Extended Book Reviews

By Gary Huffman (PRF Council of Advisors) and Mary Huffman (PRF Board Secretary)

Have we as a country ever been more confused about our historical and theological foundations than we are today?

Men and women bow down to the state as though it were its own foundation and itself a god. We look to pagan civilizations, to worldly wisdom, to ancient platitudes – seeking vainly to grasp some ever-fleeting sense of meaning in our country’s culture and legal structure.

Where did we get our current legal system that has functioned so well for over two centuries? Did it evolve slowly over time? Did we get it from other cultures and civilizations? Did we invent it ourselves?

John Eidsmoe joins us in the search. In his three-volume set, Historical and Theological Foundations of Law, he reviews our own history, and he reviews ancient civilizations and their law codes. In this survey, the true foundation emerges. He discovers the Hebrew Bible in its unique, exalted place in all the world. In studying ancient civilizations and their legal codes and structures, it becomes clear that the Bible, the only law code written by the hand of God, has been disseminated throughout the world; wherever it is known and followed, there is blessing and prosperity, but where it is disregarded, there is decay and corruption.

Exodus chapter 20 is the entire law in 10 short statements: the Ten Commandments. These are followed by applications in the succeeding chapters of Exodus.

John Eidsmoe believes that this God-given law was known by ancient civilizations and can be seen, though often in corrupted form, in many of their laws and records. He sees this giving of the law in Exodus as the foundation for all of law – the foundation for all of our historical and theological roots.

Throughout history, much of the evidence for this can be traced, which John Eidsmoe does in this three-volume set. Why does the Chinese character for “boat” consist of the three symbols for “vessel,” “eight,” and “soul?” Does that sound like the eight souls saved on the vessel of the ark? Why do all cultures have flood legends? Why do some cultures tell stories of deities coming down to a mountain to give law? Do these sound like echoes from the Pentateuch, the law of God?

What about other references to God’s law that are more explicit? Alfred the Great based his law code on Exodus chapter 20 through 23. In the 17th century, the Pilgrims wrote their laws based on the text of the Bible.

John Eidsmoe submits that whether consciously or subconsciously, ancient civilizations have written or orally transmitted their legal systems based on this law in Exodus. He cites many exciting and intriguing examples, involving ancient laws and stories that bear striking similarity to those in the Pentateuch. He also shows the perfection and supremacy of God’s law. The closer a culture is to adherence to it, the greater the prosperity and blessing on that country. The further it strays from that law, the more corruption and decay.

Even in modern times, as corrupt and confused as our culture is today, the Ten Commandments and Biblical law are still often a subconscious foundation and are called upon to guide men and their moral activities. John Eidsmoe goes through all of this, showing how even recent court cases draw upon the Ten Commandments as their rational basis. We have strayed far as a country, but there are still a few lingering evidences of our original foundation.

Every deed is either lawful or unlawful, and all laws follow someone’s morals. As secular as many in leadership want to make out law to be today, the truth is – all laws are religious and moral, even those that try to be neutral. The only question is: whose morals are they following? Are they the morals God has given in His Word to guide and bless us, the morals upon which we were founded? Or are they “morals” that are man-made and diametrically opposed to all that God says? Oh, how we ought to be in submission to the God who established the perfect, most enduring law code of all time, enshrined in His Word the Bible – the only foundation of true blessing and prosperity.

John Eidsmoe assists us greatly in these considerations and in our moral endeavors by providing us the history, the theology, and the foundation of all right law, the Law of God. He confronts the swirling confusion and corruption of our day, and calls us to return to the purity and simplicity of the Bible.

By Gary Huffman (PRF Council of Advisors) and Mary Huffman (PRF Board Secretary)

Does the world seem to abound with distressing events and with unrestrained perversion and corruption? Is this a new thing?

2,000 years ago, Paul wrote: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).

These problems are not new. They have been around as long as sin has been in the world. We often tend to idolize the days past and to speak of the “good ol’ days.” While there have been ages and regions of more and less decay, often the times we think of as the “good ol’ days” were in reality times of great distress and corruption, the “good” being forged out of fire, not borne of celestial breezes.

Such was the case in the days of the Pilgrims. On the throne was a pervert and tyrant. Moral debauchery, political treachery, and cultural decay abounded. Yet it was in this very environment that the Godly men and women we call Pilgrims were raised up. They did not let the sin of the day discourage or paralyze them. They met it head-on and warred against it with pulpit, pen, prayer, and personal piety. When they were driven out of their homes, through prison, threats, and persecution, they despaired not, but trusted the Lord to open a way for them to live lives of holiness even in the face of the most daunting challenges.

This is the context of the Pilgrim story – not some idyllic caricature in which a happy band sailed smoothly across untroubled waters, met a smiling Indian, held a feast, and lived happily ever after; rather, it was an intense struggle for Biblical fidelity against all odds to the contrary.

To see the reality of the struggle and the true story of the Pilgrims, the single best source is the classic by Governor William Bradford himself, Of Plymouth Plantation – a firsthand account of the daily life and unfolding events of the Pilgrim endeavor.

William Bradford was for many years the governor of the colony. He writes a very vivid and personal account of their struggles, their ambitions, their lofty desires, and the real-life experience of grit in their teeth and sickness and sorrow. He does not forget to record their triumphs and their gratitude. He gives the whole context by beginning with the Pilgrims’ origin in England and the Netherlands, continuing through their voyage on the Mayflower, their landing at Plymouth, the severe trial of the first winter, and the early years of the colony.

William Bradford shows how the Pilgrims dealt charitably with the “strangers,” sometimes as sin-laden as the culture they had left behind. He shows the peace that was arranged with the Wampanoag sachem, Massasoit, another challenge of interacting with a sin-corrupted culture. He shows how the Pilgrim leadership kept their eye on the goal, creating a culture that was beneficial to the coming generations.

Current historian Caleb Johnson has given us a good edition of this book. He fills it with his own commentary which comes when it is needed. These comments are very crisp, necessary, helpful, timely, and insightful.

Caleb Johnson also includes an excellent set of appendices, which includes lists of men who were in the venture as well as the original source documents, which are both scholarly and wonderfully helpful.

Johnson shows how deeds were negotiated, how conflicts were settled, and how daily life was arranged.

Some of the lesser-known Pilgrims might be nothing but names to us. Johnson provides short biographical notes that bring these real men, women, and children to life.

The Pilgrims came to the New World to place steppingstones for us. But to follow in their footsteps, we need to know their true history. Governor William Bradford gave us their history as he wrote this account firsthand while he lived it. Now Caleb Johnson, by editing Bradford’s book and providing wonderful notes, helps us to make the next step in the right direction, and to teach us by the Pilgrim example how we, too, may face a culture of decay not with a defeatist outlook but with triumph and confidence – though it may be costly.

If you have only one Pilgrim book in your library, this should be it: Of Plymouth Plantation, written by William Bradford and edited by Caleb Johnson.

By Gary Huffman (PRF Council of Advisors) and Mary Huffman (PRF Board Secretary)

A post on social media goes viral. Government officials suppress it. Sound like a modern problem?

This battle, raging today in the realm of electronic information, is as old as time itself. Since men have been able to publish their thoughts, the war of ideas and of who gets to control and shape those ideas has been raging.

The story of the Pilgrims reads like a current battle over words and ideas, as king and subjects duked it out over whose voice would be heard in the great debates of the day.

One such publisher of “viral” books was the Pilgrim Edward Winslow. It takes men of great understanding and great courage to articulate hard truths against a tide of opposition. Edward Winslow was one such man. He was well-educated and highly regarded in his youth. His future seemed bright in his native England, but the future of comfort he gave up by a series of wise but sacrificial decisions.

His printing skill he had in common with another, William Brewster, who also shared his Separatist convictions, seeking to separate from the corruptions of the Church of England. Together and individually, they printed tracts exalting Christ and His supremacy in the church, and casting shadows over high church religion and the king’s headship over Christ’s church.

Particularly inflammatory was the book Perth Assembly. This book argued against The Five Articles of Perth, which sought to impose episcopal polity and worship on the Church of Scotland while also imposing the king as head of the church and extra-Biblical ceremonies in worship.

James I of England sided with the general assembly in Perth in imposing episcopacy on Scotland. The opposition expressed in Perth Assembly brought the king’s ire down upon the Separatists in general and upon the spreaders of this material (Brewster and Winslow) in particular.

But they remained steadfast. They had already moved from Scrooby, England to Leiden in the Lowlands. But the long reach of the church made them fugitives even in their own homes. By necessity now, the Separatists sought a place where they could practice their religion in truth and simplicity, without men’s impositions and usurpations.

Winslow and his brother Gilbert were among those who settled upon a voyage to the northern parts of Virginia. When Providence steered their course north of Virginia, Edward Winslow, William Bradford, John Carver, and William Brewster took leadership roles in asserting the need for a covenant among themselves and with others of the strangers that made the voyage. They called this covenant The Mayflower Compact. They considered it binding upon all who signed it, and regarded it as an instrument of government among them.

The difficulties of the first winter were immense. Winslow survived, but his wife did not. Later that year, he remarried the recently widowed Susanna White. Continuing as he had done this far, his family became one of the most important families in Plimoth Colony and in shaping history since then.

Because of his skill and courage, Edward Winslow became the negotiator with the Wampanoag tribe and a friend to their sachem (chief), Massasoit. He also negotiated trade relations, especially in the north around the Kennebec River. There he had to deal with the native population, the French, the Dutch, and all who plied the waters of that region.

Several times, Winslow was called upon to return to England to negotiate the terms of their compact with the merchant adventurers who had originally invested in the colony, and with businessmen who continued to support the colony. When in Plimoth, he was usually Assistant to the Governor. He himself served three terms as Governor, too.

In the course of time, all of his brothers came to the New World and took up posts of importance and influence. His sons, too, became important leaders in the second generation of the Pilgrims.

In English affairs, he sided with the Protestants and the Parliamentarians against King James’s successor, Charles I, in the English Civil War. This brought him a close friendship with Oliver Cromwell during the Commonwealth, when Cromwell was Lord Protector of England. It was during this time that Winslow became de facto ambassador for Cromwell in settling relations both on the continent and then in the New World.

Perhaps the most significant contribution that Edward Winslow made to future generations was a piece of writing that he accomplished in the early years of Plimoth Colony called Good Newes from New England. Declaring God’s mighty power to sustain His people in this overwhelming undertaking, Winslow wrote this short book to preempt any disappointment in England or on the continent among those whose prayers the Pilgrims desperately needed and upon whose business relationship they depended – whose withdrawal of support could mean disaster for the fledgling colony.

This book, so effective in its day, has survived until now against the opposition of kings and detractors. If you want to know the Pilgrims, if you want to hear from one of their leaders in his own bold and fresh words contrary to what kings and officials might say, if you want to read how they faced similar struggles to ours and how God blessed and prospered them in the face of daunting odds and overwhelming challenges, then to you, may Good Newes from New England be, indeed, good news.