On this day in 1682, under William Penn, a decree of religious freedom was granted to the people of Pennsylvania. Penn, as you may know, was a Quaker. The first Baptist pastor to take advantage of the liberty in that colony was Thomas Dungan. To escape the persecution against the Baptist in England, Dungan first fled to Rhode Island, and then in 1684 he settled north of Bristol, Pennsylvania at Cold Spring. There he began to preach Christ, starting a Baptist church, erecting a building and securing a burial-place.
Just four years later Dungan became a resident of that grave yard. The Cold Spring Baptist Church struggled for only four years after that, and then the grounds of that cemetery were left unattended. In 1770 when Morgan Edwards searched for the church he found that “nothing remained … but a grave-yard and the names of families that had belonged to [the church]. The short life of the Cold Spring church might have meant the loss of the name Thomas Dungan as well, if it were not for one important event.
In 1686, the nineteen year old son of the English Baptist pastor, Benjamin Keach, disembarked from a ship in Philadelphia harbor. It was assumed that he was a Baptist minister like his Father, and he did nothing to dispel the idea – despite the fact that he was unregenerated. He had heard his father preach so often, and he knew enough of the scriptures, that he felt he could preach just as well. One Lord’s day as he lead a small group in the worship, “He performed well enough till he had advanced pretty far in the sermon, then stopping short, he looked like man astonished. The audience concluded he had been seized with a sudden disorder; but on asking what the matter was, receive from him a confession of the imposture with tears in his eyes and much trembling. Great was his distress, though it ended happily; from this time he dated his conversion.” He was taken to Cold Spring where Elder Thomas Dungan counseled him, becoming convinced of his new birth. Elias Keach was then baptized, becoming a member at Cold Spring before beginning a significant and blessed ministry throughout the Middle colonies.
The name of Thomas Dungan has been long forgotten except for that one event. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every one of God’s servants might have at least one such important service for our Lord Jesus Christ?