THE FIFTH MONARCHY MEN (AND WOMEN) WERE A GROUP OF DEVOUT CHRISTIANS IN BRITANNIA WHO BELIEVED THAT KING CHARLES I WOULD BE THE LAST BRITISH MONARCH. AFTER THE RESTORATION, MANY OF THEM SUFFERED AGONIZING DEATHS WHILE KING CHARLES ENJOYED WATCHING THE GRUESOME SPECTACLES FROM A HIDDEN WINDOW!! |
The Fifth Monarchy Men were a small but highly influential group of Christians in Britain who believed that the time had come to inaugurate Christ's Stone Kingdom on earth.
They based their belief on Daniel Chapter 2 of the Stone smiting the statue on the feet and toes of iron and clay:
You (Nebuchadnezzar) watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth (Daniel 2:34-35).
Fifth Monarchy Men (and women) believed that their nation was the chosen instrument to accomplish the downfall of all oppressive monarchies . . . beginning at home.
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After their deliverance from the "Invincible" Spanish Armada and the Gunpowder Plot, most British Christians saw their nation as the new Israel destined to fill the whole world with the knowledge of JEHOVAH as the waters cover the sea. A Christian Empire ruled by the king of kings:
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise Elohim, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen (I Timothy 1:17).
Of course, all hell was stirred up to oppose them, especially the Jesuits, who believed that they were the authentic Fifth Monarchy Men destined to bring the entire world under the Papal monarchy.
The beheading of King Charles I in 1649 led the Fifth Monarchy Men to believe that prophecy was about to be fulfilled and the British monarchy was about to be smitten with the Stone from heaven.
Charles I was the grandson of Mary Queen of Scots and David Rizzio, which would make him the great-grandson of Pope Paul III.
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Along with the king they also prayed for the abolition of the aristocracy and (canon) LAWYERS. The brutal Norman laws that came with William the Conqueror were to be abolished and substituted with humane laws based on the Law of Moses. Finally, the rich were to be cast down and the poor exalted:
Nevertheless, the death of Charles was a great triumph for the saints, and they saw it as the beginning of a world-wide revolution, in which all kings would be destroyed. Spittlehouse thought God had used England 'as a Theater to act a president of what he intends to do to all the Nations.' Hugh Peter told the Commons in 1648 that he knew 'by Revelation that 'This Army must root up Monarchy, not only here but in France, and other kingdoms round about; ...This Army is that Corner stone cut out of the Mountain, which must dash the powers of the earth to pieces. John Canne expected that the Lord would 'eminently appear, . . . overthrowing the Thrones of Kingdoms every where in Europe'. In a sermon graphically entitled The Shaking and Translating of Heaven and Earth, John Owen assured the Commons that God would 'sooner or later shake all the Monarchies of the Earth'. John Durant, a preacher at Canterbury, thought that 'In a few years I beleeve a man may in sober speech ask, Where is the King of England? where is the King of France? where is the King of Spaine? where is the Danish, Swedish, Hungarian, &c. power?' John Rogers agreed that kings would collapse 'over all the World ere long, till not one be left'. (Capp, The Fifth Monarchy Men, p. 53).
As the year 1666 approached, many saw that year as bringing the downfall of the Papacy, or the Beast of Revelation 13, whose number is 666.
 William Aspinwall (1605–1662). |
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 John Rogers (1627– 1670). |
After the beheading of King Charles II, the Fifth Monarchy Men looked to Oliver Cromwell as their champion to put down all monarchies.
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Had Cromwell lived, he would have accepted the crown and history would know him as King Oliver I. Cromwell was poisoned by his physician, Dr. George Bate, who was also physician to Charles I and Charles II....After the restoration of King Charles II, Cromwell's body was disinterred from Westminster Abbey, and subjected to the brutal ritual of a posthumous execution.
Wickedness was enthroned when the monarchy was restored!!
For the first 450 years of the existence of the nation of Israel, it was a REPUBLIC. Around 1000 BC, the people rebelled and turned their backs on JEHOVAH by asking for a KING. Up to that time, Israel had only faced kings in battle, but they had no direct experience of kingly rule. The Prophet Samuel was grieved by their apostasy:
Is today not the wheat harvest? I will call upon JEHOVAH,and he will send thunder and rain, that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of JEHOVAH, in asking a king for yourselves (I Samuel 12:17).
From that time onward, it was all downhill for the Israelites until they were destroyed forever by the Romans in 70 AD.
The British knew from long experience how wicked and corrupt kings could be. Nobody was given a chance to vote on the return of the corrupt Stuart dynasty because the restoration was all the work of spies, turncoats, and the army.
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Immediately after his throne was secure, the wicked king went after the Fifth Monarchy Men with a vengeance. Cromwell was disinterred from Westminster Abbey and his body mutilated.
King Charles II launched the greatest manhunt in British history!!
The greatest manhunt in British history was commenced when the vengeful king tried to exterminate all the Fifth Monarchy Men. His spies were everywhere so he had no problem arresting those who refused to flee abroad.
 Major general Thomas Harrison (1606–1660). |
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Sir Henry Vane the Younger (1613–1662). |
All of the martyrs went to their deaths rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer for Christ's sake. The depraved, sadistic king watched the gory scenes with delight, but he was disappointed that none of them recanted or expressed sorrow that his father was beheaded.
 Artistic depiction of the hanging of general Harrison . |
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Artistic depiction of the disembowelment of general Harrison. |
2 of the Fifth Monarchy Men escaped to the British colony of Massachusetts . . . but they were not safe anywhere in the New World.
 General Edward Whalley (1607–1675). |
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 General William Goffe (1607–1679). |
In May 1661, governor Endecott of Massachusets received an arrest warrant for the 2 generals. Here is a copy of that arrest warrant:
Trusty and well-beloved, We greet you well. We being given to understand that Colonel Whalley and Colonel Goffe, who stand here convicted for the execrable murder of our Royal Father, of glorious memory, are lately arrived at New England, where they hope to shroud themselves from the justice of our laws; Our will and pleasure is, and we do hereby expressly require and command you ... to cause both the said persons to be apprehended, and with the first opportunity sent over hither under a strict care, to receive according to their demerits. We are confident of your readiness and diligence to perform your duty; and so bid you farewell. (Spencer, Killers of the King, p. 270).
Refusal to carry out the arrest warrant could mean that the governor himself could be charged with high treason and returned to London for butchery.
 Governor John Endecott (1588–1665). |
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 Judges Cave, New Haven, Connecticut. |
Because the colonials refused to honor the arrest warrant and hand over the men, King Charles II launched King Philip's War, which lasted from 1675 to 1678.
 King Philip (1639–1676) with a musket supplied by King Charles II. |
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 General Willaim Goffe, "The Angel of Hadley," defending Revived Israel. |
On June 12, 1676, William Goffe saved a small pioneer settlement in Hadley, Massachusetts, from extermination by the Indians during King Philip's War.
Nobody dared admit that the defense of the settlement was carried out by general Goffe, so a "legend" arose about an angel from heaven sent to defend Israel in the Wilderness. That angel from heaven was in fact general Goffe, "The Angel of Hadley."
The only place in the New World where the arrest warrant could not be enforced was New Amsterdam. New Amsterdam, present day New York, was then a Dutch colony.
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King Charles was never able to lay his bloodstained hands on either man. His manhunt backfired in the New World, because Whalley and Goffe encouraged the colonials to break with the corrupt British monarchy for good.
 Sir George Downing (1623–1684). |
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 10 Downing Street is named after the infamous Sir George Downing. |
Sir George Downing was the British Judah Iscariot:
On the other side of the Atlantic, things would not prove so easy for the regicides in 1661. As Kelland and his partner were being thrown off the scent in New England, a man of far more menacing and astute calibre was being appointed to lead the European hunt. This was a former Roundhead, Sir George Downing, who had been posted as envoy extraordinary to the Netherlands in 1661. Over the next year this burly, quick-witted man would serve the ends of his royal master Charles II so well that he would be granted a baronetcy, huge monetary reward and the plot of land next to Whitehall Palace that forever commemorates him—Downing Street. He would also gain a reputation as an odious, treacherous turncoat: Andrew Marvell likened him to Judas; his former clerk, Samuel Pepys, labelled Downing a 'perfidious rogue'; and in his native New England 'an arrant George Downing' became an epithet for anyone betraying a trust.(Jordan & Walsh, The King's Revenge, p. 261).
The names of the martyrs to the king's revenge are too numerous to mention but their names are written on the wall of the New Jerusalem for an everlasting memorial.
Britannia was delivered from the Stuart dynasty by the Dutch Republic!!
King Charles was poisoned by his own son James. Satan couldn't wait to get his hands on one of his most zealous servants. James was zealous to take Britain back to the dark days before October 31, 1517.
 James, Duke of York, (1633–1701). |
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 Prince of Orange landing memorial in Torbay. |
The abdication of James II was another golden opportunity to get rid of the monarchy. The Dutch were anxious for them to throw off the yoke of monarchial bondage, but again another great opportunity was lost forever.
The British monarchy will soon be gone with the wind!
After the restoration of the monarchy, many Christians equated Charles II as the Beast that had the wound by a sword and came to life again (Revelation 13:14). This indeed was an apt description of that deadly monarch:'The beast that comes out of the abyss' could readily be interpreted as the restored monarchy. The phrase, 'And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city', equated with the anguish of those who had been publicly butchered then displayed in London. This had been the period of the regicides' greatest torment, but soon they would be revitalised by 'the breath of life from God'. That was when they would be summoned from heaven to his glory, and would then be able to witness their enemies either suffer cruel destruction, or reach out for spiritual salvation. (Spencer, Killers of the King, p. 278).
The "Glorious Revolution" was not so glorious after all because the monarchy remained . . . albeit its winged were clipped by Parliament.
The Hanover Dynasty started the Seven Years' War, the American Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, the French Revolution, and the War of 1812. Queen Victoria oversaw the American Civil War, the assassination of President Lincoln, the conquest of India, the Boer War etc., etc.
Winston Churchill–son of Edward the Caresser–started World War I and II. The present queen was responsible for the Cold War, the founding of the counterfeit "Israel" in the Mideast, the assassination of President Kennedy, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the assassination of Princess Diana etc., etc.
The Fifth Monarchy Men knew the signs of the times . . . and we are living today at the soles of the feet of the image of iron and clay. That means that all monarchies in the entire world will soon be gone with the wind. It will also be Resurrection Day for the Fifth Monarchy Men and doomsday for King Charles II and his bloody persecutors.
References
Capp, B.S. The Fifth Monarchy Men. Rowman & Littlefield, Totowa, New Jersey, 1972.
Jordan, Don, & Walsh, Michael.The King's Revenge: Charles II and the Greatest Manhunt in British History. Little, Brown & Co., London, U.K.
Pagliuco, Christopher. The Great Escape of Edward Whalley and William Goffe: Smuggled Through Connecticut. History Press, Charleston, South Carolina, 2012.
Rogers, P.G. The Fifth Monarchy Men. Oxford University Press, London, U.K., 1966.
Spencer, Charles.Killing the King: The Men Who Dared To Execute Charles I. Bloomsbury Press, New York 2014.
Copyright © 2016 by Patrick Scrivener