Thomas Patient was born in England. After his education at one the nation’s most renowned schools, he became a Congregational minister, before emigrating to America. Once over here, he came into contact with some Baptists, which caused him to reexamine the ordinances. He came to the conclusion that only believer’s should be baptized, and that by immersion. This caused his Congregational brethren to turn against him. The persecution was so strong he felt forced to return to England.
In 1640 he became the co-pastor with William Kiffin. He was one of the signers of the 1644 Baptist Confession of Faith and became well known throughout the country. Correspondence indicates that he was personally acquainted with Oliver Cromwell.
From London he moved to Dublin, Ireland, where he became a friend of the governor and the chaplain of the national council, receiving, for a time, a government salary, which caused much consternation among the brethren in England. But the aristocracy of the Anglo-Irish was well-exposed to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is said that Patient started the first Baptist Church in Ireland since the days of the Protestant Reformation. Of course, Patrick organized the very first Baptist church on the island hundreds of years earlier. But persecution destroyed Patrick’s churches, and it nearly destroyed the church pastored by Thomas Patient. On one occasion every member of the Dublin church was arrested and tried for heresy. The foreman of the jury vowed that they would be found guilty and executed, but during the trial he died , and the congregation was acquitted.
After his long and useful service to the Lord, Thomas Patient died on this day in 1666.