“Other Gentiles… Went Forth out of Captivity”
Elder Mark E. Petersen wrote: “When it is realized how despotic the European kings were at this period [the time associated with the discovery and settlement of America], it is easily understood that the colonists did indeed flee from captivity and oppression. Under such kings as James I of England, there was hardly a semblance of freedom. He was the supreme dictator in government, in economics, in education (what there was of it), and in the state religion. He controlled the detailed lives of his people. France Spain, England, and Portugal were the principal powers involved in the discovery and exploration of America.... All were ruled by despots, and when immigrants finally were allowed to leave the ’mother countries, ’ they indeed fled from captivity. The history of the Pilgrims and Puritans gives ample evidence of this fact.” (The Great Prologue, pp. 32-33).
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