Amen. Grab your Bibles. Grab your Bibles and stand. Turn to the New Testament. I'm forgetting if it was 1st or 2nd Timothy. I've got to look at my notes. New Testament there. 2nd Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2 in your Bible. 2 Timothy 2, verse number... You know what? We're going to start in verse 1. We're going to read verses 1 through 3. And I'm tempted to just preach 2 Timothy 2, but I'm not going to yield to the temptation. Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Thou, therefore, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Let's pray, Lord. We thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, for our Baptist heritage, and we pray, Father, as we look at the heritage of those who have gone before us those who paid the price for freedom we pray father that we would honor their service to you and for us but we pray most that we would be encouraged to stand as they did if called upon to do so we pray father that you'd bless our time together now jesus name amen you may be seated all right we're on page 47 i want to Let you know a couple quick things here. If you are not planning on purchasing the book, please do not write in it. You're gonna pass it in tonight at the end of the service. The book, it's $1,000 per book. No, I'm kidding. It's $10, $10 per book. That's what we paid for them. And we got a deal. We didn't have to pay shipping. So praise the Lord for that. But it was $10 a book. So if you would like a copy of your own, you can make a donation of $10 for that. So tonight we're looking at Obadiah Holmes and Baptist persecution in New England. This is, although I don't like what happened to Brother Holmes, I don't like what happened with the Baptists who went before us and were persecuted. However, These are some of my favorite history, Baptist history stories or accounts because It just reminds me of brave men who didn't cower to the whip, who didn't cower to punishment for doing what was right. And so I'm going to read here our introduction on pages 47, 48, 49, 50, 51. No, I'm just kidding. As the baptized believers in New England began to multiply, so did their enemies. The enemies of religious liberty have always been around. However, it may shock many Baptists today to discover the magnitude of Baptist sufferings right here in America. We often think of Italy, France, and Switzerland. Let's bring the volume down just a little bit. Yeah, turn this one off. Yeah. We often think of, and turn this one down just a tiny bit. Italy, France, and Switzerland. When we consider Baptist persecution in Lesson 3, We are going to uncover one of the most forgotten tragedies of all time. Baptist persecution in New England. The tragedy of Baptist suffering in New England is magnified by the ironic fact that it was carried out mostly by those who profess to be Christians. We understand that practicing Catholics are mostly unsaved individuals we can see in history where even popes had differentiated between Catholic and Christians. To this distinction we agree. But to understand Baptist persecution in New England, it is important to remember that unlike the Catholics of bygone centuries, a substantial percentage of Puritan persecutors had made clear professions of faith in Christ. Only God knows how many were truly saved. However, it is safe to say that there were at times Puritan Christians persecuting Baptist Christians. It is interesting to note that a clear record of the opposite cannot be found anywhere. Baptists, by their very core principles, could not persecute others for a religious conviction of any sort. This is because Baptists have a holy conviction that men must be left alone to freely accept Christ by no other convincement than that by which the Holy Ghost may bring about through the preached word. True Baptists also allow for individuals to reject Christ if they insist on doing so. The Puritans of New England did not believe in soul liberty. That's what we call that doctrine, that doctrine that we don't persecute people for believing differently. We call that soul liberty. The Puritans of New England did not believe in this. To grasp this truth is simple when one begins to understand what a Puritan is. Puritans were simply people who wanted to purify the Church of England. Instead of separating from Anglicanism like the Pilgrims, they chose to stay underneath its corrupt umbrella and to attempt to steer it in the right direction. An attempt to steer Anglicanism in the right direction for the Puritans was kin to trying to bail out the Titanic after striking the iceberg. It simply was not going to happen. Thank you. Puritans maintain compulsory infant baptism. Y'all know what that means? It means it was required. Compulsory means that you had to quote-unquote baptize your infants, your babies had to be baptized. And you're going to find that they had to be baptized in order to be considered citizens, in order to participate in society, you had to have infant baptism in those areas. And by the way, if you did not have infant baptism in those areas, or if you were married by someone other than a Puritan clergy person, clergyman, your marriage was considered unlawful and not actually marriage. In other words, if your marriage was officiated by a Baptist minister, Baptist preacher, you weren't actually married and you were committing fornication, is what they believed. Anyhow, the Puritans required religious taxes to support the local parish. They imprisoned, disenfranchised, beat, and banished all non-conformists. Y'all gathering that? You had to pay taxes in order to support the church. There were taxes paid to support the local parish, the local church and its clergy. Yes, sir. It was absolutely state church, although there wasn't like state, but it was a civil union between church and civil government. So the concept comes from a British Israelism or a replacement theology which believes that that the church replaced Israel and that all of the things that applied to Israel also apply to the church and That's where Catholicism got that whole concept of church-state marriage together, the two operating one and the same. And that's where Anglicanism came out of Catholicism. Same concept, same basic concept, that in order to be a citizen, in order to actively participate in the society, you had to be in the church. The church and the society were one and the same. The church and the state were one and the same. And in order for you to participate in both, or in one, you had to be in the other. And yes, they got that from Israel. It's not biblical for churches to do that. but they got it from Bible principles applied to the only nation in the entire world in human history that God called His nation, and that's Israel. The national aspects of Israel did not translate over to the church. That's a Baptist doctrine, separation of church and state. I say it's a Baptist doctrine because it's a Bible doctrine. The Bible clearly teaches that the tenants of the state, that Israel had a theocracy, that God ruled over them, over their society, over their civil society, and their religious society. When Jesus Christ built His church, it was not intended to go that way. It was intended to be a separate thing. different from Israel, different from the social or societal or civil aspect of life. You have your church life and you have your civil life. Now, you ought to be a Christian in civil life. and actively involved in your local society as a Christian, but the institution of the church and the institution of civil society were not supposed to be intermingled. And that's what Catholicism did, that's what Anglicanism did, that's what Puritanism did, that's what even Congregationalism at one point in some places, as well as other, you know, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, all of those at one point or another in their history had an intermingling of church and state. And that's part of the reason that they did pedobaptism, which is infant or child baptism. Because it was a matter of, they looked at it like, and their argument was, it's like circumcision of Israel. The child is supposed to be baptized after eight days, just like circumcision took place in Israel. That was their thought process. Does that make sense? Does that answer that question? So when Baptists start to learn the truth about early American Protestantism, it begins to open up a huge can of worms. Many questions beg to be answered. For starters, why were we taught that the Puritans were all kind, loving people who never bothered a fly. Why were we taught that Puritans championed the principles of religious liberty? These are just a few pieces of history that have been portrayed in a light that would make Puritanism look good. We will now lay out the case against Puritanism. Their religious heresy will be exposed and their principles will be compared and contrasted with the Bible. True liberty was won in America, however, The only part Puritanism had in it was to become a hindrance and a stumbling block to liberty. God himself would then intervene and use the Baptists to establish biblical principles in this great land. To be sure, the religious liberty enjoyed in America today can be traced to great statesmen like john clark and roger williams but there were also great men who deserve much credit and yet never stood before kings and dignitaries comparatively these men may seem less important in the great in the grand scheme of things it is important to remember that america did not become great simply because of diplomacy or worldly influence. Oftentimes it was resistance, civil disobedience, bold public preaching, and other grassroots efforts that pushed back at the established church authority. We have in our Baptist lineage men of toughness and renown. Such a man was Obadiah Holmes. His untold story will be thoroughly examined in this lesson. So Baptist principles of liberty versus state church machine. I just gave some of those answers just a moment ago, but we're going to read through anyways. Good reminder to put our phones on silent. As has been stated, Baptists in New England champion the cause for limited civil government. The New England Baptist did not believe it was the role of the state to be involved in religious affairs except for its protection of the right of free exercise of religion. Both John Clark and Roger Williams believed that the state should not attempt to enforce the first table of the law. This side. The first table. You get the two tablets, right? First table of the law. First table of the law has to do with your relationship with God. Second table of the law has to do with your relationship with man. Yes. The first table was the first four commandments, although here we have one, two, three, yeah, four, okay. And then the second table being the last six. Because these commandments deal with man's relationship to God, both Clark and Williams felt that the state should not meddle in these affairs. They believed that the state's responsibility was to oversee the enforcement of the second table of the law. The second table is the last six commandments. These commandments deal with man's relationship to man. Because of the nature of the second table, the New England Baptists agreed that it fell under legitimate state jurisdiction. Although the last commandment could be an argued Point and that is thou shall not covet That's a hard one to enforce it's an inward issue So the Calvinist theocracy the Puritans were Calvinists and Because of this theological error, they believed in covenant theology. Covenant theology is a system whereby Israel is completely done away with and is replaced completely by the church. So there's many names for that. Like I said, there's replacement theology, covenant theology, there's British Israelism at the point that Anglicanism supposedly replaced Israel. And there are some actually that believe that the throne of England is descended from the throne of David. They believe that God still rules. in a monarchy from England. That King Charles III is descendant of King David. Some people believe that. So anyhow, this is also called replacement theology. The Puritans believed that since Israel was a theocracy and had a government responsible to enforce both tables of the law, then the church should function in the same way. This is what I answered your question earlier about. They said that circumcision was the seal of the covenant in old times and in like manner baptism. It's almost like exactly what I said. minute ago, but In like manner baptism is the new entry door into covenant relationship with God today This is why infant baptism was insisted upon covenant theologians Are not looking for the return of the Lord the theological system They embrace teaches men that the quote-unquote Church is Presently ushering in the kingdom This can only work if the quote-unquote Church is married to the state Oftentimes, this system of error is capped in the fancy name of reformed theology. Make no mistake, reformed means hyper-Calvinistic. The vast majority of the religious right embraces this error and therefore calls the biblical separation of church and state a fallacy. They are wrong. There are religious right, right-wing religious folks who believe that separation of church and state shouldn't be. And there are people trying to fight to reinstitute a marriage of church and state or controlling civil life from the church. And they're very, very religious people. But if they get what they want, we won't be allowed to legally have church. because we don't believe the way they do. So, a garden. The New England Baptists resisted tyranny while demanding upon a proper separation of church and state. Williams, a professed Baptist for a time and longtime friend of the Baptists and Liberty, spoke of a wall of separation. This can be found in Roger Williams, his Contribution to American Tradition by Perry Miller, written 1962. Williams used the biblical analogy of a garden enclosed for the church. He further said that the state was the wilderness outside the garden. This was the same belief to which Baptists through the ages held. Rome's state church monstrosity was opposed by Baptists throughout the dark ages because Baptists have always believed in separation of church and state. Make sense? Alright. False teaching on separation of church and state. Is that your book there? False teaching on separation of church and state. Error on the left. Many people today have bought the lie that there should be no influence on the state whatsoever by the church. To disprove this theory, one has to look no further than the words of the Founding Fathers themselves. George Washington said, it is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible. The proofs of influence of Christianity, by the way, George Washington was baptized by John Gonneau, who was a Baptist pastor, church planter. actually the first pastor of the First Baptist Church of New York City. The proofs of the influence of Christianity on our early government can be seen in many other similar statements. The influence of Christianity in the Bible can be seen in the founding documents and traditional Christian practices in our government. There is no doubt that both the God of the Bible and our forefathers believed that the church should shed its righteous light on the state. Today's modern attempt to erase all references to God, all religious symbols, prayers, and other Christian influences is a slap in the face of our forefathers. To act like our forefathers our founders were all atheists and wanted God erased from society and government is a horrible example of humanism running its course. That being said, it is imperative to note that our framers did not want religion to rule the state. They envisioned a balance at work. A separation of church and state was the key to this just balance. So that's looking at error on the left. Now looking at error on the right, many today believe, It is a lie to declare that there is a separation of church and state. We can clearly see, however, that when there is not a proper separation, state churches begin to appear and they become monstrous entities of persecution. They attempt, we're on page 53, they attempt To force men to conform to their false views under threat of punishment. Thomas Jefferson referenced this separation in the famed Danbury letter. And the Danbury letter was to the Danbury Association of Baptists. The religious right is running around hollering to all who will listen, that there is no such thing as separation of church and state, and that this is a fictitious belief. The reason they feel this way is because they, like the Puritans, are Calvinists, even if they're not proclaiming that they're Calvinists. It's because they hold to at least some level of Calvinistic doctrine. The religious right is not governed by biblical Baptist principles. They espouse dominion theology. Now, dominion theology is at its core based upon when God sent forth Noah out of the ark, when God sent Adam out of the garden, and when He sent Noah out of the ark, one of the commands that He gave was to take dominion over the earth. mankind Command it's a command for man to do as man We are to have dominion over the earth. We're to understand how it works understand the animals and the and the plants and you know the weather cycles and all of those things were to have dominion over those things and and we're to take care of those things and that's that's our individual mandate that God has given us as individual men and as mankind, but he did not give that mandate to the church or any government. He gave it to us as a separate mandate. Does that make sense? But that dominion theology, it poses that that mandate is then passed on to the church and that the church is to take dominion over everything on the planet. And that's what Catholicism almost successfully did. So the religious right is made up of theocrats and replacement theologians. Quite frankly, it is understandable why the liberals are scared to death of the religious right. Given half a chance, they would no doubt set up a state church again as this is what their theology dictates." By the way, there are many Baptists who are reformed and have gone that way. So beware. Just because Baptist is in the name doesn't mean that they are of the same belief. So it says, think about it. Can you imagine standing at the jail cell of one of the early Baptist preachers in America? There he sits, put in jail by the state church. He has lost his home, his job, his congregation, and his freedom. How do you think he will respond when you remind him that the separation of church and state is just a myth? If he reaches through the jail bars after you, don't wonder why. There must be a proper separation of the two entities. So, Baptists have the correct understanding. We're going to look at that. This lesson is long. Yes. Typically, yes. They reformed Baptists as Calvinists. We'll try to move through this quickly. Baptists have the correct understanding. Sadly, the ones with the balanced understanding And right principles are ignored by the modern media. Uh, when it comes to the, to issues of civil government and separation of church and state, the Baptist alone have the correct understanding. Uh, we maintain like John Clark, Roger Williams, Isaac Bacchus, John Leland, and Thomas Jefferson, that there must be a separation of church and state. However, this does not have to mean a complete removal of Christianity from our federal federal government. So Baptist blood was the purchase price of liberty. To this point, in the current study we have only mentioned the various ways in which the Puritan theocrats punished our forefathers for having the audacity to obey God rather than men. Now we will highlight an incident of severe proportions. You are about to read a sobering account of religious persecution on American soil. This piece of history, though intentionally hidden from our generation by Satan and those working for him, had such a profound effect on our yet-to-be nation that every Baptist ought to know its details. for a look at the public whipping of Obadiah Holmes. By the way, In our first series on Baptist Heritage, we dealt with a whole lot of persecution. A lot of people think erringly or erroneously that when America began or when people came to America, they had religious liberty. It was not the case. It was not the case for a while. Religious liberty had to be won. Early life, Obadiah Holmes was born in Reddish, England near Manchester in the year 1606. He worked on his father's farm as a boy in an England that mostly practiced Puritanism. At this time, England was under the rule of King James I. In his ten years, Holmes saw England returned to rigid Anglicanism as Charles I took over the crown. Charles appointed William Laud as Bishop of London. Laud then became the Archbishop of Canterbury or the religious head of the Church of England. Laud began to persecute Baptists. Puritans and other dissidents. He beat and imprisoned many. This activity resulted in many Englishmen, mostly Puritans, with some Baptists, sailing to New England in hope of religious liberty. Holmes was one such man. He was married to Catherine Hyde in 1630, accepted Christ in 1638. Anybody recognize that year? what that year was related to. 1638 was when the first Baptist church in America was established by John Clark. 1636, 7, 8, right in there. No, not quite yet. Oh, well in England there was a lot of stuff going on, but now we just crossed the sea into America here. So he sailed the same year to New England. A trip to the New World. The Holmes family settled in Salem. But after much conflict with religionists there, he moved to Seekonk. It's a Massachusetts Bay colony. It was here that Holmes began to resist the false teaching of the Standing Order Church. He was tormented inside with questions like, was baptism legitimate for infants? And what if you were baptized but not a believer? Then amazingly, Obadiah Holmes, with no prior religious training, started a separate congregational church. This courageous act shook up the standing order, and Holmes was totally ostracized. Later, in 1649, Dr. Clark came to town. Under his preaching, Holmes got assurance of his salvation, realized he was a Baptist, and was baptized by Clark. Before we examine the beating of Obadiah Holmes, we need to realize that he and Dr. John Clark were marked men by the standing order. So they took a trip to Lynn, Massachusetts. In 1651, Obadiah Holmes was found to be a member in good standing of the First Baptist Church on American soil founded by founded and pastored by John Clark at Newport, Rhode Island. In the summer of 1651, the Newport Church received from the aged William Witter a request of visitation so that he might hear the Word of God. Witter was a man conviction himself, a strong Baptist, Witter was more than willing to speak out against the state church and infant non-Baptist baptism. Here are just a few of the statements Witter made when dragged into court over the issue of baptism. He said, The baptism of infants is sinful. Infant baptism is the badge of the whore. Speaking of Rome, they who stay whilst a child is baptized do worship the devil. That's quite a statement. Talking about those who stay, those who attend. So Witter was a member of the First Baptist Church in Newport, Rhode Island. Being up in years now and blind, he was not able to travel to what was not only the nearest Baptist Church, the First Baptist Church, but one of the only organized Baptist churches on American soil. So upon Witter's request for a pastoral visit, Pastor John Clark, active layman John Crandall, and preacher Obadiah Holmes, started out for Lynn Massachusetts after navigating to the mainland and then walking for two days. That's quite a visit y'all. We complain about a two-hour visitation on Saturday. These guys went for visitation, they walked for two days after leaving their island and going to the mainland, walked for two days. The men completed the 80 mile trip. They arrived at Witter's home on Saturday night, July 19, 1651. They enjoyed a time of fellowship and prayer that night while staying at Witter's home, intending to have church services on the Lord's Day. News in Lynn spread fast, and a warrant for the arrest of the strangers was delivered to the constable. imagine that you go on visitation takes you two days to get there and you find out there's a warrant for your arrest because you're there trip to the state church homes and company now this I'm reading every word of this because it's fascinating it's it's really good stuff so homes and company began their service the next morning and after four or five visitors came the constables burst in to break it up The three men were taken into custody the same day the men were forced to attend an afternoon service in the Standing Order Congregational Church. This Puritan run state church was the approved church of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It is amazing how quickly those who fled religious persecution in England became the persecutors of the Baptist. Upon entering the meeting house the three Bowed and saluted the assembly and sat down refusing to remove their hats thus showing their contempt for the religion By the way, that's why we tell people take their hats off in church. That's one of the reasons it is it is Typically recognized that you remove your hat out of respect for the master of the house, and that is the Lord Jesus. The constable was commanded to knock off their hats, which he did so promptly. Clark attempted to preach and was silenced. He tried to get up and preach. Now listen, I'm not saying that it's right for one of us or some of us to go visit another church and get up and try to preach. unless you're forced to be there, like you're taken there by force, like they were. They were taken to prison. A trip to Boston. On Tuesday, July 22, 1651, Holmes, Clark, and Crandall were taken to Boston so that they might appear before their adversaries. They were committed to jail, and on July 31, they sat there in prison for a little while. or in jail, rather, for, what's that, 11 or 9 days. They were tried in court. After an animated courtroom frenzy in which Clark showed what an articulate defender of Baptist doctrine he was, the judge agreed with the persecutor, Puritan preacher John Cotton, that this heresy, anabaptism, was worthy of death. There was really no trial, just a reading of the allegations and a commencement with their sentencing. Clark was fined £20 or to be well whipped. Holmes £30 or to be well whipped. Crandall £5 or to be well whipped. Money was raised to pay the fines. Crandall was released from the fine. Clark and Holmes refused permission for their fines to be paid, not willing to admit guilt, knowing the dreaded whipping post was the alternative. Trip to the dreaded whipping post September 5th, man Think about that They went on visitation They left for visitation on let's see was it July 18 17 like the 17th or 16th and on September the 5th they're released from prison to be whipped. As Clark was led to the whipping post, a friend pressed money into the hands of the Puritan official accompanying the party and Clark was released. But Holmes stated agreeing to the payment of my fine would constitute admission of wrongdoing. Holmes was led to the post and stripped to the waist. While being stripped, Obadiah Holmes preached a sermon to the onlooking crowd, exhorting them to stay faithful to their beliefs. Obadiah Holmes' sentence was 10 stripes less than the maximum 40 lashes, which was considered a death sentence. Holmes' sentence was the same as that of rapists. Many in the gathering crowd cried out in protest. At least 13 individuals were arrested for calling for the punishment to stop. The beating was an attempt to kill Holmes. Holmes later stated that the flogger used a whip with three hard leather lashes. The man stopped three times to spit on his hands and applied the whip with all his might. Each of the 30 strokes cut three lashes through the skin for a total of 90 slices through the flesh. Holmes gave this account of his beating. As the man began to lay the strokes upon my back, I said to the people, though my flesh should fail, yet God will not fail. So it pleased the Lord to come in and fill my heart and tongue as a vessel full. And with audible voice I break forth, praying the Lord not to lay this sin to their charge, and telling the people I found He did not fail me, And therefore, now I should trust Him forever who failed me not. For in truth, as the strokes fell upon me, I had such spiritual manifestation of God's presence as I never had before. and the outward pain was so removed from me that I could well bear it, yea, and in a manner felt it not, although it was grievous. The crack of this whip was heard across the land. The unbroken spirit of Holmes and the Baptists of New England was exemplified in the statement Holmes made to the magistrates as he was released from the post. He boldly stated, you have beaten me as with roses. It's thought that outside of the window of the jail cell that he sat in through half the month of July, all the month of August, and part of the month of September, that outside of that jail cell was a rose bush. And so his mind possibly went back to that, to the smell of the roses. And he says, you've beaten me as with roses. This cruel beating did not stop the Baptist, rather it emboldened them. So the effects of Holmes' beating. John Spurr, an onlooker, later testified that being moved powerfully by the faith of Holmes, he was born again at the beating. John Spurr and John Hazel helped Holmes from the bloody post and were imprisoned. The aged Hazel later died and never returned to Newport, suffering from complications relating to his imprisonment. John Clark, Holmes' pastor, being proficient in law, medicine, and theology upon the beating of Holmes, wrote a book, Ill News from New England, in 1652. In it, Dr. Clark presented his philosophy of government He pushed for government not to interfere with man's conscience on religious matters. Whitman, on February 10, 1702, married Susanna Holmes, granddaughter to Obadiah Holmes, and the great-granddaughter of Roger Williams, who was called the Apostle of Freedom of Conscience, Later in 1712, Whitman left Rhode Island, won converts and started the First Baptist Church of New York City. I'm sorry, he started it. Gano was later in that manner. a long time later. Holmes has a godly offspring. Whitman won weight palmer to Christ. Palmer, then pastoring in North Stonington, immersed Shubal Sturns, who became the father of the separate Baptists. Isn't that interesting? Think about that. Holmes, children, Pat and their grandchildren rather. Involved their Whitman being married to Holmes grand grand daughter or great granddaughter. And our granddaughter rather and great granddaughter Roger Williams. They're pastoring a church. Baptized Schubel Stearns Schubel Stearns we'll talk about a little bit later but he's an important man in Baptist history. says here, Shubel Stearns deserves more credit than anyone else for the explosion of the gospel in the South, which became known as the Bible Belt. Shubel Stearns started the Santa Creek Baptist Church, which in two generations birthed thousands of churches. Henry Dunster, President of Cambridge, now Harvard University, stirred by Holmes' beatings, stood against infant baptism and was forced to resign his position at Cambridge in 1657. Dunster spread Baptist beliefs loudly and influenced Cambridge and neighboring Charleston until the First Baptist Church of Massachusetts Bay proper was established. Thomas Gould, influenced by Dunster, became a warrior for religious freedom, bulldozing through the courts, his efforts aided in the establishment of the First Baptist Church in Boston. Now, you know, all these things are exciting things, but they all go back to the whipping of Obadiah Holmes. So the trip back to Newport says after his scourging, Holmes journeyed back to the freedom of Newport, For twenty days and nights he could sleep only by lying on his stomach or propped upon his knees and elbows. Many sleepless nights reminded him of that day on the Boston Square where blood ran down his back and into his shoes after Clark Holmes pastored the church in Newport. A trip back to reality. or today. One might ask, what's the point? Baptists today sit unmolested, undisturbed, worshiping Jesus Christ, practicing Baptist baptism, tithing to our own churches of our own free will, and preaching with complete liberty granted to us because of the courageous acts like the refusal of Holmes and others to admit to the charge that being a Bible-believing Baptist is a sin. Illegal search and seizure laws are on the books today in a big part because the framers of the Constitution took note of what happened at Witter's home and the homes of others throughout the colonial history. Need to learn from our history. We and our children owe a great debt of gratitude to our forefathers. By the way, it's going to get gooder. There's even more. Yeah, I said gooder. There's even more as we go through this over the coming weeks. We're going to be looking at a lot of others who dealt with things. We're going to look at the Great Awakening. We're going to look at Stearns. We're going to look at various other preachers that had a part in the framing of our Constitution and so on. So anyhow, we owe it to our children to give them these inspiring facts of history. We owe it to our God to stand for Him in our generation like Obadiah Holmes and the New England Baptists did. Now our review questions. It's a little bit longer, maybe a little bit challenging to sit through there. You might say again, Pastor, why are you reading this book to us? Because you probably won't read it on your own. So we just, I just read it to you. All right. Um, and we're going to do a Q and a, like after we answer these questions, you can, you can ask questions. We look at some things here. Uh, so review questions as the bat as a number one, as the baptized believers in new England began to multiply, so did their enemies. Uh, there were at times Puritan Christians persecuting Baptist Christians. Uh, number three Puritans were simply people who wanted to purify the Church of England. Baptists in New England championed the cause for a limited civil government. John Clark and Roger Williams believed that the state should not attempt to enforce the first table of the law. Number six, the state's responsibility is to oversee the enforcement of the second table of the law. Number seven, the Puritans were Calvinist because of this theological error. They believed in covenant theology. Number eight, Williams spoke of a wall of separation. Williams used the analogy of a garden enclosed for the church. Number nine, the God of the Bible and our forefathers believed that the church should shed its religious light on the state. Was it righteous? Well, my answer key must be wrong then. Let's see here. God of the Bible and forefathers, okay. Was that on page 55 or 54? 52. 53 at the top. Righteous light on the state. Yes, it is righteous, not religious. Well, I had to let him know that he needs to fix this teacher's edition. Righteous. Alright, number ten, many today believe it is a lie to declare that there is a separation of church and state. What? Lying is a sin, that's right. That's right, but it is neither a lie nor a sin to declare that there is a separation of church and state. Number 11, the religious right is running around, hollering to all who will listen that there is no such thing as separation of church and state. Number 12, the reason the righteous right, or rather religious right, feels this way is because they, like the Puritans are, Calvinist and the religious right is not governed by biblical Baptist principles there you go Yeah, biblical Baptist principles that would be biblical, that would be Bible, Bible. Biblical denotes that it is from the Bible, and then Baptist denotes that it is what the Baptists believe from the Bible. So biblical Baptist. Number 13, we maintain like John Clark, Roger Williams, Isaac Bacchus, John Leland, and Thomas Jefferson that their Must be a separation of church and state. However, this does not mean a complete removal of Christianity from our federal government number 14 Obadiah Holmes with no prior religious training and started a quote-unquote separate congregational church. Holmes got assurance of his salvation, realized he was a Baptist and was baptized by Clark. Number 16, Obadiah Holmes was found to be a member in good standing at the first Baptist church on American soil. Number 17, Witter stated that infant baptism is the badge of the whore. The Badge of the Whore. Number 18. During services in the state-run church, the Baptists refused to remove their hats. Number 19. The judge agreed with John Cotton that Anabaptism was worthy of death. Number 20. When released from the post, Obadiah Holmes stated, You've beaten me as with roses.