Excerpt from Contributions to Current LiteratureThis discussion of Oliver Cromwell remlnds me of my school days. In our English history we were taught to regard Charles the First as a saint and Cromwell as a sinner, but now we see people reversing this. It seems to me that we may reasonably h0pe for the salvation of Charles and Arch bishop Laud, as we may that of Ananias and Sapphira, inasmuch as they were punished for their misdeeds in this life. Ananias and Sapphira are usually classed with lost souls, but without adequate reason. So it is without adequate reason that when, after a sinful life, men die full of days, riches, and honor, they are consigned to the realms of bliss. I was once on a Sunday evening visiting some friends in Boston, when we were speaking of those who lived a very wicked life, and yet prospered in the world, and stood high in the estimation of the community, and I said I thought their prosperity might be taken to indicate, that it was the purpose of God finally to destroy them. This seemed to them a new idea, but not an unreasonable one. Those whom God intends to save He punishes in this life, as He punished Charles and Land and Ananias and Sapphira.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.