tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880332.post113217666300439059..comments2023-11-05T03:18:37.731-08:00Comments on life together: Remembering the Reformers, Part 5: John KnoxTimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16613060195802747865noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10880332.post-1133401989241499952005-11-30T17:53:00.000-08:002005-11-30T17:53:00.000-08:00I read with interest your article on John Knox for...I read with interest your article on John Knox for two reasons. Primarily as I am a history teacher, but also since he is my 11th great-grandfather. Having studied both Knox and early America, I thought I thought I might place an addendum to your post as many do not realize the role Knox had in the creation of our nation.<BR/><BR/>John Knox was without doubt the most moving force in the creation of a Protestant Scotland and molding the Church of Scotland in a Presbyterian manner. These Scottish Presbyterians were responsible for taking Presbyterianism to Ireland and England. They were recognized for their non-conformity to established order, but a firm reliance on Scripture as their guide.<BR/><BR/>In England the Presbyterian influence encouraged the Puritans to resist the king and eventually led to a bloody civil war. Scots who settled in Ireland were at first welcomed, but their descendants were heavily taxed by Catholic landlords and forced to endure discriminatory laws. Generations of persecution by the English and Catholics produced a people who were distrustful of government, self-sufficient, and ready for a fight. Eventually, these Presbyterian Scots-Irish emigrated from Ireland in large numbers and settled in the American Colonies.<BR/><BR/>There were about a quarter of a million of these Scots-Irish Presbyterians that settled here between 1717 and 1770 and they were quick to defend their liberties as they had in other lands. It has been estimated that at the time of the Revolution as many as 1 in 6 Colonials was of Scots-Irish or of their descent. Presbyterians overwhelmingly supported independence, so much so that the war was commonly called “the Presbyterian Rebellion” back in England. Our Founding Fathers used the same covenantal language and right of resistance to tyranny, which Knox had earlier championed.<BR/><BR/>Approximately one half of all soldiers and officers during the War for Independence were Presbyterians and it was noted that by Yorktown every colonel in the army excepting one held to that faith. The British were particularly mindful of this and destroyed more than 50 Presbyterian churches during the war, burning some and converting others into prisons or horse stables.<BR/><BR/>12 of the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence were Scots-Irish and the only minister among them was the Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, a Presbyterian and President of Princeton University. During his tenure Witherspoon was accused of turning the school into a “seminary of sedition." This slur wouldn’t have bothered the rebellious Presbyterians though as one rallying cry of the Patriots proclaimed, “Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.”Nate Maashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08205088028505450499noreply@blogger.com