The Story of Liberty (A Christian History Text)

"...if truly God had specific plans for this country and the people who were to inhabit it, have God's plans reached their fulfillment? Does America still have a rendezvous with destiny? Is there yet a generation to come forth from this nation which will turn the hearts of not only its countrymen back to the living God, but hte hearts of the world as well? It is with this in mind that we have endeavored to republish Carles Coffin's The Story of Liberty, originally published in 1879.

The Story of Liberty is not America's story alone. It belongs to all those who are enjoying freedom and liberty in any part of the world. And it belongs to all nations that will yet serve Him. As we reach back into the records of history to observe the hand of the Great Author of all liberty, we will find direction for the days ahead and discover the keys we need to understand and interpret the future. As we look at that which preceded our nation's history and led to its founding, we will begin to have an idea of what liberty cost those who love the truth and how much still is at stake. We cannot neglect the present and hope to enjoy in the future the blessings of the past. Liberty was purchased by Christian courage, self-sacrifice, and unceasing vigilance. Only by these virtues can we hope to keep it. We must, by God's grace, be as determined to protect our liberties as our forefathers were to win them. 'Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.'" (Gal. 5:1 KJV).

My son and I took turns reading aloud Sweet Land of Liberty, a history book reprinted from an 1881 manuscript. Near the middle of the book, I commented to my husband, “We’re learning a lot, but I don’t know how much more of this I can take. Almost every chapter has hangings, Indian scalpings, or bodily dismemberment.” He replied, “You’re not reading a candy-coated, politically correct version of history. You’re reading the real thing. I want my son to know what the early Americans endured and what our country’s founding was all about.” The author, a Civil War correspondent, wrote descriptively of the forming of the 13 colonies from a soldier’s point of view. Among the blood and bravery are the names, facts, and events that most modern textbooks leave out. The facts are threaded through stories—stories of struggle for freedom from hundreds of years of tyranny and unworthy kings. Before reading this book, I had the vague notion that America’s liberty was won solely through the Revolutionary War. I now understand the many years of struggle and conviction that led up to that conflict. The Story of Liberty, reprinted from an 1879 manuscript, goes back further—as far back as the Magna Carta—and ends with the Mayflower voyage. Ruthless cruelty against independent thinkers, especially those longing to read the Bible in their own language, is not hidden in this history book, written thus so we will “comprehend what liberty has cost . . . and what it is worth.” Both books are eye-opening from the Protestant perspective. And The Boys of ’76 (original manuscript from 1876) teaches us about the heroes and battles of the Revolution, written so that our “love for liberty and the rights of man will not be forgotten.”

—Karen

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Reviewed by Kay (Charlotte, NC), April 01, 2009

History becomes alive with intriguing, never before read accounts of real people, real events. Every American and every Christian should read this book so they can truly appreciate the freedom and liberty they enjoy.

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