people. In order to the preſerving and promoting of theſe, I did proteſt againſt, and ſtood in oppoſition to theſe late aſſemblies at St. Andrews, Dundee, and Edinburgh, and the public reſolutions for bringing the malignant party into the judicatories, and armies of this kingdom, conceiving the ſame contrary to the word of God, and to our ſolemn covenant-engagements; and to be an in-let to the defections, and to the ruin, and deſtruction of the work of God. And it is now manifeſt to many conſciences, that I have not been therein miſtaken, nor was not fighting againſt a man of ſtraw. I was alſo deſirous, and did uſe ſome poor endeavours, to have the church of God purged of inſufficient, ſcandalous, and corrupt miniſters and elders; for theſe things, I have been miſtaken by ſome, and hated by others: but I bleſs the Lord, as I had the teſtimony of my own conſcience, ſo I was, and am therein approven in the conſciences of many of the Lord’s precious ſervants and people; and however ſo little I may die deſired by ſome, yet by theſe I know I do die deſired, and their approbation and prayers, and affection, is of more value with me, than the contradiction, or reproach, or hatred, of many others; the love of the one, I cannot recompence, and the miſtake, or hatred, or reproach of the other, I do with all my heart forgive ; and wherein I have offended any of them, I do beg their mercy and forgiveneſs. I do from my ſoul wiſh, that my death may be profitable unto both: that the one may be confirmed and eſtabliſhed in the ſtraight ways of the Lord ; and that the other, if the Lord ſo will, may be convinced, and ceaſe from theſe things that are not good, and do not edify but deſtroy.
One thing I would warn you all of, that God is wroth, yea, very wroth with Scotland, and threatneth to depart and remove his candleſtick. The cauſes of his wrath are many, and would to God it were not one great cauſe, that cauſes of wrath are deſpiſed and rejected of men. Conſider the cauſe that is recorded, Jer. xxxvi. and the conſequence of it, and tremble and fear
