352 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. I wishyou to know, that, besides your mother, I have had no fellowship that way with any woman since I knew her, having a godly wife before also, I bless God.". It may not be improperfurther to observe, thatwhen he was afterwar6 under sentence ofdeath, and only a short time before his execution, an intimate friend waiting upon him, put the question seriously and directly to him, whether he was guilty of the above accusation. 'Po whom he replied, " I bless the Lord, I amwholly clear in that matter, and I never knew any woman but my own wife."t A man is not, indeed, alloWed to be witness in his own cause ; nor should the testimony of his adversaries be deemed a full proof. A person loaded with so vile an accusation as Mr. Peters was, and suffering as a traitor in the way that he did, when party spirit ran high, and revenge actuated thosewho bore rule; for such a one to be traduced and blackened beyond his deserts, is only what might be naturally expected. What reproach is not envy, malice, and a bigoted party spirit, able to cast upon men of the worthiest charaCter Mr. Peters's future popularity, and his high esteem among persons of the first rank in the nation, as will appear in the present narrative, certainly render the truth of the above charge at least extremely doubtful. Mr. Peters having fled to Rotterdam, there gathereda congregation,' and formed a church upon the plan of the independents, to which he was chosen pastor. He had the celebrated Dr. William Ames for his colleague in the same church ; but this excellent diVine did not long survive his removal fromFraneker to this place. Mr. Peters continued five or six Years, not without the blessing of God upon his ministry, and was succeeded in the pastoral chhrge by Mr. William Bridge, Mr. Sydrach Sympson, and Mr. Samuel Ward, all famous in their day, and all driven from their native country for nonconformity Mr. Peters, during his stay in Holland, appears to have behaved himself so well as to procure great interest and a high degree of reputation in the country : " For, being afterwards in Ireland, and seeing the great distress of the poor protestants, whohad been plundered by the Irish rebels, he. went into Holland, and procured about thirty thousand pounds to be sent from thence into Ireland for their relief.§ We hence see how Peters's Dying Legacy, p. 106. + Speeches and Prayers of the King's Judges, p. 61. Edit. 1660. t Bailie's Dissuasive, p. 75. Ludlow's Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 75. Edit. 1699,
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