99 81 desperation with which they threw themselves into the struggle, so that we have no record of so much as one thorough Baptist tory." Thomas McClanahan, a preacher, raised a company of Baptists in Culpeper and took them into the army; John Gano and a number of other Baptist preachers are mentioned as being in active service; an increasing number of officers were or became Baptists as the war went on, and the rank and file was full of Baptist soldiers from the very beginning. Washington's testimony is given in his letter cited farther on. 82 In May, 1775, both districts met as one association at Manakin-town or Dover meeting-house, Goochland county. Sixty churches were represented. The time was spent chiefly in prolonged and distressing debate on the question, "Is salvation by Christ made possible for every individual of the human race?" 83 The petition" of sundry persons . . . . called Baptists, and other Protestant dissenters," already quoted, which had been presented to the Burgesses on May 12, 1774, was now presented to the Burgesses on June 13, 1775, and was ordered to lie upon the table." 84 The districts met again as one association at Dupuy's meeting-house, Powhatan county in August, 1775, and proceeded vigorously to examine the things of this present world. "It seems that one great object of uniting the two districts at this time, was to strive together for the abolition of the hierarchy or Church establishment in Virginia. . . . It was therefore resolved at this session to circulate petitions to the Virginia Convention or General Assembly, throughout the State, in order to obtain signatures. The This record should be made out and preserved. I would respectfully suggest to the learned and careful Editor of Semple's History of the Baptists, that he add to his services to Baptist history in particular and to Virginia history in general by drawing up a sketch of the Baptists from Virginia in the Revolutionary army. 83 Semple, 55. 84 Journal of Burgesses, June 13, 1775. 85 prayer of these was that the Church establishment should be abolished and religion left to stand upon its own merits, and that all religious societies should be protected in the peaceable enjoyment of their own religious principles and modes of worship. . . . They also determined to petition the Assembly for leave to preach to the army."" Jeremiah Walker, John Williams, and George Roberts were appointed a committee to wait on the convention. This matter is recorded in the Journal of the Convention as follows; "An address from the Baptists in this Colony was presented to the Convention and read, setting forth-that however distinguished from their countrymen, by appelatives and sentiments of a religious nature, they nevertheless consider themselves as members of the same community in respect to matters of a civil nature, and embarked in the same common cause; that, alarmed at the oppression which hangs over America, they had considered what part it would be proper for them to take in the unhappy contest, and had determined that in some cases it was lawful to go to war, and that they ought to make a military resistance against Great Britain, in her unjust invasion, tyrannical oppressions, and repeated hostilities; that their brethren were left at discretion to enlist, without incurring the censure of their religious community; and, under these circumstances many of them had enlisted as soldiers, and many more were ready to do so, who had an earnest desire their ministers should preach to them during the campaign; that they had therefore appointed four of their brethren to make application to this Convention for the liberty of preaching to the troops at convenient times, without molestation and abuse, and praying the same may be granted to them. 'Resolved, that it be an instruction to the commanding officers of the regiments of troops to be raised, that they permit the dissenting clergymen to celebrate divine wor 86 66 ship, and to preach to the soldiers, or exhort, from time to time, as the various operations of the military service may permit, for the ease of such scrupulous consciences as may not choose to attend divine services as celebrated by the chaplain." " 'This," says Dr. Hawks, "it is believed was the first step made towards placing the clergy, of all denominations, upon an equal footing in Virginia." It was the work of the Baptists alone, it is to be observed, and the step, though only a step, was a long one. 87 The occasion of this action of the Association was the ordinance of the Convention which met at "Richmond town" on July 17, 1775—“ an Ordinance for raising and embodying a sufficient force for the defence and protection of this Colony." This provided for two regiments of regulars and also for sixteen regiments and battalions of minute-men in the sixteen districts into which the Colony was for that purpose divided. Each of these regiments and battalions was to have a chaplain to be appointed by the field-officers and captains, and when on duty the chaplain was to have a tent and be paid ten shillings a day-the pay of a major.“ Of course these positions would go to the clergy of the Establishment, ten shillings a day and all. The Baptists could hardly hope to get any of the appointments, nor does there seem to be any evidence that they tried to do so at this time. But to have their preachers appear before the men and preach under the authority of the Convention was a dear assertion of practical equality, and as new as it was dear. This petition then was no blind blow in the dark. But to the hopes of the preachers, the sequel must have been disappointing. "Jeremiah Walker and John Williams," says the candid Semple, “being appointed by this Association, went and preached to the soldiers, when encamped in the lower parts of Virginia, they, 86 87 88 Journal of Convention of Aug. 16, 1775. Hawks, Protestant Episcopal Church of Virginia, 138. not meeting with much encouragement, declined it, after a short time." 99 89 Though the interval of time be brief, it is a far cry from John Waller and John Schackleford, put in jail for preaching in March, 1774, to Jeremiah Walker and John Williams preaching to the soldiers under the authority of the Convention of the whole Colony in October or November of 1775. 91 This same ordinance classed together "all clergymen and dissenting ministers," along with the Committee of Safety and the president, professors, students, and scholars of William and Mary College, among the exempts from enlistment for military duty." The usual exemption of "all Quakers, and the people called Menonites" from serving in the militia, is made in a separate section as a matter of course and is without the significance attaching to this new classification. The ordinance also makes one provision which may have given the Baptists some influence in the matter of chaplains. It provides that the captains of the companies and the field-officers should be appointed by the committees of the various districts into which the Colony was divided. The field-officers and the captains appointed the chaplains. Thus it may have been possible for the Baptists to affect these appointments. The Convention classed together the clergy and the dissenting preachers in a prohibition also. In the ordinance regulating the election of delegates to the Convention, it provided: "That all clergymen of the Church of England, and all dissenting ministers or teachers, should be incapable of being elected as a delegate, or sitting and voting in Convention." 66 92 91 90 Hening, ix, 28. This section with fine courtesy exempts also the members of His Majesty's Council." Hening, ibid., 34. Hening, ix, 57. This provision was distasteful to many Baptists, as the following extract from Leland shows: "If the office of a preacher were lucrative, there would be some propriety in At the session at Richmond in December, 1775, the Convention provided for increasing the size of the two regiments and for raising six more regiments. In this ordinance it is directed that, in the great majority of counties, the captains should be appointed by the County Committees and the field-officers by the District Committees." This would give the Baptists increased opportunity to exercise their influence, if they were disposed to do so. The same ordinance makes another provision which shows how thoroughly the public needs and not abstract considerations of the rights of citizens were in the ascend "And be it further ordained, That hereafter no dissenting minister, who is not duly licensed by the general court, or the society to which he belongs, shall be exempted from bearing arms in the militia of this Colony." Apparently the number of preachers was being unduly increased by the exemption from service formerly declared. Greatness, too, has its penalties. How desirous the State government was to conciliate all its citizens and to keep its forces in good condition is shown by the "Act for speedily recruiting the Virginia Regiments, etc.," passed two years later at the October session, 1777. One section provides: "And whereas there are within this commonwealth some religious societies, particularly Baptists and Methodists, the members of which may be averse to serving in the some companies or regiments with others, and under officers of different principles, though they would willingly engage in the defence of their country under the command of officers of their own religion: Be it enacted his ineligibility; but as the office is not lucrative, the proscription is cruel. . . . In Virginia, their parsons are exempt from bearing arms. Though this is an indulgence that I feel, yet it is not consistent with my theory of politics; . . . an exemption from bearing arms is but a legal indulgence, but the ineligibility is constitutional proscription, and no legal reward is sufficient for a constitutional prohibition." (Writings, 122.) One is tempted to regret that Leland was not in the Convention. "Hening, ibid., 75 ff.; ibid., 89. |
