All the leading principles of Cromwell’s domestic policy are contained in the small folio volume of his ordinances. A few are merely prolongations of expiring acts, others are personal or local in their application. There is an ordinance4 for the relief of poor prisoners, another codifying12 the law relating to the maintenance of highways, and there are three devoted13 to the reorganisation of the Treasury14. The settlement of Ireland and Scotland, and the completion of the union of the three kingdoms, which the Long Parliament had left unfinished, form the subject of a third series. But none exhibit so plainly the Protector’s domestic policy as the three sets of ordinances dealing15 with the reform of the Law, the reformation of manners, and the reorganisation of the national Church.
Ever since 1647, the army had demanded that the laws of England should be so reformed, “that all suits and questions of right may be made more clear and certain in their issues, and not so tedious nor chargeable in their proceedings16.” The Long Parliament took the task in hand, made some slight progress, and then stuck fast. The Little Parliament attempted it with so much rude vigour17 that it seemed likely to end in the subversion18 of all law. 348The Protector took up the work where the Long Parliament left off, and persistently19 pursued it as long as he ruled.
Cromwell realised its difficulty. “If any man,” he once said, “should ask me, ‘Why, how will you have it done?’ I confess I do not know.” All he could do was to select the best men for the purpose, and to leave them a free hand. Therefore he applied21 to the lawyers to co-operate, “being resolved to give the learned of the robe the honour of reforming their profession,” and hoping “that God will give them hearts to do it.” His chief assistant was Matthew Hale, who was made a judge by the Protector early in 1654. At the opening of Parliament in September, 1654, Cromwell announced that the Government had called together “persons of as great ability and great interest as are in the nation, to consider how the laws might be made plain and short, and less chargeable to the people,” and that they had prepared several bills. The most important of these schemes was the ordinance for the regulation of the Court of Chancery, published August 21, 1654, and confirmed by Parliament in 1656. It contained a reduced scale of fees, and embodied24, according to modern lawyers, many valuable reforms. Contemporary practitioners25, such as Whitelocke, held that there was much in the new procedure which it was impossible or undesirable26 to carry out, but with some subsequent modifications27 it was duly put in force.
Cromwell was equally zealous28 for the reform of the Criminal Law. In April, 1653, as soon as he 349had turned out the Long Parliament, he gave pardons to all prisoners sentenced to death except those guilty of murder. His object was to make the laws “conformable to the just and righteous laws of God.” Some English laws, he told Parliament, were “wicked and abominable29 laws.”
“To hang a man for six and eightpence and I know not what—to hang for a trifle and acquit30 murder, is in the ministration of the law through ill framing of it.... To see men lose their lives for petty matters is a thing God will reckon, and I wish it may not be laid on this nation a day longer than you have opportunity to give a remedy.”
To carry out these schemes required not merely the help of lawyers to devise them, but the co-operation of Parliament to make them law. The Protector’s first Parliament spent all its time in constitutional debates, and did nothing to reform the Law. His second, busy most of its existence in the like manner, discussed the bills introduced by the Government for the establishment of county registers and local courts, but allowed them to drop. It completed the abolition32 of feudal33 incidents which the Long Parliament had commenced, and which Charles II.’s Parliament finally placed on the statute book, but it left the harshness and cruelty of the criminal code for the nineteenth century to redress34.
The “Reformation of Manners” was an object in which the Protector obtained more support from Parliament. All Puritans were eager for it, and the Long Parliament had made a beginning by acts 350enjoining the stricter observance of Sunday, punishing swearing with greater severity, and making adultery a capital offence. Of the Protector’s ordinances, one declared duelling “unpleasing to God, unbecoming Christians36, and contrary to all good order and government.” A person sending a challenge was to be bound over to keep the peace for six months, and a duellist37 who killed his opponent was to be tried for murder. A second ordinance supplemented the act against swearing by special provisions for the punishment of carmen, porters, and watermen, “who are very ordinarily drunk and do blaspheme.” A third forbade cock-fighting, because it often led to disturbances38 of the peace and was accompanied by gaming and drunkenness. A fourth suppressed horse-racing for six months, not because of its accompaniments, but because the Cavaliers made use of race-meetings “to carry on their pernicious designs.”
When Cromwell’s second Parliament met, he appealed to it to further the work.
“I am confident,” said he, “our liberty and prosperity depend upon reformation. Make it a shame to see men bold in sin and profaneness40 and God will bless you. Truly these things do respect the souls of men, and the spirits, which are the men. The mind is the man. If that be kept pure the man signifies somewhat; if not, I would very fain see what difference there is betwixt him and a beast. He hath only some activity to do some more mischief41.”
Parliament answered by confirming the ordinances 351against duelling, swearing, and cock-fighting, and passing similar acts of its own. One was directed against the vagrants42 and “idle, dissolute” persons who abounded43 in all parts of the country. Amongst them, “the bigots of that iron time” included fiddlers and minstrels taken “playing or making music” in taverns44, who were declared punishable as “rogues and vagabonds.” A second act was aimed at the professional gamesters about London, who made it their trade “to cheat and debauch45 the young gentry46.” A third act enforced the Puritan Sabbath in all its severity. On that day, no shops might be opened and no manufactures carried on. No travelling was to be allowed, except in cases of necessity attested47 by a certificate from a justice, and persons “vainly and profanely48 walking on the day aforesaid” were to be punished. Sunday closing was the rule for all inns and alehouses, though the dressing49 or sale of victuals50 in a moderate way, “for the use of such as cannot otherwise be provided for,” was permitted.
Much of this drastic legislation was ineffective. In some cases it went far beyond the feeling of the times. Juries steadily51 refused to convict persons charged with adultery under the act of 1650, and it is doubtful whether the capital penalty was ever actually inflicted52. In many places, the local authorities were indifferent or timid. “We may have good laws,” said the Protector, “against the common country disorders53 that are everywhere, yet who is to execute them?” Hardly the country justices. “A justice of the peace shall by most be wondered 352at as an owl54, if he go but one step out of the ordinary course of his fellow justices in the reformation of these things.” Hence the value in Cromwell’s eyes of the Major-Generals established throughout England in the autumn of 1655. They were not simply military officers charged to keep an eye on the political enemies of the government, but police magistrates55 required to repress crime and immorality57 in their respective districts. Pride put a stop to bear-baiting in London by killing59 the bears, and to cock-fighting by wringing60 the necks of the cocks. Whalley boasted, after he had been a few months in office, that there were no vagrants left in Nottinghamshire, and in every county his colleagues suppressed unnecessary alehouses by the score. Nor was it only humble61 offenders62 who were struck at: neither the rich nor the noble escaped the impartial63 severity of these military reformers. “Let them be who they may that are debauched,” said Cromwell, “it is for the glory of God that nothing of outward consideration should save them from a just punishment and reformation.” He claimed that the establishment of the Major-Generals had been “more effectual towards the discountenancing of vice66 and the settling of religion than anything done these fifty years.” Their rule ended in the spring of 1657, and Cromwell feared that the work of reformation would come to a stop. But the experiment had infused new vigour into the local administration, which lasted as long as the Protectorate endured.
In spite of these restrictive laws, it must not be imagined that there was any general suppression of 353public amusements or sports. “Lawful and laudable recreations” even Puritans encouraged. In 1647, when the Long Parliament prohibited the observation of Christmas and of saints’ days in general, it passed an act giving servants, apprentices67, and scholars a whole holiday once a month, for “recreation and relaxation68 from their constant and ordinary labours.” The Protector himself hunted, hawked69, and played bowls, just as if he had been a Royalist country-gentleman. He told Parliament that he suppressed race-meetings not because they were unlawful, but because they were temporarily inexpedient. With all his zeal for Sunday closing, the suppression of unnecessary alehouses, and the punishment of drunkenness, it never occurred to him to stop the sale of drink altogether. He drank wine and small beer himself, and quoted as illogical and absurd “the man who would keep all wine out of the country lest men should be drunk.” The idea was contrary to his conception of civil freedom. “It will be found,” he said, “an unjust and unwise jealousy70 to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon a supposition he may abuse it. When he doth abuse it, judge.”
In the moral crusade he had undertaken, the Protector relied not so much on restrictive legislation as on the influence of education and religion. It was to their defective71 education that he attributed much of the misconduct of the “profane39 nobility and gentry of this nation.” “We send our children to France,” he said, “before they know God or good manners, and they return with all the licentiousness72 354of that nation. Neither care taken to educate them before they go, or to keep them in good order when they come home.” As a party, the Puritans showed a great zeal for education, and the pamphlet literature of the time is full of schemes for its reformation or extension. In these discussions, the modern conception of the duty of the State with regard to education gradually took shape. While the plan of education which Milton published in 1644 was intended only for “a select body of our noble and gentle youth,” in 1660, he advocated the foundation of schools in all parts of the nation, in order to spread knowledge, civility, and culture to “all extreme parts which now lie numb73 and neglected.” In his Oceana, Harrington asserted that the formation of future citizens by means of a system of free schools was one of the chief duties of a republic.
As usually happens, practical men lagged behind the theorists, but during the Commonwealth74 a portion of the revenue of confiscated75 Church lands was systematically76 devoted to the maintenance of schools and schoolmasters. The Protector pursued the same policy, and publicly declared when appropriating a grant for educational purposes in Scotland, that it was “a duty not only to have the Gospel set up, but schools for children erected77 and maintenance provided therefor.” His government undertook the task of ejecting incapable78 schoolmasters and of licensing79 persons fit to teach. It made the proper administration of educational endowments in general a part of its business, and one of Cromwell’s earliest 355ordinances appointed fresh commissioners81 for the visitation of the universities, and established a permanent board of visitors for the great public schools. Personally, he was far more interested in the reorganisation of the universities than in primary or secondary education. He vigorously defended them against the attacks of the zealots of the Little Parliament who threatened their disendowment or abolition. In 1651, he had been elected Chancellor82 of Oxford83, and held that office till July, 1657, when he was succeeded by his son Richard, signalizing his connection with the university by the foundation of a new readership in Divinity, and the presentation of some Greek manuscripts to the Bodleian. He appointed John Owen his Vice-Chancellor, under whose efficient rule Oxford prospered84 greatly. Even Clarendon is forced to admit that in spite of visitations and purgings the university “yielded a harvest of extraordinary good and sound knowledge in all parts of learning.”
The Protector also endeavoured to found a new university in the north of England. There was a widespread feeling that the two existing universities were not enough for the country. In 1641, petitions were presented praying for the foundation of a university at York or Manchester, and later it was proposed to establish one in London. In 1651, Cromwell strongly recommended the endowment of a school or college for all the sciences and literature, out of the property of the Dean and Chapter of Durham. The scheme, he wrote, was “a matter of great concernment and importance, 356as that which by the blessing85 of God may conduce to the promoting of learning and piety86 in these poor, rude, ignorant parts,” and bring forth in time “such happy and glorious fruits as are scarce thought of or foreseen.” But Parliament did nothing, and it was reserved for Oliver himself to found a college at Durham in 1657, which throve greatly until the Restoration put an end to its existence.
The Protector encouraged learned men and men of letters. With his relative, the poet Waller, he was on terms of considerable intimacy87; he allowed Hobbes and Cowley, both Royalists, to return from exile, and he released Cleveland when he was arrested by one of the Major-Generals, although Cleveland’s fame rested mainly on satires88 against the Puritans. Milton and Marvell were in Cromwell’s service as Latin secretaries, and he also employed Marvell as tutor to one of his wards64. Brian Walton was assisted in the printing of his Polyglot89 Bible, and Archbishop Ussher was honoured by a public funeral.
But both learning and education were, in Cromwell’s eyes, inseparably connected with religion. When he accepted the Chancellorship90 he congratulated Oxford on the learning and piety “so marvellously springing up there,” adding a hope that it might be “useful to that great and glorious kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Thinking that the chief function of the universities was to provide ministers for the Church, he held piety more important than learning. “I believe,” he told his Parliament, five years later, “that God hath for the ministry91 a very great seed 357in the youth of the universities, who, instead of studying books, study their own heart.” Cromwell’s desire to develop higher education, and his defence of the universities against their assailants, were the natural consequences of his resolve to maintain a national Church against those who wished to sever23 the connection between Church and State. On this question, the army, as a whole, supported Cromwell. In the “Agreement of the People,” presented to Parliament in 1649, the army had demanded that “the Christian35 religion be held forth and recommended as the public profession of this nation,” and it included “the instructing of the people thereunto, so it be not compulsive,” and “the maintaining able teachers for that end,” amongst the legitimate92 functions of the government. These principles had been embodied in the “Instrument of Government,” and the duty of devising means to carry them out fell to the Protector.
The first question to be decided93 was the question of the maintenance of the clergy94. The Little Parliament had proposed to abolish tithes95 altogether, and in the “Instrument of Government” the substitution of some other provision was suggested. As no satisfactory scheme for the commutation of tithes could be devised, Cromwell felt bound to preserve them. “For my part,” said he, “I should think I were very treacherous96 if I took away tithes till I see the legislative power settle maintenance to ministers another way.” To abolish tithes before that was done, would be “to cut the throats 358of the ministers.” Under the Protectorate, as under the rule of the Long Parliament, it was the permanent policy of the government to increase the income of the parochial clergy. The endowments of poor livings were systematically augmented97 out of the fund supplied by episcopal lands and the fines imposed on royalist delinquents98.
The basis of the Protector’s plan for the reorganisation of the Church was the scheme which John Owen had presented to the Long Parliament in 1652. On March 20, 1654, Cromwell issued an ordinance “for the approbation99 of public preachers,” which appointed thirty-eight commissioners, lay and clerical, to sit permanently100 in London and examine into the qualifications of all candidates for livings. Their business was to certify101 that they found the candidate “to be a person for the grace of God in him, his holy and unblamable conversation, as also for his knowledge and utterance102, able and fit to preach the Gospel,” and without obtaining this certificate no one was in future to be admitted to a benefice. The commissioners were not empowered to impose any doctrinal tests, and it was expressly declared that approbation by them “is not intended nor shall be construed103 to be any solemn or sacred setting apart of any person to any particular office in the ministry.” All that the “Triers” undertook to do was to see that none but fit and proper persons should receive “the public stipend104 and maintenance” guaranteed by the State.
After provision for the appointment of the fit, came provision for the elimination105 of the unfit. A 359second ordinance, issued in August, 1654, appointed local commissioners in every county to remove scandalous and inefficient106 ministers and schoolmasters within its limits. Amongst the reasons which justified107 ejection were included not merely immoral58 conduct or Popish and blasphemous108 opinions, but disaffection to the government and the use of the Prayer-book. In September, the work was completed by a third ordinance for the union of small and the division of large and populous109 parishes.
Cromwell’s speeches are full of expressions of satisfaction at the results that these ordinances produced. He was proud of the character of his clergy. “In the times of Episcopacy,” said he, “what pitiful certificates served to make a man a minister. If any man understood Latin or Greek, he was sure to be admitted.” But now, “neither Mr. parson nor doctor in the university hath been reckoned stamp enough by those that made these approbations, though I can say they have a great esteem110 for learning.” The rule with the Triers was, “that they must not admit a man unless they were able to discern something of the grace of God in him.”
He was equally proud of the comprehensiveness of the Church. There were “three sorts of godly men,” that is, three sects111, to be provided for in it: the Presbyterians, the Independents, and the Baptists. The Triers were drawn112 impartially113 from all three bodies, and “though a man be of any of those three judgments114, if he have the root of the matter in him he may be admitted.” Summing up the 360work of the Triers and Ejectors, he emphatically declared: “There hath not been such a service to England since the Christian religion was perfect in England.”
In the main, Cromwell’s satisfaction was justified. Both bodies of commissioners did the work they were charged to do with fidelity115. Some good men were expelled merely for royalism or using the liturgy116, but the bulk of those who lost their livings deserved their fate, and those admitted were generally fit for their office. The Presbyterian Richard Baxter, an opponent on principle of Cromwell and his works, felt bound to praise the commissioners:
“To give them their due, they did abundance of good to the Church. They saved many a congregation from ignorant, ungodly, drunken teachers. That sort of men that intended no more in the ministry than to say a sermon as readers say their common prayers, and so patch up a few good words together to talk the people asleep with on Sunday, and all the rest of the week go with them to the alehouse and harden them in sin; and that sort of ministers that either preached against a holy life, or preached as men that were never acquainted with it; all those that used the ministry but as a common trade to live by, and were never likely to convert a soul:—all these they usually rejected, and in their stead admitted of any that were able, serious preachers, and lived a godly life, of what tolerable opinion soever they were. So that though they were many of them somewhat partial for Independents, Separatists, Fifth Monarchy117-men, and Anabaptists, and against the Prelatists and Arminians, yet so great was the benefit above the hurt to the Church, 361that many thousands of souls blessed God for the faithful ministers whom they let in.”
Outside the bounds of the national Church, the constitution promised liberty of worship to “all such as do profess22 faith in God by Jesus Christ.” Anglicanism and Catholicism, however, labelled Prelacy and Popery, and regarded as idolatrous or politically dangerous, were excepted by name from this promise. In practice, although the use of the liturgy had been prohibited since 1645, many orthodox Anglicans had contrived118 to retain their livings, sometimes using portions of the Prayer-book from memory, in other cases confining themselves to preaching and to the administration of the sacraments. Many ejected ministers gathered little congregations in private houses, and were not molested119 by the Government. The royalist insurrection of 1655 led to greater severity, and in October, 1655, Cromwell issued a proclamation prohibiting the employment of the ejected clergy as chaplains or schoolmasters. It was meant as a warning, rather than to be rigidly120 enforced, and the promise was made that any man whose “godliness and good affection to the present government” were capable of proof should be treated with tenderness. Congregations of Royalists continued to meet in London throughout the Protectorate, and the Government winked121 at their use of Anglican services and ceremonies. But whenever there was a new plot discovered, their meetings were liable to be interrupted by the soldiery.
The case of the Catholics was harder than that of the Anglicans, although their lot was less hard than 362it had been. In 1650, the acts imposing122 fines on recusants for not coming to church were repealed123, and there were persistent20 rumours124 that the Independents were about to make proposals for their toleration. In June, 1654, a Catholic priest was executed in London for no crime except being a priest. Cromwell, it is said, wished to pardon him, but was prevented by the opposition125 of his Council. In 1656, Mazarin urged Cromwell to grant toleration to the Catholics.
“I cannot,” answered the Protector, “as to a public declaration of my sense on that point; although I believe that under my government your Eminency on behalf of the Catholics has less cause for complaint than under the Parliament. For I have of some and those very many had compassion126, making a difference. I have plucked many out of the fire,—the raging fire of persecution127, which did tyrannise over their consciences and encroach by arbitrariness of power over their estates. And herein it is my purpose, as soon as I can remove impediments and some weights that press me down, to make a further progress, and discharge my promise to your Eminence128.”
The Protector’s purpose was never fulfilled. Public opinion in England was too hostile to the Catholics to permit of their legal toleration, and the same thing happened when Cromwell wished to readmit the Jews to England. In November, 1655, Manasseh Ben Israel, a learned Portuguese129 Jew, settled in Amsterdam as a physician, petitioned the Protector to allow the Jews to reside and trade in England, and to grant them the free exercise of their religion. 363Cromwell, who was personally in favour of their petition, called together a committee of divines, merchants, and lawyers to confer with the Council on the question. The Protector himself took part in the conferences. “I never heard a man speak so well,” said one of his hearers, but the divines feared for their religion and the merchants for their trade, so the legal toleration the Jews asked for was not granted. Cromwell, however, granted them leave to meet in private houses for devotion, and showed them such encouragement and favour that their resettlement in England really dates from the Protectorate.
The Protector’s tolerant nature showed itself again in his dealings with the Quakers. Under the Commonwealth, the Quakers were persecuted130 and imprisoned131, not simply because their opinions were regarded as blasphemous, but because they were held dangerous to the public peace. Their attacks on the clergy and their misconduct and brawling132 in churches gave colour to these accusations133. Under the Protectorate, this persecution continued, till it was mitigated134 by the intervention135 of the Protector and his Council. In 1654, George Fox had a long interview with the Protector. “I spake much to him,” writes Fox, “of truth; and a great discourse136 I had with him about religion, wherein he carried himself very moderately.” The earnestness and enthusiasm of Fox impressed Cromwell greatly. “As I spake, he would several times say, it was very good, and it was truth. And as I was turning to go away, he catches me by the hand, and with tears in his eyes, said: ‘Come 364again to my house; for if thou and I were but an hour of a day together we should be nearer one to the other’; adding, that he wished me no more ill than he did to his own soul.” Convinced that the Quakers were not inclined to “take up a carnal sword” against his government, the Protector ordered Fox to be set free, and in October, 1656, he released a number of imprisoned Quakers. Again in November, 1657, he issued a general circular to all justices in England and Wales, stating that though he was far from countenancing65 the mistaken practices or principles of the Quakers, yet as those proceeded “rather from a spirit of error than a malicious137 opposition to authority,” they were “to be pitied, and dealt with as persons under a strong delusion,” to be discharged from prison, and to be treated in the future with tenderness rather than severity.
Yet tolerant as Cromwell was, there were limits to his toleration, and certain opinions he regarded as outside the pale. The Instrument refused liberty to “such as under the profession of Christ hold forth and practise licentiousness” and the Petition and Advice added to them those who “published horrible blasphemies138.”
“As for profane persons,” said Cromwell, “blasphemers, such as preach sedition139; the contentious140 railers, evil-speakers, who seek by evil words to corrupt141 good manners; persons of loose conversation—punishment from the civil magistrate56 ought to meet with these. Because if they pretend conscience; yet walking disorderly and not according but contrary to the Gospel, and even to natural lights, they are judged by all. And their sins 365being open make them subjects of the magistrate’s sword, who ought not to bear the sword in vain. The discipline of the army was such that a man would not be suffered to remain there, of whom we could take notice that he was guilty of such practices as these.”
A well-ordered state, thought Cromwell, should in this respect resemble an army, but, even with regard to opinions which he held blasphemous, he was not willing to suffer the extreme penalties to be inflicted which the law sanctioned and the voice of most Puritans demanded.
In 1656, James Naylor, an old soldier who was one of Fox’s early disciples143, allowed himself to be hailed by his enthusiastic followers144 as a new Messiah, and was consequently thrown into prison as a blasphemer. The Parliament then sitting assumed judicial145 powers, and, after many days’ debate, voted that he should be branded, pilloried146, whipped, and imprisoned at pleasure. The Protector vainly pointed80 out to the House that it was going beyond its powers, and all the influence of the Government was required to save Naylor from capital punishment. What the Protector would probably have done if the punishment of Naylor had been left to him was shown by his treatment of John Biddle. Unitarians were by implication excluded from toleration by the Petition and Advice. In 1655, Biddle was prosecuted147 under the Blasphemy148 Act of 1648, and would undoubtedly149 have been sentenced to death. The Protector was petitioned to interfere150, and replied by soundly rating the petitioners151. “If it be true,” said he, “what Mr. Biddle holds, to wit, that our Lord and Saviour152 366Jesus Christ is but a creature, then all those who worship Him with the worship due to God are idolaters.” No Christian, was his conclusion, could give any countenance153 to such a person, but nevertheless he stopped the trial by issuing a warrant for Biddle’s confinement154 at St. Mary’s Castle in the Scilly Islands. Biddle’s life was undoubtedly saved by this intervention.
In spite of the liberality and comprehensiveness of Cromwell’s ecclesiastical policy, there were several sections of Puritans whom it failed to satisfy. Some Independents opposed any established Church, and denied that the State ought in any way to meddle155 with religious matters. The most distinguished156 adherents157 of this view were Vane and Milton. The magistrate, said Milton, had no coercive power at all in matters of religion. It was not his business “to settle religion,” as it was popularly termed, “by appointing either what we shall believe in divine things or practise in religious.” His duty was simply to defend the Church. “Had he once learned not further to concern himself with Church affairs, half his labour might be spared and the Commonwealth better tended.”
Another section, in the name of liberty of conscience, denied the State any right to punish blasphemous or immoral doctrines159. “They tell the Magistrate,” said the Protector, “that he hath nothing to do with men holding such notions; these are matters of conscience and opinion; they are matters of religion; what hath the Magistrate to do with these things? He is to look to the outward man, not to the inward.” Cromwell’s own position with 367regard to dangerous opinions was that, if they were but opinions, they were best left alone. “Notions will hurt none but those that have them.” When they developed into actions, it was a different matter, and especially when they led to rebellion and bloodshed. “Our practice hath been,” he said in 1656, “to let all this nation see that whatever pretensions160 to religion would continue quiet and peaceable, they should enjoy conscience and liberty to themselves.” But to be quiet and peaceable was the indispensable condition. Fifth Monarchy preachers were frequently arrested for sermons against the government, both before and after the attempted rising of the Fifth Monarchy men in the spring of 1657. On one occasion, some of the congregation of John Rogers, one of their preachers, came to Whitehall to argue with the Protector, complaining that their pastor161 was suffering for religion’s sake. Cromwell answered that Rogers suffered as a railer, a seducer162, and a stirrer-up of sedition: that to call suffering for evil-doing suffering for the Gospel was to make Christ the patron of such things. “God is my witness,” he concluded, “no man in England doth suffer for the testimony163 of Jesus. Nay142 do not lift up your hands and your eyes, for there is no man in England which suffers so. There is such liberty—I wish it be not abused, that no man in England suffereth for Christ.”
It was true. Cromwell’s was the most tolerant government which had existed in England since the Reformation. In practice, he was more lenient164 than the laws, and more liberal-minded than most of his 368advisers. The drawback was, that even the more limited amount of religious freedom which the laws guaranteed seemed too much to the great majority of the nation. Englishmen—even Puritans—had not yet learnt the lesson of toleration. “Is there not yet,” said Cromwell in 1655, “a strange itch165 upon the spirits of men? Nothing will satisfy them unless they can press their finger upon their brethren’s consciences to pinch them there.” To prevent this, was, he avowed166, his task as a ruler.
“If the whole power was in the Presbyterians, they would force all men their way, and the Fifth Monarchy men would do the same, and so the Rebaptised persons; and his work was to keep several judgments in peace, because, like men falling out in the streets, they would run their heads one against another; he was as a constable167 to part them and keep them in peace.”
To induce these jarring sects to co-operate was more difficult, but that also Cromwell attempted to do. In the Puritan Church, which he organised, no agreement about ritual or discipline or doctrine158 was required, save only the acceptance of the main principles of Christianity. It was not so much a Church as a confederation of Christian sects working together for righteousness, under the control of the State. The absence of agreement in details and of uniformity in externals was no defect in Cromwell’s eyes. To him it was rather a merit. “All that believe,” he had once written, “have the real unity31 which is more glorious because inward and spiritual.”[8]
369The originality168 of the Protector’s ecclesiastical policy lay in this attempt to combine the two principles of toleration and comprehension. It reflected his character. His tolerance169 was not the result of scepticism or indifference170, but arose from respect for the consciences of others. The comprehensiveness of his Church was the outcome of his large-hearted sympathy with every form of Puritanism. To local magistrates in local religious quarrels, he enjoined171 “a charity as large as the whole flock of Christ”; and the same spirit inspired his exhortation172 to the Little Parliament.
“Have a care of the whole flock. Love the sheep. Love the lambs. Love all; tend all; cherish and countenance all in all things that are good. And if the poorest Christian, the most mistaken Christian, shall desire to live peaceably and quietly under you: I say if any desire but to live a life of godliness and honesty, let him be protected.”
Mr. Greatheart, under whose protection all pilgrims to the Celestial173 City walked securely—Feeble-Mind and Ready-to-Halt, as well as Valiant-for-Truth,—is but an allegorical representation of what Cromwell was to the Puritans. Cromwell’s ecclesiastical system passed away with its author, but no man exerted more influence on the religious development of England. Thanks to him, Nonconformity had time to take root and to grow so strong in England that the storm which followed the Restoration had no power to root it up.
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7 legislative | |
n.立法机构,立法权;adj.立法的,有立法权的 | |
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8 renown | |
n.声誉,名望 | |
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9 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
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10 statute | |
n.成文法,法令,法规;章程,规则,条例 | |
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11 annulled | |
v.宣告无效( annul的过去式和过去分词 );取消;使消失;抹去 | |
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12 codifying | |
v.把(法律)编成法典( codify的现在分词 ) | |
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13 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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14 treasury | |
n.宝库;国库,金库;文库 | |
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15 dealing | |
n.经商方法,待人态度 | |
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16 proceedings | |
n.进程,过程,议程;诉讼(程序);公报 | |
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17 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
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18 subversion | |
n.颠覆,破坏 | |
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19 persistently | |
ad.坚持地;固执地 | |
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20 persistent | |
adj.坚持不懈的,执意的;持续的 | |
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21 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
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22 profess | |
v.声称,冒称,以...为业,正式接受入教,表明信仰 | |
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23 sever | |
v.切开,割开;断绝,中断 | |
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24 embodied | |
v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 );象征;包括;包含 | |
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25 practitioners | |
n.习艺者,实习者( practitioner的名词复数 );从业者(尤指医师) | |
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26 undesirable | |
adj.不受欢迎的,不良的,不合意的,讨厌的;n.不受欢迎的人,不良分子 | |
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27 modifications | |
n.缓和( modification的名词复数 );限制;更改;改变 | |
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28 zealous | |
adj.狂热的,热心的 | |
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29 abominable | |
adj.可厌的,令人憎恶的 | |
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30 acquit | |
vt.宣判无罪;(oneself)使(自己)表现出 | |
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31 unity | |
n.团结,联合,统一;和睦,协调 | |
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32 abolition | |
n.废除,取消 | |
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33 feudal | |
adj.封建的,封地的,领地的 | |
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34 redress | |
n.赔偿,救济,矫正;v.纠正,匡正,革除 | |
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35 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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36 Christians | |
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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37 duellist | |
n.决斗者;[体]重剑运动员 | |
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38 disturbances | |
n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 );打扰;困扰;障碍 | |
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39 profane | |
adj.亵神的,亵渎的;vt.亵渎,玷污 | |
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40 profaneness | |
n.渎神,污秽 | |
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41 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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42 vagrants | |
流浪者( vagrant的名词复数 ); 无业游民; 乞丐; 无赖 | |
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43 abounded | |
v.大量存在,充满,富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44 taverns | |
n.小旅馆,客栈,酒馆( tavern的名词复数 ) | |
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45 debauch | |
v.使堕落,放纵 | |
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46 gentry | |
n.绅士阶级,上层阶级 | |
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47 attested | |
adj.经检验证明无病的,经检验证明无菌的v.证明( attest的过去式和过去分词 );证实;声称…属实;使宣誓 | |
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48 profanely | |
adv.渎神地,凡俗地 | |
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49 dressing | |
n.(食物)调料;包扎伤口的用品,敷料 | |
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50 victuals | |
n.食物;食品 | |
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51 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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52 inflicted | |
把…强加给,使承受,遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53 disorders | |
n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 );凌乱;骚乱;(身心、机能)失调 | |
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54 owl | |
n.猫头鹰,枭 | |
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55 magistrates | |
地方法官,治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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56 magistrate | |
n.地方行政官,地方法官,治安官 | |
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57 immorality | |
n. 不道德, 无道义 | |
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58 immoral | |
adj.不道德的,淫荡的,荒淫的,有伤风化的 | |
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59 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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60 wringing | |
淋湿的,湿透的 | |
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61 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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62 offenders | |
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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63 impartial | |
adj.(in,to)公正的,无偏见的 | |
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64 wards | |
区( ward的名词复数 ); 病房; 受监护的未成年者; 被人照顾或控制的状态 | |
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65 countenancing | |
v.支持,赞同,批准( countenance的现在分词 ) | |
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66 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
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67 apprentices | |
学徒,徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 ) | |
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68 relaxation | |
n.松弛,放松;休息;消遣;娱乐 | |
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69 hawked | |
通过叫卖主动兜售(hawk的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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70 jealousy | |
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌 | |
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71 defective | |
adj.有毛病的,有问题的,有瑕疵的 | |
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72 licentiousness | |
n.放肆,无法无天 | |
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73 numb | |
adj.麻木的,失去感觉的;v.使麻木 | |
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74 commonwealth | |
n.共和国,联邦,共同体 | |
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75 confiscated | |
没收,充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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76 systematically | |
adv.有系统地 | |
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77 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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78 incapable | |
adj.无能力的,不能做某事的 | |
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79 licensing | |
v.批准,许可,颁发执照( license的现在分词 ) | |
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80 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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81 commissioners | |
n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 );长官;委员;政府部门的长官 | |
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82 chancellor | |
n.(英)大臣;法官;(德、奥)总理;大学校长 | |
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83 Oxford | |
n.牛津(英国城市) | |
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84 prospered | |
成功,兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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85 blessing | |
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿 | |
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86 piety | |
n.虔诚,虔敬 | |
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87 intimacy | |
n.熟悉,亲密,密切关系,亲昵的言行 | |
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88 satires | |
讽刺,讥讽( satire的名词复数 ); 讽刺作品 | |
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89 polyglot | |
adj.通晓数种语言的;n.通晓多种语言的人 | |
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90 chancellorship | |
长官的职位或任期 | |
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91 ministry | |
n.(政府的)部;牧师 | |
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92 legitimate | |
adj.合法的,合理的,合乎逻辑的;v.使合法 | |
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93 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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94 clergy | |
n.[总称]牧师,神职人员 | |
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95 tithes | |
n.(宗教捐税)什一税,什一的教区税,小部分( tithe的名词复数 ) | |
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96 treacherous | |
adj.不可靠的,有暗藏的危险的;adj.背叛的,背信弃义的 | |
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97 Augmented | |
adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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98 delinquents | |
n.(尤指青少年)有过失的人,违法的人( delinquent的名词复数 ) | |
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99 approbation | |
n.称赞;认可 | |
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100 permanently | |
adv.永恒地,永久地,固定不变地 | |
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101 certify | |
vt.证明,证实;发证书(或执照)给 | |
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102 utterance | |
n.用言语表达,话语,言语 | |
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103 construed | |
v.解释(陈述、行为等)( construe的过去式和过去分词 );翻译,作句法分析 | |
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104 stipend | |
n.薪贴;奖学金;养老金 | |
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105 elimination | |
n.排除,消除,消灭 | |
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106 inefficient | |
adj.效率低的,无效的 | |
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107 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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108 blasphemous | |
adj.亵渎神明的,不敬神的 | |
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109 populous | |
adj.人口稠密的,人口众多的 | |
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110 esteem | |
n.尊敬,尊重;vt.尊重,敬重;把…看作 | |
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111 sects | |
n.宗派,教派( sect的名词复数 ) | |
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112 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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113 impartially | |
adv.公平地,无私地 | |
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114 judgments | |
判断( judgment的名词复数 ); 鉴定; 评价; 审判 | |
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115 fidelity | |
n.忠诚,忠实;精确 | |
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116 liturgy | |
n.礼拜仪式 | |
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117 monarchy | |
n.君主,最高统治者;君主政体,君主国 | |
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118 contrived | |
adj.不自然的,做作的;虚构的 | |
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119 molested | |
v.骚扰( molest的过去式和过去分词 );干扰;调戏;猥亵 | |
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120 rigidly | |
adv.刻板地,僵化地 | |
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121 winked | |
v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 );递眼色(表示友好或高兴等);(指光)闪烁;闪亮 | |
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122 imposing | |
adj.使人难忘的,壮丽的,堂皇的,雄伟的 | |
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123 repealed | |
撤销,废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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124 rumours | |
n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 );风闻;谣言;谣传 | |
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125 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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126 compassion | |
n.同情,怜悯 | |
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127 persecution | |
n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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128 eminence | |
n.卓越,显赫;高地,高处;名家 | |
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129 Portuguese | |
n.葡萄牙人;葡萄牙语 | |
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130 persecuted | |
(尤指宗教或政治信仰的)迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 ); 烦扰,困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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131 imprisoned | |
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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132 brawling | |
n.争吵,喧嚷 | |
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133 accusations | |
n.指责( accusation的名词复数 );指控;控告;(被告发、控告的)罪名 | |
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134 mitigated | |
v.减轻,缓和( mitigate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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135 intervention | |
n.介入,干涉,干预 | |
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136 discourse | |
n.论文,演说;谈话;话语;vi.讲述,著述 | |
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137 malicious | |
adj.有恶意的,心怀恶意的 | |
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138 blasphemies | |
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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139 sedition | |
n.煽动叛乱 | |
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140 contentious | |
adj.好辩的,善争吵的 | |
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141 corrupt | |
v.贿赂,收买;adj.腐败的,贪污的 | |
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142 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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143 disciples | |
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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144 followers | |
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件 | |
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145 judicial | |
adj.司法的,法庭的,审判的,明断的,公正的 | |
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146 pilloried | |
v.使受公众嘲笑( pillory的过去式和过去分词 );将…示众;给…上颈手枷;处…以枷刑 | |
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147 prosecuted | |
a.被起诉的 | |
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148 blasphemy | |
n.亵渎,渎神 | |
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149 undoubtedly | |
adv.确实地,无疑地 | |
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150 interfere | |
v.(in)干涉,干预;(with)妨碍,打扰 | |
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151 petitioners | |
n.请求人,请愿人( petitioner的名词复数 );离婚案原告 | |
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152 saviour | |
n.拯救者,救星 | |
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153 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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154 confinement | |
n.幽禁,拘留,监禁;分娩;限制,局限 | |
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155 meddle | |
v.干预,干涉,插手 | |
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156 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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157 adherents | |
n.支持者,拥护者( adherent的名词复数 );党羽;徒子徒孙 | |
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158 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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159 doctrines | |
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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160 pretensions | |
自称( pretension的名词复数 ); 自命不凡; 要求; 权力 | |
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161 pastor | |
n.牧师,牧人 | |
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162 seducer | |
n.诱惑者,骗子,玩弄女性的人 | |
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163 testimony | |
n.证词;见证,证明 | |
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164 lenient | |
adj.宽大的,仁慈的 | |
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165 itch | |
n.痒,渴望,疥癣;vi.发痒,渴望 | |
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166 avowed | |
adj.公开声明的,承认的v.公开声明,承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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167 constable | |
n.(英国)警察,警官 | |
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168 originality | |
n.创造力,独创性;新颖 | |
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169 tolerance | |
n.宽容;容忍,忍受;耐药力;公差 | |
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170 indifference | |
n.不感兴趣,不关心,冷淡,不在乎 | |
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171 enjoined | |
v.命令( enjoin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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172 exhortation | |
n.劝告,规劝 | |
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173 celestial | |
adj.天体的;天上的 | |
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