ted one of the trials of Job; and he entreated Heaven
to enable him also to sustain meekly this further conflict. "Master
Davies," said he, "I learned from the book in which I studied my
ministerial duties, that afflictions are not only judgments and
corrections to offenders, but awakening conflicts and purifying trials
to those whom the Father of the universe loves, and considers as his
dear children. Far be it from me to justify myself in the sight of Him
who sees impurity in the heavens, and imperfection in the best deeds of
his most exalted creatures; but it is a manifest consolation to me, in
this day of my calamity, that my conscience does not reproach me with
any wilful violation of my holy function, and therefore, though my
pastoral staff is taken from me, and my flock given to one who has
leaped into the fold, I see in all this, rather the hand of Providence
smiting a guilty nation for its provocations, than a judgment pointed
peculiarly at me, further than as a sinner who adds to the general
burden of transgressions. The powers to whom you pay obedience I never
did acknowledge to be my lawful rulers. On the contrary, I have ever
strove against them in defence of those who, I think, were unjustly
deprived of their hereditary right. When a strong arm forces me out of
my heritage, resistance would only endanger my life. I yield, therefore,
possession to you, not willingly, nor from respect to your claim as a
just one, but by constraint and with a solemn protest against the hard
measure I have met with. By taking on yourself the office of which I am
unjustly deprived, you have, in my judgment, committed a great sin. Use
the power you are allowed to exercise with such temperance as may
mitigate the awful inquisition which will one day be made into the means
by which you acquired it. While you act as a pastor to this parish,
remember you are not a shepherd to your own party and a wolf to mine.
Deny not the blessed sacraments instituted by our common Saviour, to
those whose only crime it is to reject the ordinances and covenants
which a faction in one branch of the legislature attempt to impose,
notwithstanding the protests they have made against what they call human
institutions, though sanctioned by all the legal authorities in the
kingdom. Endeavour to allay the ferment of men's minds instead of making
the pulpit a seditious tribune, and the Bible a trumpet calling aloud to
battle. Remember, the latter is a rule of