to lull and
tranquillize the misgivings of conscience. "Tell me," said he to Sterry,
one of his chaplains, "Is it possible to fall from grace?" "It is not
possible," replied the minister. "Then," exclaimed the dying man, "I am
safe; for I know that I was once in grace." Under this impression he
prayed, not for himself, but for God's people. "Lord," he said, "though a
miserable and wretched creature, I am in covenant with thee through thy
grace, and may and will come to thee for thy people. Thou hast made me a
mean instrument to do them some good, and thee service. Many of them set
too high a value upon me, though others would be glad of my death. Lord,
however thou disposest of me, continue, and go on to do good for them.
Teach those who look too much upon thy instruments, to depend more upon
thyself,

[Footnote 1: Clar. 646. Bulstrode, 207. Heath, 408. Noble, i. 147, note.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1658. Sept. 2.]

and pardon such as desire to trample upon the dust of a poor worm, for they
are thy people too."[1]

Early in the following morning,[a] he relapsed into a state of
insensibility. It was his fortunate day, the 3rd of September, a
circumstance from which his sorrowing relatives derived a new source
of consolation. It was, they observed, on the 3rd of September that he
overcame the Scots at Dunbar; on that day, he also overcame the royalists
at Worcester; and on the same day, he was destined to overcome his
spiritual enemies, and to receive the crown of victory in heaven.
About four in the afternoon he breathed his last, amidst the tears and
lamentations of his attendants. "Cease to weep," exclaimed the fanatical
Sterry, "you have more reason to rejoice. He was your protector here; he
will prove a still more powerful protector, now that he is with Christ at
the right hand of the Father." With a similar confidence in Cromwell's
sanctity, though in a somewhat lower tone of enthusiasm, the grave and
cautious Thurloe announced the event by letter to the deputy of Ireland.
"He is gone to heaven, embalmed with the tears of his people, and upon the
wings of the prayers of the saints."[2]

Till the commencement of the present century, when that wonderful man
arose, who, by the splendour of his victories and the extent of his empire,
cast all preceding adventurers into the shade, the name of Cromwell stood
without a parallel in the history of civilized Europe. Men looked with a
feeling of awe on the

[Footnote 1: Colle