council of officers, to appoint Cromwell their head and chief, under the title of Protector. There was still to be an assembly bearing the name of Parliament; but the power of the Protector was almost absolute, for his council of state was composed of men entirely devoted to his service; and neither they nor the others who nominally took part in the Government, were likely to disobey him, or to dispute his authority.

And now, though there was so much of what was wrong in Cromwell's conduct and character, we must, in all fairness and justice, give him credit for effecting many good things, during the period in which he held rule in this country. You have already heard of his prowess as a military commander. He was skilful also as a governor; and this appeared by the state of prosperity which, chiefly through his means, the country enjoyed while he was Protector. He gained victories over the Dutch and Spaniards; he acquired possessions in the West Indies, particularly the important Island of Jamaica; his friendship was sought by most of the nations of Europe; he made treaties with the protestant states, and he was considered as the great head of the protestant cause. And then, at home, his government was, upon the whole, just and impartial, and in conformity with the laws he established.

But the great benefit which the nation owed to Cromwell, was the encouragement he gave to religion. Whatever his own character and conduct might have been, it was certainly his desire and effort to induce others to attend to religious duties and principles, and to make religion the foundation of their actions.

But if this was the case, you may be inclined to think, the usurpation of Cromwell was, after all, a good thing; for the nation generally, and religion particularly, seem to have flourished much more under his government than under that of Charles I. Now here we must be careful not to confound the conduct of man, with the arrangement of Providence. It is important for us to be clear upon this point, lest we should fall into mistakes while reading history; form false estimates both of persons and actions, and ascribe effects to causes to which they do not properly belong.—An action in itself wrong, does not become right, because good follows it in any particular case; it is wrong still; and the man who performed it, is not to be praised, or excused, because good succeeded what he did; for it was God who caused that good,-not he. God may, and He often does, bring good out of evil. The most dreadful calamities have frequently led to great blessings; the worst actions have turned to the benefit of the world or the church; the

most wicked men have been made instruments in working out God's purposes of mercy. But all these circumstances, whenever we observe them, should teach us, not to justify the evil deeds of men, but to admire the wise and wonderful working of God. And so,-to apply what I have been saying to this part of the history, we ought not to speak of the usurpation of Cromwell as a good thing, nor of those who put down Charles, and committed the Government to him, as having acted rightly, notwithstanding any benefit that religion itself may have received; but we ought rather to speak of the wisdom of God, in so ordering all the varied events of this stormy period, as to promote his own purposes of mercy to the church and nation of England. He could make even the wrath of man to praise Ilim, and the remainder of wrath He could restrain. But to return to Cromwell.

His government lasted about seven years. But though a prosperous, Cromwell was by no means a happy man ; and every year added to his anxiety, and to his fears lest that power which he had acquired in so remarkable a manner, should in the end be wrested from him, and he himself fall through the conspiracies continually formed against him by the royalist party. And though Cromwell had fought many a battle in former days, and felt

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obscurity, a ties of royal by the trials mance of her Elizabeth v fordshire, wh sister's death, She soon set city amidst sli were quite pr Then she was to the Tower. feelings must there, when place in whic prisoner, and very long bef was with her 1 place! Ther pomp and sple to do her hom in their powe! might, not on ful to Him who through all he prosperity. rooms and p

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im, and he was unable to underswer the question addressed to he was asked again, whether his hould succeed him; and some of around heard, or fancied they Yes," faintly uttered by the Me expired shortly after, and well was declared Protector in

ane evident that a change in the ment must take place. Richard very different character from He was a young man without of little capacity for business or He had never been entrusted otector with any matter of imhad passed his time in the cound himself with rural sports and was not likely therefore that he now to carry on the government ntry; and in a few months he ued the Protectorship, and retired vate life. He spent some time nt, and afterwards returned to

he lived to a great age, in comty, but free from that anxiety tered the latter years of his more

he country began to feel the want ettled form of government; for