How did Islamic expansion lead to the Dark Ages, the Age of Discovery, the Renaissance, the Reformation, and finally, the American Revolution?
In 12 years after Mohammed's death, 632-644 A.D., jihadists conquered the:
- Eastern Roman Empire,
- Syria,
- Palestine,
- Eastern Anatolia,
- Armenia,
- Upper Egypt,
- Lower Egypt, and
- North Africa.
Barbary pirates then terrorized the Mediterranean, blockading trade routes.
This caused economic disaster in Byzantine Roman Europe by diminishing products moving East to West.
An important item no longer shipped was papyrus -- reeds from the Nile delta which were used for paper in Europe.
The sudden shortage of paper contributed to a decline in literacy, fewer books being written, and Europe entering the DARK AGES.
Similar to modern-day reports of ISIS destroying 100,000 ancient books in the Central Library of Mosul, Iraq, the 7th century account is related of Muslim warriors destroying Egypt's ancient library in Alexandria -- the largest and oldest library in the world.
The incident, according to Abd-Al-Latif of Baghdad, 1162-1231, Jamal Ad-din Al-Kufti, 1169-1248, and Bar Hebraeus, 1226-1286, was that when Caliph Omar was asked what to do with Alexandria's Library, he replied:
"If those books are in agreement with the Qur'an, we have no need of them; and if these are opposed to the Qur'an, destroy them."
It supposedly took 6 months to burn them all.
Muslim Caliph Al-Ma'mun of the Abbasid Dynasty ordered raiders to break into the Great Pyramid of Giza in 832 A.D. in search of treasure.
An Islamic Hadith, Book 4, Number 2115:
"Do not leave an image without obliterating it, or a high grave without leveling it. This hadith has been reported by Habib with the same chain of transmitters and he said: Do not leave a picture without obliterating it."
Six hundred years later, Ottoman Muslims sacked Constantinople in 1453. Graves were desecrated and the largest Christian Church in the world, the Hagia Sophia, was turned into a mosque.
The Ottoman conquest cut off land trade routes from Europe to India and China. This led explorer Christopher Columbus to sail in 1492 looking for a sea route to India and China. Convinced he had reached India, Columbus named the people he met "Indians."
This began a period of exploration known as the AGE OF DISCOVERY.
Five years later, Vasco de Gama set sail from Portugal around South Africa to India, 1497-1499.
Ottomans invaded further into the Byzantine Empire, destroying Greek churches, schools, museums art, and graves.
Greeks hurriedly fled with their treasures, art and literature to Florence, Italy. This flood of ancient culture into Western Europe sparked a re-discovery of Greek culture called the RENAISSANCE.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778, considered one of the Fathers of the French Revolution, owned a dog he named "Sultan." He wrote a Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, 1750, translated by Ian Johnston, stating:
"Europe had fallen back into the barbarity ... A revolution was necessary to bring men back to common sense, and it finally came from a quarter where one would least expect it. It was the stupid Muslim, the eternal blight on learning, who brought about its rebirth among us ...
The collapse of the throne of Constantine carried into Italy the debris of ancient Greece. France, in its turn, was enriched by these precious remnants. The sciences soon followed letters. To the art of writing was joined the art of thinking."
As the wealth of the Greek Byzantine Empire flowed into Florence, Italy, many were made rich, most notably the families of Medici and Borgia, who financed artists Michelangelo and Leonardo DaVinci.
Condemning the rising materialism and sensualism in Florence was the religious preacher Savonarola, leading a notable Christian revival, inspiring crowds of thousands. Political leaders succeeded in having him excommunicated, arrested, tortured and executed.
Greek scholars fleeing the Ottoman invasion also brought to Europe the Greek Bible, which was translated into Latin by Erasmus. The interest in the New Testament from the original Greek contributed to the REFORMATION, begun by Martin Luther in 1517.
The King of France, Francis the First, caused a scandal in Europe by making an alliance with Muslim Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent against Italy, Spain and England.
Francis the First ordered the punishment of religious dissidents known as Waldensians.
Over the next century, RELIGIOUS WARS between Catholics and Protestants resulted in tragic atrocities.
Lorenzo de' Medici, to whom Niccolò Machiavelli dedicated his notorious book, The Prince, 1515, had his daughter, Catherine de' Medici, marry the next King of France, Henry the Second.
Henry the Second suppressed Protestant Huguenots in France.
After his death, Catherine de' Medici was credited with the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in Paris in 1572, after which Protestants fled France.
Earlier, in 1547, a young man named John Knox had been arrested and sentenced to be a galley slave on a French ship. Sailing away from Scotland, he looked up as they passed St. Andrews and said:
"I see the steeple of that place where God first in public opened my mouth to glory; and I am fully persuaded ... I shall not depart this life till my tongue shall glorify his godly name in the same place."
After two years, John Knox was released and exiled to England. Knox rose to be the royal chaplain to the young King Edward the Sixth where he helped influence the writing of the Book of Common Prayer.
When King Edward died, his sister Queen Mary Tudor took the throne and attempted to bring England back under the Catholic Church.
John Knox escaped England to Geneva, Switzerland, where he met Reformer John Calvin.
Calvin wrote in his Institutes on the Christian Religion, Book Four, 1536:
“We are subject to the men who rule over us, but subject only in the Lord. If they command anything against him, let us not pay the least regard to it.”
U.S. Secretary of the Navy George Bancroft published a ten-volume History of the United States, 1834-1874, the first comprehensive history of America. He wrote:
"He who will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin knows little of the origin of American liberty."
Calvin advised the Jeanne d'Albret Queen Regnant of Navarre, near the border of France and Spain:
"Now that the government is in your hands, God will test your zeal and fidelity. You now have an obligation to purge your lands of idolatry by taking into consideration the difficulties which can hold you back, the fears and doubts which can sap courage.
And I do not doubt that your advisors, if they look to this world, will try to stop you.
I know the arguments advanced to prove that princes should not force their subjects to lead a Christian life, but all kingdoms which do not serve that of Jesus Christ are ruined.
So judge for yourself. I do not say that all can be done in a day."
John Knox took back to Scotland the influence of Calvin, including his practice of confronting monarchs. When Mary-Queen of Scots returned to Scotland she was immediately criticized from the pulpit by Protestant Reformer John Knox.
Knox preached a sermon in St. Andrews which incited hearers, who proceeded to smash statues and vandalize Catholic churches. He was instrumental in having the Scottish Parliament officially accepted the Reformation in 1560, beginning the Presbyterian Church.
Through Knox, Calvin's beliefs not only influenced Scotland, but also the millions of Scots, Scots-Irish, Dutch Reformed, Huguenots, Congregationalists, Puritans, Presbyterians as well as some Separatists, Baptists and Anglican immigrants who came to America.
Mary-Queen of Scots had a tragic life. She married Lord Darnley in 1565, but he became jealous of Mary's private secretary, David Rizzio, and had him murdered.
Lord Darnley was then suspiciously killed two years later in an explosion. The chief suspect in his murder was the Earl of Bothwell, who manipulated Mary into marrying him a month later.
This upheaval resulted in the Scottish Parliament forcing Mary to abdicate her throne. She was replaced by her and Lord Darnley's infant son, James.
James, at the age of 13 months, was crowned King James the Sixth of Scotland. John Knox gave the coronation sermon.
The Earl of Bothwell tried to raise forces to return Mary-Queen of Scots to her throne, but he was captured in Norway and died in prison.
Mary-Queen of Scots fled to England in 1568 to be protected by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth the First. Instead of protection, she was involuntarily held in custody for 19 years.
Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry the Eighth by Anne Boleyn.
Anne Boleyn had refused to be another of Henry's mistresses. This led Henry to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, whose daughter was Mary.
Henry broke from the Catholic Church and began the Anglican Church. Henry the Eighth later beheaded Anne Boleyn.
The fate of Henry the Eighth's six wives were:
1) Catherine of Aragon, divorced;
2) Anne Boleyn, beheaded;
3) Jane Seymour, died;
4) Anne of Cleves, divorced;
5) Catherine Howard, beheaded;
6) Catherine Parr, survived.
Elizabeth had been put in the Tower of London in 1554 by her half-sister Queen Mary. When Mary died in 1558, Elizabeth became Queen.
She sent Sir Francis Drake to circumnavigate the globe, 1577-1580. She sent Sir Walter Raleigh to found a colony in America in 1584, which he named "Virginia" after the virgin Queen Elizabeth.
Elizabeth saw some of Shakespeare's plays, notably The Merry Wives of Windsor and Love's Labor's Lost.
Elizabeth was made aware of a plot against her life, which questionably implicated her captive Catholic cousin Mary-Queen of Scots. Elizabeth tragically signed the order for Mary's execution in 1587.
Catholics in England went into hiding or fled. Large numbers of priests sent to England were captured and executed.
In 1588, Elizabeth had Sir Francis Drake fight the Spanish Armada.
Like Francis the First earlier, the seriousness of Spain's threat led Queen Elizabeth to make a treaty with Spain's enemies, Moroccan ruler Mulai Ahmad al-Mansur and the Ottoman Sultan Murad the Third.
When Elizabeth died in 1603, the son of Mary-Queen of Scots, James the First, was made King of England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
James had been raised by Scottish Presbyterian Protestant tutors.
He was responsible for arranging Anglican, Puritan and Presbyterian scholars to work together to produce the King James Bible - considered the world's all-time best-seller and the most distributed book in the history of the world.
King James the First is the namesake of Jamestown, Virginia - the first permanent English settlement in America.
The Pilgrims were sailing on the Mayflower ship to join the Jamestown Colony when they got blown off course in a winter storm and landed at Cape Cod.
The Pilgrims had no charter from the King so they wrote their famous Mayflower Compact.
When Spanish and Italian Catholic troops plotted to help Ireland break from Anglican English control, beginning in 1569, the English crushed the attempt. Crops and farms were destroyed, leading to famine, disease, and thousands dying.
British killed over a half-million Irish Catholics and sold the same number into slavery in the West Indies, New England, Barbados and Virginia.
In an effort to make Ireland more Protestant, Britain relocated 200,000 Presbyterians from Scotland to Ireland.
In the following years, crop failures, the collapsing linen trade, and increased rents caused over a million Scots and Scots-Irish Protestant Presbyterian descendants to leave Ireland and immigrate to the American colonies.
Between 1717 and 1775, over 200,000 Scots-Irish migrated to America, becoming nearly a third of the country's population.
At the time of the REVOLUTION, the population of America was around 3 million. Historian Paul R. Carlson, author of Our Presbyterian Heritage, 2002, estimated:
"900,000 were of Scotch or Scotch-Irish origin. 600,000 were Puritan English. Over 400,000 were of Dutch, German Reformed, and Huguenot descent. That is to say, two thirds of our Revolutionary forefathers were trained in the school of Calvin.”
Many of these held the basic Calvinistic confession, which was comprised of 39 Articles.
Through this mass immigration, the influence of John Calvin and John Knox was felt in America.
"A man with God is always in the majority."
Knox, who died November 24, 1572, had stated:
TIME Magazine published the article "Looking to Its Roots," May 25, 1987:
"Ours is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea. That good idea combines a commitment to man's inalienable rights with the Calvinist belief in an ultimate moral right and sinful man's obligation to do good. These articles of faith, embodied in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution, literally govern our lives today."
The first Presbyterian Church in America was founded by Rev. Francis Makemie in Maryland in 1684.
Patrick Henry's father was an Anglican, but his mother was a Presbyterian, who would take him to hear Presbyterian Minster Samuel Davies, whom he credited with inspiring his oratory style.
Reverend Davies, noted for preaching to slaves and becoming President of Princeton, stated in Hanover, Virginia, July 25, 1755:
"What is that religion good for that leaves men cowards on the appearance of danger? And permit me to say that I am particularly solicitous that you, my brothers of the dissenters - from the established Anglican church - should act with honor and spirit in this juncture, as it becomes loyal subjects, lovers of your country, and courageous Christians."
"What is that religion good for that leaves men cowards on the appearance of danger? And permit me to say that I am particularly solicitous that you, my brothers of the dissenters - from the established Anglican church - should act with honor and spirit in this juncture, as it becomes loyal subjects, lovers of your country, and courageous Christians."
By the time of the American REVOLUTION, the Presbyterian denomination was one of the four largest denominations in the country, along with Anglican, Congregational and Baptist.
Baptist Minister James Manning, who helped found Brown University, was quoted in The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, edited by Franklin Dexter (Volume 2, 23) explained that the provisional governor of Rhode Island, Nicholas Cooke, believed the revolution was a Presbyterian war.
Kevin Phillips, author of The Cousins’ Wars: Religion, Politics and the Triumph of Anglo-America (NY: Basic Books, 1999) noted:
“King George III and other highly placed Britons called the colonists’ rebellion a ‘Presbyterian War.’”
In “An Address to the British Government on a Subject of Present Concern, 1776,” published in The Theological, Philosophical and Miscellaneous Works of the Rev. William Jones, 12 volumes (London, 1801, Vol. 12, 356) recorded Reverend William Jones writing to King George III in 1776:
“This has been a Presbyterian war from the beginning … and accordingly the first firing against the King’s troops was from a Massachuset [sic] meeting house.”
Hessian Jager Corps Captain Johann Heinrichs, wrote to the Counsellor of the Court, January 18, 1778, as recorded in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 22, 1898;
"Call this war, dearest friend, by whatsoever name you may, only call it not an American Revolution, it is nothing more nor less than an Irish-Scotch Presbyterian Rebellion.”
Historian George Bancroft wrote:
"The Revolution of 1776, so far as it was affected by religion, was a Presbyterian measure. It was a 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."
Historian Paul R. Carlson wrote:
"When Cornwallis was driven back to ultimate retreat and surrender at Yorktown, all but one of the colonels of the Colonial Army were Presbyterian elders. It is estimated that more than half of all soldiers and officers of the American Army during the Revolution were Presbyterian."
Speaking of the Revolution, Member of Parliament Horace Walpole addressed the House of Commons:
“There is no good crying about the matter, Cousin America has run off with the Presbyterian parson, and that is the end of it.”
Cambridge Professor Sir George Otto Trevelyan, author of The American Revolution (NY: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1915; New Edition) wrote:
“Political agitation against the Royal Government had been deliberately planned by Presbyterians … it was fostered and abetted by Presbyterians in every colony.”
William H. Nelson, author of The American Tory, wrote that the majority of Americans who fought in the Revolution were “Congregational or Presbyterian republicans.”
John C. Miller, author of Origins of the American Revolution (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1943) wrote:
“To the end, the Churchmen believed that the Revolution was a Presbyterian-Congregationalist plot.”
British Captain Sir Andrew Snape Hamond, of the HMS Roebuck, wrote August 5, 1776, as recorded in the Hammond Papers, Alderman Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville:
“It is the Presbyterians that have brought about this revolt, and aim at getting the government of America into their hands.”
Maryland loyalist Isaac Atkinson wrote of the Revolution, as recorded by Peter Force in American Archives, Fourth Series, Volume 3:1584:
“It was a religious dispute and a Presbyterian scheme."
Ohio State University Professor Wilbur H. Siebert, in The Loyalists of Pennsylvania, 1920, gave the Minutes of the Committee of Safety of Bucke County report, August 21, 1775, where loyalist Thomas Smith stated:
"The whole was nothing but a scheme of a parcel of hot-headed Presbyterians."
In American Archives, Fourth Series, Volume 1, Peter Force included “Extract of a Letter to a Gentleman in London, from New York, May 31, 1774”:
"Believe me, the Presbyterians have been the chief and principal instruments in all these flaming measures, and they always do and ever will act against Government, from that restless and turbulent anti-monarchical spirit which has always distinguished them every where."
The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 28:461-462, record that Franklin was aware King George III viewed American Revolutionaries as “whigs and Presbyterians.”
B.F. Stevens’ Facsimiles of Manuscripts in European Archives Relating to America 1773-1783 (Wilmington: Mellifont Press, 1970), contained a letter from British official Ambrose Serle to the Earl of Dartmouth, February 2, 1778, stating:
“Presbyterianism is at the bottom.”
A descendant of John Knox was Presbyterian minister John Witherspoon, who signed the Declaration of Independence and was a primary proponent of separation of powers.
John Witherspoon circulated letters urging ministers to support independence, even publishing a sermon, "Address to the Natives of Scotland residing in America," in which he beseeched those of Scots and Scots-Irish descent to insist on their ancient rights against Britain.
John Witherspoon served as the President of Princeton College subsequent to Samuel Davies. He taught 9 of the 55 writers of the U.S. Constitution, including James Madison.
Reverend Witherspoon told Princeton students, May 17, 1776:
"If your cause is just, if your principles are pure, and if your conduct is prudent, you need not fear the multitude of opposing hosts. He is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion ..."
Witherspoon added:
"It is in the man of piety and inward principle, that we may expect to find the uncorrupted patriot, the useful citizen, and the invincible soldier ... God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable and that the unjust attempts to destroy the one, may in the issue tend to the support and establishment of both."
Witherspoon, along with leaders of the Presbyterian Churches in the United States, wrote to President George Washington, May 26, 1789:
"We ... esteem it a peculiar happiness to behold in our Chief Magistrate, a steady, avowed friend of the Christian religion ... who, in his private conduct, adorns the doctrines of the gospel of Christ ..."
Witherspoon continued:
"We see in such a conspicuous station the amiable example of piety to God, of benevolence to men, and of a pure and virtuous patriotism ...
We will endeavor to add the wholesome instructions of religion. We shall consider ourselves as doing an acceptable service to God, in our profession, when we contribute to render men sober, honest, and industrious citizens and the obedient subjects of a lawful government.
In these pious labors we hope to imitate the most worthy of our brethren from other Christian denominations ... we shall render a great and important service to the republic ...
We pray Almighty God to have you always in His holy keeping. May He prolong your valuable life, an ornament and a blessing to your country, and at last bestow on you the glorious reward of a faithful servant.”
President George Washington wrote back in May of 1789:
"Gentlemen: I receive with great sensibility the testimonial given by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America ...
While I reiterate the professions of my dependence upon Heaven as the source of all public and private blessings; I will observe that the general prevalence of piety, philanthropy, honesty, industry, and economy seems, in the ordinary course of human affairs, particularly necessary for advancing and conforming the happiness of our country ..."
He added:
"While all men within our territories are protected in worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of their consciences; it is rationally to be expected from them in return, that they will be emulous of evincing the sanctity of their professions by the innocence of their lives and the beneficence of their actions;
for no man who is profligate in his morals, or a bad member of the civil community, can possibly be a true Christian, or a credit to his own religious society ..."
Washington concluded:
"I desire you to accept my acknowledgments for your laudable endeavors to render men sober, honest, and good citizens, and the obedient subjects of a lawful government, as well as for your prayers to Almighty God for His blessings on our common country, and the humble instrument which He has been pleased to make use of in the administration of its government."
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Dear Mr. Federer,
This American Minute was outstanding. You covered so much history, but I especially appreciated your references to the reformers, and to the impact of the believers (Presbyterians) on the founding of this nation. You have spoken at our church, Cub Hill Bible Presbyterian Church. As a reformed church, I appreciate your expertise on the reformation, and how all that took place in the past has led us in this nation to where we are today. Thank You!