I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.

Cromwell used this plea during the English Civil War in a letter addressed to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (the Kirk) in 1650, as his army advanced into Scotland. The Scottish leadership had allied with Charles II and insisted on a rigid religious-political settlement; Cromwell, presenting himself as a godly reformer rather than a conqueror, urged them to reconsider their stance and avoid further bloodshed. The phrase is a striking example of his habit of framing political argument in intensely devotional language, appealing to shared Protestant piety while pressing for pragmatic compromise.

The sentence is a forceful call to intellectual and spiritual humility. By invoking “the bowels of Christ,” Cromwell adopts the era’s visceral scriptural idiom for compassion and earnest entreaty, asking opponents to admit fallibility even when convinced of their righteousness. Its significance lies in the way it reframes political-religious dispute as a moral test: certainty can become a form of pride, and the willingness to consider error is presented as a Christian duty. The line endures because it compresses a general principle—epistemic modesty—into a memorable, emotionally charged appeal.

“I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, consider that you may be mistaken.”