Note 21 — Chapter III

The celebrated trial of Penn and Mead at the Old Bailey, above alluded to, may be seen at full length in Clarkson’s Life of Penn—“a trial which, for the good it has done to posterity, ought to be engraved on tablets of the most durable marble.” It was certainly one of those events which, in conjunction with others of a similar sort, by showing the inadequacy of punishment for religion to its supposed end, not only corrected and improved the notions of succeeding ages in this respect, but, by so doing, lessened the ravages of persecution, and the enmity between man and man. Nor ought posterity to be less grateful for it as a monument of the ferocity and corrupt usages of former times; for, contrasting these with the notions and customs of our own age, we see the improvement of our social and moral condition. Newgate is no longer the receptacle of innocent individuals suffering for conscience’ sake. In our courts of law we see an order, a decorum, and an administration of justice, unknown at the period of this memorable trial. Nor will the prospect be less grateful, if we quit the present for a moment, and direct our eyes to the future. We have the best reason to hope, on contemplating the signs of the times, that the day is approaching when the Christian religion, which is capable of cementing men in the strongest possible union, and for the noblest purposes, will be restored to its primitive purity, and made a blessing to all the dwellers upon the earth.