm, that the national
wounds would speedily be healed.
But the suspended fury of two powerful contending parties, concentrating
their terrors, and perfecting their deep designs to crush each other
before they entirely annihilate a fallen foe, bears no more resemblance
to the wise lenity of a regular government towards the refractory
subjects it has subdued, than the fearful stillness which is the
precursor of a thunder-storm does to the serene tranquillity of a
summer's day. No sooner were the Presbyterian republicans subdued by the
fanatics, who had gained the entire command of the army, than the murder
of the King, and the vindictive persecution of loyalty and episcopacy,
plainly shewed that, in the nomenclature of these men, forbearance and
liberty meant self-aggrandizement and most merciless oppression of all
who dissented from their opinions.
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