"ALTHOUGH there be but little between me and death, yet this bears up my heart, there is little between me and heaven. It comforted Dr. Taylor, the martyr, when he was going to execution, that there were but two stiles between him and his Father's house: There is a lesser way between me and my Father's house, but two steps between me and glory. It is but laying down my head upon that block, and I shall ascend upon a throne. I am this day sailing towards the ocean of eternity, through a rough passage to my haven of rest; through a red sea to the promised land. Methinks I hear God say to me, as he did to Moses, Go up to Mount Nebo, and die there; so to me, Go up to Tower-Hill, and die there. Isaac said of himself, that he was old, and yet he knew not the day of his death; But I cannot say so; I am young, and yet I know the day of my death, and I know the kind of my death, and the place of my death also. ⟨p. 9⟩I am put to such a kind of death, as two famous preachers of the gospel were before me, John the Baptist, and Paul the Apostle. They were both beheaded. I read, Rev. xxth, 4th, The saints were beheaded for the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus. But herein is the disadvantage which I lie under, in the thoughts of some; they judge that I suffer not for the word of God, or for conscience, but for meddling with State matters.—To this I shall briefly say, that it is an old trick of Satan, to impute the cause of God's people's sufferings to be contrivements against the State; when, in truth, it is their religion and conscience they are persecuted for. The Rulers of Israel would have put Jeremiah to death upon a civil account, though indeed it was only the truth of his prophecy that made the rulers angry with him; and yet upon a civil account they pretended he must die; because he fell away to the Chaldeans, and would have brought in foreign forces to invade them. The same thing is laid to my charge, of which I am as innocent as Jeremiah was. So Paul, though he did but preach Jesus Christ, yet his enemies would have him put to death under pretence that he was a mover of sedition. Upon a civil account my life is pretended to be taken away; whereas, it is because I pursue my ⟨p. 10⟩covenant, and will not prostitute my principles and conscience to the ambition and the lusts of men.
"ALTHOUGH there be but little between me and death, yet this bears up my heart, there is little between me and heaven. It comforted Dr. Taylor, the martyr, when he was going to execution, that there were but two stiles between him and his Father's house: There is a lesser way between me and my Father's house, but two steps between me and glory. It is but laying down my head upon that block, and I shall ascend upon a throne. I am this day sailing towards the ocean of eternity, through a rough passage to my haven of rest; through a red sea to the promised land. Methinks I hear God say to me, as he did to Moses, Go up to Mount Neho, and die there; so to me, Go up to Tower-Hill, and die there. Isaac said of himself, that he was old, and yet he knew not the day of his death; But I cannot say so; I am young, and yet I know the day of my death, and I know the kind of my death, and the place of my death also. ⟨p. 9⟩I am put to such a kind of death, as two famous preachers of the gospel were before me, John the Baptist, and Paul the Apostle. They were both beheaded. I read, Rev. xxth, 4th, The saints were beheaded for the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus. But herein is the disadvantage which I lie under, in the thoughts of some; they judge that I suffer not for the word of God, or for conscience, but for meddling with State matters.—To this I shall briefly say, that it is an old trick of Satan, to impute the cause of God's people's sufferings to be contrivements against the State; when, in truth, it is their religion and conscience they are persecuted for. The Rulers of Israel would have put Jeremiah to death upon a civil account, though indeed it was only the truth of his prophecy that made the rulers angry with him; and yet upon a civil account they pretended he must die; because he fell away to the Chaldeans, and would have brought in foreign forces to invade them. The same thing is laid to my charge, of which I am as innocent as Jeremiah was. So Paul, though he did but preach Jesus Christ, yet his enemies would have him put to death under pretence that he was a mover of sedition. Upon a civil account my life is pretended to be taken away; whereas, it is because I pursue my ⟨p. 10⟩covenant, and will not prostitute my principles and conscience to the ambition and the lusts of men.
