Page:Brief historical relation of the life of Mr. John Livingston Minister of the Gospel.pdf/18

( 18 ) extaſies and enthuſiaſms. There were indeed in ſome pariſhes eſpecially in Braidiſland, where was a godly aged miniſter Mr. Edward Bryce, ſome people who uſed in time of ſermon to fall on a high breathing and panting, as thoſe do who have run long, but I moſt of the miniſters, and eſpecially theſe who were complained of, diſcountenanced theſe practices, and ſuſpected them not to proceed from any working of the Spirit of God, and that upon this ground, that theſe people were alike affected whatever purpoſe was preached, yea altho’ by one who had neither gifts nor good affection to the work of God, and accordingly few of theſe people ever came forward to any ſolid exerciſe of chriſtianity, but continued ignorant and profane, and left off that ſeeming motion. It is like Mr. Henry Leſly had informed this againſt us; however upon theſe informations the king wrote to the lords juſtices of Ireland, and by them to the biſhop of Down, that Meſſrs. Dunbar, Blair, Welſh, and I ſhould be tryed and cenſured. The 4th of May 1632, the biſhop depoſed Mr. Blair and me, and eight days after Mr. Dunbar and Mr. Welſh. He proceeded againſt us for conconformity, never mentioning what was in the king’s letter, knowing us to be free of that charge. Therefore we reſolved for our own vindication, and upon ſome hopes that we might be restored again, to petition the king, that we might be tried in what was informed, and if guilty; we refuſed no puniſhment; otherwiſe, that for ſimple non-conformity, we might in reſpect of our Scotiſh breeding, be forborn in ſuch a barren place as the north-part of Ireland. Upon this deſign, shortly after Mr. Blair went to London, and I to Scotland, with a purpoſe to follow him, only I was to procure letters from my lady marchioneſs of Hamilton, and from the earls of Eglintoun, Linlithgow, and Wigtown, to ſome of their friends at court, that we were free of what was informed, and to deſire toleration in our nonconformity. Mr. Blair wrote to me, that it was needleſs for me to come, and only required that I ſhould ſend thoſe letters; which I did. He, after tedious onwaiting, at laſt obtained a letter from the king to Strafford the lord deputy, that the information ſhould be tried, and if we were