The next morning I was moved of the Lord to write a paper to the Protector, Oliver Cromwell; wherein I did, in the presence of the Lord God, declare that I denied the wearing or drawing of a carnal sword, or any other outward weapon, against him or any man; and that I was sent of God to stand a witness against all violence, and against the works of darkness; and to turn people from darkness to light; and to bring them from the causes of war and fighting, to the peaceable gospel. When I had written what the Lord had given me to write, I set my name to it, and gave it to Captain Drury to hand to Oliver Cromwell, which he did. After some time Captain Drury brought me before the Protector himself at Whitehall.[75] It was in a morning, before he was dressed, and one Harvey, who had come a little among Friends, but was disobedient, waited upon him. When I came in I was moved to say, "Peace be in this house"; and I exhorted him to keep in the fear of God, that he might receive wisdom from Him, that by it he might be directed, and order all things under his hand to God's glory. [75] Cromwell and Fox were at this period the two most striking men in England. Cromwell's greatest work was already done; Fox, now thirty years old, was only getting well under way with his earthly mission. He never comprehended the greatness of Cromwell's work, nor did he appreciate the complex tangle which the Protector had to unravel. He was so sun-clear and ingenuous himself that he could not fathom a man who skillfully zigzagged toward the ends which he could not reach by perfectly direct steps. Carlyle gives a happy paraphrase of this passage in the Journal: "'I exhorted him,' writes George, 'to keep in the fear of God,' whereby he might 'receive Wisdom from God,' which would be a useful guidance for any sovereign person. In fact, I had 'much discourse' with him; explaining what I and Friends had been led to think 'Concerning Christ and His Apostles' of old time, and His Priests and Ministers of new; concerning Life and concerning Death; concerning the Unfathomable Universe in general, and the Light in it from Above and the Darkness in it that is from Below: to all which the Protector 'carried himself with much moderation.' Yes, George; this Protector has a sympathy with the Perennial; and feels it across the Temporary: no hulls, leathern or other, can entirely hide it from the sense of him." Carlyle's "Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches." (Centenary Edition.) Vol. III., p. 225.