America in Prophecy by Ellen White [Modern Version]
America’s peculiar origins and hegemonic impact in world affairs stand undisputed. As a superpower birthed from Europe, her eminent history has been celebrated. Foretold since antiquity, a myriad of repressions, revolutions and reforms inspired the first band of pilgrims to settle on a new promised land of liberty. This book enables the reader to understand America’s unique destiny and commanding role while besieged by gross spiritual and political machinations. Clearly, this reading lifts the veil from past events molding America and presaging her cooperation to undermine the very values once cherished. America’s peculiar origins and hegemonic impact in world affairs stand undisputed. As a superpower birthed from Europe, her eminent history has been celebrated. Foretold since antiquity, a myriad of repressions, revolutions and reforms inspired the first band of pilgrims to settle on a new promised land of liberty. This book enables the reader to understand America’s unique destiny and commanding role while besieged by gross spiritual and political machinations. Clearly, this reading lifts the veil from past events molding America and presaging her cooperation to undermine the very values once cherished.
and councils in the Roman Church; so that belief would become a heap of confusion."--Martyn, vol. 5, p. 340. Attendance at the services of the established church was required under a penalty of fine or imprisonment. "Williams reprobated the law; the worst statute in the English code was that which did but enforce attendance upon the parish church. To compel men to unite with those of a different creed, he regarded as an open violation of their natural rights; to drag to public worship the irreligious and the unwilling, seemed only like requiring hypocrisy. . . . 'No one should be bound to worship, or,' he added, 'to maintain a worship, against his own consent.' 'What!' exclaimed his antagonists, amazed at his tenets, 'is not the laborer worthy of his hire?' 'Yes,' replied he, 'from them that hire him.'"-- Bancroft, pt. 1, ch. 15, par. 2. Roger Williams was respected and beloved as a faithful minister, a man of rare gifts, of unbending integrity and true benevolence; yet his steadfast denial of the right of civil magistrates to authority over the church, and his demand for religious liberty, could not be tolerated. The application of this new doctrine, it was urged, would "subvert the fundamental state and government of the country."-- Ibid., pt. 1, ch. 15, par. 10. He was sentenced to banishment from the colonies, and, finally, to avoid arrest, he was forced to flee, amid the cold and storms of winter, into the unbroken forest. "For fourteen weeks," he says, "I was sorely tossed in a bitter season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean." But "the ravens fed me in the wilderness," and a hollow tree often served him for a shelter.--Martyn, vol. 5, pp. 349, 350. Thus he continued his painful flight through the snow and the trackless forest, until he found refuge with an Indian tribe whose confidence and affection he had won while endeavouring to teach them the truths of the gospel. Making his way at last, after months of change and wandering, to the shores of Narragansett Bay, he there laid the foundation of the first state of modern times that in the fullest sense recognized the right of religious freedom. The fundamental principle of Roger Williams's colony was "that every man should have liberty to worship God according to the light of his own conscience."-- Ibid., vol. 5, p. 354. His little state, Rhode Island, became the asylum of the oppressed, and it increased and prospered until its foundation principles--civil and religious liberty--became the cornerstones of the American Republic. 217
In that grand old document which our forefathers set forth as their bill of rights--the Declaration of Independence--they declared: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." And the Constitution guarantees, in the most explicit terms, the inviolability of conscience: "No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office of public trust under the United States." "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." "The framers of the Constitution recognized the eternal principle that man's relation with his God is above human legislation, and his rights of conscience inalienable. Reasoning was not necessary to establish this truth; we are conscious of it in our own bosoms. It is this consciousness which, in defiance of human laws, has sustained so many martyrs in tortures and flames. They felt that their duty to God was superior to human enactments, and that man could exercise no authority over their consciences. It is an inborn principle which nothing can eradicate."-Congressional documents (U.S.A.), serial No. 200, document No. 271. As the tidings spread through the countries of Europe, of a land where every man might enjoy the fruit of his own labor and obey the convictions of his own conscience, thousands flocked to the shores of the New World. Colonies rapidly multiplied. "Massachusetts, by special law, offered free welcome and aid, at the public cost, to Christians of any nationality who might fly beyond the Atlantic 'to escape from wars or famine, or the oppression of their persecutors.' Thus the fugitive and the downtrodden were, by statute, made the guests of the commonwealth."--Martyn, vol. 5, p. 417. In twenty years from the first landing at Plymouth, as many thousand Pilgrims were settled in New England. To secure the object which they sought, "they were content to earn a bare subsistence by a life of frugality and toil. They asked nothing from the soil but the reasonable returns of their own labor. No golden vision threw a deceitful halo around their path. . . . They were content with the slow but steady progress of their social polity. They patiently endured the privations of the wilderness, watering the tree of liberty with their tears, and with the sweat of their brow, till it took deep root in the land." The Bible was held as the foundation of faith, the source of wisdom, and the charter of liberty. Its principles were diligently taught in the 218
- Page 167 and 168: good evil, till they had fallen vic
- Page 169 and 170: abble and beaten almost to death. Y
- Page 171 and 172: of all the champions of popery. Cut
- Page 173 and 174: 13. The Netherlands and Scandinavia
- Page 175 and 176: greater, and persecuting edicts fol
- Page 177 and 178: papists to overthrow the work resul
- Page 180 and 181: language of England among us? . . .
- Page 182 and 183: The grand principle maintained by t
- Page 184 and 185: Knox, vol. 2, pp. 281, 284. Such we
- Page 186 and 187: subdue the evils of the natural hea
- Page 188 and 189: atoning blood of Christ, and the re
- Page 190 and 191: The Methodists of those early days-
- Page 192 and 193: is good and acceptable in the sight
- Page 194 and 195: avowed adherents numbered more than
- Page 196 and 197: The periods here mentioned--"forty
- Page 198 and 199: It had been Rome's policy, under a
- Page 200 and 201: The "Church in the Desert," the few
- Page 202 and 203: ought forward in full procession, t
- Page 204 and 205: excesses are to be charged upon the
- Page 206 and 207: The gospel would have brought to Fr
- Page 208 and 209: they had so long paid homage, they
- Page 210 and 211: All this was as Satan would have it
- Page 212 and 213: will cause them to know, this once
- Page 214 and 215: 16. The Pilgrim Fathers The English
- Page 216 and 217: His ways made known or to be made k
- Page 220 and 221: home, in the school, and in the chu
- Page 222 and 223: 17. Heralds of the Morning One of t
- Page 224 and 225: ighteousness and praise to spring f
- Page 226 and 227: These signs were witnessed before t
- Page 228 and 229: carpenter left his tools, the black
- Page 230 and 231: planting, building, marrying, and g
- Page 232 and 233: the day dawn, and the daystar arise
- Page 234 and 235: Oh, what a lesson is this wonderful
- Page 236 and 237: 18. An American Reformer An Upright
- Page 238 and 239: Miller publicly professed his faith
- Page 240 and 241: Thessalonians, after describing the
- Page 242 and 243: point could be found for the 2300 d
- Page 244 and 245: THE PROPHECY OF 2,300 DAYS One Prop
- Page 246 and 247: offered upon Calvary, ended that sy
- Page 248 and 249: his way to turn from it; if he do n
- Page 250 and 251: phenomenon has ever occurred in thi
- Page 252 and 253: sayings and doctrines of men, to th
- Page 254 and 255: Scoffers pointed to the things of n
- Page 256 and 257: of the Sacred Word--and that the pa
- Page 258 and 259: 19. Light Through Darkness The work
- Page 260 and 261: They performed their duty in presen
- Page 262 and 263: The event that had filled them with
- Page 264 and 265: His grace, with the "crown of right
- Page 266 and 267: The disappointment also, though the
In that grand old document which our forefathers set forth as their bill of rights--the<br />
Declaration of Independence--they declared: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that<br />
all men are created equal; that they are endowed <strong>by</strong> their Creator with certa<strong>in</strong> unalienable<br />
rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happ<strong>in</strong>ess." And the Constitution<br />
guarantees, <strong>in</strong> the most explicit terms, the <strong>in</strong>violability of conscience: "No religious test shall<br />
ever be required as a qualification to any office of public trust under the United States."<br />
"Congress shall make no law respect<strong>in</strong>g an establishment of religion, or prohibit<strong>in</strong>g the free<br />
exercise thereof."<br />
"The framers of the Constitution recognized the eternal pr<strong>in</strong>ciple that man's relation<br />
with his God is above human legislation, and his rights of conscience <strong>in</strong>alienable. Reason<strong>in</strong>g<br />
was not necessary to establish this truth; we are conscious of it <strong>in</strong> our own bosoms. It is this<br />
consciousness which, <strong>in</strong> defiance of human laws, has susta<strong>in</strong>ed so many martyrs <strong>in</strong> tortures<br />
and flames. They felt that their duty to God was superior to human enactments, and that man<br />
could exercise no authority over their consciences. It is an <strong>in</strong>born pr<strong>in</strong>ciple which noth<strong>in</strong>g can<br />
eradicate."-Congressional documents (U.S.A.), serial No. 200, document No. 271.<br />
As the tid<strong>in</strong>gs spread through the countries of Europe, of a land where every man might<br />
enjoy the fruit of his own labor and obey the convictions of his own conscience, thousands<br />
flocked to the shores of the New World. Colonies rapidly multiplied. "Massachusetts, <strong>by</strong><br />
special law, offered free welcome and aid, at the public cost, to Christians of any nationality<br />
who might fly beyond the Atlantic 'to escape from wars or fam<strong>in</strong>e, or the oppression of their<br />
persecutors.' Thus the fugitive and the downtrodden were, <strong>by</strong> statute, made the guests of the<br />
commonwealth."--Martyn, vol. 5, p. 417. In twenty years from the first land<strong>in</strong>g at Plymouth,<br />
as many thousand Pilgrims were settled <strong>in</strong> New England.<br />
To secure the object which they sought, "they were content to earn a bare subsistence<br />
<strong>by</strong> a life of frugality and toil. They asked noth<strong>in</strong>g from the soil but the reasonable returns of<br />
their own labor. No golden vision threw a deceitful halo around their path. . . . They were<br />
content with the slow but steady progress of their social polity. They patiently endured the<br />
privations of the wilderness, water<strong>in</strong>g the tree of liberty with their tears, and with the sweat<br />
of their brow, till it took deep root <strong>in</strong> the land." The Bible was held as the foundation of faith,<br />
the source of wisdom, and the charter of liberty. Its pr<strong>in</strong>ciples were diligently taught <strong>in</strong> the<br />
218