It is now nearly four hundred years ago since Rowland Taylor, the preacher of Hadley, England, proved that he was willing not only to suffer, but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.
As the sheriff was taking him away to be burned at the stake, his daughter Elizabeth cried out, "Oh, my dear father!... Mother! Mother! There is my father being led away." It was very dark that night, and peering through the gloom his wife called out, "Rowland! Rowland! where art thou?”
The answer came, "I am here, dear wife.”
When the soldiers would have led him away, the sheriff said, "Let him stay and speak to his wife." Thus he was allowed to kneel down, and he prayed with her, and with his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. After they had prayed, he kissed his wife and said, "Farewell, my dear wife; be of good comfort... God is still a Father to my children." Calmly his wife answered, "God be with thee, dear Rowland.”
"All the way," says the chronicler, "he was as merry and cheerful as one going to a most pleasant banquet or bridal.”
"Why, master doctor," said the amazed sheriff, "how do you now?”
Rowland answered: "Well, God be praised, master sheriff, never better; for now I know I am almost at home. I lack but two stiles to climb over, and I am even at my Father's house.”
Reaching Oldham Common, he asked what place it was. They told him it was the place where he was to suffer, and that many people were come to witness it. Again he said, "God be thanked! I am even now at home.”
He was not allowed to speak to anyone further. But after praying, he went to the stake, kissed it, and set himself in the pitch-barrel. Thus he let himself be burned.
One of the executioners threw a burning fagot at him, which wounded his head. Another struck him with a halberd. And so he died, a martyr to his faith in Christ. He sealed with his blood the truth that he had preached.
Once a sinner in danger of eternal wrath, Rowland Taylor had fled to the Lord Jesus the Savior, and had proved that He was able to save to the uttermost.
Would you not like to know what could give such peace and confidence in the presence of death? It is because Christ has died, and thus robbed death of its sting, that now nothing can separate His own from the love of God.
The same peace and joy which Rowland Taylor knew when facing a martyr's death may be yours, my reader, through repentance toward God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust this mighty Savior now, and you will receive the gift of God, even eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.