THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
OCTOBER 27TH
THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE
On this day in history, October 27th, 1659, 366 years ago today, two men were put to death, in Massachusetts, because of their religion.
William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson were Quakers. Quakers are a religious group of people that believe in living simple and peaceful Christian lives. They also believed in personal revelation. That God spoke directly to people, that anyone could receive inspiration and revelation from God. This went against the beliefs and teachings of the Puritans. Puritans were in charge of the Massachusetts Bay Colony at this time. The colony was a Puritan Theocracy. This means that the church leaders ruled the people in the name of God. The Puritan church leaders did not want the Quakers, or their beliefs, in their town. So the Puritans made rules that said that the Quakers could not enter the colony. If they did they would be killed.
William and Marmaduke did not think that these rules were ethically or morally right. Three years earlier they had come to America from England to escape this kind of religious persecution. They continued to come to the Massachusetts Bay Colony to spread their beliefs. They came with the express purpose of defying the Puritans unjust religious laws.
These two Quakers were brave men who would not back down from their beliefs. Unfortunately for them, neither would the Puritans.
366 years ago today William and Marmaduke became martyrs. They willingly gave their lives for the cause of religious freedom. They were slain by the hands of the Puritans. They were slain by the people who, ironically, had come to America for the same reasons as William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson. They had come to escape religious persecution and to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience.
Rend Petersen
