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VOL. 20 COMMON SENSE
REVISITED 4 29 26
…
“THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED
EQUAL…”
THEREFORE, FROM
THE CHRISTIAN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: “IT STANDS TO REASON THAT…”
"IT
Stands to reason" means that something
is logical, obvious, or to be expected based on given
evidence(“Demands a verdict).
It indicates a natural conclusion, that COMMON SENSE reasoning should
prevail in rational thinking humans.
Statistical
research states that: “The literacy rates between 1607 and 1800
were high for white colonial Americans, often cited between
60% and 95%,
depending on region, gender, and time period.
Literacy
rates were highest in New England (reaching ~90% by 1790) and lower
in the South. Literacy generally increased, with signature ability (a
common measure) reaching 90–100% in certain urban areas by 1800.”
Further
data from 1607-1800 reveals (while reading do the math and the
thinking as to this data):
“InNew
England White male literacy grew from roughly 60% in the mid-17th
century to nearly 90% by the late 18th century.
In
The South: Literacy was significantly lower due to a scattered
rural population, with many white residents, women, and most enslaved
people remained unschooled.
In
the 17th century, male literacy was higher than female literacy.
By
the late 18th century, female literacy in New England was estimated
between 45% and 67%, sometimes up to 90% in specific areas.
Literacy
is often estimated by the ability to sign legal documents (wills,
deeds).
Literacy
was high compared to Europe, driven by the Puritan requirement to
read the Bible.
“The
South, overwhelmingly rural, had few schools of any sort until the
Revolutionary era.
Wealthy
children studied with private tutors.
Middle-class
children might learn to read from literate parents or older siblings.
Many
poor and middle-class white children, as well as all black children,
went unschooled.
Literacy
rates were significantly lower in the South than the north; this
remained true until the late nineteenth century (1800’s).
Secondary
schools were rare in the colonial era outside a handful of major
towns. They generally emphasized Latin grammar, rhetoric, and
advanced arithmetic with the goal of preparing boys to enter college.
(Please bear these COMMON SENSE facts in mind as you read this
article.)
Further
statistical research says that: The Holy Bible was the foundation of
early colonial education, acting as the primary text for
literacy, moral training, and cultural cohesion.
The
Bible was used in primers like The New England Primer. Which was
used to teach children to read while instilling religious values,
shaping the intellectual and moral framework for society. The
Holy Bible's Role primarily was as a reading primer.
Children
learned their alphabet and reading skills through the Bible and
related texts, such as the New England Primer.
The
Holy Bible was used to teach Moral & Ethical Education. It served
as the foundation for teaching right and wrong, guiding personal
conduct, and teaching principles of charity, justice, and
forgiveness. Hence Gods instruction for all believers recorded in
Micah 6:8: 1599
AD :
“He
hath showed thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of
thee: surely to do justly, and to love mercy, and to humble
thyself, to walk with thy God (without exception).”
Understanding
of this instruction from God, by COMMON SINCE standards means they
should wholeheartedly follow it willingly. RIGHT?!? Especially
knowing that most of them went to North America seeking religious
toleration, to serve God as they pleased. To serve God means to do as
He tells you.
The
Holy Bible served as an academic Foundation: Early colleges like
Harvard and Yale were founded with religious purposes, heavily
emphasizing Bible study, with daily, required reading of the
scriptures.
The
Holy Bible provided cultural and political guidance. The Bible was
central to the worldview of colonists, influencing their
understanding of community, politics, and their self-identity as a
"covenant" people/people community bound to God through
sacred, binding promises and relational vows, rather than mere legal
contracts.
The
Puritan drive for universal literacy was driven by the desire for
every person to read the Bible for their own salvation. A multitude
of, “evidence that demands a verdict” are written in God’s Holy
Bible in both the Old Testament and the New Testament:
“First
published in 1560, the Geneva
Bible was
a landmark English translation produced by Protestant exiles in
Geneva, Switzerland including William
Whittingham
during the reign of Mary I. It was the first English Bible to use
roman type, verse numbers, and extensive Calvinist marginal notes, it
became the
popular household, study Bible for Puritans, Shakespeare, and the
pilgrims, pre-dating the King
James Version.”
This
“Evidence that demands a verdict” from God’s word is adherence
of Gods Word by doing what He says.
All the information thus provided fuels COMMON SENSE which informs
readers of this history that the colonists were well versed on what
God expected of them. They were either well read or well taught the
major thrust of God’s Word.
Here
are some verses from the 1599 AD Geneva
Bible (GNV)
that
highlight the aforementioned posit:
“Therefore
he humbled thee, and made thee hungry, and fed thee with Manna, which
thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know it, that he
might teach thee that man
lived not by bread only, but by every word that
proceedeth out
of the mouth of the Lord, doth a man live. OT. Deuteronomy 8:8.
Geneva Bible (GNV) (the Gospel concealed)
Matthew
4:4 But he answered, said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread
only, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God. NT. Echoed Gospel
Verse recorded by Matthew 4:4 (GNV) (the Gospel revealed)
Thus,
the colonial settlers were throughly equipped,as they journeyed to
America from Europe with Biblical instructions from All Mighty God.
No doubt they prayed earnestly every day to Him for a safe voyage to
a new land and a better life during the 6 to 8 weeks at sea, how
could they ignore God once they landed?!
COMMON
SENSE calls for “evidence that demands a verdict” on how
multitudes of settlers fled Europe to escape religious/class
oppression from the tyranny of monarchs and then 41 years after
Native Americans graciously aided the new immigrants in their
struggles to survive in a foreign land those first immigrants to
British America started the process of genocide of indigenous
original Americans? How much COMMON SENSE did this make?!
Had
the Settlers not read and adopted Hebrews 12:1? :
“Wherefore
seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight,
and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is
set before us.” Should they not have been strengthened by this
word from God, along with the Gospel recorded by Matthew 6:34 which
supports Hebrews 12:1?!:
Take therefore
no thought for the morrow:
for the morrow
shall take thought for the things
of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
(This
is a Christian historical perspective inspired by God.)
COMMON
SENSE also asks for “evidence that demands a verdict” regarding
the question, how many of those same Christian settlers were
persuaded, according to their religious beliefs, to arrest, by way of
slavery, not just individual black Africans living in their own
country, but also arresting African cultural development as well.
How
could they simply write off a whole race and culture of people
because they were black. How could they arise from their knees from
prayer, exit their churches after services full of Gods Word, His
Holy Spirit, and then join others in tolerating the castigation of
millions of black people?
Castigation
means to chastise, rebuke, scold, excoriate, lambaste, reprimand,
criticize harshly, and berate (collectively abuse perpetually).
(Even
though the Quakers and other abolitionists deplored chattel black
slavery it does not atone for the 222 years of the immoral “Peculiar
Institution of slavery with its permanent stain on the American
Experience and the plague of racial prejudice still rampant
currently.)
White
colonial settlers were able to seek and fulfill many of their dreams
while their ebony counterparts were limited with the dream that the
prolific Harlem renaissance of the 1920’s and 1930’s black author
and poet Langston Hughes wrote about in his poem entitled “A Dream
Deferred” :
“What
happens to a (Black persons)dream deferred?”
Does it dry
up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And
then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and
sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like
a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Langston
Hughes’ poem paints a retrospective and current introspective
imagery of black life in America. It speaks of the heavy burdens of
unfulfilled dreams black Americans are
YET
plagued
with from 1619 to now, 2026 and onward. This mournful dream has the
potential to destroy Black Americans collective spirits. Causing us
to sing that old song entitled “How Long:”
“HOW
LONG?”
When
the clouds hang heavy and it looks like rain
O Lord, how long
?
Well, the sun’s drawing water from every vein
O Lord,
how long ?
About
this time another year
I may be gone
Within some lonely
graveyard
O Lord, how long ?
If
I had prayed when I was young
O Lord, how long ?
Well, I
would not ’ve had such a hard race to run
O Lord, how long?
“COMMON
SENSE REVISITED:”
“IT
STANDS TO REASON THAT IT BE’S DAT WAY MOST OUR DAYS!”
(H.T.
OWENS, JR © 2026)
OF
COURSE …TO BE CONTINUED…
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