Obadiah Holmes

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, “You affirmed that you never did re-baptize any, yet did acknowledge that you did baptize such as were baptized before, and thereby did necessarily deny the baptism that was before administered to be baptism, the churches to be no churches, and also other ordinances, and ministers, as if all were a nullity; and did also deny the lawfulness of baptizing infants.”

The three men were fined and if their fines were not paid, they were to be publicly whipped. Someone paid Clarke and Crandall’s 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 whip.

Afterwards, Holmes famously said to the magistrates, “Ye have beaten me as with roses.” 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 “Ill News from New England.” 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. “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.” 1 Peter 2:19