[568] Fox's Journal, i. 477.
[569] Journal, 485. Fox says, immediately afterwards:—"From Kingston I went to Isaac Pennington's, in Buckinghamshire, where I had appointed a meeting, and the Lord's truth and power were preciously manifested amongst us." This was the celebrated Isaac Pennington repeatedly noticed in the first volume of this history.
[570] Thurloe, vii. 354.
[571] Bates' Elenchi, ii. 215.
Fleetwood and Thurloe both speak of divine assurances of Cromwell's restoration.—Thurloe, vii. 355, 364.
[572] The Royalist historians abound in stories of Cromwell's terror lest he should be assassinated, and of frightful remorse mixed with that terror. Yet Clarendon, (Hist., p. 861,) most inconsistently says: "He never made the least shew of remorse;" and Ludlow, the republican, remarks: "He manifested little remorse."—Memoirs, ii. 612.
[573] The letters are in Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, ii.
[574] This is stated on the authority of Eachard. Neal adopts it, (Hist. iv. 188.) I must confess I do not feel much confidence in such a report of Cromwell's last sayings.
[575] Neal mentions Goodwin as the person who said this, (Hist. iv. 197,) and in so doing he is followed by Godwin and others. But Goodwin was not a chaplain of Cromwell's, nor was he likely to say what is thus ascribed to him. Neal gives no authority for his story. Baxter makes no mention of such an incident. Foster, in his Life of Cromwell, says it was Sterry who answered Cromwell, and he refers generally to the Collection of Passages; but in that collection Sterry's name does not occur, nor is there one word about this conversation. Baxter states that an Independent praying for Cromwell, said: "We ask not for his life, for that we are sure of, but that he may serve Thee better than ever he had done."—Life and Times, part i. 98. The author adds in the margin, "as it is currently reported without any contradiction that ever I heard of." There is no allusion to any such circumstance in the Collection of Passages. Ludlow, (Memoirs, ii. 610,) ascribes the prayer to Goodwin, but Ludlow was evidently prejudiced against both Cromwell and Goodwin. Tillotson, according to Birch, (Life, 16,) and also according to Burnet, (Hist. of his own Times, i. 82,) reported that he heard Goodwin say, a week after Cromwell's death: "Thou hast deceived us, and we were deceived." Tillotson also alluded to Goodwin's pretended assurance in prayer, before Cromwell expired. Tillotson would not fabricate the report, but might he not misunderstand what Goodwin meant? Eachard and Kennet, in relating the story, do not supply any corroboration of it. Tillotson is the only authority.
[576] Carlyle, iii. 151.