921.73 W589w.pdf - Mesa FamilySearch Library

I 12 Memoir of
which increased in severity against them and
all who should give them aid or shelter. These
unfortunate victims of intemperate zeal were
to be sent to jail, or whipped, or kept at hard
work, or, as one writer says, to have their
tongues bored through with red-hot irons.
Under these laws Quakers were put to death,
while their deluded persecutors were hounded
on by ministers of the gospel, of whom one of
the most distinguished exclaimed, " I would
carry fire in one hand and fagots in the other
to burn all the Quakers in the world!"
It has been said that the acts of many en.
thusiastic converts to the new faith were irri-
tating in the extreme. It was believed that
these neophytes, carried away by fanaticism,
had rendered it impossible for others to live in
peace, or to enjoy the privilege of worshipping
God in their own way, in their own churches.
If this were so, doubtless our ancestors were
justified in restraining any individuals from
such conduct as was really inconsistent or ir-
reconcilable with the rights of the communi.
ty; but to inflict cruel punishments, not for