Tillotson: pre-testing for martyrdom

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Meditation:
    Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
    —2 Timothy 2:3 (NIV)

Quotation:
    In vain does any man pretend that he will be a martyr for his religion, when he will not rule an appetite, nor restrain a lust, nor subdue a passion, nor cross his covetousness and ambition, for the sake of it, and in hope of that eternal life “which God that cannot lie hath promised.’ He that refuseth to do the less is not like to do the greater. It is very improbable that a man will die for his religion, when he cannot be persuaded to live according to it. He that cannot take up a resolution to live a saint, hath a demonstration within himself, that he is never like to die a martyr.
    ... John Tillotson (1630-1694), Works of Dr. John Tillotson, v. IV, London: J. F. Dove, for R. Priestley, 1820, Sermon LXXVII, p. 451-452 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the eternal judge of men.

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