Page:Strange and wonderful predictions of the Reverend martyr, Mr Christopher Love.pdf/4

 ſuffer for Chriſt's ſake in a right and charitable way, through love to his cauſe, and honeſty of heart? not thro' pride and hypocriſy, without the root of the matter; to have it ſaid, they died martyrs, theſe are they who will miſs their mark, and thoſe who denied the call, and turned back ſhall never have the honour to find it. I am now appointed out by many to be in a deſtitute and a forlorn condition; but would not exchange my eſtate, no not for all the kingdoms of the world; no, not for all the glory that's on the earth: I find my Redeemer's love ſtronger in my bonds than ever I did in the days of my liberty therefore I hold living here in this world as death itself. I am as full of love and joy of the holy ſpirit, as ever a bottle was filled with new wine I am ready to cry out, 'The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,' but I will not take it upon me to propheſy nevertheleſs, the Spirit of the Lord cauſeth me to utter; this uſurped authority, now in the hands of Cromwell, ſhall ſhortly be at an end, England ſhall be bleſſed with meek kings, and mild governments, powerful preachers, and dull hearers; good ſermons to them will be as muſic to a ſleepy man, they ſhall hear, but not underſtand, nor lay the word to heart, to practiſe it in their lives, to walk by it. O England, thou ſhall wax old in wickedneſs, thy ſins abound like Sodom thy voluptouſneſs ſhall cry aloud for vengeance; the Lord ſhall threaten and chaſtiſe thee, yet in mercy and love will he look upon thoſe that fear him and call upon his name; he will ſpare and ſave them alive in the days of his anger, when the wicked ſhall be ſifted from amongſt you, as the chaff is ſifted amongſt the wheat: For out of thee, O England, ſhall a bright ſtar ariſe, whoſe light and voice ſhall make the heathen to quake and knock under, with ſubmiſſion to the goſpel of Jeſus; he ſhall be as a ſon of thunder in the ears of the wicked; as a lanthorn to the Jews, to lead them to the knowledge of Jeſus Chriſt, the only Son of God, and true Meſſiah, whom they ſo long miſtruſted; for the ſhort work ſpoken of by the apoſtle, which the Lord is to make upon the earth, in the latter age of the world, cannot be far off. Obſerve my dear friends, while you live, my calculation of the dates in the book of the Revelation, and Daniel which the Spirit of the Lord led me into, for the Lord will reveal it to ſome of