s, the ministers returned to their prayers; and besought
the Lord that he would take his own work into his own hand; and if the
instruments whom he had hitherto employed were not worthy to bring to a
conclusion so glorious a design, that he would inspire others more fit,
who might perfect what was begun, and, by establishing true religion,
put a speedy period to the public miseries.

* Clarendon, vol. v. p. 565

** Rush. vol. vi. p. 364

On the day subsequent to these devout animadversions when the parliament
met, a new spirit appeared in the looks of many. Sir Henry Vane told the
commons, that if ever God appeared to them, it was in the ordinances
of yesterday; that, as he was credibly informed by many who had been
present in different congregations, the same lamentations and discourses
which the godly preachers had made before them, had been heard in other
churches: that so remarkable a concurrence could proceed only from the
immediate operation of the Holy Spirit: that he therefore entreated
them, in vindication of their own honor, in consideration of their duty
to God and their country, to lay aside all private ends, and renounce
every office attended with profit or advantage: that the absence of so
many members, occupied in different employments, had rendered the house
extremely thin, and diminished the authority of their determinations:
and that he could not forbear, for his own part, accusing himself as one
who enjoyed a gainful office, that of treasurer of the navy; and though
he was possessed of it before the civil commotions, and owed it not
to the favor of the parliament, yet was he ready to resign it, and to
sacrifice, to the welfare of his country, every consideration of private
interest and advantage.

Cromwell next acted his part, and commended the preachers for having
dealt with them plainly and impartially, and told them of their errors,
of which they were so unwilling to be informed. Though they dwelt on
many things, he said, on which he had never before reflected, yet, upon
revolving them, he could not but confess that, till there were a perfect
reformation in these particulars, nothing which they undertook could
possibly prosper. The parliament, no doubt, continued he, had done
wisely on the commencement of the war, in engaging several of its
members in the most dangerous parts of it, and thereby satisfying the
nation that they intended to share all hazards with the meanest of the
peopl