... And if it be my "liberty" to walk abroad in the fields, or to take a journey, yet it is not my wisdom to do so when my house is on fire!
Why, truly, your great enemy is the Spaniard. He is a natural enemy. He is naturally so, he is naturally so throughout,--by reason of that great enmity that is in him against whatsoever is of God.
Well, your danger is as you have seen. And truly I am sorry it is so great. But I wish it to cause no despondency;--as truly, I think it will not: for we are Englishmen; that is one good fact.
To hang a man for six-and-eightpence, and I know not what; to hang for a trifle and acquit murder,--is in the ministration of the law through the ill-framing of it. I have known in my experience abominable murders committed. And to see men lose their lives for petty matters: this is a thing God will reckon for.
XIII. _To the Second Protectorate Parliament, January 23, 1657._
Truly, I shall in a word or two congratulate you with good _you_ are in possession of, and in some respect, I also with you. God hath bestowed upon you, and you are in possession of it,--Three Nations, and all that appertains to them. Which in either a geographical, or topical consideration, are Nations. In which also there are places of honour and consideration, not inferior to any in the known world,--without vanity it may be spoken. Truly God hath not made so much soil, furnished with so many blessings, in vain! But it is a goodly sight, if a man behold it _uno intuitu_. And therefore this is a possession of yours, worthy of congratulation.
This is furnished,--give me leave to say, for I believe it is true,--with the best People in the world, possessing so much soil. A People in civil rights,--in respect of their rights and privileges,--very ancient and honourable. And _in_ this People, in the midst of this People, you have, what is still more precious, a _People_ (I know every one will hear and acknowledge it) that are to God "as the apple of His eye,"--and He says so of them, be they many, or be they few! But they are many. A People of the blessing of God; a People under His safety and protection. A People calling upon the Name of the Lord; which the Heathen do not. A People knowing God; and a People (according to the ordinary expressions) fearing God. And you have of this no parallel; no, not in all the world! You have in the midst of you glorious things.