His contemporaries in Massachusetts assailed3 him with a choice collection of opprobrious4 epithets5 in the place of arguments: he was an “arch-heretic,” a “beast,” a “miscreant,” a “proud and pestilent seducer,” a “most prodigious6 minter of exorbitant7 novelties.”[68]
Edward Rawson, some time Secretary of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, and the ancestor of my own children,—a man capable of making vigorous use of the sturdy Anglo-Saxon of the period, albeit8 not always grammatically, denounces him as “a man whose spirit was stark9 drunk with blasphemies10 and insolences, a corrupter11 of the truth, a 84disturber of the peace wherever he comes;” and his contemporary, Nathaniel Morton, with whom he conducted an animated12 correspondence, says he “was deeply leavened13 with blasphemous14 and familistical opinions.”
In so far as his religious views have received attention in recent years, they have been mainly studied in their incomplete and incidental expression in some of his published works, “Simplicities Defence Against Seven-Headed Policie,” and “The Incorruptible Key to the CX Psalme,” the main object of which was political and polemical rather than expository of his system of thought. The involved style and quaint15 and mystical phraseology have repelled16 the modern student, and prevented a clear understanding of his theological doctrines18.
85By far the best and most complete exposition of Samuell Gorton’s religious convictions is to be found in a remarkable manuscript in his own hand-writing which has never been published, but which is preserved in the library of the Rhode Island Historical Society in Providence19. I am indebted to the Hon. Amos Perry, the courteous20 Librarian of the Society, for the opportunity to make a careful study of this paper as well as of other documents relating to Samuell Gorton’s life and work. The manuscript to which I refer is a running commentary on the Lord’s Prayer. Merely as a literary curiosity it merits the attention of the studious and curious. It is in the clear, careful, accurate hand-writing of the scholar rather than of one accustomed to manual industry. The lines are closely 86written, the characters are minute, and almost as accurate as copper-plate impressions. The manuscript averages over two thousand words to a page about the size of our modern legal cap. The character of the writing makes it exceedingly trying to the eyes. The orthography22, though in some respects archaic23, is more regular and consistent than in most American documents of our Revolutionary era. I have examined many papers of contemporary and more recent dates, but with the exception of those left by his eldest24 son, Capt. Samuell Gorton, who was evidently instructed by his father, and whose hand-writing resembles his so closely as to be distinguishable from it with difficulty, I have never seen any so clear, systematic25, and scholarly in appearance. The literary form, however, is less admirable 87than the clerical execution. The style is involved, the sentences are long, and the punctuation26, though systematic, is peculiar27. Free use is made of the comma, semi-colon and parenthesis28, but periods are most economically distributed, being used literally29 to indicate a “full stop.” Sentences usually end with a semi-colon, the ensuing clause beginning with a capital. The interrogation point was apparently30 unknown.
When the reader has searched diligently31 beneath the quaint and involved phraseology, bristling32 with scriptural references and illustrations, and come into sympathetic contact with the living thought of the writer, the surprising thing which is discovered is the remarkable modernness of many of Samuell Gorton’s ideas. It goes without saying that he was not “orthodox” according 88to the conventional standards of his time, nor yet, perhaps, of our own; but we everywhere touch the personality of a vigorous and independent thinker, who in many directions foreshadowed the views of the advanced thinkers of a later day.
Some of his enemies denounced Samuell Gorton as an atheist33. He was as remote as possible from atheistic34 leanings. He was not even affiliated35 with the deism of his own and the succeeding century. His theology was profoundly Christian36. It was as Christocentric as that of Swedenborg, with which it has sometimes been compared. Like Swedenborg, he regarded the Infinite and Absolute as per se unknowable. Here both Gorton and Swedenborg are in touch with the modern philosophical37 agnostic. For both, however, Christianity 89solved the agnostic problem. In Christ they found a perfect expression of the divine nature, and the only rational object of worship.[69]
With regard to the nature of Christ, however, Gorton and Swedenborg were widely separated. Swedenborg’s theology is boldly anthropomorphic; Gorton’s was monistic and impersonal38. “The word ‘person’,” he says, “is only borrowed from men and translated to God. * * That doctrine17 which ties the death of Christ to one perticuler man in one time and age of the world, as being the scope and intent of God’s will concerninge the death of his son in the salvation39 of the world, that doctrine falsifies the death of Jesus Christ, and 90sets men upon the law of workes in the ground and matter of their salvation, by which law no man is justified40.”[70] Here, too, is another radical41 distinction between his doctrine and that of Swedenborg. The latter turns his most powerful batteries upon Paul’s doctrine of “justification by faith,” while Gorton stands with Luther in its defence.
The “law of works” by which Gorton says no man is justified, he rightly interprets as the conception of salvation through ceremonial observances; not merely the ritual of Pharisaic Judaism denounced by the Master, but the ritual and ordinances42 as well of his own day and generation. Here he stands with the Friends, as he also did in his opposition43 91to a “hireling ministry44.” Worship, he taught, is natural to man. Every man is called to seek communion with the divine in Christ directly, and not through priestly mediations. “Prophesie, prayer, and interpretation46 of the word of God are one,” he says: “where one is there is the other; they are co-insident and co-aparant.” All men are naturally moved to prayer; all men, therefore, may rightfully exhort48 and interpret. To the conventional interpretations49 of churches, universities and schools, he preferred “the universitie of humane50 reason, and reading of the great volume of visible creation.” Mr. Gorton defined prayer as “nothing else but the true breath and spirit of the eternall word, according to God’s intent taken and rained into the soule, concocted51 and digested in the cauldron of man’s necessities, 92breathing out it selfe unto the fountaine and originall of all suply.”
The spirit of prophecy and inspiration, he taught, is as immediately with man now as in any period of the past. The tenor52 of his teaching in this particular is strikingly like that of the modern transcendentalist. With Emerson, he would have asked, “Why may not we, too, seek an original relation with the Universe?” In the spirit of transcendentalism, too, he opposed all sectarianism. He would not be the founder54 of a sect53. He left no organized body of disciples55.[71] The sectarian contests of the day, even the disputes between Protestants and Catholics, he deemed of small account because they were so largely 93about rites56 and ceremonies, matters which he deemed non-essential. “These things men contend aboute and make great stirre in the world, whilst the life and spirit of the gospel lies buried under humane ordinances and carnall traditions.” True worship, he declares, is as well exemplified in the offering of lambs and bullocks “according to the letter of scripture57 formerly58 manifested, * * as in bread, wine, wafers, &c., or in Bishop59, paster, teacher, elder, deacon, &c., for these things in the outward forme simply considered are carnall and momentary60, but the words of Christ, they are spirit and they are life.”
While he agreed with the Friends as to outward ordinances, Samuell Gorton strongly contested some of their other teachings, especially the doctrine of the “inner light,” which he saw might be 94interpreted as a particular revelation of infallible truth to the individual.[72] Such an assumption, he claimed, is mischievous61 and erroneous. All revelations must appeal for examination, recognition and interpretation to the natural human reason, which is a common possession of all men. Mr. Gorton combined with a remarkably62 equable balance, the methods of the mystic and the rationalist. His mysticism rejected all claims of infallibility, which logically tend to the persecution63 of dissidents. Yet, while he carried this idea so far that he would dispense64 with all paid ministries65, he recognized more fully47 than most Protestants of his day the necessity of sound learning and thorough acquaintance with the Scriptures66 in their original tongues, 95to assure their correct and valid67 interpretation.[73]
Though in the highest degree Christocentric, Samuell Gorton’s theology was not in harmony with the prevailing68 Trinitarianism of his day. The doctrine “received from the schoole men of the church of Roome, that hold and teach a trinitie of persons in one simple and divine essence, without having respect for the humane nature of Christ,” he characterizes as “a most dangerous and pernicious doctrine.” It is, he says, “most derogatory to the glory of the son; for in that time he is deprived of the glory of a saviour69; for without man’s nature hee is not Jesus; hee is no saviour but in man; hee is not the anointed nor the redeemer but in man’s 96nature; and if wee deprive him of that glory for a time it is to late to give it to him afterwards, because hee ever remains70 one and the same.” The scriptural references to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit he interprets as recognitions of “spirituall distinctions in the nature of Christ.” They are not separate persons of a god-head, but distinctions of the divine activity, having a unity21 “not found elsewhere, but only in Christ.”[74]
With Channing, Samuell Gorton also taught the essential divinity of human nature—the equal nearness of the divine spirit to the sinner and to the saint. He recognizes a divine spark in every human soul, and to this he made his appeal.[75] He also, however, accepted 97the eternal antagonism71 of good and evil as an unquestionable fact both in scriptural teaching and in human experience. The tendency of the one is to eternal life; of the other to eternal death. He therefore taught a conditional72 immortality73, wholly dependent upon the character of the individual. “Neither can any salvation hold proportion with the son of God,” he says, “but freedome from sin.” This saved him from the errors of Antinomianism.[76] The doctrine of imputed74 sin and imputed righteousness he denounces as unworthy of the divine character. “God was in Christ reconciling men unto him selfe, not imputing75 their sins.” Nor is this work of reconciliation76 limited to any historical 98period. “God is eternally a creator, eternally a redeemer, eternally a conservator of peace.”
The substance of his teaching is that righteousness is life eternal; sin is eternal death. This is no arbitrary penalty inflicted77 at the close of man’s earthly career, or on some future day of judgment78; it is the intrinsic and natural result of evil action. The popular distinction between a man and his actions is delusive79 and unreal. He could not hate the sin and love the sinner. The actions are the man. If the actions are predominantly evil there is nothing left to save. The divine work of regeneration is at one and the same time the salvation of the good and the destruction of the evil. Both results are effected by one and the same natural operation of the divine power. “The righteousness 99of God is of eternal worth and duration; But the one and the other [course of life] being wrought80 into a change at one and the same time, thence comes the capacity of an eternall life, and of an eternall destruction.”
Mr. Gorton distinguishes four distinct stages in the historical development of religious ideas: the family, the national, the apostolic, and the spiritual or universal.[77] Considering the period in which he wrote, and the fact that the Bible seems to have been almost his only text-book, his conclusions are remarkably consistent with those of modern students of sociology and comparative religion.
The temptation is great to continue this line of exposition and quotation81, but I must bring it to a close with one 100or two additional passages further illustrative of the ethical82 quality of his thought. All virtue83, he taught, even the goodness of God, consists wholly in the service of others. “The goodnesse of God’s nature is such,” he says, “that it cannot subsiste or bee without communicating it selfe with another, otherwise his goodnesse should bee uselesse, which can not bee admitted for one moment of time, for there is an impossibility thereof; The naturall temporary or tipicall goodnesse of any creature is uselesse unlesse it bee communicated with another; God never made any creature in heaven or in earth simply for it selfe, but for the use of another; how infinitely84 more is this true of God, who hath made him selfe in Christ to bee the goodnesse of the world.”
Heaven, Samuell Gorton taught, is not 101to be sought in a future life or in some distant part of the universe. The soul is even now in eternity85. Heaven is a condition of the soul. It may exist here and now. “Such doctrine,” he says, “as sets forth86 a time to come, of more worth and glory than either is, or hath been, keeps the manna for tomorrow, to the breeding of worms in it.” With Theodore Parker, he taught that the divine nature is both masculine and feminine;[78] and in one of the most striking and eloquent87 passages in his Commentary on the Lord’s Prayer he argues for the equal recognition of woman in the Church, and as a teacher of religion.
In philosophy, Samuell Gorton was an 102original thinker rather than a student of past systems. In theology, he was far in advance of the prevailing thought of his time. Only a few of the minor88 sects89 of our own day have yet approximated to his views as to the equal position of woman in the pulpit and the church; only an occasional strong and independent mind has reached his conception of religion as a birthright of the individual soul, to which belongs the unalienable privilege of investigation90 and interpretation, free from priestly mediation45 and sectarian bias91.
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1
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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alludes
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| 提及，暗指( allude的第三人称单数 ) | |
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assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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opprobrious
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| adj.可耻的，辱骂的 | |
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epithets
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| n.（表示性质、特征等的）词语( epithet的名词复数 ) | |
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prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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exorbitant
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| adj.过分的；过度的 | |
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albeit
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| conj.即使；纵使；虽然 | |
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stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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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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corrupter
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| 堕落的，道德败坏的； 贪污的，腐败的； 腐烂的； （文献等）错误百出的 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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leavened
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| adj.加酵母的v.使（面团）发酵( leaven的过去式和过去分词 )；在…中掺入改变的因素 | |
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blasphemous
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| adj.亵渎神明的，不敬神的 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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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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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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orthography
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| n.拼字法，拼字式 | |
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archaic
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| adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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punctuation
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| n.标点符号，标点法 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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parenthesis
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| n.圆括号，插入语，插曲，间歇，停歇 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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atheist
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| n.无神论者 | |
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atheistic
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| adj.无神论者的 | |
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affiliated
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| adj. 附属的, 有关连的 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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impersonal
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| adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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ordinances
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| n.条例，法令( ordinance的名词复数 ) | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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mediation
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| n.调解 | |
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interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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exhort
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| v.规劝，告诫 | |
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interpretations
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| n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解 | |
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humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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concocted
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| v.将（尤指通常不相配合的）成分混合成某物( concoct的过去式和过去分词 )；调制；编造；捏造 | |
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tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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sect
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| n.派别，宗教，学派，派系 | |
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Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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scripture
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| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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ministries
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| （政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期 | |
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scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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saviour
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| n.拯救者，救星 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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conditional
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| adj.条件的，带有条件的 | |
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immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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imputed
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| v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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imputing
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| v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的现在分词 ) | |
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reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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delusive
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| adj.欺骗的，妄想的 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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quotation
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| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
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ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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84
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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85
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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86
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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87
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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sects
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| n.宗派，教派( sect的名词复数 ) | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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bias
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| n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见 | |
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