“Swearing Jack Waller,” should be a name known to all Baptists. He had been a vulgar, sinful man before the Lord saved him. He went on to be the pastor of the Baptist church in Spotsylvania, Virginia. Jack’s brother was a member of that church and into his home were born John and Absalom, nephews of Swearing Jack. After the boys were saved, Jack envisioned John as the future pastor of the church. The young man was outgoing and exciting, but Absalom was quiet and shy. One day, John Leland was visiting the church, and during a prayer meeting happened to kneel beside the two brothers. When the meeting concluded, Leland went to the pastor and said, “Brother Waller, you are deceived in your impressions; John will never preach, but that little white-headed boy,” pointing to Absalom, “will be the preacher of your flock.”
Absalom Waller wanted the retired life of a farmer, but over time God ignited a fire in his heart that demanded he preach the gospel. He was ordained when he was twenty-one, and before the year was out Swearing Jack moved to South Carolina, and Absalom became the pastor at Spotsylvania. The blessings on that praying/preaching pastor were nothing short of miraculous. On this day in 1817 he wrote, “It would require the pen of an angel to describe the sensations of joy and gratitude which filled my own soul, when meeting the broken hearted sinner at the throne of mercy… I had long since been watching the coming of the Master by fervent prayers… and now to behold numbers upon their knees crying out, ‘What shall we do to be saved’ produced in my enraptured mind, a foretaste of those immortal pleasures which bloom in the paradise of God.”
I mentioned miraculous blessings. During the two years prior to that quote, Absalom Waller had baptized more than 1,500 people professing Christ as their Saviour. Genuine, Heaven-sent revival is not an event of the ancient past. It would come to our churches again, if we could learn to pray and preach as we should.
Source: This Day in Baptist History III, by David Cummins