VI. Wherefore I embrace and salute thee, O
noblest of peoples and most Christian, and of warmest piety, and worthy
of thy leaders; for I can find nothing greater to say of thee than
this, nor anything by which better to welcome thee. And I greet
thee, to a small extent with my tongue, but very heartily with the
movements of my affections. Galat. ii. 9. O my people,
for I call you mine, as of one mind and one faith, instructed by the
same Fathers, and adoring the same Trinity. My people, for mine
thou art, though it seem not so to those who envy me. And that
they who are in this case may be the deeper wounded, see, I give the
right hand of fellowship before so many witnesses, seen and
unseen. And I put away the old calumny by this new act of
kindness. O my people, for mine thou art, though in saying so I,
who am least of all men, am claiming for myself that which is
greatest. For such is the grace of the Spirit that it makes of
equal honour those who are of one mind. O my people, for mine
thou art, though it be afar, because we are divinely joined
together, Isa. lxii. 4. and in a manner
wholly different to the unions of carnal people; for bodies are united
in place, but souls are fitted together by the Spirit. O my
people, who didst formerly study how to suffer for Christ, but
now if thou wilt
hearken unto me, wilt study not to do aught, but to consider the power
of doing to be a sufficient gain, and to deem that thou art offering a
sacrifice to Christ, as in those days of thy endurance so in these of
meekness. O people to whom the Lord hath prepared Himself to do
good, as to do evil to thine enemies. Isai. lxiv. 12, etc. O people, whom the Lord hath chosen to
Himself out of all peoples; O people who art graven upon the hands of
the Lord, to whom saith the Lord, Thou art My Will; and, Thy gates are
carved work, and all the rest that is said to them that are being
saved. O people;—nay, marvel not at my insatiability that I
repeat your name so often; for I delight in this continual naming of
you, like those who can never have enough of their enjoyment of certain
spectacles or sounds.