Persecution in the Colonies

While many Christians escaped persecution by coming to America, some Christian groups faced persecution in the colonies as well. Here are some instances of that persecution.

In Jamestown, America's first permanent English settlement, people were required to attend the Anglican Church (the church of England) regularly. Later in Virginia, taxes were paid to the church and Sunday laws required attendance at least once a month.

Many denominations got around that law by meeting three times a month at their own church and going to the Anglican Church once a month, but some felt they were denying Christ by compromising their beliefs to go to a church they didn't agree with. The punishment was normally a hefty fine.

In 1643, Virginia enacted a law which stated that only those were permitted to preach and teach, publicly or privately, whose beliefs conformed to those of the Church of England. This meant that any church meetings held by Quakers, Baptists, or other denominations were considered illegal.

It was worse for those who were considered to have blasphemed the name of God. The punishment for that crime was imprisonment or death.

The Puritans who established settlements in Massachusetts also persecuted those who disagreed with them. Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson were among those who were banished and formed settlements in other colonies.

Eventually Baptists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Congregationalist Puritans formed colony and community churches throughout New England. Anyone who disagreed with the doctrine of the colony's church was banished, severely punished, or sometimes executed.

Quakers received the most severe persecution in the colonies. My ancestors, the Willis' and the Brinton's were among the Quakers who came to America to escape persecution only to have their lands ceased and be imprisoned in the colonies.

As more settlers of different denominations and religions came to America, tolerance of the different beliefs became more prevalent. By the Revolutionary War, many of our founding fathers believed in the principle of religious tolerance. Men like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson enacted laws and the first amendment of the Constitution to prevent an establishment of any religion so that all denominations and religions had freedom to practice their beliefs in the public area. Unfortunately, a false interpretation of that amendment is now being used to stop Christians from practicing their beliefs in public, and a new religious intolerance is sweeping America.

The Proof of Your Faith Is found in the Revelation of God's Hand

"God had so appointed it, to stop their fierce proceedings against me for a lie, which they sought to take me in." Thomas Goold quoted by Nathan Eusebius, The History of the First Baptist Church of Boston (1665-1899), p. 44.

"And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews." Acts 12:11

Thomas Goold, a leading property owner in 17th century Charlestown, Massachusetts and a wagon maker by trade, created quite a stir. He, the writer of the Confession of Faith for the Charlestown Church began to openly espouse Anabaptist doctrines. Along with Mr. And Mrs Osborn, he caused such concern that the leaders were compelled to write the first records of discipline in the First Parish Church of Charlestown, April 6, 1658.

"...it was consented to by the brethren that his wife [Mrs. Osborn], leavened with principles of Anabaptisme and Quakerisme, should receive an admonition for her notorious neglect of the publique worship of God, denying our churches to be true churches, and denying her membership with us,..."

The end result: excommunication.

These people would be removed from the care and protection of the community. For taking a stand, Thomas Goold would lose not only his social standing but eventually be fined on many occasions, and when he refused to pay the fines, imprisoned.

But Mr. Goold did not focus on the bad. He saw God's hand. When messengers of the church came to argue that he had lied regarding a date for baptism of his child, he recognized God's protection. A friend, who had borrowed his breeches, found the letter confirming Goold's words in the pocket. He also recognized God's protection in having his friend there at the time of this confrontation.

Based on what I have read, I wonder if Mr. Goold still waivered in his convictions at this early date of his trials. I wonder if God saw fit to use this time of testing to help Mr. Goold see God's protection so that he would trust God in future events.

When Peter was arrested, James the brother of John had already been killed by Herod. No doubt Peter feared he'd meet the same end. Yet God spared him. Did that mean Peter would never again face dangers? Not at all. History tells us he was crucified upside down. But between this arrest and his death, Peter would have much work to do for the Lord and would require great faith and trust in God.

As a chapel speaker at a children's camp, I'd listen to girls tell stories of how they hid their Bible under their beds so as not to provoke the anger of their mothers. Or tell of threats by other children in their school yard because they profess the name of Jesus. They, even as young children, stood by their conviction of faith and endured.

Today we see many Christian businessmen and women facing a financial noose. Like Thomas Goold, because of their convictions they may lose all they have gained via fines, and others will suffer because of the stand they take. I wonder if they, like Thomas Goold  and Peter, see God's hand and are encouraged to persevere.

While I read through the documents of our past and rejoice at the battles for freedom fought and won, I marvel at how quickly we are giving up those freedoms. Can you not see the similarities between what Mr. Goold experienced and what those Christian businessmen today who are taking a stand on their convictions are enduring? Even if you do not agree, surely you can see how we are going backward instead of forward in freedom.

We must pray. We can pray for the troubles to be removed, but we must also recognize that God may have a plan higher and greater than our own. The persecution the church in Jerusalem experienced caused them to run to other locations. The apostles had been given a commission:

"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8

 They had not yet gone to the uttermost part of the earth. Comfortable, enjoying the fellowship of others and the growth of the church, they stayed in Jerusalem until God scattered them by using persecution as a catalyst.

Every trial comes for a purpose. Whatever we endure can stand as a testimony of God's work in us and through us, if we chose to look for His hand. Thomas Goold, admonished and put away from the church, could well have been left alone, but God had another plan.

"Now after this, considering with myself what the Lord would have me to do;  not likely to join with any of the churches of New England any more, and so to be without the ordinances of Christ; in the meantime God sent out of Old England some who were Baptists;..."
Thomas Goold, quoted by Nathan Eusebius Wood, The History of the First Baptist Church of Boston (1665-1899) p. 50.

Again Goold saw God's hand. He gave God the glory for the relief and encouragement he received.

What about you? Is your faith proven by your ability to see God's hand in your circumstance? Does seeing His hand in your situation strengthen your resolve to stand by your convictions?

I am praying for our country and for those men and women who courageously remain resolute against those who seek to take away their freedom. I also pray that when the testing of my faith comes, I will be counted among the faithful and found to be without compromise.

"My breathren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers tempations;
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience...
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him."
James 1:3-4,12

Henry Dunster and Freedom of Conscience

"The Lord gave me an attentive eare and heart to understand preaching. . . . The Lord showed me my sins, and reconciliation by Christ, . . . and this word was more sweet to me than any thing else in the world."

Henry Dunster, First President of Harvard College, 1653.

"Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand." Isaiah 53:10

Harvard College

Henry Dunster was twelve years old when he found "reconciliation by Christ." This was the beginning of a life where the sweetness of that understanding would be tested by the temptations and trials of life. After studying at Cambridge University in England, he became a teacher. Then in 1640, civil war broke out in England, and Dunster emigrated to New England. While no doubt he experienced consternation over the Church of England before leaving to the New World, he would also find the religious leaders in Boston at odds with him. In 1654 Mr. Dunster was asked to resign from Harvard presidency for expressing beliefs the religious leaders of the time deemed heretical.

Currently, I am doing a study on the Messianic Prophecies, those passages in the Old Testament that foretell the first and second coming of Christ. The first coming happened approximately 2000 years ago. We anxiously await the second.

While studying Isaiah 51-53, I found myself pausing at Isaiah 53:10, "when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin". What a thought. Jesus bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. He did not speak in protest when he was afflicted. He did not complain when he was unjustly sentenced to death, because He had a purpose in mind: to make Himself an offering for my sin. He poured out His Soul unto death in place of mine.

Reading through the Life of Henry Dunster, by Jeremiah Chaplin, Samuel Dunster, and Edward Swift Dunster, I reflected upon what needed to happen in Mr. Dunster's life before he would have the conviction of heart and spirit to stand against the religious leaders at that time who would suppress his freedom of conscience. His ability to be strong in the face of opposition began with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Quite likely Dunster took his orders in the Church of England, like other Puritan ministers. However, in his Confession of Faith, we hear his angst over what was happening in that church:

"The Lord hath made me bid adieu to all worldly treasures; and as corruptions in the Church came, first I began to suspect them, then to hate them....So, after 10 years' trouble, I came hither [to New England]; and the Lord gives me peace to see the order of his people." (Life of Henry Dunster, p. 13)

Imagine the thrill he experienced when he found himself not only accepted but highly esteemed by those well-educated leaders of the New World. But in this New World a maelstrom was brewing. As people gained knowledge of God's Word and began to think for themselves, they began to oppose the present religious leadership, and Dunster would be caught in the middle.

Roger Williams, a man Dunster respected, would be banished. Anne Hutchinson would be banished. Lady Deborah Moody was excommunicated. Obadiah Holmes would be brutally whipped. Many others would take a stand and find the fury of the religious leaders either on their back or reaching into their pockets.

Then came Henry Dunster's turn. He would need to examine his convictions and take a stand.

Imagine the horror those esteemed men felt when the man they chose to lead in the education of their youth took a stand against a doctrine to which they clung. I can almost feel the thunder of their anger. And my own knees knock in empathy for the meek and gentle Mr. Dunster.

And then I am reminded what Christ had done for me. I imagine Mr. Dunster thought the same. For taking a stand on what his conscience told him was right, Mr. Dunster would be demonized and considered possessed by Satan.

Today the secular world would have me emotionally stripped, and their verbal whip laid upon my back for my convictions. The Atheists would gladly call me a fool for my faith in God, my belief in Heaven, and my determination to follow Jesus Christ, who is to them a dead man but to me alive and well and Whose Spirit is living in me. I believe in the grace of God which saved me through faith. And because I believe, I stand on His Word thus His laws, as absolute truth contrary to what society and the government would claim is true and to the laws they create that are in direct opposition to God's.

As a child, I remember being mocked for that faith, but I would lock my jaw and push forward. No one could take that faith from me. I remember as a young adult being mocked for my belief that anyone who is not saved will go to hell. I remember having someone scream in my face that I was cruel to tell another that hell existed and the only way to Heaven was through faith in Jesus Christ.

Even a little more than a year ago I made a decision (based on convictions that what God in His Word says God means) to step down from a position of leadership. I could not reconcile what I believed with a stand the organization made, which I believe supported a view contrary to God's Word. My heart pounded in my chest. My palms sweated, and my hands shook. But my spirit was strengthened by God's Spirit. It took courage to speak knowing the emotions stirred by my stance have caused many within the past few years to be the recipients of violence. While I could not imagine the group I spoke to acting in such a manner, I had no doubt if word got out to the general populous I could experience backlash. But then I remembered the Cross. In obedience to God I must walk. In faith that His precepts are truth I must continue.

Each confrontation I have faced regarding my faith stirred within me a strength of conviction I never thought I'd have. Was I wrong to have spoken truth? No. Often I have reflected on whether there could have been a better way, and maybe at times I did not speak with seasoning, but I cannot say that I was ever wrong to answer a question with the truth found in Scripture. Nor was I wrong to walk away from an association yielding itself to the pressures of the world or to stand on God's precepts as absolute truth for my life.

Two facts remain: I am a sinner, and Christ offered Himself for payment of my sin. How then can I not stand for God's laws that declare me a sinner, knowing the price Christ paid for me when I broke God's laws? Would I have Christ sacrificed again?

Each of us will face moments of truth when we will show in our words and actions whether we understand God's laws are above man's. What will that moment reveal about our faith and our understanding of the price paid for our sins?

"Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator."

I Peter 4:19