n 1775, after preaching a message on Ecclesiastes 3:1, “For everything there is a season, a time for every matter under heaven,” John Peter Muhlenberg closed his message by saying: “In the language of the Holy Writ, there is a time for all things. There is a time to preach and a time to fight. And now is a time to fight.” He then threw off his clerical robes to reveal the uniform of an officer in the Continental Army. That afternoon, he marched at the head of 300 men to join George Washington’s troops and become Colonel of the 8th Virginia Regiment.