( 14 )
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.
I am to put to ſuch kind of death as to famous preachers of the goſpel were put to before me, John the Baptiſt, and Paul the apoſtle, they were both beheaded. I read alſo in Rev. xx. 4. the ſaints were beheaded for the word of God, and teſtimony of Jeſus. But therein is the diſadvantage which I ly under in the thoughts of many, they judge that ſuffer not for the word of God, or for conſcierce, but for meddling with State matters. To this I ſhall I ſty ſay, That it is an old trick of Satan, to impute the cauſe of God's people's ſufferings to contrivances 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, tho' indeed it was only the truth of his prophecy that made the rulers angry with him, and yet upon a civil account they pretend he muſt die, becauſe he fell a way to the Chaldean, 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 covenant, and will not proſtitute my principles and conſcience to the ambition and luſt of men. I would rather die a covenant-keeper, than live a covenant-breaker.
Beloved, I and this day making a double exchange; I am changing a pulpit for a ſcaffold, and
