Those of you who have read the book “Grace Unto the Third and Fourth Generation,” might remember some of the glorious history of the Baptist Church at Hopewell, New Jersey. It was organized in 1715 with fifteen members, and for the next thirty-two years it met in private homes, until John Hart, one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence, gave the church land on which to erect a building. Isaac Eaton was pastor of that church for a time, and it was there that John Gano, Hezekiah Smith, James Manning and several other important preachers were either trained or saved. At Hopewell, the Baptist’s first secondary school in this country was established. Morgan Edwards cites several periods of revival in the church, with many saved and baptized, despite the size of the community. George Washington, after crossing the Delaware River, held a council of war in the church building, where plans were made, resulting in the American victory at Trenton, on December 26, 1776.
It was a year earlier, in April 1775, that at the close of the Sunday morning service, news reached Hopewell of the Battle of Lexington. As people exited the church building Joab Houghton declared that he intended to go to Boston to fight. It is said that every able man of that church shouted that they would join him. Houghton became their captain, and on this day in 1777, he was made a Lieutenant Colonel in the Continental Army.
Source – “This Day in Baptist History III” by David Cummins