71 – March – 12 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

He preached politics from the pulpit

1807 – Samuel Stillman, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Boston during the Revolutionary War died on this day at seventy years of age.  He was converted to Christ and baptized under the ministry of Oliver Hart when his parents moved to S.C.  He later founded a Baptist Education Society in Charleston.  Always weak in health he moved back to N.J. to improve his physical condition.  He was called as the assistant pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Boston.  After one year, he became the pastor of the historic First Baptist Church of that city on Jan. 9, 1765 where he stayed until his death.  The Baptists, with only two or three exceptions stood solidly behind the Revolution.  Stillman was one of the strongest proponents.  His heart blazed for liberty.  He despised the Stamp Act and preached against it from his pulpit.  He was outraged over the inflicted Baptists of Ashfield, Mass., and authored a petition to the general court against it.  The issue had to do with a general assessment for the support of the state church (Congregational).  He was a powerful preacher who drew crowds from great distances including dignitaries such as, Washington, Adams, John Hancock, and Gen. Knox.  He lifted high the cross, preached sin black, and hell hot and saw great revivals.  His flock was scattered during the war but he returned, gathered them together again, and First Baptist was the only church in Boston that stayed open for the duration.  The forty-two years he spent in Boston covered the great debates of the Revolution, the war itself, the birth of the nation, the Federal Constitution, and the presidencies of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson.  Samuel Stillman was a remarkable man for remarkable times.  But history shows that God always has His man for the times.

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