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��OLIVER CROMWELL.
��terwards became all things to all men. to gratify boundless ambition, -which was his easily besetting sin, we can only say, that like most good men. he sometimes acted inconsistently with his principles and profession. While he lived as a re- tired and qniefc farmer in Huntingdon, and afterwards at St. Ives, no man hath found aught to censure in his character or conduct.
At the age of twenty-nine he was a member of the 3d parliament of Charles, to represent his native Huutingdon. Is it probable that his fellow citizens, who knew his whole history, would have se- lected such a scape-grace as he is repre- sented to have been, to fill the place which his honored and honorable uncle, Sir Oliver Cromwell, had so long and so creditably occupied? While he lived in retirement, his enemies being unable to impeach his morals, would fain under- value his capacity for business. He is represented as having squandered his mother's and his wife's estate so that he was reduced almost to beggary. After inheriting a considerable estate from his uncle, Sir Robert Stewart, one of the turkey-buzzards of that age says : "Short- ly after having again run out of all, he resolved to go to New England." The testimony of Milton will set this forever at rest. He says: " Being now arrived to a mature and ripe age, which he spent as a private person, noted for nothing more than the cultivation of pure relig- ion, and integrity of life, he was grown rich at home." The fact that he was able to subscribe £1000 for raising soldiers at the first out-breaking of the civil war, shows that he was no beggar. In par- liament, he does not seem to have acted a prominent part. Whenever he does ap- pear, it is always in defense of liberty and religion. The civil war stirred his mighty mind to its depths. He entered into it as a true patriot should have done, with spirit, energy and decision, and he never deserted the true interests of his country; nor did he desert the parlia- ment, even, till that parliament became a quarrelsome faction and deserted him. In the commencement of his career, his future destiny had never dawned upon
��him. Hampden first discovered his su- perior talents, and he is said to have re- marked, "should this contest end in a war, yonder sloven, (pointing to his cousin), will be the first man in Eng- land." Cromwell followed fortune, or, in his own language, the " leadings of divine Providence." He made the most of his position on every step of the lad- der by which he rose to supreme power. He was not- conscious even of his own strength. He acted under strong convic- tions of the 'necessity' of the course he adopted. To a spectator, therefore, he seemed almost like one inspired. He moved forward with a directness of pur- pose, an earnestness and a certainty of success unparalleled in the world's his- tory ; and yet it was a favorite remark of his: "No man often advances higher than he who knows not whither he is going." As he rose, in rank and power, he filled each successive office with the dignity and grace of a hereditary prince. His mind expanded as his sphere of in- fluence enlarged. An English Essayist observes : " Cromwell, by the confession even of his enemies, exhibited in his de- meanor the simple and natural noble- ness of a man neither ashamed of his or- igin nor vain of his elevation ; of a man who had found his proper place in soci- ety, and who felt secure that he was com- petent to fill it. Easy even to familiar- ity, where his own dignity was concern- ed, he was punctilious only for his coun- try."
His private letters to his family show the kind father, the affectionate husband, and the true economist. His public dis- * patches, while in the army, breathe the purest patriotism with the most fervent piety. He ever acknowledges the good hand of God in every victory; and it is said Cromwell never lost a battle. No one can reasonably impute this habitual recognition of God's power and provi- dence to sheer hypocrisy. We can see no possible motive for such deception. It was uncalled for, and could answer no important purpose. It is far more chari- table to believe and to maintain that his prayers, his repeated appeals to the in- spired word, and his fervent thanksgiv-
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