"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. " Hebrews 11:3 KJV

2026 DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY TRIBUTE

REV. HERBERT T. OWENS, JR.

“KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE”

“STRENGTH TO LOVE”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a realistic assessment of “the difficult days ahead” of pursuing civil rights. Striving toward civil rights for all citizens is the same as keeping and sustaining Democracy, the struggle to do so is elusive. It is a lifelong endeavor. One that must be deliberately sought after!!! That is what our worthy theme suggests and the only way to keep Dr. King’s and Our Dream Alive. “We the People of the United States” must be constantly reminded that we must remain vigilant in our united efforts, “To secure the blessing of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”

In the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 16: verse 18, Jesus warns us about the “Gates of Hell” and that those Gates of Hell, the organized forces of evil, will not prevail against His Church. The actual meaning of the verse describes the mission of the church in the world today. The church’s mission is to press against the world and the evils of the world…we, His believer’s, are not supposed to remain idle and let the “Gates of Hell” attack and prevail against us…we are to continuously attack those forces of evil and prevail for the good of humanity…those are, My Brothers and my Sisters, our true MARCHING ORDERS!!! Those were the orders Dr. King and all those that were actively involved in Civil Rights Movement followed…they pressed against the negative forces of racism and prevailed against it.

On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Delivered the famous “I Have a Dream Speech” at the historic “March on Washington” to an estimated crowd of a quarter of a million people. In that same speech Dr. King shed hopeful light into American consciousness to lead the way forward toward racial harmony and universal unconditional positive regard for all of mankind.

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Our look at Christian songs and their origins continues with the faith driven all time gospel hymn of declaration, “I Will Trust In The Lord”.

While the original songwriter for this classic isn't definitively one person, it is a spiritual theme, adapted by many artists over time.

"I Will Trust in the Lord" has multiple biblical references, primarily drawing from Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

And Psalm 40:3 which reads, “He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.”

We also see the central theme of the song in Psalm 37:3-5, which emphasizes, “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this.”

And Psalm 56:3-4, which states, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise. In God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

Isaiah 12:2, declares, “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; He has become my salvation.”

…All of these Bible references speak to trusting in God's strength and guidance.

Other related biblical passages include Psalm 91 which is a central theme, containing stanzas like, "I will say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust'". This clearly speaks of God's protection and deliverance for those who trust in Him.

Psalm 28:7 proclaims, "The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him".

And Isaiah 26:3 affirms, "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”

I Will Trust In The Lord serves as a powerful statement of resilience and hope amidst struggle, rooted in deep faith and history.

To God Be The Glory for scriptures and songs that emphasize our ability to trust in God’s strength, protection and faithfulness. May we be forever mindful of our powerful ability to trust, worship and serve The One True and Living God!

Sister Cathy Black

WEEKLY ACTIVITIES

• Join our Virtual Prayer Service by phone on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm Bible Study from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
  
  Call: 253-215-8782 or 301-715-8592;
  Additional Phone Numbers:
  564-217-2000; 646-558-8656;
  646-931-3860
  Meeting ID: 685 433 0718
• Radio broadcasts Saturdays 9:00 am and 3:00 pm as well as Sundays at 7:30 am on WJMM FM 99.1
• International Sunday School Lesson
  This Sunday's Lesson:
  
  "Israel's Disobedience and God's Redemption: How Does God Feel About Believers' Disobedience?" Hosea 11:1-11
  
  Lesson Nugget:
  In today's lesson, God calls upon Hosea to take a wife of whoredom to illustrate how his people, Israel have sinned against Him by worshiping other gods.  God's goal is for Israel to see their wicked ways and to return to worshiping Him, the only true and living God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things.
  
  Do we as Christians place other gods before the only true and Living God?

• Next Sunday's Lesson: "God's Judgement on Nations: Will God Judge Wickedness?" Joel 3:9-16

• In - Person Worship Service on Sundays at 10:30 am and Streaming on the Church Facebook Page and YouTube. It can also be viewed on demand on the church
  historicpg.org website by selecting "Watch Us Live."
  
• Thank you for giving your Tithes and Offerings In-Person, by mail or with the Givelify App.
  
• Give with CashApp: $1790pgchurch
  
  Our mailing address is:

Historic Pleasant Green Missionary Baptist Church

PO Box 11845
Lexington, KY 40578

Upcoming Events

Virtual Prayer Service 

Tuesday, January 20, 7:00 PM

Call: 253-215-8782;

Meeting ID: 685 433 0718

Choir Rehearsal

Thursday, January 22, 6:30 pm

 Bible Study,

In-Person & Virtual

Saturday, January 24, 10:00 AM

Call: 253-215-8782;

Meeting ID: 685 433 0718

Greetings from the Youth Ministry and Happy New Year! We pray that all is well with our Church family! We are thrilled to begin another year of learning about God's Word and witnessing about His goodness. We look forward to continuing our study of the Great Characters of the Bible by Alan B. Stringfellow and growing a stronger relationship with God. With the help of the Lord, this year, the Youth Ministry is pleased to present the newest piece of our ministry, Sisters In Christ and Seekers, in which the Youth will as young women and men, respectively, begin to learn and sharpen essential "life skills." Led by scripture, we will incorporate different weekly activities and events that will help them from now into young adulthood, from cooking, to lawncare, financial literacy, trades, and more, as well as volunteer opportunities! We are excited to be able to share these important skills with our Youth and we ask for your continued support and prayers.
Beginning this month, the Youth will meet EVERY Wednesday at the church at 7pm, as well as other locations (to be determined.) We welcome ALL Youth and please bring a friend! All reminders and events will be posted in our GroupMe messaging app. Contact Sis. Heather Happy (859.509.2927) for additional details.

Yours In Christ,

Youth Directors

WE ARE ONE!

Welcome to the 40 Year Christians' Cooking Corner! 

Here we will feature recipes from the 40 Year Christian Group. This week's recipe comes from Sister Alyce Emerson by way of the UK Cooperative Extension Service.

Blessings to all.

Sister Linda Gates, President

Carrot Cake Smoothie

Ingredients

• 1 medium frozen ripe banana
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 1/2 cup canned-in-juice pineapple tidbits, drained
• 1/4 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup nonfat milk
• 4-5 ice cubes
• Dash cinnamon (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Directions

Wash hands with soap and warm water, scrubbing for at least 20 seconds. Rinse carrots under cool running water and scrub with a clean vegetable brush to remove any dirt before chopping. Add banana, carrot, pineapple, yogurt, milk, ice, and cinnamon and vanilla (if using) to a blender, and blend until smooth. If needed, add more milk to encourage blending. Refrigerate leftovers.

Yield: 2, 1.5 cup servings

Name: Jackie Peoples

Current Focus: Merging two households and families. Getting acclimated in a new marriage and a new church home.

Career: I am an Independent Paparazzi Consultant. However, my passion is genealogy and ancestry. I am a self-published author and at present have published 14 family books. I have 35,816 relatives in my family tree.

Why this Career?: Genealogy became a hobby for me in 2010. The more I researched, the more I wanted to know. I love solving family mysteries and connecting the “Pieces of The Puzzle” (my genealogy handle and facebook page name). About 12 years ago, I was researching Cedar Top Baptist Church history and realized the first pastor had never received a gravestone. With the help of two of his great grandsons, we filled out the paperwork and received a grave marker issued by the government marking the day with a dedication ceremony. He and his wife are buried at the Benevolent Cemetery at Macedonian Keene. Recently I’ve helped someone who was adopted connect to several family members using DNA. I love what I do.

What do you want your church family to know about you?: I was saved and baptized in 1979 at the age of 13 by Elder Earl Muncy and my dad. I was a member of the United Baptist faith until I moved to Nicholasville in 1991. In 1997, I joined Cedar Top Baptist Church in Wilmore under the pastorate of the Late Rev. Anthony Givens.

I love people. I’ve always tried to treat others the way I want to be treated. I have overcome many obstacles and survived many situations. I am a cancer survivor and a survivor of domestic abuse.

I’ve organized several groups over the years. One group was “Women of Worship,” a Facebook group of about 1,400 women across the world who would connect just to encourage and pray for one another. At our peak, several different groups would meet in our respective locations and do some type of community project. The project our local group chose was making blessing bags for the families visiting or staying with loved ones in hospice care. The bags contained everything they would need for a breakfast or lunch meal.

Another group was “One Heart.” One Heart was organized to encourage mothers of addicts. While we specifically started as a group for mothers, it spilled over into other family members as well. This was not a “meeting” type group. It was simply a lunch date with friends who understood what each of us were going through.

While I’ve been blessed to be a leader in many other groups, one of my favorite groups was “The Praisin’ Puppets”. This group was made up of several pre-teens, teenagers and young adults from our church. We provided worship service for a few years at the Youth March for Christ; the Harvest In Gatherings; as well as many youth services around central and eastern Kentucky. Our two most requested songs were “Because of Who You Are” and “There’s A Leak In This Old Building”. It was wonderful to watch the joy it brought to others. Senior members loved it just as much (if not more) than the youth.

I have always been active in my church home. Over the years I have served in many ways and areas including youth teacher, women’s ministry, media director, singing in the choir and as church treasurer. I love to serve where I am needed.

Is there anything special your church can do for you?: Please keep me in your prayers while I learn to navigate this new journey. Thank you for your patience as well ❤️

What do you want your church family to know about GOD?: GOD is! No matter what you may be going through, GOD is always there. HE is an ever-present help in times of trials. GOD will never leave you nor forsake you! HE is never out of your hand’s reach. YOU ARE NEVER ALONE! TRUST HIM!

Spouse: Reverend Dr. Samuel U. Peoples

Parents: Ruby Branham and the late Lowell “Tom” Branham

Adult Children: Rachael Creth, Dylan Daniel, Erica Hamilton and Ashley Carrington

Grandchildren: Isaiah Daniel, Keelyn Daniel, Alexander Daniel, Dagger Daniel, Titan Daniel, Hayden Mundy, Harrison Neal, Legacie Carrington and Jeffrey Carrington

Congratulations to BEN BROWN

BALL HOMES NEW CONSTRUCTION 

DECEMBER 2025 TOP PRODUCER

Out On A Limb Book Club

Some members of the Out On A Limb Book Club gathered at First Watch Restaurant for brunch to celebrate Christmas with their president, Sis. Michele Thomas. She was home from Texas for the holidays visiting her family. The OOAL Book Club was formed in 2010 with Sisters Michele and Nieta Wigginton and our late Pastor T. H. Peoples, Jr. as the founding members. Sister Michele's continued strong leadership has insured its vibrance for fifteen years.

If you are interested in joining the book club, please contact:

Michele Thomas (859) 351-4663

Norma Thomas   (859) 421-0621

Recent Requests

• Family of Brother James "Jimmy" Emerson, who passed. Service was Saturday, January 17.
  
  
• Family of Brother George Frazier, Jr. (Cincinnati, OH), who passed (Brother of Brother Wayne Frazier) Memorial Service on Saturday, January 24, in OH.
  
  
• Brother Willis K. Bright, Jr. (Indianapolis, In)
  
  
• Sister Deneia Briscoe (Baptist Health) (Oldest daughter of Brother Wayne and Sister Johnetta Frazier)
  
  
• Sister Charlie Peoples Brown (Home)
  
  
• Brother Sherman Greene (St. Joseph Hospital Harrodsburg Rd) (Father of Sister Janice Owens)
  
  
• Brother Darius Hall, Jr. (14 year old Grandson of Sister Marion Hall) (Home)
  
  
• Brother Bruce from Tates Creek Golf Course Clubhouse
  
  
• Sister Gloria Coleman (Home)
  
  
• The Kierra Joseph Family
  
  
• Sister Jackie Lindsay (Home) (Sister of Brother Wayne Frazier)
  
  
• Sister Dawn Gay Martin (Home)
  
  
• Brother Bill & Sister Penny McCann (Austin, TX)
  
  
• Sister Charlet McLellan & Family
  
  
• Sister Sharon Scarber (Home)
  
  
• Sister Lynn Smith (Home)
  
  
• Sister Kendra Taylor (Home)
  
  
• Sister Carol Thomas (Home)
  
  
• Rev. Tyrone Vinegar (Home) (Son-in-law of Rev. Leo Fain)
  
  
• Brother William "Bill" Young (Home)

Ongoing Requests:

• Brother Levi Fishback (Harrodsburg Health & Rehabilitation Center, Harrodsburg, KY)
  
  
• Sister Anna Jarber (Homestead Nursing Home)
  
  
• Sister Thelma Masterson (Homestead Nursing Home)
   
• Brother Glenn Allen (Home) (Relative of the Brooks Family)
  
  
• Sister Mary Ann Banksden (Florence, AL) (Sister of Brother Sammie Brooks)
  
  
• Sister Lillian Bell (Ruston, LA)
  
  
• Sister Ruby Branham (Prestonsburg, KY) (Mother of Sister Jackie Peoples)
  
  
• Sister Beverly Bowman (Home)
  
  
• Sister Bonita Brown (Home)
  
  
• Brother Byron Brown
  
  
• Sister Patricia Brown (Home)
  
  
• Sister Carrie Clay (Home) Upcoming surgery
  
  
• Sister Charmaine Collins (Home) (Daughter of Sister Debra Collins)
  
  
• Sister Debra Collins (Home)
  
  
• Brother Lonnie Cowan (Home)
  
  
• Crutcher, Jones, & Payne Family (especially Little Brother Vince Crutcher III and Sister Brittany Payne)
  
  
• Sister Laura Dunaway (Home)
  
  
• Sister Christa Dunn (Home)
  
  
• Brother Billy Edwards (Home)
  
  
• Sister Shirley Alcorn Edwards (Portsmouth, VA)
  
  
• Sister Jessica Embry
  
  
• Sister McKinley Emerson (Home)
  
  
• Brother Greg Forrest (Kevil, KY) (Nephew of Sisters Janice Jackson and Barbara Ridgeway)
  
  
• Sister Johnetta Frazier (Home)
  
  
• Sister Wanda Frazier (Home) (Sister of Brother Wayne Frazier)
  
  
• Sister Erica Gill (Daughter of the late Rev. O. D. Gill) (Home)
  
  
• Rev. Jerry Gumm (Home)
  (Friends of the late Dr. Charles Black's family)
  
  
• Sister Sheryl Haskins (Home)
  
  
• Sister Jeanette Higgins (Home)
  
  
• Sister Gwendolyn Holloman (Home) (Wife of Bishop J. B. Holloman)
  
  
• Sister Iris Horice (Paducah, KY) (Niece of Sisters Janice Jackson and Barbara Ridgeway)
  
  
• Brother Daron Houtman, Jr. (Wichita, KS) (Nephew of Sister Lisa Leath)
  
  
• Brother Branson Irvin (Indianapolis, IN) (Cousin of Sister Mary Thomas)
  
  
• Brother Julian Jackson (Home) (Father of Brother Jarold Jackson)
  
  
• Sister Kemona Johnson (Home)
  
  
• Sister Norma Johnson (Home)
  
  
• Sister Vera Johnson (Home) (Sister of Sister Marion Hall)
  
  
• Brother Vincino Johnson (Home)
  
  
• Brother Travis Jones (Home ) (Brother of Sisters Liz Brooks, Trina Morton, and Sobona Sweat)
  
  
• Sister Janet King (Classmate of Sister Norma Johnson)
  
  
• Brother Larry Leath (Home)
  
  
• Sister Lindsey Leath (Home)
  
  
• Sister Patricia Leavell (Home)
  
  
• Sister Karisma Lockhart (Los Angeles, CA) and her family (Niece of Rev. Freddie Moody)
  
  
• Sister Danise Madison (Seattle, WA) (Sister of Sister Bonita Brown)
  
  
• Brother Latemus Marshall (Home) (Husband of Sister Valerie Marshall)
  
  
• Brother Everett Martin (Home)
  
  
• Sister Genice Moody Mays (Los Angeles, CA) (Youngest sister of Rev. Freddie Moody)
  
  
• Sister Irene Sykes McKenzie (Home)
  
  
• Sister Elnora Miller (Home) (Mother of Sister Lisa Miller)
  
  
• Sister Lisa Miller (Home)
  
  
• Brother Daryl Moberly (Uncle of Sister Marva Eubank)
  
  
• Sister Tyailan Moberly (Home) (Cousin of Sister Marva Eubank)
  
  
• Brother Charles Moore, Sr. (Denton, TX) (Brother of Sister Shelia Williams)
  
  
• Sister Dorothy Offutt (Home)
  
  
• Sister Ashanti Owens (Granddaughter of Sister Mary Thomas)
  
  
• Sister Brittany Payne (Home)
  
  
• Brother Stevie Pepper (Columbus, OH) (Cousin of Sister Mary Thomas)(Home)
  
  
• Sister Darlene Pope (Home)
  
  
• Brother Steven Prater (Richmond Hill, GA)
  
  
• Sister Ruth Rawlings (Friend of Sister Kim Bond)
  
  
• Veronica Ridgeway (Louisville, KY) (Cousin of Sisters Janice Jackson and Barbara Ridgeway)
  
  
• Sister Annette Reid (Home)
  
  
• Brother Ashley Roach
  
  
• Sister Gayle Rush-Coleman (Home)
  
  
• Sister Tamika Sales (Home)
  
  
• Brother Donald Scarber (Home)
  
  
• Brother Doug Smith (Brother of Rev. Michael Smith) (Home, Louisville, KY)
  
  
• Sister Pennie Smith (Home)
  
  
• Sister Eleanor Smothers (Home)
  
  
• Sister Delores Spencer (Home)
  
  
• Sister Tonia Stewart (Home)
  
  
• Brother Adrian Tatman (Home)
  
  
• Sister Anna Tatman (Home)
  
  
• Sister Cheryl "Midge" Taylor (Home)
  
  
• Brother Pete Thompson (Home)
  
  
• Sister Anna Ison-Walker (Home)
  
  
• Brother Kevin Walker (San Francisco, CA) (First Cousin of Rev. Freddie Moody)
  
  
• Sister Martha Warner (Home) (Mother of Sister Catherine Frye)
  
  

• Sister Tassa Wigginton (Home)
  
  
• Brother Melvin Williams (Home)
  
  

• Brother Leon Wilson (Home) (Brother-in-Law of Sister Mary Thomas)
  
  
  
• Each person listed on our Sick List
  
  
• HPGMBC Full Time Pastor Search Committee Members, their families and their work
  
  
• Victims of the Wildfires
  
  
• Families of the Children affected in war torn countries around the world
  
  
• Children orphaned due to war and worldwide crises
  
  
• Families affected by gun violence in our community and abroad
  
  
• COVID-19 Victims around the world
  
  
• The People of Ukraine
  
  
• Healthcare workers, First responders, etc.
  
  
• The Entire Pleasant Green Church Family
  
  
• Our our Local and National Government Officials

Heavenly Father, nothing can separate us from Your love for us in Jesus, and we praise You for it! Thank you for Jesus. In His Name. Amen 

{Adapted from Our Daily Bread,  January 15, 2026}

Keep Your Contact Information Updated

Please keep your contact information up to date. In case of emergencies, changes of service times, etc., every attempt will be made to contact church members as expeditiously as possible using text messages to cell phones, phone calls, and emails. You can update your contact information by calling the church at (859) 254-7387.

If you would like to volunteer in assisting with contacting members on the rare occasions when information needs to be communicated to the church membership quickly, please call the church and give your name and phone number.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

FLU

Flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat, and sometimes the lungs. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death.

Flu shots are available at local pharmacies. Consult your physician regarding a flu vaccination.

RSV

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common, contagious virus that usually causes mild symptoms. In older adults and adults with certain underlying conditions, RSV can cause severe infections.

RSV shots are available at local pharmacies. Consult your physician regarding a RSV vaccination.

COVID-19

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Most people infected with the virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. However, some will become seriously ill and require medical attention. Older people and those with underlying medical conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, or cancer are more likely to develop serious illness. Anyone can get sick with COVID-19 and become seriously ill or die at any age.

The best way to prevent and slow down transmission is to be well informed about the disease and how the virus spreads. Protect yourself and others from infection by staying at least 1 metre apart from others, wearing a properly fitted mask, and washing your hands or using an alcohol-based rub frequently. Get vaccinated when it’s your turn and follow local guidance.

The virus can spread from an infected person’s mouth or nose in small liquid particles when they cough, sneeze, speak, sing or breathe. These particles range from larger respiratory droplets to smaller aerosols. It is important to practice respiratory etiquette, for example by coughing into a flexed elbow, and to stay home and self-isolate until you recover if you feel unwell.

Both COVID vaccines and Booster COVID vaccines are available at local pharmacies. Consult your physician regarding COVID vaccinations.

General Health Information

General Health information can be obtained from the Health Department. Contact information is below:

LEXINGTON-FAYETTE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
650 Newtown Pike
Lexington, KY 40508
(859) 252-2371.

VOL. 10. COMMON SENSE REVISITED

“O BEAUTIFUL FOR PILGRIM FEET”?!?

O beautiful for Pilgrim feet, whose stern, impassioned stress a thoroughfare for freedom, beat…across the wilderness! America the beautiful…uh let’s see!

Again, Napoleon said that history is a myth, and a myth agreed upon. I have dedicated my life to historical research since the tender age of 17. Under the tutelage of Dr. Henry Ellis Cheaney I went home at the end of my first semester at, then Kentucky State College in Frankfort Kentucky, and started my first personal historical research project. I started genealogical research of my family. Since that time, I am still engaged in historical research.

Recently I discovered some interesting information gathered by another historian about the Pilgrim’s “stern, impassioned stress a thoroughfare for freedom, beat…across the wilderness!” I want to share that information with you. It was researched and written by Dr. Leo Marx (he is not related to Karl Marx). His article centers on the idea of nature in America. His article caught my attention because it parallels a conceptional framework that God aided me in developing when I was still teaching. Hopefully, it will enlighten you as well when you read just a portion of his premise which reflects the earlier information recorded thus far.

Dr. Leo Marx’s in his own words, postulations/assumptions of facts, or truth of something’s:

“In the beginning of the American colonial period European settlers formed their impressions of American nature in a geographical context: it was a place, a terrain, a landscape. But they invariably accommodated their immediate impressions of American places to their imported – typically religious – preconceptions about the nature of nature and the character of indigenous peoples. Thus, all the significant American ideas of nature are hybrids, conceived in Europe and inflected by New World experience. And each ideology that served as a rationale/ (elaborate justification) for one or another colonial system of power contained such a hybrid Euro-American conception of nature and of the colonists’ relations with it.

A revealing example is the Pilgrim leader William Bradford’s well-known description of the forbidding Cape Cod shoreline as seen from the deck of the Mayflower in 1620. He depicts it as “a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men.” Here the bias inherent in the Christian idea of nature as fallen – as Satan’s domain – effectively erases the humanity of the indigenous Americans. To Bradford they are more like wild beasts than white men. (This posit/fact runs concurrently with all tribal traditional indigenous civilizations most especially Native Americans and Africans).

The concept of satanic nature provided a useful foil for the sacred mission of the Puritan colonists.  In 1645, for example, John Winthrop, lieutenant governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, used it as an ideological weapon to defend his theocratic authority. His enemies had charged him with infringing on their liberty, and in his uncompromising response in the General Court he develops the distinction between two kinds of liberty: natural and civil.

Natural liberty, “common to man with beasts and other creatures,” is the liberty, he argues, we enjoy in a state of nature, namely, to do evil as well as good; civil liberty, on the other hand, is moral, hence available only to the truly regenerate, only to Christians redeemed from sin by the reception of divine grace.

According to Calvinist doctrine, only those rescued from the state of nature may enjoy the God-given liberty to do what is good, just, and honest. Here, on the coast of a vast, unexplored continent, the idea of an ostensibly/(clearly) separate realm of wild nature – a separateness underscored by the contrast with the tamed state of nature in Europe – (white superiority) was a valuable rhetorical/(language that lacks meaningful content) asset for the colony’s leaders. Allusions/ (indirect passing references) to wild nature served to reinforce the doctrinal barrier between themselves, the elect, (the superior) and the unregenerate (the inferior), whom they consigned/(assigned) to the realm of natural lawlessness.

In the lexicon/(vocabulary)of Protestant Christianity in America, the essential character of primal/(early stage)?nature was conveyed by epithets/(words used as a term of abuse)like ‘howling desert’ and ‘hideous wilderness,’ and by the malign/(evil in nature or effect) names – savage, cannibal, slave – assigned to indigenous peoples. In (John) Winthrop’s argument, accordingly, the unarguable/(not open to disagreement) existence of a separate (unredeemed) state of nature helps to justify his a priori/(self-evendent) condemnation of the unregenerate/(inferior), who constitute/(make up) a potential threat of lawlessness, anarchy, and misrule. Their geographical location underscored the theological argument: the only escape from natural unregeneracy/ (non reforming bad or wrong) open to them was the reception of divine grace.

Leo Marx concluded that the Pilgrims viewed the New World of North America “as the newly discovered terrain that appeared to be untouched by civilization, a cultural void populated by godless savages, and not easy to distinguish from a state of nature.”

Uh?!?… so much for “O beautiful for Pilgrim feet, whose stern, impassioned stress a thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness?” How so if the Europeans were steeped with an air of superiority (an arrogant way of believing and behaving) even before they stepped ashore?

COMMON SENSE REVISITED:

TO BE CONTINUED…