Rebels with a cause THE BIBLE OF THE EARLY AMERICAN REPUBLIC Mark A. Noll
MISCHIEVOUS TAXES The result could be eccentric—as in a sermon by Rhode Island Baptist John Allen (c. 1741–1785) on Micah 7:3. Allen somehow turned “a great man uttereth his mischievous desire” into a cry that Parliament’s tax on tea meant absolute tyranny. Copies of the sermon sold like hotcakes. Contemporary preachers also drew
12
LIGHT IN DARKNESS Though Catholics and his own king attempted to thwart his work, Tyndale, whose Bible is pictured above, pressed on with translation.
theological conclusions while commenting on contested issues, which did not always agree; John Witherspoon (1723–1794), president of the College of New Jersey, preached on Psalm 76:10 less than two months before becoming the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. Witherspoon strongly defended the struggle against Britain, but also stressed God’s providential ability to bring good out of human evil. John Fletcher (1729–1785), one of John Wesley’s close colleagues, explained that Romans 13 gives magistrates power to “execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” To Fletcher, colonists who complained about the “slavery” of Parliament while enslaving Africans were prime examples of evildoers. He concluded that Britain should fight against what he called “the tyranny of republican despotism.” But David Griffith, a Virginia Anglican who spoke from the same text, came to the opposite conclusion before fellow clergy in 1775.
Christian History
TYNDALE BIBLE AT BODLEIAN LIBRARY. STEVE BENNETT / [CC BY-SA 3.0 ] WIKIMEDIA
WHEN THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS in 1776 asked Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) and Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) to design a seal for its would-be independent nation, they proposed images from Exodus 13 and 14—Israel’s miraculous journey through the Red Sea and the pillars of cloud and fire with which God protected his people. In so doing they touched on Revolutionary questions: Did the blessing of God rest on people in rebellion against their anointed monarch? Were they slaves toiling under the thumb of Pharaoh, awaiting God’s freedom? Triumphant Israelites finally entering the promised land? These images and more competed for attention as Bible believers eagerly turned to Scripture for a word from God for the times.
