Dear wife, farewell!

(An excerpt from a letter by Christopher Love,
 to his wife, on the morning of his execution)

My most gracious beloved,

I am now going from a prison to a palace!
I have finished my work. I am now to receive
my wages. I am going to heaven! Rejoice in my
joy. The joy of the Lord is my strength. O, let it
be yours also! Dear wife, farewell! I will call
you wife no more! I shall see your face no more!
Yet I am not much troubled; for now I am going
to meet the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ,
to whom I shall be eternally married!

Your dying, yet most affectionate friend until death,
Christopher Love,
August 22, 1651, the day of my glorification!

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