What is a persecutor? He whose wounded pride and fanaticism8 irritate princes and magistrates10 into fury against innocent men, whose only crime is that of being of a different opinion. Impudent11 man! you have worshipped God; you have preached and practised virtue12; you have served and assisted man; you have protected the orphan13, have succored14 the poor; you have changed deserts, in which slaves dragged on a miserable15 existence, into fertile districts peopled with happy families; but I have discovered that you despise me, and have never read my controversial work. I will, therefore, seek the confessor of the prime minister, or the magistrate9; I will show them, with outstretched neck and twisted mouth, that you hold an erroneous opinion in relation to the cells in which the Septuagint was studied; that you have even spoken disrespectfully for these ten years past of Tobit’s dog, which you assert to have been a spaniel, whilst I maintain that it was a greyhound. I will denounce you as the enemy of God and man! Such is the language of the persecutor; and if these words do not precisely16 issue from his lips, they are engraven on his heart with the graver of fanaticism steeped in the gall17 of envy.
It was thus that the Jesuit Letellier dared to persecute18 Cardinal19 de Noailles, and that Jurieu persecuted20 Bayle. When the persecution21 of the Protestants commenced in France, it was not Francis I., nor Henry II., nor Francis II., who sought out these unfortunate people, who hardened themselves against them with reflective bitterness, and who delivered them to the flames in the spirit of vengeance22. Francis I. was too much engaged with the Duchess d’étampes; Henry II., with his ancient Diana, and Francis II. was too much a child. Who, then, commenced these persecutions? Jealous priests, who enlisted23 in their service the prejudices of magistrates and the policy of ministers.
If these monarchs24 had not been deceived, if they had foreseen that these persecutions would produce half a century of civil war, and that the two parts of the nation would mutually exterminate25 each other, they would have extinguished with their tears the first piles which they allowed to be lighted. Oh, God of mercy! if any man can resemble that malignant26 being who is described as actually employed in the destruction of Your works, is it not the persecutor?
点击收听单词发音
1 persecutor | |
n. 迫害者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 Christians | |
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 resentment | |
n.怨愤,忿恨 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 seduced | |
诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 ); 勾引; 诱使堕落; 使入迷 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 intrigue | |
vt.激起兴趣,迷住;vi.耍阴谋;n.阴谋,密谋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 cabal | |
n.政治阴谋小集团 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 blasphemy | |
n.亵渎,渎神 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 fanaticism | |
n.狂热,盲信 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 magistrate | |
n.地方行政官,地方法官,治安官 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 magistrates | |
地方法官,治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 impudent | |
adj.鲁莽的,卑鄙的,厚颜无耻的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 orphan | |
n.孤儿;adj.无父母的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 succored | |
v.给予帮助( succor的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 gall | |
v.使烦恼,使焦躁,难堪;n.磨难 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 persecute | |
vt.迫害,虐待;纠缠,骚扰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 cardinal | |
n.(天主教的)红衣主教;adj.首要的,基本的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 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 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 persecution | |
n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 enlisted | |
adj.应募入伍的v.(使)入伍, (使)参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 );获得(帮助或支持) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 monarchs | |
君主,帝王( monarch的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 exterminate | |
v.扑灭,消灭,根绝 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 malignant | |
adj.恶性的,致命的;恶意的,恶毒的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |