Chapter 36

ATHERTON, and other magistrates. KEMPTHORN, MERRY, and constables. Afterwards WHARTON, EDITH, and CHRISTISON.

ENDICOTT. Call Captain Simon Kempthorn.

MERRY. Simon Kempthorn, Come to the bar!

KEMPTHORN comes forward.

ENDICOTT. You are accused of bringing Into this Jurisdiction, from Barbadoes, Some persons of that sort and sect of people Known by the name of Quakers, and maintaining Most dangerous and heretical opinions, Purposely coming here to propagate Their heresies and errors; bringing with them And spreading sundry books here, which contain Their doctrines most corrupt and blasphemous, And contrary to the truth professed among us. What say you to this charge?

KEMPTHORN.

I do acknowledge, Among the passengers on board the Swallow Were certain persons saying Thee and Thou. They seemed a harmless people, mostways silent, Particularly when they said their prayers.

ENDICOTT. Harmless and silent as the pestilence! You'd better have brought the fever or the plague Among us in your ship! Therefore, this Court, For preservation of the Peace and Truth, Hereby commands you speedily to transport, Or cause to be transported speedily, The aforesaid persons hence unto Barbadoes, From whence they came; you paying all the charges Of their imprisonment.

KEMPTHORN. Worshipful sir, No ship e'er prospered that has carried Quakers Against their will! I knew a vessel once--

ENDICOTT. And for the more effectual performance Hereof you are to give security In bonds amounting to one hundred pounds. On your refusal, you will be committed To prison till you do it.

KEMPTHORN. But you see I cannot do it. The law, sir, of Barbadoes Forbids the landing Quakers on the island.

ENDICOTT. Then you will be committed. Who comes next?

MERRY. There is another charge against the Captain.

ENDICOTT. What is it?

MERRY. Profane swearing, please your Worship. He cursed and swore from Dock Square to the Court-house,

ENDICOTT. Then let him stand in the pillory for one hour.

[Exit KEMPTHORN with constable.

Who's next?

MERRY. The Quakers.

ENDICOTT. Call them.

MERRY. Edward Wharton, Come to the bar!

WHARTON. Yea, even to the bench.

ENDICOTT. Take off your hat.

WHARTON. My hat offendeth not. If it offendeth any, let him take it; For I shall not resist.

ENDICOTT. Take off his hat. Let him be fined ten shillings for contempt.

MERRY takes off WHARTON'S hat.

WHARTON. What evil have I done?

ENDICOTT. Your hair's too long; And in not putting off your hat to us You've disobeyed and broken that commandment Which sayeth "Honor thy father and thy mother."

WHARTON. John Endicott, thou art become too proud; And loved him who putteth off the hat, And honoreth thee by bowing of the body, And sayeth "Worshipful sir!" 'T is time for thee To give such follies over, for thou mayest Be drawing very near unto thy grave.

ENDICOTT. Now, sirrah, leave your canting. Take the oath.

WHARTON. Nay, sirrah me no sirrahs!

ENDICOTT. Will you swear?

WHARTON. Nay, I will not.

ENDICOTT. You made a great disturbance And uproar yesterday in the Meeting-house, Having your hat on.

WHARTON. I made no disturbance; For peacefully I stood, like other people. I spake no words; moved against none my hand; But by the hair they haled me out, and dashed Their hooks into my face.

ENDICOTT. You, Edward Wharton, On pain of death, depart this Jurisdiction Within ten days. Such is your sentence. Go.

WHARTON. John Endicott, it had been well for thee If this day's doings thou hadst left undone But, banish me as far as thou hast power, Beyond the guard and presence of my God Thou canst not banish me.

ENDICOTT. Depart the Court; We have no time to listen to your babble. Who's next? [Exit WHARTON.

MERRY. This woman, for the same offence.

EDITH comes forward.

ENDICOTT. What is your name?

EDITH. 'T is to the world unknown, But written in the Book of Life.

ENDICOTT. Take heed It be not written in the Book of Death! What is it?

EDITH. Edith Christison.

ENDICOTT (with eagerness). The daughter Of Wenlock Christison?

EDITH. I am his daughter.

ENDICOTT. Your father hath given us trouble many times. A bold man and a violent, who sets At naught the authority of our Church and State, And is in banishment on pain of death. Where are you living?

EDITH. In the Lord.

ENDICOTT. Make answer Without evasion. Where?

EDITH. My outward being Is in Barbadoes.

ENDICOTT. Then why come you here?

EDITH. I come upon an errand of the Lord.

ENDICOTT. 'Tis not the business of the Lord you're doing; It is the Devil's. Will you take the oath? Give her the Book.

MERRY offers the Book.

EDITH. You offer me this Book To swear on; and it saith, "Swear not at all, Neither by heaven, because it is God's Throne, Nor by the earth, because it is his footstool!" I dare not swear.

ENDICOTT. You dare not? Yet you Quakers Deny this book of Holy Writ, the Bible, To be the Word of God.

EDITH (reverentially). Christ is the Word, The everlasting oath of God. I dare not.

ENDICOTT. You own yourself a Quaker,--do you not?

EDITH. I own that in derision and reproach I am so called.

ENDICOTT. Then you deny the Scripture To be the rule of life.

EDITH. Yea, I believe The Inner Light, and not the Written Word, To be the rule of life.

ENDICOTT. And you deny That the Lord's Day is holy.

EDITH. Every day Is the Lords Day. It runs through all our lives, As through the pages of the Holy Bible, "Thus saith the Lord."

ENDICOTT. You are accused of making An horrible disturbance, and affrighting The people in the Meeting-house on Sunday. What answer make you?

EDITH. I do not deny That I was present in your Steeple-house On the First Day; but I made no disturbance.

ENDICOTT. Why came you there?

EDITH. Because the Lord commanded. His word was in my heart, a burning fire Shut up within me and consuming me, And I was very weary with forbearing; I could not stay.

ENDICOTT. 'T was not the Lord that sent you; As an incarnate devil did you come!

EDITH. On the First Day, when, seated in my chamber, I heard the bells toll, calling you together, The sound struck at my life, as once at his, The holy man, our Founder, when he heard The far-off bells toll in the Vale of Beavor. It sounded like a market bell to call The folk together, that the Priest might set His wares to sale. And the Lord said within me, "Thou must go cry aloud against that Idol, And all the worshippers thereof." I went Barefooted, clad in sackcloth, and I stood And listened at the threshold; and I heard The praying and the singing and the preaching, Which were but outward forms, and without power. Then rose a cry within me, and my heart Was filled with admonitions and reproofs. Remembering how the Prophets and Apostles Denounced the covetous hirelings and diviners, I entered in, and spake the words the Lord Commanded me to speak. I could no less.

ENDICOTT. Are you a Prophetess?

EDITH. Is it not written, "Upon my handmaidens will I pour out My spirit, and they shall prophesy"?

ENDICOTT. Enough; For out of your own mouth are you condemned! Need we hear further?

THE JUDGES. We are satisfied.

ENDICOTT. It is sufficient. Edith Christison, The sentence of the Court is, that you be Scourged in three towns, with forty stripes save one, Then banished upon pain of death!

EDITH. Your sentence Is truly no more terrible to me Than had you blown a feather into the the air, And, as it fell upon me, you had said, Take heed it hurt thee not! God's will he done!

WENLOCK CHRISTISON (unseen in the crowd). Woe to the city of blood! The stone shall cry Out of the wall; the beam from out the timber Shall answer it! Woe unto him that buildeth A town with blood, and stablisheth a city By his iniquity!

ENDICOTT. Who is it makes Such outcry here?

CHRISTISON (coming forward). I, Wenlock Christison!

ENDICOTT. Banished on pain of death, why come you here?

CHRISTISON. I come to warn you that you shed no more The blood of innocent men! It cries aloud For vengeance to the Lord!

ENDICOTT. Your life is forfeit Unto the law; and you shall surely die, And shall not live.

CHRISTISON. Like unto Eleazer, Maintaining the excellence of ancient years And the honor of his gray head, I stand before you; Like him disdaining all hypocrisy, Lest, through desire to live a little longer, I get a stain to my old age and name!

ENDICOTT. Being in banishment, on pain of death, You come now in among us in rebellion.

CHRISTISON. I come not in among you in rebellion, But in obedience to the Lord of heaven. Not in contempt to any Magistrate, But only in the love I bear your souls, As ye shall know hereafter, when all men Give an account of deeds done in the body! God's righteous judgments ye cannot escape.

ONE OF THE JUDGES. Those who have gone before you said the same, And yet no judgment of the Lord hath fallen Upon us.

CHRISTISON. He but waiteth till the measure Of your iniquities shall be filled up, And ye have run your race. Then will his wrath Descend upon you to the uttermost! For thy part, Humphrey Atherton, it hangs Over thy head already. It shall come Suddenly, as a thief doth in the night, And in the hour when least thou thinkest of it!

ENDICOTT. We have a law, and by that law you die.

CHRISTISON. I, a free man of England and freeborn, Appeal unto the laws of mine own nation!

ENDICOTT. There's no appeal to England from this Court! What! do you think our statutes are but paper? Are but dead leaves that rustle in the wind? Or litter to be trampled under foot? What say ye, Judges of the Court,--what say ye? Shall this man suffer death? Speak your opinions.

ONE OF THE JUDGES. I am a mortal man, and die I must, And that erelong; and I must then appear Before the awful judgment-seat of Christ, To give account of deeds done in the body. My greatest glory on that day will be, That I have given my vote against this man.

CHRISTISON. If, Thomas Danforth, thou hast nothing more To glory in upon that dreadful day Than blood of innocent people, then thy glory Will be turned into shame! The Lord hath said it!

ANOTHER JUDGE. I cannot give consent, while other men Who have been banished upon pain of death Are now in their own houses here among us.

ENDICOTT. Ye that will not consent, make record of it. I thank my God that I am not afraid To give my judgment. Wenlock Christison, You must be taken back from hence to prison, Thence to the place of public execution, There to be hanged till you be dead--dead,--dead.

CHRISTISON. If ye have power to take my life from me,-- Which I do question,--God hath power to raise The principle of life in other men, And send them here among you. There shall be No peace unto the wicked, saith my God. Listen, ye Magistrates, for the Lord hath said it! The day ye put his servitors to death, That day the Day of your own Visitation, The Day of Wrath shall pass above your heads, And ye shall be accursed forevermore!

To EDITH, embracing her.

Cheer up, dear heart! they have not power to harm us.

[Exeunt CHRISTISON and EDITH guarded. The Scene closes.