America on the Cusp of God’S Grace: The Biblical Connection to the Stars and Stripes

By Dennis G. Hurst

America on the Cusp of Gods Grace issues a rousing call for true, Bible-believing patriots to save America by reverting back to the august principles of our Founding Fathers. With simple, straightforward language, Dennis G. Hurst digs deep into the ideas and beliefs upon which the Republic was founded and then juxtaposes them with the sobering reality of today.

Hurst provides a history of the beginning of America, from its seventeenth-century colonies based on religious freedom to the Revolutionary Wars stunning impact on the world and to the Constitutional Conventions innovative ideas. Hurst shows how faith in God guided the Founders during every step of the process and compares and contrasts this history with the present state of American culture. In addition, he looks at the damaging effects of Islam on the United States and how it has brought about a decisive, polarizing effect on ideologies today.

But Hurst doesnt stop with mere commentary and historical scholarship. Instead, he offers a blueprint for how God-loving American citizens begin a revival in their country. This includes a return to character, leadership, and integrity, plus a steady focus on Christ.

True believers were this countrys founders; true believers were its sustainers; and true believers will be its rescuers, even an America on the Cusp of Gods Grace!

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Nov 12, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450269551

Dennis G. Hurst

Born and raised in England, Dennis G. Hurst graduated engineering college while playing professional soccer. A resident of Dallas, Texas, and the father of three sons, he is the author of The Biblical Connection to the Stars and Stripes (2006) and America on the Cusp of God’s Grace (2010).

Book preview

America on the

Cusp of God’s Grace

The Biblical Connection

to the Stars and Stripes

Dennis G. Hurst

iUniverse, Inc.

New York Bloomington

America on the Cusp of God’s Grace

The Biblical Connection to the Stars and Stripes

Copyright © 2010 by Dennis G. Hurst

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-4502-6954-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-6956-8 (dj)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-6955-1 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 11/03/2010

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Part One – The Seeds Of Freedom

Chapter One: America As A Faith Haven

Chapter Two: Faith In 18th Century America

Chapter Three: Faith And The American Revolution

Chapter Four: The Faith Of The Patriot

Chapter Five: The Faith Of A Newborn Nation

Postscript

Part Two – A Constitutional Republic

Chapter Six: Faith And The Congress Of Confederation

Chapter Seven: Faith And The State Governments

Chapter Eight: Faith And The Federal Government

Chapter Nine: Faith And The New Republic

Chapter Ten: The Bible, Schools, And Government

Chapter Eleven: Faith and The Eternal Meaning Of July Fourth

Postscript

Part Three – Conflicting Ideologies

One: The Qur’an And The Bible

Introduction

Chapter Twelve: Faith Test - Allah the God of the Bible?

Chapter Thirteen: Faith Test - Who Was Muhammad?

Chapter Fourteen: Faith Test - Who Wrote The Qur’an?

Chapter Fifteen: Is Jesus of Islam The Jesus of the Bible?

Chapter Sixteen: Qur’an and Bible Prophecy

Chapter Seventeen: Islam - Convert, Be Enslaved, Or Die

Two: Oil And Water

Chapter Eighteen: Faith Test - Islam A Religion Of Peace?

Chapter Nineteen: Faith and The Modern Islamic Army

Chapter Twenty: Faith, Women And Islam

Chapter Twenty One: At War With Whom?

Chapter Twenty Two: Muslim Enmity No Stranger To United States

Chapter Twenty Three: Ft. Hood Rules Of Engagement Too Close For Comfort

Chapter Twenty Four: Faith - Hezbollah And Main Street

Three: The Culture War

Chapter Twenty Five: Divide et Impera - Diversity Run Amok

Chapter Twenty Six: The Identity Enigma And Its Legacy

Postscript

Part Four – A New Revival

Chapter Twenty Seven: Faith - Pulpit Freedom

Chapter Twenty Eight: Reclaiming America For Christ

Chapter Twenty Nine: A Blueprint For Revival

Chapter Thirty: On Character, Leadership, Integrity

Chapter Thirty One: Faith Of Our Founding Fathers

Chapter Thirty Two: Respect For The Flag Of Devotion

Chapter Thirty Three: The Flag Of The Pledge

Postscript

Epilogue

America - Still The ‘’City On A Hill’’

Appendix – The Founding Documents

The Declaration of Independence

The Constitution

The Amendments

References, Notes, Resources and Links

References, Notes, Resources and Links used in the Research and Publication of America On The Cusp Of God’s Grace

Preface

My first encounter with America was in my native England, during the immediate years following the end of WWII. Not ten miles from where my sister and I were born, Burtonwood Air Force Base, also known as USAAF Station 590, was temporary home to some 20,000 American airmen and other members of the US Military, shipped over to provide air support and other logistics, for the D-Day Normandy landings.

The memory of those wonderful men, who would cruise our war-torn neighborhoods in their open-top jeeps, dispensing candy, chewing gum, chocolates, bananas, oranges, and other goodies, so sparse to us at the time, was so seared into my young mind, that I developed a dogged persistence to the seed of one day, I’m going to live in America, and be like these airplane pilots.

To get an impression of what I’m describing, the movie Yanks has it all. It was filmed in, and around the area in 1979, starring Richard Gere, Vanessa Redgrave, William Devane and others, and is as clear an image of those immediate post-war years, as anything you could imagine, and is well worth the viewing.

Hard to believe, that a young boy, barely five or six years old at the time, would be so bowled over by the kindness and largesse of American Military men, that he would be emboldened enough to want to model himself after them.

He did however, wake up in absolute sheer delight on Christmas morning 1949, to find a shiny red two-seater jeep under the Christmas tree. It was also emblazoned with the United States Air Force winged star on the bonnet (hood), and boy and sister spent many a wonderful day, pedal-driving that jeep proudly up and down the street where they lived.

The dream became a reality in the Fall of 1981, when I finally made it as a resident of the United States, via a career-circuitous route that took in professional soccer, engineering college, teaching, retailing, business management, marriage (twice), and three wonderful sons. Sojourns in Jamaica, Canada, and elsewhere, were steps on the way, but the ultimate goal was achieved.

Arriving as I did, during the presidency of Ronald Wilson Reagan, didn’t hurt. In him, from him, and through watching what he was able to accomplish for America, I sensed the same attitude of freedom-loving patriotism, that I had witnessed from those Burtonwood airmen many years before.

In the thirty years since, I have become as Americanized as those mid-18th Century Brits, who forged a new nation by wrenching power away from a tyrannical Royal. I have experienced America at its finest, and dare I say, I now see it at its worst. What has happened in the past 22 months would have been hard to imagine 30 years ago, even with the Reagan years coming so gloriously following the Carter debacle.

In his farewell address to the nation, September 19th of 1796, George Washington declared: Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.

I am no great orator, or newstalk guru, television show host, nor celebrity dancer, but I am now as American as apple pie. When I see my country crying out for someone to please help, my mind goes immediately to the Old Testament prophet Isaiah who, upon finding himself in the throne room of heaven, was asked the question of God: Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Isaiah, like America today, found himself on the cusp of God’s grace, but felt bold enough to answer the call. That little boy of 1949, scooting around the back streets of Wigan, in his shiny red USA Air Force jeep, emblazoned with the US Air Force winged star on the bonnet, would expect no less of the man he has become.

Dennis G Hurst

Dallas, Texas

October, 2010

Isaiah 6:8

Introduction

In his excellent book Intoxicated With Babylon, author and evangelist Steve Gallagher outlines in great detail how ‘kosmos’ (the world) entices us and draws us ever-so-gently into an alluring but fatal dalliance with the devil himself. From the moment the serpent twisted the word of God in Eve’s perception, mankind was doomed to decay under a limited life lived in perpetual sin. Only the arrival of Jesus Christ into this sinful kosmos allowed mankind the ability to once again find the peace, grace and mercy of God’s covering, with the promise of an eternal life lived with God the Father Himself.

When that same serpent tried to tempt Jesus by promising Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory Jesus did not deny that they were his to give. The Lord understood that the devil owned the kingdoms of this world, since the time Adam entered a partnership with this fallen angel of light in the garden. Satan, the founder and chief perpetrator of rebellion, is the mastermind behind the global mentality that is against God, having managed to bring almost all of mankind into his (spirit of) rebellion.

While the word ‘kosmos’ refers primarily to the people who are in this anti-God system, it also refers to the global consciousness of those people or to the spirit that controls their thinking. Thus, the spirit of kosmos is none other than the devil himself. The spirit that continually offers such intoxicating rewards is the same spirit that seeks to destroy man. The charms he uses to entice us, far from being innocuous, become avenues into the human heart for the devil himself to enter.

The spirit of the world thrives wherever man pursues the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. Anyone dominated by these ungodly passions is worldly. Devils thrive on such lusts of violence, greed and all the other passions to which humans yield themselves. Surely, we all know that to be true, just from our own experiences. Anybody not agreeing with that statement is simply being delusional.

Any sane, thinking person alive today would certainly give a nod to the notion that we are living in what might be termed ‘perilous times.’ How we got here, and what caused us to be poised on this knife-edge of literally living ‘twixt heaven and hell, is anyone’s guess, but I have my own theory and it is revealed here in America On The Cusp (knife-edge) Of God’s Grace. We have denigrated the sacrifices made on our behalf by those brave souls who have existed before us, the very same who brought this ‘City on a Hill’ into existence as the greatest bastion of Freedom ever assembled.

Most people I interviewed during my research for America On The Cusp Of God’s Grace, agreed wholeheartedly that the decade of the 1960’s was a watershed moment in marking a major turning point for the United States.

In 1960, the main concerns of most young people were finishing school and preparing for the future. They were proud to be Americans and looked forward to getting their share of the prosperity pie for themselves. There existed still, an air of innocence, where people lived with a general respect for authority, both parental and civil. Employers ruled with a certain degree of force, discipline was held in high esteem, and generally people did exactly as they were told.

Within a short period however, all this changed. Quite suddenly, the morality of our nation took a major nose-dive, as public prayer was banned in the nation’s schools (1963), social and political unrest became more pronounced, and the debacle of Vietnam pervaded the nation. By the time man landed on the Moon (1969) drug abuse was rampant, sexual promiscuity was the norm, and anti-government riots were taking place across the land. Whatever happened to ‘America the Beautiful?’

Well, America and the rest of the world got hijacked in the early 1960’s, when a hurricane-force from hell was unleashed upon the earth. As the evil assault gained in strength and ferocity, wickedness increased exponentially to the point where we now have become so desensitized to reports about terrorist acts, genocide, rapes, abortions, school shootings and brutal murders, that we hardly realize the degree of darkness and mayhem of evil that surrounds us.

As time goes on, we can expect things to get continually worse, as not only will this evil escalate, but also the number of people succumbing to the devil’s wiles will multiply. The Bible itself warns of this period in world history when young people are ‘disobedient to parents’ and ‘lawlessness is increased.’

The decade of the 1960’s ushered in a radical mentality that has worked its way deeply into the hearts and minds of our generation. When older Americans were hit with the first wave of this new thinking (Alinsky-ism) it was dismissed as just ‘a phase that the younger generation goes through.’ By the beginning of the 1990’s however, those young people of the 1960’s revolt were in control of the country, and American culture and morality began to reflect the ideology and permissive social mores of this (frankly) wayward generation. In the waning months of 2010, these same ideologues are attempting to fundamentally change God’s rule over America, while they have the political strength to do so.

And thus the situation in which we find ourselves today.

We are now in the times of the end, when lawlessness will reach the greatest heights ever known in the history of mankind; when evil will be more intense than ever before; when the forces of darkness will be at their pinnacle; when sexual perversion will be at epidemic proportions around the world. The sign that evil has reached a peak – the final stage of lawlessness – will be as it was in the time of John the Baptist, when people had a stubborn refusal to repent. In the book of Revelation we are warned three times – THREE times – that people would not repent of their deeds.

In 17th Century England, this same spirit of evil caused men and women of God to uproot their families, friends, neighbors and acquaintances, to cast forth upon the ocean to a land far away, where they would be free to establish a community and a lifestyle, that was more in tune with God’s rules of living as contained in the Bible, than was the hell of a life they were living, under tyrannical rules set by human kings controlled by the devil. Eventually, the seeds that were planted by these brave and courageous souls, would blossom into WE THE PEOPLE, setting a boundary mark between God’s rule and ‘kosmos.’

Almost 400 years following the arrival on these shores of the sailing-ship ‘Arabella’ and the three-hundred-or-so souls who were on board, we sojourners in this Godly land of freedom that came from their seed of Faith, are on no different of a journey – except that the journey stops here. The mantle has been dropped, the torch has been passed, and WE THE PEOPLE are the recipients of their legacy. The journey of this present generation of Americans, is not so much physical (since there’s no place left in the world to go) as it is spiritual, and the battle to get to the promised land is just as brutal as it has ever been.

John Adams in his address to the military on October 11th 1798, put it this way:

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.

As we draw closer to the return of Jesus Christ, the battle between good and evil, light and darkness, belief and unbelief, will intensify and the temptation to feast at the devil’s table will increase; many will give in to spiritual sluggishness as they partake of the devil’s delicacies.

Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaration, and one of the richest men in America at the time, declared:

Without morals a republic cannot subsist for any length of time. They therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure, and which inspires to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.

American citizens must be rallied to stand against this kosmos that is intent on destroying the United States of America. God is about to (I believe He has already started) begin a shaking and testing of His people to strengthen their resolve as He did with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David and others, all the way up to the arrival of Jesus Christ. It is vital that we as believing Americans acknowledge that our flesh is weak, and that we are not as nearly prepared for the coming conflict as we believe we are. Unless we humble ourselves and agree with Jesus Christ about the seriousness of our present situation, we will never seek the help we need. "They that be whole need not a physician, Jesus said, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

The United States is indeed "on the Cusp Of God’s Grace" and American citizens must flee from, or face up to, this present darkness and extricate themselves from the devil’s entanglements.

A true believer in America cannot continue to walk hand-in-hand with those who despise the things, ways and means, of God. WE THE PEOPLE must break faith with the natural reasoning’s of a carnal mind, and humbly accept the mind of the Spirit, thereby allowing Christ to expose our attempts to serve two masters. God’s grace enables us to overcome the will of the world, to the end that its enthralling influences and encumbrances can be resisted, withstood, and conquered.

The power of kosmos can be broken, and America brought back from the cusp of God’s grace.

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America On The Cusp Of

The Biblical Connection To The Stars

God’s Grace

And Stripes - 2010

To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste .. Deuteronomy 32: 35

Part One

The Seeds Of Freedom

Chapter One: America As A Faith Haven

The Seventeenth Century

Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants

William Penn

Many of the British North American colonies that eventually formed the United States of America, were settled in the seventeenth century by men and women, who, in the face of European persecution, refused to compromise passionately-held religious convictions, and fled Europe for the peace and freedom of a new frontier where their faith knew no bounds.

The New England colonies, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland were conceived and established as ‘’plantations of religion’’ where faith and economy coexisted side-by-side. Some settlers who arrived in these areas came for secular motives - ‘’to catch fish’’ as one New Englander put it - but the great majority left Europe to worship God in the way they believed to be correct.

They enthusiastically supported the efforts of their leaders to create a city on a hill or a holy experiment, whose success would prove that God’s plan for his churches could be successfully realized in the American wilderness, even as He had proved the children of Israel in their own wilderness experience those many eons before. Colonies like Virginia, which were planned as commercial ventures, were led by entrepreneurs who considered themselves militant Protestants and who worked diligently to promote the prosperity of the church, while at once establishing commercial ventures of no small standing.

European Persecution The religious persecution that uprooted settlers from Europe to the British North American colonies sprang from the conviction, held by Protestants and Catholics alike, that uniformity of religion must exist in any given society. This conviction rested on the belief that there was one true religion and that it was the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens. Nonconformists could expect no mercy and might be executed as heretics.

The dominance of the concept, denounced by Roger Williams as inforced uniformity of religion, meant majority religious groups who controlled political power punished dissenters in their midst. In some areas Catholics persecuted Protestants, in others Protestants persecuted Catholics, and in still others Catholics and Protestants persecuted wayward coreligionists. Although England renounced religious persecution in 1689, it persisted on the European continent.

Religious persecution, as observers in every century have commented, is often bloody and implacable and is remembered and resented for generations. Even as late as the 1940’s and 50’s in post-WWII England, I was witness to some wicked persecutions offered on both sides of the Protestant/Catholic spectrum; neighborhood gang warfare would be a more truthful description.

Perhaps the greatest and most famous book written about the persecution of Christian believers is Foxe’s Book Of Martyrs. Sometimes referred to as the book of martyrology, it was compiled by Englishman John Foxe (1517-1587) who published his first edition in 1554. Going on five hundred years later, this book is still in print and freely available through major booksellers. The following are just a few examples of Foxe’s accounts of courageous martyrs who gave their lives for Jesus Christ, and whose unwavering faith spurred on those brave souls and their families who would endure the dangerous ocean crossing to become the founders of a new nation.

Execution of Mennonites

David van der Leyen and Levina Ghyselins, described variously as Dutch Anabaptists or Mennonites, were executed by Catholic authorities in Ghent in 1554. Strangled and burned, van der Leyen was finally dispatched with an iron pitchfork. Bracht’s Martyr’s Mirror is considered by modern Mennonites as second only in importance to the Bible in perpetuating their faith.

A Jesuit Disemboweled

Jesuits like John Ogilvie (Ogilby) (1580-1615) were under constant surveillance and threat from the Protestant governments of England and Scotland. Ogilvie was sentenced to death by a Glasgow court and hanged and mutilated on March 10, 1615.

The Expulsion of the Salzburgers

On October 31, 1731, the Catholic ruler of Salzburg, Austria, Archbishop Leopold von Firmian, issued an edict expelling as many as 20,000 Lutherans from his principality. Many property-less Lutherans, given only eight days to leave their homes, froze to death as they drifted through the winter seeking sanctuary. The wealthier ones who were allowed three months to dispose of their property fared better. Some of these Salzburgers reached London, from whence they sailed to Georgia. Others found new homes in the Netherlands and East Prussia.

A Pair of Salzburgers Fleeing Their Homes

In one engraving from the period, a husband and wife fled Salzburg carrying with them religious volumes. The engraving depicts the man with, under one arm, a copy of the Augsburg Confession; under the other is a theological work by Johann Arndt (1555-1621). The woman is shown carrying the Bible. The legend between them says: We are driven into exile for the Gospel’s sake; we leave our homeland and are now in God’s hands. At the top is a scriptural verse, Matthew 24:20. but pray that your flight does not occur in the winter or on the Sabbath.

Persecution of Huguenots by Catholics

The slaughter of Huguenots (French Protestants) by Catholics at Sens, Burgundy in 1562 ,occurred at the beginning of more than thirty years of religious strife between French Protestants and Catholics. These wars produced numerous atrocities. The worst was the notorious St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris, August 24, 1572. Thousands of Huguenots were butchered by Roman Catholic mobs. Although an accommodation between the two sides was sealed in 1598 by the Edict of Nantes, religious privileges of Huguenots eroded during the seventeenth century and were extinguished in 1685 by the revocation of the Edict. Perhaps as many as 400,000 French Protestants emigrated to various parts of the world, including the British North American colonies.

Drowning of Protestants

Irish Catholics were hounded and murdered at the hands of approximately one hundred Protestants from Loughgall Parish, County Armagh, at the bridge over the River Bann near Portadown, Ulster. This atrocity occurred at the beginning of the Irish Rebellion of 1641. Having held the Protestants as prisoners and tortured them, the Catholics drove them like hogs to the bridge, where they were stripped naked and forced into the water below at sword-point. Survivors of the plunge were shot.

Persecution of Jesuits in England

Brian Cansfield (1581-1643), a Jesuit priest was seized while at prayer by English Protestant authorities in Yorkshire. Cansfield was beaten and imprisoned under harsh conditions. He died on August 3, 1643, from the effects of his ordeal. Another Jesuit priest, Ralph Corbington (Corby) (ca. 1599-1644), was hanged by the English government in London, September 17, 1644, for professing his faith.

Martyrdom of John Rogers

The execution in 1555 of John Rogers (1500-1555) is described in the 9th edition of Foxe’s book. Rogers was a Catholic priest who converted to Protestantism in the 1530’s under the influence of William Tyndale, and assisted in the publication of Tyndale’s English translations of the Bible. Burned alive at Smithfield on February 4, 1555, Rogers became the first Protestant martyr executed by England’s Catholic Queen Mary. He was charged with heresy, including denial of the real presence of Christ in the sacrament of communion.

John Rogers Portrayed in New England

Two centuries after John Rogers’ execution, his ordeal, with depictions of his wife and ten children added to increase the pathos, became a staple of The New England Primer. The Primer supplemented the picture of Rogers’ immolation with a long, versified speech, said to be the dying martyr’s advice to his children, which urged them to Keep always God before your Eyes and to Abhor the arrant Whore of Rome, and all her Blasphemies. This recommendation, read by generations of young New Englanders, doubtless helped to fuel the anti-Catholic prejudice that flourished in that region well into the nineteenth century.

Crossing The Ocean To Keep The Faith: The Puritans Puritans were English Protestants who wished to reform and purify the Church of England of what they considered to be unacceptable residues of Roman Catholicism.

In the 1620’s, leaders of the English state and church grew increasingly unsympathetic to Puritan demands. They insisted that the Puritans conform to religious practices that they abhorred, removing their ministers from office and threatening them with extirpation from the earth if they did not fall in line. Zealous Puritan laymen received savage punishments. For example, in 1630, a man was sentenced to life imprisonment, had his property confiscated, his nose slit, an ear cut off, and his forehead branded S.S. (sower of sedition).

Beginning in 1630, as many as 20,000 Puritans emigrated to America from England to gain the liberty to worship God as they chose. Most settled in New England, but some went as far as the West Indies. Theologically, the Puritans were ‘non-separating Congregationalists.’ Unlike the Pilgrims, who came to Massachusetts in 1620, the Puritans believed that the Church of England was a true church, though in need of major reforms.

Every New England Congregational church was considered an independent entity, beholden to no hierarchy. The membership was composed, at least initially, of men and women who had undergone a conversion experience, and could prove it to other members. Puritan leaders hoped (futilely, as it turned out) that, once their experiment was successful, England would imitate it by instituting a church order modeled after the New England Way.

Richard Mather

Richard Mather (1596-1669), minister at Dorchester, Massachusetts, 1636-1669, was a principal spokesman for, and defender of, the Congregational form of church government in New England. In 1648, he drafted the Cambridge Platform, the definitive description of the Congregational system. Mather’s son, Increase (1639-1723), and grandson, Cotton (1663-1728), were leaders of New England Congregationalism in their generations.

Cotton Mather

Cotton Mather (1663-1728), the best-known New England Puritan divine of his generation, was a controversial figure in his own time and remains so among scholars today. A formidable intellect and a prodigious writer, Mather published some 450 books and pamphlets. He was at the center of all of the major political, theological, and scientific controversies of his era. Mather has been accused, unfairly, of instigating the Salem witchcraft trials.

The Bible Commonwealths The New England colonies have often been called Bible Commonwealths because they sought the guidance of the scriptures in regulating all aspects of the lives of their citizens. Scripture was cited as authority for many criminal statutes, as .. Idolatry: If any man after Legal Conviction shall HAVE or WORSHIP any other God but the LORD GOD, he shall be put to death, Exod. 22.20. Deut 13.6,10. Deut 17. 2,6. … Witchcraft: If any man or woman be a WITCH, that is, Hath or Consulteth with a familiar Spirit, they shall be put to death, Exod. 22.18. Levit. 20.27 Deut 18. 10,11 Bestiality: If any Man or Woman shall LYE with any BEAST or Bruit Creature, by carnal Copulation, they shall surely be put to death, and the Beast shall be slain and buried, and not eaten, Levit. 20:15,16 …

The two Bibles used in seventeenth-century New England were …

The Geneva Bible

The Geneva Bible was published in English in Geneva in 1560, by English reformers who fled to the continent to escape persecutions by Queen Mary. Their leader was William Whittingham, who married a sister of John Calvin. The Geneva Bible was used by the Pilgrims and Puritans in New England until it was gradually replaced by the King James Bible. According to one twentieth-century scholar, between 1560 … and 1630, no fewer than about two hundred editions of the Geneva Bible, either as a whole or of the New Testament separately, appeared. It was the Bible of Shakespeare and of John Bunyan and of Cromwell’s Army and of the Pilgrim Fathers.

The King James Bible

The first edition of the King James Bible, also called the Authorized Version, was compiled by a committee of English scholars between 1607 and 1611. The first copy of the King James Bible known to have been brought into the colonies, was carried by John Winthrop to Massachusetts in 1630. Gradually the King James Bible supplanted the Geneva Bible, and achieved such a monopoly of the affections of the English-speaking peoples, that a scholar in 1936 complained that many seemed to think that the King James Version is the original Bible, which God handed down out of heaven, all done up in English by the Lord himself.

Seventeenth-Century Laws of Massachusetts

Criminal laws in the early New England colonies were based on the scriptures, especially the Old Testament. Many civil laws and procedures were modeled after the English common law. In addition to those cited above, some other selected Capital Laws were: Blasphemy; Murther; Poysoning; Sodomy; Adultery; Man-stealing; False-witnesse; Conspiracy, Rebellion; Children Cursing Father or Mother; Rebellious Son; Ravishment (rape) of maiden; Rape of a Child …

The Bay Psalm Book

The first book published in British North America, what has become known as the Bay Psalm Book, was the work of Richard Mather and two other ministers, who transformed the Psalms into verse so they could be sung in the Massachusetts churches. There are but eleven surviving copies. The cover page reads: The WHOLE Book of Psalmes, Faithfully Translated into English Metre .. Whereunto is prefixed a discourse declaring not only the lawfullnes, but also the necessity of the heavenly Ordinance of singing scripture Psalmes in the Churches of God … Imprinted 1640

Eliot’s Algonquin Language Bible

Obedient to the New Testament command to preach the Gospel to all nations, ministers in all of the first British North American colonies strove to convert the local native populations to Christianity, often with only modest results. One of the most successful proselytizers was John Eliot (1604-1690), Congregational minister at Roxbury, Massachusetts. His translation of the Bible into the Algonquin Indian language was the first of its kind. At one time Eliot ministered to eleven hundred Praying Indians, organized into fourteen New England style towns. A sample of the language reads: NEGONNE OOSUKKUHWHONK MOSES, Ne afoweetamuk GENESIS … Onk ncowau God bwequalaj, kah mo wequai .. Kah wunnaumun God wequai ne en wunueegen: Kan wutchadchaube-ponumun God nocu wequai kah noeu pohkenum .. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness .."

Persecution In America Although they were victims of religious persecution in Europe, the Puritans supported the Old World theory that sanctioned it, the need for uniformity of religion in the state. Once in control in New England, they sought to break the very neck of Schism and vile opinions.

The business of the first settlers, a Puritan minister recalled in 1681, was not Toleration, but [they] were professed enemies of it. Puritans expelled dissenters from their colonies, a fate that in 1636, befell Roger Williams, and in 1638 Anne Hutchinson, America’s first major female religious leader. Those who defied the Puritans by persistently returning to their jurisdictions, risked capital punishment, a penalty imposed on four Quakers between 1659 and 1661.

Reflecting on the seventeenth century’s intolerance, Thomas Jefferson was unwilling to concede to Virginians any moral superiority to the Puritans. Beginning in 1659, Virginia enacted anti-Quaker laws, including the death penalty for refractory Quakers.

Jefferson surmised that if no capital execution took place here, as did in New England, it was not owing to the moderation of the church, or the spirit of the legislature.

The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution – 1644

Expelled from Massachusetts in the dead of winter in 1636, former Puritan leader Roger Williams (1603-1683) issued an impassioned plea for freedom of conscience. The Title declared:

The Bloudy Tenent, of Persecution, for cause of Conscience, discussed, in A Conference betweene TRUTH and PEACE Who, In all tender Affection, present to the High Court of Parliament, (as the Result of their Discourse) these, (amongst other Passages) of highest consideration. Printed in the Year 1644. He wrote, God requireth not an uniformity of Religion to be inacted and inforced in any civill state; which inforced uniformity (sooner or later) is the greatest occasion of civill Warre, ravishing of conscience, persecution of Christ Jesus in his servants, and of hypocrisy and destruction of millions of souls.

Williams later founded Rhode Island on the principle of religious freedom. He welcomed people of every shade of religious belief, even some regarded as dangerously misguided, for nothing could change his view that forced worship stinks in God’s nostrils.

Execution of Quakers

Mary Dyer (d.1660) first ran afoul of Massachusetts authorities for supporting theological dissenter Anne Hutchinson. As a result, Dyer and her family were forced to move to Rhode Island in 1638. Converted to Quakerism in England in the 1650’s, Dyer returned to New England and was three times arrested and banished from Massachusetts for spreading Quaker principles. Returning to Massachusetts a fourth time, she was hanged on June 1, 1660.

Intolerance in Virginia

In his Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson reflected on the religious intolerance in seventeenth-century Virginia, specifically on the anti-Quaker laws passed by the Virginia Assembly from 1659 onward.

The poor Quakers, he wrote, were flying from persecution in England. They cast their eyes on these new countries as asylums of civil and religious freedom; but they found them free only for the reigning sect.

Jefferson apparently believed that it was no more than an historical accident that Quakers had not been physically punished or even executed in Virginia as they had been in Massachusetts, his final comment on the Quakers stating as much:

If no execution took place here, as did in New-England, it was not owing to the moderation of the church, or spirit of the legislature, as may be inferred from the law itself; but to historical circumstances which have not been handed down to us. (see also above under Persecution In America.)

To which comment, one can only fall back upon God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.

Jews Find A Refuge In America For some decades, Jews had flourished in Dutch-held areas of Brazil, but a Portuguese conquest of the area in 1654 confronted them with the prospect of the introduction of the Inquisition, which had already burned a Brazilian Jew at the stake in 1647. A shipload of twenty-three Jewish refugees from Dutch Brazil, arrived in New Amsterdam (soon to become New York) in 1654. By the next year, this small community had established religious services in the city. By 1658, Jews had arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, also seeking religious liberty. Small numbers of Jews continued to come to the British North American colonies, settling mainly in the seaport towns. By the time of the Declaration of Independence, Jewish settlers had established several thriving synagogues.

Touro Synagogue, Newport Rhode Island

Designed by Peter Harrison, constructed in 1762, and dedicated in 1763, Touro Synagogue is considered an architectural masterpiece. It is the sole surviving synagogue built in colonial America.

The Quakers The Quakers, (or Religious Society of Friends) formed in England in 1652, around a charismatic leader, George Fox (1624-1691), no relation to the author and originator of the early martyrs’ stories, John Foxe.

Many scholars today consider Quakers as radical Puritans, because the Quakers carried to extremes many Puritan convictions. They stretched the sober deportment of the Puritans into a glorification of plainness. Theologically, they expanded the Puritan concept of a church of individuals regenerated by the Holy Spirit, to the idea of the indwelling of the Spirit or the Light of Christ in every person.

Such teaching struck many of the Quakers’ contemporaries as dangerous heresy. Quakers were severely persecuted in England for daring to deviate so far from orthodox Christianity. By 1680, 10,000 Quakers had been imprisoned in England, and 243 had died of torture and mistreatment in the King’s jails. This reign of terror impelled Friends to seek refuge in New Jersey in the 1670’s, where they soon became well entrenched.

In 1681, when Quaker leader William Penn (1644-1718) parlayed a debt owed by Charles II to his father into a charter for the province of Pennsylvania, many more Quakers were prepared to grasp the opportunity to live in a land where they might worship freely. By 1685, as many as 8,000 Quakers had come to