In 1755, Daniel Fristoe was converted to Christ through the ministry of David Thomas and the Chappawamsick Baptist church of northern Virginia. On this day in 1771 Brother Daniel was ordained to the gospel ministry, knowing full-well the persecution that our brethren faced in that part of the country.
According to Brother Fristoe’s journal, the day following his ordination, he met several of the brethren from Fauquier County in order to examine some candidates for baptism. As they were speaking with the new converts, a man came into the assembly and started to curse and swear until he fell on the ground, tumbling around like a fish out of water. After the man was tied up, for his own safety, and taken away, sixteen people were adjudged to be proper candidates for baptism. The next Sunday about two thousand people came together to hear the Word preached and to witness the rare sight of believer’s baptism. When thirteen others were examined, Brother Fristoe baptized a total of twenty-nine people. There were so many people trying to see the baptism that some of them climbed into trees, whereupon one heavily weighted branch broke, tossing several people into the river. Brother Fristoe’s notes state, “When we sang, ‘Come We that Love the Lord,” people were so affect that they lifted their hands and faces toward heaven, and I discovered such cheerful countenances in the mist of the flowing tears as I had never before.”
Daniel Fristoe’s ministry was brief. As he traveled to Philadelphia for a meeting, he contracted small pox. He died in his thirty-fifth year and was buried in the yard of the Baptist Church of Philadelphia, far from his wife and seven children.