23 – January 23 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

 

Patrick Henry paid his fine

1833 – JOHN WEATHERFORD, THE LAST OF THE OLD VETERAN BAPTIST PREACHERS DIED – John Weatherford, the last of the old veteran Baptist preachers, died on January 23, 1833. A little boy noticed the white, rigid seams in his hands and it left an indelible impression. In his latter years the boy learned that Weatherford had been imprisoned in the Chesterfield County jail of the colony of Virginia for five months in the year 1773. The iron bars did not hinder him from preaching through the grates to the congregation that gathered. Wicked men would stand on either side and slash his hands with knives until blood would stream down and actually sprinkle down on the people. Dr. White, the young lad, called them, ‘the martyr marks of the Lord Jesus.’ Weatherford was not released until the jail fees (room and board) were paid, which was a considerable sum. Finally they were paid by someone and he was released. Over twenty years later Patrick Henry became a neighbor to Weatherford and only then the preacher found that it was Henry who had paid his fine. As an old man he requested Newton’s song ‘Amazing Grace’ to be sung to him.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon; adapted from:  Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson/   Pg.  30

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