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Baptists and Religious Liberty

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 22, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 29.

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Baptists and Religious Liberty

By F. M. W.

UNDER the heading, “What Have Baptists Done for the World?” M. A. Love, in the Baptist Standard of July 1, says:—
“It was Baptists who petitioned the Colonial Congress to grant religious liberty to all people. John Hancock, president of that congress, granted them the privilege of making their views known to that lawmaking body, thus embracing it himself. General Washington states that it was a Baptist sentiment that fostered the Revolutionary spirit, and that Baptists were first to die in defense of freedom. It was Lewis and Joseph Craig and Aran Bledsoe who were indicted by the king’s attorney, who was an Episcopalian, charging these three men, who were Baptist preachers, guilty of death because they were preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was Patrick Henry, who, upon hearing of the trial, rode seventy miles to volunteer to defend them. On entering the court and hearing the king’s attorney read the warrant, reaching out his hand for the paper, he addressed the court: ‘May it please your worship, did I not hear read as I entered the court an indictment against these three inoffensive men for preaching the gospel of the Son of God to Adam’s fallen race?’ Then with pathetic voice he exclaimed in a slow but solemn tone, ‘For preaching the gospel of the Son of God, great God.’ With such power did he speak that the judge ordered the sheriff to release the men.”
In the present-day clamor for religious legislation, and the enactment of religious laws, there will soon be afforded an opportunity to stand for the defense of liberty of conscience similar to that offered in the days of John Hancock. The Baptists in the past have stood nobly many times for the right as against the inroads of church and state principles; where will they stand in the crisis upon which we are now entering?
We can not afford to rest upon the record of our fathers, however glorious that record may be. Our safety lies in strict adherence to the principles of the gospel, following our fathers in so far as they follow Christ, but rejecting tradition and precedent if out of harmony with the truth of God. The world today needs a revival of the Spirit of Roger Williams.     F. M. W.