celebrated by them. Let us now take a

view

that excellent prince, the duke of Rohan, that the intereft of the chief magifirate of England is, by all C means to become head of the reformed party throughout Europe; and it is your highnefs's glory and · crown, that you have formed all your counfels in order thereunto, and laying afide all other reafons of ftate, have adhered only to this, that your own intereft may appear one and the fame with the univerfal intereft of the evangelical churches in their refpective nations. The piety of which refolution the Lord him⚫ felf hath born witnefs to, by a continued series of wonderful providences and heavenly benedictions that have always accompanied you in your moft honour⚫able and heroic enterprizes; whereas thofe other prin'ces that went before you, who had little regard in the adminiftration of their government, either to the ⚫ honeft maxims of human policy, or to the wholesome rules of the holy Scriptures (which they ought to have bound about their necks, and to have graven on the tables of their hearts) but miferably spent the beft of their powerful interefts, and precious talents, in perfecuting tender confciences in their own dominions, and moft treacherously betraying the pro⚫ teftant cause in Germany, France, and other countries, did at laft, to their great aftonifhment, even in the height of those their oppreffions, and in the midft of all their jollities, behold with their eyes a Mene Tekel upon the walls of their palaces and banqueting houfes, and of late years in all the branches of their families have tafted the bitter fruits of their own unrighteous doings. This is a doom which was long fince pronounced against them by the moft pious paftors and profeffors of foreign churches, who oft-times 'heretofore have been heard to fay, That God would one day render a recompence to that Houfe for all their perfidious dealings towards his poor fervants, and now many of thofe godly men, who have lived to

• fee

view of Cromwell's government at home,

in

fee the execution of thofe his righteous judgments, ⚫ confidering on the other fide the wonderful paflages of divine providence leading the way to the extirpation of that family, and to the placing of your highnefs in the princely dignity, have of late frequently declared (as I myself have been divers times an ear witnefs) with tears of joy in their eyes, that they looked on you as a man miraculously raijed up by God, and endowed with an extraordinary fpirit of wisdom and courage, to plead the caufe of his afflicted ones against the mighty, that they may no more opprefs. Who is there fo ignorant in thefe our days who knows not, that all the peace, tranquillity, and priviledges, which thofe of the reformed religion enjoy at prefent in any part of the European world, does fome way or other own your patronage and protection? And who is there likewife that knows not that when firft you 6 were called forth in the view of the world, and fingled out as a chofen inftrument to go forth to help the Lord against the mighty, and to fight his battles against the great perfecutors, the eftate and condition of the church militant was but at a very low ebb? The mighty floods of popery and atheism were broken in upon the ifles of Great Britain and Ireland, and the poor proteftants in all other parts were even finking down under the heavy burthens laid upon their 'fhoulders by thofe cruel tafk-mafters of the church of Rome; yea, the plowers were almoft every where plowing and making long furrows upon the backs of the faithful ones in all the quarters and corners of their habitations! It was a time when the enemies of the Lord took crafty counfel together against his people, and were confederate againft his hidden ones (the tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites! Amaleck and the Philistines, with them that dwell at Tyre!) they faid one to another, Come and let us cut them off from being a people, that fo their name may be had

、

• no

in which there were many things truly laudable.

hand, your

415

mont, p. 2.

net de futu

no more in remembrance. And the truth is, they had undoubtedly compaffed their hellish designs, had not the shepherd of Ifrael awoke as a man out of fleep, and found out a man (I mean your highness) (y) Dedica to ftand in the gap, girding you with ftrength unto tion to his < the battle, and putting his own fword into to fmite thofe his enemies in the hinder parts, and es of PieHiftory of the Churchput them to a perpetual reproach (y).' This application of antient names of Gentile (z) and (2) See BurIdolatrous nations, to the Romish church, and the opi râ Judæonion fo publicly avowed of Cromwell's being raifed up rum Reftanby providence to defend God's true church, and con found its enemies: these things, I fay, render probable Lond. 1727. the conjecture of a very learned and judicious friend, And Dr. that Milton intended fome lines in his Samfon Agoni- the Prophefles, fhould be applied to Cromwell and his followers, cies, vol. iii. and the national defertion of his caufe, his family, and P. 378. 8vo. his friends. Such are the following, though mixt with Lond. 1760. a circumstance or two peculiar to the Hiftory of Samfon.

CHORUS.

In feeking juft occafion to provoke

The Philiftine, thy country's enemy,

Thou never waft remifs, I bear thee witness:

Yet Ifrael ftill ferves with all his fons.

SAMSON.

That fault I take not on me, but transfer

On Ifrael's governors, and heads of tribes,

Who feeing thofe great acts, which God had done

Singly by me against their conquerors,

Acknowledg'd not, or not at all confider'd
Deliverance offer'd: I on th' other fide
Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds,

ratione, p.

19. 8vo.

Newton on

The deeds themfelves, though mute, fpoke loud the (a) Samfon

dcer, &c. (a).

Agonistes, v. 2379

Had

(b) Samfon Agoniftes, V. 265.

(c) Id. v. #208.

able. His court was more free from vice,

Had Judah that day join'd, or one whole tribe,
They had by this poffefs'd the tow'rs of Gath,
And lorded over them whom now they ferve:
But what more oft in nations grown corrupt,
And by their vices brought to fervitude,
Than to love bondage more than liberty,
Bondage with eafe, than ftrenuous liberty;
And to defpife, or envy, or fufpect
Whom God hath of his fpecial favor rais'd
As their deliverer; if he ought begin,
How frequent to defert him, and at laft
To heap ingratitude on worthieft deeds (b)?

* * *

But I a private perfon, whom my country
As a league-breaker gave up bound, prefum'd
Single rebellion and did hoftile acts.

I was no private but a perfon rais'd

than

With ftrength fufficient and command from heaven
To free my country; if their fervile minds
Me their deliverer fent would not receive,
But to their mafters gave me up for nought,
Th' unworthier they; whence to this day they
ferve, &c. (c)

To return. We find another of his panegyrifts
fpeaking of him in yet loftier terms, in the following
paffages. He is not only a refuge for good, men, and

the very fanctuary of religion, not its fortreffe only
and fure caftle of defence; but he hath his troops
flying to difarm tyrants and oppreffors; his forces are
ready to march out againft the ftorms and tempefts of
any menacing enemy. You may fee him like a cham-
pion with a great fpirit and gauntlet, ftalking forward
like a giant with lightning in his eyes, and an all-
conquering look, ftretching forth a brawney arme as
if he meant to cut off a hundred thousand heads at a
blow: you may fee him dealing with wild beafts and

• fer

1

than the generality of courts are fuppofed to be, nor did he care to countenance (LLL) and

p 14 12mo.

ferpents, and how he clears the coaft amidst a compaC ny of devils; how he makes a lane through them, and opens a paffage for God's people through all hazards and difficulties, amidst all the gloomy powers. and principalities of darkneffe. You may fee angels heading his weapons, and his lances fent him from (d) The unheaven his graces are all zealous to be ferviceable paralleled in the advancement and guardianfhip of the true pro- Monarch, teftant interest (d). In fuch ftrains were thefe gene- Lond. 1659. rous actions spoken of in his own times!The following wifh of a very modern writer will be deemed perhaps equally as honourable to the memory of Cromwell. It is put into the mouth of Burnet just after the revolution. Oh! fays he, that I might fee the day, when our deliverer [William III.] fhall become, what a bold ufurper nobly figured to himfelf in the middle of this century, the foul and conductor of the proteftant caufe through all Europe and, that as Rome hath hitherto been the centre of flavifh impofitions (e) Moral ⚫ and antichriftian politicks, the court of England may Dialogues, henceforth be the conftant refuge and afylum of faint- p. 255. 8vo. ing liberty and religion (e).'

and Political

Lond. 1759.

(LLL) His court was more free from vice, &c] However it happens, men are generally prejudiced against the morals and integrity of courts. Perhaps, it is through ignorance, or, perhaps, through prejudice, or fome other caufe equally as unreafonable. But be this as it may, 'tis certain divines and poets, hiftorians and moralifts, caution their readers against the danger of fuch places, and exhort them to fly fwiftly from their infection. And fome there have been, long verfed in them, who have declared them incompatible with vir- Whifton's tue (f). Quotations to fupport thefe affertions would Life, p. 3. 4. be needlefs Allowances, however, ought to be made 8vo. Lond. for the language of declamation, refentment, difappointment, and the heightnings of poetical compofitions.

(f) See

1749.