Realization of Prophetic Visions
By Philip Mark Ames
Resurrection of the Beast
Not again did the sea of human thought begin to
put forth democratic humanism until the time of the Protestant Reformation. Then
the wild beast began to move beneath the surface. The most-avidly-democratic
groups in the sixteenth century were the Anabaptists. They seemed intent on
democratizing Europe. For awhile their success
was growing. But, when their ideologies were recognized as threatening to both
secular and religious rulers of all other persuasions, they became targets for
destruction. And as mentioned in Part 1 of this book, they were almost totally
wiped out.
However, the Calvinists were also believers in
man's right and ability to rule himself. But they were less fanatically so than
were the Anabaptists. So they were able to realize their ambitions. Thus, for
many years, the Calvinists (Presbyterians) nurtured the growing democratic
beast.
Then, as the Anabaptist faith began to be revived
by Quakers and Baptists, democracy rapidly gained strength. Even Anglicans and
Lutherans gradually began to accept and promote democratic ideals. When, in the
last half of the eighteenth century, the United States of America was born
as an independent republic, the Protestants had achieved the goal of elevating
man's will to a position of dominance.
Written by: Philip Mark
Ames - - - © 1975 Philip Mark Ames. All rights reserved.