Posted on 07/04/2011 8:49:43 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
....With this background we shall not be surprised to find that the Presbyterians took a very prominent part in the American Revolution. Our own historian Bancroft says: "The Revolution of 1776, so far as it was affected by religion, was a Presbyterian measure. It was the natural outgrowth of the principles which the Presbyterianism of the Old World planted in her sons, the English Puritans, the Scotch Covenanters, the French Huguenots, the Dutch Calvinists, and the Presbyterians of Ulster." So intense, universal, and aggressive were the Presbyterians in their zeal for liberty that the war was spoken of in England as "The Presbyterian Rebellion." An ardent colonial supporter of King George III wrote home: "I fix all the blame for these extraordinary proceedings upon the Presbyterians. They have been the chief and principal instruments in all these flaming measures. They always do and ever will act against government from that restless and turbulent anti-monarchial spirit which has always distinguished them everywhere." When the news of "these extraordinary proceedings" reached England, Prime Minister Horace Walpole said in Parliament, "Cousin America has run off with a Presbyterian parson." History is eloquent in declaring that American democracy was born of Christianity and that that Christianity was Calvinism. The great Revolutionary conflict which resulted in the formation of the American nation, was carried out mainly by Calvinists, many of whom had been trained in the rigidly Presbyterian College at Princeton, and this nation is their gift to all liberty loving people.
....In his book, "The Creed of Presbyterians," E. W. Smith asks concerning the American colonists, "Where learned they those immortal principles of the rights of man, of human liberty, equality and self-government, on which they based their Republic, and which form today the distinctive glory of our American civilization ? In the school of Calvin they learned them. There the modern world learned them. So history teaches"....
....Too much emphasis cannot be laid, in connection with the origin of the nation, upon the influence of that ecclesiastical republic, which from 1706 to 1774 was the only representative on this continent of fully developed federal republican institutions. The United States of America owes much to that oldest of American Republics, the Presbyterian Church." It is, of course, not claimed that the Presbyterian Church was the only source from which sprang the principles upon which this republic is founded, but it is claimed that the principles found in the Westminster Standards were the chief basis for the republic, and that "The Presbyterian Church taught, practiced, and maintained in fulness, first in this land that form of government in accordance with which the Republic has been organized"....
....In England and America the great struggles for civil and religious liberty were nursed in Calvinism, inspired by Calvinism, and carried out largely by men who were Calvinists. And because the majority of historians have never made a serious study of Calvinism they have never been able to give us a truthful and complete account of what it has done in these countries. Only the light of historical investigation is needed to show us how our forefathers believed in it and were controlled by it. We live in a day when the services of the Calvinists in the founding of this country have been largely forgotten, and one can hardly treat of this subject without appearing to be a mere eulogizer of Calvinism. We may well do honor to that Creed which has borne such sweet fruits and to which America owes so much.
That’s odd, here in NC, the Presbyterians were some of the staunchest supporters of the Crown, and some of the biggest opponents of true religious liberty, both before and after the Revolution. In fact, Presbyterians were heavily involved in assisting the Anglican (NC’s official persuasion, as a colony) persecutions of dissenting groups.
bttt
Great article. Very informative. Thanks
ping
Interesting that the Puritans themselves were not Presbyterians but Congregationalists.
Some people don't see the 4th of July as a celebration of the birth of our nation but as an opportunity for spreading their revisionist history and propaganda. You know, it's all about them. Which, of course, is exactly what Presbyterians teach.
Regards
They were, however, Calvinists.
They were, however, Calvinists.
I’m a Baptist, not a Presbyterian, and I believe Professor Boettner was correct. I began to discover the Calvinistic underpinnings of the Revolution years ago as a history major at a Southern Baptist university. As King James I said, “Presbytery agreeth with monarchy like God with the Devil.”
And a Hessian captain wrote in 1778, “Call this war by whatever name you may, only call it not an American rebellion; it is nothing more or less than a Scots-Irish Presbyterian rebellion.”
Yes, they were indeed.
No earthly kings for me, thanks in part to the braver among my Protestant American fore-fathers. FREEDOM from the tyranny of man-appointed "kings"...that's what this day is about.
The very idea of it changed the world of men in ways both large and small.
The church you promote and practice apologetics for had it's chance...had centuries of "chance". They messed it up enough, blending the sacred with the less than, and even the profane, that people turned from their declared rule in huge numbers.
Blending religious authority with political power (the power to rule utterly over others) brought decidedly mixed outcomes. Many suffered for political or philosophical reasons--- even unto death, for daring to speak against what the Roman branch of "the church" had become. This "church" justified it's oppressions of others, sanctioned the oppressions of kings over others as being God's own desire. That part, was a big fat lie!
But what else could have been expected? That men would actually be Holy & just? Well, mankind in general is not. The human heart is wicked (in comparison to that which is truly Holy). The churchmen of old, whom were rebelled against, were certainly not a uniform exception to the rule.
We need only look at human beings in general today (churchmen or "religious" folks included) to see that not much has changed as to the human condition.
There is potential among humans, to practice what is sacred, and what is depraved. Sometimes---on the same day!
Have a happy 4th.
Enjoy what liberties we can still exercise in this time & place, under God. That is more God's own desire for us, than to be ruled over by wicked kings, or politicians using the trappings of "church", telling us, "hey, Jesus died on the Cross, but he left ME in charge!!!"
"If all else fails I will retreat up the valley of Virginia, plant my flag on the Blue Ridge, rally around the Scotch-Irish of that region, and make my last stand for liberty amongst a people who will never submit to British tyranny whilst there is a man left to draw a trigger."
- George Washington, who labored under no such false impression, at Valley Forge
The Baptists and their precedents are among the most persecuted Christians in history. I doubt you will find any support for govt churches, or monarchs, imposing their views on them.
Great article, timely posted! Thanks.
Whatever it's convenient to categorize them as in order to play up a single factor like their religion, any who remained Presbyterian after the war were far different Presbyterians with far different views on Calvinism than they were prior to it. Usually they even clearly differentiated themselves from mainstream Presbyterians from then on which is what led to a split in the US Presbyterian church in the early 1800s. A great many left the Presbyterian church and became primitive Baptists who embraced an altered form of Calvinism doctrine. They, like Calvinists, didn't believe in missionary work, the very thing the Baptist church has always considered paramount leading to a split among the Baptists due to the large number of former Presbyterians not agreeing with the Baptist mainstream.
Regards
Um - you do realise that the Calvinists in Europe were among the most vigourous enemies of religious liberty both in Europe and in the American colonies, right?
Oh, you didn't know that, because you've never bothered to actually think about and study the history for yourself?
If you like religious liberty, thank the Baptists who convinced Madison and Jefferson to include it in the Bill of Rights.
"Whatever the cause, the Calvinists were the only fighting Protestants. It was they whose faith gave them courage to stand up for the Reformation. In England, Scotland, France, Holland, they,... did the work, and but for them the Reformation would have been crushed... If it had not been for Calvinists,... and whatever you like to call them, the Pope and Philip would have won, and we should either be Papists or Socialists." ~ Sir John Skelton
As the Reformation, so went the Revolution. Thank God.
It’s interesting you mention the Scots-Irish because by the time of the Revolution, a large number of them had become Baptists through the missionary efforts of Shubal Stearns, Daniel Marshall, and others. In fact, it was throughout the Scots-Irish regions of North Carolina, Virginia (and later West Virginia), South Carolina, and what would eventually become Kentucky and Tennessee that the Baptists became most profuse. It was among the Baptists in NC that a large part of the support for the Revolution was found - especially among those who had earlier supported the Regulator movement in the Piedmont region.
Especially when you consider that the record of Calvinism is just as stained and bloody as the record of Catholicism on that regard. Sorry, but Calvinism is no friend of true liberty, regardless of what the cheerleaders may have managed to convince themselves of.
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