"And with us goes the Commonwealth," he returned. "What will you put in place of it?"
"The Lord shall show in His leisure," said Cromwell sternly, and went from the Painted Chamber with Lambert and Harrison after him.
And so it was over; the Parliament had followed the King; the last remnant and pretence of a constitution had been swept away, and a sudden military revolution had placed the army at the head of the nation, their leader thereby becoming the greatest man in England.
For, the King gone, the Parliament broken, who was there left for any man to look to save he who had swept away both King and Parliament and now stamped angrily out of Westminster Hall?
Even Harrison had been taken by surprise; he was enthusiastic, as he foresaw an uninterrupted reign of God's chosen, those military saints who were sacred and purified by their fights for the Lord, but he was also a little bewildered as to the course future events must take.
Lambert merely said, "This is a difficult business and requires careful handling."
But Cromwell himself was openly exalted and uplifted; his passion of anger gave way to a passion of spiritual enthusiasm.
"This hath been a call from the Lord!" he cried, as the three walked back to Whitehall. "Yea, a direct call! Own it, for it hath been unprojected, and is marvellous! This morning did we know of this thing? Nay, and now it is done! And this hath been the way the Lord hath dwelt with us from the first. He hath kept things from our eyes all along so that we have never seen His dispensations beforehand!"
"Truly," replied Harrison, "He hath marvellously witnessed for us, and thou hast been as Joshua who scattered the enemies of the Lord at the waters of Merom, and chased them even into the valley of Mizpeh, and burnt Hazor with fire."