stigmatized by burning in the forehead the letter B, and fined L40. And
that for the third offense, the offender shall suffer death without the
benefit of clergy."


The strange thing about this law is, that it has never been repealed,
and was in force in the District of Columbia up to 1875. Laws like this
were in force in most of the colonies and in all countries where the
church had power.

In the Old Testament the death penalty was attached hundreds of
offenses. It has been the same in all Christian countries. Today, in
civilized governments, the death penalty is attached only to murder and
treason; and in some it has been entirely abolished. What a commentary
upon the divine systems of the World!

In the days of Thomas Paine the church was ignorant, bloody, and
relentless. In Scotland the "kirk" was at the summit of its power. It
was a full sister of the Spanish Inquisition. It waged war upon human
nature. It was the enemy of happiness, the hater of joy, and the
despiser of liberty. It taught parents to murder their children rather
than to allow them to propagate error. If the mother held opinions of
which the infamous "kirk" disapproved, her children were taken from her
arms, her babe from her very bosom, and she was not allowed to see them,
or write them a word. It would not allow ship-wrecked sailors to be
rescued from drowning on Sunday.

Oh, you have no idea what a muss it kicks up in heaven to have anybody
swim on Sunday. It fills all the wheeling worlds with sadness to see a
boy in a boat, and the attention of the recording secretary is called to