. "Lord," he muttered, "though I am a miserable and
wretched creature, I am in covenant with Thee through grace, and I
may, I will, come to Thee. For Thy people, Thou hast made me, though
very unworthy, a mean instrument to do them some good, and Thee
service; and many of them have set too high a value upon me, though
others wish and would be glad of my death. But, Lord, however Thou
dost dispose of me, continue and go on to do good for them. Give them
consistency of judgment, one heart, and mutual love; and go on to
deliver them, and with the work of reformation; and make the name of
Christ glorious in the world. Teach those who look too much upon Thy
instruments to depend more upon Thyself; pardon such as desire to
trample upon the dust of a poor worm, for they are Thy people too;
and pardon the folly of this short prayer, even for Jesus Christ's
sake; and give us a good night, if it be Thy pleasure." Wednesday,
Sept. 1, passes unmarked, unless it may be for the delivery to the
Lady Protectress, in her watch over Cromwell, of a letter, dated that
day, and addressed to her and her children, from the Quaker Edward
Burrough. It was long and wordy, but substantially an assurance that
the Lord had sent this affliction upon the Protector's house on
account of the unjust sufferings of the Quakers. "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 a hundred at this present day lie
in holes, and dungeons, and prisons, up and down the nation." The
letter, we may suppose, was not read to Cromwell, and the Wednesday
went by. On Thursday, Sept. 2, there was an unusually full
Council-meeting close to his chamber, at which order was given for
the removal of Lords Lauderdale and Sinclair from Windsor Castle to
Warwick Castle, to make more room at Windsor for the Duke of
Buckingham. That night Harvey sat up with his Highness and again
noted some of his sayings. One was "Truly, God is good; indeed He is;
He will not--" He did not complete the sentence. "His speech failed
him," says Harvey; "but, as I apprehended, it was 'He will not leave
me.' This saying, that God was good, he frequently used all along,
and would speak it with much cheerfulness and fervour of spirit in
the midst of his pain. Again he said, 'I would be willing to live to
be farther serviceable to God and His people; but my work is done.'