It is a sad commentary on human wisdom that only a comparatively short time ago, — as time goes, — four persons were hanged on a large elm tree on Boston Common, for the "offence" or "crime" of being Quakers. Others were banished upon pain of death. But, as it is historically recorded, they came back again bringing with them their winding sheets, — thus showing their willingness to suffer martyrdom in behalf of their profound religious convictions. This was in 1660. In 1661, in Roxbury, Judah Browne and Peter Peirson, were tied to a cart's tail and whipped through the town with ten stripes after receiving twenty stripes at Boston. The historian who chronicles these events laconically remarks that "Governor Endicott was bitterly opposed to religious freedom for others, although he insisted upon having it for himself."
Editorials
It is a sad commentary on human wisdom that only a comparatively...
From the February 1893 issue of The Christian Science Journal
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