So far, then, as Puritanism had become a political institute it sunk under the shock of Oliver Cromwell's death. But though as an institute it crumbled away, the political spirit which it had evoked and cherished did not die. It would be a repetition of what has been said a hundred times, to insist here upon the influence of the Puritan leaders of the Long Parliament, and the influence of the Puritan chiefs of the Commonwealth Army in preparing for the political liberties of England, guaranteed at the Revolution. A peaceful change then came as the consequence and complement of the Civil Wars. It is the destiny of nations to pass through the waters of conflict and suffering ere they can reach the shores of freedom. Our Puritan fathers then breasted the torrent, and made good their landing on the right side, where we, thanks to their bravery and endurance, have, under God, found a home. The superstructure they immediately raised was not permanent; but its strong foundation-stones were too deeply laid to be removed in a brief period of reaction; and on them we now are building new forms of political justice, order, and peace. It may take longer time and nobler labour than we imagine to complete the edifice, but our hope and trust is that Divine providence will one day bring it to perfection. Puritanism must be considered under its _ecclesiastical_ as well as its political aspect. It became political through its ecclesiastical action, and its ecclesiastical character has been damaged by its political relations. It was worked up into an elaborate Presbyterian system, framed not only for the purpose of instructing the nation in the truths of the Bible, but for the purpose also of constituting every Englishman a member of the Church, and of subjecting him to the authority and discipline of its officers. This ecclesiastical organization its advocates brought, so far as they could, into union with the civil government to be defended and enforced by the magistrate. And where Puritanism assumed a Congregational shape, and claimed the name of freedom, although, as to Church institutes, it sought, and to some degree attained liberty of operation, yet, in all cases where its ministers were parochial incumbents, they, by their identification with the national establishment, exposed themselves to the political danger which, at certain crises, threaten institutions of that description. When ecclesiastical arrangements are complicated with State affairs they must be subject to a common fortune. What endangers the one endangers the other, and the history of Puritanism offers no exception to the general rule.