Mary Dyer's October 1659 Letter to the General Court: The Controversy

The October 26, 1659  (although the letter says it was written in the 8th month--or "8 moth"--of 1659, by the count of the day, that would be October) letter printed below has commonly been assumed to be the words of Mary Dyer to the General Court written from jail.  But the style and spellings in that letter differs from the letter which appears to be in Mary Dyer's own handwriting which can be found in the Massachusetts Archive.  The likely explanation, as suggested by Christy Robinson (a novelist who researched the Dyer family story) is that Dyer's October letter ended up in the hands of  fellow Quaker Edward Burrough, who edited/rewrote a new letter and put Mary's name to it.  Burrough might well have assumed a letter bearing the name of a already somewhat famous Quaker martyr would be more compelling that one bearing his own.  Burrough was among the Quakers most intent on ending persecution of Quakers in Boston and used the "Dyer letter" to make his case.

The following is a transcription of the first lines of the letter, presumably in Dyer's own hand, that is housed in the Massachusetts Archive.  Note how much it differs--even as to the spelling of Mary's name as "Marie Dire" or "Mary Dyar"--from the "Dyer" (Burrough?) letter published below.:

from marie dire to the generall court now this present 26th of the 8 moth 59

assembled in the towne of boston in new Ingland greetings of grace mercy

and peace to every soul that doth well : tribulation anguish and wrath to all that doth evell

Whereas it is said by many of you that I am guilty of mine owne death by my

coming as you cal it voluntarily to boston: I therefore declare unto every one

that hath an eare to hear: that in the fear peace and love of god I came and in weldoing

did and stil doth commit my soul and body to him as unto a faithful creator

and for this very end hath preserved my life until now through many trialls and

temptations having held out his royal scepter unto mee by wch I have accesse

into his presence and have found such favoure in his sight as to offer up my

life freely for his truth and peoples sakes....

Mary Dyer's Letter to the General Court in Boston After Her Sentence of Death (October, 1659)

To the General Court now in Boston.

Whereas I am by many charged with the Guiltiness of my own Blood; if you mean, in my coming to Boston, I am therein clear, and justified by the Lord, in whose Will I came, who will require my Blood of you, be sure, who have made a Law to take , away the Lives of the Innocent Servants of God, if they come among you, who are called by you, Cursed Quakers; altho' I say, and am a living Witness for them and the Lord, that he hath Blessed them, and sent them unto you : Therefore be not found Fighters against God, but let my Counsel and Request be accepted with you, To Repeal all such Laws, that the Truth and Servants of the Lord may have free Passage among you, and you be kept from shedding Innocent Blood, which I know there are many among you would not do, if they knew it so to be: Nor can the Enemy that stirreth you up thus to destroy this Holy Seed, in any measure countervail the great Damage that you will by thus doing procure:

Therefore, seeing the Lord bath not hid it from me, it lyeth upon me, in Love to your Souls, thus to persuade you: I have no self-ends, the Lord knoweth, for if my Life were freely granted by you, it would not avail me, nor could I expect it of you, so long as I should daily hear or see the Sufferings of these People, my dear Brethren and Seed, with whom my Life is bound up, as I have done these two Years; and now it is like to encrease, even unto Death, for no evil Doing, but coming among you: Was ever the like Laws heard of, among a People that profess Christ come in the Flesh? And have such no other Weapons, but such Laws, to fight against Spiritual Wickedness withall, as you call it? Wo is me for you! Of whom take you Counsel? Search with the Light of Christ in ye, and it will show you of whom, as it hath done me and many more, who have been disobedient and deceived, as now you are; which Light, as you come into, and obeying what is made manifest to you therein, you will not Repent, that you were kept from shedding Blood, tho' it were from a woman: It's not mine own Life I seek (for I chuse rather to suffer with the People of God, than to enjoy the Pleasures of Egypt) but the Life of the Seed, which I know the Lord hath Blessed; and therefore seeks the Enemy thus vehemently the Life thereof to Destroy, as in all Ages he ever did: Oh! hearken not unto him, I beseech you, for the Seed's sake, which is one in all, and is dear in the sight of God; which they that touch, touch the Apple of his Eye, and cannot escape his Wrath; whereof I having felt, cannot but perswade all Men that I have to do withal, especially you who name the Name of Christ, to depart from such Iniquity, as shedding Blood, even of the Saints of the Most High: Therefore let my Request have as much Acceptance with you (if you be Christians) as Esther lead with Ashasuerus (whose Relation is short of that that's between Christians) and my Request is the same that hers was; and he said not, that he had made a Law, and it would be dishonourable for hum to Revoke it; but when he understood that these People were so prized by her, and so nearly concerned her (as in Truth these are to me) as you may see what he did for her: Therefore I leave these Lines with you, Appealing to the faithful and true Witness of God, which is one in all Consciences, before whom we must all appear; with whom I shall eternally Rest, in everlasting Joy and Peace, whether you will hear or forbear: With him is my Reward, with Whom to live is my Joy, and to dye is my Gain, tho' I had not had your forty eight Hours warning, for the Preparation to the Death of Mary Dyar.

And know this also, That if through the Enmity you shall declare your selves worse than Ahasuerus, and confirm your Law, tho' it were but by taking away the Life of one of us, That the Lord will overthrow both your Law and you, by his righteous Judgments and Plagues poured justly upon you, who now whilst you are warned thereof, and tenderly sought unto, may avoid the one, by removing the other: If you neither hear nor obey the Lord nor his Servants, yet will he send more of his Servants among you, so that your end shall be frustrated, that think to restrain them, you call Cursed Quakers, from coming among you, by any Thing you can do to them; yea, verily, he bath a Seed here among you, for whom we have suffered all this while, and yet Suffer; whom the Lord of the Harvest will send forth more Labourers to gather (out of the Mouths of the Devourers of all sorts) into his Fold, where he will lead them into fresh Pastures, even the Paths of Righteousness, for his Names sake: Oh! let none of you put this good Day far from you, which verily in the Light of the Lord I see approaching, even to many in and about Boston, which is the bitterest and darkest professing Place, and so to continue so long as you have done, that ever I heard of; let the time past therefore suffice, for such Profession as brings forth such Fruits as these Laws are. In Love and in the Spirit of Meekness I again beseech you, for I have no Enmity to the Persons of any; but you shall know, That God will not be mocked, but what you sow, that shall you reap from him, that will render to everyone according to the Deeds done in the Body, whether Good or Evil;

Even so be it, saith

MARY DYAR