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was a Protestant state, and in four years of fighting, was unable to defeat the Catholic armies.

In 1630, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden entered the war. At this point, the motives for fighting were
shifting. True, the Swedes were proud Lutherans, determined to defeat the Catholic forces. But another
kingdom, that of France, was providing the Swedes with financial support. And France was a Catholic
country, practically governed by a Catholic cardinal, Richelieu, who as chief minister of Louis XIII made
most important political decisions.

What was going on? The last thing France wanted was to be surrounded by the Hapsburgs. A Catholic
victory in Germany would lead to just that. So the French gave money to the Swedes, secretly at first.
But by 1639, the French were directly involved in the fighting. This marked a turning point in European
politics, away from wars of religion, towards wars of political expediency or conquest.

The fighting brought robbery, rape, murder, starvation, and disease to Germany’s land and its people.
The war finally ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Austria was defeated, and its hopes for
control over a Catholic Europe came to nothing. The Peace of Westphalia set the religious and political
boundaries for Europe for the next two centuries. The Peace of Westphalia allowed Catholics and
Protestants equal rights in the Holy Roman Empire. (http://udel.edu/~jddavies/Thirty_Years_War.html)

The Thirty Years War basically ended Reformation and brought in Enlightenment. Europe would move
away from a religious centered world to a secular world.

George Fox Founds the Society of Friends, 1648

The middle of the 1600’s marked a time of religious change. The Puritans had
objected to the Church of England, but though they disliked the Anglican
priesthood, the continued it with their clergy. George Fox, who founded the
Society of Friends, taught that religion should be informal. In his quest to find
spiritual truth, George heard a voice say, “There is one, even Jesus Christ, who can
speak to thy condition.” Fox taught, as a result, that every person must follow the
“Inner Light” that God gives him. By following the “Inner Light,” man could break
Satan’s power and the hold of sin.

His teachings drew many to his new group. The Friends, as they were called, renounced oath taking,
dressed simply, ate sparingly, and spoke the truth in all honesty. They opposed warfare, protested
formalism in worship, refused to tip their hats to any man, and would not pay a tithe to the state
church. Of course, this resulted in persecution and eventual jail time for Fox. When he stood before
one judge, who mocked his group’s beliefs, Fox warned the judge to “tremble at the Word of God.” The
judge replied, “You are the tremblers, the quakers!” From then on, they were known as the Quakers.

Eventually William Penn, a Quaker, would be granted land in the New World and great numbers of
Quakers immigrated to Pennsylvania.

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