The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

IX. Transition From British-born to American-born

Prior to 1676 the new civilization of America was largely in the hands of Americans born in England. After 1676 it was principally in the hands of Americans born in New England. The writings of the first period were therefore largely by immigrant Americans. The literature of the second period was largely by the children of those immigrants, and represented their reactions to life in the New World. PFF3 32.1

During this second period the American colonies underwent a portentous change-the struggle for independence. ⁴² In 1643 half of the eighty ministers in New England were graduates of Cambridge or Oxford. Fifty years later seventy-six out of eighty-seven in Massachusetts and thirty-one out of thirty-six in Connecticut were graduates of Harvard. ⁴³ So from the beginning of the eighteenth century we deal with the rise of distinctly colonial culture.” ⁴⁴ PFF3 32.2

And now follow the American expositors of the early colonial period, in the form employed in Volumes 1 and 2- first a biographical sketch and then the prophetic positions of the writer. This notable group is first visualized on the overall chart which appears on pages 44 and 45. PFF3 32.3