oliver cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

A Lecture Delivered to La Villiaze Evangelical Congregational Church August 2000

WHEN ASKED IF I WOULD TAKE ONE OF THESE BIOGRAPHICAL MEETINGS, I GUESS THERE WAS LITTLE DOUBT AS TO WHOM I WOULD BE ASKED TO SPEAK ABOUT.
LET ME BEGIN THEN WITH AN EXTRACT FROM A LETTER BY JOHN THURLOE (THE SECRETARY OF STATE IN CROMWELL’S TIME): WRITTEN THE DAY AFTER THE DEATH OF CROMWELL:
“I AM NOT ABLE TO SPEAK OR WRITE; THIS STROKE IS SO SORE, SO UNEXPECTED, THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD IN IT SO STUPENDOUS, CONSIDERING THE PERSON THAT IS FALLEN, THE TIME AND SEASON WHEREIN GOD TOOK HIM AWAY, WITH OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES, I CAN DO NOTHING BUT PUT MY MOUTH IN THE DUST AND SAY, IT IS THE LORD . . ." THURLOE WAS NOT ALONE IN HIS GRIEF. ANTONIA FRASER IN HER BIOGRAPHY RECORDS: OLIVER HAD GONE TO HEAVEN, EMBALMED WITH THE TEARS OF HIS PEOPLE, AND ON THE WINGS OF THE PRAYERS OF HIS SAINTS. OTHERS OF HIS FRIENDS, RESORTING TO THE FAMILIAR BIBLE, WERE HEARD TO SAY FREQUENTLY AND WITH DESOLATION: A GREAT MAN IS FALLEN IN ISRAEL. FLEETWOOD SAW IN OLIVER'S DEATH NOT ONLY, AS MIGHT HAVE BEEN EXPECTED, A REBUKE FOR SIN, BUT ALSO A TRAGIC DEPRIVATION FOR THE ARMY, LOSING NOT ONLY A GENERAL AND A PROTECTOR, BUT ALSO "A DEAR AND TENDER FATHER". A SERMON IN OCTOBER BY GEORGE LAWRENCE, EXPANDED BOTH THEMES: FIRST, IT WAS THEIR OWN SINS WHICH HAD HASTENED THE REMOVAL OF THE PROTECTOR, “UNTHANKFULLNESS, PRIDE, ANIMOSITIES, AVARICE, FORMALITY AND LICENTIOUSNESS", THESE WERE THE AGUE FITS WHICH HAD EXPELLED HIS BREATH. SECONDLY, THE DEPRIVATION ITSELF WAS APPALLING IN ITS EXTENT: "WE HAVE LOST A CAPTAIN, A SHIELD, THE HEAD, AN HEIR OF RESTRAINT, THE BREATH OF OUR NOSTRILS, AN HEALER, A SHEPHERD, A FATHER AND A NURSING FATHER, A CORNER-STONE, A BUILDER, A WATCHMAN, AN EYE, A SAVIOUR, A STEERSMAN AND RECTOR, A PILOT AND A COMMON HUSBAND."

NOT LONG BEFORE HE DIED, ON 3RD SEPTEMBER 1658, CROMWELL PRAYED (WHAT WAS TO BE HIS LAST PRAYER):
LORD, THOUGH I AM A MISERABLE AND WRETCHED CREATURE, I AM IN COVENANT WITH THEE THROUGH GRACE. AND I MAY, I WILL COME TO THEE FOR THY PEOPLE. THOU HAST MADE ME, THOUGH VERY UNWORTHY, A MEAN INSTRUMENT TO DO THEM SOME GOOD, AND THEE SERVICE; AND MANY OF THEM HAVE SET TOO HIGH A VALUE UPON ME, THOUGH OTHERS WISH AND WOULD BE GLAD OF MY DEATH; LORD, HOWEVER THOU DISPOSE OF ME, CONTINUE AND GO ON TO DO GOOD FOR THEM. PARDON THY FOOLISH PEOPLE! FORGIVE THEIR SINS AND DO NOT FORSAKE THEM, BUT LOVE AND BLESS THEM. GIVE THEM CONSISTENCY OF JUDGMENT, ONE HEART, AND MUTUAL LOVE; AND GO ON TO DELIVER THEM, AND WITH THE WORK OF REFORMATION; AND MAKE THE NAME OF CHRIST GLORIOUS IN THE WORLD. TEACH THOSE WHO LOOK TOO MUCH ON THY INSTRUMENTS, TO DEPEND MORE UPON THYSELF. PARDON SUCH AS DESIRE TO TRAMPLE UPON THE DUST OF A POOR WORM; FOR THEY ARE THY PEOPLE TOO. AND PARDON THE FOLLY OF THIS SHORT PRAYER. AND GIVE ME REST FOR JESUS CHRIST'S SAKE, TO WHOM, WITH THEE AND THY HOLY SPIRIT, BE ALL HONOUR AND GLORY, NOW AND FOREVER! AMEN."

CLEARLY WE ARE DEALING WITH SOMEBODY WHO WAS EITHER A VERY GODLY MAN OR AN ARCH HYPOCRITE. THAT HE WAS THE FORMER I THINK BECOMES APPARENT WHEN A STUDY OF HIS LIFE AND TIMES IS UNDERTAKEN.

MY OWN INTEREST IN OLIVER CROMWELL BEGAN SOME TIME AFTER DISCOVERING PURITAN WRITINGS, AND DISCOVERING ALONG WITH THAT, THAT THE MALIGNITY THEY HAVE SUFFERED IN POPULAR HISTORY WAS QUITE ILL FOUNDED. WE KNOW THAT THERE IS NO LOVE FOR THE GODLY BY THE WORLD. AS JESUS CHRIST SAID (JOHN 15:19) IF YE WERE OF THE WORLD, THE WORLD WOULD LOVE HIS OWN: BUT BECAUSE YE ARE NOT OF THE WORLD, BUT I HAVE CHOSEN YOU OUT OF THE WORLD, THEREFORE THE WORLD HATETH YOU. WE ALSO KNOW THAT, ABOUT 18 MONTHS AFTER CROMWELL’S DEATH, THE KING WAS INVITED BACK TO THE THRONE, THE ROYALISTS AND ARMINIANS RETURNED TO THE ASCENDANCY AND SUBSEQUENTLY WROTE AND TOLD THE HISTORY. BUT WHAT THEY DID NOT DO WAS TO OBLITERATE ALL OTHER RECORDS, CROMWELL’S OWN LETTERS AND SPEECHES THEMSELVES BEING A NOT INCONSIDERABLE VOLUME AND QUITE AN EXTENSIVE WINDOW INTO HIS LIFE.
ALSO TALES CAN DEVELOP (AS WITH CHINESE WHISPERS) AND EVENTUALLY TURN OUT QUITE UNLIKE THE ORIGINAL. FOR EXAMPLE IT SEEMS THAT THE DEMONISATION OF CROMWELL BY THE IRISH BEGAN, NOT AFTER HIS IRISH CAMPAIGN, BUT AS RECENTLY AS LAST CENTURY. BUT IN OUR COUNTERING OF SUCH THINGS WE HAVE TO BE CAREFUL NOT TO WEAR ROSE TINTED CLASSES, YET FOR ME I HAVE TO SAY THAT DESPITE HIS FAULTS (WHICH OF COURSE HE HAD) HE SEEMS WORTHY OF BEING A ROLE MODEL.

SO LET US BEGIN BY PLACING HIM IN HIS TIME. HE WAS BORN ON 25TH APRIL 1599. THE TUDOR ERA WAS RUSHING TOWARD ITS CLOSE. QUEEN ELIZABETH IST WAS STILL ON THE THRONE AND WOULD REMAIN SO FOR ANOTHER THREE YEARS AND ELEVEN MONTHS.
AND ALTHOUGH WE MAY LOOK AT THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH IST WITH SOME THANKFULLNESS AS WE CONSIDER THE REPELLING OF THE SPANISH ARAMADA AND AS WE COMPARE IT TO THAT OF BLOODY MARY WE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT SHE WAS NO LOVER OF INDEPENDENT CHRISTIANS. PUBLIC NON-CONFORMITY FOUND THEM IN VERY DEEP TROUBLE.
WITH ELIZABETH LEAVING NO HEIRS, FOLLOWING HER DEATH, KING JAMES THE SIXTH OF SCOTLAND (WHO WAS THE ONLY SON OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS) WAS INVITED TO TAKE THE ENGLISH THRONE.
ON HIS JOURNEY SOUTH FROM SCOTLAND THE KING STOPPED AT A NUMBER OF PLACES INCLUDING HINCHINBROOK, THE HOME OF SIR OLIVER CROMWELL (OUR OLIVER CROMWELL’S UNCLE). AN ALMOST DEFINITE PIECE OF APOCRYPHA IS THAT ON THIS OCCASION THE YOUNG OLIVER AND THE YOUNG PRINCE CHARLES HAD THEIR FIRST FIGHT.
THERE WERE HIGH HOPES IN ENGLAND THAT WITH THIS NEW KING WOULD COME THE OPPORTUNITY FOR GREATER REFORM IN THE CHURCH. SADLY THIS WAS NOT TO BE THE CASE, JAMES RATHER LIKED THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. IN ANGLICAN ENGLAND HE WAS THE KING! WHEREAS IN PRESBYTERIAN SCOTLAND HE WAS JUST THE KING. THE KING SHOWED MORE FAVOUR TOWARDS POPERY THAN HE DID TO THE PURITANS. DESPITE THIS, PURITANISM HAD MANY STRONGHOLDS AND OLIVER CROMWELL’S EDUCATION WAS BASICALLY PURITAN. HIS SCHOOL TEACHER WAS A MAN NAMED THOMAS BEARD. THIS MAN’S MOST FAMOUS WORK WAS A BOOK ENTITLED THE THEATRE OF GOD’S JUDGEMENT. I HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO FIND A COPY OF THIS BOOK BUT AS FAR AS I CAN ASCERTAIN THE BASIC PREMISE OF THE BOOK IS THAT THE WHOLE OF HISTORY, THE WHOLE OF LIFE IS AN UNFOLDING OF GOD’S JUDGEMENTS (BOTH FAVOURABLE AND UNFAVOURABLE) ON MANKIND. THIS OF COURSE MUST BE SO IF GOD IS THE ONE WHO CONTROLS ALL THINGS AND WHO LIFTS UP AND BRINGS LOW. AFTER FINISHING AT HUNTINGDON GRAMMAR SCHOOL (NOW THE CROMWELL MUSEUM) OLIVER MOVED ON TO CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, TO SIDNEY SUSSEX COLLEGE, ANOTHER HOTBED OF PURITANISM. HE WAS ONLY ABLE TO A COMPLETE A YEAR AT CAMBRIDGE BEFORE HIS FATHER DIED AND HE HAD TO RETURN TO TAKE CARE OF HIS WIDOWED MOTHER AND HIS SISTERS. (IT SEEMS THAT HE MAY LATER HAVE STUDIED LAW AT LINCOLNS INN FIELDS.)
WE SEE THAT IN HIS UPBRINGING HE WAS SURROUNDED BY THOSE WHO ENCOURAGED THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE, SOMETHING WHICH HE DID READILY AND WITH MUCH CONSCIENTIOUSNESS.
AS SUCH HE WAS VERY AWARE OF GOD’S REQUIREMENTS AND HIS OWN FAILINGS AS FAR AS THAT WAS CONCERNED. WHICH BRINGS US TO THAT EVENT WHICH MANY WHO STUDY AND WRITE ABOUT CROMWELL NEVER REALLY UNDERSTAND. AND THAT OF COURSE IS HIS CONVERSION. WE DON’T HAVE AN EXACT DATE FOR THIS EVENT BUT WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT HE SPENT A GREAT DEAL OF TIME AGONISING OVER HIS SIN, EVEN FALLING INTO DEPRESSING BOUTS OF MELANCHOLIA. AND IN THE GOODNESS OF GOD, SOMETIME IN HIS LATE TWENTIES HE WAS BROUGHT TO SALVATION. THIS IS AN EXTRACT OF A LETTER HE LATER WROTE IN WHICH HE RECOUNTS THIS EVENT:
GOD . . . GIVETH SPRINGS IN A DRY AND BARREN WILDERNESS WHERE NO WATER IS. I LIVE (YOU KNOW WHERE) IN MESHECK, WHICH THEY SAY SIGNIFIES PROLONGING; IN KEDAR, WHICH SIGNIFIES BLACKNESS: YET THE LORD FORSAKETH ME NOT. THOUGH HE DO PROLONG, YET HE WILL (I TRUST) BRING ME TO HIS TABERNACLE, TO HIS RESTING PLACE. MY SOUL IS WITH THE CONGREGATION OF THE FIRSTBORN, MY BODY RESTS IN HOPE, AND IF HERE I MAY HONOUR MY GOD EITHER BY DOING OR BY SUFFERING, I SHALL BE MOST GLAD . . . THE LORD ACCEPTS ME IN HIS SON, AND GIVE ME TO WALK IN THE LIGHT, AS HE IS IN THE LIGHT . . . . BLESSED BE HIS NAME FOR SHINING UPON SO DARK A HEART AS MINE! YOU KNOW WHAT MY MANNER OF LIFE HATH BEEN. OH, HAVE I LIVED IN AND LOVED DARKNESS, AND HATED THE LIGHT. I WAS A CHIEF, THE CHIEF OF SINNERS. THIS IS TRUE; I HATED GODLINESS. YET GOD HAD MERCY ON ME. 0 THE RICHES OF HIS MERCY!
THAT LATTER SENTIMENT ABOUT BEING THE CHIEF OF SINNERS HAS BEEN USED BY MANY TO INVENT ALL KINDS OF APOCRYPHAL STORIES ABOUT HIS DEBAUCHED LIFE STYLE DURING THE YEARS ABOUT WHICH WE KNOW PRACTICALLY NOTHING SO AS TO BLACKEN HIS CHARACTER.
IN THIS WORLD, TO BEGIN WITH, HE WAS NEITHER RICH NOR POOR, “BY BIRTH A GENTLEMAN”, HE DESCRIBED HIMSELF. A SMALL LANDOWNER IN HUNTINGDON. HIS FORTUNES TOOK A DIP IN 1631 WHEN HE SOLD PRACTICALLY ALL HIS LAND AND MOVED TO A SMALL FARM IN ST.IVES. HOWEVER FIVE YEARS LATER HE BECAME THE MAJOR BENEFICIARY OF HIS UNCLE’S WILL AND INHERITED A GOOD DEAL OF LAND IN ELY. THE HOUSE HE MOVED INTO STILL STANDS JUST OUTSIDE ELY CATHEDRAL AND CAN BE VISITED, IF YOU ARE EVER IN THE VICINITY. IT IS SAID THAT BY THE END OF THE 1630s HE HAD JUST CLAWED HIS WAY BACK INTO THE RANKS OF THE GENTRY.
REGARDING HIS POLITICAL CAREER HE ENTERED THE HOUSE OF COMMONS AS MEMBER FOR HUNTINGDON IN 1628 –29. I BELIEVE THIS WAS HIS FIRST TIME. BY NOW KING JAMES HAD DIED (IN 1625) AND HIS SON CHARLES NOW SAT ON THE THRONE. CHARLES WAS NOT AS SMART AS HIS FATHER AND IN THE EARLY YEARS OF HIS REIGN QUITE CLEARLY DENIGRATED THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENT BY TAKING THE NOTION OF THE KING’S PREROGATIVE TO PREVIOUSLY UNHEARD OF LIMITS, USUALLY TO DO WITH FINANCIAL EXPEDIENTS. ONE SUCH WAS A FORCED LOAN IN 1627, THOSE NOT STUMPING UP THE CASH WERE IMPRISONED AND AMONG SUCH WERE SIX OF OLIVER’S RELATIONS. SO WHEN HE CAME TO PARLIAMENT IN 1628 HE NATURALLY STEPPED INTO A GROUP WHICH WAS CRITICAL OF THE MONARCHY. (IT SHOULD ALSO BE NOTED THAT CHARLES HAD MARRIED A FRENCH, ROMAN CATHOLIC, PRINCESS AND AGAIN THERE WAS NO SHORTAGE OF SUSPICION THERE.) ANOTHER EVENT OF THE YEAR 1628 WAS THAT WILLIAM LAUD WAS INSTALLED AS BISHOP OF LONDON. HE IS AN IMPORTANT CHARACTER, AS, FROM MY READING OF THE EVENTS, I WOULD PUT HIM DOWN AS A LEADING CONTRIBUTOR TO THE CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR.
THIS PARLIAMENT’S MOST FAMOUS DOCUMENT WAS THE PETITION OF RIGHTS WHICH DEFINED AS ILLEGAL THINGS SUCH AS UNPARLIAMENTARY TAXATION, ARBITRARY IMPRISONMENT AND MARTIAL LAW. HOWEVER RELIGION WAS AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT MATTER IN THE FABRIC OF THE NATION AND THERE WAS OF COURSE A STATE CHURCH, THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. SO IN PARLIAMENT RELIGIOUS MATTERS WERE REGULARLY DISCUSSED. NOW IT SEEMS THAT THE ONLY WAY TO ACTUALLY GET THINGS DONE IN PARLIAMENT IN THOSE DAYS WAS BY COMMITTEE. AND SO IT WAS THAT THE WHOLE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS RESOLVED ITSELF INTO A GRAND COMMITTEE OF RELIGION WHICH GREATLY DISPLEASED THE KING. AND WHILE IN THIS COMMITTEE CROMWELL MADE HIS FIRST RECORDED SPEECH IN WHICH HE COMPLAINED THAT THE BISHOPS PERMITTED AND EVEN RECOMMENDED THE PREACHING OF “FLAT POPERY”. “IF THESE ARE THE STEPS TO CHURCH PREFERMENT, WHAT ARE WE TO EXPECT?” HE EXCLAIMED. AND SO THE PARLIAMENT NOT ONLY PASSED RESOLUTIONS AGAINST ILLEGAL TAXES BUT ALSO AGAINST POPERY AND ARMINIANISM. (ARMINIANISM WAS IN SOME QUARTERS REFERRED TO AS “CREEPING POPERY”). AS I SAID THE KING WAS MOST DISPLEASED WITH ALL THIS AND SO DISSOLVED PARLIAMENT AND BEGAN ELEVEN YEARS OF RULE WITHOUT A PARLIAMENT. DURING THIS PERIOD WILLIAM LAUD WAS FURTHER ADVANCED TO ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY AND PURSUED SOMETHING OF A REIGN OF TERROR AS HE SOUGHT TO CRUSH ALL THAT OPPOSED HIM AND HIS VIEWS.
WE HAVE ALREADY SAID THAT IT WAS IN THESE YEARS THAT OLIVER CROMWELL’S WORLDLY FORTUNES DIPPED AND ROSE AGAIN BUT HIS CHRISTIAN CHARACTER CONTINUED IN ONLY ONE DIRECTION. HE CLEARLY GAVE HIS CHILDREN A CHRISTIAN UPBRINGING, WHEN HIS ELDEST SON, ROBERT, DIED AGED 17, IT IS RECORDED IN THE REGISTER THAT HE WAS A BOY OF EXCEPTIONAL PROMISE AND FEARED GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS. CROMWELL’S COMFORT IN GRIEF WAS THE SCRIPTURES. HE READ FROM PHILIPPIANS, ENDING WITH 4:11 NOT THAT I SPEAK IN RESPECT OF WANT: FOR I HAVE LEARNED, IN WHATSOEVER STATE I AM, THEREWITH TO BE CONTENT. HE LATTER REFERRED TO THESE WORDS AS HAVING SAVED HIS LIFE WHEN THE DEATH OF HIS SON ROBERT PIERCED HIS HEART LIKE A DAGGER. ALTHOUGH HE WAS ABOUT TO BECOME A MAN OF WAR AND SEE MANY DEATHS HE NEVER FORGOT THIS AND HAD A SPECIAL AFFECTION FOR THOSE WHO HAD SEEN THEIR CHILDREN SNATCHED FROM THEM.
ON THE MATTER OF NATURAL JUSTICE, HE ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BECOME THE CHAMPION OF THE COMMONERS IN EAST ANGLIA WHO WERE ABOUT TO LOSE THEIR RIGHTS TO THE COMMON LAND FOLLOWING THE DRAINAGE OF THE FENS. NOT THAT HE WAS AGAINST SUCH PROJECTS BUT FELT THAT THOSE WHO WOULD LOSE OUT SHOULD BE BETTER COMPENSATED. HIS FRIENDS WERE FROM AMONG THE PURITAN ARISTOCRACY AND HE WAS AMONGST THOSE WHO SUPPORTED THE ASSOCIATIONS FORMED FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL TO COUNTER THE INCREASING SUPERSTITIONS BEING INTRODUCED BY LAUD AND CO. (SUCH THINGS BEING THE REPLACEMENT OF THE COMMUNION TABLE WITH AN ALTAR AND THE REINTRODUCTION OF CRUCIFIXES, PICTURES AND GENUFLEXIONS).
IN THE SUMMER OF 1637 THE KING AND ARCHBISHOP LAUD MADE WHAT I CONSIDER TO BE THEIR BIGGEST MISTAKE. THEY SOUGHT TO REPLACE PRESBYTERIANISM IN SCOTLAND WITH LAUD’S PRELACY. WE OFTEN REFER TO THE CIVIL WAR AS THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR BUT THE FUSE WAS LIT BY THIS EVENT IN SCOTLAND. THE SCOTTISH WERE HAVING NONE OF THIS AND EVENTUALLY TOOK UP ARMS AGAINST THE KING. BY THE SPRING OF 1640 CHARLES WAS FORCED TO CALL ANOTHER PARLIAMENT IN ENGLAND IN WHICH CROMWELL WAS RETURNED FOR CAMBRIDGE. THE PROBLEM (FOR THE KING) WAS THAT PARLIAMENTS WOULD INSIST ON BRINGING THEIR GRIEVANCES TO HIM AND THIS ONE WAS NO DIFFERENT SO AFTER A FEW WEEKS HE DISSOLVED IT AGAIN – HENCE ITS NAME, THE SHORT PARLIAMENT. HOWEVER, UNABLE TO RESOLVE HIS DIFFERENCES WITH THE SCOTS, THEY HAVING NOW OCCUPIED NORTHUMBERLAND AND DURHAM AND DEMANDING MONEY BEFORE THEY WOULD LEAVE, CHARLES CALLED A NEW PARLIAMENT IN THE AUTUMN OF 1640 – AGAIN CROMWELL BEING RETURNED FOR CAMBRIDGE. THIS PARLIAMENT BASICALLY REFUSED TO DO ANYTHING UNLESS THE KING PASSED A BILL WHICH FORBAD THE DISSOLUTION OF THE PARLIAMENT WITHOUT ITS OWN CONSENT – HENCE IT BECAME KNOWN AS THE LONG PARLIAMENT, IT DIDN’T ACTUALLY DISSOLVE ITSELF UNTIL 1660, HOWEVER IF THE COMMONWEALTH OR THE PROTECTORATE HAD LASTED YOU MAY HAVE DATED ITS END IN 1653, WHICHEVER WAY YOU LOOK AT IT, IT WAS A VERY LONG PARLIAMENT.
TIME DOES NOT PERMIT US TO GO INTO EVERY DETAIL, BUT OF SIGNIFICANCE TO OUR STUDY WAS THE FACT THAT WITHIN A COUPLE OF MONTHS ARCHBISHOP LAUD WAS IMPEACHED BY THE HOUSE OF COMMONS AND ENDED UP IN THE TOWER OF LONDON. HE WAS LATER BEHEADED (IN 1645) ON A CHARGE OF HIGH TREASON.
IN 1641 THE IRISH CATHOLICS ROSE UP AND MASSACRED THE PROTESTANT SETTLERS AND THE SCOTS HAD INCLUDED, AS A PREREQUISITE FOR PEACE, A CONDITION OF UNIFORMITY OF RELIGION, NAMELY PRESBYTERIANISM.
IN THE COMMONS, BILLS CROMWELL WAS INVOLVED WITH INCLUDED ONE TO DO AWAY WITH BISHOPS ALTOGETHER (WHICH FAILED) ANOTHER WHICH WAS TO PREVENT BISHOPS SITTING IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS, WHICH THE HOUSE ITSELF RESISTED. BUT ONE MOTION HE INTRODUCED HIMSELF WHICH DID GET PASSED WAS TO THE EFFECT THAT SERMONS SHOULD BE PREACHED IN THE AFTERNOON IN EACH PARISH. I PRESUME THAT MEANT EVERY AFTERNOON.
WE HAVE ALREADY SAID THAT RELIGION PLAYED A LARGE PART IN POLITICAL LIFE AT THAT TIME BUT I THINK THIS SHOWS CLEARLY WHERE CROMWELL’S SYMPATHIES LAY.
BY THE SUMMER OF 1641 THE KING WAS GETTING CLEARLY AGITATED WITH PARLIAMENT, HE HAD SEEN HIS FAVOURITE MINISTER BEHEADED ON A CHARGE OF HIGH TREASON AND HIS ARCHBISHOP (LAUD) COMMITTED TO THE TOWER AND HE WAS STILL NO NEARER TO GETTING WHAT HE WANTED. BY JANUARY 1642 HE HAD HAD ENOUGH AND WENT DOWN TO THE COMMONS WITH HIS SOLDIERS TO ARREST, THOSE HE SAW AS THE LEADING PROTAGONISTS AMONGST THOSE WHO OPPOSED HIM. IN THE FILM “CROMWELL“, HE HIMSELF IS PORTRAYED AS ONE OF THE FIVE, THIS IS IN FACT HISTORICALLY INACCURATE, HE WAS NOT ONE SUCH. HOWEVER THE FIVE MEN WERE MADE AWARE AND HAD ESCAPED (THEREBY COINING THE PHRASE “THE BIRDS HAVE FLOWN”). THE KING THUS THWARTED LEFT LONDON. THAT SUMMER, ON AUGUST 22ND, THE KING RAISED HIS ROYAL STANDARD IN NOTTINGHAM AND SO BEGAN THE CIVIL WAR. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT AT THIS POINT OLIVER CROMWELL WAS 42 YEARS OLD, THUS FAR HE HAD BEEN A FARMER, A LAND OWNER AND A POLITICIAN. ALTHOUGH 42 IS NOT PARTICULARLY OLD, NEITHER IS IT PARTICULARLY YOUNG AND, FROM THAT BACKGROUND, TO SUDDENLY BE IMMERSED IN WARFARE AND BECOME ONE OF THE GREATEST, SOME SAY THE GREATEST, ENGLISH MILITARY STRATEGIST, IS, AT THE VERY LEAST, QUITE UNUSUAL.
WE ALL KNOW THAT IT EASIER TO BE CONSIDERED “GREAT” IN TIMES OF WAR THAN IT IS IN TIMES OF PEACE. BUT JUST WHAT KIND OF A MILITARY MAN WAS OLIVER CROMWELL? HOW DID HIS CHRISTIANITY AFFECT HIM AT THAT TIME?
WHAT IS OBVIOUS IS THAT HE WAS NOT A PACIFIST. AND ALTHOUGH PEACE IS TO BE PREFERRED TO WAR AND TO BE SOUGHT EARNESTLY BECAUSE WAR IS SUCH A TERRIBLE THING, JESUS CHRIST NEVER ACTUALLY PROMOTED PACIFISM. (PACIFISM IS THE REFUSAL TO FIGHT ON ANY ACCOUNT). YOU WILL LOOK IN VAIN IN THE BIBLE FOR A COMMAND TO SOLDIERS TO STOP BEING SOLDIERS.
HE WAS ALSO HONEST. RAISING AN ARMY TO FIGHT AGAINST THE KING WAS NOT EASY, MANY PEOPLE HAD A PROBLEM OF CONSCIENCE ABOUT SUCH A THING. SO THE PARLIAMENT SAID THAT ITS ARMY WAS TO FIGHT FOR KING AND PARLIAMENT. THE IDEA BEING THAT IT WAS THE KING’S ADVISERS WHO WERE AT FAULT NOT THE KING HIMSELF. THAT MAY HAVE BEEN TRUE IN PART BUT CROMWELL COULD SEE THE ILLOGIC OF SUCH A STANCE AND WOULD NOT DECEIVE PEOPLE SAYING THAT IF THE KING WAS IN A COMPANY COMING AGAINST HIM IN BATTLE HE WOULD JUST AS READILY DISCHARGE HIS PISTOL AGAINST HIM AS AGAINST ANY OTHER PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL.
THEN I EXPECT WE ARE ALL FAMILIAR WITH HIS EXPRESSION “TRUST IN GOD AND KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY”. A REFERENCE TO THE FACT THAT GOD IS IN CONTROL OF ALL THINGS AND THAT HIS PEOPLE CAN HOPE FOR HIS PROVIDENTIAL CARE AND PROTECTION BUT THAT HIS CONTROL DOES NOT NEGATE THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO BE PREPARED AND TO DO THEIR TASKS DILIGENTLY.
HE ALSO MADE THAT FAMOUS STATEMENT WHERE HE DECLARED THAT THE PARLIAMENTARY ARMY WERE “MOST OF THEM OLD DECAYED SERVING MEN, AND TAPSTERS, AND SUCH KIND OF FELLOWS” WHICH GAVE THEM NO CHANCE AGAINST THE KINGS ARMY HENCE THE EARLY BATTLES WENT IN THE KINGS FAVOUR. CAPTAIN CROMWELL THEN TRAINED HIS OWN TROOP OF CAVALRY. MEN WHO BELIEVED IN THE CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY WERE FIGHTING WERE THE ONLY ONES LIKELY TO WIN A WAR. HIS TROOP BECAME KNOWN AS THE IRONSIDES BECAUSE OF THERE SEEMING INVINCIBILITY. THEY WERE THOROUGHLY DISCIPLINED IN EVERY WAY. IF ONE SO MUCH AS CALLED ANOTHER A “ROUNDHEAD” (WHICH WAS AN INSULT AT THE TIME) THEY WERE PUNISHED. IF YOU WERE GOING TO HAVE TROOPS BILLETED IN YOUR HOUSE DURING THE WAR, YOU WOULD WANT CROMWELL’S MEN BECAUSE OF THEIR KINDNESS AND CONSIDERATION.
EVEN THOUGH HE WAS A STRICT DISCIPLINARIAN HE WAS ALSO ABLE TO HAVE FUN WITH HIS TROOPS, ONE OF THE REASONS HIS ENEMIES REFERRED TO HIM AS A BUFFOON.
IN HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER CHRISTIANS, I SUPPOSE HE WAS ECUMENICAL, NOT BY TODAY’S STANDARDS, CLEARLY HE WOULD HAVE NO FELLOWSHIP WITH CATHOLICS AND NON-CHRISTIANS BUT WHILE MANY IN PARLIAMENT WERE HEATEDLY ARGUING OVER THE FINER POINTS OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT, CROMWELL REPORTED FROM THE BATTLEFIELD THAT “PRESBYTERIANS, INDEPENDENTS, ALL HAVE HERE THE SAME SPIRIT OF FAITH AND PRAYER; THE SAME PRESENCE AND ANSWER; THEY AGREE HERE, HAVE NO NAMES OF DIFFERENCE. PITY IT IS IT SHOULD BE OTHERWISE ANYWHERE! ALL THAT BELIEVE HAVE THE REAL UNITY, WHICH IS MOST GLORIOUS; BECAUSE INWARD, AND SPIRITUAL, IN THE BODY [WHICH IS THE TRUE CHURCH], AND TO THE HEAD [WHICH IS JESUS CHRIST]. FOR BEING UNITED IN FORMS, COMMONLY CALLED UNIFORMITY, EVERY CHRISTIAN WILL, FOR PEACE- SAKE, STUDY AND DO, AS FAR AS CONSCIENCE WILL-PERMIT. AND FOR BRETHREN, IN THINGS OF THE MIND WE LOOK FOR NO COMPULSION, BUT THAT OF LIGHT AND REASON. IN OTHER THING'S, GOD HATH PUT THE SWORD IN THE PARLIAMENT'S HANDS-FOR THE TERROR OF EVIL-DOERS, AND THE PRAISE OF THEM THAT DO WELL”
WHAT WE WOULD SEE AS A WEAKNESS IN HIS RELIGION IS THAT HE WOULD JUDGE THE APPROVAL OF GOD ON HIS ACTIONS AS TO WHETHER OR NOT THEY WERE SUCCESSFUL. THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS APPROACH BECAUSE WHEREAS IT IS TRUE THAT GOD DOES SMILE (AS IT WERE) UPON HIS FAITHFUL SERVANTS THERE IS NO GUARANTEE OF IT, THE BIBLE IS THE ONLY MEASURE OF WHAT HAS GOD’S APPROVAL OR NOT AND BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES CAN BE APPLIED TO ALL SITUATIONS AND ENDEAVOURS. IT IS ALSO SAID OF CROMWELL THAT HE WOULD SPEND LONG PERIODS IN INDECISION AND THEN SUDDENLY MAKE A DECISION FROM WHICH HE COULD NOT BE DETERRED. AS IF HE EVENTUALLY HAD A “FEELING” THAT SUCH AND SUCH A THING WAS GOD’S WILL AND THEREFORE MUST BE DONE. NOW IF THAT IS TRUE THAT ALSO IS A FAILING BECAUSE OUR FEELINGS, OR ANY INTERNAL PROMPTING HOWSOEVER WE MAY DESCRIBE THEM ARE CERTAINLY NO SURE GUIDE TO KNOWING GOD’S WILL.
WHAT WE SEE IN CROMWELL THOUGH, IS THAT HE WAS CONSTANTLY IN PRAYER AND TOOK ON NO COURSE OF ACTION LIGHTLY. HOW MANY CHRISTIANS IN PLACES OF AUTHORITY TODAY CAN THAT BE SAID OF, I WONDER?
AS THE CIVIL WAR PROGRESSED, CROMWELL BECAME MORE AND MORE INSTRUMENTAL IN TURNING IT IN FAVOUR OF THE PARLIAMENT, SO MUCH SO THAT WHEN A BILL WAS BEING PASSED THROUGH THE HOUSE OF COMMONS THE AIM OF WHICH WAS TO PREVENT ANY MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FROM SERVING IN THE ARMY, FAIRFAX (WHO WAS THE HEAD OF THE ARMY) ASKED THAT CROMWELL BE EXCUSED AS HE COULDN’T DO WITHOUT HIM.
THE KING DECIDED, WHEN HE COULD SEE THAT HE WASN’T GOING TO WIN, TO SURRENDER TO THE SCOTS IN SPRING OF 1646 – HOPING FOR BETTER TREATMENT FROM THEM BUT THEY HANDED HIM OVER TO THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT. THE FOLLOWING SUMMER (1647) THE ARMY SEIZED THE KING, AN INDICATION OF THE DRIFT BETWEEN PARLIAMENT AND THE PARLIAMENTARY ARMY. BASICALLY THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT WAS PACKED WITH PRESBYTERIANS AND BEFORE THE WAR WAS EVEN WON THEY WERE PLANNING SUCH MEASURES THAT WOULD, FOR MANY INDEPENDENTS AND BAPTISTS HAVE MEANT IMPRISONMENT. THE ARMY HOWEVER WAS PACKED WITH INDEPENDENTS AND AS YOU CAN IMAGINE WERE QUITE INCENSED BY THIS. THEY WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO ENJOY THE FREEDOM FOR WHICH THEY HAD FOUGHT AND FOR WHICH MANY HAD SHED THEIR BLOOD. IT IS HARD FOR US TO CONCEIVE OF SUCH THINGS – THAT SUCH HARSHNESS COULD BE IMAGINED AGAINST OTHERS OVER SUCH LITTLE DIFFERENCES. REMEMBER IT WAS THE PRESBYTERIANS OF THAT TIME WHO GAVE US THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH, PROBABLY THE GREATEST OF THE REFORMED STATEMENTS OF FAITH.
WELL THE KING AGAIN ESCAPED, THIS TIME TO THE ISLE OF WIGHT BUT AGAIN HE WAS FOILED ONCE THERE BECAUSE THOSE HE SUPPOSED WERE HIS FRIENDS WOULD NOT LET HIM LEAVE, NOT EXACTLY A PRISONER BUT NOT EXACTLY FREE. WHILE THERE HE STILL BELIEVED HE COULD WIN. HE HOPED TO SET ONE FACTION AGAINST ANOTHER AND RISE VICTORIOUS ABOVE THEM ALL. THIS WAS A BIG MISTAKE WHICH ULTIMATELY COST HIM HIS LIFE. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR BEGAN IN 1648. BY THE END OF THAT SAME YEAR THE PRESBYTERIANS WERE EXCLUDED FROM PARLIAMENT AND THE REMAINDER (KNOWN AS THE RUMP PARLIAMENT) BEGAN PROCEEDINGS THAT CULMINATED IN THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF THE KING. THE BEHEADING OF THE KING WAS PROBABLY ALSO A MISTAKE IN TERMS OF ALIENATING THOSE WHO MIGHT OTHERWISE HAVE BEEN SYMPATHETIC TO CROMWELL’S CAUSE. IF THE KING HAD BEEN KILLED IN BATTLE, NOBODY WOULD HAVE THOUGHT ANYTHING OF IT, BUT TO BE EXECUTED - THAT WAS JUST TOO MUCH FOR SOME. BUT WHAT WE HAVE TO REMEMBER IS THAT DURING THE TIME OF THE KING’S CAPTIVITY, CROMWELL AND OTHERS PATIENTLY NEGOTIATED WITH THE KING IN A WAY THAT WOULD NOT ONLY HAVE LEFT HIS HEAD ON HIS SHOULDERS BUT ALSO HAVE LEFT HIM ON THE THRONE, IN RETURN FOR WHAT? IN RETURN FOR RELIGIOUS TOLERATION AND A CURBING OF THE ROYAL POWERS BY PARLIAMENT. BUT THE KING DID NOT BELIEVE HE WAS BOUND BY ANYTHING HE SAID TO HIS SUBJECTS AND AS WE SAID EVENTUALLY THE SECOND CIVIL WAR BROKE OUT AND THAT SEALED HIS FATE.
SOME MONTHS AFTER THE EXECUTION OF THE KING, CROMWELL WAS SENT TO IRELAND. IT IS FROM HIS IRISH CAMPAIGN THAT HE GETS THE LARGEST CHUNK OF BAD PRESS. AS WE SAID AT THE BEGINNING, THE DEMONISATION OF CROMWELL BY THE IRISH DID NOT BEGIN IN THE 17TH CENTURY BUT IN THE 19TH. PROBABLY AS TALES OF HIS BATTLES TOOK ON NEW DIMENSIONS WITH THE TELLING. THE FACT IS THAT THOSE WHO RESEARCH HIS IRISH BATTLES SAY THAT HE BEHAVED ACCORDING TO THE RULES OF WAR AT THAT TIME, THAT MOST OF HIS VICTIMS WERE NOT IRISH BUT ENGLISH ROYALISTS AND THE LATEST BOOK AVAILABLE ON THE SUBJECT IS CALLED “CROMWELL, A NOBLE ENEMY”. ALTHOUGH I HAVE NOT YET READ IT, THE TITLE SUGGESTS THAT THE RESEARCHER HAS FOUND THAT HE WAS NOT VICIOUS IN HIS IRISH CAMPAIGN.
THE FOLLOWING YEAR, 1650 HE HAS TO TRAVEL UP TO SCOTLAND TO FIGHT THE SCOTS. FOR THE CAVALIERS AND SCOT’S PRESBYTERIANS, SO RECENTLY ENEMIES, ARE NOW ALLIES AROUND CHARLES THE SECOND. CROMWELL, NOW HEAD OF THE ARMY BECAUSE FAIRFAX WONT FIGHT THE SCOTS, WINS THE BATTLE OF DUNBAR ON 3RD SEPTEMBER AND THE FOLLOWING YEAR WINS THE BATTLE OF WORCESTER ON THE SAME DAY THUS FINALLY BRINGING TO AN END THE CIVIL WAR.
NOW EVEN IN THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE LONG PARLIAMENT, STILL SAT, DESPITE BEING MUCH SMALLER IN SIZE. REMEMBER THEY COULD ONLY DISSOLVE THEMSELVES AND THEY DID NOT HAVE MUCH INTENTION OF DOING THAT. BUT THEY WERE NOT, AS IT WERE, COMING UP WITH THE GOODS AND THEY WERE CERTAINLY NOT DELIVERING WHAT CROMWELL THOUGHT THE ARMY HAD FOUGHT FOR AND SO IN 1653 WITH THE MIGHT OF THE ARMY BEHIND HIM HE KICKED THEM OUT. THIS WAS NOT SO VERY DIFFERENT TO WHAT CHARLES THE FIRST HAD TRIED TO DO BACK IN 1642 WHICH PRECIPITATED THE CIVIL WAR. THE REASON CROMWELL GOT AWAY WITH IT, I THINK, WAS THAT HE WAS GENERALLY SPEAKING BETTER LIKED THAN THE KING HAD BEEN AND HE HAD ALREADY DEFEATED THOSE WITH ANY MIGHT WHO OPPOSED HIM; AND ANOTHER DIFFERENCE IS THAT THE KING SIMPLY DID NOT LIKE ANY PARLIAMENTS WHEREAS THE RUMP DID LOOK LIKE THEY WERE SIMPLY TRYING TO HANG ON TO POWER.
CROMWELL DID NOT REFER TO THIS AS A DISSOLUTION BUT SAID HE WAS “JUST TAKING THE SWORD OUT OF A MAD MAN’S HANDS”. MANY HAVE ACCUSED HIM OF SIMPLY WANTING TO BE A MILITARY DICTATOR BUT WHAT GIVES CROMWELL SOME CREDENCE IS THAT HE IMMEDIATELY SOUGHT WAYS OF PASSING POWER BACK TO OTHERS. AND SO A NOMINATED (RATHER THAN AN ELECTED) PARLIAMENT CAME INTO EXISTENCE. KNOWN AS THE BAREBONES PARLIAMENT AFTER ONE OF THE MEMBERS, A CERTAIN PRAISEGOD BAREBONES. AT THE OPENING OF THIS PARLIAMENT, OLIVER MADE QUITE A LENGTHY SPEECH OFTEN WITH TEARS ROLLING DOWN HIS CHEEKS, IN WHICH HE SAID, AMONG OTHER THINGS, I CONFESS I NEVER LOOKED TO SEE SUCH A DAY AS THIS - IT MAY BE NOR YOU NEITHER - WHEN JESUS CHRIST SHOULD BE SO OWNED AS HE IS, AT THIS DAY, AND IN THIS WORK . . . I SAY, YOU ARE CALLED WITH A HIGH CALL. AND WHY SHOULD WE BE AFRAID TO SAY OR THINK, THAT THIS MAY BE THE DOOR TO USHER IN THE THINGS THAT GOD HAS PROMISED; WHICH HATH BEEN PROPHESIED OF; WHICH HE HATH SET THE HEARTS OF HIS PEOPLE TO WAIT FOR AND EXPECT? . . . INDEED I DO THINK SOMETHING IS AT THE DOOR; WE ARE AT THE THRESHOLD.
CROMWELL WAS NOT ALONE IN HIS EXCITEMENT, THERE REALLY DID SEEM TO BE AN AIR OF EXPECTATION AND OPTIMISM ABOUT IN THOSE DAYS. THIS PARLIAMENT LASTED ABOUT 6 MONTHS. THEY MADE SOME GOOD LAWS BUT IN THREE AREAS THEY APPEAR TO HAVE LET CROMWELL DOWN.

ENGLAND WAS AT WAR WITH THE DUTCH – THE PARLIAMENT WANTED TO CONTINUE THIS WAR WHEREAS CROMWELL DID NOT THINK IT RIGHT TO BE AT WAR WITH ANOTHER PROTESTANT NATION AND SO SOUGHT PEACE (HE SAW THE NATURAL ENEMY OF THE ENGLISH AS BEING THE SPANISH).

CROMWELL WANTED THOSE OF CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL OPINION TO BE RECONCILED TO THE REPUBLIC BUT SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE PARLIAMENT ONLY PROVED TO STOKE THEIR FEARS.

THEY DID LITTLE OR NOTHING TO ADVANCE RELIGIOUS TOLERATION SO THAT CROMWELL EVEN FOUND HIMSELF DEFENDING PRESBYTERIANS.

BY DECEMBER OF 1653 THE PARLIAMENT RESIGNED AND CROMWELL WAS INSTALLED AS LORD PROTECTOR. (THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME HE REFUSED THE CROWN). HE WAS AGAIN OFFERED THE CROWN IN 1657 AND AGAIN REFUSED IT. HE WAS IN EFFECT, THOUGH, KING IN ALL BUT NAME UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1658.
THIS PERIOD WAS THE TIME OF HIS PERSONAL RULE ALTHOUGH THERE WERE TWO PROTECTORAL PARLIAMENTS, THE INSTRUMENT OF GOVERNMENT PROVIDING THAT A PARLIAMENT MUST BE CALLED AT LEAST EVERY THREE YEARS, THE SECOND CONSISTING OF A HOUSE OF COMMONS AND A SECOND HOUSE. THE HOUSE OF LORDS HAD BEEN ABOLISHED BY THE REPUBLIC BUT NOW (AT HIS SECOND PROTECTORAL PARLIAMENT) RESTORED BY CROMWELL IN A BID TO RECONCILE THOSE OF A MORE CONSERVATIVE NATURE. IN BETWEEN THESE TWO PARLIAMENTS AND AFTER A ROYALIST UPRISING, CROMWELL EXPERIMENTED WITH A KIND OF RULE BY THE ARMY’S MAJOR GENERALS AND IN HIS SPEECH TO THEM WE SEE AGAIN CROMWELL’S GREAT DESIRE:
MAKE IT A SHAME TO SEE MEN BOLD IN SIN AND PROFANENESS, AND GOD WILL BLESS YOU. YOU WILL BE A BLESSING TO THE NATION...TRULY THESE THINGS DO RESPECT THE SOULS OF MEN, AND THE SPIRITS, - WHICH ARE THE MEN. THE MIND IS THE MAN. IF THAT BE KEPT PURE, A MAN SIGNIFIES SOMEWHAT; IF NOT, I WOULD VERY FAIN SEE WHAT DIFFERENCE THERE BE TWIXT HIM AND A BEAST...
OVERALL THE MAJOR GENERALS WERE NOT WELL LIKED, CONSIDERED BY MANY TO BE LITTLE MORE THAN BUSY-BODIES TRYING TO STOP THEM HAVING FUN. CROMWELL WAS AWARE THAT PEOPLE COMPLAINED ABOUT NOT BEING ALLOWED TO HAVE THEIR HORSE RACINGS AND COCK-FIGHTINGS AND THE LIKE. CROMWELL HIMSELF DID NOT THINK THESE THINGS UNLAWFUL BUT WAS OPPOSED TO THE OBSESSIONAL HOLD THEY HAD OVER PEOPLE. THEY SHOULD BE, HE REMARKED, SIMPLY FOR RECREATION.
OF COURSE THE CHARACTER OF EACH MAJOR GENERAL MADE A DIFFERENCE, WHALLEY ALLOWED HORSE RACING AT LINCOLN WHILE WORSLEY FORBADE IT IN CHESHIRE. IN SOME WAYS IT WAS NOT A HAPPY TIME FOR CROMWELL. IN A LETTER TO HIS FRIEND FLEETWOOD HE WROTE: …MY HEART IS FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD; THAT THE LORD KNOW; AND I TRUST WILL IN DUE TIME MANIFEST; YET THENCE ARE MY WOUNDS HE WENT ON MANY GOOD MEN ARE REPINING AT EVERYTHING.
WITH REGARD TO RELIGIOUS TOLERATION, POSSIBLY THE MOST FAMOUS EVENT OF THE PROTECTORAL RULE WAS THE RESETTLEMENT OF THE JEWS INTO ENGLAND. EDWARD THE FIRST OF ENGLAND HAD EXPELLED THEM AS LONG AGO AS 1290. EARLIER IN 1215, THE POPE HAD DECREED RESTRICTIONS AGAINST JEWS AND THAT THEY WEAR DISTINCTIVE BADGES. (SOUNDS RATHER FAMILIAR DOESN’T IT.) NOW, AS A RESULT OF THE REFORMATION, PURITAN THINKING WAS QUITE DIFFERENT AND THE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS WAS SEEN AS A PRECURSOR TO THE RETURN OF THE LORD. AND SO THE JEWS WERE ONCE AGAIN WELCOMED BACK INTO ENGLAND.
CATHOLICS ALSO ENJOYED MORE FREEDOM UNDER THE PROTECTORATE THAN THEY HAD UNDER CHARLES 1ST. MAKE NO MISTAKE, CROMWELL IN LINE WITH PURITAN THINKING CONSIDERED THE POPE TO BE THE ANTI-CHRIST AND MANY CATHOLICS TO BE SUBVERSIVE TO A PROTESTANT GOVERNMENT. YET HE DID NOT BELIEVE THAT JUST BECAUSE SOMEBODY WAS A CATHOLIC THAT AUTOMATICALLY MADE THEM AN ENEMY OF THE STATE. IN FACT THOSE CATHOLICS THAT WERE NO TROUBLE TO THE STATE ENJOYED MORE FREEDOM THAN SOME PROTESTANTS, WHO WE MIGHT SAY WERE WAY OUT ON THE FRINGES. THIS IS BECAUSE THEY WERE QUITE TROUBLESOME CITIZENS. EVEN THE QUAKERS WHO TODAY WE THINK OF AS SITTING QUIETLY AROUND WAITING TO BE PROMPTED BY THE SPIRIT – THEY WERE A DIFFERENT KETTLE OF FISH THEN. IT WOULD NOT BE UNUSUAL TO SEE ONE OF THEM NAKED DISTURBING A CHURCH SERVICE. BUT IN GENERAL – IF YOU WERE NO TROUBLE TO THE STATE – YOU COULD BELIEVE WHAT YOU LIKED.
WITH REGARD TO VICARS AND THE LIKE, REMEMBERING THAT THERE WAS STILL A STATE CHURCH, ANY WHO WERE FOUND WANTING IN THE PREACHING DEPARTMENT WERE PENSIONED OFF AND MORE ABLE MINISTERS PUT IN THEIR PLACE. IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THEY WERE PENSIONED OFF AND NOT, AS IT WERE, TURFED OUT. THIS IS IN MARKED CONTRAST TO THE TIME OF REVENGE IN CHARLES THE SECOND’S TIME. IN 1662 IF A MINISTER WOULD NOT CONFORM, THEN HE WAS EJECTED AND IF HE AND HIS FAMILY WENT HUNGRY AND HOMELESS THAT WAS JUST TOO BAD. THE PROTECTORAL ERA WAS A MUCH KINDER TIME.
CROMWELL ALSO DESIRED TO HELP THE PROTESTANT CAUSE IN THE REST OF EUROPE, SOME EVEN REFERRED TO HIM AS THEIR ONLY HOPE NEXT TO GOD, AND HE ASSISTED MANY BY PERSUASION OF THOSE IN AUTHORITY AND ALSO BY BATTLE. D’AUBIGNE IS OF THE OPINION THAT IF CROMWELL’S SPIRIT HAD CONTINUED TO GOVERN ENGLAND, THE REVOCATION OF THE EDICT OF NANTES WOULD NEVER HAVE TAKEN PLACE.
FOR THE BIBLE LOVING CHRISTIAN IN BRITAIN THESE WERE GOOD TIMES. GARY BRADY IN HIS ADDRESS TO THE 1997 WESTMINSTER CONFERENCE REFERS TO A LETTER WRITTEN TO THE PROTECTOR BY PARTICULAR CHURCHES FROM HEXHAM, BRADFORD, DERBY AND BURTON-ON-TRENT IN WHICH THEY REFER TO THESE “HALCYON DAYS OF PEACE, PLENTY AND LIBERTY”. SADLY THEY DID NOT LAST VERY LONG.
IN THE SUMMER OF 1657, HAVING REFUSED THE CROWN HE WAS INSTALLED AS LORD PROTECTOR AGAIN, BUT THIS TIME WITH A LOT MORE CEREMONY. THE REMAINDER OF HIS RULE WAS MUCH MORE OF A CIVILIAN AFFAIR ALTHOUGH WE MUST SAY NOT ENTIRELY. THE SECOND PROTECTORAL PARLIAMENT SAT ONLY FOR A MATTER OF WEEKS. HIS LAST SPEECH TO THEM INCLUDED THESE WORDS SHOWING THAT HE STILL HELD DEAR HIS VISION OF TAKING THE COUNTRY INTO THE PROMISED LAND: …… 'LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE MAY BE SECURED FOR HONEST PEOPLE, THAT THEY MAY SERVE GOD WITHOUT FEAR, THAT EVERY JUST INTEREST MAY BE PRESERVED, THAT A GODLY MINISTRY MAY BE UPHELD AND NOT TO BE AFFRONTED BY SEDUCING AND SEDUCED SPIRITS, THAT ALL MEN MAY BE PRESERVED IN THEIR JUST RIGHTS, WHETHER CIVIL OR SPIRITUAL'.

ON AUGUST 6TH 1658 BETTY CLAYPOLE DIED. SHE WAS HIS FAVOURITE DAUGHTER AND HE WAS ABSOLUTELY DISTRAUGHT. SOME HAVE EVEN SUGGESTED THAT THIS WAS LARGELY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS OWN DEATH. WHATEVER THE CASE, JUST UNDER A MONTH LATER ON SEPTEMBER THE THIRD CROMWELL HIMSELF LAY DYING OF BLOOD POISONING. HE HAD BEEN GIVEN THE RIGHT TO NAME HIS SUCCESSOR BUT HAD NEVER DONE SO PUBLICLY. THOSE WHO WERE WITH HIM WHEN HE DIED SAID THAT HE AT THAT TIME NAMED HIS ELDEST SURVIVING SON. YOU WILL RECALL HIS FIRST SON, ROBERT, DIED AS A TEENAGER, HIS SECOND SON, OLIVER WAS KILLED IN THE CIVIL WAR, SURVIVING THEM WERE RICHARD AND HENRY. RICHARD WAS AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT KETTLE OF FISH TO HIS FATHER BUT HE RULED AS LORD PROTECTOR FOR JUST OVER A YEAR. HE DID NOT HAVE OLIVER’S ABILITIES NEITHER DO I THINK DID HE WANT THE JOB.
IN 1660 CHARLES THE SECOND WAS INVITED TO TAKE UP THE THRONE. HE MADE PROMISES, WHICH HE DID NOT KEEP, AND SO BEGAN A VERY WRETCHED TIME OF REVENGE.
CROMWELL’S OWN BODY WAS EXHUMED FROM WESTMINSTER ABBEY, HUNG AT TYBURN (NEAR MARBLE ARCH IN LONDON). HIS HEAD CHOPPED OFF AND PLACED ON A SPIKE OUTSIDE THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, WHERE IT REMAINED FOR SOME TIME. IT WAS NOT BURIED UNTIL 1960 WHEN IT WAS GIVEN TO SIDNEY SUSSEX COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. WHERE IS A PLAQUE MARKING THE PLACE NEAR TO WHERE IT IS BURIED
THE LEGACY OF CROMWELL, IN THE TIME OF THE RESTORATION, WAS THAT WHEREVER THERE WAS AN HONEST HARDWORKING PERSON IT WAS SAID THAT THERE WAS ONE OF CROMWELL’S OLD SOLDIERS.
FOR US, WE CAN, AS WITH ALL HISTORY LEARN FROM HIS VIRTUES AND FROM HIS FAULTS. IT HAS BEEN WELL SAID: IF PEOPLE IGNORE HISTORY THEY ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT THE SAME MISTAKES. CROMWELL WHEN BEING PAINTED INSISTED THAT HE BE PORTRAYED “WARTS AND ALL”. HOWEVER HE REMAINS FOR ME, DESPITE THE WARTS IN HIS CHARACTER, PROBABLY THE GREATEST, NOBLEST, JUST AND KINDEST MAN TO RULE WHAT WOULD EVENTUALLY BECOME THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Back to Main Cromwell Page