mmmuu
TO
CuOMWKLIj.
Lntin language Unit ho could speak it
quite Hucutly.
After his father's death, Cromwell went
to London to study law, and in this he
succeeded well, although he was said to
have been very wild and reckless. In his
twonty-tlrst year he married a young lady
of linn christian character who was the
means of changing his life; and then he
became an able defender of Christianity
and thecommonwealth. After his mar
riage Cromwell removed to Huntington
and there pursued the life of a farmer.
AVhilo he remained on his farm, bis
house was refuge for good men who were
promulgating the Protestant faith.
On the 17th of March 1028 Cromwell
first took his seat in the House of Com
inons. Ho was a man of rough speech,
and inelegant manner, and for a long
time was not much noticed.
In the spring of 1029 Cromwell made
his first speech in Parliament, in which
he ably defended the cause of Christianity
and free institutions.
"It is amusing," says Hume, "to ol
seive the first words of this fanaticul hyp
ocrite, corresponding so exactly to his
character."
Hut we can well sec why Hume should
make such a statement as this as he was
a sceptic in the worst sense of the word,
and, of course, viewed all religionists
with a prejudiced mind.
Cromwell had seen the people kept in
subjection by royalty, and at the age of
forty-three he took up arms to fight
against the king. His first action was
the selection of a thousand men who
wero tried and true, and who had the
cause of liberty at heart.
Mr. Foster remarks, that if his life had
ended with this act his name would have
been written on the list of fame. Immed
iately he went into the field, and his first
successes was the victory at Gains
bourg, gained over a force three times as
large as his own.
"This victory," Jsays "Whitelock, "was
tho beginning of Cromwell's great for-
tunes, and now ho ocgan to appear in the
world. Soon after this he and Fairfax
joined forces and encounteied the royal
force. That part of the army which
Cromwell led went forward singing
p-alms and praising God. Thus we sec
tho Christian warrior of the sixteenth
century leading a Christian army to fight
for religious freedom.
lie, also, went into Ireland, and soon
the hierarchy was overturned. The in
habitants wero persuaded to submit to the
commonwealth. From this time the
country was in a more peaceable con
dition than ever before.
Tho affairs at this time in Scotland
were in a bad condition, so Cromwell
went to make them right. At his first ap.
pcaranee in the country the inhabitants
lied witli terror, the clergy having told
them that the English were ' monsters,"
and that they would put all the men to the
sword and thrust hot irons through the
women's breasts.
Li'sley,,the Scotch commander at Edin
burgh, was strongly fortified with a force
of twenty-thivo thousand men but he was.,
like Fabius, not to be drawn out in open
battle.
All the while Cromwell's army was
wasting away by sickness and disease,
and he found it necessary to retreat. A
retreat was made to Dunbar, where his
ships were, and Lesley took possession of
the adjoining heights. Cromwell's army
was completely surrounded b' the sea,
the mountain and the enemy.
" Before the light," he afterwards wrote
to Ircton, our condition was made very
sad; the enemy greatly Insulted and men
aced us."
His faith in himself and his God did
not even then leave him.
" He was a strong man." said one who
knew him, "in the dark perils of wars, in .
the high places of the field, hope shone
in him like a pillar of fire when it had
gone out in all the others."
Cromwell saw that the enemy were get
ting down into an open field, so he deter-
Vl