The purpose of the easy going settler of Virginia in coming to America
was not to find religious freedom, but to better his financial
condition. He parted from old England with regret; found the same church
in Virginia he had left at home; lived under the same laws and in many
ways under the same conditions. He venerated the laws of England and
contributed without grumbling towards the support of the Established
Church under a general taxation system for that purpose; but appeals by
his clergy to curtail privileges granted by acts of toleration aroused
no such zeal as was exhibited by his New England non-conformist brother
in his attitude towards Baptist and Quaker.
America was fallow soil for new thought; and the first seed sown was
that which led to the first constitutional amendment. Sowers of new
thought, argued: "You cannot by law control men in their attitude of
mind and heart toward God. Religious freedom must come. It is an
inalienable right and cannot be denied. It is useless for the state to
disturb itself by enacting rules of regulation." Finally they
threatened: "To obtain this right you will force us to support the new
issue of local self-government; and if the two, religious freedom and
self-government for the colony join forces, it means war."
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, 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 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 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.
He died in 1761; at the time head of what is now Princeton University,
having succeeded Jonathan Edwards as president.
After Davies' efforts ended, other influences at work ultimately brought
about the result.
The non-conformists through immigration, natural causes and religious
teachings, grew rapidly in strength and influence and became aggressive.
Presbyterian ministers no longer thought of applying in person at the
capital, Williamsburg, for license and location as required under the
Act, but preached the word of God "wherever duty and conscience inspired
them." This was particularly true in the remoter settlements west of the
Blue Ridge.
The French-Indian war was highly favorable to the growth of religious
liberty. The non-conformist frontier settlements stood as a barrier to
Indian invasion and bore the brunt of the struggle. Tidewater, Virginia,
felt grateful towards the Presbyterians and for that reason was inclined
to give a liberal construction to the Act.
In 1755, just when the colony was feeling most heavily the burden
incident to this war, the clergy of the English Church, who were paid
from the public treasury, made demand for increased salaries. Though
backed by the King, the demand was unpopular and the colonists were slow
in complying; whereupon the clergy instituted a test Suit, known as the
Parsons' case, to recover damages.
Patrick Henry was employed to represent certain citizens in opposition
to the parsons. At the time he was an unknown, ungainly and somewhat
dissipated young lawyer. It was his first big case. In the beginning he
was almost too embarrassed to speak, but as he talked he gained
confidence, until with great eloquence and passion he assailed the
clergy and finally the King; declaring that the Burgesses of Virginia
were "the only authority which could give force to the laws for the
government of the colony;" one of the first public utterances declaring
for self-government for the colony.
When the case was submitted the jury was peremptorily instructed to find
for the plaintiff; and they did so by awarding damages in the sum of one
penny. It was a great victory for Henry; the beginning of his greatness
and popularity.
The clergy, incensed by the verdict, instituted proceedings for
violations of the Act of Toleration. Under these persecutions and
counter attacks instituted by the non-conformists charging the
conformist clergy with habits of dissipation, Toryism and of laying upon
them increased burdens of taxation, the colony was greatly disturbed.
Conformist attacks were chiefly against the Baptists; the Presbyterians
had grown too strong. They charged the Baptists with being followers of
the German Anabaptists; and predicted horrors similar to those of
Munster.
Three Baptist preachers, James Chiles, John Waller and Lewis Craig, were
arrested; but were offered their release if they would discontinue
preaching. They declined. As they were being carried to prison through
the streets of Fredericksburg they sang: "Broad is the way that leads to
death;" and while confined, preached to the people who congregated
beneath the windows of the jail.
They were arraigned for "preaching the gospel contrary to law." Patrick
Henry, when he heard the charge arose and said: "What do I hear read?
Did I hear an expression that these men whom Your Worships are about to
try for misdemeanor are charged with preaching the Gospel of the Son of
God?"
The result of these persecutions made the conformist clergy yet more
unpopular; more of the people became non-conformists, until they
numerically exceeded the conformists. Then the non-conformists assumed
the role of aggressor; objected to the term dissenter, demanded the
repeal of all acts of toleration, religious freedom for all and that the
clergy of no sect be paid by general taxation.
Tory influence dominated the conformist clergy; the non-conformist
preachers, advocating religious liberty, quite naturally became the
first advocates of civil liberty and freedom for the colonies. Thus in
the issue that brought about the Revolution, one side of the religious
controversialists favored the colony, the other the king; and by the end
of the struggle the conformist or English Church was practically
non-existent.
Rev. Donald McDonald, going to Williamsburg in the spring of 1772 to
lobby against the Bill, "To Regulate His Majesty's Protestant Subjects,"
was forced to remain indefinitely. Of necessity he gave up his church in
the valley; and in order to make a living, accepted the call of a small
church in Williamsburg.
Here he made the acquaintance of and was vastly aided in his fight for
religious freedom by Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason,
Richard Henry Lee and Edmund Pendleton; three of whom were members and
vestrymen of the English Church. Each being members of the Upper House
of Assembly bore the title of Esquire, which, though now used
indiscriminately, was then a title of great respect.
In the old Bruton Church of Williamsburg, a commemorative tablet is
inscribed: "To the glory of God and in memory of the members of the
committee which drafted the law establishing religious freedom in
Virginia; Thomas Jefferson, vestryman of St. Ann's Parish; Edmund
Pendleton, vestryman of Drysdale Parish; George Wyth, vestryman of
Bruton Parish; George Mason, vestryman of Truro Parish; Thomas Ludwell
Lee, vestryman of Overwharton Parish; being all members of the
committee."
It was George Mason of Gunston Hall, vestryman of Truro Parish, who
wrote the Virginia Bill of Rights; and it was copied by Jefferson in
preparing the Declaration of Independence.
In the Virginia Bill of Rights it is declared: "That religion is the
duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it can be
directed only by reason and conviction, nor by force or violence; and
therefore that all men should enjoy the fullest toleration in the
exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience, unpunished
and unrestrained by the magistrate."
Jefferson has come down as "The father of modern democracy and religious
toleration." It was his bill establishing religious freedom, beginning:
"Well aware that Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all
attempts to influence it by temporal punishment or burdens or by civil
incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness * *
*" that Virginia in territory, then an empire, established perfect
religious freedom.
The Bill of the Virginia General Assembly, of December 17, 1785,
slightly modified and pushed through by James Madison and Patrick Henry,
became the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.