Chapter VI
Battling for Religious Liberty
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I. All states Save Two Persecuted Liberty, both civil and religious, has been so long and so fully enjoyed in our free America that it requires some effort to realize that until such liberty was offered in this country it was scarcely known among the peoples of the earth. Separation of church and state, with its accompanying guarantee of soul liberty, has been so long enjoyed in the states of the Union, it is difficult to appreciate the fact that every one of the thirteen colonies had state or established churches, and in consequence offered some measure of persecution, save only Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. These colonies, some of them long after they became states, taxed all of the people for the support of the established church. They fined and imprisoned dissenters, and with a firm hand repressed individual judgment in the effort to maintain uniformity.
There are now beyond doubt millions of Baptists who do not even know that their Baptist forefathers were largely instrumental in securing the freedom with which men now worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences. Multiplied millions of people of all faiths and of no faith enjoy this priceless boon of liberty, who are totally unaware of the part played by the early Baptists, of the sufferings which they endured, and of their heroic efforts in purchasing religious freedom for America, and thus indirectly for a large part of the human race.
II. Baptists Committed to Principles of Freedom The Baptist people are irrevocably committed to civil and religious liberty by their fundamental principles.
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The supremacy and competency of Jesus excludes subservience in matters of conscience to any human ruler. Not to the magistrate nor to the state in any sense can the believer accord the place of mastery in questions of belief and conscience. It is therefore not an accident that the Baptist people have always, and in all countries, been advocates of freedom, and that they have ever bejn ready to suffer for this principle of liberty.
III. Strange That Men who were Persecuted Should Persecute It must seem strange that men who have been forward in desiring and demanding freedom for themselves have often been slow to grant this blessing to others. The earliest American colonists came to this country to escape persecution in England, and to secure for themselves the boon of freedom. We should have expected that their own sufferings and trials in quest of liberty would have softened their hearts towards others undergoing the same hardships. Alas, it was not so to be! Was it Josh Billings who said: "The Puritans sought their own freedom, but they saw to it that others did not have theirs"?
At this point we must of course be fair, and to this end we must seek the viewpoint of those who thus persecuted. From the days when Constantine united church and state, on through the centuries, it was generally believed that religion could not stand without the support of the state. Without the compulsion of the state, men would not support the church, and the church would, if separated from the state, perish from the earth. It did not enter into the thinking of the builders of the new American commonwealths that the church could exist apart from the state; nor did they believe that states could be built without the support of religion. They thus assumed that state-supported churches were a necessity, and in consequence they required all citizens to pay taxes for the maintenance of the established church. When Baptists, Quakers, and others resisted the law for
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conscience' sake, they were fined or imprisoned or banished.
IV. Baptists Patiently Bore Persecution Compelled by law to attend public worship, the Baptist people would close their eyes, turn their backs, or otherwise show disapproval when infants were baptized, or other things were done which their consciences could not approve. This was of course disconcerting and even irritating. The inevitable spies would report to the officers, and soon the heavy hand of the law would fall on the offenders. The Baptist people and others, because they could not accept membership in the state church, were denied the privilege of citizenship. They were, therefore, permitted no vote or voice of any kind in the government, while at the same time they were taxed to support the government. The leaders, in state affairs boldly affirmed that "taxation without representation is tyranny." It seems a strange sort of irony that they were ready to die for this principle when they themselves were involved, but quite overlooked the principle when the Baptists and other dissenters were concerned.
V. Roger Williams' Defiance and Banishment Such treatment was, of course, intolerable. At length, as we have seen, there came from England, Roger Williams, a man highly educated, strong-willed and deeply imbued with the spirit of freedom. We have already traced in outline the life story of Roger Williams. The importance of Williams' contribution to civil and religious freedom demands further mention of his heroic life. As a youth he had sat at the feet of the great jurist, Edward Coke, and in the atmosphere of his native England he had imbibed from the Baptist people the principles of constitutional liberty. Arriving in America ten years after the landing of the Pilgrims, he quickly began to avow the principles of freedom. His bold advocacy of the competency and right of the soul to face God for itself aroused immediate interest and won strong
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support, while at the same time it met stern opposition. At a loss to know how otherwise to deal with this audacious dissenter, the authorities banished Williams from the colony in 1635, five years after his arrival from England. Daring and resourceful, he determined with the help of his friends to found a new state, in which freedom of conscience should be forever assured. Accordingly, he purchased lands from the Indians and established the colony of Providence, the name chosen for the new colony plainly expressing his dependence on God in his vastly important venture. Thus there came one state in the New World dedicated to civil and religious liberty. In 1638, the colony, augmented by other like-minded spirits, purchased the territory which now comprises the state of Rhode Island, and a voluntary government was formally instituted by a solemn covenant "to submit to the orders of the major party in civil things only." Thus was a government founded with a constitution based on perfect and equal liberty to all. By a gradual process, Williams came to accept the faith of the Baptists, and in 1639, as we have previously seen, he established the first Baptist church ever formed on the soil of America.
It is perhaps impossible for us now, hedged about as we are with the fullest guarantees of freedom, to appreciate the courage evidenced by Roger Williams and his associates, as it is likewise impossible for us to realize fully the value to America and the world of the success of this enterprise. Rhode Island, with its free and impartial liberty, stood among the colonists, rebuking their tyranny and challenging them to accord free and equal rights to all men. About fifty years later (1682), William Penn established the colony of Pennsylvania, following in some measure the course of Rhode Island, thus affording another asylum for the persecuted and adding another powerful appeal for freedom. The leaven which had thus begun to work, continued until the last vestige of tyranny and persecution perished from the land. For
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more than a hundred years the states of the Union and the Union itself have accorded full religious liberty.
VI. America Influenced Other Nations This is by no means all of the story; nor is it the best of the story. The mighty Republic of the West, respected and admired in all parts of the world, wielded a speedy and decisive influence for freedom in the earth. Europe, Asia, Africa and the islands of the seas saw a great light. Nation after nation throughout the civilized world has adopted in some substantial measure the principle of religious freedom. The revolution thus wrought is one of the most significant and far-reaching known in history. It accounts for the fact that missionaries may go into all lands, and converts may worship God, without serious fear of molestation. Such exceptions as still exist, and such tyrannies as may still prevail, only emphasize the vast progress made in a hundred years.
VII. Baptists Supported the Revolution The Baptist people, having grown in numbers and influence, gave generous and all but unanimous support to the Revolution, and generously shared the burdens of the seven years of war. George Washington himself accorded them high praise, declaring that in the struggle for freedom they had been "throughout America uniformly the persevering promoters of the glorious Revolution." Their preachers became chaplains, their men joined the armies, and their women supported the sacred cause with heroic sacrifices. Their unfailing loyalty became known even to the British soldiers, and in consequence their meeting-houses were usually destroyed or confiscated when the enemy entered conquered territory.
Doctor Cathcart gives interesting sketches of a well-known Baptist layman of Revolutionary times, Colonel Joab Hough ton, which we reproduce: Colonel Houghton was one of the first to advocate the calling of the New
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Jersey Provincial Congress that overthrew English rule there. One Sunday morning, while he was worshiping in the Baptist meeting-house at Hopewell, New Jersey, of which he was a member, a messenger, all breathless, came in and whispered something in his ear. The information was respecting the battles of Concord and Lexington. Dr. S. H. Cone, grandson of Colonel Houghton, thus describes the scene: 1Stilling the breathless messenger, he sat quietly through the services, and when they were ended, he passed out, and mounting the great stone block in front of the meeting-house, he beckoned to the people to stop; men and women paused to hear, curious to know what so unusual a sequel to the service of the day could mean. At the first words, a silence, still as death, fell over all. The sabbath quiet of the hour and of the place, was deepened into a terrible solemnity. He told them the story of the cowardly murder at Lexington by the royal troops; the heroic vengeance following hard upon it; the retreat of Percy; the gathering of the children of the Pilgrims around the beleaguered hills of Boston: then pausing and looking over the silent throng, he said slowly, 'Men of New Jersey, the redcoats are murdering our brethren of New England! Who follows me to Boston?' and every man of that audience stepped out into line and answered: 'I!' There was not a coward or a traitor in old Hopewell Baptist meeting-house that day.Says Doctor Cathcart, commenting upon this scene: "The annals of the American Revolution cannot furnish in its long list of fearless deeds and glorious sacrifices, a grander spectacle than this Sunday scene in front of the Baptist Church of Hopewell. Joab Houghton's integrity, honesty of purpose, and military capacity, must have been of an unusual order to have secured for his appeal such a noble response. And the men who gave it must have been nurtured in a lap of liberty in childhood,
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1 The Story of the Baptists in All Ages and Countries, Rev. E. B. Cook, pages 280, 231.
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and taught enthusiastic love for her principles in all subsequent years. But this was the spirit of American Baptists in the Revolution."
VIII. Baptists Helped to Secure Freedom in the Constitution When the fate of the new Constitution hung in the balance, its destiny seemed to depend on Massachusetts and Virginia. In both of these states the Baptist people "held the balance of power." In the Massachusetts convention James Manning, the president of Rhode Island College, afterwards Brown University, threw the weight of his great influence in favor of the Constitution, carrying with him several Baptist preachers who were members of the Convention, and approval of the Constitution was carried by a majority of 19 votes. In Virginia likewise John Leland, a Baptist preacher, gave such support that J. S. Barbour, in a eulogy on Madison, spoke as follows: The credit of adopting the Constitution of the United States properly belonged to a Baptist clergyman, formerly of Virginia, by the name of Leland; and he reached his conclusion in this way - he said that if Madison, had not been in the Virginia Convention, the Constitution would not have been ratified by that State; and, as the approval of nine States was required to give effect to this instrument, and as Virginia was the ninth State, if it had been rejected by her, the Constitution would have failed; and that it was by Elder Leland's influence that Madison was elected to the Convention.While supporting the new Constitution, the Baptist people sought consistently to have read into it clear provision for the fullest religious freedom. Some years before the Revolution, the Baptists of Rhode Island, New York, and Philadelphia, appointed committees to protest against persecution and urge complete separation between church and state. Isaac Backus became the general
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agent of the Baptists in this cause, and won for himself a safe niche in history by the ability and zeal with which he massed the appeal of the entire denomination and pleaded the cause of freedom. When the Baptists presented themselves at a meeting of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts and pleaded for full liberty, the following resolution was adopted by the Continental Congress:2In Provincial Congress Cambridge, December 9, 1774 On reading the memorial of Reverend Isaac Backus, agent of the Baptist churches in this government: Resolved, That the establishment of civil and religious liberty to each denomination in the province is the sincere wish of this Congress; but being by no means vested with powers of civil government, whereby they can redress the grievances of any person whatever, they therefore recommend to the Baptist Churches that when a General Assembly shall be convened in this Colony, they lay the real grievances of said churches before the same; when and where their petition will most certainly meet with all that attention due to the memorial of a denomination of Christians so well disposed to the public weal of their country. By order of the Congress, John Hancock, President.
A true extract from the Minutes, Benjamin Lincoln, Secretary (Backus, Volume II). The Baptists approved and supported the Constitution in spite of the fact that it did not offer the full guarantees of religious freedom which they desired. No sooner was it adopted than they moved to secure an amendment which would safeguard the interests which they held sacred. A petition asking for such amendment was prepared by John Leland on behalf of the Baptist churches of Virginia, and presented to President George
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2 A History of the Baptists, John T. Christian, page 232.
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Washington. The following language indicates the attitude of the Baptists:When the Constitution first made its appearance in Virginia, we, as a society, had umisual struggles of mind, fearing that the liberty of conscience, dearer to us than property or life, was not sufficiently secured. Perhaps our jealousies were heightened by the usage we received in Virginia under the regal government, when mobs, fines, bonds and prisons were our frequent repast. (Taken from petition to George Washington, prepared by John Leland, and recorded in the Works of Leland.)On entering Congress in 1789, James Madison, "the friend of the Baptists," offered and secured the adoption of the following amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances.It is difficult for us, removed as we are from the storms and commotions of those troublous days, to appreciate the significance of this amendment. For the first time in history, a really great Republic based itself on the fundamental principle of a complete separation of church and state, and complete liberty and protection as regards religious beliefs.
The contribution which the Baptist people made to this achievement is ungrudgingly recognized by impartial witnesses. Bancroft, the great American historian, declares that, Freedom of conscience, unlimited freedom of mind was from the first the trophy of the Baptists.John Locke said: The Baptists were the first propoundera of absolute liberty, just and true liberty, equal and impartial liberty (as we have seen in the story of Roger Williams and the Providence colony which he founded).
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IX. Statement by Dr. Geoege W. Truett The liberty for which the Baptists stood was and has always been a matter of right under God's law, not a matter of concession under man's law. Dr. George W. Truett forcibly states the Baptist position:3 Our contention is not for mere toleration, but for absolute liberty. There is a wide difference between toleration and liberty. Toleration implies that somebody falsely claims the right to tolerate. Toleration is a concession, while liberty is a right. Toleration is a matter of expediency, while liberty is a matter of principle. Toleration is a gift from man, while liberty is a gift from God. It is the consistent and insistent contention of our Baptist people, always and everywhere, that religion must be forever voluntary and uncoerced, and that it is not the prerogative of any power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, to compel men to conform to any religious creed or form of worship, or to pay taxes for the support of a religious organization to which they do not belong and in whose creed they do not believe. God wants free worshipers, and no other kind.The early and persistent advocacy of religious freedom on the part of the Baptist people is not difficult to explain. They found the teaching of full and equal liberty imbedded in the Book which they accepted as their sole and sufficient guide. It was written into the Book when the principle of freedom was practically unknown in the world. It grows naturally out of the two distinguishing principles - the supremacy of Jesus in all things and the sufficiency of each human being to act as the arbiter of his own conduct. Following these principles there can be no wonder that the Baptist people have so long stood for absolute and impartial liberty. They could not otherwise have been Baptists.
Dr. George W. McDaniel tells of a conversation between the great American, J. L. M. Curry, and the
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3 God's Challenge to America.
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British statesman, John Bright. The two men were sitting together at a banquet. Mr. Bright said to Doctor Curry, "What distinct contribution has America made to the science of government?" Doctor Curry thought a moment and replied, "The doctrine of religious liberty." Mr. Bright replied, "A tremendous contribution." Doctor McDaniel adds: "Yes, it was the greatest contribution of the New World to the Old, of America to civilization, and it was pre-eminently a Baptist contribution. Bancroft correctly says: 'Freedom of conscience, unlimited freedom of mind, was from the first the trophy of the Baptists.'"____________
Teaching Suggestions Questions-Answer Study
Why are the Baptist people irrevocably committed to civil and religious liberty? Show why the connection of church and state persisted. Roger Williams' new state agreed to submit to the orders of the major part in civil things only. Indicate the significance of the last clause. Tell of the progress and final triumph of religious liberty in America. Tell briefly the story of Colonel Joab Houghton. Show how the Baptists helped in the adoption of the Constitution when that measure was in jeopardy. Blackboard-Outline Discussion
I. All States Save Two Persecuted
II. Baptists Committed to Principles of Freedom
III. Strange That Men Who Were Persecuted Should Persecute
IV. Baptists Patiently Bore Persecution
V. Roger Williams' Defiance and Banishment Established first free state in the world
VI. America Influenced Other Nations
VII. Baptists Supported the Revolution
VIII. Baptists Helped to Secure Freedom in the Constitution
IX. Statement by Dr. George W. Truett ============ [From P. E. Burroughs, The Baptist People, SSB of SBC, 1934. This document provided by Pastor Tom Byrd. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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