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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 427
'' ' You are my prisoner!'
'' Rising to his feet, the earnest-minded man of God finds himself con
fronted by an officer of the law. He is astonished at being arrested under
such circumstances, for preaching the gospel in the Parish of St. Paul;
but he has violated the legislative enactment of 1758, which established
religious worship in the colony according to the rites and ceremonies of
the Church of England. He is made to give security for his appearance
in Augusta on the following Monday, and is then allowed to continue the
services. But to the surprise of every one present, the indignation which
swells the bosom of Mr. Marshall finds vent through the lips of his wife,
who has witnessed the whole scene. "With the solemnity of the prophets
of old, she denounces the law under which her husband has been appre
hended, and to sustain her position she quotes many passages from the
Holy Scriptures, with a force which carries conviction.
"One of the most interested listeners to her exposition was the con
stable, Mr. Samuel Cartledge, who was so deeply convinced by the
inspired words of exhortation which fell from her lips that his conver
sion was the result; and, in 1777, he was baptized by the very man whom
he then held under arrest. After the interruption caused by the inci
dent above described, Mr. Marshall preached a sermon of great power,
and before the meeting was over he baptized, in the neighboring creek,
two converts, who proved to be relatives of the very man who stood secur
ity for his appearance at court. On the day appointed Mr. Marshall
went to Augusta, and after standing a trial was ordered to desist; but
he boldly replied in the language of, the Apostles, spoken under similar
circumstances.:
" 'Whether it be right to obey God or man, judge ye.'
"It is interesting to note that the magistrate who tried him, Colonel
Barnard, was also afterwards converted. Though never immersed, he
was strongly tinctured with Baptist doctrines, and often exhorted sinners
to flee from the wrath to come. He lived and died in the Church of Eng
land. Following this dramatic episode, Mr. Marshall does not seem to
have met with further trouble; but the outbreak of the Revolution soon
suspended religious activities.
"Daniel Marshall was born at "Windsor, Conn., in 1706, of Presby
terian parents. He was a man of great natural ardor and holy zeal.
For three years he buried himself in the wilderness and preached to
the Mohawk Indians near the head waters of the Susquehanna River.
"War among the savage tribes led him to remove ultimately to Virginia,
where he became a convert to Baptist views. He was immersed at the
age of forty-eight, his wife submitting to the ordinance at the same time;
and then, after preaching for several years in the two Carolinas, he came
to Georgia, settling on Kiokee Creek at the time above mentioned.
"Though neither learned nor eloquent, he possessed the rugged
strength of mind which fitted him for pioneer work, and he knew the
Scriptures. From his headquarters on Kiokee Creek he went forth
preaching the Gospel with great power. By uniting those whom he had
baptized in the neighborhood with other Baptists who lived on both sides
of the Savannah River, he formed and organized Kiokee Baptist Church,
in the spring of 1772; and this was the first Baptist Church ever consti
tuted within the limits of Georgia.