04 – January 04 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

Seven preachers in jail

 

1771 – William Webber and Joseph Anthony of Virginia as Paul the Apostle were familiar with the inside of crude prisons. Few men in Virginia suffered more persecution than Webber. He was seized in Chesterfield County, Dec. 7, 1770, and imprisoned in the county jail until March 7, 1771. When the two men crossed the James River into Chesterfield County, there was not a Baptist in the entire county. The magistrates, finding that many were turning to righteousness (to madness, as they would state it)…issued warrants and had them apprehended and cast into prison. The order book of Chesterfield County, No. 4, page 489, Jan. 4, 1771, records that they were brought into court on a warrant for misbehavior for itinerant preaching…being of the sect commonly called Anabaptists. They were fined 150 pounds each and told not to return to the county for the space of one year. At one time there were seven Baptist preachers confined in the Chesterfield County jail. Webber and Anthony preached twice per week. Large congregations gathered to hear them as they preached through the grates of the prison. There were times of great revival and scores of conversions of souls turning to Christ under those windows. Baptist principles were largely advertised in Chesterfield County at the expense of the state.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 05-06.

 

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224 – Aug 12 – This Day in Baptist History Past

Baptists fight for Liberty in Virginia

1771 – The Following letter was written from Urbanna Prison, Middlesex County, Virginia. We find there were twelve Baptists in prison at one time.  Dear Brother in the Lord:   At a meeting which was held at Brother McCain’s, in this county, last Saturday, while William Webber was addressing the congregation from James 2:18, there came running toward him, in a most furious rage, Captain James Montague, a magistrate of the county, followed by the parson of the parish (Anglican) and several others who seemed greatly exasperated. The magistrate and another took hold of Brother Webber, and dragging him from the stage, delivered him with Brethren Wafford, Robert Ware, Richard Falkner, James Greenwood, and myself, into custody, and commanded that we should be brought before him for trial.  Brother Wafford was severely scourged, and Brother Henry Street received one lash from one of the persecutors, who was prevented from proceeding to further violence by his companions; to be short, I may inform you that we were carried before the above-mentioned magistrate, who with the parson and some others, carried us one by one into a room and examined our pockets and wallets for firearms, etc., charging us with carrying on a mutiny against the authority of the land. Finding none, we were asked if we had license to preach in this county; and learning we had not, it was required of us to give bond and security not to preach anymore in the county, which we modestly refused to do , whereupon after dismissing Brother Wafford, with a charge to make his escape out of the county by twelve o’clock the next day on pain of imprisonment, and dismissing Brother Falkner, the rest of us were delivered to the sheriff and sent to close jail, with a charge not to allow us to walk in the air until court day.  Blessed be God, the sheriff and jailer have treated us with as much kindness as could be expected from strangers. May the Lord reward them for it! Yesterday we had a large number of people hear us preach; and , among others, many of the great ones of the land, who behaved well while one of us discoursed on the new birth. We find the Lord gracious and kind to us beyond expression in our afflictions. We cannot tell how long we shall be kept in bonds; we therefore beseech, dear brother, that you and the church supplicate night and day for us, our benefactors, and our persecutors.   I have also to inform you that six of our brethren are confined in Caroline jail, viz Brethren Lewis Craig, John Burrus, John Young, Edward Herndon, James Goodrick, and Bartholomew Cheming. The most dreadful threatenings are raised in the neighboring counties against the Lord’s faithful and humble followers. Excuse haste. Adieu.  John Waller. [Lewis Peyton Little, Imprisoned Preachers and Religious Liberty in Virginia, (Lynchburg, VA.: J. P. Bell Co., 1938), pp. 275-76.]  Prepared by Dr. Greg Dixon

12 – Jan. 12 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

Daniel Marshall  Baptized Samuel Harris.
“the arrow of the Almighty stuck fast.”
 Samuel Harris led the charge for the Separate Baptists in Virginia.  He was born, Jan. 12, 1724 but not born again until 1758.  He was a nobleman, in that he held several positions of honor.  He served as sheriff, colonel of the militia, and captain of Fort Mayo.  But under the preaching of the Murphy boys he said that, “the arrow of the Almighty stuck fast.”  Daniel Marshall baptized him, and he was ordained in 1769.  He first preached in Culpepper County but was driven out of town by a mob.  In Orange County he was pulled from the platform by a roughneck and abused until rescued by friends.  On another occasion he was knocked down while preaching.  However, even then he didn’t suffer as other Baptist preachers did.  Take the case of “Swearing Jack Waller.”  He was on the jury at the trial of Lewis Craig.  Craig told the jury, “I take joyfully the spoiling of my goods for Christ’s sake.  While I lived in sin the jury took no notice of me.”  John Waller’s heart was melted and he was saved and in time became an honored Separate Baptist preacher.  One time while he was preaching he was assaulted by an Anglican parson and a sheriff.  The parson stuffed his whip handle down his throat but he returned and continued to preach.  John Taylor, John Koontz, William Webber, David Barrow, Lewis Lunsford, John Pickett, James Ireland, and Elijah Baker all suffered at the hands of mobs as they attempted to preach the gospel.  Sometimes snakes were thrown into their midst.  Many attacks were made at their baptism’s.  At times preachers were plunged into the mud with the threat of drowning.  It could surely be said of them that they were sent forth as, “sheep among wolves.”
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. IIII: Cummins /, pp. 24-26.

341 – Dec. 07 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

Some were whipped by individuals, several fined.
December 07, 1770 – William Webber and Joseph Anthony were arrested in Chesterfield, County, Virginia and they were held in prison until on Jan. 04, 1771, they were brought before the magistrates on charges of “misbehavior by itinerant preaching in this County being of that sect of dissenters from the Church of England commonly called anabaptists, and on hearing they acknowledged that they had preached in the upper end of this county at a meeting of sundry people there.” The court refused their offer to take the oath as prescribed by the so called Toleration Act, and thus for conscience sake they remained in jail until March 7, 1771. Jail increased their opportunities to preach through the grates. Their preaching was so powerful that the jailer was inclined to leave the door of their cell ajar so they could escape. Their reply was the same as Paul the Apostle, “They have taken us openly, uncondemned, and have cast us into prison; and now, do they cast us out privily? Nay, verily, but let them come themselves and fetch us out.” Chesterfield, County was notorious for its persecution of Baptist preachers. In fact there is a monument to religious liberty on the courthouse square in Chesterfield, Virginia, in memory of those who courageously suffered in its behalf. Semple, in his history (1810), mentions, that the Baptist cause has most flourished where it has met the most opposition in its offset. In the history of Chesterfield jail, seven preachers were confined for preaching without a license. They were William Webber, Joseph Anthony, Augustine Easton, John Weatherford, John Tanner, Jeremiah Walker and David Tinsley. Some were whipped by individuals, several fined. They kept up their persecution even after other counties had laid it aside.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 510-11.