The pirates own book : $b authentic narratives of the most celebrated sea robbersEllms, Charles
History
The pirates own book : $b authentic narratives of the most celebrated sea robbers
Ellms, Charles
Pirates
"It is with regret that I take my pen in hand to address you with these
few lines, under the great embarrassment of my feelings placed within
these gloomy walls, my body bound with chains, and under the awful
sentence of death! It is enough to throw the strongest mind into gloomy
prospects! but I find that Jesus Christ is sufficient to give
consolation to the most despairing soul. For he saith, that he that
cometh to me I will in no ways cast out. But it is impossible to
describe unto you the horror of my feelings. My breast is like the
tempestuous ocean, raging in its own shame, harrowing up the bottom of
my soul! But I look forward to that serene calm when I shall sleep with
Kings and Counsellors of the earth. There the wicked cease from
troubling, and there the weary are at rest!--There the prisoners rest
together--they hear not the voice of the oppressor; and I trust that
there my breast will not be ruffled by the storm of sin--for the thing
which I greatly feared has come upon me. I was not in safety, neither
had I rest; yet trouble came. It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth to
him good. When I saw you in Liverpool, and a peaceful calm wafted across
both our breasts, and justice no claim upon us, little did I think to
meet you in the gloomy walls of a strong prison, and the arm of justice
stretched out with the sword of law, awaiting the appointed period to
execute the dreadful sentence. I have had a fair prospect in the world,
at last it budded, and brought forth the gallows. I am shortly to mount
that scaffold, and to bid adieu to this world, and all that was ever
dear to my breast. But I trust when my body is mounted on the gallows
high, the heavens above will smile and pity me. I hope that you will
reflect on your past, and fly to that Jesus who stands with open arms to
receive you. Your character is lost, it is true. When the wicked turneth
from the wickedness that they have committed, they shall save their soul
alive.
"Let us imagine for a moment that we see the souls standing before the
awful tribunal, and we hear its dreadful sentence, depart ye cursed into
everlasting fire. Imagine you hear the awful lamentations of a soul in
hell. It would be enough to melt your heart, if it was as hard as
adamant. You would fall upon your knees and plead for God's mercy, as a
famished person would for food, or as a dying criminal would for a
pardon. We soon, very soon, must go the way whence we shall ne'er
return. Our names will be struck off the records of the living, and
enrolled in the vast catalogues of the dead. But may it ne'er be
numbered with the damned.--I hope it will please God to set you at your
liberty, and that you may see the sins and follies of your life past. I
shall now close my letter with a few words which I hope you will receive
as from a dying man; and I hope that every important truth of this
letter may sink deep in your heart, and be a lesson to you through life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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