Voices; Birth-Marks; The Man and the Elephant

by Mathew Joseph Holt

So the dissenters, and particularly the Presbyterians, in the first instance, contending for religious freedom only, were forced into the newer controversy to procure the old; and to such an extent were the issues assimilated, [pg 130] that the English correctly attributed the Revolution to the Presbyterians. Walpole, addressing parliament made the statement: “Cousin America has run away with a Presbyterian parson.”

The first act of toleration was passed in 1699. The Act of 1705 provided that if a person denied the existence of God or the Trinity or the divine authority of the scriptures or asserted there are more gods than one; upon conviction of the first offense was deprived of the right to hold an office of trust or emolument; upon the second conviction he was denied the right to sue or to inherit property or to act as trustee for any person or estate and was subject to a sentence of three years’ imprisonment; his own children could be taken from him and placed in more orthodox hands; upon the third conviction he was put to death, though this statute was never invoked.

Before 1750 the spirit of the clergy of the English Church had subsided into moderation; and the dissenter or non-conformist preacher had grown more aggressive; though the laws against him were still oppressive.

Rev. Francis MaKemie established the first Presbyterian churches in the Virginia colony. He was forced repeatedly to appear before the magistrates and once before the Governor; and is accredited with having obtained the first act of toleration in 1699; though Samuel Davies is looked upon as the founder of the Presbyterian Church in Virginia; and to him and Thomas Jefferson, more than to any other men, thanks are due for services in behalf of religious liberty.

From 1732, dissenters, in the main Presbyterians, began to settle the great Valley of Virginia. Within ten years from the establishment of the first Presbyterian [pg 131] church there were Presbyterian churches in nine of the then few counties; they had also obtained promises from the authorities not to disturb them in their worship; though this was a protection guaranteed by the Act of Toleration then in force.

The Presbyterian Synod meeting in Philadelphia in 1738, petitioned the Governor of Virginia that Presbyterians of the valley might have “the free enjoyment of their civil and religious liberties.” They received a favorable reply; which stimulated the emigration of Presbyterians into the valley not only from the less liberal colonies but from the Old Country.

Samuel Davies, protected by compliance with the Act of Tolerance, came to Virginia when but twenty-three years of age and immediately went to work establishing churches. He appeared before the Virginia committee which under a show of compliance with the law, licensed as few non-conformist ministers as was possible; and from that body procured licenses for several ministers and permits to establish several churches in new territory. In the General Court of Virginia, where he was forced to appear; he argued that not only inherently but by the Act of Toleration, applicants for the ministry must be granted the power and place to preach. In this he was opposed by Peyton Randolph, then attorney general for the colony, and though he lost the case was said to have had the better of the argument. He procured from the attorney general of the Mother Country an opinion to the effect that the English law of Toleration, somewhat broader than the colonial, was applicable to, and the law of, the colony. Eventually his fight procured for Presbyterians a liberal interpretation of the Act.

He was always careful to declare that his opposition was not to the Church of England but the clergy, expressing [pg 132] himself “as not against the peculiar rights and ceremonies of the English Church, much less against their excellent articles; but against the general strain of the doctrine delivered from the pulpit, in which their articles were opposed or not mentioned.”

His was a fight, not only for religious liberty, but for the supremacy of Christ in the church, the authenticity of the Bible, equal rights under the law for all denominations and individual right to freedom of conscience.

Because of his work, peace would have prevailed between all confessors of the Trinity and laws curtailing religious freedom would have been annulled; had not the Tidewater clergy bestirred themselves and fanned to flame the last expiring embers of intolerance in Virginia.