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"No King but Jesus"
Gun Control in the American Colonies
By Jim Higginbotham
I hope you will forgive my diversion from the
normal subject matter to share with you a story that I have always
considered important to all Americans and one pivotal to the history
of the world. You may not have heard the "rest of the
story"! This month the entire newsletter is about the "quote
of the month".
Some time in March of 1775 the Governor of
Connecticut, Jonathan Trumbal set aside a "Day of Public Fasting
and Prayer…that God would graciously pour out his Holy Spirit on us,
to bring us to a thorough repentance and effectual reformation;…That
He would restore, preserve and secure the liberties of this, and all
the other American Colonies, and make this land a mountain of Holiness
and habitation of righteousness forever…" The day he selected
for that "Day of Fasting and Prayer" was Wednesday, 19 April
1775.
On the evening of April 18, 1775 John Adams and
John Hancock met at the home of the local militia leader – and
"coincidentally" Pastor of a Lexington, Mass. church –
Jonas Clark. Unaware that at that very moment British Regulars were
setting out to confiscate the arms of the Patriots, one of the
visitors asked Rev. Clark if the people of Lexington would fight if
necessary. The Rev. replied " I have trained them for this very
hour!" Later that night who but Paul Revere should arrive to let
them know that the Redcoats were indeed on the march.
The Militia was mustered out at 1 AM on April 19
under the field command of Deacon Parker and by 2:00 there were 130
men under arms on the green near Rev. Clark’s meeting-house, with
Adams, Hancock and Clark present, but the redcoats were nowhere to be
found. So the men were dismissed with order to assemble at the beat of
the drum.
Later that morning, a six company detachment of
British Light Infantry, under Major Pitcairn was dispatched toward
Concord to capture and hold two essential bridges. He kept his
movement relatively secret by capturing and holding all persons he
encountered in route but alas a messenger on horseback finally got
away and raised the alarm in Lexington. By then Adams and Hancock had
been persuaded to quit to a neighboring town because they would surely
be a target of the British. After the alarm was given, only 70 people
were near enough to assemble by the time the British arrived. There
was an immediate face off and what followed has been told with slight
differences by several different people. Of course I cannot say, not
being there, but this is a summation of what most likely happened.
Frankly, I do not know if the Rev. Clark or Deacon Parker did the
talking for the Minutemen.
Upon seeing a mass of armed men Major Pitcairn
shouted, "Disperse, ye villains Lay down your arms in the name of
George the Sovereign King of England". The response, as reported
by more than one source (coming from Parker or Clark depending on the
source) was " We recognize no Sovereign but God and no King but
Jesus!". Who fired the first shot will always be in doubt. What
is not in doubt, is that the initial skirmish was carried by the
British with the colonists suffering 18 casualties ( 8 KIA, 10 WIA).
Deacon Parker dispersed his men, seeing the untenable odds but he did
not surrender his arms. The British did not get the arms of the
citizenry they desired – at least not in the form they desired! And
the return trip caused them much grief as the patriots began to
increase in number and harass them all the way back to Boston. Shortly
the Redcoats would "win" more battles and skirmishes costing
them in the neighborhood of 1100 casualties – there were only 7500
of His Majesty’s troops on the continent!
Later, the Reverend Jonas Clark would preach:
"From this day will be dated the liberty of the world!" .
This year, as in 1775, April 19th falls on Wednesday. It
would not be untoward, I think, to pause and reflect that 225 years
ago, several plain ordinary folks – farmers, parishioners, clergymen
– interrupted their normal lives to "turn the world upside
down" when one of them likely fired the "Shot Heard ‘Round
The World".
For Further research I would commend:
America’s Providential History, by Mark A.
Beliles and Stephen K. McDowell, Providence Foundation, 1989
The Light and the Glory, by Peter Marshall and
David Manuel, Flemming H. Revell Co., 1977
God and Government, Gary Demar, American Vision
Press, 1982
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