This is the day that … FIDELIA FISKE was born in 1816, in
Massachusetts, USA.
At the
age of 24 she was smitten with typhoid fever whilst studying at Mt Holyoke
Seminary. She survived, but both her
father and sister succumbed to the disease.
After
graduation she taught at the seminary, and then applied for missionary service
in Persia. (Her uncle, Pliny Fiske, had
laboured there 20 years previously.)
Thus
it was, on 1 March, 1843, that she left America. “The barque spread her sails, moving quietly down the harbour”
and anchored at Smyrna five weeks later.
She then went on to Constantinople, an overland trip of 800 miles, and
finally reached her destination.
Oroomiah,
a town in Persia, was home for 25,000 inhabitants, mostly Moslem. Here Fidelia Fiske took charge of a school
that had been started in 1838 with four girls.
Her biographer tells how she visited the homes “where filth and vermin
would have repelled any woman of refinement” (page 54).
Then,
as the mission started to grow there came the opposition – “from Jesuits and
Moslems” (Fidelia Fiske, by W. Guest,
page 63). But Fidelia Fiske persevered.
“Several revivals occurred under her
leadership and district women’s assemblies were organised far beyond the school
itself” (Daughters of the Great
Commission, by Ruth Tucker).
After
16 years of remarkable missionary service, Miss Fiske found it needful, with
health exhausted, to return to America.
On her
deathbed she said: “As I grow weaker I
think less of pain, and feel more the Saviour’s arms about me, and it is sweet
to feel them.”
She
died on Tuesday, 26 July, 1864.
This is the day that … JOSEPH WOLFF died in 1862.
Of all
the curious stories in Christian history, there are few to equal the escapades
of Joseph Wolff.
He was
the son of a Jewish rabbi, born in 1795 in Germany. At the age of 17 he was baptised into the Roman Catholic Church
and became a Benedictine monk.
In
Rome “he was most kindly treated by Pope Pius VII and studied at the College of
Propaganda with a view to becoming a missionary.” But it was not to be. In
England he forsook Romanism and joined the Church of England.
In
1821, after some years of studying Oriental languages at Cambridge, Wolff
embarked on his first missionary journey, travelling through Palestine, Egypt,
Mesopotamia, Persia and the Ottoman Empire.
Back
in England, in 1827, he married the “sixth daughter of the Earl of Orford,”
then set off again to “Turkey, Persia, Turkistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir,
Hindustan and the Red Sea …”
Various
adventures could be related, such as the time he was robbed by brigands “and
was forced to walk 600 miles, often in bitter and snowy weather, without any
clothing.” On another occasion he
tells us in his voluminous journals he and some fellow travellers received 200
lashes on their feet. He was horse
whipped by an Arab tribe.
In
1843, in Bokhara, he “barely escaped beheading” (Schaff-Herzog Encyclopaedia, page 2547).
In
America he was ordained a deacon of the Episcopal Church in 1838, and an honorary LL.D degree was conferred
upon him by Trinity College, Dublin. In
1845 he settled down as vicar in Isle Brewers (UK), and there he died 15 years
later, at the age of 67.
He has
been called “a comet in the missionary Heaven.” Blackwood’s magazine was
probably right when it described him:
“We know neither priest nor traveller to compare with this son of the
desert, this wandering cross-bearer, this Grand Dervish of Christendom.”
In his
closing years he formed friendships with such men as Prime Minister Gladstone
and Dean Stanley. For nine happy days
he was a guest of Tennyson.
Oh,
yes … and the date he set for the Second Coming came … and went.
This is the day that … 35
year-old HANS EGEDE set sail – as a
missionary - to Greenland. It was 1721.
Born
in Norway on 31 January, 1686, of Lutheran parents, Hans grew up to study
theology and then pastor a small Lutheran church in Vaagen, a town “of snow and
towering mountains, precipitous crags, long deep fiords, and big tumbling
waves.”
It was
there he read a biography of Eric the Red, a Viking of some 600 years previous,
who had taken a monk named Olaf the Saint to Greenland on one of his
voyages. And Olaf had spread the
Christian faith in that far- off land.
But for half a millennium there had been no Christian witness on that
continent.
Hans
Egede, and wife Gertrude (13 years his senior) hear ‘The Macedonian call’.
During
the voyage “Egede fell overboard and would have perished but for a hair-breadth
rescue by a fisherman.” (From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya, by Ruth
Tucker, page 76).
The
Eskimos – “not more than 5 feet high” - were repulsive in their behaviour. There was a language barrier to
overcome. The priests of the village
“tried to kill the missionary” (Torch Bearers of the Faith, by A.
Smellie, page 221).
Swarms
of gnats, sickening stench, freezing conditions … these are but some of the
obstacles that faced the Egede family.
Into
this situation came more missionaries, Moravians led by Christian David. Conflict ensued. There was yet another language barrier – and wild accusations
(when they could understand each other), that the Moravians were reaping where
Egede had sown.
In
1736 Hans Egede returned to Norway, after fourteen years of seemingly barren
missionary service.
His
wife had died the previous year. He was
a broken man. In his last sermon he
lamented: “I have spent my strength for
naught, and in vain” (Smellie, page 222).
And he
died on 5 November, 1758.
But
his son, Paul – who had learned the Eskimo’s language in a way his father had
failed to do, carried on the work. He
even translated the Bible into an Eskimo language (Ruth Tucker, page 79).
Hans
Egede may not have lived to see the fruit of his labour … but fruit there was!
This is the day that … ST MONICA died, in AD 387.
Born
in Tagaste, North Africa, and brought up by Christian parents, she found
herself later married to a pagan named Patricus, “by whose violence and
infidelity she suffered a great deal”.
Three
children were born to this union – one of them being the influential Augustine
who later shaped Western theology with his writings. But Augustine’s youth was spent in riotous living, causing much
pain to Monica’s heart.
She
visited an aged bishop who offered these words of comfort – “It is not possible
that a child over whom so many tears have been shed should be lost” (Saints for Nowadays, by D. Prescott,
page 21).
Some
years later Augustine, then Bishop of Hippo, wrote his Confessions, in which he “sings the praises” of his godly mother
(Book 9).
“Archaeological
discoveries in Ostria in 1946 of portion of a stone tablet have confirmed the
historicity of the Roman burial of St Monica” (Introduction of Confessions, translated by R. Warner,
page xii).
This is the day that … THOMAS DROWRY was burned at the stake
because of his faith in Christ. It was
1555.
Queen
Mary Tudor sat upon the English throne, and days of religious persecution had
returned to the land. The record of his
trial is found in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
Dr
Williams, Chancellor of Gloucester, speaks:
“Dost thou not believe that after the words of consecration, spoken by
the priest, there remaineth the very real Body of Christ in the sacrament of the
altar?”
Thomas
replies, “No, that I do not.”
Says
Dr Williams – “Then thou art a heretic and shalt be burned …”
Bishop
J.C. Ryle, one time Church of England Bishop in Liverpool, observes that “the
principle reason why they (the martyrs) were burned was because they refused
one of the peculiar doctrines of the Roman (Catholic) Church. If they admitted it they might live; if they refused it they must die. The doctrine in question was the real
presence of the body and blood of Christ in the consecrated elements of bread
and wine in the Lord’s Supper” (Light
from Old Times, page 40).
Thomas
Drowry, believing that Christ need not be sacrificed again and again (every
time the Mass is said), as the Roman Catholic Church teaches, but that the
Lord’s Supper is simply a feast of remembrance, was thus burned at the stake.
He was “about 15 years of age … and quite blind” (Twelve Youthful Martyrs, by E. Enock,
page 8).
This is the day that … GEORGE TRUETT was born in 1867.
He
entered the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, when it had
700 members – and concluded his pastorate in the same Church 47 years later
with 7,800; the largest Baptist Church
at that time in the world.
“All
evangelical preaching points to Christ,” he wrote. “The primary work of the Church is to point people to Him Who
saves” (Prince of the Pulpit, biography of G. Truett, by J.
Burton, page 16).
He had
been converted at the age of 19 and ordained to the ministry 11 years later.
Interesting
anecdotes of this pulpit giant abound.
He was out of his pulpit “40% of the time” each year. He consulted none of his Church officers
about “what or when he was to do anything”.
It is estimated that he preached 17,000 sermons, an average of one a day
for 47 years.
And,
oh yes, he shot the Dallas Chief of Police!
It was during a hunting trip together that Truett moved his gun from one
shoulder to the other and the gun discharged.
Captain J.C. Arnold, his close friend, died a few days later.
For a
while he determined to give up preaching.
But when he returned to the pulpit, we are told there was “a new
tenderness, a new depth of sincerity and a new power. The legend grew, however, that he never smiled again” (Tales of Baptist Daring, by B. Browne,
page 133).
Dr
Truett died on 7 July, 1944.
This is the day that … ANDREW FULLER died, in 1815.
The
son of an English Baptist farmer, and a “powerful wrestler in his youth”,
Fuller was to become the greatest original theologian among 18th tury
Baptists” (Dictionary of the Christian
Church, page 395).
At the
age of 14 he came into “rest for my troubled soul”. He tells us, in his own account of that conversion, how the
example of Esther inspired him to approach the Saviour.
“I was
not then aware that any poor sinner had a warrant to believe in Christ for the
salvation of his soul”. But just as
Esther entered the king’s presence unbidden and under sentence of death, so
Fuller tells us: “like her I seemed …
impelled by dire necessity to run all hazards, even though I should perish in
the attempt …”
Wonderfully
converted, and self-taught, Fuller became a Baptist minister, first at Soham
(1775) and later at Kettering (1783).
He
found himself involved in controversy with hyper-Calvinists (Fuller can be
described as an evangelical Calvinist), Universalists, and with Arminians.
He was
a profound influence upon William Carey, indeed it was Fuller’s snuff box that
was used for the first offering of the newly formed Particular Baptist Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Heathen (the first of the great
foreign missionary societies in the United Kingdom).
His
book, The Gospel Worthy of all Acceptance
(1785), was a milestone in creating an evangelistic and missionary spirit
in the non-conformist churches of the UK.
He
died at the age of 61, listening to his congregation singing in the
meeting-house adjoining his home.
Bedridden, he turned to Sarah, his daughter: “I wish I had strength,” he said.
“To do
what, father?” Sarah asked.
“To
worship”- and with that he joined the ransomed above … and did worship! (Men
Who Were Earnest, page 301).
This is the day that … KENNETH TAYLOR was born, in 1917.
It was
at family devotions that one of his children asked him the meaning of a verse
in the King James Version of the Bible.
When he had explained it the children retorted: “Well, Daddy, if that’s what the verse
means, why doesn’t it say so?
As a
result Kenneth Taylor would sit in the Chicago-bound train day after day armed
with Bible, notebook and pencil. And in
1962 he had paraphrased the Epistles.
He called his book Living Letters,
and took it to a publisher. And
another. And another.
Their
refusals did not dampen his enthusiasm.
He took out a bank loan and published it himself. It sold slowly at first – and then Billy
Graham decided to give it free to those who wrote in to his telecasts. Half a million copies were printed and sent
to viewers.
Taylor
then tackled the Gospels … and the rest of the New Testament … and the
Psalms. And kept on going.
In
1971 The Living Bible was published
by Tyndale House, his own book company.
“In the first 27 months Tyndale House sold 13 million copies of The Living Bible.”
And it
still sells. In 1986 Moody Monthly
reported that 33 million copies had been sold, and “profits go largely to fund
paraphrases in other languages.”
This is the day that … ANDREW MURRAY was born in South
Africa, in 1828.
His
father was a Scot who pastored a Dutch Reformed Church – some 500 miles north
east of Cape Town – for 44 years.
The
two sons were sent to Scotland for their education, and after graduation they
both set their sights on the ministry.
This meant theological training in Holland … and a culture shock! For now they found themselves surrounded by
clergy who “drank alcohol and used tobacco.”
Their father wrote to his sons and warned them to abstain from such
practices.
During
his theological studies (at the age of 17, in 1845) he received news that
another son had been born to his parents.
His reply: “And equal I am sure
will be your delight when I tell you that I can communicate to you far gladder
tidings over which angels have rejoiced, that your son has been born again!”
Ordained
with his brother, John, on 9 May, 1848 (Andrew’s 20th birthday), they returned
to minister in South Africa.
Nearly
50 years of serving the Lord lay ahead, during which time Andrew Murray
pastored four churches, wrote 250 books and booklets (many of which became best
sellers and are still in print), and preached at great conferences in Europe
and America. He spoke at the English
Keswick Convention and Moody’s Northfield Conference.
Whilst
it is true that his books seem to breathe “a holy serenity,” he was not a quiet
speaker. Even in his old age we are
told that he was dynamic and demonstrative in the pulpit. “When church custodians heard that Mr Murray
would be preaching (in their church) they would remove everything extraneous
lest he knock them down and break them!”
Death
came on 18 January, 1917 - his dying words being to the nurse who attended
him: “Have faith in God, my child. Do not doubt Him” (Biography, page 243).
This is the day that … JOHN CHARLES RYLE was
born in Macclesfield, England, in 1816.
As
Bishop of Liverpool from 1880 to 1900 he became “one of the greatest and most
influential Anglican evangelicals of all time”.
Educated
at Eton and Oxford, where he showed prowess as a fine sportsman, his thoughts
turned to the ministry after a very real conversion experience. He was 21 years of age at the time and had
attended a parish church.
It was
not the sermon that influenced him, but the second reading of the
Scriptures. It was from Ephesians
chapter 2: “By grace are ye saved,
through faith …” “It was in the simple hearing of those words of Scripture that
he grasped the secret of the Gospel” writes Marcus Loane (J.C. Ryle, page 32).
For a
while he worked in his father’s bank.
But by 12 December, 1841, he was ordained a clergyman in the Church of
England. Various ministries followed.
He
married in 1845 …was widowed in June, 1847;
married again in 1850, widowed again ten years later; and remarried in
October, 1861 (J.C. Ryle, by P. Toon, pages 42, 44, 52).
Ryle
was not a good mixer – the two places where he was “genuinely happy” were in
his pulpit and when he was “in his study surrounded by books” (ibid, page 43).
Thirty
books came from his pen, including a vigorous defence of Anglican theology – Knots
Untied. And a classic work on “Holiness”,
from a Reformed perspective. His
commentaries on the four Gospels are still in print.
In his
preaching “he was at heart an evangelist whose sermons always sounded the note
of a singularly clear call to forgiveness of sin and acceptance with God” (Loane,
page 105).
This
great Bishop heard his Master’s “Well done!” on 10 June, 1900.
This is the day that …MARGARET McLAUGHLIN, aged
60, and MARGARET WILSON, aged 16, were martyred for their faith, in
1685.
Use
the Prayer Book – or else! Such was the
substance of the new Act of Uniformity passed in May, 1662. As a result, persecution broke out with fury
against all who refused to conform. In
Scotland these dissenters were named “the Covenanters” – so called because they
had signed a manifesto known as the “Solemn League and Covenant”. “They were outlawed, their worship
forbidden, and all who were caught were executed. Even the use of torture was not unknown” (Valiant in Fight, by B. Atkinson, page 141).
Another
historian comments: “These Scottish
Protestants were hunted with bugles and blood-hounds like so many deer. Those who gathered secretly in glens and
caves to worship God were hanged; or
drowned without mercy” (The Church in
History, by R. Kuiper, page 255).
Thus
it was that these two women were tied to stakes at low tide at “Solway Firth in
the waters of Blednoch”, and there left to drown as the tide rose, for refusing
to renounce the Covenant (Songs About Heaven, by E. Emurian, page
22). As the waters came closer, young
Margaret sang Psalm 25 and quoted Romans 8:35-39: “What shall separate us from the love of Christ … tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or distress, or persecution? Nay!”
History
refers to them as the Wigton Martyrs, godly folk who, like Moses, “endured as
seeing Him Who is invisible” (Hebrews
11:27). A memorial to these two
faithful women may still be seen at Wigton today.
This is the day that … COLUMBA landed on the tiny isle of
Iona off the northwest coast of Scotland in the year AD 563.
Columba
had been a monk in Ireland … and had surreptitiously copied a Book of Psalms
belonging to the Abbot. When this
was discovered, St Finnian demanded the copy be given to him, and Columba
refused. The High King of Ireland at Tara
even decided that the copy belonged to the Abbot, but Columba was not going to
give up without a fight.
Literally! A fierce battle took
place – both sides had gathered armies – and “the king’s forces were severely
defeated” (The Man with the Coracle, by
M. Backer-Benfield, page 6).
F.F.
Bruce, in The Spreading Flame, also
refers to this incredible war that took place over the Book of Psalms –
“Some accounts represent Columba as vowing he would not return to Ireland until
he had won as many pagans for Christ as had fallen in the battle – 3000 all
told!” (page 387).
So to
Iona he journeyed, and there founded a monastery. “From this primitive abbey went missionaries who carried the
gospel of Jesus Christ to Scotland, then to England, to France, Germany and all
of Western Europe.” Iona became “a
lighthouse to the Dark Ages” (Decision Magazine,
March, 1975).
And it
was Columba who first reported seeing the Loch Ness monster! In 565
(The People’s Almanac, Volume
2, page 1278).
And
Columba’s copy of the Book of Psalms is still to be seen at the Royal
Irish Academy in Dublin (National
Geographic Magazine, May,
1977, page 626).
This is the day that … a
weekly newspaper, The Christian Age,
dated 13 May, 1874, printed a poem, which fell into the hands of IRA D. SANKEY.
With
his friend, D.L. Moody, beside him, the two American evangelists sat in a
railway carriage travelling towards Edinburgh.
Moody had just completed the Glasgow campaign.
In
that newspaper Sankey found a poem and read it to Moody, “only to discover that
he had not heard a word, so absorbed was he in a letter.” However, Sankey kept the poem – “I cut it
out and placed it in my musical scrap-book.”
At the
second meeting of the Edinburgh campaign Moody preached on “The Good Shepherd”,
and whilst the chairman (Dr Bonar) made some closing remarks, Moody asked
Sankey to sing something appropriate to close the meeting. Sankey tells us in his autobiography that
singing the 23rd Psalm crossed his mind, but … let Sankey tell the story … “At
that moment I seemed to hear a voice saying:
‘Sing the hymn you found on the train.’
But I thought this impossible, as no music had ever been written for it! Nevertheless the inner conviction persisted.
“Placing
the little newspaper slip on the organ in front of me, I lifted my heart in
prayer, asking God to help me … I struck the chord of A flat and began to
sing. Note by note the tune was given
which has not been changed from that day to this” (pages 306-307). After the service Moody asked his friend, “…
where did you get that hymn?” to which Sankey replied: “Mr Moody, that’s the hymn I read to you
yesterday on the train, which you did not even hear…”
The
hymn was written by Elizabeth Clephane (who also penned Beneath the Cross of
Jesus).
And
the hymn? …
There were ninety and nine that safely
lay
in the shelter of the fold,
But one was out on the hills away,
Far off from the gates of gold.
Away on the mountains wild and bare,
Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.
But none of the ransomed ever knew
how deep were the waters crossed;
Nor how dark was the night that the
Lord passed through
’ere He found His sheep that was lost.
Out in the desert He heard its cry –
Sick and helpless, and ready to die.
(From My Life Story and the Story of the Gospel
Hymns, by I.D. Sankey, page 304).
This is the day that … TIMOTHY DWIGHT was born in
Massachusetts, in 1752.
He is
remembered for his hymn …
I
love Thy Kingdom, Lord,
The
house of Thine abode,
The
church our blest Redeemer saved
with
His own precious blood.
I
love Thy Church, O God!
Her
walls before Thee stand
Dear
as the apple of Thine eye,
and
graven on Thy hand.
But
Timothy Dwight was one of the theological giants of the 18th century.
His
grandfather was Jonathan Edwards, whose ministry sparked off America’s first
Great Awakening.
Young
Timothy entered Yale University at the age of 13 and studied so much by
candlelight that he permanently injured his eyesight. In later life he could not read more than 15 minutes a day
without “intense pain”.
Despite
this he became pastor of a Congregational church in Connecticut (1783), and was
eventually elected President of Yale University in 1795. Here he inspired the godless students by his
piety and chaplaincy work.
A
revival ensued in 1802 resulting in a third of the student body being
converted.
He
lectured on “ethics, metaphysics, logic, theology, literature and oratory,”
revised Isaac Watts’ Psalmody, and added 33 of his own hymns.
He was
a personal friend of George Washington, and he wrote four volumes of travels in
New England and New York.
“He
was,” writes Albert Bailey, “one of the outstanding men of colonial America …
and without question the best known and most influential in his day on
education, theology and literature!” (The Gospel in Hymns, pages 478-9).
Timothy
Dwight died in Connecticut on 11 January, 1817.
This is the day that … DAN CRAWFORD was converted in 1887.
Born
in Scotland on 7 December, 1870, he was only four years old when his father
died, and a meagre education followed.
He grew up a “guid laddie”, became a member of the local kirk, and a
Sunday-School teacher.
At the
age of 17, as he taught Sunday-School, the influence of another teacher gave him
uneasiness of soul. “For some weeks he
was in great anxiety. One evening he
attended a mission hall and heard a plain working man, out of a full heart,
tell of a Saviour’s love …” Convicted
by the preaching but still unwilling to yield to the Saviour, Dan now found
himself confronted by his friend’s final plea.
“Dan,”
said Mr Storer as he drew a line on the floor with a carpenter’s pencil,
“you’ll not step over that line until you have trusted Christ. Will you trust Him now?”
There
was “a minute’s dead silence,” says the biographer. Then Dan Crawford said:
“I will” and strode across the line.
And, adds E. Enock, “he never faltered from that moment.”
“Dan
started right away to tell all around of his new found Saviour. He would preach anywhere. In the street he would stop, doff his cap,
and start to tell out the Gospel …” (Gathered
Sheaves, page 2).
He
threw in his lot with the Brethren, took to open air preaching, fell in love
with Grace Tilsley … but declined to propose as he was going to Africa as a
missionary. And because he had
developed such a “bad cough” in his street preaching days – in all kinds of
inclement weather – the doctor did not expect him to live more than 12 months.
On 23
March, 1889, Dan Crawford sailed for Africa, in the company of F.S. Arnot, and
there as a missionary sent out by the Brethren Assemblies, he served his Lord
for the next 37 years. In 1898 Grace
Tilsley joined him, and they were married on 14 September.
He
“relied upon unsolicited gifts and preferred to work alone.” He translated the Scriptures into a native
tongue, and wrote Thinking Black, a
classic missionary volume that anticipated “modern cultural anthropology” (Who’s Who in Christian History), and
“became a valuable contribution in the field of missionary practices and
principles.”
Bishop
Stephen Neill, in his History of
Christian Missions, devotes three pages to Dan Crawford and the impact he
made, not only on the African peoples he evangelised, but on missionary
strategy.
On 29
May, 1926, during a restless sleep, he knocked his hand on a raw-edged shelf
beside his bed. Blood poisoning set in
and he died five days later.
This is the day that … WARREN WIERSBE was born in Chicago, in
1929.
As a
lad he dabbled in stage magic (rabbits out of hats and all that sort of thing),
and “the greatest literary event” was when he was introduced to the “Sherlock
Holmes” stories and developed “a life-long interest in good detective fiction”
(Be Myself, by W. Wiersbe, pages
26-27).
On 12
May, 1946, we find him handing out hymn-books at a Youth for Christ rally. A relatively unknown Billy Graham
preached.
“Right
where I stood I asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and save me, and He
did. I didn’t raise my hand for prayer,
I didn’t fill out a card. I didn’t even
go forward when the crowd sang “Just as I am”, but I did trust Christ
and became a child of God” (page 56).
Later
Warren Wiersbe was to become a staff worker for Youth for Christ (1958-61),
then pastor of various churches including the Moody Memorial Church, Chicago
(1971-78). After some years of
itinerant Bible teaching, he accepted a position as General Director of the
Back to the Bible Broadcast (1982-1990).
Today
he continues to concentrate on writing – already 100 books bear his authorship,
especially the “Be…” series, which
form a commentary on the New Testament.
The Old Testament commentary is still under way. “He is,” writes Billy Graham, “one of the
great Bible expositors of our generation.”
Amen!
This is the day that … JOHN HOWE was born in Leicestershire,
England, in 1630.
His
father was a Church of England clergyman who was later ejected from his parish
because of his non-conformity. He had
“espoused the cause of the Puritans” and thereby the wrath of Archbishop Laud.
Young
John was but 5 years of age at this time.
Returning
to England some years later, John Howe is seen by Oliver Cromwell, who is
impressed by “his fine appearance”. The
Protector invites Howe to preach the following Sunday, Howe “pleads one excuse
after another not to do so”, but finally “much against his private preferences”
becomes one of the chaplains to the Cromwellian army (Schaff Herzog Encyclopaedia, page 1027).
We
read that he was “a ready off-hand preacher” who never used notes, despite the fact that he was “famous for the
unusual length of his sermons and prayers” (Dictionary
of Literary Biography, page 340).
An example of this is given by Edward Calamy, his biographer: On fast-days he would begin the service at
9.00 a.m., pray for a quarter of an hour, read and expound a chapter for
three-quarters of an hour, pray for about an hour, preach for another hour, and
then pray for half an hour. Then,
whilst the people sang for fifteen minutes, he would “take some refreshments”
before returning to the pulpit. He
would pray for an hour, preach for an hour and conclude the service around 4.00
p.m., with a final prayer “of about a half an hour or more” (History of Preaching, by E. Dargan, page
147).
A
member of his flock is reported to have commented that Mr Howe “is a dear good
man but he spends so much time in laying the cloth that I lose my appetite for
the dinner” (page 180).
After
King Charles II came to the throne, Howe “wandered from place to place,
preaching in secret,” and devoting himself to writing. The Living Temple is probably his
best-known work.
Robert
Hall speaks of him as “the greatest of the Puritan Divines”, although he admits
that his sentences are often “long and cumbersome” (page 181).
John
Howe died on 2 April, 1705.
This is the day that … AIMEE
SEMPLE McPHERSON “disappeared”, in the year 1926!
On
that day Cecil B. DeMille expected to pick up the morning newspaper and read
front-page headlines of his latest cinematic masterpiece. Instead of which “the front pages were
pre-empted by a lady who was the most vocal enemy of the moving pictures.”
Aimee
Semple McPherson was known to thousands of admiring followers as “Sister
Aimee”. Her “four-square gospel” was
sounded forth dynamically by this flamboyant female evangelist, both from the
pulpit of her Angelus Temple (seating more than 5000 people), and over the air-
waves of her own radio station – KFSG, Los Angeles. Time Magazine dated 12 October, 1970,
spoke of “her 750 satellite churches and radio parish of millions”.
Then
came the fateful day, at 1.00 p.m., when Aimee and her secretary went to the
beach. The secretary saw Sister Aimee
enter the water. But no-one saw her
emerge. Hence the headlines!
A
Memorial Service was held at the Temple – a crowd of 25,000 thronged the
area.
Then,
on 25 May, a ransom note! “$500,000 was
demanded for the release of Sister Aimee,” said the kidnappers.
Suffice
to say, on 23 June, at 1.00 a.m., Aimee comes walking in from the desert
claiming that she had escaped! There is
a triumphant welcome home to Los Angeles, where 50,000 followers waited to
catch a glimpse of her.
But
her story did not seem to ‘fit’ in all details. And had she – or had she not – been seen in a certain honeymoon
cottage with one of her radio announcers?
What
follows borders on the incredible!
A
grand jury trial, and Sister Aimee is charged with fraud. Had she really been kidnapped? Or had she been having a secret affair? The trial brought “eight months of priceless
publicity” from which “the Mae West of the Pulpit” came forth triumphant.
Her
own version of what happened is told in her autobiography: “To my dying day I must proclaim my story of
the kidnapping and the escape is true.
It DID happen. It really did
happen just as I told it.” (The Story of
My Life, by A.S. McPherson, page 190).
Four
years later she married her third husband … was later divorced (for the second
time) …and died … from an overdose of sleeping pills!! At the age of 54.
During
her lifetime Aimee Semple McPherson gained renown, attracted a world-wide
following, made headline news. But
there were events in her life story that aroused the cynicism and scepticism of
the world in general, and did not bring glory to the Name of the One she
professed to follow.
This is the day that … ST DUNSTAN is remembered by some
churches. He is one of the 68 saints
mentioned in the Anglican Prayer Book.
He is
“the most famous of all Anglo-Saxon saints”, according to Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints (1756-1759).
Dunstan
was born in Somerset, England, in the early part of the 10th
century. During his education at
Glastonbury he alarmed the monks by sleep-walking on the roof of the
church! (Stars Appearing, by S. Harton, page 208).
He
eventually became an abbot at Glastonbury and set about reforming the morals of
a scandalous clergy. This zeal for
purity continued when he later became Archbishop of Canterbury (Butler, page
149).
But as
was to be expected, there was plenty of opposition. Especially when he rebuked King Edwy for his unseemly
behaviour. As a result Dunstan’s
property was confiscated and he was sent into exile. After Edwy’s death, King Edgar assumed the throne and Dunstan was
re-instated.
And it
was Dunstan who instituted bellringing on festival days, and who re-introduced
organ playing into the church – “even taking a personal hand in their actual
construction” (Harton, page 207).
The
story is told (believe it or not!!) that on one occasion, whilst working at his
forge, he saw the Devil peering through the window. “So he pulled the red-hot tongs from the coals and pulled the
Devil’s nose with them” (Maypoles,
Martyrs and Mayhem, page 147; Days and Customs of All Faiths, page
127). Satan ran and dipped his nose in
Tunbridge Wells to cool off – and “that is why the water in Tunbridge Wells, to
this day, is sulphur water!” (page
127).
In the
Convent of the Holy Child Jesus at Mayfield they even have St Dunstan’s
tongs! (Maypoles, Martyrs and Mayhem, page 147).
And
the dear old Archbishop is still regarded as the Patron Saint of blacksmiths …
This is the day that …DONALD GEE was born in London, in
1891.
He was
converted at the age of 21, and joined a Pentecostal fellowship the following
year.
At the
age of 29 he became pastor of a Church in Edinburgh, and in 1924 was “one of
the 15 foundation members of the Assemblies of God in Great Britain”. Eventually he was chairman of this board.
His
Bible teaching ministry took him around the world. He founded and edited Pentecost, the magazine that did
much to promote A.O.G. teachings in Great Britain.
In
1951 he was appointed principal of the A.O.G. Bible College in Surrey, England.
The Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic
Movements describes him as “renowned for his judicious counsel and the
thoughtful care with which he avoided extreme positions on issues of contention
within the Pentecostal movement”. He
was known as “The Apostle of Balance” (pages 330-1).
And
Lester Sumrall, who knew him personally, tells how Dr Gee “often said, ‘What we
need is balance’” (Pioneers of Faith,
page 77).
This
man of God died in a taxi on 20 July, 1966 – returning home from the funeral of
one of his best friends.
This is the day that … ELIZABETH FRY was born, in Norfolk,
England, in 1780.
The
Gurney family (Fry being her married name) were Quakers, “although they did not
wear the usual garb, nor practise the peculiarities … of that faith.” On the contrary, they lived “in the gaiety
of the world” (Doing Good, by R.
Steel, page 285).
But at
the age of 17 Elizabeth heard William Savery, an American Quaker, preach for
over two hours, and she was awakened to a need of serious commitment. It was 4 February, 1798. “Since that time,” she wrote 45 years later,
“I have never awakened from sleep, in sickness or in health, by day or by
night, without my first waking thought being how best I might serve the Lord” (Great Women, by E. Dean, page 170).
On 19
August, 1800, she married Joseph Fry, and bore him 11 children. At the age of 31 she was accepted as a
minister in the Society of Friends (Quakers).
And there began a remarkable philanthropic work among the female
prisoners in Newgate whose conditions were horrendous. Every day at 9.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. a bell
would ring, and the inmates would gather to hear Mrs Fry read the Scriptures to
them. More than that, she also fought
for a betterment of prison conditions.
She visited every prison ship leaving London. She founded a nightly shelter for the homeless (1819), a nurses’
training home (1840), and more!
Dr
Boreham records her deathbed scene:
“The more I think of it,” she murmured, “the more I am touched by the
exquisite tenderness of the Saviour’s ministrations – of His tone and manner to
sinners …” And with her last breath, “O my dear Lord, help and keep Thy
servant” (Temple of Topaz, page 225).
=====================================================
This is the day that … LIONEL BALE FLETCHER was
born, in 1877.
“He
was an evangelist,” wrote Dr F.W. Boreham.
“He burned with a passion for Christ and was never so happy as when
leading his fellowmen to the feet of his Lord.”
Born
in New South Wales, the little fellow was nearly named Octavius by his father,
but a last minute change of mind had him christened “Lionel Bale Fletcher”
(“Bale” was his mother’s maiden name).
At the
age of 10 “he ran away from school and home” … and by the age of 16 he was
sailing through Sydney Heads on the ss “Macquarie”. It was the beginning of “two years before the
mast”.
Then
he returned to Australia … and the bush.
By this time he was the “black sheep” in the devout Christian family,
and there – 250 miles from Sydney – the memories of his godly upbringing and
the faithful witness of a godly minister brought him to a place of
conversion. “The next morning,” says
the biographer, “Lionel Fletcher made the bush ring with shouts of praise and
joy” (Twelve Hours in the Day, by C.
Malcolm, page 37).
On 2
February, 1898, he conducted his first church service; on 24 January, 1900, he was married to Maud
Basham – and in 1905 he began to pastor Congregational churches.
Invitations
came for him to speak overseas – and before long his itinerant evangelist
ministry took him around the world.
Lionel Fletcher died on 9 February, 1954.
This is the day that … a HYMN was born.
Charles Wesley –
on 23 May, 1738 – wrote in his journal:
“At nine I began a hymn on my conversion but was persuaded to break off
for fear of pride.”
It was two days earlier – 21 May – that he had come
to a saving knowledge of Christ through reading Luther’s Commentary on the
Epistle to the Ephesians! (My copy
was printed in 1734…)
Then he penned the first of about 7000 hymns (and
many of them had a dozen or so stanzas.
His poem on Whitefield had 536 lines).
But persist he did with that first hymn – “I prayed
Christ to stand by me and finished the hymn…”
Two days later Charles and his brother, John
(converted 24 May, 1738) were singing the hymn together “with great joy!”
But what was the hymn? Almost certainly it was …
Where shall my wondering soul begin?
How shall I all to Heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
A brand plucked from eternal fire.
an interest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love!
How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
So it was that on
this day in 1738 the ‘Sweet Singer of Methodism’ began to write his hymns … and
he never stopped until he was on his deathbed (in 1788) – and even then he
dictated a hymn for his wife to write down …
who shall a sinful worm redeem?
Jesus, my only hope Thou art,
Strength of my failing flesh and heart.
Oh could I catch a smile from Thee
And drop into eternity!
====================================================
This is the day that … FREDERICK ARVID BLOM died
in Sweden in 1927, at the age of 60.
Swedish
by birth, he spent some years in the Salvation Army in Chicago. He attended Bible College … and then
pastored an evangelical church … until 1915.
Then Mr Blom “fell deeply into sin and spent some years in prison.” His biographer does not reveal the
details. Blom himself wrote: “I drifted from God … and became embittered
with myself, the world, and not the least with ministers who looked upon me
with suspicion because I was a member of the Socialist Party.”
Some
time later Blom resumed his walk with God and pastored a Swedish Congregational
Church in Pennsylvania until 1921. At
that time he returned to Sweden and was active in ministry until his death six
years later.
His well-known gospel song – popularised by George Beverly Shea some years ago – is:
He
the pearly gates will open so that I may enter in …
One biographer tells us that it is generally believed Blom wrote this hymn either in prison or shortly after his release. Verse two may well reflect his own spiritual pilgrimage –
Like
a sparrow, hunted, frightened, weak and helpless – so was I;
Wounded,
fallen, yet He healed me – He will heed the sinner’s cry.
Amen!
=====================================================
This is the day that … JOHN RALEIGH MOTT was
born in New York State, in 1865.
He was
to become “the most influential world religious leader of the 20th century” –
according to Ruth Tucker (From Jerusalem
to Irian Jaya, page 268).
He
influenced more students onto the mission field during his lifetime than any
other Christian leader.
At the
age of 32 he was acclaimed as “Protestantism’s leading statesman” (20th Century Dictionary of Christian
Biography).
In
1886 he had responded for missionary service at D.L. Moody’s student conference
… and in the nearly 70 years that followed he travelled two million miles,
stirring up missionary interest … and “plagued with sea sickness”.
In
1910 he served as Chairman, and organiser, of the Edinburgh Missionary Conference,
a movement designed to bring mission societies together and face them with the
challenge of “the evangelisation of the world in this generation…”
But it
was not to be. The “social gospel”
replaced evangelism and the Edinburgh Conference became the forerunner of the
World Council of Churches. Mott was the
opening speaker in 1948 when the W.C.C. was officially launched … and became
Honorary President.
His
ecumenical leaning was also seen as president of the YMCA when he encouraged
Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians to become members (Dictionary of Christianity in America, page 779).
After
his first wife died in 1952 he remarried a year later (at the age of 88). He died on 31 January, 1955.
And I
notice that one book claims “Raleigh” was a fictitious name he gave himself
when he was 11 years of age! (20th Century Dictionary of Christian
Biography, page 265).
This is the day that … NIKOLAUS LUDWIG VON ZINZENDORF was
born, in 1700.
Born
to an aristocratic family in Germany, Count Zinzendorf was to become the leader
of a Christian community at Herrnhut.
From here a number of missionaries went forth to evangelise. This was the beginning of the Moravian
movement, which would later play a part in the conversion of John Wesley.
Zinzendorf renounced his life as a nobleman
and is rightly regarded as “one of the greatest missionary statesmen of all
times”.
Yet,
the same author speaks of his “arrogance and conceit” and the gruesome
obsession” with our Lord’s physical sufferings which temporarily nearly wrecked
this missionary movement (From Jerusalem
to Irian Jaya, by Ruth Tucker).
From
his pen came 2000 hymns, many of which still appear in our hymnals, including:
Jesus,
Thy blood and righteousness,
my
beauty are, my glorious dress.
’midst
flaming worlds in these arrayed,
with
joy shall I lift up my head!
Zinzendorf
died in Herrnhut on 9 May, 1760.
This is the day that … the SUDAN INTERIOR MISSION (S.I.M.) was
born, in 1898.
“On 24
May, 1898,” Rowland Bingham later wrote, “Helen E. Blair entered with me into
life partnership … we were married three days before the mission was born …” (Flame of Fire, by J. Hunter, page 66).
In the
previous decades an awakening of missionary interest had been stimulated by the
preaching of D.L. Moody and the Student Volunteer Movement (of which John Mott
became the leader for over 30 years).
Literally
thousands of young people caught the vision of evangelising the world – in
their generation. Among them was a young
Englishman named Rowland Victor Bingham, who migrated to Canada … and then
trained at A.B. Simpson’s Bible College.
With
two other graduates, and without the backing of any Church or missionary
society, Bingham sailed for Africa – the “white man’s grave”, as it was then
known, and not without cause.
Bingham,
suffering from attacks of malaria, was the only one to survive. He returned to Canada in February, 1895 …
but that year, death and sickness and disappointment had not been wasted.
Other
dedicated young men volunteered to go.
The S.I.M. was formed, and by 1900 Bingham was off again – with two
other young men – to take the gospel to the Sudan. Again the dreaded malaria struck – the mission was aborted.
But in
1901 another attempt was made … and success began to crown their efforts.
Today
the S.I.M. has over 700 missionaries working under its banner. “Over 6,700 congregations have come into
being through S.I.M. ministry, all self-sustaining and self-governing” (Sixty Great Founders, by G. Hanks).
In
1954 S.I.M. set up Africa’s first missionary radio station and daily the gospel
is beamed out across the airwaves from Radio ELWA. And because its work now extends far beyond the Sudan, S.I.M.
today stands for “Society of International Mission”.
This is the day that … WILLIAM WALTERS died,
in 1907, on the Isle of Wight, where he was holidaying.
Born
in Wolverhampton, England, about 1848, to godly parents, William grew up
apprenticed to the printing trade.
Eventually
he had his own little printing business – and he also issued some Christian
publications. These were almost
entirely for the edification of Christians associated with gatherings in
sympathy with the teaching of William Kelly … one of the pioneers among the
Plymouth Brethren movement.
By the
time he was 40 God began to “enlarge the vision” of William Walters.
“It
became impressively evident that the full compendium of truth was not possessed
by any one section of the church of God.
There were others who, loving the same Lord, were devout students of
Holy Scripture …” (Publishing Salvation,
pages 9, 10).
Thus
it was he decided to print Scripture portions to be freely distributed.
God
blessed the venture, so that on 6 February, 1888, the Scripture Gift Mission
(S.G.M.) was born, although that particular name was not settled upon for
another four years.
For 18
years the saintly Bishop Handley Moule of the Church of England was president
of S.G.M. And the work of this great
movement continues to this very day.
William
Walters played the oboe and wrote some choruses. Here is one (which may be sung to the tune Over the Sunset
Mountains):
Hope
of my heart, Lord Jesus,
my
soul still thirsts for Thee,
While
waiting for Thy coming,
my
guide and strength still be;
And
though dark clouds may gather
to
hide me from Thy love,
By
Thine own power still draw me,
and
lift my soul above.
William
Walters was buried in Norwood Cemetery … just near C.H. Spurgeon. One had preached the gospel from the pulpit
… the other from his printing press.
This is the day that … SIR ROBERT ANDERSON was
born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1841.
It was
at the age of 19 that he saw a change in one of his sisters … she had been
converted at a revival meeting nearby.
“I cherished the thought,” he wrote, “that the next Sunday services in
the kirk might bring me blessing.” It was at the evening service that Dr John
Hall made the gospel plain. “His sermon
thrilled me,” wrote Robert Anderson later.
“Yet I deemed his doctrine unscriptural, so I waylaid him as he left the
vestry and on our homeward walk tackled him about his ‘heresies’…”
There
on the pavement that night the minister challenged him “to accept Christ or
reject Him.” To which Robert
replied: “In God’s name I will accept
Christ.” He could say, “I turned
homeward with the peace of God filling my heart” (Sir Robert Anderson, by his son, page 19).
He
threw in his lot with the Brethren, becoming a well-known author. Some of his books deal with prophecy, some
cross swords with the growing influence of modernistic (liberal) theology, and
some, like The Lord from Heaven, are
richly devotional. His volume, The Coming Prince, (published in 1882
and recently re-printed), is a study of the Antichrist, and helped to
popularise the dispensational interpretation of Scripture.
Having
studied law and criminology, in 1888 he was appointed Assistant Commissioner of
Metropolitan Police, and Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department at
Scotland Yard. It was the same year
that ‘Jack the Ripper’ began his orgy of death.
A
curious problem presented itself when I read Stephen Knights’ assertion that
Sir Robert Anderson “was well advanced on the Masonic ladder” (Jack the Ripper, pages 178-179; Sun
Newspaper, 3 August, 1976). And the
implication was made that Anderson “covered up” Jack the Ripper’s obvious
Masonic connections!
But in
a recent volume, Inside the Brotherhood, by Martin Short, there is
documented evidence (he gives the references) that Sir Robert was not a
Freemason! (page 41).
The
biography of Sir Robert Anderson written by his son makes it abundantly clear
that he was a Christ-exalting child of God who would have had no time for the
Christ-excluding Masonic Lodge.
He
died on 15 November, 1918.
This is the day that … HYMAN APPELMAN was ordained, in 1930.
This
remarkable evangelist began life in White Russia on 7 January, 1902. He was reared in the Jewish faith, emigrated
with his family to America in 1914, became an outstanding scholar at various
schools and universities and eventually (in 1921) was licensed to practise law.
During
a holiday in Kansas City a newspaper reporter named Daly witnessed to him
concerning the claims of Christ. The
next morning a Mr Garrett invited him to church – the first Protestant service
he had ever attended.
It was
later that year – now in Denver, Colorado – that Appelman was directed to Dr
James Davis of the Central Christian Church.
There the 23 year-old Jew found his Messiah, was baptised the following
Sunday, and sent a wire home to his family telling them the news. His family disowned him, the Jewish law firm
dismissed him, and his fiancée broke off their engagement.
But
Hyman Appelman never faltered in his new-found faith. He joined the United States Army, joined the Baptist
denomination, and began preaching.
Shortly
after his ordination by the Southern Baptists, he married Verna Cook (on 4
September, 1930), and commenced a remarkable evangelistic ministry that took him
around the world, including Australia … in 1948.
This
Russian-born Jewish American Baptist died in 1983.
This is the day that … WILLIAM CAREY preached his “deathless
sermon”, as it is described by his biographer, S. Pearce Carey.
It was
1792, and the place was Nottingham, England.
At
10.00 a.m. the young cobbler/pastor from Leicester rose to address the small
group. His text was Isaiah 54:2,
3: “Lengthen thy cords … strengthen thy
stakes …” and then rang out a fervent plea for missions.
One
who was present tells us that Carey “was in an agony of distress” as he became
spokesman for the perishing multitudes in heathendom.
As the
ministers “once more quenched the Spirit” at the meeting’s close and began to
leave, Carey grasped the arm of Andrew Fuller and cried: “Is there nothing again going to be done,
sir?”
“This”,
writes S. Pearce Carey, “was a creative moment in the history of Christ’s
Kingdom. Deep called unto deep. Fuller trembled an instant under that
importunity, gesture and heartbreak, and then his soul was stabbed awake and
the Holy Spirit flooded his spirit” (page 84).
With
Fuller’s ‘inspired strength’ behind Carey’s vision, things began to move.
Before
long the Baptist Missionary Society was born, and Carey himself was on his way
to India.