Gorton and his companions were summoned to Boston to make answer to Pomham’s claim.[31] Denying the jurisdiction7 of Massachusetts, in a spicy8 correspondence, Gorton refused to obey the summons. Increase Nowell, Secretary of the Colony, and the Boston Elders, discovered no less than twenty-six instances of blasphemy9, “or thereabouts,” in the terms of Gorton’s epistle. The Gortonists were warned that if they continued contumacious10 they would be regarded as “fitted for the slaughter,”[32] 40and would be peremptorily11 dealt with by force of arms. A company of twenty white men and an equal number of Indians, under the command of Captain Cook, was dispatched to seize them and bring them to Boston for trial. On their approach, the Gortonists sent their women and children across the bay, retired12 to their block-house on Conimicut Point, and awaited the invading force of the enemy. A company of peace-makers from Providence[33] demanded a parley13, and proposed the arbitration14 of the matters in dispute, to prevent the shedding of blood. The Gortonists appealed to the King and were willing to arbitrate, but the proposition was sternly rejected 41by Gov. Winthrop. “You may do well to take notice,” he said, “that besides the title to land between the English and the Indians there, there are twelve of the English that have subscribed15 their names to horrible and detestable blasphemies16, who are rather to be judged as blasphemous17 than they should delude18 us by winning time under pretence19 of arbitration.”
The Gortonists stood siege for a day and a night,[34] and repelled20 the attempt of the men of Massachusetts and their savage21 allies to set fire to the block-house; then, to save bloodshed, under promise that they would be treated as neighbors, and that their claims would be submitted to fair judgment22 in Massachusetts, they surrendered to superior 42force, and were taken to Boston for trial.[35] They speedily found, however, that they were regarded as prisoners and not as “friends and neighbors” seeking a just and amicable23 settlement of civil disagreements. The soldiers, Gorton says, were ordered to knock down any one who should utter a word of insolence24, and to run any one through who might step aside from the line of advance. When they arrived in Boston, “the chaplain (of their captors) went to prayers in the open streets, that the people might take notice that what they had done was done in a holy manner, and in the name of the Lord.”[36]
43There was no pretence of a judicial25 consideration of their rights as settlers at Shawomet. They were regarded as criminal offenders26, and were examined and convicted on the charge of blasphemy. Gorton was placed on trial for his life before the General Court and Convocation of Elders. Four queries27, referring to statements in his vigorous rejoinder to the summons of the Massachusetts authorities, were propounded28, and upon his replies the decision of the Court was to be rendered:[37]
“1. Whether the Fathers, who died before Christ was born of the Virgin29 Mary, were justified30 and saved only by the blood which hee shed, and the death which hee suffered after his incarnation?
44“2. Whether the only price of our redemption were not the death of Christ on the cross, with the rest of his sufferings and obediences31, in the time of his life here, after hee was born of the Virgin Mary?
“3. Who was the God whom hee thinks wee serve?
“4. What hee means when hee saith, wee worship the starre of our God Remphan, Chion, Moloch?”
The latter question may well have piqued32 the curiosity of the elders. The others were evidently framed to secure conviction. His replies were as wise and conciliatory as perfect sincerity33 would admit, but it was foreordained that they should be unsatisfactory to his judges. All but three of the elders voted for the penalty of death. The representatives of the people, however, 45to the honor of Massachusetts, refused to assent34 to this verdict[38]. Gorton suffered imprisonment35 in Charlestown, with a ball and chain attached to his ankle; the other accused persons were incarcerated36 in irons in other towns of the Colony. The next General Court, some months later, set them at liberty,[39] but banished37 them from all places within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts—the intention being to include the disputed territory at Shawomet, which Massachusetts claimed under the deed of Pomham.
As they went forth38 from their prison houses, the Gortonists recited their wrongs in the public streets in Boston and elsewhere to crowds of willing 46listeners and ready sympathizers. Palfrey admits that a majority of the people in Massachusetts were to be counted in this category.[40] The sufferings of these martyrs39 were the seeds of a new Commonwealth40, from which the persecuting41 spirit was at last eliminated. The Indians, also, even in the vicinity of Boston, received them gladly. Cutshamekin, the chief sachem of the neighborhood, to whose wigwam the liberated42 men accidentally strayed, when asked by Gorton whether Capt. Cook, the commander of their captors, was a good captain, replied, “I can not tell; but the Indians regard those as good captains when a few stand out against many.”
Their chief grievance43 during imprisonment seems to have been that they were compelled to attend the Sunday services 47in the churches, and be “preached at” by the Puritan ministers. “They brought us forth unto their congregations to hear their ministers,” says Gorton, with a grim humor, illuminated44 by some knowledge of natural history, “which was meat to be digested, but only by the hearte or stomacke of an ostrich45.”[41] Pastor46 Ward47, of Ipswich, who visited one of them—Richard Carder, an old neighbor of his in England—while in prison, and urged him to recant his heresies48, said by way of encouragement, “it shall be no disparagement49 to you, for here is our revered50 elder, Mr. Cotton, who ordinarily preacheth that publickely one yeare, that the next yeare hee publickely repents51 of, and shows him selfe to bee very sorrowful to the congregation.”[42] 48As his sly dig at Mr. Cotton would indicate, Pastor Ward was entirely52 sound in his own theology. This appears also in his “Simple Cobbler of Agawam,” where, with a spicy use of capitals, and vigorous if not elegant English, he denounces the brains of those who advocate “Libertie of Conscience in matters of Religion,” as “parboiled in impious ignorance.”
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harassed
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adj. 疲倦的,厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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repudiate
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v.拒绝,拒付,拒绝履行 | |
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submission
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n.服从,投降;温顺,谦虚;提出 | |
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remunerative
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adj.有报酬的 | |
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astute
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adj.机敏的,精明的 | |
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commissioners
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n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 );长官;委员;政府部门的长官 | |
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7
jurisdiction
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n.司法权,审判权,管辖权,控制权 | |
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spicy
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adj.加香料的;辛辣的,有风味的 | |
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blasphemy
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n.亵渎,渎神 | |
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contumacious
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adj.拒不服从的,违抗的 | |
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11
peremptorily
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adv.紧急地,不容分说地,专横地 | |
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retired
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adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的 | |
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parley
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n.谈判 | |
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arbitration
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n.调停,仲裁 | |
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subscribed
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v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 );签署,题词;订阅;同意 | |
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16
blasphemies
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n.对上帝的亵渎,亵渎的言词[行为]( blasphemy的名词复数 );侮慢的言词(或行为) | |
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17
blasphemous
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adj.亵渎神明的,不敬神的 | |
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18
delude
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vt.欺骗;哄骗 | |
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pretence
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n.假装,作假;借口,口实;虚伪;虚饰 | |
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20
repelled
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v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 );使厌恶;排斥;推开 | |
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savage
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adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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judgment
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n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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23
amicable
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adj.和平的,友好的;友善的 | |
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24
insolence
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n.傲慢;无礼;厚颜;傲慢的态度 | |
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judicial
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adj.司法的,法庭的,审判的,明断的,公正的 | |
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offenders
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n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 );犯规者;罪犯;妨害…的人(或事物) | |
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queries
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n.问题( query的名词复数 );疑问;询问;问号v.质疑,对…表示疑问( query的第三人称单数 );询问 | |
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28
propounded
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v.提出(问题、计划等)供考虑[讨论],提议( propound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29
virgin
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n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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justified
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a.正当的,有理的 | |
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obediences
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服从,顺从,听话( obedience的名词复数 ) | |
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32
piqued
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v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的过去式和过去分词 );激起(好奇心) | |
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sincerity
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n.真诚,诚意;真实 | |
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assent
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v.批准,认可;n.批准,认可 | |
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imprisonment
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n.关押,监禁,坐牢 | |
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36
incarcerated
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钳闭的 | |
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37
banished
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v.放逐,驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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forth
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adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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martyrs
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n.martyr的复数形式;烈士( martyr的名词复数 );殉道者;殉教者;乞怜者(向人诉苦以博取同情) | |
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40
commonwealth
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n.共和国,联邦,共同体 | |
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41
persecuting
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(尤指宗教或政治信仰的)迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的现在分词 ); 烦扰,困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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42
liberated
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a.无拘束的,放纵的 | |
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grievance
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n.怨愤,气恼,委屈 | |
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illuminated
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adj.被照明的;受启迪的 | |
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ostrich
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n.鸵鸟 | |
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46
pastor
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n.牧师,牧人 | |
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47
ward
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n.守卫,监护,病房,行政区,由监护人或法院保护的人(尤指儿童);vt.守护,躲开 | |
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48
heresies
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n.异端邪说,异教( heresy的名词复数 ) | |
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49
disparagement
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n.轻视,轻蔑 | |
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50
revered
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v.崇敬,尊崇,敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
repents
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对(自己的所为)感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的第三人称单数 ) | |
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52
entirely
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ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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