Page:Life and prophecies of Mr. Alexander Peden (1).pdf/3

 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 child birth, Mr. Guthrie charged her to give account who was the father of that child? and diſcharged the women to be helpful to her, until the did it. Some ſay that ſhe confeſſed; others, that the remained obſtinate. Some of the people, when I made enquiry about it is that countryſide, affirmed, that after the Preſbyterv 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 the child being preſent, when he heard. Mr. Guthrie begin to read, he ſtood up, 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 could not get reſt, till I came home to declare it." However, it is certain, that after ſhe was married, everything went croſs to them; and they went from place to place, and were reduced to great poverty. At laſt ſhe came to that ſame ſpot of ground where he ſtayed upwards of 24 hours, and made away with herſelf.

2. After this he was three years ſettled miniſter at New Glenluce in Galloway; and when he was obliged, by the violence and tyranny of that time, to leave that pariſh, he lectured upon Acts xx. 17. to the end, and preached upon the 31ſt verſe in the forenoon, "Therefore watch, and remember, that for the force of the years, I ceaſed not to warn every one, night and day, with tears." Aſſerting that he had declared the whole counſel of God, and had kept nothing back; and proteſted that he was free of the blood of all ſouls. And, in the afternoon, he preached on the 32d verſe, "And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give