Ida Scudder - medical missionary

Ida Scudder

Born to a missionary couple in India, Ida Scudder couldn’t wait to leave the country.  As a child, she had supported her parents in feeding hungry children and saw many of them die – memories she couldn’t wait to flee from.  She went home to college, returning in 1892 for a brief visit with her parents.

One night during that visit, a man from a high caste came calling.  He asked her to attend to his wife, who was in labor.  Ida insisted she did not have the skills to help, but offered to take her father, a doctor, to her when he returned from his visit.  The man refused, saying he would rather have her die than have a man come into the house.  Later that night, a Muslim man approached her asking her to help his wife who was dying in labor.  Again she offered to send her father as soon as she could and again she received the response that a man could not tend to her – he would rather she die.  Even later that night, a high-caste Hindu man approached her with the same request, asking for Ida specifically since only a woman could tend his wife.

Ida had a troubled night.  In the morning, she heard a drumbeat – the cultural sound for a death in the home.  She sent her parent’s servant around to see the fate of the women whose husbands had approached her and to her horror she found that all three had died in the night.  After spending time in prayer, she informed her parents she had to return home to study medicine so she could come back and help Indian women.

Recently, women had won the right to attend medical school, and a few female medical missionaries were already on the field.  Attending school, Doctor Ida Scudder was set to return to Vellore, India, in 1900.  One week prior to her departure, she was asked by her Mission leaders to raise funds for a hospital there before she left.  In that final week, she threw herself into speaking engagements and any opportunity to raise money she could find.  A significant portion of the $50,000 that was needed was raised prior to her departure.

Arriving in Vellore, while waiting for the hospital to be built, Ida turned her little room into a medical clinic.  Her first call was to a desperate case for which nothing could be done.  When word spread that her first patient had died, suspicion increased.

Some time later, a high-caste Hindu woman arrived.  Dr Scudder successfully treated her for a severe case of conjunctivitis, a disease of the eyes.  After this, patients poured in like a flood – so much so that she had to conscript her kitchen maid to assist.  Seeing as many as 500 patients in a day, as well as overseeing the building of the hospital, Ida began teaching as well as treating.  Her first seven nurses graduated in 1905.  By 1922, her first class of doctors had graduated – most of them women.  In 1928, the hospital in Vellore officially became a medical college.

Ida Scudder tied in 1959, after spending the day holding patient’s hands and quieting babies as they were being treated.  To this day, Vellore Hospital continues to operate – a testimony to her vision and faith.

Christian History e-mail, 07 Sep 2021.

The Haystack Prayer Meeting

Samuel Mills was born in Connecticut on April 21^st, 1783.  Coming to faith at the age of seventeen, a part of the Great Awakening, he committed himself to missions work in a day when the idea of an American church sending missionaries was unheard of.  Missions-minded churches were few and far between, and missions societies dedicated to sending missionaries were nonexistent.

Attending Williams College in Massachusetts, Samuel was in the habit of spending Wednesday and Saturday afternoons in prayer.  Returning from one of these prayer meetings, Samuel and four of his friends were caught in a sudden downpour.  Taking shelter in a nearby haystack, they discussed a booklet by missionary William Carey, An Inquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use means for the Conversion of the Heathen.  The five students committed themselves to the cause of world evangelism, inspired by Samuel’s words to them, “We can do this if we will.”

The five continued to meet and pray.  Others joined them in prayer, seeking direction from God on how they could meet the needs of evangelism in Asia.  In 1810, their members formed the American Board for Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM).  Within two years, they sent their first five missionaries to the subcontinent of India.  Many church historians mark this as the beginning of the American Protestant missionary movement.

During its first fifty years, the ABCFM sent out more than 1,200 foreign missionaries, mostly students from New England.  They were deeply involved in Bible translation, establishing schools and hospitals in remote areas, and training local converts to continue the work of evangelism among their own people.

Samuel Mills was very active in the service of Christ through ABCFM.  Besides foreign missions, he preached everywhere in the young United States, from the Mississippi Valley to working with the destitute in New York City.  A trip to New Orleans revealed to him there were many families in the South who had no access to a Bible.  He started a Bible publisher and distribution ministry which was one of the precursors to the American Bible Society.  Finally, active in the effort to repatriate slaves to Africa, he helped found the American Colonization Society.  Returning from a short trip to Africa to scout settlement sites, he died at sea in 1818 at the young age of 35.

The significance of the impromptu Haystack Prayer meeting cannot be understated.  First, it was the seedbed of the North American foreign missions movement.  Many missions organizations today trace their roots to the ABCFM, including InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, the Student Volunteer Movement-2, and the Luke 18 Project.  Secondly, it reminds us of our need for prayer – this entire movement began with the prayers of five young men seeking shelter from a storm.  Third, it shows the human cost of missions.  Samuel Mills’ words “We can do this if we will” shows us what these young men experienced: that God working through his tireless servants can do great things.

Footnote: a ‘haystack’ in this day consisted of a small platform of stone or wood upon which cut hay was stacked ten to twelve feet high.  It was neatly combed on the outside so rain would sheet off.  It was kept hollow on the inside to prevent rot and fermentation.  This would have been the perfect size for five young met to sit closely together and have an intimate discussion.

Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader (Fourth Edition); Winter, Ralph, Ed, 2009.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haystack_Prayer_Meeting

https://www.gotquestions.org/Haystack-Prayer-Meeting.html

https://missionexus.org/missiologically-aware/haystack-prayer-meeting-matters-today/

https://www.globalministries.org/the_history_of_the_haystack_pray_10_10_2014_112/

https://www.globalministries.org/haystack_samuel_j_mills_10_10_2014_116/

 

 

Benjamin Keach

Benjamin Keach

On an October day in 1664, 24-year-old English pastor Benjamin Keach stood on trial.  The charge was “schismaticall factions and hereticall matter.”  The subject: infant baptism.  The text in question: a primer Reverend Keach wrote for children. 

As a Baptist, Reverend Keach believed and taught the practice was for those mature enough to profess faith in Christ, a conviction he came to after much study.  He was saved at age 15 and began his pastorate at age 18 – in the church that would in later times become known as the Metropolitan Tabernacle – pastored in the 19^th century by Charles Spurgeon.

A prolific author, he received a lot of unwanted attention from the Church of England, resulting in the trial mentioned above.  His books were burned in front of him, he was sentenced to two weeks in jail, then two hours in the ‘pillory’ (i.e. – ‘stocks’) with the written charge to be displayed prominently, “For writing and publishing a schismatical book…” 

Normally in a pillory, the accused would be pelted with objects or stones and be subject to jeering from the crowd.  Keach’s response was to use the time there as a preaching opportunity.  With his wife by his side, he spoke clearly to the crowds, holding their attention.  An Episcopal minister was brought to shout him down but the crowd, knowing the preacher himself lived an ungodly life, was drowned out with laughter.

Through his life, Benjamin Keach found himself fighting the fight for Baptist doctrine in a then-unfriendly situation.  He was noted as a staunch defender who always brought the discussion back to Scripture.  He was fined and threatened numerous other times.  Spurgeon, later writing about him, said that to people like Benjamin Keach, “we as Baptists owe our very existence.” 

Reverend Keach as a reformer as well.  It was common practice then in English churches that, if singing was to be done at all, it was limited to the Psalms.  Studying Scripture, Keach became convicted that music should be a part of the church’s service.  Introducing music he wrote at the observance of the Lord’s Supper, he won both friends and detractors.

Benjamin Keach is an example of a godly man who based his doctrine on the Word of God, and ensured his own life and his congregation followed suit.

Christian History e-mail, 08 Oct 2022

https://digitalpuritan.net/benjamin-keach/

Remegius of Reims

Remegius of Reims

Born to nobility in the city of Leon in Gaul (France) around the year 437, Remegius grew to be noted for his intellect and eloquence.  Having come to faith at an early age, he became the bishop of Reims at the age of 22 – a position he was given even though he had never even been a priest.

Gaul was ruled at this time by Clovis, the Germanic king who had united the warring tribes of Gaul.  Following the polytheistic warlike faith of his ancestors, Clovis married a believer named Clotilde.  Because of his wife, Clovis supported the church but feared that converting would weaken him politically and undermine the morale of his army.  However, during a crucial battle when things were going poorly Clovis cried out to Christ in desperation and imminent lost turned into a decisive victory.

Clovis immediately came to faith and asked Remigius for baptism.  In addition to the king, more than 3,000 of his soldiers were converted and baptized as well, on Christmas day, 496 AD.

Clovis, true to his new faith, deeded large tracts of land to the church throughout his kingdom and asked Remegius to oversee the establishment of dozens of churches.  He encouraged the churches to reach out to the barbarians on the frontier, converting many.  Remegius proved very efficient in the administration of these churches, and ensured the Arian heresy which was then plaguing the church was kept out of the churches he oversaw.  Remegius' efforts resulted in planting the church in large areas of what today is France, individual churches lasting centuries.

Over the years, a number of legends have sprung up around Remegius, mostly concerning miraculous healings.  A contemporary of his, Gregory of Tours, referred to Remegius as “a man of great learning, fond of rhetorical studies, and equal in his holiness to St Silvester.”  Remegius died in the year 533, at approximately age 93.

Christian History e-mail: 13 January 2022

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Remigius-of-Reims

https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/remigius-of-reims/

https://historymedieval.com/clovis-i-the-first-king-of-the-franks/

https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=376

 

 

 

Francis Makemie

 

In Accomack, Virginia, on the Delmarva peninsula, stands a statue of Francis Makemie.  Francis came to the colonies in the year 1683, ordained by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to evangelize in America.  For over 25 years, he preached in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and Barbados. 

To make ends meet, he engaged in trade.  He married the daughter of a merchant and acquired some land.  As a minister, he wrote a Catechism, disputed with Quakers, defended ‘dissenter’ churches (those that acted outside the authority of the Church of England) and organized and pastored churches.

He was licensed to preach in both Barbados and Virginia.  Traveling to New York, the absence of a preaching license caused him difficulty.  Accused (correctly) of preaching without a license, Lord Cornbury, the Governor of New York, arrested him and after languishing in prison for a couple of months was brought to trial.  After a contentious trial, Makemie was found “not guilty” of the crime – a case which proved to be foundational to the later American concept of religious liberty.

Shortly after returning to Virginia in 1708, he passed away near his home in Accomack.  He was buried in his family cemetery and a later monument proclaiming him the “Chief Founder” of the Presbyterian Church in the America.  The inscription on the base of his monument reads, “Erected In Gratitude To God And in grateful remembrance of His servant and minister.”

 

Christian History e-mail, 04 Aug 2021

https://francismakemiesociety.org/index.html

Leonor de Cisneros

In the mid-16^th century, the Reformation took root in Spain for a short time.  The flame burned hot and many came to faith.  Among the converted were a young couple: Leonor de Cisneros and her lawyer husband Antonio Herrezuelo.  They became members of a secret underground congregation in their home city of Toro.

In 1559, the entire congregation of 70 worshipers was arrested and interrogated as part of the Spanish Inquisition.  Congregants were separated, including Leonor from her husband.  Torture and intense pressure to return to Roman Catholicism enticed many in the congregation to recant their ‘Lutheran’ beliefs and take steps to return to Roman Catholicism.  Leonor was told that her husband recanted and was waiting for her.  Under this pressure, she did and was sentenced to three years of reeducation in a convent.

The burnings of heretics during this dreadful time were public and well-choreographed.  Those who had refused to recant were dressed a certain way to indicate their intractability.  Those who had recanted were dressed another way.  Those condemned to die were given a final opportunity to recant their beliefs and receive the benefit of being strangled prior to being burned alive.  On October 8^th, 1559, Leonor was ushered outside her prison cell and, watching the parade of those who had refused to recant, was horrified to discover her captors had lied to her about her husband.  She saw him in the clothing of one about to be burnt.  Having a metal gag in his mouth he could not speak but she recalled the look he gave her to be worse than any rebuke.

Leonor witnessed her husband’s faithfulness through the flames and immediately repented.  Returning to confinement, she openly witnessed to the other prisoners and unashamedly spoke against the teachings the Roman Catholics continued to try to indoctrinate her with.  After nearly nine years, she was finally judged a ‘relapsed incorrigible heretic’ and was sentenced to death by the flame.  On that day, she walked calmly to the pyre, thankful to God that she had another opportunity to bear witness to the faith she had once denied.

 

https://leben.us/leonor-de-cisneros-profile-faith/

https://www.executedtoday.com/2016/09/26/1568-leonor-de-cisneros-chastised-wife/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonor_de_Cisneros

 

An 'Ordinary' Man

Tha Byu was a scoundrel.  He was, at a minimum, a robber and a murderer.

When Adoniram Judson was in Burma (Myanmar) in the 1820s, a fellow Christian who had tried to work with Tha Byu turned him over to the great missionary as a difficult case.  Tha Byu had become indentured to him when the Christian paid off a debt of his, but he had become unmanageable.

Tha Byu was of the Karen tribe in Burma, a persecuted and lower-class segment of society most native Burmese had little time for.  Under Judson’s teaching he came to faith, and after over a year of learning to control his violent temper, the church in Burma agreed to baptize him in 1828.  Three additional Karen tribesmen witnessed the baptism and asked Tha Byu what had happened.  He excitedly told them, and a hunger for evangelism was born.  Tha Byu traveled to Karen villages wherever he could find them to share the Gospel.  At first only a few became converts, but soon his witness, and those who followed him, became so effective that eventually crowds of hundreds and even thousands thronged to hear him speak. 

Because Tha Byu was poorly educated and was older, he felt unequipped to teach the deeper doctrines of the Christian faith.  Instead, missionaries trained those he won and Tha Byu focused his efforts on reaching the thousands of his fellow Karen tribesmen scattered throughout Burma, casting a wide net wherever he could.  He is remembered fondly today as “The Karen Apostle.”  Today, there are hundreds of thousands of Christians in Myanmar, most of them among the Karen tribes.

Tha Byu’s ministry only lasted 12 years before he died form a lung infection.  His biographer wrote: From the day of his baptism to his death, he never intermitted his labors in preaching Christ, where the Saviour had not so much as been named, from Tavoy to Siam; from Martaban to the borders of Zimmay; and from Rangoon to Arracan. And though he was the first of his nation to go down into the baptismal waters, he lived to see hundreds and hundreds follow his steps, in whose conversion he held a distinguished part. We cannot err in honoring those whom God honors; and it therefore seems proper, that the name of Ko Thah-byu should be rescued from oblivion, and inscribed among the worthies of the church; that the rising generation may learn what “very ordinary abilities,” when wholly consecrated to God, may accomplish.

Tha Byu’s commitment to his fellow countrymen and his zeal for the spread of the Gospel show us that a person of ‘ordinary’ skills can have a great impact for Christ.

 

Christian History e-mail: 09 Sept 2022.