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 he 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 he 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.
SCENE II.-- A street.Enter JOHN ENDICOTT and UPSALL.
JOHN ENDICOTT.
Scourged in three towns! and yet the busy people Go up and down the streets on their affairs Of business or of pleasure, as if nothing Had happened to disturb them or their thoughts!
When bloody tragedies like this are acted, The pulses of a nation should stand still The town should be in mourning, and the people Speak only in low whispers to each other.
UPSALL.
I know this people; and that underneath A cold outside there burns a secret fire That will find vent and will not be put out, Till every remnant of these barbarous laws Shall be to ashes burned, and blown away.
JOHN ENDICOTT.