When all was over, Clark asked
leave to speak, which, after some hesitation, was granted, on condition he
would not discuss what he had heard. He began to explain how he had put on
his hat because he could not judge that they were gathered according to
the visible order of the Lord; but here he was silenced, and the three
were committed to custody for the night. On Tuesday they were taken to
Boston, and on the 31st were brought before Governor Endicott. Their trial
was of the kind reserved by priests for heretics. No jury was impanelled,
no indictment was read, no evidence was heard, but the prisoners were
reviled by the bench as Anabaptists, and when they repudiated the name
were asked if they did not deny infant baptism. The theological argument
which followed was cut short by a recommitment to await sentence.
That afternoon John Cotton exhorted the judges from the pulpit. He
expounded the law, and commanded them to do their duty; he told them that
the rejection of infant baptism would overthrow the church; that this was
a capital crime, and therefore the captives were "foul murtherers."
[Footnote: _Ill Newes_, p. 56.] Thus inspired, the court came in toward
evening.
The record recites a number of misdemeanors, such as wearing the hat in
church, administering the communion to the excommunicated, and the like,
but no attempt was made to prove a single charge.
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