University of Virginia Library

The prevailing religious denomination of this county is the Baptist: indeed, for the last
sixty years, Virginia has been distinguished for containing a larger number of Baptists
than any other state in the Union. It is not known that any of the original settlers of
Virginia were of this denomination. The first church gathered in the colony was at
Burley, in the county of the Isle of Wight, about the year 1714, more than a century
after the landing at Jamestown, which church is supposed to have continued 40 or 50
years, when many of its members removed to North Carolina, and soon increased greatly.
They were all General Baptists; but in a few years after their removal they began
to embrace the Calvinistic sentiments. The next appearance of the Baptists in this
state was in the counties of Berkeley, Rockingham, and Loudon, from the year 1743 to
1756. This period dates the origin of the Regular Baptists in Virginia; but they did
not flourish to any considerable extent until 1760. "Their first preachers came from
the north, and some few arose in the south: all met with opposition from those in power.
`The ministers (says Leland) were imprisoned, and the disciples buffeted.' This is but
too true. No dissenters in Virginia experienced for a time harsher treatment than did
the Baptists. They were beaten and imprisoned; and cruelty taxed its ingenuity to
devise new modes of punishment and annoyance."

Outrageous mobs disturbed their congregations and preachers. A snake and a hornet's
nest were thrown into their meetings, and even in one case fire-arms were brought
to disperse them. "When the Baptists first appeared in Virginia and North Carolina
they were received by men in power as beneath their notice; and in some places persecution
in a legal shape was never resorted to. But in many others, alarmed by their
rapid increase, the men in power strained every penal law in the Virginia code to obtain
ways and means to put down these disturbers of the public peace, as they were called. It

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Among the first, if not the first Baptist preacher in this county, was John Waller,
born in Spottsylvania in 1741, and a descendant of the honorable family of that name
in England. In his youth he let himself loose to every species of wickedness, and acquired
for himself the infamous appellation of Swearing Jack Waller, and was sometimes
called the Devil's Adjutant. He was furious against the Baptists. He was a
member of a grand jury who presented one of their ministers for preaching. The jury
being dismissed, the clergyman thanked them for the honor they had done him, and
added: "While I was wicked and injurious you took no notice of me; but since I have
altered my course of life, and endeavored to reform my neighbors, you concern yourselves
much about me. I shall take the spoiling of my goods joyfully." The meekness of
spirit manifested by this man towards his persecutors, so touched the heart of Waller
that it finally resulted in his conversion. In 1770 he was ordained pastor of a church
established in his neighborhood. Accompanied by a companion he travelled into this
county, preaching wherever he went. "His name sounded far and wide. By the ungodly
he was considered as a bold, inexorable fanatic, that would do much mischief unless
restrained. The Baptists and their adherents looked upon him as sent for the defence
of their cause, and with much confidence rallied around him as their leader. His
persecutions in several counties were of the most painful character." He was confined
in the jail of Urbanna, in this county, forty-six days.

Mr. Waller continued laboring with great success in the cause. In 1773 he removed
to South Carolina, where he died in 1802, at the age of 62. He had been "a minister
of God's word for about 35 years, and in that time had been in four different jails 113
days, besides receiving reproachings, buffetings, stripes, &c. Nor was his labor in vain
in the Lord. While in Virginia, he baptized more than 2,000 persons, assisted in the
ordination of 27 ministers, and in the constitution of 18 churches."[2]

"The usual consequences followed; persecution made friends for its victims; and the
men who were not permitted to speak in public, found willing auditors in the sympathizing
crowds who gathered around the prisons to hear them preach from the grated
windows. It is not improbable that this very opposition imparted strength in another
mode, inasmuch as it at least furnished the Baptists with a common ground on which
to make resistance; and such common ground was in a great degree wanting in their
creed; for, not to speak of their great division into Regulars and Separates, some `held
to predestination, others to universal provision; some adhered to a confession of faith,
others would have none but the Bible; some practised laying on of hands, others did
not;' and in fact the only particular in which there seems to have been unanimity,
was in the favorite exclusive opinion of the sect, that none but adult believers are fit subjects
of baptism, and that immersion is the only effectual or authorized mode of administering
that sacrament."[3]

At the commencement of the American revolution, the Baptists had gained considerable
influence and power among the people. The dissenters, both the Baptists and
Presbyterians, were generally republicans. The Baptists addressed the convention of
the state, "and informed that body," says Hawks, "that their religious tenets presented
no obstacle to their taking up arms and fighting for the country; and they tendered the
services of their pastors in promoting the enlistment of the youth of their religious persuasion."
It was owing partly to the efforts of the Baptists that the established church
was abolished in Virginia. In 1785, just previous to the passage of "the Act for
establishing Religious Freedom," Mr. Madison's able remonstrance was presented to the
General Assembly "against the general assessment," pointing out the dangers to religious
liberty and to religion that lurked in the scheme. It was not until this time that
the dissenting clergymen were allowed by law to perform marriage or funeral rites;
although many, presuming on a future sanction of government, had, by the advice of
Patrick Henry, done so, as being the best means of obtaining a law to that end.
Many petitions had been and were presented to the legislature, in many different forms.
Among the rest, the following lines accompanied the petition sent by the Baptists. It
was addressed "To the Honorable General Assembly," as

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More than a century, yea, near two centuries have passed since the ringing of the
mason's trowel broke the stillness of the surrounding forest, when the walls of this temple
of the living God rose like a flower in the wilderness of Middlesex, and invited the wayfarer
to its sacred precincts. More than half a century has gone by since last the solemn
organ pealed forth its sublime symphonies, and the anthems of the choir told upon the
feelings of rapt worshippers,—now the church is a desolate ruin; and the choir, and
the worshippers—where are they? There is scarcely a vestige of the interior left; the
pulpit, the tablets, the altar, the chancel, the —, all gone! The house is roofless,
windowless. The walls alone are standing. The walls surrounding the spot constituting
the church-yard, are in ruins too, portions only remaining to mark their boundaries.
The tombs are nearly all in a dilapidated condition; but of many, there is enough left
to mark them as having been monuments of the most exquisite sculpture.