But the jury
and some of the judges made some amends. They did a hard thing,
for they publicly acknowledged that they had been wrong. The jury
wrote and signed a paper in which they said, "We do hereby declare
that we justly fear that we were sadly deluded and mistaken, for
which we are much disquieted and distressed in our minds. And do
therefore humbly beg forgiveness."
One of the judges, Judge Sewall, was bitterly grieved at the part
he had played. And on a day of general intercession he stood up
before the whole congregation, acknowledging his guilt and praying
God to forgive him. And throughout all his life he kept one day a
year upon which he prayed and fasted in repentance.
Perhaps you may think that there is nothing in this story to make
you proud of your ancestors. But think again. Think of the courage
of those men and women who cheerfully went to death rather than
save their lives by lying and making false confessions. Truth to
those brave men and women was worth more than life. And is there
nothing to be proud of in the fact that the judge and jury, when
they found themselves in the wrong, had the manliness to own it
publicly and without reserve?
To some of us nothing in all the world seems so hard as to own
ourselves in the wrong.
Part IV STORIES OF THE MIDDLE AND SOUTHERN COLONIES
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Chapter 35 - The Founding of Maryland
About the same time as Gorges was making laws for his little kingdom
of New Hampshire another English gentleman was doing much the same
somewhat farther south.
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