Yet not long afterwards one of them relapsed into the same snare, and murdered an innocent person, without either provocation or previous quarrel, and for no other reason, as he confessed, but that God had commanded him so to do. Being a second time brought to trial, he was found guilty of murder and condemned. Mr. Garden attended him again under the second sentence, and acknowledged, with great appearance of success. No man could appear more deeply sensible of his error and delusion, or could die a more sincere and hearty penitent on account of his horrid crimes. With great attention he listened to Mr. Garden, while he explained to him the terms of pardon and salvation proposed in the Gospel, and seemed to die in the humble hopes of mercy, through the all-sufficient merits of a Redeemer." Thus ended that tragical scene of fanaticism, in which seven persons lost their lives, one was killed, two were murdered, and four executed for the murders. A signal and melancholy instance of the weakness and frailty of human nature, and to what giddy heights of extravagance and madness, an inflamed imagination will carry unfortunate mortals. It is hard for the wisdom of men to conceive a remedy for a distemper such as religious infatuation. Severity and persecution commonly add strength to the contagion, and render it more furious. Indulgence and lenity might perhaps prove more efficacious, as the swellings of phrenzy would in time subside, in proportion as they exceed the bounds of nature. Had they given this unhappy family time for cool thought and reflection, it is not improbable that those clouds of delusion which overspread their minds might have dispersed, and they might have returned to a sense of their frailty and error. But it belongs to the civil power to prohibit wild enthusiasts and mad visionaries from spreading doctrines among vulgar people, destructive of civil order and public peace. The majority of mankind every where are ignorant and credulous, and therefore are objects of compassion, and ought to be protected against the baleful influence of such men as seduce them from their duty and subjection to legal authority, by poisoning their minds with notions hurtful to themselves and others. [Sidenote] Progress of the colony.