• Chapter I -- History of Christian Martyrs to the First General Persecutions Under Nero

• Chapter II -- The Ten Primitive Persecutions

• Chapter III -- Persecutions of the Christians in Persia

• Chapter IV -- Papal Persecutions

• Chapter V -- An Account of the Inquisition

• Chapter VI -- An Account of the Persecutions in Italy, Under the Papacy

• Chapter VII -- An Account of the Life and Persecutions of John Wickliffe

• Chapter VIII -- An Account of the Persecutions in Bohemia Under the Papacy

• Chapter IX -- An Account of the Life and Persecutions of Martin Luther

• Chapter X -- General Persecutions in Germany

• Chapter XI -- An Account of the Persecutions in the Netherlands

• Chapter XII -- The Life and Story of the True Servant and Martyr of God, William Tyndale

• Chapter XIII -- An Account of the Life of John Calvin

• Chapter XIV -- Prior to the Reign of Queen Mary I

• Chapter XV -- An Account of the Persecutions in Scotland During the Reign of King Henry VIII

• Chapter XVI -- Persecutions in England During the Reign of Queen Mary

• Chapter XVII -- Rise and Progress of the Protestant Religion in Ireland

• Chapter XVIII -- The Rise, Progress, Persecutions, and Sufferings of the Quakers

• Chapter XIX -- An Account of the Life and Persecutions of John Bunyan

• Chapter XX -- An Account of the Life of John Wesley

• Chapter XXI -- Persecutions of the French Protestants in the South of France

• Chapter XXII -- The Beginnings of American Foreign Missions

Baptist Preachers Prosecuted For Their Faith

The following is a list of a great host of 58 Baptist preachers who endured “cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment” (Hebrews 11:36) in eighteenth-century Virginia for the cause of their current religious liberty:  

1. John Afferman - Cruelly beaten, incapacitated for work

2. Joseph Anthony - Jailed for preaching three months

3. Elijah Baker - Pelted with stones, jailed for preaching, fifty-six days, banished by ship

4. David Barrow – Dunked and nearly drowned by 20 men

5. James Chiles – Jailed for preaching, forty-three days

6. John Corbley – Frequently hauled out of the pulpit and beaten, jailed on several occasions

7. Elijah Craig – Jailed repeatedly

8. Lewis Craig – Jailed for preaching, four weeks

9. John Delaney – Jailed for permitting a man to pray

10. Augustine Eastin – Jailed for unknown duration

11. William Fristoe – Repeatedly threatened at the point of a gun

12. James Goolrich – Jailed repeatedly for preaching

13. James Greenwood – Jailed for preaching, forty-six days

14. Thomas Hargate - Jailed for preaching

15. Samuel Harris – Door broken down by enraged mob during preaching service, jailed repeatedly

16. James Ireland – Jailed for preaching, five months, tried to suffocate him with smoke, tried to blow him up with gunpowder, tried to poison him, injured for life (his daughter died from the poison), drunken rowdies put in the same cell with him (he led them to the Lord), horses ridden over his hearers at jail (many of the imprisoned Baptist ministers preached through the grates to their congregations outside their cell windows), “men made their water in his face,” opposition everywhere

17. Martin Kaufman – Severely beaten with a stick

18. John Koontz –Severely beaten with butt end of a large cane

19. Dutton Lane – Endured much persecution

20. Ivison Lewis – Met with violent opposition

21. William Lovall – Jailed for preaching, sixteen days

22. Lewis Lunsford – His preaching interrupted by mob violence and legal proscription

23. William McClannahan – Jailed for preaching

24. Richard Major – Mob so outrageous, nearly pulled him to pieces

25. Daniel Marshall – Endured much affliction

26. William Mash – Jailed for preaching, forty-three days

27. Thomas Mastin – presented by grand jury

28. Thomas Maxwell – Jailed for preaching

29. Edward Mintz – dunked and driven away in his wet clothes

30. Anderson Moffett – Jailed for preaching

31. Jeremiah Moore – Brutally assaulted by a mob, jailed on three occasions

32. Elijah Morton – Ousted as a Justice because he was a Baptist

33. William Mullins – Presented before Magistrate for being absent from state church

34. Joseph Murphy – Arrested for preaching

35. John Pickett – Great opposition from mobs and magistrates, jailed three months or more

36. Hipkins Pitman – Arrested and threatened with whipping

37. James Pitman – Jailed for preaching, sixteen days

38. Younger Pitts – Arrested and abused

39. James Reed – Dragged off stage, kicked and cuffed about, jailed for preaching, forty-three days

40. Nathaniel Saunders – Jailed for preaching

41. John Shackelford – Jailed for preaching, eight days

42. Joseph Spencer – Jailed for preaching

43. Philip Spiller – Jailed for preaching

44. Henry Street – Whipped for preaching

45. John Tanner – Jailed for preaching, shot with a shotgun, suffered the rage of mobs

46. David Thomas – Violent opposition from ruffians with bludgeons; worship prevented, pulled down while preaching, dragged out amidst clenched fists, attempts made to shoot him, pitched battle ensued

47. David Tinsley – Jailed for preaching, four months and sixteen days

48. Andrew Tribble – Presented for preaching

49. Thomas Waford – Severely beaten with a whip

50. Jeremiah Walker – Opposed by state church pastor, jailed for preaching, sued for baptizing two boys

51. John Waller – Hauled about by the hair of his head, almost rent asunder by friend and foe, jerked off stage, head beaten against the ground, whipped severely by the Sheriff, jailed four times for a total of one hundred and thirteen days

52. James Ware – Jailed for preaching, sixteen days

53. Robert Ware – Presented for not going to church, annoyed by men drinking and playing cards, jailed twice for preaching, fifty-four days

54. John Weatherford – Jailed for preaching, five months (leaving a wife to provide for their fifteen children, twelve of whom were girls), hands slashed by guards as he gestured to sinners through his cell window (so many people were getting saved from his preaching, known as “denying the prison bounds”, that incensed magistrates constructed a massive brick wall nearly twelve feet high directly in front of his window and even took the desperate measure of lining the top of the wall with glass bottles set in mortar so as to prevent the more determined listeners from employing the strategic perch; the aforementioned efforts being frustrated by a faithful congregation that devised the counter measure of raising a handkerchief on a pole as a signal that the brethren were now assembled and ready to hear), salvations and baptisms continued, Patrick Henry secured the pastor’s release by personally paying his fine.

55. William Webber – Jailed twice for preaching, four months

56. Anderson Weeks – Arrested for preaching

57. Allen Wyley – Jailed for preaching, for considerable duration

58. John Young – Jailed for preaching, six months

Most so-called Bible scholars these days are woefully ignorant of the faithful preachers who've suffered for their faith, even to the point of death. As “truth is stranger than fiction,” even the secular New York Times was aware of Colonel Samuel Harris, noting on January 20, 1884...

“On one occasion, while a Baptist preacher was preaching in Orange County, Va., he was dragged out of the pulpit by the hair of his head and kicked; and he was about as roughly handled in many other portions of Virginia. And yet that Baptist preacher was never heard to complain of not being appreciated. R. B. Semple says of him, ‘Colonel Samuel Harris’s manners were of the most winning sort, and perhaps even Whitfield did not surpass him in addressing the heart.’” 

The preceding important historical information was researched diligently and authored by Dr. William P. Grady. These 58 Baptist preachers were all persecuted and prosecuted in one city in one year.

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 “I am an old-fashioned preacher of the old-time religion, that has warmed this cold world's heart for two thousand years.” —Billy SUNDAY