NORTON. 
What more was done?

UPSALL. 
          He has been kept five days
In prison without food, and cruelly beaten,
So that his limbs were cold, his senses stopped.

NORTON. 
What more?

UPSALL. 
         And is this not enough?

NORTON. 
                        Now hear me. 
This William Brand of yours has tried to beat
Our Gospel Ordinances black and blue;
And, if he has been beaten in like manner,
It is but justice, and I will appear
In his behalf that did so.  I suppose
That he refused to work.

UPSALL. 
                     He was too weak. 
How could an old man work, when he was starving?

NORTON. 
And what is this placard?

UPSALL. 
                      The Magistrates,
To appease the people and prevent a tumult,
Have put up these placards throughout the town,
Declaring that the jailer shall be dealt with
Impartially and sternly by the Court.

NORTON (tearing down the placard). 
Down with this weak and cowardly concession,
This flag of truce with Satan and with Sin! 
I fling it in his face!  I trample it
Under my feet!  It is his cunning craft,
The masterpiece of his diplomacy,
To cry and plead for boundless toleration. 
But toleration is the first-born child
Of all abominations and deceits. 
There is no room in Christ’s triumphant army
For tolerationists.  And if an Angel
Preach any other gospel unto you
Than that ye have received, God’s malediction
Descend upon him!  Let him be accursed!
                                  [Exit.

UPSALL. 
Now, go thy ways, John Norton, go thy ways,
Thou Orthodox Evangelist, as men call thee! 
But even now there cometh out of England,
Like an o’ertaking and accusing conscience,
An outraged man, to call thee to account
For the unrighteous murder of his son!
                                  [Exit.

SCENE V. —­ The Wilderness.  Enter EDITH.

EDITH. 
How beautiful are these autumnal woods! 
The wilderness doth blossom like the rose,
And change into a garden of the Lord! 
How silent everywhere!  Alone and lost
Here in the forest, there comes over me
An inward awfulness.  I recall the words
Of the Apostle Paul:  “In journeyings often,
Often in perils in the wilderness,
In weariness, in painfulness, in watchings,
In hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness;”
And I forget my weariness and pain,
My watchings, and my hunger and my thirst. 
The Lord hath said that He will seek his flock
In cloudy and dark days, and they shall dwell
Securely in the wilderness, and sleep
Safe in the woods!  Whichever way I turn,
I come back with my face towards the town. 
Dimly I see it, and the sea beyond it. 
O cruel town!  I know what waits me there,
And yet I must go back; for ever louder
I hear the inward calling of the Spirit,
And must obey the voice.  O woods that wear
Your golden crown of martyrdom, blood-stained,
From you I learn a lesson of submission,
And am obedient even unto death,
If God so wills it. [Exit.