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eonceiving the ſame contrary to the word of God, and to our ſolemn covenant engagements; and to be an inlet to the defection, 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, I and did uſe ſome poor endeavours, to have the church of God purged of inſufficient and 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 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, I cannot but alſo ſay, that there is a great addition and increaſe of wrath; 1. By that deluge of profanity that everfloweth all the land, and hath reins looſed unto it every where, in ſo far that many have loſt not only all
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