other manner; and instead of reducing what I have to say of the cruel and bloody sufferings you have since that time inflicted on the innocent, to particular qualities of suffering, as of death, banishments, whippings, &c., I shall carry the matter according to the series of time, and promiscuously arrange the sufferings as they were promiscuously inflicted, in which I shall observe what brevity the nature of things of this concernment and your demerits will admit; and so come to a close of this Second Part of the barbarous sufferings of the innocent, chiefly within your jurisdiction.

Indeed, one would have thought that the weight of the sufferings and blood contained in the former treatise, the sense of the large account you have to give to God and man for what you had done, the cruel necessities to which you had thereby reduced your neighbours and friends, the constancy you perceived in them when they suffered, and the Hand that bore them up through that which, all things considered, no age in England ever paralleled, might have drawn some sense and moisture from you, had you not outworn the consideration of your reputation,—who, from a people persecuted, indeed, for your conscience, and flying into a strange land because of conscience, have come to be the greatest persecutors of others for their conscience; and, if no other thing could have done it, one would think that the humanity of men should have prevailed, who usually have some sense where humanity itself, or the tenderness of nature to its own flesh, should be manifested, as all men are made of one blood, and "No man ever yet hated his own flesh;" for it standeth in the nature or in the sense of that in which all men are made, and is not quite extinguished and put under, or "become cruel, like the ostrich in the wilderness." But where the desire for blood is once lodged in the hearts of men, and that spirit bears rule which doeth not unto others what it would should be done to itself,-the contrary unto which is the royal law; and when this bloodthirsty spirit hath once tasted of the sufferings of the innocent, it is never at rest until the innocent are cut off, or that no more innocents are left whose blood it might suck, and so the righteous be rid from off

the face of the earth. As it was with Cain, who slew his brother in the very point of worship, or the sacrifice in which God was well pleased or had respect unto; and, though he became a vagabond, and his guilt made him fly from the face of any man whom he met on the earth, yet he returned not,-being the natural or cruel father, or the first of that generation in whom the murdering spirit entered or had effect, of all that persecuted, for conscience or the worship of God, those whose religion and conscience was not according to theirs; and here no weight yields sense, or gives remorse or pity; but, being in its own element, or that which is hard and without natural affections, implacable, and unmerciful, being over them, no touch of mercy can pierce through, till the judgment of God comes to break them in pieces; and then oftentimes the utter destruction of those in whom this spirit hath ruled comes to be the consequence, and they are rewarded according to their deeds. And this will prove to be the consequence of your actions, who have so often and so long washed your hands in innocent blood, without consideration or remorse; and have counted it your glory by how much the more you have caused it to be shed, of which I shall give instance anon; and therefore I write unto you, not as hoping that you will take warning, or that I think you will miss your judgment,-for you must bear it in the extremity; the Lord hath spoken it, but to record you for ever as the most unnatural persons, all things being duly weighed, that the earth hath ever borne; and that I might carry on your judgment, which is begun already, and place it upon you for ever and ever, wherein time shall be no more, and you shall be rewarded according to your works. So I have drawn the line once more over you, that ages to come may see your wickedness, and may glorify the Lord over your destruction, when they shall understand wherefore it was that He so did unto you, when His judgment on you shall be accomplished. And, let me tell you this

* And after ages do now and may hereafter know their wickedness, and glorify God in their destruction, and the fulfilling of the judgments that have been denounced, when they shall understand hereby wherefore it was; which is so plain, though they will not confess it, and which is in great

in the Name of the Lord, who hath moved me to write, and thus to speak unto you, That it shall never be withdrawn* until all is accomplished in this world, and in the world to come. You, who have shed the blood of the innocent, shall perish forever. Some of you know it already, who are gone to their own places, whom His judgment hath taken hold of, of which in its place and order, and the rest of you shall know it in due season. Mock at it while you will, stretch out your necks, and make a wry mouth, "your judgment lingereth not, nor doth your damnation slumber;" and the hand of man shall pursue you, † as it hath begun already, and you shall not escape what His counsel hath determined and His Word hath spoken; and you shall be an hissing, an execration, a by-word, and a taunt, and your judgment shall remain for ever and ever. Therefore hear, ye stout-hearted, who are far from

measure accomplished already, as before noticed; and the rest that is behind will, doubtless, be in its season.

It is evident that it is not yet withdrawn, but His hand is heavy on them still, for Cotton Mather confesses, Book VI., chap. ii., page 32, that their land sees little rest, through the judgments of God upon them, though he applies it another way, and will not confess wherefore it is; a fresh instance of which we have in that stinking weed that springs up there in the night, in the form of a priest's head and shoulders, as by one lately travelling there is related, which, when broke, stinks intolerably; in just rebuke, no doubt, for their calling the Light of Christ "a stinking vapor from hell,” as Priest Higginson did; so that we doubt not but it will all be accomplished in this world, and in that which is to come, except they coine to deep repentance for all their wickedness, cruelty, and ungodly speeches, against the Lord, His Truth and people; mock while they will, as G. B. says, "Their judgment lingereth not, nor doth their damnation slumber."

†This is undeniable, that the hand of man hath pursued them, particularly in the bloody wars of the Indians, even for ten years together; yea, so that when about an hundred Indians began a war upon all the colonies, an army of a thousand English must not kill one of them; but more of their soldiers perished than they had enemies in the world; and that when their number afterwards increased, yet an handful of them, for many Summers together, continued their unconquerable spoilers, &c.—Cotton Mather's History, Book VII., chap., i., page 114.

And that they have been, and are, a hissing, and an execration, and a by-word, and a taunt, is plain from Cotton Mather's confession, History, Book VII., chap. i., page 113, that "the indignation of God hath been poured upon us in this fruit of the curse, viz., that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap,-no less frequently than sensibly;

righteousness, and give ear to the account of your wickedness, which in the Name of the Lord I shall thus bring upon you.

But, before I proceed to the particulars which are not instanced in my former treatise, I must look a little back and give some account of what was not spoken of therein concerning Mary Dyer, whom your barbarous hands slew by hanging on a tree, as is at large therein expressed, and set forth in a short letter written by her to your General Court at Boston, the 28th of the Eighth month, 1659, after she was reprieved, taken from the tree, and brought to prison, wherein, instead of flying from you because of the death of her two dear friends and servants of the Lord, William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson, with whom she was led from the jail to the place of execution, and whom you cruelly murdered for their conscience to God, that thing in her which is everlasting, which you opposed, and because thereof and her testimony thereunto, slew both them and her, came upon you; and instead of shunning death, she encountered you to die; and in the Name and Power of the Lord she bade you defiance, and warned you, and spoke of what should follow upon you; which, because it is a prophecy that shall be certainly fulfilled upon you, and is a lively testimony of the virtue of Truth which can look death in the face, and of good savour and record to future generations as to how it hath conquered in a woman, I have here set it down as follows:

"The 28th of the Eighth month, 1659.

"Once more to the General Court assembled in Boston, speaks "Mary Dyer, even as before. My life is not accepted, neither "availeth me, in comparison of the liberty of the Truth and the "lives of the servants of the living God, for which in the bowels "of love and meekness I sought you; yet, nevertheless, with "and that evil hath been pursuing of them at such a rate, that in other lands afar off, and on the Exchange in London, strangers have made this reflection, Doubtless New England is a country in ill terms with heaven. But so," says he, "our God hath humbled us." And it was well, say I, if they were yet humbled as they ought to be, to this day; we should then see better fruits than such sour grapes as appears in his History.

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"wicked hands you have put two of them to death, which makes "me to feel that the mercies of the wicked are cruelties; and I "rather choose to die than to live as from you, who are guilty "of. their innocent blood. Therefore, seeing my request is hin"dered, I leave you to the Righteous Judge and Searcher of all "hearts, who, with the pure measure of light He hath given to every man to profit withal, will in His due time let you see "whose servants you are, and of whom you have taken counsel, "which I desire you to search into. But all His counsel hath "been slighted, and you would none of His reproofs. Read "your portion, Prov. i. 24 to 32. For verily the night cometh "on you apace, wherein no man can work, in which you shall "assuredly fall to your own master. In obedience to the Lord, "whom I serve with my spirit, and in pity to your souls, which "you neither know nor pity, I can do no less than once more to "warn you to put away the evil of your doings, and 'kiss the "Son,' the Light in you, before his wrath be kindled in you; "for, where it is kindled, nothing without you can help or de"liver you out of His hand at all. And, if these things be not "so, then say, 'There hath been no prophet from the Lord sent "amongst you;' though we be nothing, yet it is His pleasure by "things that are not, to bring to nought things that are.

"When I heard your last Order read, it was a disturbance unto "me, that was so freely offering up my life unto Him that gave it "me, and sent me hither so to do; which obedience being His "own work, He gloriously accompanied it with His presence and "peace and love in me, in which I rested from my labour, until "by your Order and the people I was so far disturbed that I could "not retain any more the words thereof, than that I should 're"turn to prison, and there remain forty-eight hours.' To which "I submitted, finding nothing from the Lord to the contrary, "that I may know what His pleasure and counsel is concerning "me; on whom I wait therefor, for He is my life and the length "of my days; and, as I said before, I came at His command, "and go at His command.

"MARY DYER."