921.73 W589w.pdf - Mesa FamilySearch Library

Rev. Xc_mue! W_ili_g. 29
student associated during the years he spent at
Emanuel College, "the hotbed of Puritanism,"
as it was justly called. Among students like
these, the current of opinion pressed strongly
against the divine right of kings, or of civil
governments under any form, against royal or
aristocratic prerogative or privilege, against
the domineering claims of church dignitaries,
and against all needless control of personal
rights. They seem, for a time, to have scented
from afar the spicy breath of that spirit of free-
dom which inspired their stalwart sons on the
field of Naseby, raised the revolutionary cry
of colonial independence, and finally, after the
lapse of two hundred and fifty years, planted
deep and strong in the constitution of this
republic the eternal safeguards of civil liberty.
Yet few of these gallant spirits then foresaw
how their doctrines would shape the future
destiny of the English race. They were not
aware of the great part they were playing in
the history of nations, nor of the impulse they
were giving to the cause of humanity, an
impulse which has rolled onward more than