Pepy’s Diary. No more sure chronicler of the times than he.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/796.php
“During 1648, Cromwell’s letters and speeches started to become heavily based on biblical imagery, many of them meditations on the meaning of particular passages. For example, after the battle of Preston, study of Psalms 17 and 105 led him to tell Parliament that “they that are implacable and will not leave troubling the land may be speedily destroyed out of the land”. A letter to Oliver St John in September 1648 urged him to read Isaiah 8, in which the kingdom falls and only the godly survive. This letter suggests that it was Cromwell’s faith, rather than a commitment to radical politics, coupled with Parliament’s decision to engage in negotiations with the king at the Treaty of Newport, that convinced him that God had spoken against both the king and Parliament as lawful authorities. For Cromwell, the army was now God’s chosen instrument.[26] The episode shows Cromwell’s firm belief in “Providentialism”—that God was actively directing the affairs of the world, through the actions of “chosen people” (whom God had “provided” for such purposes). Cromwell believed, during the Civil Wars, that he was one of these people, and he interpreted victories as indications of God’s approval of his actions, and defeats as signs that God was directing him in another direction.”
Bad thing to join military with religious fanaticism. Shades of Islamic method there.
***For Cromwell, the army was now God’s chosen instrument.[26] The episode shows Cromwell’s firm belief in “Providentialism”—that God was actively directing the affairs of the world, through the actions of “chosen people” (whom God had “provided” for such purposes). Cromwell believed, during the Civil Wars, that he was one of these people, and he interpreted victories as indications of God’s approval of his actions, and defeats as signs that God was directing him in another direction.”***
Oh yes. And there are a bunch of Cromwells posting actively right here. If God is within them, God is directing them. If God is directing them, then He only directs them in His way. They are incapable of not following His will. Therefore everything they do is God’s will. They can do no wrong since God is within them.
Fascinating philosophy to have. The ramifications are, of course, horrendous.
But Richard Harris swiping away the idols on the altar in the DVD of "Cromwell" is stirring.
IIRC he even turned the altar around to transform it back into a pulpit facing the congregation.
All in all, a terrific scene.