s words, and acknowledged, that in what he had
said to him he had been a true prophet.

Upon the Lord's day, November 23, after he had lain for some time very
quiet, he said, "If any man be present, let him come and see the work of
God;" for he thought (as was supposed) then to have expired. His servant
having been sent for Mr. Johnston writer, he burst forth into these
words, "I have been in meditation these two last nights upon the
troubled kirk of God, despised in the world, but precious in his fight.
I have called to God for her, and commended her to Christ her head: I
have been fighting against Satan, who is ever ready for the assault; I
have fought against spiritual wickednesses and have prevailed; I have
been as it were in heaven, and have tasted of its joys." After sermon,
several persons came to visit him; one asked him (upon perceiving his
breathing shortened), If he had any pain? He answered, "I have no more
pain than he that is now in heaven, and am content, if it please God, to
lie here seven years." Many times, when he was lying as if asleep, he
was in meditation, and was heard to say, "Lord, grant true pastors to
thy church, that purity of doctrine may be retained. Restore peace again
to this commonwealth, with godly rulers and magistrates. O serve the
Lord in fear, and death shall not be troublesome to you. Blessed is the
death of those that have part in the death of Jesus. Come, Lord Jesus,
sweet Jesus, into thy hand I commend my spirit."

That night, Dr. Preston being come to him, and was told by some of his
constant attendants that he was often very uneasy in his sleep, the
doctor asked him after he awoke, how he did, and what made him mourn so
heavily in his sleep, he answered, "In my life-time, I have been often
assaulted by Satan, and many times he hath cast my sins in my teeth, to
bring me to despair; yet God gave me strength to overcome his
temptations: and now that subtile serpent, who never ceaseth to tempt,
hath taken another course, and seeks to persuade me, that all my labours
in the ministry, and the fidelity I have showed in that service have
merited heaven and immortality. But blessed be God, that he hath brought
to my mind that scripture, _What hast thou that thou hast not received_,
and _not I, but the grace of God which is in me_, with which he hath
gone away ashamed, and shall no more return, and now I am sure my battle
is at an end, and that I shall shortly, without pain of body or t