The Black Regiment

The clergy helped lead the resistance and independence movement in America. They were often described as the “black regiment” because of the black robes they wore while preaching. Before marching off to join Washington’s army, Lutheran pastor John Muhlenberg delivered a powerful sermon from Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 that concluded with these words:

The Bible tells us there is a time for all things and there is a time to preach and a time to pray but the time for me to preach has passed away, and there is a time to fight, and that time has come now. Now is the time to fight! Call for recruits! Sound the drums!

Then Muhlenberg took off his clerical robe to reveal the uniform of a Virginia colonel. Grabbing his musket from behind the pulpit, he donned his colonel’s hat and marched off to war.

There is a war going on in America today. It has not come to the force of arms, but it is a war nonetheless. Pastors should thunder from the pulpits where the battles are waging, and what we can do to engage in the fight.