Patrick Henry: Defender of Christian liberty

The year was 1768 when three Baptist preachers stood in a lonely Virginia courtroom accused of preaching the gospel of the Son of God in a manner unapproved by colonial statute. And as true as it was that they had been preaching, it was also true that the Episcopalian Church, the state church of the Virginia colony, would never approve of any competing denomination vying for the souls within her territory. Thus, they stood condemned as many of their brethren had stood before, both in colonial America as well as on the European continent.

But as their indictment was being read, into the courtroom strode a man who had just rode horseback over 50 miles to volunteer his services in their defense. Dressed in a common man’s attire, he was largely unknown to the crowd that had gathered that day, but to those within the bar he was very well known; this was none other than Patrick Henry.

Patrick Henry, the man once described by Thomas Jefferson as “an emotional volcano with little guiding intelligence,” is perhaps better known to us for his stirring “give me liberty or give me death” speech during the Revolutionary War era. Like those of Washington, his list of accomplishments is long, but of all these, it was his oratory that was his greatest and was what won the day for those three Baptist preachers in that lonely Virginian courtroom.

The story of Patrick Henry’s defense of these Baptist preachers is important for us today, and particularly so as there are those who chafe at the notion that America does indeed have a Christian heritage. Why anyone would ever be offended should we lay claim to our Christian heritage can only be because they reject Christianity in total, and the Christ who established it. But this is even as John said it would be in his first epistle when he said, “this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”

But for those who know their history, it is an undeniable fact that with the exception of Rhode Island, each colony patterned itself after their homeland and had state churches. This one fact alone no doubt drives the historical revisionists wild, for though they may assert certain of our forefathers as being Deists, it cannot be asserted of them all, and certainly not about the colonies themselves. And no matter what you may think about the various denominations present at the time, they all acknowledged Jesus Christ as their savior and lord. And what’s more, it didn’t matter if someone was not a member of their colony’s church, their taxes still went, in part, for its support. Thus, the existence of state churches attests to our Christian heritage.

But there is more. While Patrick Henry, himself, was not a Baptist, he was a great friend to them, and when the time came for the formation of the 13 colonies into a nation after the Revolutionary War, the issue of religious freedom had to be decided, and we almost ended up with not one, but four state churches: the Episcopalians, the Congregationalists, the Presbyterians and the Baptists. The individual would be free to choose, but it had to be one of the four. How would you like it if your taxes today went for the support of one of these four? Yet this is what Patrick Henry himself endorsed, and this because of his Baptist friends, and it almost prevailed.

I mention this because today there is a widespread misunderstanding as to what freedom of religion really is. While many Americans want freedom from religion, they are ignorant of what freedom of religion really means. And while they paint Christianity with a broad brush, they withhold from their audiences the name of that people who fought against the creation of an American state church: the Baptists. The freedom of religion means that the individual ought to be free to worship God according to liberty of conscience as he reads God’s word, and free to exercise that same religion, including preaching against sin. Thus, if you enjoy not paying taxes to support any particular denomination, if you enjoy your freedom of religion, thank a Baptist.

And one more thing: This Sunday is Father’s Day, and as Patrick Henry is one of America’s forefathers, it is my hope that you will find time during that day to do him honor by contemplating a couple of his sentiments. Shortly before his death, as he was reading his Bible, he said to a friend, “Here is a book worth more than all the other books which ever were printed; yet it is my misfortune never to have, till lately, found time to read it with proper attention and feeling.” And upon his death, he left this in his will: “I have now disposed of all my property to my family: there is but one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is, the Christian religion. If they had that and I had not given them one shilling, they would be rich; and if they had not that, and I had give them all the world, they would be poor.”

May I ask, are you are rich, or are you poor, according to Patrick Henry’s estimation today?

Ron Hamman is pastor for Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla. Contact him at 357-4229.