The Protector's hopes of recovery were unfounded. His enthusiastic idea of particular faith in prayer misled him; but a better faith, happily, mingled itself with his characteristic infirmity. He had no fear of death;[572] and there is no reason to believe that his mind had undergone any change respecting spiritual confidence in Christ, since he wrote the following lines, in the year 1652, to his son-in-law, General Fleetwood:—
"Salute your dear wife from me. Bid her beware of a bondage spirit. Fear is the natural issue of such a spirit—the antidote is love. The voice of fear is: If I had done this, if I had avoided that, how well it had been with me! I know this hath been her vain reasoning; 'poor Biddy!'
"Love argueth in this wise: What a Christ have I; what a Father in and through Him! What a name hath my Father: Merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth; forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. What a nature hath my Father: He is love; free in it, unchangeable, infinite! What a covenant between Him and Christ—for all the seed, for every one; wherein He undertakes all, and the poor soul nothing. The new covenant is grace—to or upon the soul; to which it, 'the soul,' is passive and receptive: I'll do away their sins; I'll write my law, &c.; I'll put it in their hearts: they shall never depart from me, &c.
"This commends the love of God: it's Christ dying for men without strength, for men whilst sinners, whilst enemies. And shall we seek for the root of our comforts within us—what God hath done, what He is to us in Christ, 'this' is the root of our comfort: in this is stability; in us is weakness. Acts of obedience are not perfect, and therefore yield not perfect grace. Faith, as an act, yields it not; but 'only' as it carries us into Him, who is our perfect rest and peace; in whom we are accounted of, and received by, the Father—even as Christ Himself! This is our high calling. Rest we here, and here only."
Habit of Prayer.
Cromwell's habit of prayer was continued throughout his life; and upon this subject strong testimony is borne by the person to whom we are indebted for the only authentic narrative of his last days. "Indeed, prayer, (as one calls it,) was his daily exercise, which he never neglected, notwithstanding all his weighty affairs; yea, the more weighty and urgent they were, the more he buckled to it, and sometimes with such fervour of spirit that he could not contain himself, but with great breakings of heart send up strong cries with tears unto God, heard when he hath not known any to be near him; so that it may be truly said of him, that, as he was a man (Abraham-like) strong in faith, so (like Jacob) mighty in prayer, and as a prince prevailing with God; such as, indeed, in all respects, this nation was never blest with to sit on the throne; however he was judged, and censured, and lightly set by, by many who were not sensible of our and their mercy, and who yet in time may be sensible (if God prevent not) of his remove, where his prayers are turned into everlasting praises."
1658.
Before Cromwell's illness, arrangements had been made for summoning, by State authority, an assembly in London of Congregational Elders. Scobell, clerk of the Council of State, issued a notice, in the month of June, to such Elders as were resident in the metropolis, to meet at the Charter House; and both his name and the name of Griffith, who acted as minister of that charitable foundation, appear in a correspondence upon the subject of the conference carried on with ministers of several Churches in England and Wales.[573] A political sanction was thus given to the assembly; indeed it was convened by the authority of the Government: and the result appeared in a published Declaration of Faith and Order by the convention of delegates, who met in the palace of the Savoy after the death of the Protector. That convention, and the important document which it produced, come not within the space of time presented by this volume, but the preparations for it do: and those preparations, upon which very much obscurity rests, are connected with the final days and the last cares of Oliver's life. The desire for the meeting originated with the Independents, not with the Protector. He had shewn no favour towards a previous committee for defining theological boundaries of toleration; and he seems to have regarded with nothing like complacency, this new proposal for an authorized Synod of Congregational Divines to declare the principles of their faith and polity. Also there were persons about the Court who disliked it, from a fear lest it should separate more broadly than before, the Independents from the Presbyterians. His Highness, however, conceded the request for the sake of peace; and if he had lived to witness the issue, he would have found nothing in the Declaration, published by the ministers at the Savoy, to clash with those sentiments of catholic charity which were so dear to his heart. There might, however, be political intrigues in the background of this movement, for which the pastors of Churches were in no way responsible; and these might occasion anxiety to the dying ruler of England, who is reported to have said just before his death, to some who were opposed to the meeting and wished to prevent it, that its projectors must be satisfied,—"they must be satisfied, or we shall all run back into blood again."[574]
Chaplains.
John Howe remained at Whitehall until after Cromwell's death, and his name appears amongst the chaplains who attended his funeral. No record, however, appears of his having been called to the bedside of the dying man—an omission which we lament, because the combined wisdom and tenderness of that eminent Divine and Pastor, in case of his having had an opportunity of performing his Christian ministrations in those solemn moments, would have afforded a guarantee for faithfulness and affection, in any counsels which he might have offered. Stories are told to the discredit of the chaplains who were known to be in attendance. It is said that one of them, when asked by Cromwell, "if it were possible to fall from grace," replied, "it is not possible." "Then," said the sufferer, "I am safe, for I know that I was once in grace." To leave any one in the last hours of life open to such a delusion, as the bald reply attributed to this spiritual adviser might seem to encourage, would be without excuse; but the story rests on no sufficient foundation.[575]