MAY 16
All Together in Christ to Transform Wicked Cities Urged Nasmith (1835)
“Mother, I cannot express the depth of gratitude I feel toward you for the tender care and loving discipline with which you brought me up to manhood. W...”
Elliott, Walter. Life of Father Hecker. New York: Columbus Press, 1891.
Let Us Be Merciful
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy—Matthew 5:7 (ESV). It is not fitting that the man who will...
Events
1553
Roman Catholics in Lyons seize five young Frenchmen trained by the reformers Viret and Beza and burn them to death, despite the intercession of Reformed Swiss cantons.
Authority for the date: Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church.1569
Dirk Willem is burned at the stake in his native Netherlands for his Anabaptist faith, captured because he turned to save a pursuer who had fallen through the ice. The very man he rescued had taken him captive.
Authority for the date: Dyck, Cornelius J. An Introduction to Mennonite history: A Popular History of the Anabaptists and the Mennonites.&a1816
Robert Richford Roberts is consecrated during a Methodist General Conference in Baltimore as the sixth bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Authority for the date: Elliott, Charles. The Life of the Rev. Robert R. Roberts. New York: Lane and Tippett, 1846.1819
Henry Nott baptizes King Pomare II of Tahiti. In a short time the Tahitians pass laws that forbid cruel murders and the islands begin to experience peace.
Authority for the date: Harrison, Eugene Myers. Giants of the Missionary Trail.1835
Death in Dublin, Ireland, of Felicia Hemans, author of two little-known hymns: “He Knelt, the Saviour Knelt and Prayed” and “Father! that in the Olive Shade.”
Authority for the date: E. R. Pitman. Lady Hymn Writers1906
Death in London of Edward Henry Bickersteth, Bishop of Exeter, author of many books, poems, and hymns. The most notable of the latter had been “Peace, Perfect Peace.”
Authority for the date: Wells, Amos R. A Treasury of Hymn Stories. Baker, 1992.1920
George Washington Truett speaks from the Capitol steps in Washington, DC. The Dallas pastor, whose church boasts seven thousand members, takes as his theme “Baptists and Religious Liberty.” He expresses pride that Baptists have never oppressed anyone in the name of religion, saying “God wants free worshipers and no other kind.” He reminds senators, congressmen, and his many other listeners that liberties cannot stand if they become license to do evil. “Selfish ease must be utterly renounced for Christ and his cause and our every gift and grace and power utterly dominated by the dynamic of his Cross.”
Authority for the date: Truett, George W. “Baptists and Religious Liberty.”1920
Joan of Arc is canonized five hundred years after her politically-motivated execution.
Authority for the date: Standard encyclopedias.1945
Death in England of G. Campbell Morgan, one of the great expositors of the Bible.
Authority for the date: Standard encyclopedias.1962
Death of Daniel Lot, a zealous evangelist and prayer warrior of the Church of Christ in Nigeria. At his burial, women will defy tribal tradition and come to the grave site.
Authority for the date: Dictionary of African Christian Biography.1971
Cabien Alexis begins preaching in Ile Adam, Haiti, and will soon have a flourishing church in this formerly gospel-resistant area. Eventually his work will branch out to all of Haiti as the Army of God, with churches, schools, and orphanages.
Authority for the date: Linder, God’s Special Agents1996
Samuel Onyuku Elenwo becomes the first Anglican bishop of the newly created Niger Delta North Diocese. An aggressive evangelist, he will triple the number of districts and parishes and lead many Nigerians to new or renewed faith.
Authority for the date: Dictionary of African Christian Biography.