period of persecution by
the papacy, a vast multitude, numbering many millions in addition to
these, were proscribed, banished, starved, suffocated, drowned,
imprisoned for life, buried alive, burned at the stake or
assassinated.[1]

These dark historic events illustrate the price that had to be paid for
letting the light shine when darkness prevailed in the high places of
the world. Every martyr for the truth was a torch bearer, whose light
was extinguished. The countries that suffered the greatest loss of their
best citizenship received a check of more than a century's growth. The
hand on the dial of progress was turned backward wherever the blighting
inquisition was felt. Its blighting effects may yet be seen in Italy,
Spain, Portugal, Ireland and other countries where the papacy exerts a
controlling influence. Men, whose deeds are evil and they are unwilling
to repent, hate the light and endeavor to suppress it, by killing the
torch bearer, "lest their deeds should be reproved."

A knowledge of these conditions that prevailed at the time is necessary
to enable one to appreciate the importance and greatness of the work of
the Reformers and their faithful followers during the 16th century in
giving the Bible to the people at the risk of their lives.

INDEPENDENT OWNERSHIP OF LAND

In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers, bringing with them the Bible as a precious
treasure, establish a colony at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, where they
hope to enjoy civil and religious liberty to a fuller extent than they
were able to do elsewhere. Other colonies are established along the
Atlantic coast, from New England to Georgia, but no one of them exerts a
moral influence, quite so potent as this one, in the events and
councils that precede the laying of the foundations for this great
government.

They now enjoy individual or independent ownership of lands, a privilege
they did not enjoy under the feudal system that had its rise in the 10th
century and was continued until the French Revolution in 1799. Under the
feudal system the land was owned by dukes, earls and barons, who, as
members of the House of Lords, alone participated in the government.

The orators of the pulpit, commonly called preachers of the gospel,
aside from the academies, colleges and universities, are the principal
teachers of the people, and for the purpose of instruction, they use but
one book--the Bible.

In 1635 other colonies of Puritans, under Roger William