The hidden role of clergy in American independence

Welcome to the last hope of a dying republic. I am your host, Reverend Bill Cook, founder

and CEO of America's Blackbroke Regiment. We are so excited to be part of the Morning

and America broadcast series on America How Loud, and hope that you will join us weekly.

We have some wonderful guests lined up, who are experts on many topics that should be

of interest to everyone, especially if you are paying attention to what's happening

in our republic. In case you're wondering what the Blackbroke Regiment is,

briefly it's in a short term that the British used to describe the pastors who fought

in the American Revolutionary War. It was a British flame for what they called the rebellion

to debt what we call the war for independence. Today the Blackbroke Regiment is raising up

courageous pastors to secure liberty to our own generation and the next. They are the last

hope of our now dying republic. We are not just raising up pastors, we are raising up patriots,

and you may be just the one needed to save our republic. I believe all of us have a part to play

for more information on America's Blackbroke Regiment, go to our website,

brrusa.org. Our guest today is someone who's been doing his part to be the hope of the dying

republic, Patrick Henry Jolly. Patrick Henry Jolly is the fifth generation great-grandson,

Patrick Henry, the Lion of Liberty. But he wasn't the only one. There were many other pastors who

stood up at major impact in the American Revolution. Today I'm going to go into a little more

detail about the nature of the Blackbroke Regiment, what it was in speeding during the American

Revolution. The Black Regiment was the name the British gave to the American clergy during the

American Revolutionary period. They called them the Black Regiment. It was the derisive reference

to the Blackroves that they were in the pub that they were full-length Black gowns, so they were

called the Black Regiment. It was kind of an insult on the clergy, but that's what the British

called them because they blamed them for what we called the war for independence, what the

British referred to as the rebellion. To them it was a rebellion. For us it was a war for liberty.

And so historians agree with this that John Adams wrote in 7063 said that there is not a right

asserted in the Declaration of Independence. They had not been discussed by the New England clergy

before 1763. So it's strange to people today to think of the rights listed in the Declaration of

Independence were nothing more than a listing of sermon topics that had been preached from colonial

puppets in the two decades preceding the American War for Independence, but such was the case.

But what does the British who saw the American clergy as largely responsible for what they

call the rebellion that came to the American independence and government. Our own leaders

agreed, for example, John Adams also rejoiced that the puppets have thundered and especially

identified several ministers as leading characters during that period in the awakening that end

a revival of the American principles and feelings that led to American independence.

Cross subsequent generations, the great and positive influence of the revolutionary

hour clergy was faithfully reported. For example, one historian wrote, as a body of men,

the clergy were preeminent in their attachment to liberty, the pulpits of the land

wrang with the notes of freedom. That was in the American quarterly register in 1833.

One periodical said, if Christian ministers had not preached and prayed, there might have been no

revolution as yet. Or had it broken out that it might have been crushed by the British.

Another periodical wrote, ministers of the revolution were like their Puritan predecessors bold

and fearless in the cause of their country. No class of men contributed more to carry forward

the revolution and to achieve our independence than did the ministers. Another periodical wrote,

the highest assistance to the civil government, the army and the country was rendered by the

ministers, said historian B. F. Morris in 1864. The Constitutional Convention and

written Constitution were the children of the pulpit. And so, as I said before many times,

America was preached into existence by the pulpit of the American Revolution.

As one historian also wrote, the American clergy were faithful proponents of the fullness of

God's word, applying its principles to every aspect of life, thus shaping America's institutes

and culture. They were also at the forefront of proclaiming liberty, resisting tyranny,

opposing any encroachments upon God-given rights and freedoms. In 1898, Methodist minister

and church historian Charles Galloway observed that these ministers, he said, they were mighty men

they were of iron nerve and strong hand and unblanced, cheap and hard of flame. God needed not

reads shaken by the wind, but not men clothed in soft clothing, but heroes of hardy hood and

lofty courage, and such were the sons of the mighty who responded to the divine call.

The American Revolution began in Lexington with the shot her around the world,

it began on the lawn of Jonas Clark's church. He was a key figure at that time. He had preached

the principles of liberty through his congregation for many years. And so, one historian

wrote a film that he was more dangerous than all the military stories in the colony.

And it has so infected the minds of the farmers with his calm and deep indignation.

And when regulars came marching up the old turnpike on the gray dawn of April 1975,

they found all the farmers converted to a doctrine of liberty that armed and sustained a young

nation for seven years' war. That was a pastor, Jonas Clark. He was an incredible man.

He had a huge impact upon the people of Lexington. He was a pastor, he was going to be a

pacifist, but he wasn't. He was actually very involved in training the militia in Lexington. He

actually trained them and prepared them for battle. But Clark was not unique. He wasn't the only

pastor who actually stood up for liberty. He was also a pastor in Woodstock, Virginia,

named Peter Muleenberg. Peter was a member of the first government in Virginia,

the Virginia House of Burgesses. And he used in the room when Patrick Henry gave his liberty

or death speech. And when Henry was finished, he motioned that all Virginia counties could put

into a state of defense, which would imply raising militia in those counties. And it was the pastor,

pastor Muleenberg sitting there who raised his hand, second Henry's motion. While he was there,

he was also asked by George Washington to accept the commission and the continental army as a

colonel. And he accepted that commission. He rode back to Woodstock, took him about six days on

horseback when he got back to his town in Woodstock. He entered his church. On the Sabbath,

he preached his farewell sermon to his congregation. The church was packed that day. He was

filled with people from all over the colony because Americans were outraged at what the British had

done in Lexington. They considered it an act of murder. And so Henry roused them with the speech

as becoming the lion of liberty and the voice of the revolution. So Muleenberg, second Henry's

motion and raising militia at that time was the implications of having militia in your county meant

that you were raising up armed men to defend your people. And Muleenberg seconded that motion. He

didn't say I'm a pastor. I can't second, you know, I can't second emotion that involves people

in violence. He actually led them in that. So he rode back to Woodstock and he just pulped it

this following Sunday and he preached out of Ecclesiastes chapter three verses one to eight,

which is the verse that begins with to everything. There is a season and a time to every

purpose under heaven. The time to be born and the time to die. The time to plant and the time to

pluck up that which is planted. The time to give and the time to take. He preached through all eight

verses when he came to the last verse. It says this time for war and time for peace. So Muleenberg

in dramatic fashion shut his Bible, came down from the pulpit through off his preaches who rove

into the pulpit. And he was already dressed in full uniform in a continental army,

Colonel's uniform. And he said in a voice that funded because people standing in the graveyard

needed to hear him, he said in the language of Holy Rit, there's a time for all things,

time to preach, a time to pray and a time to fight. That time has now come. The very famous

sermon. He then came down from the pulpit. He ordered crumbs to begin cadence for recruits at the

rear of the church. And when all was said and done, he ended up recruiting 300 men from the front

to your church, formed the eighth Virginia regimen, which he led successfully throughout the

American Revolution. And he marched off the war with 300 men that day with his regimen.

He was very successful army colonel. He was eventually promoted to Brigadier General.

And at war's end, he was what was called brevity to major general. I believe it was sort of a

decorous promotion. He was promoted to major general of war's end. And he's actually pictured in

the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in the US Capitol. He's in the painting where he's one of

the horsemen that aligned up next to George Washington in that painting. At the end of the war,

he was quite a hero. When his flock begged him to come back and be their pastor,

his response was like a no longer build a house of God, fry him a bloody man. He knew he had shed blood

in the American Revolution. And he just felt he couldn't go back to pastor. So he decided to run for Congress.

So apparently he didn't didn't get the memo about separation of church and state.

It was nowhere in his thinking. He ran for Congress. He was elected to the first Congress.

And in subsequent Congresses, but his brother Friedrich Augustus Mielenberg, who was an

opponent of his initially opposed him, and said, you shouldn't leave the pulpit.

It'd be involved in the war for independence to fight for liberty. And he and his brother Friedrich

got into a debate in letters that came to be known, famously known as the Battle of the Quills.

And his brother kind of came around to Peter's way of thinking where his church was burned down

by the British in New England. He had a church in Rhode Island. So he needed to say he kind of

became a convert of Peter's. But Peter also ran, not just for Congress, he also ran for the Senate.

He was one term senator. As he was a congressman, he had multiple terms in Congress.

And he died on the day he was born. 61 years to the day on the day he was born.

Peter Mielenberg did. Just an amazing man. You can see the sovereignty of God and the formation

of our nation and the formation of this great nation. And so we're thankful to God for that.

In 1876, Reverend George V. Spalding preached a sermon on the 100th anniversary of independence.

It was a sermon on the pulpit of the American Revolution. George V. Spalding said,

the principle of our civil liberty and our national independence did not find their first utterance

in the great declarations, speaking of the Declaration of Independence. They did not spring to life

in the debates of the provincial Congress. They did not originate in the Lambert papers of Adams

and Jefferson. They did not leave forth their first light in the impassioned eloquence of James

Otis or the vehement appeal of Patrick Henry. They had their birth in the election sermons in the

Fasten Thanksgiving Discourses of the Congregational Ministers of New England.

Before the insurrection of arms, there had been an insurrection in the hearts and the thoughts

and words of Adams Hancock, Otis Jefferson, Henry Franklin, Robert T. Payne, accomplished lawyers,

segregation statesmen, eloquent speakers. Before Adams or Hancock or Franklin or Jefferson,

and other of their denunciations of British tyranny, before even the possibility of resistance

to arbitrary power that had been thought of by them, before they had even dreamed of independence

and the union of the colonies and the great nationality, the clergy and the inspiration of a gospel

which the status of liberty had been laying bare the falsity of royal assumptions.

Spounding the principles of good government and a manhood in the state and schooling legislators

and judges and the people to an understanding of those civil rights which are the offspring

of religious freedom. And as events thickened in advance of all others, they were ever narrowing

the issue between the colonies and the home government. Concentrating more and more,

the aroused indignation of an oppressed people into the idea of resistance and pointing

out to the sick issue statesmen of the day, the principles and method of the vital union

and cooperation among the prophecies. Who are these men who hold the background in the picture

whose very obscurity serves to make more prominent these others? They were the congregational ministers.

In his book titled The Puppet of the Revolution, John Wingate Thornton wrote,

the true alliance between politics and religion is the lesson inculcated in this volume of sermons

and apparent in its title, The Puppet of the Revolution. He said it is the voice of the fathers

of the Republic and force by their example, they'd vote God in their civil assemblies,

called upon their chosen teachers of religion for counsel from the Bible, and recognized its

precepts as the law of their public conduct. The fathers did not divorce politics and religion,

but then denounced the separation as one godly. They prepared for the struggle and went into battle,

not as soldiers of fortune, but like common romyle and the soldiers of the commonwealth,

with the word of God in their hearts entrusting in him. This was the secret of that moral energy

which stained the Republic in its material weakness against superior numbers and discipline

and all the power of England. To these sermons, the response was from the public, the state

affixed its impromotor, and thus they were handed down the future generations with a twofold

claim to respect. Who was John's flarm? Well, he was the minister of the church in Lexington,

he was the pastor who was deeply involved in all aspects of the the shot fired or around the world.

He was the pastor of the Old North Church in Lexington, and he was considered as a pastor of

the most powerful politician in Lexington and Concord. He authored all the crucial state papers

written to represent Lexington. His own was a frequent meeting place for men like John Hancock

and Samuel Adams, which safety could not be assured inside Boston. He was entertaining

Adams and Hancock on even the Battle of Lexington. The night before the Battle of Lexington, Paul

Revere arrived at Clark's home around midnight. He found the family at rest. He conveyed the

message that the British were on their way to Lexington with orders to destroy the town's

weapon stores and arrest the two founders. Do not return without the headless bodies of Hancock

and Adams was the message he gave them. One of the two men that were there, Hancock or Adams said,

sir, we are people fight. And the pastor said, sir, I said I have prepared them for this very hour.

Indeed he had. For Clark, it actually helped to train Lexington's militia.

On April, 1970-75, the militia began to muster on Lexington green near Clark's meeting house.

At 2 a.m., Clark arrived in his countrymen number to 130. Guns were loaded with powder and ball

in the presence of Adams and Hancock and Clark. When the firing ceased on Lexington green, eight

members of Clark's flock were dead. Ten were wounded. Sam Adams preached a sermon a year later in

which he said, oh what a glorious morning this is. Guns Clark preached from this day shall be

dated the liberty of the world and indeed it did date from that date. Again, back to pastors today.

We are calling pastors to enter the fray for this country. Our show is called Revolutionary

Puppets, the last hope of a dying republic. America was given revolutionary pulpits or what gave

birth to America and we desperately need revolutionary pulpits today. We need pulpits that are not

afraid. They are not afraid to preach the truth no matter where it leads and put a willing to

sacrifice life and freedom for this country. We need to put our lives in the line for this country.

We must stand up for liberty. Liberty is a precious gift. That's why Patrick Henry could say with

all honesty, give me liberty or give me death. He understood the meaning of liberty.

He understood what the loss of liberty meant. So it was something worth fighting for.

And I would say to the pastors today, liberty is worth fighting for. It's worth putting everything

we have on the line, no matter what that is, no matter the relationships, no matter what

possessions we have that we're protecting, everything is worth liberty. Because liberty is a

spiritual principle, actually. We must stand up for it. Again, to learn more about the Black

Road Regiment, go to our website, drrusa.org and read about the stories of the pastors who figured

prominently in the American War for Independence. There were many of them.

Jonas Clark was just one, but his example was followed by many more during the revolution.

Many pastors actually took up arms and bought the British on their march back to Boston.

The American Patriots led by their pastors caused 324 British casualties

in their march back to Boston. Hi, this is Colonel Mike from the National Security. Our

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Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to the last hope of a nine work public.

Speaking of founding fathers, Patrick Henry was my favorite founding father. He was known as

the Lion of Liberty. We honored to have with us today a direct descendant of Patrick Henry,

Patrick Henry Jolle. I met Patrick's cousin Alice Morrow when I was speaking at a clay

clay conference several years ago and she introduced me to Patrick. We've done events together since

and Patrick does excellent reenactments Patrick Henry's Liberty or Death Speech. In costume March 23,

marks the 211st anniversary of Patrick Henry's Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death Speech.

We had the pleasure of seeing him reenact that speech at the Storke St. John's Church in Richmond

last year. So Patrick, it's great to have you. Patrick is a fifth great grandson of the American

Patriot Patrick Henry. Splits his sign between his native Ohio and Virginia. Patrick has been

speaking on a variety of topics related to the personal and professional life of his ancestor

since 1992. Patrick can often be founded Red Hill, the last home and burial spot of Patrick Henry,

located in Charlottes County, Virginia. Welcome to the show, Patrick. Thank you very much. It's a

pleasure to be with you here, Bill. Pleasure to have you. You've studied your great

uncle's writings for many years, so share with some of the things that made Patrick Henry so

passionate about Liberty. When he said Liberty, that meant something to him. That meant something to him,

for sure. Today, I think that most often when people think of Patrick Henry, the word Liberty

does come to mind. The seven words for which he's probably most known by the public, obviously,

give me Liberty or give me death. Sometimes I'll talk to people and they won't necessarily remember

who said that, and probably not the context in which it was said, but yet they're still familiar

with those seven words, and you can more often than not begin the phrase and they'll be able to

finish it. But Patrick Henry was the one who said that, and as you mentioned in the introduction,

the year was March 23rd, 1775, and we'll get into a little bit more of the context of that.

But in studying his life, I realized that there's a lot more to his life than just those seven words.

You mentioned that I've been doing this since the early 1990s, and when I was first asked

to do a talk on Patrick Henry way back when somebody found out my name, Patrick Henry Jolly,

and they asked the connection to Patrick Henry, and I explained it, and they asked me to speak to

a DAR group, daughters of the American Revolution, up in Ohio. And I agreed, as I began to study,

I realized that I didn't know a whole lot about the man, that there was a lot that I was going

to need to put together before I could do a full talk on Patrick Henry. But I did the talk,

and I actually have a cassette recording of that talk, and unfortunately it's filled with a lot

of mistakes. But fortunately, in the sense that I can go back and listen to it, and really

kind of see where my journey began when it came to Patrick Henry, and learning that he was much

more than just those words, give me liberty or give me death. You know, he was the five-term,

a five-time governor of the state of Virginia. He was Virginia's first governor after the American

Revolution, or after we declared our independence. He took office in July of 1776. So there's so much

that he did. We can get into his conversation, we can get into a conversation about his role

with the United States Constitution, and he was against ratification of the Constitution.

We can get into, and I learned about, through the years about his involvement in the Bill of

Rights, and making sure that we had a Bill of Rights that were attached to our Constitution.

His success as an attorney, his passion really throughout all of this, the common thread

through all of this was how people were treated, and treating them fairly, and justly. So that was

kind of a common thread that I kind of found throughout all of my studies about Patrick Henry

from the very beginning, but there was just so much to this man that most people don't know.

Well, I love Patrick Henry. I met Patrick's cousin,

the way Alice, several years ago, speaking of a play car conference, and when I was done,

she came up to me. I didn't know she was. I take my picture with you, and I thought to myself,

first thought was, I didn't even know what a selfie was. At that time, my life, but I was excited

to do it when she told me she was Patrick Henry's address and then Patrick Henry's. I was thrilled.

So that made the night for me. So that was my introduction. She was my introduction to you

going forward. It's funny because I first met her mother, who was a cousin of my mother.

She was here on the 4th of July, several years ago. This is Joy Alice's mother.

And I was talking to somebody, and a lot of people talked to me at Red Hill on the 4th of July,

and I was talking to somebody, and I finished that conversation, and then this older woman

comes up to me. And her mother was probably about five foot one, five foot two, and you know,

Joy Alice. But Elizabeth came up to me, and she said, I'm your mother's first cousin,

and I was like, excuse me, my mother was an only child, didn't have a real big family,

and I had never met this person before. And she goes, I'm your mother's first cousin.

And she mentioned some other names, and all of a sudden it just kind of all came together in my

head, and I'm like, oh my goodness, okay, yeah. So that was my first meeting of her mother.

And then obviously meeting Joy Alice, and she's a wonderful person. Joy Alice is a wonderful

person, and supporter of what I do, and what Red Hill does, and she's involved here as well.

If you can't tell us about Patrick Henry's faith, and how it impacted his passion for liberty.

Sure. And it's kind of interesting, because Patrick Henry grew up in an interesting home.

He was born in 1736, and obviously we declared our independence in 1776.

In Patrick Henry's time in colonial Virginia, the Anglican Church was the official church

of the colony of Virginia. And so everybody was required to attend the Anglican,

an Anglican Church service, a certain number of times per month. If they missed, they were fined.

If they continued to miss, they would be brought in front of the General Court in Williamsburg,

where they could be fined. And if they couldn't pay the fines, they might receive lashes,

be whipped. So the Anglican Church took attendance very seriously.

There were people that were not so in favor of this, and they were known as dissenters.

And they were people that preferred to worship Christ in a little bit of a different way.

And so they would have meetings, they couldn't call them churches, but they would have meetings.

Sometimes buildings were built, and they were referred to as reading houses or meeting houses.

But Patrick's mother, so Patrick's father was an Anglican, was a vestryman for the Anglican

Church, John Henry. John Henry's brother was an Anglican minister over in that area,

the area of Hanover County. His name was Reverend Patrick Henry. So that's Patrick Henry's uncle.

Patrick's mother and her family were dissenters. And so there are records of Sarah's father,

or Patrick's grandfather, maternal grandfather, of actually having to go to General Court and being

fined for hosting an unlicensed minister in his house. And he was fined for that.

So Patrick grew up in an interesting home where Christianity was the faith of the family,

but there was differing practices. You had the Anglican practices of his father,

and you had what would become Presbyterian of his mother. Patrick did remain a lifelong member

of the Anglican Church, but I think that that experience that he had with the differing

denominations, I'll say, in his family gave him an understanding that people ought to have the

right to worship God the way they want to worship God. The Anglicans and the Presbyterians, as they

became, they both acknowledged Jesus Christ as the Son of God, that he was put on the cross

as for atonement for our sins, but they just worshipped in a different way. And so Patrick had

an understanding of that. And as an attorney, he represented ministers who had been arrested

for disturbing the peace or practicing without a license. So Patrick's faith was something that

was very important to him. He acknowledged later in life that he wished that he would have spent

more time reading a scripture, but we do know that from family members that he did spend time

every day, especially here at Red Hill in his later years, we don't know his practices

earlier in life as far as his devotional practices. But we know that here at Red Hill,

he would spend time every day reading scripture. He would spend an hour every evening in the law

office, in meditation and prayer. He would spend time every week because there was no Anglican

church near Red Hill. And for that matter, there really wasn't any church close to Red Hill when

you think of horse and buggy days. There were a couple of Presbyterian churches that were somewhat

nearby, but he basically held church once a week here at Red Hill, where he would read printed

sermons from people and then afterward from ministers and then afterwards he might pick up his

violin, his wife or one of his daughters might get on the piano and they would sing hymns.

So his faith was something that was very, very important to him and a letter that was written

when he died by his wife Dorothea really showed Patrick's faith in the gospel. She wrote a letter to

one of Patrick's daughters from his first marriage and said that Patrick faced death with a certainty

that his sins would be pardoned by the blood of a bleeding savior. And so he certainly understood

the gospel and that was something that was very important to him. Tell us about Samuel Davies and

Paul Reed Church. Sure. So Samuel Davies was a minister, a Presbyterian minister who was licensed.

He was allowed to preach. He was licensed by the colony of Virginia, even though he was Presbyterian.

He jumped through all the hoops that were required. And he was licensed to preach in several locations

throughout Hanover County. I believe Goochland County and maybe even Louisa County. And Patrick

saw Reverend Davies preach for several years. His mother would take him to Paul Reed Church and

possibly others as well. And he would sit under the teaching of Samuel Davies. Samuel was a fiery

preacher, a very dynamic preacher. And somebody who Patrick looked up to not only from a spiritual

sense, but also from a sense of oratory skills. Later Patrick would say that Reverend Davies was

the greatest orator that he had ever heard. And that's high praise coming from somebody like Patrick

Henry who's known for his oratory skills. But yeah, he was a powerful speaker. You wouldn't go a

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Welcome back to the last topic of the Diner Republic folks. Speaking of founding fathers

Patrick Henry was my favorite founding father like bar. With us today is Patrick Henry Jolly

and great grandsons of Patrick Henry. Patrick, continue. Tell us more about the Samuel Davies.

Sure, Samuel Davies as I mentioned was just a great influence on Patrick Henry.

Patrick was around Samuel Davies during Davies entire time in Hanover County which

expanded out 11 years. Samuel Davies was somebody who spoke the gospel. He was somebody who also

encouraged the education of the enslaved. He wanted them to understand the gospel. He wanted

them to be able to read scripture. And while I don't know if I would necessarily call Samuel Davies

an abolitionist, he understood that slavery wasn't good but yet he himself still had enslaved

much like Patrick Henry. Patrick Henry wrestled with the moral issue of slavery but at the end of

the day he still had slaves at Red Hill and one of his other plantations. But one of the other

things about Davies is he was his patriotic feelings and he early on during the French and Indian

War when George Washington first kind of became known because he took over command of general

Braddock's army when Braddock was killed. And this young George Washington just kind of took

over and kind of assumed leadership of the soldiers. And Reverend Davies, whether you call it a

prophecy or not, referenced that in a sermon and he talked about how he could see that God

has great plans for this young man. And obviously as we look at history and the life of George

Washington, we can indeed see that God had big plans for his life. But Samuel Davies recognized

that when George Washington was, I don't want to say a nobody, but when George Washington was

just a leader of a group of soldiers, he assumed that leadership and did so successfully.

And Davies recognized that and kind of acknowledged that God has plans for this guy.

So Samuel Davies was somebody who understood the problems or the potential problems

between the colonies and Great Britain. Obviously when he was here, things were not

to a revolutionary point. But yet he understood that the colonists needed to be treated fairly

and he understood that somehow this George Washington guy was going to play a role in it.

Tell us what the context of Patrick Henry's speech and liberty. Certainly. So in 1775, things had

become pretty heated. After 1765, that was when Patrick Henry put forth resolutions and Virginia

passed these resolutions that they would officially resist the stamp tax. This is 1765.

Thomas Jefferson would later refer to the resolutions and Patrick Henry's involvement

as Patrick Henry giving first impulse to the ball of the American Revolution. So that's 1765.

Throughout the next 10 years, things just got really bad and this is kind of a summary of the

American Revolution. Things just got bad. More taxes were put on the people. Soldiers were

brought over from Great Britain. They were quartered here in the colonies at people's homes.

Things just got really out of control. And by 1775, things had gotten so bad.

The port up in Boston had been closed. Boston was having Massachusetts was having their issues.

Patrick foresaw the need that Virginia had to defend itself,

air to defend itself against Great Britain. And that's really what liberty or death was all about.

On March 23rd, the fourth day of the second Virginia convention. It was the Thursday.

Patrick put forth resolutions to the to the convention saying that it was time for Virginia to arm

to get the militias up and running again and to prepare to defend herself against Great Britain.

As he worded it to put themselves into a posture of defense.

And there was a lot of argument back and forth about this. It wasn't a slam dunk.

There were a lot of people that said, no, things are going to work out. We're going to get our

relationship with Great Britain back. Let's just kind of leave it alone and see where this goes.

And he didn't feel that way. He felt the time had come that it was now time to defend ourselves.

And so he presented what we know today as the liberty or death speech.

And his resolutions were passed narrowly, but they passed. And Virginia prepared to defend

herself. And then a year later, we ended up declaring our independence.

But it was a it was heated because again, a lot of people, a lot of leaders thought that we

still could maintain a relationship with Great Britain. That's one thing that people don't understand.

People kind of think that everybody was for independence. Let's break away from Great Britain.

Even with liberty or death, the talk wasn't about, there were a few sentences, but the point

of liberty or death wasn't about independence. It was about protecting ourselves.

When I speak to students, sometimes I use the example of bullying, that we were being bullied

by Great Britain. And finally, there comes the time where you have to stand up to the bully.

That doesn't mean, doesn't immediately mean independence from Great Britain.

You know, maybe we could have reconciled at some point, but Patrick realized by 1775 that there was

no, that that was not going to happen. But a lot of people, John Adams, George Washington,

Patrick Henry early on. It wasn't at that, you know, it wasn't always about independence. It was

just about being treated fairly. Then there came a point in 1775, 1776, where people started to

realize, okay, there's there's not reconciliation that's going to happen and then talk of independence

began. But liberty or death was really just kind of about protecting ourselves.

Wow. So how did that idea of self-defense or defending ourselves? How did that manifest itself

in terms of, I know they formed militias, but what I know if you started forming a militia today,

you know, and I mean, taking into the mic the thing. That may not end well today.

Well, basically every, every county had what they referred to as a committee of safety.

And the committee of safety would, there would be militias that were formed, members of the

county, citizens of the county, who would, who would muster and be called on for whatever reason.

Now, it's a good question here because less than a month after liberty or death.

So March 23rd, 1775, we know that some bad things happened up in Massachusetts on the 19th of April

of 1775, Lexington and Concord, the shot heard around the world.

The governor in Massachusetts had ordered soldiers to confiscate arms from citizens at a certain location.

And things got ugly, shots were fired, and thus the shot heard around the world, the revolutionary

war had started. That was less than a month after liberty or death. But what some people don't

realize is that the same thing was happening in Virginia. The exact same thing was happening in

Virginia on the 20th, I think it was the 20th of April. One day after Lexington and Concord,

they didn't have the internet, they didn't have high speed communication like we have right now.

So in a concerted effort, the governor of Virginia had soldiers remove gunpowder

from the public magazine in Williamsburg. Same thing that happened up there.

Residents realized it happened, it happened in the middle of the night under the cover of darkness.

Residents realized what happened and they were furious. Several militias, several county militias

were mustard and specifically in Hanover County. And Samuel Meredith was the captain, that was Patrick

Henry's brother-in-law. Patrick was in Hanover County at the time. And he said,

Samuel Meredith actually stepped aside and let Patrick Henry command the militia.

And so Patrick led an armed march. This was less than a month after liberty or death. He led an

armed march towards Williamsburg. Now it ended about 16 miles from Williamsburg at a place called

Don Castles Ordinary. And he was met by a representative of the governor with a voucher.

For I think it was 330 English pounds to buy gunpowder, to pay for the gunpowder that was

taken. So he didn't get the gunpowder back, but he was given money to go purchase gunpowder to replace

it. And that satisfied Patrick. But meanwhile the governor had basically barricaded himself

into the governor's mansion in Williamsburg. He removed his family to a ship down on the river,

down on the James River. And he surrounded the governor's mansion with cannons and with soldiers

all to protect himself from Patrick Henry and his men that were marching towards Williamsburg

to demand the gunpowder back. So that's an example of how it was manifested, where he saw that

something was wrong. The gunpowder was stolen by the by the government, by the governor.

And he demanded either return of it, he ended up being paid for it. But it was it was him

kind of putting his putting actions to his words that he had spoken just a month earlier

when he said, give me liberty or give me death.

Well, I would I want to ask if if you're a pastor on this meeting today and you're

being Patrick Henry speak about the defense of citizens toward their their jurisdictions.

Are you are you a a lion of liberty pastor? Ask yourself am I a lion of liberty? Are you willing

to defend what God is entrusted to you? And he's entrusted a lot to you as a pastor.

So we're calling pastors to really step up and stand in defense of their congregations by

by voting against things that are happening in our country. They're really evil.

Things like an abortion amendment redistricting of our state. We've got to stand against those

things and you as a pastor have got to step up and defend your people by calling them to stand

and lead within their jurisdictions in terms of their vote. It's critical. It's critical that

pastors lead their congregations in voting. That's exactly right and I think that when you say that

I think sometimes pastors are afraid because they're afraid of the Johnson amendment and things

like that that they're going to be shut down or tax exempt going to be taken away from them or

something like that. But if you preach scripture that's the bottom line. Preach scripture then

all these other values will say and issues will fall into place and have people have your congregations

understand scripture preach scripture from the pulpit and they're going to know

what values are biblical and what values are not biblical.

Patrick, let me ask you if you could do this. This might be a little bit of awkward position.

Could you for us today re-enact the last few lines of that speech. The famous give me liberty

give me death speech because Patrick Henry really mattered when he said I believe he was 100%

sincere. Oh, he really was. Do what you can. I'll do the ending of it for you in a button-down

shirt. It is a vein to extenduate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace, but there is no

peace. The war has actually begun. The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears

the clash of resounding arms. Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle?

What is it the gentleman wish? What would they have? Is life so dear? Is peace so sweet as to be

purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it almighty God. For I know not what course

others may take, but as for me give me liberty or give me death. Amen. Well said. I'm

talking about Red Hill, Virginia. Red Hill is the national memorial for Patrick Henry. As you

mentioned earlier, it's in Charlotte County, Virginia. If you look on a map, it's about a half

hour south east of Lynchburg and Liberty University. But it's the last home in burial place of

Patrick Henry. It's a beautiful place. We'd love for your people to come out and see Red Hill

and experience Red Hill the beauty of this place. When you walk the grounds of Red Hill, you really

get a picture of who Patrick Henry was. It's not a Monticello. It's not a Mount Vernon. It's a very

small kind of cabin on a hill. But it really shows you the personality and the character of Patrick

Henry. He wasn't about stuff. He wasn't about material things. We've got a lot of cool things planned

for the 250th. We've got a play on Patrick Henry's life that's going to be performed

over the weekend of May 29th, 30th and 31st. And then the following weekend, over in

whatever the dates are June 5th, 6th and 7th. May 29th is in Brook Neal. That's the town that's

Red Hill is near. May 31st, which is a Sunday afternoon at Randolph Henry High School, which is in

Charlotte Courthouse, obviously Charlotte County, Virginia. Then the following weekend,

Hampton Sydney College, which is in Prince Edward County on Friday night, Liberty University on

Saturday and then back to St. John's Church on Sunday, June 7th. So if you go to our website,

redhill.org slash events, you'll be able to get information on the play.

So different places that people want more information on that, they can certainly go to our website

or contact Red Hill to get information on the play is called Oh Henry, a revolutionary life.

And it really kind of shows how Patrick Henry was somebody who really was a voice of the people who

spoke in defense of people's rights. That's really good. We're going to have to get down

there ourselves. I hope you do. We need to have you here. Good. Thank you for joining us today,

Patrick. It's been a delight to have you. We got to have you back. I think we'll get you back.

That sounds good to me. Sounds good to me. All right.

Well, thank you all for joining us. We're glad you came. And we're going to be closing this out now.

Let's just say a prayer to Anne.

Father, thank you for the time we've just had together. Thank you for the truth that's been

administered in our hearing. Thank you for the passion of Patrick Henry. The passion that motivated

him, the duty did. Lord, we thank you for him. We thank you for his life. And we pray that you would

just continue to use that life to motivate us to do the things we must do to spend liberty.

Father, we ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you very much for having me.

Thank you for listening today, ladies and gentlemen. Please go to our website,

brrusa.org. And I want to finish with the words of Benjamin Franklin when he was asked by a woman

after the after the cost of the conventional convention, what kind of government have we got?

And he said, a republic, if you can keep it.