On January 15, 2015 1:02 PM, "Stephen Williamson" wrote:
Subject:Cromwell and Princess Henrietta Maria and Adolf Hitler
Hi all
Following my chat with John on Wednesday, here's Wikipedia's article on Oliver Cromwell, a landowner / tithe-collector who became a soldier and then "Lord Protector" over the common-wealth of England, Ireland and Scotland in 1653 - 1658 before he died of a malarial / urinary infection. His son Richard took charge for a few months, then a leading Scots military ruler came down from Edinburgh and took charge in London, inviting back from Paris the son (Charles II) as well as the mother, Henrietta Maria, the wife of the previous king (Charles I) who had been executed for "treason" in 1649.
It had been a time of civil war in England, with Oliver Cromwell seeing himself a bit like an Old Testament minister of God. He was involved in a group called by others "Puritans" from the words "Purity" i.e. sticklers when it came to expressions in arguments about worship, "Piety" i.e. devotion in their zeal for Christ, also "Pyre/Fire" as they preached Fire and Brimstone (sulphur) upon God's enemies, as typified in the Pope, the antichrist, and the Roman Catholic Church as being all of his deceived followers with their statues and paintings and love of theatre ("Idol-worshipers").
At the time England had, perhaps, about 2 - 3 million in population, less than the size of Queensland today. There were apparently about 300,000 Roman Catholics. Parliament was threatening to pass a bill to take their children away from them to enable them to be brought up as English Protestants. King Charles was a Protestant, but he had a Roman Catholic wife, Princess Henrietta Maria from France, and needless to say she was pretty sympathetic to those Roman Catholic people in England, along with ideals of ecumenism (we are all "one house") and seeking platonic (or "higher") love for all. Obviously, she opposed that bill in parliament, along with her husband.
Here's Wiki's article on her, and their marriage: Wikipedia.org
One man who saw her as the deceived agent of the pope and printed pamphlets in 1630 criticizing her was mutilated flogged and imprisoned. Yes, a bit like the "Charlie Hebdo" debacle. In the late 1630s the lawyer William Prynne, popular in Puritan circles, also had his ears cut off for writing that women actresses were notorious whores, a clear insult to Henrietta. So civil war developed, between the royal army, and parliament's (Cromwell's) army.
Oliver Cromwell justified Charles's execution in 1649 as being like an Old Testament Canaanite king whose blood needed to be shed to save further bloodshed (also as Jesus was coming back soon - ouch.)
Click here for further background to this century in Peter Craven's review "The History of England, Volume III: Civil War" by Peter Ackroyd.
Hard to know where men like Oliver Cromwell and others like him stand before the Lord, but greatly stressed and deluded would be, I think, a fair comment. It explains his execution of thousands in Ireland in 1650-1651 (seen by his generals as being like "deceived Canaanites"), also the death of many in Scotland.
And a forerunner of the French revolution in 1789 and the rise of Napoleon.
I mentioned Adolf Hitler before, he was a Roman Catholic altar boy three hundred years later, yes, someone on the other side, but who also apparently saw himself as an agent of "Providence".
See this article below on some of his beliefs.
http://www.cbn.com /700club /features /churchhistory /godandhitler/
** End of study