Cromwell was snatched away by death at unawares; however the day before his decease this letter was delivered to his relations. It was not but in the last period of his life that he named his son Richard to be his successor. And when death looked in his face, remorse did not stay behind; for, according to what Ludlow relates, he seemed above all concerned for the reproaches, (he said,) men would cast upon his name, in trampling on his ashes when dead. In this temper of mind he departed this life about two in the afternoon, on the 3d of September, at the age of about fifty-five years. The news of his death being brought to those who were met together to pray for him, one Sterry stood up, and said, ‘This is good news; because if he was of great use to the people of God when he was amongst us, now he will be much more so, being ascended to heaven, there to intercede for us.’ O horrid flattery! Thus I call it, if he had been the greatest saint on earth; which he came much short of, though he was once endued with some eminent virtues. His dying day was remarkable by a most grievous tempest, not only in England, but also in the Low countries, where trees were torn out of the ground by the violence of the wind, and many ships foundered. ‘He was,’ saith Edward, Earl of Clarendon, ‘one of those persons whom even his enemies could not vilify without praising him.’ And I have heard impartial men say, that in the beginning of his achievements, he was indeed an excellent man; but being come to a high station, he soon lost that zeal for the public welfare, by which at first he seemed to be animated.
The body of the deceased was laid in Somerset House, in an apartment enlightened only with wax tapers, the corpse being richly adorned.
After his death, Richard, eldest son to Oliver, was proclaimed Protector of the Commonwealth; to whom E. Burrough wrote a letter, superscribed to Richard Cromwell, chosen to be protector and chief magistrate, &c. wherein he gave him some account of the most cruel sufferings of his friends; and speaking of the rulers, he saith thus:
‘As for magistracy, it was ordained of God to be a dread and terror, and limit to evil-doers, and to be a defence and praise to all that do well; to condemn the guilty, and to justify the guiltless; but the exercise thereof at this day in these nations is degenerated, and some that are in authority are greatly corrupted, and regard not the just and pure law of God, to judge only thereby; but oppress the poor by injustice, and subvert the good laws of God and men to a wrong end and use, abusing authority, and turning the sword against the just, whereby true judgment is turned backward, and the innocent made unjustly to suffer for righteousness sake, through the corruption of men in authority; and didst thou but know what we know in this particular, it would pierce thy heart. Why? It is frequent among some of the judges and magistrates, to commit a man to prison, and impose some great fine upon him, and to cast him into a dungeon, or hole, among thieves and murderers, for a long season; for no other offence, or breach of any law, but because he cannot put off his hat to them, and respect their persons, by the hat or bowing the knee: and many others that fear God, and for conscience sake cannot swear upon a book, by kissing it, and laying hands upon it, because Christ saith, “Swear not at all;” though they deny not to speak and do the truth in all things, as in the presence of God and all men: and many others, that because they are moved to cry against sin, and declare against the iniquities of the times, in teachers, rulers, and people, that highly abound; perhaps in a market or steeple-house, or highway, or other places, as they are moved of God: and many others, because for conscience sake they cannot pay tithes, nor give money and wages to maintain a priest, or false teacher, that they receive no profit by; or to maintain a steeple-house, where the world worships in vain traditions, and not in the spirit and power of God: and many have been taken out of peaceable meetings, where they were waiting upon the Lord; and some out of their inns and friends’ houses; and many have been taken on the way, travelling about their lawful occasions; and some from their callings and labours; and for these causes, through the envy of wicked men, and without any just conviction of the breach of any law, or any lawful trial or examination, have hundreds of just men, being wholly innocent, been sent to prison, and lain many months, and some for years; or whipped, or put in the stocks, and grievously abused by cruel executioners of wicked men’s envy and injustice. And upon such grounds only, and for such causes mentioned, and without the transgression of any just law, have and do at this day many hundreds of faithful subjects suffer hard and cruel things, long and sore imprisonment, and cruel and sharp whipping, and stocking, and unjust banishment out of towns and cities; yea, friend, it is hard to be expressed, and large to be declared, how many of the Lord’s servants do, and have suffered great injustice in these nations, through the abuse of good government, and degeneration of magistracy from its perfect state and place, whereunto it was ordained of God in the beginning,’ &c.
This remonstrance, how powerful and large soever, had not its due effect; but persecution continued, without being stopped by him: for the churchmen fawned upon him, calling him not only their Joshua, but the preachers of Suffolk said in their address to him, ‘Though our sun is gone down, yet no night ensued.’ Sol occubuit, nox nulla secuta est.
About this time was given forth a paper, called, The Church Faith; and G. Fox having got a copy of it before it was published, wrote an answer to it; and when the book of the church faith appeared, his answer was also in print. This so incensed some of the parliament men, that one of them told G. Fox, they must have him to Smithfield. To which he answered, that he was over their fires, and feared them not: and further asked, whether all the people had been without a faith these sixteen hundred years, that now the priests must make them one? And since Christ Jesus was the author of the apostles’ faith, and of the church’s faith in the primitive times, and of the martyrs’ faith; should not all people look unto him to be the author and finisher of their faith, and not unto the priests? Nothing material was answered to this; but the priests called G. Fox’s friends, house-creepers, because they met together in houses, and would not maintain the priests’ temples. One major Wiggan, that was present when G. Fox discoursed with the parliament men, said, Christ had taken away the guilt of sin, but had left the power of sin remaining in us. G. Fox told him this was strange doctrine; for Christ came to destroy the devil and his works, and the power of sin, and so to cleanse men from sin.
Now there was great persecution, both by imprisonment and breaking up of meetings; and many died in prisons; for the priests speaking evil of the Quakers, it did kindle the insolence of the rabble not a little, so that they did not stick to throw squibs into the meetings, to cast rotten eggs on those that were met, to beat on drums and kettles, and so to make hideous noise, and to abuse people most grievously with blows and violent pushes.
One day there being a meeting appointed near London, they beat and abused about eighty persons that came out of the city to meet there, tearing their coats and cloaks from off their backs, and throwing them into ditches and ponds. The next First-day of the week after this, G. Fox, though at that time very weak, went thither, and preaching with the bible in his hand, he showed the rude people, their, and their teachers’ fruits, and how disagreeable these mad actions were to the doctrine contained in the Holy Scriptures. Many of his imprisoned friends were now brought up to London to be tried by the committee; where sir Henry Vane, being chairman, would not suffer them to come in, except they would put off their hats. But since many of them had been imprisoned upon contempts, (as the not putting off hats before magistrates was called,) others signified that it must not be expected that now they should comply; and so through the mediation of some that persuaded Vane, they were at length admitted; where they so well defended their cause, that several were set at liberty.
Sufferings now growing very sharp, G. Fox, to encourage his friends, wrote the following lines to them:
‘My dear friends, every where scattered abroad, in prison, or out of prison, fear not, because of the reports of sufferings; let not the evil spies of the good land make you afraid, if they tell you the walls are high, and that there be Anakims in the land; for at the blowing of the ram’s horns did the walls of Jericho fall down; and they that brought the evil report, perished in the wilderness. But dwell ye in the faith, patience, and hope, having the word of life to keep you, which is beyond the law; and having the oath of God, his covenant, Christ Jesus, which divides the waters asunder; and makes them to run all on heaps; in that stand, and ye shall see all things work together for good, to them that love God; and in that triumph when sufferings come, whatever they be: your faith, your shield, your helmet, your armour you have on; ye are ready to skip over a mountain, or a wall, or an hill, and to walk through the deep waters, though they be heaps upon heaps: for the evil spies of the good land may preach up hardness, but Caleb, which signifies an heart, and Joshua, a saviour, triumph over all.