"When we think of the combats of the Protestant religion against the Catholic faith," says M. Villemain, "it was undoubtedly a noble and a mighty thought to claim for himself the protection of all the dissident sects, and to regulate in a fixed and durable manner the support which England had granted them on more than one occasion. If it had not been interrupted by death, Cromwell would no doubt have resumed a design so much in accordance with his genius, and which his power would have allowed him to attempt with courage."

Such was the Protector's activity. In every place he showed himself the true Samaritan, binding up the wounds of those who had fallen into the hands of the wicked, and pouring in oil and wine. . . . . . He is the greatest Protestant that has lived since the days of Calvin and Luther. More than any other sovereign of England he deserved the glorious title of DEFENDER OF THE FAITH.

Cromwell was something more than the champion of an outward and official Protestantism. Had his task been limited to that, it would excite but little sympathy in us, and it would have produced no very great results. None perhaps compromise true Protestantism so much as those who, forgetful of the spiritual nature of the movement of the sixteenth century, reduce it to a mere political system. The Protestantism of the reformers is the evangelism of the apostles, neither more nor less. Let us beware of making it a mongrel existence, half-spiritual and half-secular. Cromwell employed his power to protect religious liberty in all Europe; but the origin of his foreign activity is found in the fact of his having felt in his own soul the truth of this scripture: Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

The ancient religious life of the Reformation was lost it had been replaced by an attachment to forms. Men carefully inquired whether there was or was not apostolical succession; they examined whether the prayers, the sacraments, and the worship were in conformity with the canons and

with the liturgy; they placed their hands everywhere to try all things everywhere except on their own heart to feel if it still beat. They were earnestly occupied with conformities; but they forgot one,-that which renders man conformable to Jesus Christ.

A religious revival took place; truth and the Christian life reappeared. A dry orthodoxy, a clerical system, was followed by a Christianity as fruitful as it was sincere. Oliver is one of those in whom this spiritual revolution was the most striking. In every page of his history we meet with proofs of his faith. Rarely has there appeared in the world a heart that beat so strongly for everlasting truth.

This faith, of which Oliver constituted himself the defender, cannot perish. It may be covered and hidden, at one time by the arid sands of infidelity, and at another by the tumultuous waves of human passions, or by the images, surplices, and relics of superstition ;--but it always revives, lifts up its head, and reappears. The revelations of God are for all times, and they have in all ages the same eternal truth, the same eternal beauty. They are like those rocks in the midst of the ocean, which the flood-tide covers, and which seem swallowed up forever, but which always raise their tops again above the waters. In vain does one generation imagine it has hidden the everlasting rock of God's truth; it will become visible in the next. There is a continual alternation, a constant struggle between light and darkness; but the light prevails at last. And even should there come an age which fancies it has forever buried God's truth, should any volcanic eruption of society overwhelm it with the ashes of another Vesuvius, . . . . . . Pompeii after seventeen centuries has again restored to the light of day its houses and its tombs, its palaces and its temples, its circus and its amphitheatres. Can it be thought that the truth and the life, which God has given in His Gospel, will be less perennial than the frail tenements of man? There are perhaps now subterranean fires threatening the truth of God.

A daring pantheistic and socialist philosophy imagines that it has done with the crucified One. And should it even so far succeed as to throw a little dust and lava on the eternal doctrine, the Lord of Heaven will blow upon it, and the dust shall be scattered and the lava be melted.

Cromwell, as a Christian, is the representative of one of those epochs in which the light reappears after darkness, according to the device of a city which shone forth with a new and great brightness in the days of the Reformation.* It was not to England alone that he wished to restore the doctrine of the Gospel; he put his candle on a candlestick, and the house which he desired by this means to illumine was Europe,-nay, the whole world. He has been compared to Bonaparte, and there are, indeed, striking features of resemblance between them. Neither was satisfied with confining himself to his own country alone, and both exerted their activity abroad. But while Napoleon bore to other nations French tyranny and indifference, Cromwell would have given them religious liberty and the Gospel. The evelasting revelations having reappeared in England and received the homage of a whole people, it was Cromwell's ambition to present them to the entire world. He did not succeed, and to the majority of European countries the Bible is a book hidden in the bowels of the earth. But this noble design, which Oliver could not accomplish, has again been undertaken in our own days on the banks of the Thames. The revelations of God are printed in the language of every people. The time will come when the thick veil, which still hides these sacred characters from so many nations, shall be rent at last. The massive walls, the proud courts, the magnificent porches of Nineveh are now rising from beneath the sands of the desert. Its inscriptions, numbering two, three, and four thousand years, are reappearing to the eyes of the civilized and astonished children of the distant and barbarous

*Post tenebras lux is the motto of Geneva: on its shield is also a sun bearing in its centre the name of Jesus, I. H. S.

.....

Europe, and the light of day once more falls upon the antique characters traced by Ninus, Sardanapalus, or Nabopolassar! . . . . . The books which Moses began, not less ancient than these Assyrian inscriptions, possess, we may be sure, more vitality than they; and future ages, by giving to Europe religious liberty, will realize the mighty plan which Cromwell could not accomplish.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE KINGSHIP.

New Parliament-Ludlow-The Protector's Speech-Exclusions-Proposals about the Kingship-Discussions on this Subject between the Parliament and the Protector-Struggles-Cromwell's Refusal-Was he right ?-His character-Ambition.

THE Protector could not perform all these various tasks without difficulty. Notwithstanding the religious liberty he gave to England at home, and the glory with which he encircled her name abroad, the strict republicans were discontented, and often told him to his face that his government was illegitimate, and that they and their friends had not been lavish of their blood for the purpose of enthroning anew the power of one man.

In 1656, he determined to call a new Parliament. This was necessary for the approval of hostilities with Spain, and for obtaining the needful supplies. But he feared that the republicans, who were determined to oppose everything, would vote against this war-a war so glorious in his eyes and so advantageous to England. He accordingly sent for Major-general Ludlow, the leader of this party, and required him to give security not to act against the present government. Ludlow answered, "I desire to have the nation governed by its own consent.' -"And so do I," replied Oliver; "but where shall we find that consent; among the prelatical, presbyterian, independent, anabaptist, or levelling parties ?" "Among those of all sorts," rejoined the other, "who have acted with fidelity and affection to the public." The