The following is an excerpt from my article on WorldNetDaily.com which debuts today:
That this westerne discoverie will be greatly for thine enlargemente of the Gospell of Christe, whereunto the principals of the refourmed Relligion are Chefely bounde, amongt whom her [Majesty] principall. - Richard Hakluyt
As we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the American people, it is important to remember that behind great national movements in history there is often found the sword, the purse, pulpit and the pen.
The sword is the guardian and the final resort of free people against tyranny from within or oppression from without. The purse represents the financiers who subsidize the work of liberty. The pulpit proclaims the theological mandate for the mission. And the pen is the voice of influence and reason poised to rally men to noble action.
During the War for American Independence, the sword was courageously carried by George Washington, the purse was generously offered by John Hancock, the pulpit was militantly occupied by clergymen like John Witherspoon, and the pen of influence was artfully wielded by Thomas Jefferson.
In the case of the founding of America at Jamestown, all four of these roles were filled by unlikely, but remarkable individuals each united by a common vision to see America become a bulwark of reformation Christianity and a beachhead for Gospel evangelism.
John Smith was the sword. Rev. Robert Hunt was the pulpit. The men of the Virginia Company formed the purse. And an ordained Gospel minister, cartographer and prolific author named Richard Hakluyt was the pen.
Of the above individuals, no man had more influence on the founding of America as a distinctively Christian and English nation than Richard Hakluyt.
The great historian Samuel Eliot Morison observed that Hakluyt “did more than any other man of his generation to invigorate the efforts which eventually bore fruit in Virginia and New England.”