That the Lord, according to this prediction did suddenly smite Cromwell, time verified; for he lived but about a month after the receipt of the said letter. And that E. Burrough tenderly loved him, appears to me from several circumstances: and the ardent desire he had for his eternal welfare, occasioned this plain language to him.
G. Fox also wrote to him, that it was not improbable, that because of his wickedness, the Lord might once raise the royalists against him, to be instruments of executing his wrath; as once Cromwell himself had been an instrument to their overthrow. And a very short time before his death, G. Fox went to Hampton Court, to speak with him about the sufferings of his friends. With this intention, he met him riding into Hampton Court park, and before he came to him, (according to his relation,) he perceived a waft of death go forth against him; and coming to him, he looked like a dead man. So after G. Fox had laid the sufferings of his friends before him, and had warned him, Oliver bid him come to his house; whereupon G. Fox went to Kingston, and the next day came to Hampton Court again; but there he understood that the protector was sick; and Dr. Harvey told, that the doctors were not willing that he should speak with the protector. So he passed away, and never saw Oliver Cromwell any more: who, since the death of his daughter, the lady Claypole, had been distempered, and troubled with a malignant humour in his foot; which, when his physicians endeavoured to disperse, they drove upward, (as was said,) to his heart: and being seized with a violent fever, he grew weaker and weaker; yet his preachers endeavoured to conceal the danger he was in: and it is reported that Dr. Goodwin, one of his chaplains, in a prayer during the time of his sickness, made use of this expression, ‘Lord, we beg not for his recovery, for that thou hast already granted, and assured us of; but for his speedy recovery.’ Whilst the protector was sick, E. Burrough wrote the following letter to his wife and children, &c.
‘Friends,
‘Remember, that by the Lord you were raised from a low state, and when he will he can abase you, and bring you down; he gave you the palace of princes, and threw out them before you.
‘O, remember this, every one of you, and come to the witness of God in you, and be humble, and meek, and lowly, and let the Lord’s fear be in your hearts; and be of a tender spirit, having your minds exercised in purity, in holiness, and in righteousness; and exalt not yourselves, nor be lifted up in your hearts in the pride and vain glories, and honours of this world, lest the Lord cast you down, and make your name and posterity a reproach, as he hath done many before you; and if you walk in the same steps, and do the same things, and become guilty of the same abominations, and suffer the children and servants of the Lord to be persecuted, (as many are at this day, some unto death,) shall the Lord spare you? Nay, he will cause you to feel his hand of judgment, and bring you down with sorrow, and he will vex you in his wrath, and smite you with his rod more and more, till you learn his fear, and depart from all your iniquities; and the Lord will deface your glory, and pull down your crown; and he will make you know, that he is Lord, that doth whatsoever he will.
‘Wherefore humble yourselves under the hand of God, and search your own hearts, and cast out the abominations that vex the Spirit of the Lord; and suffer not the people of the Lord’s precious flock to be devoured, and made a prey to the wicked; for because of this the rod of affliction cometh upon you, and may suddenly break you to pieces; but mind the seed of God in you, which is oppressed, and wait to know the power of the Lord, which will redeem you out of sin and death, and reconcile you to God, and bring you into fellowship with himself, to enjoy peace and rest for your souls, that you may be made heirs of the inheritance of an endless life: and this would make you truly honourable, and will be more satisfaction to you, and joy, and content, and true rejoicing, than all worldly crowns, and worldly glories: which will waste and consume away, and leave you miserable. And remember that you are now warned from the Lord God, by whom I am moved to write this unto you, in dear and tender love to you all; and one day you shall witness it.
‘And as concerning the Quakers, so called, who are accounted as vile in the sight of men, and are cast out of all power and place in the nation, being despised of all; and also are reproached, persecuted, and imprisoned, and all manner of evil and injustice unrighteously done and spoken against them, by wicked and corrupt men in authority; yet are they the children and servants of the living God, and greatly beloved of him, and are as dear to him as the apple of his eye, and his power and presence is with them; and the time is at hand that the Lord will make their persecutors fall, and their enemies bow and tremble, though now they suffer unjustly, and are trodden down, as not deserving a place on the earth; yet it is for righteousness sake, and because they show forth the image of the Father, and not for evil doing: and will not their sufferings lie upon you? For many hundreds have suffered cruel and great things, and some the loss of life, though not by, yet in the name of, the protector; and about an hundred at this present day, lie in holes, and dungeons, and prisons, up and down the nation; and some at this time are sick, nigh unto death, whose sufferings cry for vengeance, and the Lord heareth the cry. Wherefore save yourselves, and let the innocent be delivered, and the cruel bonds of oppression broken, and the exercise of a pure conscience go free, without persecution; and then the Lord will turn away his anger, and cease to smite you with his rod, which hath been upon you: and he will give you peace, and make you blessed, if you come to be led by his Spirit into all Truth.
‘And though these innocent lambs of Christ suffer thus under this present power, yet are they not enemies to you, but are friends to your persons and families, and pity you, and love you, and desire well for you in the Lord; that you may repent and be healed, and even that your hearts may be opened to receive refreshments to your souls; and that you may be established in righteousness and truth over all your enemies, and may not be confounded, nor your posterity brought into reproach, which is hastening unto you: and though our love be despised, and we accounted hateful in your sight, and looked upon with derision, yet we bear all things in patience, truly desiring your returning and repentance, and not your destruction. But if these doleful sufferings of the Lord’s poor lambs be continued by this present power, it will destroy you, and undo you, and break you, and confound you; and the Lord will not cease to smite you with his rod of sharp rebukes; and he will make you know his people’s cause shall not be unpunished. Oh, did you but know how hundreds have and do suffer! How the bodies of some have been tortured by stocks and cruel whippings! And how some lie sick in stinking holes and dungeons, on the ground, or a little straw at best; ten, or often more, in a prison together, and sometimes their own friends not suffered to come to visit them with necessaries! Oh, did but your eyes behold, or your hearts perceive, the greatness of the cruelty which some of the Lord’s dear servants, and your faithful friends, undergo, it would make your hearts ache, and your spirits to tremble! And all this is done in the name and under the authority of—Protector; therefore how should the Lord but lay it to your charge, and afflict him and his family? He will make you know there is a God that can do whatsoever he will, and that life and death are in his hands, and all creatures are as clay in the hand of the potter; and he rules in the kingdoms of men, and putteth down one, and setteth up another, according to his pleasure: but if the love of God be withholden from you, it is because of disobedience to him, and your transgression. Wherefore be obedient to him, and love his ways and judgments, that he may make you more happy with a crown immortal, that never fades away. And remember once more the Lord hath warned you, by a friend unto you in the Lord.
E. BURROUGH.’
Written the 1st day of September, 1658.