Page:Letter to the Reverend Mr. Michael Potter, minister of the gospel at Kippen, as an answer of his letter to the Reverend Mr. Ebenezer Erskine.pdf/4

 anceſtors, who gave teſtimony to the world, that the teſtimony they held, was the teſtimony of our Lord JESUS CRISTCHRIST [sic], and many of them ſealed the ſame with their blood before GOD, angels and men, and ventured their ſouls everlaſting ſalvation upon the faith of the ſame, which blood, I fear, hath a loud cry to heaven againſt many families in Scotland to this day; for as Abel's blood cried to heaven for vengeance on Cain, ſo, I fear, the blood of theſe worthies in Scotland doth cry aloud for vengeance on the ſhedders of it and their poſterity, Exod. xxxiv. 7. I will viſit the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Where was it ever ſeen or heard that ſuch great iniquities, ſuch as the blood-ſhed of our worthy anceſtors, or the burning of theſe ſolemn covenants in ſeveral places of Scotland, was put in as cauſes in our faſt- days as the ground of GOD's wrath againſt this land? Alas! it is little repented of to this day, for which GOD ſeems, in his juſt diſpleaſure, to be contending with us; for inſtead of repentance and humiliation for theſe Sins, and our own daily backſlidings, we are daily going backward to greater and greater iniquities, and homologating what our perſecuting fore-fathers did. There ſeems to be a perſecuting ſpirit raging in the hearts of both miniſters and profeſſors in this church at this day; for tho', bleſſed be GOD, the civil government does not as yet favour them with their aſſiſtance, to take away the lives of thoſe who are contending for the rights and privileges of our reformed church, yet they bite and devour as much as poſſible they can, by caſting evil reproaches upon their name and reputation,