9g `[he LIFE of the Lis. I. try that had known his Inferiority: ( to that it had been better for him to have chofen a ftranger place ): And yet many of them attended him as fùbnairiìvely as if they had honoured him ; fò Significant a thing is power and profperity with worldly minds. § 144. 1 come now to the End of Cromwell's Reign, who died ( of a Fever ) be- fore he was aware. He escaped the Attempts of many that fought to have di- fpatched bins fooner ; but could not efcape the Stroke of God, when his appoint- Al As it is ed Time was come. ( Though ' an lndependant, praying for him , Paid , Lord, currently we ark notfor hie Life, for that we areJere of ; but that he mayferve thee better than ever reported be had done j; to the difhonour of that Prefumption which Tome men call a parti- rrhnetany cedar Faith; that is, A believing that they (hall receive whatever they ask, if they that Vies can but ftedfaftfy believe that they (hall receive it, though it be fuck as they have no ever r other promife for, but that of Hearing [ believing Prayers-1 which they milunder- heardof. hand). Never man was highlier extolled, and never man was baftier reported of, and vilified than this roan. No ( meet- ) man was better and worfe fpoken of than he ; according as mens Interests led their Judgments. The Soldiers and Se&aries moft highly magnified him, till he began to Peek theCrown and the Effablilhment of his Family : And then there werefa many that would be Half-Kings themlhlves, that a King did feena iutollerable to them. The Royalifls abhorred him as a molt perfi- dious Hypocrite ; arid the Presbyterians thought him little better,inhis management of publick matters. If after fò many others I may fpeak my Opinion of him, I think, that , having beena Prodigal inhis Youth, and afterward changed to a zealcus Religioufnefs, he meant handily in the main, and was pious and confcionable in-the main courfe ofhis Life, till Profperity and Succefs corrupted him : that , at his firft entrance into the Wars, beingbut a Captain of Horte, he had a special care to get religious men into his Troop : Thefe men were of greater underífanding than commonSol- diers, and therefore were more apprehenfive of the Importance and Confquence of the War; and making not Money, but that which they took for the Publick Felicity, to be their End, they were the more engaged to be valiant.; for he that maketh Money his End, doth efleem his Life above his Pay, and therefore is like enough to fave it by flight when danger comes, if poffrbly he can: Buc he that ma- keth the Felicity of Church andState his End, elleemeth it above his Life, and therefore will the fowler lay down his Life forit. And men of Parts and Under- handing know how to manage their bufinefs, and know that flying is the fureft way to death, and that (landing to it is the likeliest way to efcape; there being many ufually that fall in flight, for one that falls in valiant fight. Thefe things it's probable Cromwell underftood ; and that none would be fuels engaged valiant men as the Religious S- But yet I conjecture, that at hisfiat choofng filch men in- to Isis Troop, it was the very Efteem and Love of Religious men that principally moved him ; and the avoiding of chafe Diforders , Mutinies , Plunderings, and Grievances of the Country , which deboift men in Armies are commonly guilty of : By this means he indeed fped better than he expe&ed. Aires, Denbo- - rough, Berry, Evartn, and the reif of that Troop, did prove fo valiant, that as far as I could learn, they never once ran away before an Enemy. Hereupon he got a Comnsißìon to take come care of the Affociated Counties, where he brought this - Troop iota a double Regimem, of fourteen full Troops; and all thefè as fall of religious men as he could get : Tlbefehaving more then ordinary Wit and Re- folution, had more than ordinary tluceefs ; firh in Lincoln).loire , and afterward in the Earl of Manche/íer's Army at TByk Fight,. With their Succeffe's the Hearts both of Captain and Soldiers fecretly rife both in Pride and Expedation : And the fami- liarity of manyhoneh erroneousMen ( Anabaptifts, Ancinomians , &u. ) withal began quickly to corrupt their Judgments. Hereupon Cromwell'sgeneral Religious Zeal, giveth way to the power of that Ambition , which Bill increafeth as his Succeffes do increafe : Both Piety and Ambition concurred in his countenancing of all that he thought Godly of what Sect foever : Piety pleadcth for than as Godly ; and Charity as Men; and Ambition fecretly telleth him what ufe he might make of them. He meaneth well in all this at the beginning, and thin'teth he loth all for the Safety of the Godly, and the Publick Good , but not without an Eye to himfelf. When
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