This
is the day that … CHARLES
FINNEY was
ordained to the Christian ministry, in 1824.
Thus began – or “continued” might
be a more accurate word – a mighty moving of the Spirit of God through this
converted lawyer. Immediately the
winning of the lost had become his one purpose in life … as he expressed it – he had been given a
“retainer from the Lord Jesus Christ to plead His cause”.
Elmer Towns sums up one of Finney’s
revival campaigns: “During his meetings
in Rochester, New York … 1,200 people united with the churches of the Rochester
Presbytery; all the leading lawyers,
physicians and businessmen were saved;
40 of the converts entered the ministry, and the whole character of the
town was changed. As a result of that
meeting revivals broke out in 1,500 other towns and villages” (Hall of Fame, page 102).
It is estimated that “over 500,000
responded to his public invitations to receive Christ” (ibid).
In 1835 Finney became president of
Oberlin College, introducing a curious blend of Calvinism and Arminianism into
his theological teaching.
His autobiography has been
republished in paperback (Bethany Fellowship, 1977, 230 pages), and his Revival Lectures are still a classic in
their particular field.
“The pastor who ordained Finney
later said he regretted this ordination,” writes Jack Hyles in his book Today. “Finney became known as somewhat of a fanatic, embarrassing his
old pastor. God give us more
fanatics!!”
This
is the day that … THOMAS
CRANMER was
born in 1489.
He was Archbishop of Canterbury at
the time of England’s stormy break with the Church of Rome.
King Henry VIII wanted his marriage
to Catherine of Aragon dissolved on the grounds that she was the widow of
Henry’s brother when the marriage had taken place. The reason, however,
was that she had borne him no son – or did she look like doing so – and Anne
Boleyn had caught his eye.
The Pope said, “No!” As far as he was concerned the marriage was
legal and binding. And he was right.
But Cranmer – already influenced by
the Protestant Reformers – pronounced Catherine’s marriage “null and void” and
conducted the ceremony between the king and Anne. Their child was born four months later, a girl.
Cranmer lived through the rest of
Henry’s marriages – into the reign of Edward VI (1547-1553), during which time
he was mainly responsible for the Book of
Common Prayer (1549, revised 1552).
Now his Protestantism had come to
the fore; so much so that during the reign of Romanist Mary Tudor (1553-1558)
he was burned at the stake rather than renounce his faith.
“As for the Pope,” he cried to the
crowd in those moments before his martyrdom, “I refuse him with all his false
doctrine as Christ’s enemy and as Anti-Christ!” (Foxe’s Book of Martyrs).
And so Thomas Cranmer died – 21
March, 1556.
This
is the day that … HANS
EGEDE
arrived in Greenland in 1721. He was 35
years of age.
Accompanying him was his wife
Gertrude (13 years his senior) and their little son, Paul, who was later
destined to play a major role in reaching the pagan Eskimos with the gospel.
At the age of 21 Hans Egede had
pastored a Lutheran church in Vaagen, Norway, and to him had come – like a
Macedonian call – the spiritual need of Greenland.
Now, after untold obstacles,
including the initial opposition of his wife, Hans Egede set foot on this
“barren and dead” land.
The Eskimos “were slaves of
repulsive habits, their priests and wizards tried to kill the missionary. Sometimes there was no food to be had …” (Torchbearers of the Faith, by A. Smellie,
page 221).
Some years later a smallpox
epidemic slew 3000 people, including his beloved wife (in 1736).
Moravian missionaries arrived and
saw conversions. “Bitter with envy and
resentment,” writes Ruth Tucker, “Egede accused them of ‘reaping what I have
ploughed’” (From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya,
page 79).
Was there ever a sadder text chosen
by a missionary as he left the field:
“I have laboured in vain…” (Isaiah 49:4).
Hans Egede returned to Norway with
his two sons, Paul and Niels. And here
it was Paul translated the New Testament into the Eskimo language (1766) and,
with his father’s help, drew up a doctrinal guide for the converts in
Greenland.
Hans Egede’s labour was not in vain in the Lord, even though he
may have felt that way when he preached his farewell sermon.
He died on 5 November, 1758, at the
age of 72, and is remembered as the “Apostle of Greenland”.
This
is the day that … THOMAS
JOHN BARNARDO
was born in Dublin, Ireland, in the year 1845 … “and the doctor doubted whether
or not the new baby would live”.
The little one survived only to
become “desperately ill with diphtheria at the age of two. Doctors failed to detect a heartbeat …
Funeral arrangements were made and the undertakers arrived; but as they came to lift the small boy into
his coffin the movement caused his heart to give a slight flutter …” (Biography of Dr Barnardo, by N. Wymer,
page 11).
We pass over his interesting
childhood and come to his 17th year. On 26 May, 1862, he accompanied his two brothers – unwillingly –
to hear the testimony of a “once dissolute actor” – and that night young Thomas
came to know the Saviour.
He joined the Open Brethren … was
baptised at a local Baptist chapel … and was led a step further in his spiritual
pilgrimage by hearing Hudson Taylor speak.
He studied medicine at the London
Hospital, engaged in street preaching and involved himself with helping the
homeless waifs in the Stepney slums.
He commenced “The East End Juvenile
Mission”, in a donkey shed, in
1870. By 1873 he had taken over larger
premises … then “he built a village at Ilford to provide homes for girls.”
So the movement grew and grew.
By the time of his death – 19
September, 1905 – he had admitted 59,384 children to his homes, helped 20,000
to emigrate (to find employment), and materially assisted a further
250,000! (Dictionary of the Christian Church, page 105).
This
is the day that … AUSTIN
HENRY LAYARD
died in 1894.
He was born in Paris 77 years
before, of Huguenot ancestry.
We are told that whilst poring over
his law books, which he was supposed to be studying, the images of “Arabian
Nights” that he had read in his teens kept filling his mind. Eventually he met an uncle, returned from
Ceylon, with a thousand stores of the exotic East.
That did it.
At the age of 22 he set out with a
friend to travel overland to distant India.
By 1840 Layard was crossing the
Euphrates River … and then into ancient Assyria. Great mounds of buried cities lay before him. Before long he had hired some Arabs and
digging commenced.
And thus it was Austin Henry Layard
unearthed ancient Nineveh … the palace of Sargon (once thought to be fictitious
by critics of the Bible, despite the Biblical reference in Isaiah 20:1).
And the palace of Sennacherib. Great winged bulls, some weighing 50 tons,
came into view. The tourist to the
British Museum may see some of the results of Layard’s exciting discoveries –
discoveries that again confirmed the Scripture in its historical accuracy.
This
is the day that … AMZI
CLARENCE DIXON
was born in North Carolina in 1854. His
father was a Baptist preacher.
Converted at the age of 12, young
Amzi “devoured the Bible, and the sermons of Spurgeon” (Dictionary of American Religious Biography, page 130).
At the age of 21 he was ordained to
the Baptist ministry, and it was his aim to make each church he pastored “a
soul-saving centre”. Among those
churches were Chicago’s Moody Church (1906-11), and Spurgeon’s Tabernacle in
London (1911-19).
“He was not interested in social
reform itself because only the gospel could meet the deepest needs of human
problems. It was easier to reach the
body, he argued, by curing the soul than vice versa, and to reform a person’s character
was far more important an objective than effecting some change in the
environment” (ibid, page 130).
He became a zealous opponent of
modernism (a liberal theology), attacking Rev. Henry Ward Beecher’s emasculated
gospel. “The kind of unbelief which he
did more than any other man to popularise has done much to weaken the power of
the pulpit,” Dixon said.
In 1909 he became editor of a
12-volume set of booklets defending the fundamental doctrines of the Christian
faith. These volumes were called Fundamentals and gave rise to the name
“fundamentalist”. They were sent free –
thanks to two Californian millionaire brothers – to 200,000 ministers and
missionaries.
In 1922 his first wife died during
their tour of China. Two years later he
married the widow of Charles M. Alexander (of Alexander hymn book fame).
In his latter years he became more
‘mellow’. He had fought a good fight
against the inroads of modern theology, but now he “gave up the militant
stance” (In Pursuit of Purity, by D.
Beale, page 225).
On 14 June, 1925, A.C. Dixon suffered
a heart attack, and died.
This
is the day that … JOHN
McNEILL was
born in Scotland, in 1854.
(Now this John McNeill is not to be confused with the Canadian John T.
McNeill who became leading Presbyterian professor and author; or with John
MacNeill who was also born in Scotland in 1854, but spent much of his life as a
Presbyterian evangelist in Australia.)
This John McNeill is he who was
sometimes called the “Scottish Spurgeon”.
Whilst working for the railways as
a lad he had a narrow escape as he was “engaged in coupling the carriages
together … the finger the buffer nipped is ever before him” (Christian Portrait Gallery, page 227).
At the age of 19 he came to know
the Saviour as his own, “and at once stood up and testified to being on the
Lord’s side”.
He threw himself into YMCA work, a
strongly evangelical organisation at that time.
By 1886 he was pastoring a Free
Presbyterian Church in Edinburgh. The
small congregation soon grew to over 3000.
Warren Wiersbe points out that
McNeill “had a wonderful sense of humour that helped to keep his hearers alert
and his sermons alive”. For example,
speaking of the fierce cannibals in the South Seas he commented, “I have some
elders I would like to send out there.
I can assure you that if the cannibals got a taste of these elders, they
would never touch a missionary again!”
In 1889 he accepted a call to
Regent Square Church, London (where Edward Irving’s controversial ministry had
taken place), then he resigned to help in the Moody/Sankey meetings.
During this time he married
Margaret Miller, his first wife having died about 10 years earlier, leaving him
with four small children.
In 1908 he followed F.B. Meyer into
the pastorate of Christ Church, London;
but he was more an evangelist than a pastor and found himself unable to
stay in one church for a long period.
“He pastored 10 different churches in 25 years!” (Back to the Bible magazine, August, 1985).
Then there were 16 years as an
itinerant evangelist – preaching over 300 times a year.
In 1933 – 19 April – he went to be
with his Lord, and Dr Graham Scroggie conducted the funeral service.
This
is the day that … a very famous
Sermon was preached !!
The austere Calvinist leaned over
the pulpit – held his sermon manuscript close to his near-sighted eyes – and
began to read.
The “levity of the congregation”
subsided as he announced the text – “Their foot shall slide in due time”,
Deuteronomy 32:35.
And as he read on … “strong men
held on to their seats feeling they were sliding into hell… Men and women stood up, then rolled on the
floor, their cries drowning out the voice of the preacher. Some are said to have laid hold on the
pillars and braces of the church apparently feeling that they were sliding into
hell…” (Hall of Fame, by Ed. Reese,
page 8).
And Rev. Jonathan Edwards read on: “His wrath towards you burns like fire. He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into
the fire. You are ten thousand times
more abominable in His eyes than the most hateful serpent is in ours. It is nothing but His hand that holds you
from falling into the fire every moment…”
The sermon, called “Sinners in the
Hands of an Angry God”, has been designated “the most famous sermon ever preached
in America” (Profiles in Evangelism, by
F. Barlow, page 69). Certainly it had a
marked effect upon the congregation that heard it … and upon the town of
Northampton, Massachusetts, where the church was situated.
Edwards had commenced his 23-year
pastorate in 1727 … and a “thrilling revival of religion” followed. But by 1750 he had alienated himself from
the congregation by his stern denunciation of sin. (Or was it the congregation alienated themselves from their
pastor??)
So on 22 June, 1750, he was
fired! And found that he was “too
formidable a figure for other churches to invite.”
At the age of 47, with a wife and
nine children, he gave himself to six years of missionary labours among the Red
Indians. During this time he wrote The Freedom of the Will, a classic
Calvinistic statement of foreordination, original sin and eternal punishment.
Then in 1757 he was called to
accept presidency of Princeton College.
However, a smallpox epidemic broke
out, and he died after only five weeks in office.
In 1917, after joining the Student
Volunteer Movement in his teens, he was selling Spanish Bibles in
Guatemala. But 2000 Cakchiquel Indians
had no use for the Bible in Spanish,
a language they could not understand.
He was confronted by the question:
“If your God is so smart, why hasn’t He learned our language?” That did
it! For the next 13 years Cameron
Townsend devoted his life to mastering the Cakchiquel language and translating
the Scriptures for them to read.
It was 1929 when he completed the
New Testament, by which time he had caught the vision that became “the world’s
largest independent Protestant missionary organisation (From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, by Ruth Tucker, page 353), to assist
missionaries in the task of learning a foreign language, reducing that language
to writing, and translating the Scriptures into it.
In 1934 he founded Camp Wycliffe in
Arkansas for that very purpose – now known as Wycliffe Bible Translators/Summer
Institute of Linguistics.
Today a mighty missionary force
about 5000 strong is busily engaged in translating God’s Word into hundreds of
languages and dialects, dedicated to the task of reaching the thousands of
tribes who still have no Bible in their own language.
Billy Graham described him as “the
greatest missionary of our time” (ibid, page 351).
.
It is to be confessed that “Uncle
Cam” never quite fitted in to the evangelical framework of the majority of his
workers, or supporters. Involving his
translators in “government-sponsored social programs”, his defence of socialism
in Mexico and his co-operation with Roman Catholics, have all caused
controversy for Wycliffe Bible Translators over the years (see ibid, pages
353-354).
But none can argue with his
conviction that “the greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother
tongue.” And thousands of dedicated
evangelical missionaries are doing what they can to bring the gospel to every
nation, in their mother tongue.
This
is the day that … JOHN
CALVIN was
born in 1509, in Noyon, France.
He was to become the outstanding
theologian of the Protestant Reformation … although not all Protestants would
agree with some of his doctrines. But
it must be confessed that many a giant of Christian history acknowledges the
impact of Calvinism upon his life.
Knox, Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Martyn Lloyd-Jones and James Packer
are names that immediately spring to mind.
“The longer I live,” wrote Spurgeon, “the clearer does it appear that
John Calvin’s system (of theology) is the nearest to perfection.”
Calvin was one of the few reformers
who was not an ex-priest. He studied
law in France – had a “sudden conversion” in his early 20’s, and in 1536
published the first edition of his famous Institutes
of the Christian Religion. This
volume has been described as among the “world’s 10 most influential works”.
From 1541 until his death (on 27
May, 1564), Calvin dominated the social and religious life of Geneva … despite
the fact that he held no government position, or was an actual citizen until
1559.
From the pulpit of St Peter’s
Cathedral he preached his way through book after book of Holy Writ, lecturing
to theological students and preaching five times a week. Taken down by a stenographer, these messages
have found their way into print. There
is a commentary on every book of the Bible – except Revelation! For example, Calvin preached 200 consecutive
sermons on the book of Deuteronomy – published by Banner of Truth in a 1,300
page facsimile edition of the 1583 original.
It was said by his friend, Beza,
that when Calvin preached “every word weighed a pound”.
Harsh discipline was meted out (at
least, by today’s standards) to law breakers, a system of education was
devised, a prosperous trade in cloth and velvet was established with other
countries, even a sewerage system was introduced that made Geneva “one of the
cleanest cities in Europe” (Who’s Who in
Christian History, page 131).
And his Institutes grew from six chapters to 79.
W. Stanford Reid writes that Calvin
became “the dominant figure of the Protestant Reformation in the middle of the
(16th) century” (John Calvin –
His Influence in the Western World) – an assessment surely none would
question.
When he died in 1564 he was buried
in a common cemetery without a headstone, according to his wishes. His gravesite is unknown to this day (Christian History magazine, Volume 5/4).
Why? Because Henry had taken up his pen and
denounced Martin Luther as a heretic.
Henry
VIII was a loyal son of the Roman church.
Until, that is, he set his eyes on Anne Boleyn! This raven-haired beauty, incidentally, “had
a sixth finger on her left hand, a deformity she skilfully concealed…”
The
problem was that Henry was already married to Catherine of Aragon … and after
“16 years of repeated pregnancies” there was still no male heir. So Henry decided that his marriage was not
legal in the first place – after all, Catherine had been the widow of Henry’s
brother … and didn’t Leviticus have something to say about that? So he demanded that the Pope annul the
marriage.
The
Pope, however, stood firm. He may not
have done so had it not been for the fact that he (the Pope) was “really a
prisoner in the hands of Charles V of Spain … who was Catherine’s nephew”!
Suffice
to say Henry divorced Catherine … married Anne, who was already pregnant
(January, 1533) … and passed the Act of Supremacy (1534), which states that he
is “the Supreme Head in Earth immediately under God of the Church of England”.
By
September, 1533, Henry already had his roving eye on Jane Seymour.
Thus
Anne was declared to be guilty of adultery, beheaded on Tower Hill … and Henry
married Jane less than a month later.
This is the day that … HUGH
BOURNE preached his first sermon,
in North Staffordshire, England. It was
1801, and he was 29 years of age.
Hugh had been converted through reading the Letters of Fletcher of Maddley – “I was born again in an instant, yea passed from death unto life,” he wrote.
By
1802 he had built a chapel and regular services were being conducted. They affiliated with the Wesleyan
Methodists.
News
of camp meetings in America stirred Hugh Bourne’s heart – and a co-worker,
William Clowes. And when Lorenzo Dow
arrived from USA – a rather eccentric Methodist nicknamed “Crazy” Dow by his
critics – Bourne decided he would organise a ‘camp meeting’ on 23 August, 1807.
It
was the first such meeting on England’s green fields.
But
the Wesleyan Methodists considered such a gathering ‘highly improper in
England, and likely to be productive of considerable mischief.’ So the split took place after simmering for
a while. On 13 February, 1812, the
Primitive Methodist denomination was born.
(Their enemies called them “the Ranters.”)
Hugh
Bourne died in 1852 at the age of 80 years.
He had lived to see thousands converted, and over 1000 ministers
proclaiming the Wesleyan doctrines.
Today Primitive Methodists are on the decline in England
and America. But it was in a Primitive
Methodist Chapel that young Charles H. Spurgeon “looked to Jesus Christ” … and
experienced the joy of sins forgiven.
This is the day that … THOMAS KELLY was born in Ireland, in 1769.
After graduating from Dublin University he set his mind to practise law. But an evangelical conversion took place, and from henceforth his steps were directed toward the Christian ministry.
Ordained by the Church of Ireland in 1792 his strong evangelical preaching soon aroused the opposition of the Archbishop. Pulpits of the churches were closed to Thomas Kelly. So he became a Dissenter – building places of worship and preaching in independent chapels - and seeing the Lord bless his ministry with many turning to Christ.
“He was an excellent Biblical scholar and a magnetic preacher”, writes John Telford (Methodist Hymn Book Illustrated, page 169).
His able pen composed 765 hymns, several of which “rank with the finest hymns in the English language” (Dictionary of Hymnology, by Julian). These include:
The head that once was crowned with thorns
Is crowned with glory now…
And -
We sing the praise of Him who died,
Of Him who died upon the cross…
Possibly his most well-known would be :
Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious,
See the Man of Sorrows now;
From the fight returned victorious,
Every knee to Him shall bow;
Crown Him! Crown Him!
Crowns become the Victor’s brow.
At the age of 85 he suffered a stroke, which resulted in his death the following year (14 May, 1855). His last words were: “The Lord is my everything” (Who Wrote Our Hymns, page 106).
14 July
This is the day that … CHARLES McCALLON ALEXANDER was married, in Birmingham, England, in 1904.
With Dr Reuben A. Torrey as evangelist and Alexander as soloist/song leader/choir director, the scene was set for their second Britain campaign.
During a lonely Christmas (1903) Alexander, then 36 years of age, had prayed for a wife. And the following month, as he trained a 1600-voice choir for the Birmingham meetings, he spied Helen Cadbury. Before the month was over he had proposed … and they were married the following July.
Helen Cadbury was 27, of Quaker extraction, and her family was in the chocolate making business.
In 1908 Mrs Alexander founded the Pocket Testament League, a non-denominational organisation dedicated to distributing the Word of God.
15 July
This is the day that … EDWARD CASWELL was born in Hampshire, England, in 1814.
The son of an Anglican vicar, young Edward graduated from Oxford in 1836, and three years later became a clergyman.
But during his first ministerial charge he was caught up in the Oxford Movement, which resulted in his seceding to the Church of Rome. After the death of his wife three years later he was accepted into the Roman Catholic priesthood.
For the next 28 years he worked among the “sick and the poor” at Edgbaston – and there he died on 2 January, 1878.
During those later years he wrote, and translated from the Latin, many hymns. Some of the best known include :
Jesus, the very thought of Thee …
O Jesus, King most wonderful …
When morning gilds the skies …
16 July
This is the day that …ANNE ASKEW was burned at the stake, in 1546.
Although reared in the Roman Catholic faith, and married to Thomas Kyne, a devout Roman Catholic, Anne read the chained Bible that Henry VIII had caused to be placed in Lincoln Cathedral. The truth of the gospel dawned upon her and she became a Protestant.
In March, 1545, she was arrested and accused of heretical beliefs – even of “tainting the Queen with heresy,” for she had once been employed as maid of honour to one of Henry’s many wives.
During her examination – or ‘inquisition’ might be a better word – before Bishop Bouner – she was required to sign a document declaring her allegiance to the ‘doctrine’ of transubstantiation.
And this she refused to do. “Concerning your Mass,” she told her judges, “I do say and believe it to be the most abominable idol that is in the world. For my God will not be eaten by teeth, neither yet dieth He again …”
Her fate was sealed. With three other ‘heretics’, she was martyred at Smithfield, London, at the age of 24 or 25.
17 July
This is the day that … ISAAC WATTS was born in Southampton, England, in 1674.
Little Isaac Watts showed a passion for poetry from his earliest years. It irritated his father … So much so that, when Isaac saw the mouse run up the bell rope during prayer time he really upset his father when he exclaimed:
“There was a mouse for want of stairs
Ran up the rope to say his prayers.”
The remainder of the story may just be apocryphal … Dad with his cane ready to give your Isaac a hiding and demanding that his son speak like a normal child, instead of always “spouting poetry”. So Isaac said:
“Father, father, mercy take,
And I will no more verses make.”
(Let the People Sing, by G. Clarke, page 16).
Fortunately Isaac’s poetic genius did not desert him, nor was his enthusiasm quenched by father’s threats. He was 20 years of age and returning home from the morning service in Girdler’s Hall when he commented to his father concerning the poor quality of the hymns. “Well, give us something better, young man,” was his father’s reply (Gospel in Hymns, by A. Bailey, page 48).
Isaac did. The result …
Behold the glories of the Lamb
Amidst the Father’s throne;
Prepare new honours for His Name
And songs before unknown!
The non-conformist congregation sang it the following week.
Thus began the revolution in hymn-singing … new hymns – hymns that were not paraphrases from the Book of Psalms, but expressing the praise and worship of those who rejoice in Christ Jesus as Saviour and risen Lord.
Of course, there were the critics who roundly denounced the singing of man-made hymns. Churches even split over the issue.
But Isaac kept on writing … No wonder he is known as the “Father of English Hymnody”, for from his pen came such great hymns as :
When I survey the wondrous cross …
Jesus shall reign where’er the sun …
Joy to the world, the Lord is come …
O God, our help in ages past …
Come ye that love the Lord …
I’m not ashamed to own my Lord …
and a host of others.
During his lifetime he also pastored Mark Lane Congregational Church and wrote numerous volumes on a great variety of themes. But it is for his hymns that he is best remembered.
Isaac Watts died on 26 November, 1748.
18 July
This is the day that
… BENJAMIN KEACH died in 1704.
He had been born in North Buckinghamshire, England, on February 29, 1640, in the days when England was about to be plunged into civil war…
Although brought up in the state church, he was baptised again at the age of 15 and joined a Baptist church … walking seven miles each Lord’s Day to join with the congregation in a neighbouring village.
At 18 he was ‘set aside for the work of the ministry’, the church having recognised his God-given gift in that area.
Two years later he married Jane Grove. And he began to preach …
But by now Oliver Cromwell was dead and Charles II was insisting that all church services conform to those of the Church of England.
Keach refused to do so … but continued his ministry. And as a result he was arrested and put in the pillory at Aylesbury. “Good people”, he said to the assembled crowd, “I am not ashamed to stand here this day, with this paper on my head. My Lord Jesus was not ashamed to suffer on the cross of me …”
Many a time he suffered similar indignities – ‘often seized, sometimes whilst preaching, committed to prison, sometimes bound, sometimes released on bail, and sometimes his life was threatened…’
In 1664 – at the age of 24 – we find him in Southwark, pastoring a Particular Baptist Church.
He had begun his days as a General Baptist (Arminian in theology), but now was Particular Baptist (ie, Calvinistic).
His first wife died at the age of 30, and Keach remarried in 1672.
He wrote 60 books and was “to the forefront in introducing congregational hymn singing into the Baptist church”.
==============================================
19 July
This is the day that … GEORGE FOX was born, in 1624.
Converted at the age of 19 – through the reading of the Scriptures – George Fox took off on an itinerant preaching ministry.
In 1649 he was gaoled for interrupting a preacher (“Dost thou call this place a church? Or callest thou this mixed multitude (the congregation) a church?) – and so dead was the state church of his day that his question might not have been without some justification.
Again, in 1650 he was gaoled for alleged blasphemy.
“He was beaten with dog whips, knocked down with fists and stones, brutally struck with pike staves, threatened by mobs, imprisoned eight times in filthy prisons and dungeons … yet he went straight forward with his mission.”
Fox preached an evangelical message, although his over-reaction against ritualism caused him to do away with the ordinances.
He founded the Society of Friends, nicknamed the ‘Quakers’ by their enemies.
George Fox died at the age of 67.
20 July
This is the day
that … JESSE IRVIN OVERHOLTZER was born in 1877.
The place was San
Joaquin County, California, USA, and the little fellow was the seventh son in a
family that would eventually number 13.
The family
belonged to the Hutterite Brethren, a strict group with roots going back to the
German pietist movement.
After a rebellious
teenage – during which time his father “beat him severely with a horse whip” (The
Indomitable Mr O, by N. Rohrer, page 35) for a misdemeanour, Jesse finally
left home at the age of 18.
In 1914, at the
age of 37, he read “The Life of Moody” and began to study the Word of God. And he came to an assurance of salvation!
“I was too happy
for words,” he later said to his biographer.
“The joy-bells were ringing in my heart. I knew I was saved!”
(ibid, page 58).
All this, despite
the fact that he had been a Hutterite Brethren preacher for over 15 years!
His wife, Anna, “became his first convert as he explained to her the simple way of salvation” (page 59).
In 1937, on 20 May, he officially organised Child Evangelism Fellowship, a ministry dedicated to reaching children with the gospel. Good News Clubs are still run around Australia, and around the world.
The Dictionary of Christianity in America tells of 850 staff workers in the U.S., TV and radio programs, magazines, teaching aids, camping programs, training classes for teachers – and so it goes.
J. Irvin Overholtzer heard the Saviour’s “Well done” on August 6, 1955.
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21 July
This is the day that … HOWELL HARRIS died, in 1773, “loyal to the last to the church whose sacraments he had been denied. His funeral was attended by 20,000 people.”
He was born in Wales on 23 January, 1714, and early in life he decided to become a Church of England clergyman.
By the age of 17 he was “playing cards and drinking, dice-playing and gossiping,” and by his own confession, living “like a hypocrite.”
But on Palm Sunday, 1735, the vicar of the church he attended said: “If you are not fit to come to the Lord’s Table, you are not fit to come to church, not fit to live, not fit to die.” Thus began his pilgrimage to the Father’s House, and on 25 May of that same year he was able to rejoice in the knowledge of sins forgiven.
Although he became a member of the Established Church, he was never an ordained clergyman, and the more he sought the friendship of his non-Anglican brethren the more his church parted company with him.
He is remembered as the founder of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church, and a remarkable revivalist. Thousands gathered to hear his open-air preaching. “Two thousand people once stood two hours in drenching rain unable to tear themselves away from the spell of Harris’ eloquence.”
It was he who influenced George Whitefield to take his pulpit to the fields.
At times he was subjected to the fury of mobs – especially at Bala in 1741. At Caerleon the angry crowd attacked, and Harris’ fellow preacher was blinded in one eye.
Arnold Dallimore describes him as “the greatest Welshman of that day and, indeed, as among the greatest men that Wales ever produced” (Biography of G. Whitefield, Volume 1, page 246).
22 July
This is the day
that … MARIA WOODWORTH-ETTER was born in Ohio, in 1844.
Roberts Liardon refers to her as “the grandmother of the Pentecostal movement” (God’s Generals, page 47).
In her autobiography she tells how she was converted whilst “going under the water” at her baptism. She was 13 years of age (page 7). Almost immediately she says she heard God’s call to preach – and this in a day when women preachers were frowned upon.
Marriage to P.H. Woodworth resulted in six children being born, five of whom died in childhood. Nor did her husband share her desire for ministry.
Roberts Liardon, Charismatic historian, has the rather dreadful comment that, had she obeyed God’s call from her youth, “possibly her children wouldn’t have died” (page 49).
In any case she divorced her first husband (1891) and married Samuel Etter in 1902.
In her preaching ‘holiness’ was her initial emphasis. By 1885 she claimed 500 were converted every week at her meetings. Then she began to emphasise ‘tongues’ and ‘healing’, thousands flocking to her 8000-seat tent meetings.
She wrote many books – including one that foretold the destruction of San Francisco by a tidal wave in 1890! “Thousands fled to the hills because of her prophecy” (Dictionary of Pentecostalism and Charismatic Movements, page 901).
And most odd were her trances. Sometimes during a service she would “stand like a statue for an hour or more with her hands raised…” (ibid, page 901). To her, “lack of physical manifestation was a sign of apostasy!” (God’s Generals, page 55).
Speaking of apostasy – for her Los Angeles’ “revival” she allied herself with the “Oneness Pentecostals”, who denied the Trinity… (ibid, page 66).
Healing people by “punching them in the stomach” or “whacking them in the neck” was one of her methods (page 73). It is believed Smith Wigglesworth, almost a cult figure in Charismatic circles today, adopted this method from her. He preached in her Tabernacle in Indianapolis after her death.
Whatever one’s theological leaning, Maria Woodworth-Etter must be regarded as one of the most interesting and influential figures in the history of Christendom.
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23 July
This is the day that
…JENNY GEDDES flung her stool at
the Dean’s head in St Giles’ Kirk (church), Edinburgh! It was in 1637.
William Laud was both Archbishop of Canterbury and adviser of King Charles I of England, and he it was who was responsible for seeking to impose the Church of England Prayer Book and episcopacy (the government of the church by bishops) upon the Scottish believers.
Besides which, Laud had permitted such Romish practices as the setting up of images, crucifixes and bowing to the altar in the church. Eventually he was charged with treason and executed in 1645. But in the meantime the damage was done.
“Villain!” Jenny Geddes had cried. “Dost thou say the mass in my lug (ear)?” – and hurled her stool (Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia, page 856).
It is only fair to say that some historians have dismissed the incident as apocryphal (Dictionary of Christian Church, page 403).
But certainly the Scottish church took a strong stand against the inroads of Archbishop Laud’s innovations. And years of persecution bore upon them. But that’s another story …
24 July
This is the day that … OSWALD CHAMBERS was born in 1874, in Scotland … the author of 30 best-sellers, who never wrote a book!
“Thirty-two volumes bear his name on the cover, including My Utmost for His Highest, (which has been a blessing to thousands in their daily quiet time), but he never knew about any of them!” (Christianity Today, Sherwood Wirt, June, 1974).
His parents had been baptised by Charles H. Spurgeon and his father later was ordained to a Baptist pastorate by that same ‘prince of preachers’.
His conversion had taken place on the way home from hearing Spurgeon preach. Oswald remarked to his father, “had the opportunity been given, he would have given his life to Christ.” The wise parent told him that he could do that very thing then and there … so it was “standing under a gas lamp in a London street” Oswald Chambers began his Christian pilgrimage (Os. Chambers, by D. Lambert, page 12).
He studied art, entered Bible College, married Gertrude Hobbs, and founded a Bible College in Clapham, England.
After four years as principal of a Bible Training College in Dunoon (Scotland), from 1911-1915, Chambers sailed for Egypt to join the staff of the YMCA, as a chaplain among the troops during World War I. He arrived in Egypt on 9 October, 1915, and many of his Bible lectures, given to thousands of soldiers solidly over the next two years, were taken down in shorthand. He was rushed to hospital in Cairo, and on 15 November, 1917, God took his servant home … at the age of 43 years.
It was then his wife gathered his writings: scraps of paper with scrawled notes, never intended for publication. Friends who had sat at his feet and taken notes of his messages sent them to her.
So it was, Baffled to Fight Better, rolled from the press shortly after his death …
In Chambers’ biography by his wife, Dinsdale T. Young pens this tribute in the Foreword: “Whenever I met him he did me good. He had a richly endowed mind which he reinforced by ceaseless study and prayer. His utterances in public were charming in form, rich in suggestion and full of ‘power from on high’. In his delightful and spiritual writings his works do follow him” (page 9).
And so the name of Oswald Chambers lives on in the 32 books he never knew he wrote!
25 July
This is the day that … JOHN MASON PECK set out on his missionary tour to St Louis, Illinois.
It was 1817 … and St Louis was “a rough river town with a few clusters of houses. A Christian witness was almost unknown.”
Peck had been born 27 years earlier (on 21 October, 1798), in Connecticut. Brought up in Congregationalism, he was converted at the age of 17 – and “almost immediately was propelled by a hole constraining love for the lost that drove him relentlessly the rest of his life seeking souls for Christ” (Biblical Evangelist, Volume 16/4).
In 1811 he joined the Baptist Church and soon entered Dr William Staughton’s Baptist College – the only school in America at that time for training Baptist preachers. It met in Dr Staughton’s own home! And there were only five students.
Here Peck wrestled with “Latin, Greek and Hebrew, philosophy, theology and English.” It was a 12-month course! (Tales of Baptist Daring, page 91).
Then came the Baptist Triennial Convention that appointed Peck as missionary to Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky. “Peck threw his hat in the air for sheer joy!”
They set out in a one-horse wagon – Peck, his wife and three children, one of whom was still a baby. Some give the date as 25 July; others 26 July.
They arrived at their destination 125 days later, with Peck himself “a sick man, dangerously stricken”.
They were in the midst of a “hard-drinking, uneducated, uncouth, profane people. Saloons abounded. Knifings, killings, shootings were commonplace.”
But with a co-worker, James E. Welch, Peck devoted every fibre of his being to spreading the gospel.
Within two months the first baptisms were held. A church was erected. In three years there were 50 schools established in Illinois and Missouri.
A Bible Society came into being as the result of his labours.
He would ride for months, from one lonely cabin to another, telling the good news of salvation. “In blinding blizzards, drenching rains, bone chilling cold, scorching sun, fording rivers … and finding his way through uncharted wilderness,” Peck pursued his God-given task.
There were troubles with the mission board back in the East. New leaders who opposed missionary work “as contrary to Scripture”(!) were able to terminate his support!
But Peck stuck to his post. The work continued to prosper. He founded a Bible college that saw “hundreds of men enter the ministry or missionary service.”
And he commenced, and edited, a religious journal – The Western Pioneer.
The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia tells us that he deserves the epithet of ‘father’ of the American Baptist Home Mission Society.
He was truly a remarkable man of God whose zeal never abated.
He died in Illinois on 14 March, 1857. He had lived to see “2000 flourishing Baptist churches” born during his ministry.
His 53-volume diary was destroyed, but much of it was preserved in an early biography by Rufus Babcock.
26 July
This is the day that … CHARLES ALBERT TINDLEY died in 1933. And hereby hangs quite a tale.
He had been born into slavery – in Maryland, USA – 7 July, 1851. By the age of five he was an orphan. As the years passed he taught himself to read and write. In Philadelphia in his late teens he worked as a hod carrier, and then janitor of a small Methodist church.
He attended night school – and did a correspondence course with the Boston School of Theology.
In 1885, at the age of 34, he was ordained to the Methodist ministry, and pastored seven churches between then and 1902, when he was inducted into Calvary Methodist Church, Philadelphia, where he had once worked as a janitor! By 1924 a new church building was opened to contain the crowds … membership had passed the 12,000 mark!
In spite of his protests, the building was named the “Tindley Temple Methodist Church”.
He also found time to write many well-known gospel songs, including …
Leave it there, leave it there –
Take your burden to the Lord and leave
it there…
and
Bye and bye,
When the morning comes …
This dedicated black pastor died at the age of 82.
27 July
This is the day that … DR A.T. PIERSON was almost drowned. It was on Vineyard Lake, Michigan (?), in 1877.
Arthur Tappan Pierson was born on 6 March, 1837, reared in a godly home, and converted during “special revival meetings in the Methodist church”.
At the age of 23 he was ordained in the Presbyterian ministry, and married Sarah Benedict the same year.
It was during his second pastorate that the boating accident occurred. As the boat in which they’d been fishing sank, Pierson and his three small children found themselves in a desperate situation. He could swim … the children could not, at least, not the distance to the shore. For half an hour they clung to the upturned boat, crying to any who might hear them – and committing themselves to God’s keeping. “Finally a woman heard their calls for help and came to the rescue. She had never handled oars and Mr Pierson, with his head just above water, had to direct her how to use them” (Speakers’Bible, “Judges”, page 392).
Safe home Dr Pierson wrote a “Promise to God”, thanking Him for the deliverance and promising to serve Him henceforth. The three children signed it.
In the years that followed Dr A.T. Pierson became a well-known Bible teacher on both sides of the Atlantic.
When Spurgeon took ill in 1891, it was Dr Pierson he requested to fill the Metropolitan Tabernacle pulpit. This he did … and continued to do so for a time after Spurgeon’s death.
This ministry came to a rather bitter conclusion as the congregation was divided as to whether Pierson should continue as pastor (he had submitted to believer’s baptism in the meantime), or whether Spurgeon’s son, Thomas, should come and minister. “The rift in the ranks of the membership went deep,” writes W.Y. Fullerton, “even to the severing of family relationships and sundering lifelong ties” (Thomas Spurgeon, page 155). Dr Pierson was outvoted, three to one.
Back in USA, Dr Pierson lectured at Moody Bible Institute, was a contributor to the notes in the Scofield Bible, editor of the Missionary Review, author of numerous books (including the famous biography of George Mueller), and in demand as a convention speaker.
He was one of the few Americans invited to speak at the Keswick Convention in England.
The story is told of Dr Pierson collecting funds for a special object … and a wealthy man said to him, “If I had to preach your funeral sermon I would take as my text: “And the beggar died,” to which Dr Pierson replied, “I would not object to that … as long as you finish the verse, ‘And he was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom’” (Luke 16:22).
On 3 June, 1911, the angels did just that!
28 July
This is the day that … JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH died in 1750.
He was taught violin by his father, became a choirboy at St Michael’s Church, then organist … and so his musical career began to flourish.
He has been described as “the outstanding member of the greatest musical family the world has ever known” (A Gift of Music, by Smith & Carlson). Over 50 musicians bearing that name are remembered by musicologists today” (The Spiritual Lives of Great Composers, by P. Kavanagh).
“I have read countless books and articles,” continues one biographer, “discussing the mystery of Bach’s greatness, and the authors rarely mention his self-acknowledged indebtedness to his Lord and Saviour.”
He was “the greatest organist, not only of his own time, but of all time,” writes another. And as a composer “his lofty genius was wholly consecrated to the service of God in the church that held his heart, and what Palestrina was to the Roman Church Bach became to Protestantism” (Handbook to Church Hymnary, page 257). He was a devout Lutheran.
Some consider his name to be “the greatest in all the history of music, whether sacred or secular.” Whilst he was recognised as the outstanding organist of his day (and many would say “of all time”), it is as a composer that he is now acclaimed.
During his lifetime only ten of his compositions were published, and it was not until a century after his death that the greatness of his musical composition was acknowledged.
Many of his melodies and arrangements are to be found in our hymnals, and his cantatas are still sung by many a church choir, including Jesu, Joy of man’s desiring.
Blind, and on his deathbed, he dictated to his son-in-law, his final chorale, Before Thy throne I come…!
29 July
This is the day that … THOMAS OBADIAH CHISHOLM was born, in a log cabin in Kentucky, USA, in 1866.
Largely self educated, young Tom found himself, at the age of 21, as associate editor of a weekly newspaper.
And it also was around this time when he responded to the claims of Christ, under the old-fashioned gospel preaching of Dr Henry Clay Morrison, one of America’s outstanding evangelists.
Then, after some years editing a Christian newspaper, Chisholm entered the Methodist ministry.
T.O. Chisholm moved to Louisville, sold insurance, married – and began writing religious verse.
And in the following 30 years 1,200 hymns came from his pen. Many were set to music and sung in the great Billy Sunday revival meetings across America, including -
Living for Jesus a life that is true,
Trying to please Him in all that I do
…
And perhaps the best-loved of all is that well-known hymn based on Lamentations 3:22-23 :
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God, my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with
Thee …
Thomas O. Chisholm passed to his reward in New Jersey, 1 March, 1960.
30 July
This is the day that … WILLIAM PENN died in 1718, at the age of 74.
His father was an Admiral in the British Navy, and young William enjoyed “the favour of the king … he was admired at court, handsome in person, graceful in manners … expectant heir of a title of nobility …”
And all this he gave up for a life of ridicule and scorn. He was even expelled from Christ Church, Oxford (1661) because he held views no longer in keeping with that of the state church. For William Penn had become a disciple of George Fox, founder of the Society of Friends (the Quakers).
Four times he found himself thrown into prison because of his non-conformist (i.e., not belonging to the Church of England) views. He courted trouble not only by street preaching and by means of the printed word (over 100 tracts and booklets came from his pen), but also by the distinctive Quaker attire, and his refusal to remove his hat to anyone – even King Charles!
Eventually Penn and a group of fellow Quakers migrated to America and a tract of land was granted him by the king. It was called ‘Pennsylvania’. There the Quakers and Red Indians intermingled without problems for 70 years. “Whilst English and European settlers in neighbouring areas were constantly at war with the Indians, Penn and his company made friends and lived in perfect harmony …” (English Sects, by A. Reynolds, page 159).
It should be pointed out that the Quakers rejected the sacraments and placed more emphasis upon ‘the Light within,’ than the Holy Scriptures.
31 July
This is the day that
…HORATIUS BONAR died in 1889.
He is remembered as one of the greatest of Scottish hymn- writers.
“Go labour on,
spend and be spent” and “I
heard the voice of Jesus say, ‘Come unto Me and rest’,” are but two of the
600 hymns which came from his ever-busy
pen.
Besides hymn
writing, he found time to edit the “Quarterly Journal of Prophecy” – a magazine
dedicated to the pre-millennial beliefs.
He also was elected Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland and
ministered at the Chalmers Memorial Church in Edinburgh for 23 years.
Over and again his
hymns return to the theme of the Lord’s return:
Toil on, and in thy toil rejoice;
For toil comes rest, for exile home.
Soon shalt thou hear the Bridegroom’s voice,
The midnight cry, “Behold I come”.
Amen!
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