09/06/2026
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๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ด๐ผ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฆ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ฎ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐
OTD in 1651 Baptist preacher Obadiah Holmes was given 30 lashes at the public whipping post in Boston. His crime? Preaching the gospel and holding an illegal Baptist worship service in Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony.
On Sunday, July 20, 1651, Baptists John Clarke, John Crandall, and Obadiah Holmes traveled from the Baptist Church at Newport, Rhode Island to Lynn, Massachusetts where they held a small Baptist service in the home of William Witter. In the middle of their service, the authorities bust in and arrested them for "seducing and drawing aside others after their erroneous judgment and practices. Under the Puritan law it was illegal for Baptists to preach or hold church services.
Of these Baptists it was said, โ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ-๐ฃ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ, ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฎ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ; ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ธ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด.โ
The three men were fined and if their fines were not paid, they were to be publicly whipped. Someone paid Clarke and Crandallโs fine, but Holmes refused to allow this. He viewed payment of the fine as admission of guilt. So, on September 5, 1651, he was given 30 lashes with a three-corded whipped.
Afterwards, Holmes famously said to the magistrates, โYe have beaten me as with roses.โ Two men, John Hazel and John Spur rushed to help Holmes. Both were arrested and fined for offering the Baptist preacher assistance! Obadiah Holmes was beaten so badly that for weeks he was forced to sleep on his elbows and knees. He would bear the scars of religious persecution for the rest of his life.
John Clarke would record this story in his book โIll News from New England.โ Clarke sailed to England where he was eventually able to convince King Charles II to allow religious liberty in the fledgling colony of Rhode Island.
Obadiah Holmes went on to serve as the second pastor of the Newport Baptist Church for 30 years. Obadiah and his wife Catherine later had ten children. Among their descents is Abraham Lincoln.
After years of faithful service, Obadiah Holmes died on October 15, 1682. May his forgotten story be rediscovered by a new generation of Baptists. โ๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ, ๐ช๐ง ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง, ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ.โ 1 ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ 2:19
