Samuel Fletcher was born in Middlesex, Massachusetts in 1747. He was born again twenty years later, and in 1777, he began to preach the gospel of Christ whenever and wherever there was a need. He was ordained to the ministry on this day in 1781, and became the pastor of a newly formed church in Salem as well as serving in several other small congregations. His problems arose when the Lord began to bless his ministry.
One day, in Pepperell, Massachusetts, “three officers of the town came into the house where the Baptist ministers were, and advised them immediately to depart … for their own safety. Being asked whether their lives would be in danger if they did not depart, no answer was returned. But seeing their temper, the Baptists agreed do disperse, and to meet at a distant place of water; which was done, and six persons were decently baptized, though further abuse was offered at the close of it.”
Fletcher was not finished with Pepperell, because that was the community where his father lived. He visited often during the next few years preaching Christ, despite the pressures and persecution against him. It was godly the persistence of men like Samuel Fletcher which helped to make this country a land of religious liberty.