"We are Englishmen; that is one good account. And if God give a nation valour and courage, it is honour and a mercy."—Oliver P., 1656, Speech to Parliament, Tuesday, 16th Sept., in the Painted Chamber.

"I was by birth a gentleman living neither in any considerable height nor yet in obscurity. I have been called to several employments in the Nation.... I did endeavour to discharge the duty of an honest man in those services."—Oliver P., ibid., 12th Sept. 1654.

"If my calling be from God and my testimony from the People—only God and the People will take it from me, else I shall not part with it—I should be false to the trust that God hath placed in me, and to the interest of the people of these nations if I should."—Oliver P., ibid.