Losing My Head

Ok, so I'm listening to a podcast from the T4G conference and pastor Eric Bancroft is there speaking about marriage and how it is a picture of the gospel.

Early in his address he shares about a pastor from the 1600's, Christopher Love. This guy was a Presbyterian (Puritain) pastor in England. If you are aware of your world history at all you know that the Church of England was the official state church at the time.

Through a series of events, Love is arrested and condemned to death by beheading. A letter campaign is launched on his behalf that pushes his expected execution back over a month. Finally, the leadership in England under Charles II granted him his life for the commitment of good behavior. A letter is sent by courier to this effect and the courier arrived in the province to deliver the good news. Upon inspection of the letter, two officers who were particularly put out by a sermon once delivered by Christopher Love. They seized the letter and destroyed it, destroying any hope for Love's life to be spared. He was beheaded, not knowing of the opportunity for freedom that had been offered him.

The amazing part of this story is not that he missed an opportunity to live, or that he was beheaded even. The true lesson is the faith he and his wife shared. Look at this correspondence between he and his wife. The day before his death, Love comforted his wife with these words:

"Be not troubled to think what shall become of thee and thine after my death, for be assured that my God, and the God of the widows and the fatherless, will not forsake thee, but will wonderfully provide for those and be comforted in this, that tho’ men take thy husband from thee, they cannot take thy God from thee; and so, do not think that thou hast lost thy husband, but only parted with him for awhile, and in the meantime thy Savour will be a husband unto thee and a father unto thy children."

His wife, Mary, responded with this letter:

"July 14, 1651

Before I write a word further, I beseech thee to think not that it is thy wife but a friend now that writes to thee. I hope thou hast freely given up thy wife and children to God, who hath said in Jeremiah 49:11, “Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive, and let thy widow trust in me.” Thy Maker will be my husband, and a Father to thy children. O that the Lord would keep thee from having one troubled thought for thy relations. I desire freely to give thee up into thy Father’s hands, and not only look upon it as a crown of glory for thee to die for Christ, but as an honor to me that I should have a husband to leave for Christ.

I dare not speak to thee, nor have a thought within my own heart of my own unspeakable loss, but wholly keep my eye fixed upon thy inexpressible and inconceivable gain. Thou leavest but a sinful, mortal wife to be everlastingly married to the Lord of glory. Thou leavest but children, brothers, and sisters to go to the Lord Jesus, thy eldest Brother. Thou leavest friends on earth to go to the enjoyment of saints and angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect in glory. Thou dost but leave earth for heaven and changest a prison for a palace. And if natural affections should begin to arise, I hope that the spirit of grace that is within thee will quell them, knowing that all things here below are but dung and dross in comparison of those things that are above. I know thou keepest thine eye fixed on the hope of glory, which makes thy feet trample on the loss of earth.

My dear, I know God hath not only prepared glory for thee, and thee for it, but I am persuaded that He will sweeten the way for thee to come to the enjoyment of it. When thou art putting thy clothes on that morning, O think, “I am now putting on my wedding garments to go to be married to my everlasting Redeemer.”

When the messenger of death comes to thee, let him not seem dreadful to thee, but look on him as a messenger that brings thee tidings of eternal life. When thou goest up the scaffold, think (as thou saidst to me) that it is but thy fiery chariot to carry thee up to thy Father’s house.

And when thy layest thy precious head down to recieve thy Father’s stroke, remember what thou saidst to me: Though thy head was severed from thy body, yet in a moment thy soul should be united to thy Head, the Lord Jesus, in heaven. And though it may seem something bitter, that by the hands of men we are parted a little sooner than otherwise we might have been, yet let us consider that it is the decree and will of our Father, and it will not be long ere we shall enjoy one another in heaven again.

Let us comfort one another with these sayings. Be comforted, my dear heart. It is but a little stroke and thou shalt be there where the weary shall be at rest and the wicked shall cease from troubling. Remember that thou mayest eat thy dinner with bitter herbs, yet thou shalt have a sweet supper with Christ that night. My dear, by what I write unto thee, I do not hereby undertake to teach thee; for these comforts I have received from the Lord by thee. I will write no more, nor trouble thee any further, but commit thee into the arms of God with whom ere long thee and I shall be.

Farewell, my dear. I shall never see thy face more till we both behold the face of the Lord Jesus at that great day.

~Mary Love"

They lived a 1 Peter 4:19 life!
"Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good."(ESV).

Dare I mention this? That Mary had already lost two children to death, had two more at home under the age of two, and was 8 months pregnant. Should we consider that as her husband approached the scaffolding, while singing praises to God, to have his head severed from his body, Mary was standing by applauding, a witness to the moment when he met his bridegroom face to face? What faith is this! 2 Timothy 3:12 says, "indeed, all who desire to live q godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (ESV). Could we face our persecution with such grace?

(sources: http://www.apuritansmind.com/christopher%20love/faleschristopherlifedeathoflove.htm

http://innocencerestored.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/letter-to-christopher-love/ )


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