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.
XIV. April 13, 1657.
Truly I have, as before God, often thought that I could not tell what my business was, nor what I was in the place I stood in, save comparing myself to a good Constable set to keep the peace of the parish.