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Good morning. My name is John
Leland. I was born on May 14, 1754 in
Grafton, Massachusetts, about 40 miles outside of Boston. One
month after my 20th birthday, I repented of my sin, gloriously
saved. Immediately, I began preaching
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Two years later, I and my young
wife, Sarah Divine, moved to Virginia And there I pastored
the Mount Pony Baptist Church in Culpeper County. But two years
later, in the providence of God, He would have me to move to the
adjoining county of Orange, for God wanted me to become acquainted
with the wealthiest landowner in the county, a family named
Madison. While I was in Virginia, I spent
14 of the most remarkable years of my life I, as a Baptist pastor,
became acquainted with many of the men who you call the founding
fathers of this great nation of ours. I knew George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason, James Madison,
and others of those notable Virginians who helped to establish this
great nation of ours. But I also knew another group
of men who might consider greater in the sight of God than those
that I just mentioned. For I knew the Baptist pastors of Virginia,
those men who gave this nation of ours religious liberty, what
we called liberty of conscience. I knew John Weatherford. John Weatherford was arrested
in the year of our Lord, 1773. and imprisoned for five months
in the Chesterfield County Jail. And what was his crime? It was
preaching and publishing the Holy Gospel without a license
first obtained. You see, in colonial Virginia,
as it was in most of the colonies, we had a state church. Ours was
the Anglican Church. And one could not preach the
Gospel unless he were licensed by the state. But we as Baptist
pastors, We believe that our authority to preach, that our
ordination to preach, that our license to preach didn't come
from a man, but that it came from God Himself, and so preach
we did. History has revealed to you that there were 42 Baptist
pastors who were arrested and imprisoned in Virginia jailhouses
for the crime of preaching without a license. On the Lord's Day,
my friend being imprisoned, couldn't go to his congregation. So his
congregation came to him, and he preached to them through the
bars of the jailhouse window. There were those who did not
like his preaching, though. Usually on the Lord's Day, as
he preached, there was one man standing in the congregation
with a drum in his hand. It was usually the town drunk
sent there by the preacher of the established Anglican church,
and he would beat on that drum during the preaching of God's
Word. There would also, quite frequently, be a man on horseback,
and he would gallop quickly in and among the congregation during
the preaching of God's Word to frighten and disperse the people.
But then on one occasion, when my preacher friend was preaching
through the bars of the jailhouse window there in Chesterfield
County, on that one Lord's Day, one wicked man came up close,
hiding beneath the window, and when my friend filled with emotion
and compassion, reached his arms through the grates of the jailhouse
window while preaching the Word of God. That wicked one reached
up and slashed at his hands and wrists and arms with a knife,
drawing blood when they folded John Weatherford's hands in death."
At the age of 69, or at the age of 93, after preaching the Gospel
for 69 years, they noticed those white scars on his hands and
wrists and arms. which he received from preaching
so many years earlier. There was an up-and-coming attorney
in those days who heard of the plight of Preacher Weatherford,
came to his defense, argued his case in court, lost the case,
but then paid his fine of five pounds in gold. And Weatherford
did not know who paid his fine until 20 years later. That up-and-coming
attorney was Patrick Henry. You see, when Patrick Henry said,
give me liberty or give me death, he meant religious liberty as
well. He defended many Baptist pastors who were arrested and
imprisoned in Virginia jailhouses. I also knew John Waller, another
preacher friend of mine. Waller was such a wicked man,
before his conversion they called him Swearing Jack. He was one
who would love to go to Baptist meeting houses for the purpose
of disrupting the service. He would stand in the shadows
of the outdoor meetings and throw apples at the preacher. He would
love to find a hornet's nest. And in the evening when they
went back to their hive, he would cut its branch carefully from
the trunk, take it to the church house, and then cast it in among
the worshipers. But his favorite trick, he later
wrote, was to find a corn snake and to hide it in a bag under
his coat. And then he would enter the church house. And then during
the preaching of God's Word, He would delight in the squeals
and the screeches and the screams of the girls and the women and
the shouts of the men as He would bring out that serpent and torment
them during the preaching of God's Word. But while He was
disrupting Baptist meetinghouses, He later wrote that He was under
conviction for eight months. And at God's appointed time,
He became a preacher, a Christian, a preacher. A fearless preacher
was He. In fact, He was jailed more than
any of us. On four occasions, John Waller
was jailed for preaching without a license. Once, in the year
of our Lord, 1771, while he was conducting a service in Caroline
County, in walked the sheriff and the preacher of the established
Anglican Church and a few others. They came to the front. Waller
was leading in a hymn. A whip in the hand of the clergyman
slashed across the pages of the hymnal. Waller continued to sing. At the conclusion of his song,
he closed his book. And when he opened his mouth
in prayer to God, the preacher of the established Anglican Church
thrust the butt end of a whip into his mouth to silence him.
And the sheriff of Caroline County and the others dragged him to
the street where the sheriff gave him 20 lashes with a horse
whip. And what was his crime? It was
preaching and publishing the Holy Gospel without a license
first obtained. After his beating, when commanded not to teach and
to preach in Jesus' name, he stood to his feet, did what the
apostles did in the book of Acts when commanded not to teach and
preach in Jesus' name. He stumbled back into the church
house, opened his Bible, and he preached his message. I also
knew James Ireland. Another preacher friend of mine.
Ireland was a large man, 19 pounds less of 300. But he was arrested
and imprisoned in Culpeper County. His crime? Yes, preaching without
a license. Imprisoned on the Lord's Day,
he couldn't go to his congregation. So his congregation came to him
as well. As they traveled those dusty,
dirty roads, they sang that grand old Baptist hymn. As we journey,
let us sing. Praises to our heavenly King! They came and assembled themselves,
and He preached to them also through the grates of the jailhouse
window. There were those who did not
like His preaching as well. One night, two men came with
five pounds of gunpowder, placed it under the cell window, tried
to blow them up. It didn't work. He preached again. On another
occasion, men came with a great pile of brush, and they brought
Indian pepper. And they started a fire and they
fanned the flames and the smoke in the cell window to try to
suffocate him. It didn't work. He preached again. Even the jailer
would try to discourage my friend by casting drunken rowdies in
the same cell with him. But he would preach the next
Lord's Day with all the more fervor and conviction. On one
Sunday morning, while he was preaching through the bars of
the jailhouse window there in Culpeper County, degraded men on the outside,
carried a table up close, stood on it, and Ireland later wrote,
they made their water in my face. They urinated in the face of
God's preacher. I also knew David Barrow, another
preacher friend of mine. He was baptizing in the river,
as was the practice in our day, when he noticed twenty ruffians
coming at him from the other shore. And they grabbed a hold
of him and they cast him under the water and they said, Now
do you believe? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Well, my preacher friend did not lose his sense
of humor because when he came up out of the water, he said,
Yes, I believe. You're about to drown me. But
they didn't. It wasn't a popular thing to
be a Baptist, nor a Baptist preacher in colonial Virginia. We were
the sect everywhere evil spoken of. But It was because of the
preaching of God's Word by these fearless Baptist pastors that
men began to be interested in a new idea, and that being religious
liberty. It was also because of the preaching
of God's Word that men were introduced to another new concept, and that
being a limited government. Doesn't the Bible say, where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free. And it was because
of the preaching of God's word by these fearless Baptist pastors
and a few others that men began to be interested in these new
ideas of a limited government and religious liberty. When did
this idea of religious liberty begin? I believe it began way
back in the late 1300s with a man by the name of John Wycliffe,
who translated the Scriptures into the language of the people
so that those who could read could read it for themselves.
They could hear it preached in their own tongue. And in hearing the
Word of God and reading it, they desired more liberty. Wycliffe was a teacher at Oxford
University. He's called the Morning Star
of the Reformation. But then this idea of religious
liberty took root Over in Germany, it was on October 31, 1517, that
Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses on the door of the church in
Wittenberg, Germany, and a great movement began which swept Europe
called the Reformation. And once again, this precious
book, the Word of God, getting into the hands of the common
man. He was reading it. Those who could read it were
hearing it preached in his own tongue. And in hearing the Word of God
and reading it, he desired more and greater liberty. Back in
Old England in 1611, the King James Version of the Bible was
completed, and once again the Word of God in the hands of the
common man, reading it, and he desired more and greater liberty. I submit to you that the freest
peoples ever on God's earth have been Bible-reading people. There was one in Old England
that took this idea of religious liberty seriously. One John Boynion
was arrested during the 1660s and imprisoned for 12 years in
the Bedford City Jail in what was his crime? Preaching without
a license. While imprisoned, he wrote a
book. Perhaps you've heard of Pilgrim's Progress. It's been
translated into over 200 languages to this day. But finally, This
idea of religious liberty washed ashore over here in America in
1620 with the coming of a people we call the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims
came seeking religious liberty. You see, there was no religious
liberty in England. They had a state church there,
the Anglican church. They went to Holland for a while,
but they found that there was a state church there as well.
Back to England they went, and finally they came to America
seeking religious liberty. The Puritans after came seeking
religious liberty. But it was only 16 years after
the pilgrims arrived that one named Roger Williams had to flee
Salem, Massachusetts for his life. Why? He was a Baptist. He believed differently than
they. He fled down to the area that's now Rhode Island, founded
Providence Plantation, and in his colony, he allowed religious
liberty to all. And then he founded what they
claimed to be the first Baptist church in America. Oh, by 1659,
just 39 years after the Pilgrims arrived, They were hanging Quakers in
Massachusetts. So much for religious liberty. Oh, a hundred years after the
pilgrims arrived, America was a very wicked land. There was
fighting and gambling and drunkenness and immorality. Chances were
if a young lady went to get married, she was already with child. Young
people in those days would practice something called night walking. Drinking, immorality, wicked
things. It was during the 1720s that Benjamin Franklin, as a
young man, decided not to go into the ministry. Why? He wrote
that he saw no hope for Christianity. You see, a hundred years after
the pilgrims arrived, most of the colonies had established
state churches. And when you have a state church,
you have more state and less church. But during the 1720s,
when Benjamin Franklin was giving up on Christianity, a young Dutch
Reformed preacher by the name of Theodore Friedlinghausen stepped
off the ship in New York Harbor and began preaching in northern
New Jersey, hard sermons on specific sin. He preached repentance.
He preached salvation. He preached church discipline.
By the way, he started the prayer meeting service. And a great
movement began, which swept America, called the Great Awakening. Friedlinghausen
influenced Gilbert Tennant to preach. one of our early evangelists
in these colonies of ours. By the way, his father started
the old Log College of New Jersey, made out of logs. It's now Princeton
University. But Gilbert Tennant preached
a famous sermon in those days called, The Dangers of an Unconverted
Ministry. You see, the churches were full
of members that didn't even know Jesus Christ as their personal
Savior. The Great Awakening took root
up in New England. It was in 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut
that Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon called, Sinners
in the Hands of an Angry God. But finally a powerful preacher
came from England, one whose voice it was said could be heard
a mile away when he preached the Word of God. It was George
Whitefield who came to America making seven trips here between
the years about 1740 and 1770 when he died here, and he read the Great Awakening all
up and down the eastern seaboard. Not too many people know this,
but on more than one occasion, George Whitefield spent the night
in the home of Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia. And Franklin
said, just as King Agrippus said to the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter
26, Thou persuadest me to be a Christian."
But there's no record that he was ever born again. But he was
influenced by the preaching of God's Word, as were so many of
our founding fathers. A man would learn to read in
colonial America. Why? Because he felt it was his
duty to read the Bible. The New England Primer One of
our early textbooks to teach reading in these 13 colonies
of ours, the 1763 edition, taught the ABCs like this. A. In Adam's fall, we sinned
all. B. Heaven defined the Bible mind. C. Christ crucified, for sinners
died, and all the way through Z, equating a letter of the alphabet,
men had a knowledge and understanding of God's word in colonial America. There was a study done of 10,000
of the personal correspondents of our Founding Fathers. And
that study revealed that when they quoted from another source
in their very own personal letters, that 34% of the time they quoted
directly from the Word of God. Even Benjamin Franklin, that
wicked man that he was, was influenced by the Scriptures. Years later
at the convention in Philadelphia, When tempers flared and they
couldn't get together to write that document called a Constitution,
it was old Benjamin Franklin who said, gentlemen, if God's
eye is on a sparrow that falls from heaven, certainly his eye
is on a nation that arises. Let us pray. And pray they did. And they gave us a Constitution. On June the 12th, 1776. Just a few weeks before the signing
of the Declaration of Independence, there was a very important bill
that was approved in Virginia. It was called the Virginia Declaration
of Rights. It consisted of 18 points, and
one of those points gave us a measure of religious liberty in Virginia.
No longer then were we fearful of being persecuted for preaching
without a license. But the state church was still
considered the state church. They still took our tax dollars
from us to pay the preacher's salary of the Anglican church.
They made fun of our children, calling them illegitimate because
they didn't recognize our marriages. But at least we had a measure
of religious liberty in Virginia. The author of that bill, the
Virginia Declaration of Rights, was a friend of the Baptist whose
name was George Mason. You ought to become acquainted
with Mr. Mason. He was a friend of your
Baptist forefathers. Many of you, perhaps, have been
to Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. Well, the
next plantation south of that is called Belvoir. It was the
home of Lord Fairfax, who England during the Revolutionary War.
It's now Fort Belvoir. Perhaps some of your parents
spent some time there in the military. But the next plantation
south of that is called Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason. You ought to stop by and pay
Mr. Mason a visit sometime. He was a friend of your Baptist
forefathers, and his home is open to the public. A few years
later, another friend of the Baptist submitted another bill
that would have totally disestablished the Anglican Church in Virginia.
But not too many people paid attention to Mr. Thomas Jefferson's
bill. Well, why? Well, by then there
was a war going on for our independence from England. But when the war
concluded in 1781 and the peace was signed in 1783, once again
the debate over religious liberty took forefront in Virginia. Tom
Jefferson's bill was resurrected, and I'm very pleased to say that
it was on January the 19th, 1786, that Tom Jefferson's Virginia
Statute for Religious Liberty was finally approved. And that
totally disestablished the Anglican Church in Virginia. And we finally
had complete religious liberty, 150 years after religious liberty
was granted in the colony of Rhode Island. The very next year,
though, there was a meeting called for in Philadelphia. Delegates
assembled from all of the colonies except Rhode Island. Why? to amend the Articles of Confederation,
which were not very successful in governing these newly independent
colonies. They found that it was hopeless
to amend the Articles, and so they put them aside, and they
wrote a new system of government called a Republic, and a new
document called a Constitution. But in that new Constitution,
there was not one statement in it about religious liberty. What do you think we Baptists
in Virginia thought of our new Constitution? Here we had just
struggled for decades to win religious liberty? Were we about
to put ourselves under a federal Constitution that did not have
any statement in it about religious liberty? No! I, as a Baptist
pastor, wrote a list of ten objections to the Constitution, and I published
them. This was back in the time of
our nation's history, when America was bitterly divided over the
Constitution. There were those who were for the Constitution
called Federalists, and those who were against the Constitution
were called Anti-Federalists, and we took the side of the Anti-Federalists. I'll not have you to believe
that everyone who attended that meeting in Philadelphia during
the summer of 1787 approved of the Constitution. Of the 55 men
who assembled together, only 39 signed it. Our good friend George Mason
of Virginia was there. He angrily refused to sign the
Constitution, saying he'd sooner cut off his right arm than put
it to that document. Why? Because it had no statement
about religious liberty. It had no statement about individual
rights. And thirdly, he feared that the federal courts would
become too powerful. A wise man indeed. In fact, Tom
Jefferson called George Mason the wisest mind of the age. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts
refused to sign the Constitution. He later became Vice President
of the United States of America. Edmund Randolph of Virginia refused
to sign the Constitution. He later became Attorney General
of the United States of America. Samuel Chase and Luther Martin
of Maryland grew weary of the Convention and opposed the Constitution
and went home early. Samuel Adams and John Hancock,
this same John Hancock who signed the Declaration of Independence
in such large script that the King of England could read it
without his spectacles, they refused to support the Constitution. Richard Henry Lee of the famous
Lee family of Virginia, This same Richard Henry Lee, who years
earlier at the Continental Congress made the motion that these colonies
ought to be free and independent of England, he refused to support
the Constitution. Patrick Henry didn't even attend
the convention. He said that he smelt a rat. But a majority of the delegates
approved of it. And so it was sent to the several
colonies for its ratification or rejection. The Constitution
was quickly approved by the colony of Delaware. They now have on
their tags the first state. A few other colonies approved
of it, but then the Constitution was sent to the colony of Rhode
Island, where they had now been enjoying religious liberty for
151 years. In Rhode Island, they decided
to have a freeholders election, allowing all of its citizens
the right to vote yea or nay on the Constitution. When the
ballots were counted, Rhode Island rejected the Constitution by
a vote of more than 10 to 1. The Constitution was sent to
your colony here of North Carolina, where they decided to have a
convention, where they would elect delegates from around the
colony to meet at the Capitol side the fate of the Constitution.
Nearly 300 delegates were elected. They debated the Constitution.
They voted. But it was years earlier, in
1755, that a Baptist pastor by the name of Shubel Stearns left
Hampshire County, Virginia, traveled down to the area that's now near
Asheboro, and founded the first Baptist church in the colony,
the Sandy Creek Baptist Church, with just a handful of members.
During the next 14 years before he died, that church grew to
606 members. And during those years, it ordained
and sent out 120 Baptist pastors who established churches all
over the Carolinas. When the delegates voted in North
Carolina, those favoring the Constitution were 86. Those opposing
it were 186. The Constitution was rejected. The Constitution went to the
colony of South Carolina, where the call went out in the legislative
body even to call a constitutional convention. General Sumpter,
the Revolutionary War hero, opposed the Constitution. There's now
a fort by the name of Sumpter, who also had a prominent place
in American history. But in South Carolina, the legislative
body voted 76 to 75 to have a constitutional convention where the Constitution
was finally approved. The Constitution was sent to
the colony of Pennsylvania, where in convention it was approved
by a vote of 46 to 23. The Constitution went to the
colony of Massachusetts, where they opposed it vigorously up
there. And in convention, the Constitution
was approved by a vote of 186 yes to 168 no. The Constitution was sent to
the colony of New York, where they had a very heated political
debate. Sir John Jay and Alexander Hamilton were the leading Federalists,
and the Anti-Federalists were led by Governor George Clinton.
And in New York, the Constitution was narrowly approved. The vote
was 30 yes to 27 no. But all eyes were turned to Virginia. What would Virginia do with the
Constitution? Virginia was the largest colony.
Virginia was the wealthiest colony. Virginia was the most influential
colony. Virginia was the largest populated
colony. What would Virginia do with the
Constitution? In Virginia, we decided to have
a convention as well, where we would elect delegates from around
the colony to meet in Richmond during the month of June, 1788,
to decide the fate of the Constitution. I, John Leland, was running as
an anti-Federalist delegate in Orange County, Virginia. My opponent,
the Federalist, was James Madison. James Madison was in Philadelphia
when he received a letter from his father that said, James, you ought to come home
now. You're about to lose the election
for your own constitution in this district. His own constitution? Well, yes. James Madison's called
the father of the U.S. Constitution. His ideas were
responsible for much of it. He was one of the driving engines
behind the force of the convention there in Philadelphia. He hurried
home. Before he did, though, he confided
to a friend that if John Leland opposes me, then I am beaten. He hurried home. He got as far
as Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he was to turn west to
go to his home in Orange County. While in Fredericksburg, he was
handed a letter from a Captain Joseph Spencer. who was also
a Baptist pastor. And in that letter, Captain Spencer
said, Mr. Madison, in so much as the Reverend
Leland's home is on your way home, I suggest that you stop
by and spend a few hours in his company, which he did. He came to my home, knocked on the door. Sally Devine told him I wasn't
there, but that I was in my praying place. And James Madison found me in
an oak grove, and it was under a huge oak tree that God used
a 34-year-old Baptist pastor to convince a reluctant James
Madison that amendments were needed to the Constitution, most
specifically a religious liberty amendment before the Baptist
would support him and the Constitution in the coming election. I had
that promise from James Madison. I withdrew from the race and
supported him. There is now a roadside park
in Orange County, Virginia at that site called the Leland Madison
Memorial Park. The election was held in our
district. A Colonel Barber was on the ballot. He was an anti-federalist. He received 55 votes in our district. A Mr. Gordon was on the ballot
as well. There's now a Gordonsville in
Orange County, Virginia. He received a few under 100 votes. And James Madison was elected,
with my help, only receiving a few over 100 votes. The delegates assembled in the
month of June, 1788, in Richmond to decide the fate of the Constitution.
They came from all over the colony, they did. By the way, George
Washington wasn't there. He was the leading Federalist
of the land, but he decided not to attend. Tom Jefferson wasn't
there either. At least he approved of the Constitution,
but he was minister to France. The whole weight of defending
the Constitution fell upon the shoulders of a 37-year-old James
Madison, who, by the way, graduated from what is now Princeton University
in 1771, having studied as his major course, theology, taught
by the wise and respected Dr. Witherspoon. As a young man,
James Madison wanted to attend the College of William and Mary
in Virginia, where his uncle was president. But his parents
said, no, that place has the reputation of being a party school. Besides, we want you to receive
a proper theological education, which he did. James Madison's
theological education didn't hinder him from even being president
of the United States. They assembled from all over
Virginia, they did, to debate the fate of the Constitution.
On one occasion, One inconsequential detractor dared to suggest to
the Mr. George Mason, Sir, the public
notices your vehement opposition to the Constitution and concludes
that because of your age you have lost your wits. George Mason
was only 64 years old at the time, but he replied by saying,
Sir, if you had lost your wits, the public wouldn't notice. Debate
the Constitution they did. On one occasion, a very popular
Patrick Henry delivered a speech lasting more than seven hours
in which he listed all of his objections to the Constitution,
and every one of them were refuted by the man with a theological
education. At the end of June, the delegates
voted. Those opposing the Constitution were 79. Those favoring it were
87. The Constitution was approved
in Virginia. with the promise of a Bill of
Rights. The very next year, because the
Constitution had been ratified by a majority of the colonies,
there had to be another election. It was the law of the land. And
James Madison was running in that election to fulfill his
promise that he made to me and the Baptist, that he would work
diligently for a religious liberty amendment to the Constitution.
I went out and campaigned for my friend James Madison. We made
quite a pair as we traveled together. I was well over six feet tall.
In fact, they called me the mammoth preacher. Did you know that there
were some tall men in colonial Virginia? Did you know that George
Washington was about six feet four inches? Tom Jefferson was
about six feet three inches. Have you heard of Ethan Allen?
Not the furniture store ladies. But Ethan Allen of the Green
Mountain Boys, a giant of a man was he, about 6 feet 8 inches
and a hard cursing one as well. But we made quite a pair as we
traveled together, I being well over 6 feet tall and James Madison
becoming our shortest president. He was only 5 feet 4 inches and
weighed 120 pounds. Rumors had circulated that Madison
was no longer a friend of religious liberty. In fact, the governor
at that time, Patrick Henry, who was an anti-Federalist, practiced
gerrymandering. He drew the election district
to include as many Baptists in it as he could to see the Federalist
Madison defeated. I went out and campaigned for
my friend James Madison. As I say, rumors had circulated
that Madison was no longer a friend of religious liberty. I had to convince a preacher
friend of mine, George Eve, of the Blue Run Baptist Church that
his congregation needed to support James Madison. That election
was held for the House of Representatives. James Madison received 1,308
votes. His opponent, the Anti-Federalist, received 972. A fairly close
election. Perhaps you've heard of his opponent. the Anti-Federalist James Monroe. He was elected to Congress. Over
200 amendments were considered to the Constitution. They were
debated in the House, the Senate, the Senate, and the House. Finally,
12 amendments were approved by Congress, which were sent to
the several states for their ratification or rejection. And
I'm very pleased to say that Virginia became the last state
necessary to approve ten of those amendments which took place on
December the 15th, 1791. And that was called our Bill
of Rights. And James Madison kept his promise. For the very first amendment,
the very first part of the first amendment states, Congress shall
make no law respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting
the free exercise thereof. Finally, a religious liberty
statement in our federal Constitution. That same year, I moved back
to Massachusetts. Why? To work against the established
congregational church in that colony. You see, the First Amendment
didn't say anything about disestablishing any of the state churches. It
just said that there wouldn't be any federal interference in
religion. When I went back to Massachusetts,
my friend John Adams told me, you'd sooner change the solar
system than disestablish the church in Massachusetts. But
I worked on it, and I lived to see the day 42 years later. It wasn't until 1833 that Massachusetts
became the last state to disestablish its state church, and we finally
then had complete religious liberty throughout all of America, finally. I conclude with this story. During
the election of 1800, my old friend Tom Jefferson was running
for President of the United States. I was the only clergyman in the
western part of the state of Massachusetts. I lived in Cheshire,
near Adams, Massachusetts. pastoring the First Baptist Church
there. But I supported Jefferson. The ballots were counted in our
state, but Jefferson lost because of the influence of Boston. But
he won the election that year in the House of Representatives.
If you remember your history correctly, there were four candidates
running, and the decision had to be made by the House of Representatives. And Mr. Jefferson was now President
of the United States. I and my congregation, being
mostly dairy farmers, and Tom Jefferson being a fond lover
of cheese, we decided to make a great cheese in honor of our
new president. We milked 950 cows, combined
the milk, and made a great cheese in honor of our new president.
In fact, there's a monument to that great cheese located next
to the post office in Cheshire, Massachusetts. By the way, folks,
that is the original big cheese. But I decided to accompany the
great cheese to Washington, D.C. We put it on oxcart and shipped
it over the Berkshire Mountains to Albany. Their place on the barge
floated down the Hudson River to the Atlantic Ocean, around the
Delmarva Peninsula, into the Chesapeake Bay and up the Potomac River
to the new capital city of Washington. Everywhere that great cheese
went, it gathered great crowds. and I had the opportunity of
preaching to those people the gospel of Jesus Christ. At one
port, a very wealthy merchant offered to purchase the cheese,
but I wouldn't sell it. It was a gift to Tom Jefferson.
When we arrived in Washington, I was greeted at the dock by
my old friend, Tom Jefferson. He was delighted to see the cheese.
In fact, we are told that that cheese graced White House dinners
for the next three years. before it was cut into pieces
and thrown in the Potomac River. But at the invitation of Tom
Jefferson, I had the opportunity of preaching in the House of
Representatives and the Senate of the United States of America.
And that invitation coming from one who supposedly said there
ought to be a wall of separation between church and state? Nonsense!
Jefferson didn't believe that. He did believe that the state
ought to keep themselves out of the affairs of the church. But he
didn't believe that religion or the church ought not to influence
society or government. But my dear old friend, Tom Jefferson,
my dear old friend, I won't see in heaven one day. Oh yes, Tom
Jefferson read the Bible. But did you know that he cut
out parts of it that he didn't believe in? He didn't believe
in the miracles of Christ. He didn't accept Christ's deity.
In fact, he called the book of the Revelation the writings of
a maniac. But he read the Bible. Tom Jefferson
also used to love to hear the Baptist pastors preach. We preached
with such fervor and conviction. He heard the plan of salvation
presented. But there's no record at all
that he was ever born again. If he would have been, we would
have written about it in our very own personal letters. But
there's no record at all. Oh yes, Tom Jefferson had a sister
who was a Baptist. Tom Jefferson even believed in
religious liberty. In fact, before he died, he ordered
that there be three things written on his tombstone. One, author
of the Declaration of Independence. Two, author of the Virginia Statute
for Religious Liberty. He called the struggle for religious
liberty the severest political contest of his entire life. And
the third thing written on his tombstone is founder of the University
of Virginia, where he allowed the Word of God to be studied
and taught. But my dear old friend, Tom Jefferson, I'll not see in
heaven one day. Oh, young people here at Ambassador
Baptist College, there are people all over America
who read the Bible, They might have heard a Baptist pastor preach.
They even might have had a sister or a relative who's a Christian.
They may even believe in religious liberty and on occasion will
write a letter to an elected official. But have they ever
accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior? The majority
have not. You have a great opportunity
to reach even church people in America with the gospel of Jesus
Christ. One other thing I leave with
you, and that is during this time in America's history, there
were not that many Baptists in all of the colonies, not compared
to the other population. Oh, up in New England, there
were about 500,000 Congregationalists. South of the Mason-Dixon line,
there were about 500,000 Anglicans. There were about 400,000 Presbyterians,
mostly on the frontier. There were about 200,000 German
and Scandinavian Lutherans. And after that, just a handful
of Quakers and Jews and Catholics and Methodists, and only about
10,000 Baptists or 20,000 Baptists in all of America. Even though
your numbers may be small, as we consider the rest of the population
in America this day, I trust that you will stand firm for
this precious jewel of religious liberty and protect it. Stand firm for the Baptist faith. Be proud that your heritage is
Baptist. Stand tall, raise the flag high,
and never forsake the heritage that you have.
The John Leland Story
Series Spring Semester 2006
| Sermon ID | 8172134147638 |
| Duration | 45:48 |
| Date | |
| Category | Chapel Service |
| Language | English |
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