What would have been the effects of these proceedings upon the policy of the Protector, had his Ufe been prolonged, we can now only surmise. Ere the Savoy Assembly had commenced its deliberations, Oliver Cromwell was struggling with a mortal distemper in the palace of Whitehall. The death of his favourite daughter, Lady Claypole, as well as the cares of his government, had told at length upon his iron frame; and on September 3, 1658, the night of the most awful
' Baxter's Catholic Communion Defended, and Life, p. 104.
^ Letter from Rev. J. Forbes of Gloucester. Asty, p xxi.
2 Of the Institution of Churches, and the Order Appointed in them by Jesus Christ.
♦ Neal, iv. 178. One of the few letters of Dr Owen that have been preserved has reference to this Confession. A French minister of some eminence, the Rev. Peter du Moulin, wished to attempt a French translation of so valuable a docu- ment; but, before doing so, he ventured on some animadversions on certain of its sentiments and expressions. Owen's reply betrays some irritation, especially at Moulin's misunderstanding and consequent misrepresentation of the passages com- mented on. See Appendix.
I
HIS EETIREMENT AND LAST DAYS. LXXI
storm that had ever shaken the island, and the anniversary of some of his greatest battles, Oliver Cromwell passed into the eternal world. It is no duty of ours to describe the character of this wonderful man ; but our references to Owen have necessarily brought us into frequent con- tact with his history; and we have not sought to conceal our conviction of his religious sincerity and our admiration of his greatness. Exag- gerate his faults as men may, the hypocritical theory of his character, so long the stereotyped representation of history, cannot be main- tained. Those who refuse him all credit for religion must explain to us how his hypocrisy escaped the detection of the most religious men of his times, who, like Owen, had the best opportunities of observing him. Those who accuse him of despotism must tell us how it was that England, under his sway, enjoyed more liberty than it had ever done before.^ Those who see in his character no qualities of generous patriotism, and few even of enlarged statesmanship, must reconcile this with the fact of his developing the internal resources of England to an extent which had never been approached by any previous ruler, — raising his country to the rank of a first power in Europe, until his very name became a terror to despots, and a shield to those who, like the bleeding Vaudois in the valleys of Piedmont, appealed to his compassion.
Owen, and other leading men among the Puritans, have been repre- sented, by writers such as Burnet, as offering up the most fanatical prayers for the Protector's recovery ; and after his death, on occasion of a fast, in the presence of Richard and the other members of his family, as almost irreverently reproaching God for his removal. It would be too much to afl&rm, that nothing extravagant or extreme was spoken, even by eminently good men, at a crisis so exciting; but there is every reason to think that Owen was not present at the death- bed of the Protector at all ; and Burnet's statement,^ when traced to its source, is found to have originated in an impression of THlotson's,
' Bishop Kennet has long since given the true statement of the case in refer- ence to the ordinances against Episcopal worship during Cromwell's government. " It is certain," says he, " that the Protector was for liberty and the utmost lati- tude to all parties, so far as consisted with the peace and safety of his person and government; and even the prejudice he had against the Episcopal party was more for their being Royalists than for their being of the good old church."- — Neal, iv. 125. In point of fact, the ordinances were not put in execution except against such clergymen as had become political oi^euders. — Parr's Life of Usher, p, 75. Vaughan's Stuart Dynasty, i. 246.
* Burnet's Own Times, i. 116, 117. No fanatical words are directly charged upon Owen by any of his accusers, but his extravagance is freely surmised. — Biog. Diet., x. 103. Goodwin is represented as complaining in these words, " Lord, thou hast deceived us, and we wei'e deceived;" — words which Burnet characterizes as impudent and enthusiastic boldness; but which, if used at all, were evidently accommodated from Jer. xx. 7, and used in the sense in which the propliet him- self had used them; q. d., " Lord, thou hast permitted us to deceive ourselves." This may prob:ib!y be taken as a specimen of the looseness of the other charges.
LXXII LIFE OF DR OWEN.
who was as probably mistaken as otbenvise. Vague gossip must not be received as the material of biography. At the same time, it can- not be doubted that the death of Cromwell filled Owen and his friends with profound regret and serious apprehension. His life and power had been the grand security for their religious liberties; and now by his death that security was dissolved. Cromwell during his lifetime had often predicted, " They will bring all to confusion again ■/' and now that his presiding hand was removed, the lapse of a little time was sufficient to show that he had too justly forecast the future. Ere we glance, however, at the rapid changes of those coming years, we must once more turn to Owen's labours as an author.