Cromwell, however, though compelled to resort to severe measures to secure peace, was, in spirit, no oppressor.  On the contrary, he proved himself the Protector not only of the realm but of the Protestants of Europe.  When they were threatened with persecution, his influence saved them.  He showed, too, that in an age of bigotry he was no bigot.  Puritan fanaticism, exasperated by the persecution it had endured under James and Charles, often went to the utmost extremes, even as “Hudibras"[1] said, to “killing of a cat on Monday for catching of a rat on Sunday.”

[1] “Hudibras”:  a burlesque poem by Samuel Butler (1663).  It satirized the leading persons and parties of the Commonwealth, but especially the Puritans.

It treated the most innocent customs, if they were in any way associated with Catholicism or Episcopacy, as serious offenses.  It closed all places of amusement; it condemned mirth as ungodly; it made it a sin to dance round a Maypole, or to eat mince pie at Christmas.  Fox-hunting and horse-racing were forbidden, and bear-baiting prohibited, “not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.”

In such an age, when a man could hardly claim to be religious unless he wore sad-colored raiment, talked through his nose, and quoted Scripture with great frequency, Cromwell showed exceptional moderation and good sense.

458.  Cromwell’s Religious Toleration.

He favored the toleration of all forms of worship not directly opposed to the government as then constituted.  He befriended the Quakers, who were looked upon as the enemies of every form of worship, and who were treated with cruel severity both in England and America.  He was instrumental in sending the first Protestant missionaries to Massachusetts to convert the Indiands, then supposed by many to be a remnant of the lost tribes of Israel; and after an exclusion of many centuries (S222), he permitted the Jews to return to England, and even to build a synagogue in London.

On the other hand, there are few of the cathedral or parish churches of England which do not continue to testify to the Puritan army’s destructive hatred of everything savoring of the rule of either Pope or bishop.[1] The empty niches, where some gracious image of the Virgin or the figure of some saint once looked down; the patched remnants of brilliant stained glass, once part of a picture telling some Scripture story; the mutilated statues of noted men; the tombs, hacked and hewed by pike and sword, because they bore some emblem or expression of the old faith,—­all these still bear witness to the fury of the Puritan soldiers, who did not respect even the graves of their ancestors, if those ancestors had once thought differently from themselves.

[1] But part of this destruction occurred under Henry VIII and Edward VI (SS352, 364)

459.  Victories by Land and Sea; the Navigation Act (1651).