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Who are the Seventh Day Baptists?

A Little History (Part 2)

Samual Ward - Statesman and Patriot

Samuel Ward was born in 1725, the son of Richard Ward, colonial governor of the colony of Rhode Island. His family had been Seventh Day Baptists for several generations. By the late 1700's there were a number of Seventh Day Baptist churches in the colonies. Samuel Ward, like his father, was appointed by the King as colonial governor of Rhode Island.

When the British government imposed the Stamp Act, a new tax, on the colonies all of the colonial governors were asked to sign an oath of support for the tax. Samuel Ward refused to do so and in a warm letter to the crown he spelled out his reasons and sent copies of the letter to the other twelve colonial governors.

In 1774 Samuel Ward along with another former governor, Mr. Hopkins, were asked by the people of Rhode Island to represent them at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. They both agreed and rode down to Philadelphia together on horseback. When they arrived Samuel Ward was elected chairman of the Committee of the Whole--the chairman of the Congress. Samuel Ward nominated George Washington to be the general of the Revolutionary Army and was a strong supporter of the fledgling navy of the colonies.

In early 1776 an epidemic of smallpox broke out in the city of Philadelphia. At this time there was a primitive inoculation for the deadly disease. If you were inoculated you would be sick for up to two weeks and could even die but if you survived you would not die of smallpox. Mr. Hopkins choose to be inoculated and was soon sick in bed, Samuel Ward felt there was to much work to be done and decided not to be inoculated. On the 15th of March 1776 the Mr. Ward became ill and died ten days later at the age of 51. At his funeral were the men who would become the fathers of our nation, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.

In a letter to his friend George Washington, Samuel Ward once wrote, "I, Sir, have dedicated to you my life, my fortune and my sacred honor." Three months after his death the Continental Congress used his words when on July 4th, 1776 they closed the Declaration of Independence with, "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."

The Confession of Faith of Gov. Samuel Ward

To the Sabbatarian Church of Christ in Westerly & Hopkinton:

Being fully satisfied that Baptism is a Christian Duty I desire to be admitted to that Ordinance this Day: my Life & Conversation are well known; my religious Sentiments are That there is one God the Father of whom are all Things and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all Things and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all Things, That the Universe thus created has been preserved and governed by infinite Wisdom, Power and Goodness from the Beginning, That mankind having fallen into the most gross & unnatural Idolatry, Superstition and Wickedness it pleased God for their Recovery to make a Revelation of his mind & will in the holy Scriptures which (excepting the ceremonial Law and some Judicial Law peculiar to the Jews) It is the Duty of all mankind to whom they are made known sincerely to believe and obey: my Sins I sincerely & heartily repent of and firmly rely upon the unbounded Goodness and Mercy of God in his only begotten Son Christ Jesus for Pardon & eternal Life: and I sincerely desire and Resolve by his Grace for the future to walk in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord

Sam: Ward