Laying It Down

Without the construction workers who pave the highway, you have no road to follow. In America today, few appreciate the roles many played to gain freedom from tyranny and liberty of conscience for the USA. If it weren’t for the martyrs, the undaunted church leaders, the Puritans, the preachers of the Great Awakening, and more, you can forget about the US and the Constitution that provides the right to be free. Forget about going to the church of your choice every Sunday, the one you often feel obligated to go to, but you feel too worn out or bored to worship God with other believers, a privilege few other countries possess. Have you ever just sat where you are and thought about those who came before you and made sure you’d be free today? Hopefully what you will read now will help you even a little to ponder and appreciate that you are free to be a Christian in the USA.
A man born into a poor German family, Martin Luther seemed an unlikely man to impact as many as he did. You may have heard of his 95 Theses being nailed into the Roman Catholic Church door that would later break open the Reformation, but do you know why he did it? It wasn’t just for getting back at the Roman Catholic church (he had been very angry with how they did things), but for his beliefs in the creator-redeemer distinction and liberty of conscience. The former speaks of God’s laws governing the flesh while he governs the spirit: the latter (liberty of conscience) demands that all men should be free to believe what they want, just what God wants us to do (we are not robots). While Luther ‘paved the road’, the man who took up after Luther was English theologian John Calvin. Surprisingly to some, Calvinism is almost a direct pickup to Lutheranism. Both men believed in the same ideals, which Calvin gathered up and jotted down his famous set of volumes, titled “Institutes of the Christian Religion”. Regrettably, the kings of England at the time were diverted from true Christianity, believing in false doctrines such as “the Divine Right of Kings”.
The Westminster Confession was written to help put away “the Divine Right of Kings”, and to put forth to the people what was right according to God’s word. In the text of the Confession, two sides were presented; “the Divine Right of Kings”, and the Social Contract Theory. Two of the key leaders present were Samuel Rutherford and John Locke. Both were Calvinists and Lutherans, and each was a renowned influential writer; Rutherford created the Lex Rex, a continuation of Calvinistic and Lutheran ideals, and Locke wrote the Carolina Constitution, which was also based on Calvinism and Lutheranism. Another vital Christian theologian, Algernon Sidney, believed in the creator-redeemer distinction and liberty of conscience (yet another to carry Luther’s and Calvin’s cross), and used his beliefs in his work as a prominent politician. His adversaries called him and his followers ‘Whigs’ , short for a group of English horse thieves. Responding in jest, Sidney titled his attackers ‘Tories’, a term used for a bunch of Irish hoodlums. Decades later, these two parties clashed in the American Revolution, separated because of indifferences.
In a leaky tub christened “the Mayflower”, a group of refugees called Pilgrims(the Puritans were only a part of the group) journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean to America. Before arriving on shore at Massachusetts in 1620, the passengers aboard the ship signed a contract titled “the Mayflower Compact” in order to assure a well-organized government. As the settlers spread abroad however, some government issues arose. To counteract problems, Connecticut community leader Thomas Hooker and several others wrote up “The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut” in 1639 (a preview of what the later Constitution would be like). The New England settlers in Massachusetts and the surrounding area had a hard time dealing with truth, and by the 1690’s were conducting the Salem Witch Trials. These horrible shows of manslaughter were comprised of bringing before a judge anyone suspected to be a witch or to be associated with one, unfairly trying them, then, after convicting the suspects, burning them at stake, hanging them, and more ghastly things. Then came the First Great Awakening. America was astonished. Revival fever struck everywhere. God was back in America. Several of the Spirit-filled preachers involved were John Wesley, George Whitfield, and Jonathan Edwards. Many were led to Jesus Christ. The Christian ideals of these preachers were key players in the Constitution and American laws.
There you have it. The story of some of the people who led the way for America. It is incredible that people would sacrifice their entire lives to fight for the truth, is it not? Again, without these people and many more, there would be no America like we know it today. Sadly, the America we know today is also becoming more corrupt both politically and spiritually. All Christians need to take a stand for what they believe, just as their forefathers did for them. Think not about yourself, but put others before yourself.

Greater love has no one than this,
than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
John 15:13 (New King James Version)