Herald of Gospel Liberty: The First American Newspaper of Religious Free Will

It is widely known that Christian values are engrained in the American culture. The foundation of what America stands for is based on the foundation of Jesus Christ and the biblical principles for governing ourselves. Although one ideation of America is of it being a melting pot of different cultures, the fundamental root of America’s founding was Christianity.

In the early years of the nineteenth century, the year 1808 to be exact, a publication came into production that ensured that Christ would be the center of discussion among the communities where the publication was destined to be placed into circulation. The Herald of Gospel Liberty was considered “the oldest religious newspaper in the world” when it was initially published. The creators of the newspaper were members of the Christian Publishing Association. Elias Smith was the editor of the gospel newspaper until October of 1817. Considered to be a religious weekly, its publications communicated the love of Jesus Christ until 1930.

Volume one hundred one was edited by J. Pressley Barrett. The opening scripting of the newspaper reads as follows: “Published in the interest of the Prince of Peace and His kingdom, as represented by the Christian Church under the organization of the Christian Publishing Association and the American Christian Convention.” The first article of this particular volume is titled “Just A Step Between the Christian and Power.” In this article the author touches on the final command that Jesus gave to his disciples.  Obey and serve or disobey and fall is what the disciples were commanded to consider. “We should remember that Jesus is depending upon us to obey, for in this way only can His kingdom prevail among men.” This is a sound statement on what it means to follow Christ.

Dayton, Ohio was the main setting where the Herald of Gospel Liberty was produced for some time, however, at different times before the 1860s it was published in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Portland, Maine and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.   The newspaper was widely circulated among the Free Will Baptist community. A few articles that were published in the paper were written by leaders among the Free Will Baptist community. Volume one of the Herald of Gospel Liberty can be found in the archives of Free Will Baptist History. One thousand six hundred seventy-seven pages of the Herald of Gospel Liberty volume one hundred one can be found on the Sabin Americana database. This was the primary source used for this blog.

Cited Sources

Herald of Gospel Liberty, Free Will Baptist History, Free Will Baptist Historical Commission, 1808-1809, https://fwbhistory.com/?page_id=665, Accessed 30 Aug. 2022

Smith, Elias, and General Convention of the Congregational and Christian Churches of the United States. Herald of gospel liberty. Vol. 101, Christian Pub. Association [etc.], 1808-1930. Sabin Americana: History of the Americas, 1500-1926, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CY0106648016/SABN?u=vic_liberty&sid=bookmark-SABN&xid=5c1d2f30&pg=5. Accessed 30 Aug. 2022.


Popular posts from this blog

Social Misnomer: Social Interactions Matter

Image
 Social media was designed to create an online environment for positive social interactions with like-minded people. However, cyberbullying and trolling have caused more harm than good on all social communication platforms. In 2020, I became the target of a troll.  At the time I corrected math errors on individual tax returns and aided victims of identity theft for the agency.  Nevertheless, this individual reached out to me regarding a stimulus check solely because she was made aware of my place of employment. Instead of returning to her tax preparer, she emailed me her tax return and asked me to look it over. All government professionals are aware that using work credentials for personal inquiries is a violation that can lead to termination of employment. Even though I did not use my work equipment to determine her issue, I was able to look at the tax return that was ill-prepared and spot errors that prevented the individual from receiving earned income credit as well a...
Read more

History of the Oxford English Dictionary

Image
Began with the speech at the London Library by Richard Chenevix on Guy Fawkes Day, 1857 (103) Two-part lecture on the subject of dictionaries (79) "an inventory of the language"; not a guide to proper usage (104) The history of meaning, the life story of each word reading of everything and the quoting of everything that showed anything of the history of the words that were to be cited; recruited a team of unpaid amateurs, as volunteers (106) January 7, 1858 is normally reckoned the starting point, at least on paper (108) completed in 1928 (25) Making of Oxford English Dictionary Rigorous dependence on gathering quotations from published or otherwise recorded uses of English and using them to illustrate the use of the sense of every single word in the language (25) Quotations could show exactly how a word has been employed over the centuries, how it has undergone subtle changes of shades of meaning, or spelling, or pronunciation; and perhaps most important off all, how and mor...
Read more

Madame C. J. Walker: December 23, 1867-May 25,1919

Image
  Madam C.J. Walker Stamp (1998) Today, hair care and cosmetics makeup a multibillion-dollar industry. This industry brought success to the first well documented female millionaire in America, named Madame C.J. Walker, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. By the time she passed away on May 25,1919, at the age of 51, in her mansion, “Villa Lewaro” in Irvington, New York, she had a business that had an annual revenue of $500,000 and her New York real estate valued at $700,000. [1] Arizona Gleam ad (1937) In 1906, she married her third husband, Charles Joseph Walker, and changed her name to Madame C.J. Walker while residing in Denver Colorado. Her first marriage was to Moses McWilliams at age fourteen. She became a single mother and widow at age twenty when he passed away. She married for the second time to John Davis in 1894. The romantic relationship with Charles Joseph Walker started while she was still married to John. After the two of them divorced she continued to ...
Read more