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to ſuffer, than to ſin; and therefore, I am come hither to lay down my life this day, and I bleſs God, I die not as a fool, not that I have any thing wherein to glory in myſelf: I acknowledge that I am a ſinner, yea, one of the greateſt and vileſt that has owned a profeſſion of religion, and one of the moſt unworthy that has preached the goſpel. My corruptions have been ſtrong and many, and have made me a ſinner in all things, yea, even in following my duty; and therefore, righteouſneſs have I none of my own, all is vile. But I do believe 'that Jeſus Chriſt came into the world to ſave ſinners, of whom I am chief;' through faith in his righteouſneſs and blood have I obtained mercy: and through him, and in him alone, have I the hope of a bleſſed conqueſt over ſin and ſatan, and hell and death, and that I ſhall attain unto the reſurrection of the juſt, and be made partaker of carnal life 'I know in whom I have believed, and that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him againſt that day.' I have preached ſalvation through his name, and as I have preached, ſo do I believe, and do commend the riches of his free grace and faith in his name unto you all, as the only way whereby ye can be ſaved.
And, as I bleſs the Lord that I die not at a fool: ſo alſo, that I die not for evil-doing. Not a few of you may haply judge that I ſuffer as a thief, or as a murderer, or as an evildoer: or as a buſy-body in other mens matters. It was the lot of the Lord Jeſus Chriſt himſelf, and hath been of many of his precious ſervants and people, to ſuffer by the world as evil-doers: and as my ſoul feareth not at it, but deſireth to rejoice in being brought into conformity with my bleſſed head, and ſo bleſſed a company, in this thing ſo I deſire and pray, that I may be to none of you to day, upon this account, a ſtone of ſtumbling, and a rock of offence. Bleſſed is he that ſhall not be offended at Jeſus Chriſt, and his poor ſervants and members, because of their
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