Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Why did they come

During the 1600s the world saw a great migration from Europe to America. Why did they come? After all, it meant weeks at sea, crossing the unpredictable Atlantic ocean, hostile Indians, clearing land and leaving the life they knew. There were three events in Europe that God used to get Christians to the New World. First of all, there was the 30 years war. This war in Europe pitted Protestants against Catholics to see which group would have control. Many Protestant left and went to America during the 1618-1648 period. This is sometimes called the Great Puritan migration. The second event was the English Civil war in 1642. Oliver Cromwell and his roundheads defeated the Catholics under Charles I. However, after Cromwell died, the Stuart line came back and re-established Catholicism in England. It was during this struggle that many English Christians came to America for religious freedom. The last event was under Louis XIV of France. In 1685 he revoked civil rights for the French Protestants, which caused about half of a million of them to leave France. Many of these Huguenots came to America. With all of these Christians coming to America is it any surprise that most of the Colonies were Christian colonies. Plymouth was founded by separatist, Massachusetts Bay was founded by Puritans, Connecticut was founded by Puritans, and Rhode Island was founded by a Baptist. Religious freedom was the major motive for coming to the New World for many of our founding Fathers. God used the tumultuous events of the 1600s to bring thousands of Christians to the place He was going to make into a Christian nation. Another effect of what was going on in Europe was that it kept their attention away from what was going on in America. The colonies were allowed to develop their own Constitutions, elect their own leaders, and develop a spirit of Independence. As we consider God’s hand in bringing Christianity to America, it saddens many that Christianity is being removed from every facet of society.

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