Obadiah Holmes, 1606-1682 Born in 1606, in Reddish, Lancashire County, England, Obadiah was the son of Robert and Catherine Johnson Holmes. In 1638, Holmes came to New England, settling first in Salem, and later in Rehobeth, Massachusetts. While in Rehobeth, Holmes attained the status of freeman, which gave him voice and vote as a citizen. It was also in Rehobeth that Holmes attained freedom in his soul. After his conversion, Holmes united with the Baptists and moved to Rhode Island in search of religious liberty. He became a member of John Clarke’s church, the first Baptist church in America. In 1651, Holmes accompanies John Clarke and John Crandall to Lynn, Massachusetts to worship in the home of William Witter. This trip would yield one of the greatest contributions to religious liberty in American History! On July 20, 1651, while Clarke preached, the three were arrested and charged with “Seducing and drawing aside others after their erroneous judgment and practices.” Of Holmes, it was said, “You affirmed that you never did re-baptize any, yet did acknowledge that you did baptize such as were baptized before, and thereby did necessarily deny the baptism that was before administered to be baptism, the churches to be no churches, and also other ordinances, and ministers, as if all were a nullity; and did also deny the lawfulness of baptizing infants.” They were fined, and if the fines were not paid they were to be well whipped. Holmes viewed payment of the fine as an admission of guilt and chose instead to suffer for conscience sake. On September 5, 1651, Holmes was led to the post in Boston, and there with his blood, he sealed what he believed. He was given thirty lashes with a three-corded whip, the executioner using all his strength. Holmes said: “As the man began to lay the strokes upon my back, I said to the people, though my flesh should fail, yet God will not fail: so it pleased the Lord to come in, and fill my heart and tongue as a vessel full, and with audible voice I break forth, praying the Lord not to lay this sin to their charge, and telling the people I found He did not fail me, and therefore now I should trust Him forever who failed me not: for in truth, as the strokes fell upon me, I had such a spiritual manifestation of God’s presence as I never had before, and the outward pain was so removed from me that I could well bear it, yea, in a manner felt it not, although it was grievous.” When he was released from the post, he said to the magistrates, “Ye have beaten me as with roses.” John Hazel and John Spur assisted Holmes after the beating. Both men were arrested and fined for their act of sympathy. Obadiah Holmes was the second pastor of the Baptist Church in Newport. He and his wife, Catherine Hyde, were blessed with ten children. Their posterity includes Abraham Lincoln and the “Browns of Providence Plantations.” He died October 15, 1682. “For this is thankworthy, if a man suffer for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.” I Peter 2:19
Posted on: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 15:06:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015