October 18

Originally, the American colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay were separate entities. Plymouth, first colonized by the Brownist and Anglican Pilgrims, was the southeastern corner of what is now Massachusetts. The two colonies merged in 1691. In a document dated...

October 11

I’ve never seen a book written by today’s subject. I live on the other side of the country from where he was born and have not visited his grave site. I may have read his name before, but it didn’t stick with me. Charles Augustus Stiles was born in 1836 near...

October 4

We learn from God’s word that Aquila was not an apostle or even an ordained preacher, but he and his wife, Priscilla, were much used of the Lord. Cephas Bennett, in 1804, was born into the family of Alfred Bennet, pastor of the Baptist church in Homer, New York....

September 27

William Carey is often said to be the first missionary of the modern era, but that may not be exactly true. Ten years before Carey sailed from England to India, George Leile, left the United States to plant a Baptist church in Jamaica. Furthermore, he and his Jamaican...

September 20

No two – or no three – servants of God are exactly the same in temperament and talents. Generally speaking, they have different gifts sovereignly dispensed by the grace of the Lord. For this reason some are considered by men as more “successful” than...

September 13

John Taylor Jones was born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire in 1802, and at the age of 15 he joined the Congregational church. After graduating from Amherst in 1825 he began to train for the ministry at Andover Seminary, but then he was confronted with the mode and...

September 6

Absalom Waller was the nephew of John Waller, known as “Swearing Jack Waller,” due to the pattern of his old life. Nephew Absalom, the eldest of six children, was raised under the preaching of the gospel, and when he was fourteen, was saved by the grace of...

August 30

  On this day in 1866 a memorial service was held for Pastor Hezekiah Johnson, who passed away two days earlier. Hezekiah was born into the home of a Baptist pastor in Maryland in 1799, and as a young man he came to understand his salvation in Christ. His family moved...

August 23

Many early American Baptists were common citizens of no great fame or fortune. But there were notable exceptions. For example Eleaszer Clay was the Sheriff of Chesterfield county Virginia and the uncle of the famous Henry Clay. David Benedict claimed that the man was...

August 16

On this day in 1732 David Thomas was born at London Tract, Pennsylvania. After the Lord saved him, Bro. Thomas attended America’s first Baptist school of higher education at Hopwell, N.J. He did so well there that he was granted a Master of Arts degree from Rhode...

August 9

During the 17th and into the 18th century, the ministers of the State Church in Connecticut were supported by taxes taken from the general public. From time to time Baptist missionaries from Rhode Island visited and held services in that Colony, but for the most part...

July 26

In November 1681 the Baptist church in Boston granted authority to William Screven to “exercise his gift in ye place where he lives or else where as the providence of God may cast him.” That place of service was in Kittery, Maine. Apparently the Lord...

July 19

Alfred Taylor was the son of Pastor Joseph Taylor. Joseph for a time had been a Methodist preacher, but in reading the Word of God, he realized that the baptism of the Methodists was rooted in Catholicism, not the scriptures. He was immersed in September of 1804 and...

July 12th

During the days of the Reformation, a young man was born into a wealthy family of Naples. Algerius was given a good education, and he became exposed to the literature of Luther and then of the Anabaptists. He met another student who spoke openly of his personal...

July 5th

Benjamin Watkins was born into an Episcopalian home on this day in 1755. His father died while he was just a baby, but his did her best to see that he was raised well – that he was moral, obedient and kind. She succeeded in her desires, but the heart of Benjamin was...