The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-19
CROMWELL'S LIFE
DIR. w. a. QUAYLE LECTURES AT
MERIDIAN-sTREET CHURCH.
A Defense of and n Tribute
to His AbiIity-An Inter-
esting Effort.

Rev. Dr.. William A. ouayle delivered a
lecture on Oliver Cromwell in Meridian
street Church last night HI was a master
piece of scholarly research. of pure and
elegant diction and of simple yet impas-
stoned oratory. The lecture was largely in
the nature of a defense of the great Puritan
leader against attacks of his enemies, OF
whom he had a host, and a tribute TO his
consummate ability as a soldier, politician
and statesman. BY way Of preface the
speaker briefly sketched the character,
temperament and motives of the Puritans
whose uprising against the existing order
of things Cromwell directed. DR.. Quayle
said that these men believed steadfastly in
purity. that they believed the existing or
der of affairs, being bad and vicious, was
opposed to God. and they also believed that
they were ordained of God TO bring about
a new. order. He pictured wildly the cor
rupt characters of the kings who preceded
Cromwell and Of Charles II, whom he
overthrow. ST love and revere the King
James version of the Bible.'' said Dr..
ouayle. 'but there is one thing about that
version that has always worried me, and
that is it's fulsome dedication to King
JdiltS. II EllSlI have Dccn a 6OOu iOON-
man, he was an UNANIMOUSLY poor king. He
had not enough sagacity to know that
statecraft and himself had no ~consanguin-
ity." Concerning Charles II, who succeeded
Cromwell, DR.. Quayle said: IF ever a
man was a laZar house of infamy, Charles
III was. His god was pleasure and lechery.
He kept his word with nobody. If he told
the truth he happened to; he didn't mean
to; he stumbled on to truth; and yet this
man Thor1nc III rv0o hu Odds tho COS
man of the House of Stuart" The speaker
said Professionalism was introduced into
England by Henry VIII to justify lust and
marital infidelity, because the Pope would
not let him divorce his wife and marry a
| woman he liked better. Professionalism as
1T was then known in England" declared
DR.. Quayle, was a hideous thing. The
church as a whole was infamous, and SO
Puritanism arose and spoke its word
against it,, and said 1t shall not live, 1t
must die"
The lecture occasionally struck a humor-
Gus vein. as witness the allusion to Win
throp: Have you read the letters that
passed between John Winthrop and his
wife? If you have not I pray you borrow
Don't borrow mine. [Laughter.J Those let
ters discuss everything-from raising tur-
nips to the delectation of kisses"
DR.. Quayle declared that Oliver Crom-
we'll, George Washington and Abraham
Lincoln each wrote. in different eras and
in different ways the Magma Charta of
| human liberty. Kings stood In the way of
Cromwell's idea of liberty and he slew
| them. George Washington took the equally
effective way of Kidding himself of kingly
oppression by tearing off the crown and
wrestling away the scepter. DR.. Quayle de-
Tended Cromwell against the accusation
that he was bloodthirsty and cruel because
of the fierce wars he waged. War is never
| good" said the lecturer, but when wars
are legitimate in their causes, then people
are not put to parley but to conquer. We
know that. So this man Cromwell did the
bloody thing which in the event would be
least bloody. That is what Grant did;
when he went yonder to Shiloh he kept
fighting on and on and trained his cannons
on the backbone of the Confederate army
until he smashed it into bleeding fragments.
You could argue from what you simply saw
| Was Grant cruel? No War must be car
| ried on, and the great arm of war must
keep hacking on and on. Cromwell's theory
was that he would pour intimidation into
his enemies cups as If he had poured fire
in, and for many years there was no insur-
| rection."
| DR.. Quayle closed with a splendid tribute
to the memory of Cromwell, declaring that
he had attempted. and in some instances
accomplished, many of the great reforms
that have made the nineteenth century
glorious. He said that the great Puritan's
name would liver forever, despite the fact
| that Charles III dug up his remains from
Westminster Abbey and cast them to the
four winds of heaven. At the close of the
| lecture many in the audience pressed for
ward to the pulpit and warmly congratu-
lated the speaker upon his mastery effort.