The Middle Colonies Pennsylvania Massachusetts Rhode Island

The Middle Colonies Pennsylvania– Founded BY William Penn – Penn was an entrepreneur – He was a land developer. – He was from a well-distinguished Anglican family and his father was a famous Naval officer. – He joined the Society of Friends when he was 22, ending his father’s ambitions for him.

The Middle Colonies Pennsylvania – Penn faced persecution for his faith, even being imprisoned for preaching. – He fought the charges, and was freed by the jury. – The Lord Mayor of London had him and the jury imprisoned. – Upshot was the legal doctrine of jury nullification.

The Middle Colonies Pennsylvania – Penn got a royal charter for Pennsylvania in 1681 and founded the colony in – He provided for elected government, fair trials, and religious freedom. – Pennsylvania became a haven for Quakers, Mennonites, the Amish and Lutherans. – Penn insisted on fair trade with Indians– and they could sue in Pennsylvania courts.

The Middle Colonies What did Penn believe? – From his Sermons: – This is an eternal truth of God, and recorded in the Holy Scriptures. John iii. 16. That "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." God so loved the world, he gave his Son to be a light unto the world, that all might see their way back to God again: For sin hath darkened the understanding, and clouded the mind of man and woman, and alienated them from the life of God, and their hearts are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. – He believed in salvation by confession. But not the Trinity

The Middle Colonies Massachusetts – John Winthrop is considered the founder of Massachusetts Bay. He was instrumental in its shape and government, but he was a latecomer to the charter. – Massachusetts founded in 1630, with around 1,000 settlers. They were Puritans– seeking to purify the Anglican Church. They faced less persecution than did the Pilgrims.

The Middle Colonies Winthrop was a Religious Idealist. He wanted Massachusetts to be a “City on a Hill” and a model of the Christian Commonwealth. His government theory was based on Covenant– we covenant with God and each other for mutual support: First, for the persons. We are a company professing ourselves fellow members of Christ, in which respect only, though we were absent from each other many miles, and had our employments as far distant, yet we ought to account ourselves knit together by this bond of love and live in the exercise of it, if we would have comfort of our being in Christ. (Model of Christian Charity) Whittier called him a model Christian

The Middle Colonies Rhode Island– Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson – Winthrop was a strict Puritan, ruling the colony quite firmly. – Despite this strict rule, people thought he was a wonderful person. – Roger Williams ran into trouble because he believed in separation of Church and government.

The Middle Colonies Rhode Island and Roger Williams Williams’ conflict with Winthrop was fundamentally religious in nature– he believed in the Bible in a very different way than did Winthrop. He had a different hermeneutic, or interpretive theory. Williams was an “allegorist” or a “typologist.” Williams did not see a continuity from OT to NT

The Middle Colonies Williams and Winthrop would be at odds– yet Winthrop would help him leave the colony (while under a legal charge) and establish Providence. What did Williams Believe? “I ask, once more, from that Heb. 6. Whether (although I question not but that both the Proposer and Examiner believe four of these Principles, viz. Repentance, Faith, the Resurrection and Judgement, yet) whether the Proposer be able to dissolve the doubts of thousands, as to those other Fundamentals of Religion.

The Middle Colonies The Colonists and the Native American Populations – Massachusetts had a difficult relationship because the colony grew so fast. – Pennsylvania maintained good relations until the mid 1700s because of Penn. – Rhode Island saw good relations turn bad as the colony grew secular.

The Middle Colonies What should we learn from these colonists? Colossians 3.13 – The colonists had conflict with each other. – They worked it out. – Winthrop, for example, allowed Williams and Anne Hutchinson to escape even though they were under charge. – They realized that God worked in all people.