Oliver Cromwell Prohibits the Catholic Mass (Theonomy Applied)

"I shall not, where I have power, and the Lord is pleased to
bless me, suffer the exercise of the Mass, where I can
take notice of it." -- Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell (1599 - 1658) served as a military leader (including Supreme Commander) of the unbeaten New Model Army, and as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England. 

In 1649, Cromwell led a victorious campaign in Ireland to quell a bloody anti-Protestant insurrection. He did not stop at subduing the Irish militarily; he also sought to keep them from participating in the Catholic Mass. Cromwell had compassion for the Irish people, who were deceived by Roman Catholic superstitions.

Cromwell's Siege Terms: No Quarter for the Mass

During his campaign in Ireland, Cromwell corresponded with the Irish governor of New Ross, Sir Lucas Taaffe about surrender. While Taaffe preferred to surrender the town than to face the New Model Army, he also requested for his men "liberty of conscience." Cromwell, sensing that by this he implied liberty to engage in the Catholic mass, responds thus:

'As' for that which you mention concerning liberty of conscience, I meddle not with any man's conscience. But if by liberty of conscience, you mean a liberty to exercise the Mass, I judge it best to use plain dealing, and to let you know, Where the Parliament of England have power, that will not be allowed of.[1] 

After Cromwell's reply, Taaffe surrendered the town without pressing the issue. 

Note how Cromwell, unlike many today, understands that liberty of conscience does not authorize one to engage in whatever religious practices that one pleases; there is a difference between freedom to believe whatever one wants, and freedom to act however one wants. (Although in practice, all people--even those that supposedly advocate religious freedom for all--oppose certain religious practices; it is only a matter of which religious practices.) 

Cromwell's Declaration Against Popery and the Mass

While Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Cromwell became aware of a book written in 1649 in defense of Catholicism with "divers Declarations and Acts of the Popish Prelates and Clergy."[2] In reply, he released a Declaration, which Merle D'Aubigne calls "one of the most remarkable documents ever composed by a soldier."[3] It is titled as follows:

A DECLARATION OF THE LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND, FOR THE UNDECEIVING OF DELUDED AND SEDUCED PEOPLE: WHICH MAY BE SATISFACTORY TO ALL THAT DO NOT WILFULLY SHUT THEIR EYES AGAINST THE LIGHT. IN ANSWER TO CERTAIN LATE DECLARATIONS AND ACTS, FRAMED BY THE IRISH POPISH PRELATES AND CLERGY, IN A CONVENTICLE AT CLONMACNOISE.[4] 

In light of the dangers of Roman Catholicism, Cromwell warns the Irish Catholic religious leaders that he will neither tolerate the mass, nor the spiritual seduction of the people:

I shall not, where I have power, and the Lord is pleased to bless me, suffer the exercise of the Mass, where I can take notice of it. "No," nor "in any way" suffer you that are Papists, where I can find you seducing 'the People, or by any overt act violating the Laws established; but if you come into my hands, I shall cause to be inflicted the punishments appointed by the Laws,—to use your own term, secundum gravitatem delicti,—upon you; and "shall try" to reduce things to their former state on this behalf.[5] 

"Cromwell was not content to use the sword against
Ireland ... he longed for it to be free of Romanism and
converted to Christ and His Reformed religion."

Cromwell's Desire for the Conversion of Irish Catholics

After forbidding the Mass and Roman Catholic heresies in his Declaration, Cromwell goes on to write the following: 

As for the People, what thoughts they have in matters of Religion in their own breasts I cannot reach; but shall think it my duty, if they walk honestly and peaceably, Not to cause them in the least to suffer for the same. And shall endeavour to walk patiently and in love towards them, to see if at any time it shall please God to give them another or a better mind. And all men under the power of England, within this Dominion, are hereby required and enjoined strictly and religiously to do the same.[6] 

And so for Cromwell, civil sanctions—as important as they were—were not enough; out of love for the Irish people, he wished the conversion of those ensnared by the heresies of Catholicism. On this matter, Joe Morecraft, III, summarizes Cromwell's position:

Cromwell was not content to use the sword against Ireland, he also sought to instruct them and convert them with the pen. ... Because he understood that Roman priests and theology made Ireland the superstitious and violent nation that it was, he longed for it to be free of Romanism and converted to Christ and His Reformed religion.[7] 

Notes
____________________

[1] Oliver Cromwell, Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches: With Elucidations: Volume II, ed. Thomas Carlyle (London: Chapman and Hall, 1871), 175.

[2] Oliver Cromwell, Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches: With Elucidations: Volume II, ed. Thomas Carlyle (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1897), 115.

[3] J. H. Merle D'Aubigne, The Protector: A Vindication (New York: Robert Carter, 1847), 112.
[4] Cromwell, Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches (Charles Scribner's Sons version), 115.
[5] Ibid., 126.
[6] Ibid.

[7] Joe Morecraft, III, The History of the Reformation in the West (Unpublished notes from Chalcedon Presbyterian Church: n. d.), 254.

photo credit:

Statue of Oliver Cromwell

© David Bartlett / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY -SA 2.0) (license)
Retrieved January 6, 2015 from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_of_Oliver_Cromwell_-_geograph.org.uk_-_310979.jpg.
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