Page:Life and prophecies of Mr. Alex. Peden (3).pdf/3

3 will vindicate me in his own time and way. He went home, and walked at a water side upwards of 24 hours, and would neither eat or drink, but said, I have got what I was seeking and I will be vindicated and that poor unhappy lass will pay dear for it in her life, and will make a dismal end, and for this surfeit of grief that she hath given me there shall never one of her sex come into my bosom, and accordingly he never married. There are various reports of the way that he was vindicated: Some, say, the time she was in childbirth Mr Guthrie charged her to give account who was the father of that child, and discharged the women to be helpful to her, until she did. Some say that she confessed, others that she remained obstinate, Some of the people when I made enquiry about it in that countryside, affirmed that after the Presbytery had been at all pains about it, and could get no satisfaction, they appointed, Mr Guthrie to give a full relation of the whole before the congregation, which he did; and the same day, the father of that child being present, when he heard Mr Guthrie begin to read, her stood, and desired him to halt, and said " I am the father of that child, and I desired her to father it on Mr Peden, which has been a great trouble of conscience to me, and I