William Kiffin, merchant-pastor

William Kiffin died. The pastor-merchant had been raised up by God’s providence so that his talents, influence, and wealth might be used to assist the persecuted brethren in the distressing period of Baptist suffering in England. For half a century, William Kiffin was the “Father of the English Baptists.” When the plague swept London in 1625, killing an estimated one third of the population, little William was but 9 years old. He experienced 6 plague sores yet miraculously recovered, though he was left an orphan as his mother and father passed. Surely God’s Almighty hand was upon the boy, for he was to grow up to be “the most beloved Baptist of his time.” William Kiffin was regenerated in his teen years through the ministry of Puritan preachers. Around age 22, he joined an independent church in London. Later he came to Baptist convictions and united with the Baptist church that John Spilsbury was pastoring. In 1640 Spilsbury’s church supervised the establishment of a “sister church” in Devonshire Square, and William became pastor, serving that capacity for the remaining 61 years of his life. He also became one of the most successful businessmen in England as he carried on trade with foreign countries as he used an assistant in the work at Devonshire Square. According to the historian Macaulay, “Kiffin was for a half century the first man in the Baptist denomination.” He was arrested many times, His first son died at age 20, his second son was poisoned by a priest that he witnessed to, and his daughter died young. His two grandsons, Benjamin and William Hewling, were martyred for their faith.
Condensed by Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 402-04.

The Whipping of Obadiah Holmes

September 05, 1651 – Obadiah Holmes was publicly flogged in the Colony of Massachusetts when the prosecutor, John Cotton said that he, along with Dr. John Clarke, and John Crandall deserved to be put to death for visiting William Witter, a sick friend in the town of Lynn and conducted Baptist worship services in his home. Governor John Endecott said that they deserved to “be hanged.” However, Cotton said that he would let them off with a fine, but if they did not pay the fine and leave the territory they would be well whipped. While the three men were confined to jail, friends in Newport, Rhode Island, raised money for the fines for all of the men. Crandall was released from the fine. Dr. Clarke and Holmes refused permission for their fines to be paid, believing that it would be an admission of guilt. As Clarke was led to the whipping post, a friend pressed money into the hands of the Puritan official, and Clarke was released. “Agreeing to the payment of my fine would constitute admission of wrong-doing,” Holmes continued to maintain. As he was stripped to the waist, Holmes preached a brief sermon to the dense crowd of men, women, and children that formed a circle about the whipping post, exhorting them to remain faithful to their beliefs. According to Holmes’s own testimony, the flogger used a whip with three hard leather lashes, stopped three times to spit on his hands, and applied the whip with all his might. Each of the thirty strokes cut three gashes through the skin. Holmes said later about the whipping: “…having joyfulness in my heart, and cheerfulness…I told the magistrates, ‘You have struck me as with roses.’”
Condensed by Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 366-67.