The Black Regiment - The Bane of the British, the Soul of the American Republic

Probably the most disturbing scene from the movieRomans chapter 13, Rev. West pointed out that civil
Patriot, starring Mel Gibson, is the scene where Colonelmagistrates are "ministers of God" and therefore draw
William Tavington, whose character is based on Lt.their authority from God's law. He resounded that
Colonel Banastre Tarleton, herds the inhabitants of awhen the civil magistrate subverts the authority given
whole town into the church and burns it to the ground.by God it is the duty of lesser magistrates to resist
If you attended the government schools you wouldthem.
tend to attribute this scene to the degeneration ofThe influence of the preaching of the "Black Regiment"
Hollywood to sensationalism and blood thirst. The truthwas a decisive factor in the outcome of the American
of the matter is, that due to the British hatred of theWar for Independence, but, neither did the "Black
American clergy, this scene is based on more truthRegiment" shrink from battle. It was the Rev. Jonas
than fiction. From the perspective of the British thisClark who called his congregation together on
hatred was well founded. In his article The ForgottenLexington Green on that "April Morning". The Rev.
Holiday, Tom Barrett states, "I do not consider it aJames Caldwell is well known for his cry of, "Now
stretch at all to say that were it not for the pastorsboys, give 'em Watts!", after bringing the Watts
and churches of colonial America, our land would be aHymnals from his church to the battlefield to be used
British colony today."as the paper wadding in the men's muskets. Then
It was the "Black Regiment," as it was derogatorilythere is the Lutheran minister John Muhlenberg, who
called by Tory Peter Oliver, that provided the laity withbecame a general in Washington's army, after he
the moral authority and the theological acumen toraised a regiment by preaching a sermon on Ecc. 3:1-8,
resist the tyranny of parliament and the king. Thedeclaring that, "...there is a time to fight, and that time
enemy understood the power inherent in the "Blackhas come now." At the end of his sermon he shed his
Regiment." The royalist governor of Massachusettsrobe, revealing the uniform of a Virginia Colonel.
sounded the warning, as early as 1760, that theThe "Black Regiment" did their job so well that most of
movement for independence could not be stopped ifthe American army was made up of Christians from
the colonial ministers would begin to label the crown'sthe congregations of the "Black Regiment". In fact, at
activities as tyrannical. In reply to the judge, one of thethe time of the surrender at Yorktown, all but one
soldiers on trial for his part in the "Boston Massacre"colonel in the Colonial Army were Presbyterian elders.
prayed death on the colonial clergy. Prime MinisterThe British hatred toward the American church was
Horace Walpole said, "Cousin America has run off withnot ill placed if you consider from their perspective.
a Presbyterian parson." Finally, British troops purposelyBecause the "Black Regiment" understood the Biblical
targeted churches, and used Christian churches androles of church and state, and the proper Biblical
colleges as barracks and horse stables whenresponse of the church toward the state, the
occupying colonial towns.American republic was born. Understanding the
The clergy of the American Colonies preachedprovidential view of history, the Christian seed of the
freedom from tyranny. The Rev. Samuel WestAmerican republic goes back to antiquity, but you can
preached that it is just as evil to avoid opposingsee that seed germinating in the "Black Regiment" in of
tyranny as it is to disobey righteous leaders. Citingthe War for Independence.