"To Preserve You a Posterity in the Earth"
Recently, Doyle spoke by the Spirit of God on Live Stream that the United States was not founded on Judeo-Christian principles, but it was founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ. We summarized in the writing, “The First Principles of the Oracles of God” about a group of people God sent to America, who believed and practiced the foundation teachings of Jesus, found in Hebrews 6:
1) “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2) Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”
Doyle continued to pray and as we talked, he began to speak about Joseph and Jacob in Egypt; how God had sent Joseph ahead, and through Jacob and Joseph, had preserved a remnant.
“And God sent me before you to preserve you posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” Genesis 45:7
A group of people came to America, seeking freedom to worship God as they understood the scriptures. As they arrived in New England, and sought to settle in the Massachusetts area, they found the same persecution and oppression they had left in England was in New England. The ruling elders of the Massachusetts Bay colony were of strict Puritan beliefs, who governed according to their beliefs. Those who disagreed were, fined, jailed, beaten and even killed. Many who would not submit to the doctrine of the Massachusetts colonies were exiled, and some left of their own accord.
As has been written in previous accounts, a group of people gathered in what we now know as the state of Rhode Island, teaching and practicing the principles of Jesus found in Hebrews 6, meeting in their homes and they were eventually called, The Six-Principles Sect. (They didn’t label themselves as such, historians have given them that name). They believed that no one had the authority to dictate what a person believed and they established their government on a separation of church and state. But as we have read, the government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was not content with the removal of those they considered heretics from their jurisdiction, their intent was to destroy them and except for the mercy of God, they would have succeeded. Roger Williams, Samuel Gorton, Ezekiel Holliman, John Greene, John Clark, Obadiah Holmes and others suffered great personal affliction, loss of property and continual persecution. Samuel Gorton emerged as the principal leader of their cause, and he fought tirelessly to preserve their freedom to worship as their conscience dictated.
Adelos Gorton, author of The Life and Times of Samuel Gorton wrote:
“In reviewing the efforts of Massachusetts to extend her jurisdiction and to attach to herself any residents of the Providence Plantations, and to lead the people in revolt against the charter, the claims of the other colonies and the great sufferings and trials that the people endured, the historian of Rhode Island says:
“As we examine the progress of this deeply laid scheme and observe the steadiness with which it was pressed through a long series of years, we cannot but admire the firmness of our ancestors toiling at every turn, nor can we fail to recognize the hand of a Supreme power in preserving a colony of whose peculiar principles at first made it an object of aversion, and finally were adopted as the cardinal doctrine of a whole nation.”
Time after time, when it seemed the little group would be destroyed by the larger and more powerful colony, God intervened on their behalf and they would emerge victorious for another day. God has revealed to Doyle, that just as God preserved a remnant in Israel, He preserved a remnant in America in the little group of Rhode Islanders, the ancestors of Doyle and also David Kaspareit, to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Six Principles Doctrine that the churches in Rhode Island taught and practiced are the same teachings Doyle has taught from the beginning of his ministry.
As the years progressed, the teachings and practices of the Rhode Island group began to decline and successive generations began to be drawn away from their ancestors’ beliefs. Those who considered themselves followers of Samuel Gorton had been labeled, Gortonites. Dr. Ezra Stiles who is quoted in Lewis Janes’ book about Samuel Gorton, wrote in his diary of an interview with John Angel, an aged man whose father and grandfather had known Gorton. Mr Angel believed he was the last remaining “disciple” of Samuel Gorton and he said of Gorton:
“He was universally beloved by all his Neighbors and the Indians, who esteemed him not only as a Friend but one high in communion with God & Heaven, and indeed he lived in Heaven.”
Mr. Angel died in Providence on December, 23, 1774.
In 1987, God ministered to Doyle, “So as Joseph’s brother sold him into bondage, so have your brothers sold you into bondage, but there is coming a great deliverance.”
Sources: The Life and Times of Samuel Gorton by Adelos Gorton (1908)
Contributed by Kathryn Currier
Posted May 10, 2010
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