OBJECTIVES: We will examine the Protestant Reformation and how it impacted Europe. We will examine how the Protestant Reformation influenced the American colonies.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
What Pushed and pulled Europeans to America? The Papacy had supreme control of both the political, intellectual, religious and social affairs of Europe. The Papacy was the most powerful institution in the medieval period. The people in Europe did not have religious liberty. Any opposition to the Papacy could result in being branded a heretic and even death. 20 million people died because of the Black Death.
In 538 A.D. The Emperor Justinian gives the Roman Bishop head of all the churches. Additional Sources: See Great Controversy pages 54-55
The accession of the Roman Church to power marked the beginning of the Dark Ages. As her power increased, the darkness deepened. Faith was transferred from Christ, the true foundation, to the pope of Rome. Instead of trusting in the Son of God for forgiveness of sins and for eternal salvation, the people looked to the pope, and to the priests and prelates to whom he delegated authority. They were taught that the pope was their earthly mediator and that none could approach God except through him; and, further, that he stood in the place of God to them and was therefore to be implicitly obeyed
A deviation from his requirements was sufficient cause for the severest punishment to be visited upon the bodies and souls of the offenders. Thus the minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible, erring, and cruel men, nay, more, to the prince of darkness himself, who exercised his power through them. Sin was disguised in a garb of sanctity. When the Scriptures are suppressed, and man comes to regard himself as supreme, we need look only for fraud, deception, and debasing iniquity. With the elevation of human laws and traditions was manifest the corruption that ever results from setting aside the law of God. {Great Controversy page 55.1}
Men shrank from no crime by which they could gain wealth or position. The palaces of popes and prelates were scenes of the vilest debauchery. Some of the reigning pontiffs were guilty of crimes so revolting that secular rulers endeavored to depose these dignitaries of the church as monsters too vile to be tolerated. For centuries Europe had made no progress in learning, arts, or civilization. A moral and intellectual paralysis had fallen upon Christendom. {Great Controversy 60.2}
In 1517 a movement called the Protestant Reformation began in Germany when a monk named Martin Luther challenged the authority of the Papacy. They favored individual rights to seek God by reading the Bible and heeding the ministers who delivered evangelical sermons. Protestantism spread throughout northern Europe. While Spain was building her empire, in the Americas, a new government was growing in Europe: the Protestant Reformation. It would intensify national rivalries by encouraging serious challenges to Catholic Spain s power.
In 1517, Martin Luther, posted the 95 theses of the abuses of the catholic church. He especially criticized the sale of indulgences, whereby priests would forgive sins in exchange for money or goods. Sinners, Luther argued could win salvation neither by good works nor through the mediation of the church but only by the faith in the redemptive power of Christ, and through a direct relationship with God, the priesthood of all believers.
(1Jn 1:9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1Ti_2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Luther was expelled from the church by 1521 reconciliation was impossible. Most of Northern Germany along with Scandinavia became Lutherans. The principle of close association between church and state thus carried over to Protestant lands but Luther had unleashed volatile ideas that ran beyond his control.
Activity: o The pulling of the cord and the Protestant Reformation/Papacy. o Indulgences: Role Play: Priest. 3 Sinners. Each sinner is given five gold coins. Each sinner confesses a sin to the priest. The priest then charges the sinner the amount of coins needed for their sins to be forgiven.
Other Protestants pursued Luther s doctrine to its logical end and preached religious liberty for all. Further sects included the Anabaptists (who rejected infant baptism and favored separation of church and state, Amish, Quakers, etc.
Soon after Martin Luther s revolt, Swiss Protestants also challenged the authority of Rome. In Geneva, the reformed movement looked to John Calvin, a French Scholar who fled to that city that brought it under the sway of his beliefs.
Calvin believed in strict morality and hard work, values that especially suited the rising middle class. This was to demonstrate that they were part of the predestined elect who were saved from sin. Moreover he taught that people serve God through any legitimate labor, and he permitted lay members a share in the governance of the church through a body of elders and ministers called the presbytery. Calvin s doctrines became the basis for the beliefs of the German Reformed Church, Puritans in England, and Huguenots in France. He influenced the English colonists.
Activity: o The pulling of the cord and the Protestant Reformation/Papacy. o Indulgences: Role Play: Priest. 3 Sinners. Each sinner is given five gold coins. Each sinner confesses a sin to the priest. The priest then charges the sinner the amount of coins needed for their sins to be forgiven.
Discussion Question: o Why do you think people persecute one another on the basis of religion? o What did the Protestant Reformation do to promote freedom and individuality?
o Henry VIII (1509-1547) the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty had in fact won the Pope s title of Defender of the Faith of refuting Martin Luther s ideas. o However he wanted to annul his marriage after his wife could not produce a male heir. o The Pope refused and Henry VIII broke the Church of England away from the Catholic Church. o He appointed his own arch bishop.
o Ironically, Henry s daughter Elizabeth who he disowned and declared illegitimate ended up become queen of England and ruled for 45 years. o She became Protestant but in her own way. o Organized structure of bishops and archbishops remained the same. o But the doctrine and practice changed. o The Latin liturgy was changed to the English Book of Common Prayers. o The cult of saints was dropped and the clergy were permitted to marry.
o For the sake of unity there was an Elizabethan Settlement. o This allowed some latitude of theology and other matters. o Some wanted to keep Catholic traditions. o Others with Calvinist influence wished to purify the church of all its Catholic remnants. o Some of these Puritans would leave England to build their own churches in America.
Conclusions on this section: The Protestant Reformation brought the spirit of protest against authoritarian rule. That each individual did not have to go under a church authority for salvation but its on a basis of a individual relationship with God.
Conclusions on this section: Calvinism brought the idea of hard work and economic prosperity. Church members had a say in the leadership of the Church.
OBJECTIVES: We will examine the establishment of Jamestown and how it survived. We will examine the relationship of Indian Settlers in the Southern Colonies. We will discuss the settlement of Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia.
Heb_11:16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
First promoters of English colonies were wealthy gentlemen from Southwestern England. They included Sir. Walter Raleigh, a special favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. English patriots and devout Protestants, these men wanted to advance their fortunes and increase the power of England.
o Promised that an American colony would solve England s problems, a growing population and increased poverty due to a stagnant economy. o They obtained a charter or certificate of permission from the king and the group formed a joint-stock company. o This was a business venture founded and run by a group of investors who were to share in the company s profits and losses.
o The first colony, the Roanoke Colony fails, because English ships struggled to bring supplies and the land was not good for farming. o In 1607, the Second Attempt of a colony was near the Chesapeake Bay called James Town founded by the Virginia Joint Stock Company. o Colonists founded Jamestown named after King James I. o However many colonists were weaken by disease where 20 percent of 10,000 colonists died.
Jamestown
In 1609, war broke out between the Indians and starving colonists. In 1613 the English captured Powhatan s favorite daughter, Pocahontas. As an English captive, Pocahontas converted to Christianity and married a colonist named John Rolfe. Weary with war, Powhatan reluctantly made peace.
Discussion Question: o What do you think of Hollywood movie makers using real life historical figures and making their story historically inaccurate and fictionalized? o What examples do you see of using historical figures into fictional stories?
Private Property Saves The Colony By 1619, the colony was near collapse. The company saved the colony by allowing the colonists to work the land as their own private property. As farm-owners rather than company employees, the colonists worked harder to grow crops to ensure survival.
Led by John Rolfe (husband of Pocahontas), the colonists learned how to cultivate tobacco in 1616. West Indian tobacco had become extraordinary popular for smoking in Europe. King James fought a losing battle and denounced smoking as a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs. Eventually though he learned to love the revenue by taxing it. Tobacco thrived and production surged from 200,000 pounds in 1624 to more than 1.5 million pounds in 1640.
Beginning in 1619, the Virginia company offered free land. Under the head-right system, anyone who paid for passage to Virginia or who paid for another person s passage received 50 acres of land. This enabled the wealthiest colonists to acquire large plantations. The population of Virginia grew.
o The Virginia Company also granted political reforms. o In 1619, it allowed planters to create the House of Burgesses. o The first representative body in Colonial America. o Male landowners could elect two leaders known as Burgesses, to represent their settlement in the colonial government.
The House of Burgesses had power to make laws and raise taxes. Began a strong tradition of representative governments in the English colonies.
Two types of colonies: o (1) Royal Colonies: Royal Colonies belonged to the crown. o (2) Proprietary Colonies. Belonged to powerful individuals or companies. o Virginia became the first royal colony in 1624.
Bacon s Rebellion William Berkeley the royal governor of Virginia levied heavy taxes on the planters and used the proceeds to reward a few favorites from the wealthiest class, which dominated the House of Burgesses. He also expressed contempt for a free press and public education for common people.
Bacon s Rebellion I thank God there are no free schools nor printing and I hope we shall not have these [for a] hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience and heresy into the world, and printing has divulged [spread] them, and libels [untruths] against the best government. God keep us from both!
Bacon s Rebellion 1675 war broke out between Indians and Settlers. The settlers wanted to exterminate all the colony s Indians but Berkeley refused. Nathaniel Bacon killed both peaceful and hostile Indians and led a revolt against Berkeley. He burned Jamestown and drove out the governor. Bacon suddenly died by disease and the rebellion collapsed. Berkeley was recalled back to England.
Impact of Bacon s Rebellion Bacon s rebellion showed that poorer farmers would not tolerate a government that catered only to the wealthiest colonists. The colony s leaders reduced the taxes paid by the farmers and improved their access to frontier land. But that frontier policy provoked further wars with the Indians of the interior.
Southern Colonies: Maryland o In 1632 the northern head of the Chesapeake Bay, the English king established a second Southern Colony, named Maryland. o The name honored Mary, queen of the new Monarch, Charles I (son of James) o Charles gave Maryland to a favorite aristocrat named Lord Baltimore. o Baltimore desired to make it a refuge for Catholics from the Protestant majority. o But contrary to Lord Baltimore s hopes, more Protestants than Catholics immigrated to Maryland.
Southern Colonies: Georgia In 1732, led by James Oglethrope, the Georgia trustee designed their colony as a haven for English debtors who were jailed because they could not pay their debts. Yet most of Georgia s first colonists were poor English traders and artisans or religious refugees from Switzerland and Germany.
Southern Colonies o Oglethrope had strict rules for colonists. o They could not drink alcohol and could not own slaves. o Georgia s colonist had to work their own land and could not own large plantations. o These restrictions angered colonists and he was removed. James Oglethrope
Discussion Question: o On the back of the paper, either write a three paragraph description or draw a picture of how you would design your own colony in North America? o Would you make it a farming colony or live off a river or lake? o Would you build a fort or a wall around your colony?
Conclusions on this section: Jamestown established a representative government among colonists. Jamestown established the granting of private property to colonists.
OBJECTIVES: We will learn of what pushed the Pilgrims to come to North America. We will also learn the prophetic significance of the Pilgrims coming to North America.
1Co_10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
New England Colonies Most of the New England colonists were religious dissidents who disagreed with the established church. Known as Puritans, they wanted to purify the Church of England, or Anglican Church, the only official legal church in that kingdom
Puritans The Puritans believed that the Anglican Church although Protestant, retained too many ceremonies from the Catholic Church. The Anglican Church had a Catholic style hierarchy of Bishops controlled the local congregations. While some Puritans sought to reform the Anglican Church, others known as Separatists began their own churches.
Puritans Puritans followed the teachings of the theologian John Calvin. They believed that they could prepare for God s saving grace by leading moral lives, praying devoutly, reading the Bible, and heeding ministerial sermons. But not even the most devout could claim salvation as a right and a certainty, for they believed God alone determined who was saved. Salvation depended on the will of God rather than good behavior adherence to church rules.
Puritans During the 1620s, King Charles I began to persecute the Puritans. His bishops dismissed Puritan ministers from their parishes and censored or destroyed Puritan books. Some Puritans sought a colonial refuge in North America, where they can escape the supervision of the Anglican Bishops. In their own colony, the Puritans could worship in their own churches and make their own laws which they derived from the Bible. By living morally and prospering economically, they hoped to inspire their countrymen in England to adopt Puritan reforms.
Puritans o Puritans came from all ranks of English society but most were small-property holders. o By challenging England s official church, the Puritans troubled the English monarchs who led the Anglican Church. o Pilgrims were separatists that severed all ties from the church of England.
Puritans o Many fled to Holland in 1607 to escape persecution. o After ten years in the Dutch City of Leiden, they longed for English ways and the English flag. o If they could not have them at home they resorted to the new world.
Before they disembarked, the group of 100 made an agreement called the Mayflower compact, the settlers agreed to form a government and obey its laws. 41 of the Pilgrim leaders entered into a formal agreement to abide by the laws made by leaders of their own choosing. It was essentially agreement to form a church and believed that God had made a covenant with them to provide a way to salvation. Thus the civil government grew naturally out of the church government, and the members of each were identical at the start.
And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12:15-17.
My father descended from one of the Pilgrims who came to America in the ship May Flower, and landed upon Plymouth Rock, December, 1620. On board that ship was the father of Peregrine White, who wore a pair of silver knee-buckles, such as may be seen in the picture of the venerable signers of the Declaration of Independence. The knee-buckles worn by this man were afterward given to his son, Peregrine White, who was born on the passage to this country, with the request that they should be handed down in this line of the White family to the eldest son of each successive generation, whose name should be called John. My father had those buckles thirty years. James White: Life Incidents, page 9.
Later others were admitted as members and freemen but only church members were eligible. This idea of self-government would later become the founding principles of the United States.
On December 26 the Mayflower reached the harbor of the place they named Plymouth and stayed there until April to give shelter and support while the Pilgrims built dwellings on the site of an abandoned Indian village. Nearly half the colonists died of exposure and disease, but friendly relations with the neighboring Wampanoag Indians proved their salvation.
o In the spring of 1621, the colonists met Squanto an Indian who spoke English and showed them how to grow Maize. o By Autumn, the Pilgrims had a bumper crop of corn a flourishing fur trade and a supply of lumber for shipment. o To celebrate they held a harvest feast in the company of Chief Massisaiot and the Wampanoags. o That event provided the inspiration for what has become Thanksgiving.
It was the desire for liberty of conscience that inspired the Pilgrims to brave the perils of the long journey across the sea, to endure the hardships and dangers of the wilderness, and with God's blessing to lay, on the shores of America, the foundation of a mighty nation. The Great Controversy page 290
Discussion Activity: Do you have a belief or ideology that you would be willing to die for? If you had to move out of your home like the Pilgrims quickly and you only had five items to pack, what would it be?
Conclusion: Both Plymouth and Maryland were established to escape religious persecution. Plymouth colonists self governed themselves having church member males choose their leaders. The Pilgrims were led by Divine providence to North America to establish the precedence of a safe haven for religious liberty.
Objectives: Learn the type of government the Puritans adopted in Massachusetts and how it influenced the future United States. Learn how the Puritan regarded those who were contrary to their beliefs.
o The Puritans who arrived in America believed themselves to be on a divine mission to create a model society committed to the proper worship of God. o In their efforts to separate themselves from a sinful England and its authoritarian Anglican bishops, New England s zealous Puritans sought to create holy commonwealths that would help inspire a spiritual transformation in their homeland.
o In the New World, these self-described saints could purify their churches of all Catholic and Anglican rituals, supervise one another in practicing communal faith, and enact a code of laws and a government structure based on biblical principles. o Such a holy settlement, they thought would provide a beacon of righteousness for a wicked England to emulate.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was the next major Puritan colony. It too, originally was intended to be a holy commonwealth made up of religious folk bound together in the harmonious worship of God and the pursuit of their callings. They were like the Pilgrims mostly Congregationalists who formed selfgoverning churches with membership limited to the visible saints.
In 1629, King Charles I issued a charter for the Massachusetts Bay Company to a group of English Puritans led by John Winthrop, a lawyer with profound religious convictions. He sought to establish a colony as a refuge for persecuted Puritans and as an instrument for building a wilderness Zion in America.
o This charter had a fateful omission where Winthrop was able to take the charter with him. o The charter normally stayed in London. o This allowed the Puritans to have their own control of the colony and was self-governing. o Winthrop sought to establish a colony that we must consider that we shall be a city upon a hill. o A shining example of what a godly community should be. o Boston was established as the new colony s chief city and capital.
The government established by this colony was sort of a representative republic. Where freemen or male church members were able to choose assistants who in turn chose the governor and deputy governor of the colony. Legislature was made up of two houses that made laws for the colony.
o Most of the Puritans immigrated to New England to realize their own society and certainty not to champion religious toleration. o A leading New Englander denounced the lawlessness of liberty of conscience as an invitation to heresy and anarchy. o No Catholics, Baptists, or Quakers need come to New England except to Rhode Island.
o To make that point, the Massachusetts government executed four Quakers and burned their books. o The Puritans feared that God would punish any people who tolerated individual choice religion.
Salem Witch Trials: In the New England Colonies they also prosecuted suspected witches. Whenever cattle or children died they suspected evil magic and for the safety of the community witches were to be rooted out. Suspected witches were women who did not fit the status quo of women s roles and norms.
o In Salem, 19 suspected witches were executed. o But when the accusations reached prominent families including the governor s wife, the judges dropped any further trials.
Discussion Activity: If you were a townsperson during the Salem Witch trials, would you side with the majority in condemning the accused witches or would you seek to have the accused rights respected? (Pair up with someone with the opposite viewpoint with you and list five points where you disagree OR if there is not enough people from a opposite viewpoint to pair up, pair up with a partner and list five points to your position.).
Conflict with Native Americans: By the 1630s, the Puritans in New England were engaged in a brisk fur trade with the Pequoets and several other Indian nations. It was an uneasy relationship.
Conflict with Native Americans: Tensions boiled over to the Pequot War. In 1636 Puritans accused the Pequots of murdering a English trader. But the Pequots denied the accusation. Allied with Narragansett and Nohegan Indians,the Puritans attacked several Pequot villages.
Conflict with Native Americans: o In turn the Pequot raided a Puritan village. o Outraged, the Puritans burned a Pequot village filled mostly of women and children and killed most of its 600 to 700 inhabitants. o This caused a greater intensity in conflicts between the Puritans and Indians.
Praying Towns. o After the Pequot War, the Puritans worked to convert, and transform the Indians into replicas of English Christians. o They pressured the Indians to move into special praying towns closely supervised by missionaries. o They forced Indians to abandon their traditional culture, women were forced from the corn fields to spin and weave cloth. o Indian men had to forsake fishing and hunting for farming and dress in traditional clothes.
Rom_13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Mat_5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Discussion Activity: What is the best way to convert someone to a different religion or faith?
Yet honest and God-fearing as they were, the Pilgrims did not yet comprehend the great principle of religious liberty. The freedom which they sacrificed so much to secure for themselves, they were not equally ready to grant to others. "Very few, even of the foremost thinkers and moralists of the seventeenth century, had any just conception of that grand principle, the outgrowth of the New Testament, which acknowledges God as the sole judge of human faith."--ibid., vol. 5, p. 297. The doctrine that God has committed to the church the right to control the conscience, and to define and punish heresy, is one of the most deeply rooted of papal errors.
While the Reformers rejected the creed of Rome, they were not entirely free from her spirit of intolerance. The dense darkness in which, through the long ages of her rule, popery had enveloped all Christendom, had not even yet been wholly dissipated. Said one of the leading ministers in the colony of Massachusetts Bay: "It was toleration that made the world antichristian; and the church never took harm by the punishment of heretics."--ibid., vol. 5, p. 335.
The regulation was adopted by the colonists that only church members should have a voice in the civil government. A kind of state church was formed, all the people being required to contribute to the support of the clergy, and the magistrates being authorized to suppress heresy. Thus the secular power was in the hands of the church. It was not long before these measures led to the inevitable result --persecution. {Great Controversy page 292.3}
Conclusion: Puritans established a legislative body and had elements of a representative government. Did not extend liberty and freedom to others. Sought to force Indians and other to their religious beliefs. A carry over influence of both the Church of England and the Papacy.
Discussion Questions: o Based on what you studied thus far, what do you see when church or religion is combined with the government to rule and govern? o How do you feel in regards to the Puritans not extending religious liberty to others? o Either write one paragraph or draw a comic of how you feel.
OBJECTIVES: Students will study how the concept of religious liberty and the separation of church and state developed in the New England Colonies.
1Jn_4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
The Call for Religious Liberty Roger Williams arrived in the colonies from England in 1631. Whereas John Winthrop cherished authority, Roger Williams championed liberty. Unlike the Puritans and the Pilgrims, who asserted that God created a covenant with each congregation (church), Williams came to believe that the true covenant was between God and the individual.
The Call for Religious Liberty He was known as a charismatic speaker and gentle and kind but thought of to have strange ideas. Williams also believed that instead of taking by force lands from the Indians, they needed to purchase land from the Indians.
The Call for Religious Liberty In Williams view, the purity of the church required complete separation of church and state and freedom from coercion in matters of faith. Forced worship he declared, stinks in God s nostrils. Williams therefore questioned the authority of government to impose an oath of allegiance and rejected laws imposing religious conformity.
The Call for Religious Liberty o Him and his family was banished from the Salem colony in 1635. o Befriending the Narragansett Indians he settled in their territory. o In 1636 Williams established the town of Providence at the head of Narragansett Bay, the first permanent settlement in Rhode Island and the first in America to legislate freedom of religion.
The Call for Religious Liberty o There Williams welcomed all who fled religious persecution in Massachusetts Bay. o Rhode Island attracted Baptists, Quakers, and Jews. o Lacking a majority for any faith the Rhode Islanders agreed to separate church and state. o They believed that mingling church and state corrupted religion.
Religious Liberty: Joh_18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
The Call for Religious Liberty Anne Hutchinson quarreled with the Puritan leaders for different reasons. She was articulate, strong-willed, intelligent wife of a prominent merchant she raised thirteen children, served as a healer and midwife and hosted meetings in her Boston home to discuss sermons. Soon, the discussions turned into large forums for Hutchinson s commentaries on religious matters.
The Call for Religious Liberty She claimed to have direct revelations from God and challenged traditional Puritans doctrines. She challenged the authority of ministers to interpret God s will for the people as to prepare them for the possibility of being selected for salvation. She was well versed in her Biblical defense but her presence was a threat to the social norms of the colony. She would later settle in Rhode Island and then ultimately New York where she was killed in an Indian raid.
The Call for Religious Liberty God could have destroyed Satan and his sympathizers as easily as one can cast a pebble to the earth; but He did not do this. Rebellion was not to be overcome by force. Compelling power is found only under Satan's government. The Lord's principles are not of this order. His authority rests upon goodness, mercy, and love; and the presentation of these principles is the means to be used. God's government is moral, and truth and love are to be the prevailing power. {DA 759.1}
William Penn founds Pennsylvania Pennsylvania began as a debt paid to William Penn by King Charles II of England. Although son of an admiral, Penn embraced the Quaker faith, a radical form of Protestantism. As a wealthy gentlemen, Penn was an unusual Quaker. Most Quakers were trades people, shopkeepers, and small farmers who distrusted rich and powerful men.
William Penn founds Pennsylvania In 1680, the King granted to Penn the land west of the Delaware River as the colony of Pennsylvania. Penn arrived with 23 ships bearing 2,000 colonists. For his capital, Penn established a city named Philadelphia which means City of Brotherly Love.
Quakers In contrast to Puritan emphasis on sacred scriptures and sermons by ministers, the Quakers sought an inner light to understand the Bible. The Quakers did not have clergy and considering women spiritually equal to men, Quakers established both men s and women s leadership for their meetings. As Pacifists, the Quakers refused to bear arms. They also tolerated other faiths. Pennsylvania would have no privilege church with tax support.
Quakers Most came in freedom as families of Middle Class means. Most were Quakers but the colony also attracted Anglicans as well as German Baptists and Lutherans. They also get along with the Native Americans and Penn treated Native Americans with respect and paid fair prices for their land.
Quakers Psa_119:165 Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. Rom_13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Discussion Activity: o What examples do you see in today s society where groups or individuals different from mainstream society are unfairly accused? (Religious or ethnic groups?) o Do you agree or disagree that the government should protect religious groups who hold different beliefs than the majority of that society?