To deny a man the liberty he hath by nature upon a supposition that he may abuse it.

I went in search of this quote, sparked by an essay I had been reading.  It is by Oliver Cromwell in a Letter to the general assembly of the Church of Scotland (3 August 1650)

I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.

I come across it occasionally and always find it arresting.  The archaic religious language ("bowels of Christ") is certainly part of it. 

But the real meat is in the "I beseech you, think it possible you may be mistaken."  We all fall into habits of thinking and into mere muscle memory.  It is the mark of a productive person that they habitualize those things, physical and mental, which do not have to be reconsidered on every invocation.  

 But the wise man must always find a means by which habits, productive as they might be, are occasionally reviewed.  Everything changes and that which was optimal in one environment may, slowly and incrementally, becomes sub-optimal in a changing environment.  Either physical habits or ways of thinking.  

Which is why I like the quotation.  We all must, periodically, beseech ourselves, in the bowels of Christ to think it possible we may be mistaken.  Far better that we do so of our own volition and in anticipation than to have reality force such a reconsideration at the last minute when options for change are few and chancy.  

But in looking up this quote, I came across another which seems strangely pertinent in our contemporary condition despite having been said 370 years ago.  From Oliver Cromwell to Letter to Walter Dundas (12 September 1650).

Your pretended fear lest error should step in, is like the man that would keep all the wine out of the country lest men should be drunk. It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy, to deny a man the liberty he hath by nature upon a supposition that he may abuse it.

Some call it safetyism, some precautionary authoritarianism, some simply a greed for power over others.  But the inclination among some, especially the clerisy and the chattering classes, is certainly abroad in the land.  It can be seen in desperate claims and pleas in regard to wearing masks, AGW, gun control, speech suppression, etc.  Don't socially mingle even if you have been vaccinated.

A desperate desire to keep people from their natural rights and an inclination to constrain freedom merely on the pretext that it will be better for those being constrained.  

The obsession with safety and averting risks that cannot be proven, or even if proven, of such remote probability or effect size, is merely an orientation towards central control by philosopher kings and a rejection of the Age of Enlightenment idea of all humans with equal natural rights and owed equal respect as humans.  It is a rejection of the philosophy and ethos of freedom.

"To deny a man the liberty he hath by nature upon a supposition that he may abuse it" is a danger flag which should be fought every time it is hoisted.  It is tyranny incipient.