Page:The History of the Bohemian Persecution (1650).djvu/236

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204
The Hiſtory of

2. At length he ſaid, [Through the mercy of my God I have preſerved my truſt and conſcience, both to God, my King and Country. I have faithfully ſerved four Emperours, and that now ſuch a reward ſhould be given unto me, I leave to God the juſt Judge, who knowes that I ſought not either honour or riches, by any thing which I did in this buſineſſe. But I could not winke at the oppreſſion of liberty and Religion: and becauſe wee ſaw our ſelves circumvented by ſubtilty, wee thought ſomething was to bee done; and would rather loſe our lives, rather than by a dull ſilence yeeld to the yoke, and betray poſterity. I acknowledg that it was the will of God that we ſhould outwardly fall, who hath choſen me and my beloved fellowes in this laſt age to honour the truth by our bloud, and to make it glorious by our conſtancy. And although the fleſh began to tremble at the hearing the ſentence of death, yet now by the goodneſſe of God, I feel no feare of it.

3. When the Miniſter often interrupted him, perſwading him not to hang his ſalvation upon a good Conſcience, but upon the mercy of God thiough Chriſt, the pious old man continued on his ſpeech. [Yeſterday it was told me from my Aunt Pruskovia, that if I would petition to Prince Lichtenſtein, I might have a grant of my life, but ſo as to remain in priſon all the days of my life. To which I anſwered, that ſuch a grant would be both unprofitable

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