William and Joseph Murphy were brothers, growing up in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Like their neighbors, they were raised as Anglicans, but unlike many of their neighbors they were wild and troublesome young people. They were known as “the Murphy boys” until well into middle-age. They were both born again in 1757 and both became Baptist preachers. Joseph, the younger brother, was born on this day in 1734.
Joseph Murphy became a local church pastor as well as an itinerant preacher. He eventually took the Baptist church in Deep Creek, Currey County. North Carolina, where persecution against the Baptists was particularly severe. One day, while Pastor Murphy was away preaching, a mob with government approval attacked his house, hoping to arrest him for preaching Christ contrary to the law. Just a few days earlier, the same group had taken Brother Benjamin Merrill in a similar raid. Merrill was tried for treason and eventually died at the hands of the State church. Murphy could never understand why Merrill was taken while he was spared, but this sort of thing has occurred even as far back as the Book of Acts.
It is believed that Joseph Murphy served his Saviour until late 1815, meaning that he was still preaching at the age of eighty-one.
We may never know the whys and wherefores of our Sovereign God, but it is good to know that He is in control of all things.