Francis of Assisi - the first living Nativity

Francis of Assisi

Francis of Assisi was a humble man, living in the early 13^th century, who turned the Christian world on its head.  He was born in 1182, the son of a very wealthy Italian merchant in the city of Assisi.  As a young man, his life was that of a spoiled, rich young man – living very much in the world.  One early biographer said that he “outshone all his friends in trivialities.” 

As a 20-year old young man, he willingly went to war, with high hopes of military glory.  However, during his first battle, he was taken prisoner and it took a full year before his father could arrange to pay the ransom required for his release.  He became ill during his imprisonment, so when he was ransomed, he returned to his home to recuperate.  His year of convalescence was spiritually transformative.  He seems to have become delirious, and experienced wild dreams and visions – events he tried to deal with by retreating to a broken-down old church on the edge of town to pray.  One day, during his prayers, he recounted a vision of Jesus telling him three times, “Francis, go repair my house, which is falling into ruin.”  Francis initially understood the vision to be God’s direction to repair the specific church building he was praying in, so he began selling off his family’s wealth to raise money for repairs.

When Francis’ father found out about this, he was furious and dragged his son to the bishop to demand repayment.  Instead, Francis took off his clothes in front of those gathered, neatly folded them, and laid them in front of his father.  He then committed his life to one of solitude and spiritual reflection. 

His solitude and study of Scripture inspired him to live the life of an itinerant preacher, a life with minimal possessions and utter simplicity.  His preaching was forceful, with very strong exhortations to repent.  His personal life reflected his own abhorrence of sin: sometimes taking extreme measures of bodily self-denial to purge himself of every last ounce of temptation.

By the time he was 27 years old, he had gathered a small group of like-minded men devoted to preaching and poverty.  This small group became the nucleus of the Franciscan order of the church.  The rapidly-growing group preached the message of repentance, simplicity, and radical obedience to Jesus,  making evangelistic trips all over the known world.  It was said of Francis by his peers that he lived the life detailed in the Sermon on the Mount better than any other human being ever…with the exception of the One who preached the sermon itself.  His Franciscans took great pains to emulate their superior, as he sought to emulate Christ. 

Toward the end of his life, Francis headquartered his ministry at a rough retreat on a hillside in Italy – a place provided for him by a wealthy admirer and friend named Giovanni da Vellita.  It was picturesque, with a view of the valley below with mountains in the distance.  Surrounding him were woods, and behind the retreat were a number of caves.  In this solitude, Francis found his place for spiritual meditation as well as taking care of the numerous administrative details of his Order.

On Christmas Eve, in the year 1223, Francis, nearing the end of his 44-year life, invited fellow hermits and peasant villagers in his area to a Christmas Eve mass.  That evening, as the people made their way up the steep mountainside, the torches they carried must have made a beautiful sight.  As they climbed, they sang Christmas hymns.  When the people reached the top, they were treated to a surprise from Francis.  He had arranged with Giovanni to provide an ox and a donkey in one of the caves, along with a manger and a man and a woman, dressed to represent Mary and Joseph.  In the manger sat a wax doll to represent the infant Jesus.

As everyone gathered around, Francis preached a simple Christmas sermon in that setting.  He promised his listeners changed lives if they placed their faith in Christ.  After the mass was over, Francis and Giovanni spend the night in a prayer vigil over the manger and wax Christ child.

This “living manger” scene had never been done before.  Francis was actually nervous about doing so – even writing the Pope himself asking permission lest he be thought of as taking the birth of Christ too frivolously.  What a scene that must have been that first time – and how many times has that scene been repeated since?

https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/moversandshakers/francis-of-assisi.html

Periodical e-mail from Christian History, 24 December 2020.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturninus

Saint Saturninus

Saturninus is a guy about whom we really wish we had more background information.  While a couple of sources place him in the first century of the church – a contemporary and friend of the Apostles, more reliable sources place him in the third century.  Many fanciful stories were written in later years about him – here is what we know for certain:

After a number of Roman persecutions had decimated the Christian communities in the Western part of the Roman Empire, Pope Fabian sent a number of missionaries to various parts of Gaul (France) to re-evangelize that part of the world.  One of these missionaries, named Saturninus, was sent to the city of Toulouse.  He spent a dozen years in that city, and his ministry bore much fruit in the conversion of souls and training of church leaders.  Saturninus, while walking from his residence to his church, had to pass by the capitol – also the chief temple in the city.

It was said that when Saturninus passed by the temple, that the gods would go silent.  It is also very likely that converts to Christianity ceased patronizing the temple and the priests wanted to put a stop to a further drain on their follower base. 

On November 29^th, 257 AD, temple leaders bound Saturninus and drug him into the temple.  In an effort to appease their gods, they insisted Saturninus sacrifice a bull to their gods.  History records Saturninus’ reply: “I adore only one God and to Him I am ready to offer a sacrifice of praise.  Your gods are devils and are more delighted with the sacrifice of your souls that with those of your bulls.  How can I fear them [gods] whom you acknowledge, tremble before a Christian?”

Enraged, Saturninus was condemned to be dragged by the bull through the town until the rope broke.  They tied his feet to a rope and the bull was let loose.  He was violently dragged through the streets, killing him.  When the rope broke, what was left of his body was rescued by two faithful Christian women and hidden away.  A century later, when the practice of Christianity was no longer forbidden, the bishop of Toulouse erected a small church on the site where the rope broke as a place to house the body of Saturninus.  Over the centuries, this building was expanded into a magnificent cathedral.  Roman Catholics celebrate his feast day on the day of his martyrdom: November 29^th.

Christian History periodic e-mail, 29 Nov 2020.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturnin
https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=802

 

 

 

Clement

Clement I

Clement I of Rome (not to be confused with later Popes Clement or Clement of Alexandria (d ~215 AD), is often understood to be the person named Clement called out in the Biblical book of Philippians. 

Indeed, true comrade, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. – Philippians 4:3

While we see Clement as a faithful member of the church in Philippi in the Scripture, Clement is subsequently named in different lists as either the second or fourth bishop of Rome.  Church tradition holds that he was specifically consecrated by Peter for the role, serving from AD 88 to AD 99.

While a number of writings are attributed to Clement, the only one which can be said with certainty to be from the pen of this church father is a letter to the church in Corinth.  This letter is considered to be the earliest Christian document outside of the New Testament.

Clement’s letter to the church in Corinth indicates that the Corinthians has repented of the divisiveness shown in Paul’s letters to the same churches.  However, they were beginning to fragment again, even worse than when Paul wrote to them, to the point of expelling two of their elders.  It is a long letter (65 chapters containing over 14,000 words) full of Biblical teaching and exhortations to humility and brotherly love.  He writes of the martyrdom of both Peter and Paul as well as others who gave their lives for the faith.  He speaks of church government, and gives specific counsel to reinstate the two elders who had been expelled. 

Chapter 23 begins a great dissertation on the Resurrection of Christ.  He brings the example of the Phoenix (a single bird he attributed to the Arabian area), a bird which was said to live exactly 500 years, then return to Egypt to die by burning itself to death.  Then, from the ashes a worm appeared which grew into the next phoenix.  Apparently, Clement believed the story to be true and used it as a beautiful illustration of the resurrection.

Clement was arrested under the persecution of the Roman Emperor Trajan and set to work in a stone quarry on the Crimean peninsula.  There is a legend about him during this time that they had a severe shortage of water.  Clement prayed for water and, according to the legend, had a vision of a lamb on a hill.  Taking a pickaxe, he walked up to where the lamb was, struck the ground with the pickaxe, and a clear gusher of water flowed to quench the thirst of the prisoners.

Clement was martyred by being tied to an anchor and thrown into the Black Sea. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Clement_I#Epistle_of_Clement

https://www.christian-history.org/clement-of-rome.html

https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1010.htm

 

 

 

 

Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle 

Boyle’s Law: the pressure of a fixed amount of gas is inversely proportional to its volume.

Robert Boyle, born in 1627, is known as one of the founders of modern chemistry and one of the pioneers of the modern experimental scientific method. He was born the fourteenth of fifteen children to Robert Boyle, the First Earl of Cork, in Ireland. Despite having the advantages of great wealth, Robert’s father saw fit to ensure his children understood the value of education and hard work, so he was sent to live with a peasant family for a number of his childhood years. It was likely during these years that, at age 13, young Robert awoke with a start to a loud clap of thunder, the beginning of a fierce storm. He later wrote that it was that storm which compelled him to think of the torments of an eternity apart from God, and he committed his life to Christ at that young age.

At age 17, young Robert with a brother was on an extended tour of Europe. Already with an intense interest in science, he visited many eminent scientists of his day. He was actually en route to visit the great Galileo in Italy when Galileo died. Despite that, he was able to visit and study in many of the great centers of learning in his day.

His studies and influences during that trip had a profound impact on his thinking. In this day, scientific study existed mainly in repeating what ‘authorities’ had previously declared to be true. Since Aristotle had declared that a true vacuum could not exist, it was accepted as fact. Robert asked questions like, “How did Aristotle know this?” He wanted to be shown, not just be taught. As a result, he invented devices with which to experiment to see these laws in action, or to disprove them.

During this trip, an uprising in Ireland broke out and Robert’s father had to spend all his available resources in defending his land and could no longer support his children in their travels. His father and at least one brother died as a result of that war. Robert had to end up working and selling his own valuables to pay for his tutor as long as possible, but when he sold the last of his available goods, he used the money to travel home. Robert stayed with a recently widowed sister and spent a great deal of effort to back on his feet, with the little inheritance he received.

Robert’s intellect, though still a young man, got the attention of a group of scholars in Oxford University. He joined an underground group of scientists who called themselves the “Invisible College” – so named due to the fact that they had no formal structure or organization. Like Robert, many of these scientists were devout Christians and sought to encourage each other in understanding the universe bequeathed to them by God. While he never received a degree or a professorship, his acumen and reputation elevated him to the greatest scientists in England in his day. He separated the science of Chemistry away from the witchcraft of Alchemy.

Boyle believed that God designed nature to work according to certain natural laws, a reflection of His purposeful design. A scientist’s duty, then, is to discover these laws and use them for the betterment of mankind and, more importantly, to shine a spotlight on the Creator of the Universe. Later scientists, even to this day, use the laws of nature to remove God from the universe, but to Boyle and his colleagues in the Invisible College, it was the exact opposite.

A student of the Bible, as well as science, Robert learned Greek, Cyriac, and Hebrew so he could read the Bible in its original languages. Any conflict between the Bible and science, he explained, existed only because of a mistake in the science or an incorrect interpretation of the Scripture.

Robert Boyle’s whole life, including his scientific work, existed to glorify God. He produced many theological writings, including works on Divine love, the evils of swearing, ethics, the study of theology, and the style of Scripture. He even wrote a Christian novel, called the Martyrdom of Theodora and Didymus. He supported numerous missionary works throughout the reaches of the British Empire, including in the American colonies, and in his will established a series of lectures defending the Christian faith from those who would detract from it. Mostly, though, in the great scientist Robert Boyle, we have an unflinching testimony of a humble man who sought to serve and discover His Creator – and to make Him known to the world.

Quotes from Robert Boyle: 

“Is it wise to dispute anxiously about the properties of an atom, and be careless about the enquiry into the attributes of the great God, who formed all things?” 

“I am not a Christian, because it is the religion of my country and my friends. When I choose to travel the beaten road, it is not because I find it is the road, but because I judge it is the way.” 

“From a knowledge of His work, we shall know Him.” 

https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1601-1700/robert-boyle-father-of-modern-chemistry-11630103.html 

https://crev.info/scientists/robert-boyle/ 

https://www.icr.org/article/science-man-god-robert-boyle/

Elias Boudinot / American Bible Society

Elias Boudinot

Elias Boudinot was one of our founding fathers.  Born in Philadelphia in 1740, he was literally the next-door neighbor of Benjamin Franklin growing up, until his father was appointed to a position at Princeton.  Elias became a successful lawyer, and later became an active supporter of the American Revolution.  During the Revolutionary War, he loaned and gave money to equip units for battle.  Elias was elected to the New Jersey Provisional Congress and was appointed a Colonel by General Washington to oversee matters of prisoners of war during the conflict.

Elias was appointed to the Continental Congress after the war, where he served a one-year term as the Congress’ fourth president.  Elias served three terms as elected Representative from New Jersey and, when he refused to run again, President Washington appointed him as director of the US Mint – a position he held for ten years.  During all his time in office and in government service, Elias advocated for the Christian faith in American life.  He did so by advocating for the rights of Native Americans and slaves in the states – using God’s Word as a basis for his advocacy.  He advocated for prayer in the new nation, and was one of the first to push for the establishment of a Thanksgiving Day holiday.

In 1816, when Elias was 75 years old, he was given a report that some young men had researched and written together.  This report painted a bleak picture that many people within the United States had no access to a copy of the Bible.  There were a number of smaller Bible societies in the nation trying to fill this need, with marginal success.  Elias was moved by this, and made extraordinary efforts to unify the various Bible societies and the various Christian churches committed to the cause.  Four months after beginning his work, Elias was named the first president of the American Bible Society.  In response, he said, “I am not ashamed to confess that I accept the appointment as the greatest honor that could have been conferred on me this side of the grave.”  He continued, “I am so convinced that the whole of this business is the work of God Himself, by His Holy Spirit, that even hoping against hope I am encouraged to press on through the good report and evil report, to accomplish His will on earth as it is in Heaven.  So apparent is the hand of God in this disposing the hearts of so many men, so diversified their sentiments as to religious matters of minor importance, and uniting them as a band of brothers in this grand object that even infidels are compelled to say, ‘It is the work of the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes!’  Having this confidence, let us go on and we shall prosper.”

Elias spent the next 5 years unifying the efforts of the various smaller Bible societies into one homogenous whole.  He donated $10,000 of his own money to set up a headquarters in New York and begin work.  Elias was a big believer in efficiency and innovation, and the American Bible Society became one of the earliest American publishers to use stereotype plates and steam-powered presses in its Bible publishing.  In 1817, the organization presented 65 Bibles to the crew of the USS John Adams – the inauguration of its lengthy and fruitful ministry to the US military.  In 1819, they published their first translation of the Bible, a ministry to the Delaware Indians.

Elias’ death in 1821 has not dimmed the ministry of the American Bible Society.  Today, they remain very active in military ministry, Bible translation, and publishing & distribution – among other ministries.  Elias Boudinot left a fantastic legacy, indeed.

http://sites.tld.bible/history/elias_boudinot/

https://news.americanbible.org/blog/entry/corporate-blog/working-together-for-the-cause-of-the-gospel

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

James Evans

James Evans

James Evans was born in 1801 in England and moved with his parents to Canada when he was 21 years old.  In Canada, James married and had two daughters, only one of whom survived to adulthood.  He found employment as a teacher, and was later educated and ordained as a Methodist minister.  He was appointed as a missionary to the Cree Indians in Manitoba.

James learned the language and culture of the Cree.  Realizing the importance of reading and understanding God’s Word, James invented an alphabet for the Cree and taught them to read using wood ash as ink and birch bark as a writing surface.  He hand-wrote Bible verses and hymns on birch bark sheets for his followers.

Failing to secure a printing press from his missions organization, he built one himself.  He would salvage lead from the liners of old tea chests, melt it down and pour it into wooden molds he carved himself.  When he could, he would take an old piece of lead shot, carving it out of a tree trunk, and use a small knife to shape it into a specific letter he needed.  Using soot for ink and unrolled birch bark for paper, he printed small books and portions of Scripture for his flock – all in the writing system he invented.

In 1844, James was on a canoe trip with his very close Native friend and linguistic teacher named Thomas.  They were traveling to answer many questions that had been raised by a quarrelsome Roman Catholic missionary in the area.  During the trip, James’ gun accidentally discharged, killing his friend.  Fellow missionaries urged James to flee, but his sense of personal responsibility compelled him to return.  He returned Thomas’ body to his elderly, widowed mother and explained what happened.  In accordance with the tribe’s custom, the woman would have been well within her rights to have James executed – something James freely offered.  When she declined, James then offered himself as her ‘adopted’ son, offering to take care of her in her old age as a son was expected to do.  The offer greatly impressed her, as well as the entire tribe.  James shared his income with her the rest of his short life.

James was greatly affected by the incident, and his surviving writings show them to be erratic after this point.  Soon after, competing missionaries and liquor traders leveled charges of sexual impropriety against him based on his practice of using his home to nurse sick young women and girls back to health – at a time where they would have had no place else to go.  Because of the seriousness of the charge, James immediately requested a disciplinary hearing on himself so evidence could be brought to light.  James was cleared of the charges, but admonished that keeping young girls in his home was improper.

Though he was found not guilty of the charges, the stench of the accusation remained, and James was asked to come to England to report to his sponsoring missions society and to allow things to cool down back home.  He preached in many areas in England and had a sudden heart attack following a missions rally in Lincolnshire.  James died at the young age of 45.  James’ ashes were returned to Manitoba and spread there, on the missions ground he found so fertile.

He had a tough end, but James contributed greatly to the spread of the Gospel among the Indians of Manitoba.  Not only the Cree, but other tribes continue to use the alphabet system he developed for them.  Other missions groups picked up this system and continued to evangelize the Natives of Canada using the language and alphabet developed specifically for them. 

https://krassoc.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/james-evans-wesleyan-methodist-minister-and-missionary-teacher/

https://www.cwjefferys.ca/rev-james-evans-teaching-indians-his-system-of-cree-syllabic-writing

http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/evans_j.shtml

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

Helen Howarth Lemmel

Helen Lemmel was born in 1863 in England, the daughter of a minister who emigrated to America when she was a child.  She was a very gifted musically and her parents paid for music teachers as often as they could.  She eventually returned to Europe as a young woman to study music in Germany where she earned a reputation as a brilliant singer.

In Europe, Helen married a wealthy European and the two came to America where they traveled widely throughout the United States, especially in the Midwest.  Helen sang in various churches – often singing hymns she wrote herself.  She later taught voice in the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and later at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles.  She was involved in some of the musical worship of Evangelist Billy Sunday and wrote many songs and hymns for adults and children.  She even authored a Christian book for children which was widely read in her day.

In her middle-age years, Helen was diagnosed with a disease which ended up making her permanently blind.  As a result of this her husband abandoned her, leaving her destitute.  It was in dealing with this dual tragedy that a friend brought and read to her a tract written by a missionary.  This little tract contained a statement which had a profound impact on her.  It read, “So then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full into His face and you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness.”  Helen wrote the words to her hymn Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus that same week, stating that the words were “dictated by the Holy Spirit.”  It was first published in 1918 under the title “Heavenly Vision” and has been a staple in Christian hymnals ever since.

Helen continued to write songs of praise and worship, often calling friends over at odd hours to write down the words for her when they would come to her mind.  In her later years, numerous visitors would tell of her joy and enthusiasm.  Though in a sparse apartment and living off of government and charitable assistance Helen, when asked how she was doing, would reply, “I’m doing well in the things that count.”  She had a small plastic keyboard by her bed.  There she would play, sing, and pray.  She was known to say, “One day God is going to bless me with a great heavenly keyboard.  I can hardly wait!”

Helen died in Seattle, Washington, on November 1^st, 1961, just 13 days short of her 98^th birthday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=682yRGibD1U

http://chrisfieldblog.com/2008/11/14/blind-helen-howarth-lemmel-turns-our-eyes

https://womenofchristianity.com/turn-your-eyes-upon-jesus-by-helen-lemmel-hymn-story/

Morgan, Robert J., Then Sings My Soul, Nelson Publishers, 2003.

Johannes Kepler

Johannes Kepler

In the year 1577, a six-year-old boy in Germany stared into the sky at a comet, prominently visible in the night sky.  This, along with a lunar eclipse three years later produced a deep love for astronomy in young Johannes Kepler. 

Kepler was a sickly child, and unhappy.  He nearly died from contracting smallpox at an early age.  His father was a mercenary soldier and was away from home for most of his son’s early years.  Eventually, Johannes was sent to live with his grandfather who was a godly man and a great influence on the boy.  His grandfather noticed an academic ability in the boy and sent him to school, where he soon excelled academically.

Against his recently-returned father’s wishes, Johannes accepted a scholarship to a major university.  His studies included Latin, Greek, the Bible, mathematics, and astronomy, where he studied the recent theory of a sun-centered solar system advocated for by Copernicus and became a fierce advocate.  His intention was to study to become a minister, but when he was offered a position as a mathematics and astronomy teacher he realized it as God’s leading and accepted the position.

Kepler’s goal was to glorify God through his mathematical and astronomical studies.  His scientific notes are riddled with prayers of praise to God.  Kepler believed that the more the orderliness of God’s creation was studied by Christians, the more they would be driven to deeper and deeper worship of the Creator.  He often wrote, “O God, I am thinking Thy thoughts after thee.”  He realized that the Scripture even called the heathen to look upon Creation to discover the Creator – why not more so those who follow God every day?

Kepler believed firmly that since there was a Creator of order, there was a precision and orderliness to the universe which could be explained mathematically if one would diligently search it out.  With that as a foundation, Kepler studied and eventually proved Copernicus’ theories – and even improved on them by discovering the paths of the planets were not perfectly circular, but more elliptical.  He established laws for planetary velocity and for the relationship between orbital periods and the distances of planets from the sun.  His three laws for planetary motion have formed the basis for our understanding of the solar system.

Kepler also undertook a study of what affects the alignment of the planets and the phases of the moon had on the earth.  With their limited knowledge, scientists were unsure which events on earth were affected by events in the heavens and which were not.  Today we understand that the positioning of the moon affects things like seasons and tides, but not in areas which today we would consign to the practice of astrology.  Kepler studied these affects from a scientific perspective and wrote about his research, effectively separating the scientific from the superstitious. 

Johannes Kepler lived a tough life.  Having born the trials of his childhood, as an adult he buried his first wife and lost three of his six children in their childhood.  A stubborn Calvinist, he refused to bow to the doctrinal bent of the day, simply stating “I am a Christian” when asked to summarize his faith.  Such conviction often led to persecution and forced relocation.  Since he supported the theories of Copernicus, many prominent scientists of his day shunned him and would not promote his work.  It was not until late in his life and after his death that his work was recognized as the genius that it was.

Despite all this, Kepler remained humble.  His desire was to “Let my name perish if only the name of God the Father is thereby elevated.”  He was willing to put aside his own plans for his life and say later, “I had the intention of becoming a theologian…but now I see how God is, by my endeavors, also glorified in astronomy, for ‘the heavens declare the glory of God.’”

https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1501-1600/kepler-the-heavens-declare-gods-glory-11630018.html

https://answersingenesis.org/creation-scientists/profiles/johannes-kepler/

https://www.icr.org/article/science-man-god-johann-kepler

Amanda Smith, Evangelist

Mrs Amanda Smith

Amanda Smith was born in 1837, to a slave family in Baltimore County, Maryland, the oldest of thirteen children of two godly parents.  Her father, Samuel Berry, was well-trusted by his owners and when their master passed away, his widow allowed Samuel to work to pay for his freedom.  She allowed him in his trips to the city to sell the farm’s goods to also sell his own material.  He was known to often stay up late in the night making brooms, placemats, and other household items to sell.  He purchased his freedom, then continued to work to purchase each of his family members’ freedom.  Once freedom for the family was secured, the family moved to Pennsylvania, in the Lancaster County area and managed a farm.

Her parents were avid readers, and encouraged all the children to read and become educated.  Samuel, despite his very busy schedule, read from the Bible daily to his children.  The children were invited to attend a school which was five miles away, but the school was structured in a way that the white children were given their lessons first and, only if there was time remaining, were the black children allowed to be taught.  This proved to be not worth the effort, and they abandoned the idea of attending this school – instead opting to teach themselves with newspapers and Scripture.  Amanda estimates she received only about three months of formal schooling in her entire life.  Despite this, she learned from her parents and together with her siblings.

Sam Berry’s farm became a stop on the Underground Railroad.  In those days, harboring a runaway slave was a crime – even in northern states.  As a black family, they were watched very closely.  Amanda notes that her father would often work a full day on the farm, come home to eat his dinner at night, sleep about two hours, then disappear around midnight leading a few runaways to the next stop, about fifteen miles away, return home and, after about an hour of sleep, work another full day on the farm.

As a young woman, Amanda was hired by a local doctor and his wife to help take care of their children.  The family was very kind and they often invited her to church, and it was under their influence that Amanda found faith in Christ.  Her heart was especially moved by a visiting missionary who told of God’s work in many places around the world.

In 1854, Amanda married.  Her husband was killed in 1863 in combat in the Civil War.  She remarried, and her second husband died of illness in 1869.  Between her two husbands, she had five children – four of whom died very young.

After her second husband died, Amanda tried preaching.  A member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, there was initial resistance to a woman preaching, but she persisted and won many to Christ.  She became a popular speaker – eventually having doors opened for her across the United States, especially in the South.

The call to foreign missions beckoned, though, and when she got the chance to travel to England to work with churches, she jumped at the opportunity.  After a year in England, she spent two years in India where she was fondly remembered for many years after her departure.  Eight years in western Africa followed, where she was very active not only in preaching and ministering but in the Temperance movement – as active in Africa as it was in the United States.  In Africa, she adopted two orphaned children.

A man named Bishop Thoburn, Methodist Missionary in India, who served closely with Amanda during her time in India wrote the Introduction to her autobiography, An Autobiography: The Story of the Lord’s Dealings with Mrs. Amanda Smith, The Colored Evangelist.  In the Introduction, he wrote of a few of his experiences with Amanda – we will recount two below: 

First, he wrote of his first meeting of Amanda Smith, at a Camp Meeting near Cincinnati, while home on a furlough from India, where he served.  Many were scheduled to speak, including Bishop Thoburn and Amanda Smith.  He confessed that the meeting was not very successful and that a general feeling of depression had descended on the leaders of the meeting as they met to plan the next few days.  To top it all off it began to rain, adding to the feelings of gloom.  As they prayed, he was startled to hear singing.  He looked up and saw Amanda, kneeling with hands spread out in prayer, singing what he called “a triumphant song” which changed the course of their prayer and the meeting.  This left a very marked impression on Bishop Thoburn.

Secondly, he wrote of meeting her in India and being very delighted to have her company.  He spoke of her being fiercely attacked in the local papers and her graceful tact in her responses.  During a particular meeting in Calcutta, he recounted how they had a problem with young men purposely disrupting the open-air preaching by rushing the stage and beating the speaker.  During one such meeting, they saw this group of young men getting ready to rush the podium.  Amanda positioned herself between the speaker and the young men, fell to her knees in prayer, face lifted to Heaven.  The young men stood still, unable to move.  The rest of the meeting passed without incident.

Upon her return to the United States, Amanda settled near Chicago.  She had to be coaxed into it, but eventually wrote the aforementioned autobiography.  She used proceeds from the book and money from a missions organization in England to start the first orphanage for black children in Illinois.

Amanda had to retire, due to failing health, in 1912.  An admirer paid all expenses for her to move to Florida and retire there.  When she died in 1915, a large group of ministers accompanied her casket to the train in Florida.  On March 1, 1915, one of the largest funerals Chicago had ever seen honored her memory.

From her autobiography:

“I often say to people that I have a right to shout more than some folks; I have been bought twice, and set free twice, and so I have a good right to shout.  Hallelujah!

https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/smitham/smith.html

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

https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2006/10/amanda-smith.html

http://www.bu.edu/missiology/missionary-biography/r-s/smith-amanda-berry-1837-1915/

 

 

 

Martin of Tours

The saint we know of today as Martin of Tours was born in the area of present-day Hungary in the early 4^th Century, the son of a Roman Tribune (senior officer). 

At age 10, against the wishes of his parents, Martin began attending a Christian church and began going through the required process to be baptized.

Before he could be baptized, at age 16, Martin was drafted into the Roman army, the result of an edict compelling the sons of veterans to enlist.  He was assigned to a calvary unit as part of the emperor’s official escort.  Martin avoided the temptations of soldiers and held fast to his faith – giving most of his salary to charity.  One example of his charity occurred during a particularly cold winter in Amiens, France, during a bitterly cold winter.  Martin had already given away his spare clothing to those without when he came across a poor man outside the city, shivering from the cold.  Martin felt pity, so he drew his sword and cut his own cloak in half so he had something to give to the man.

That night Martin had a dream where Jesus spoke to him.  In his dream Jesus said, “Martin, who is still preparing for baptism, has clothed me with his own cloak.”  Martin pondered this dream, and to him it incurred both praise and rebuke.  Praise for his unselfish gift to a man who could never repay.  Rebuke in that Martin never completed the ritual of baptism.

Martin appealed to his superiors for release from his service.  This was problematic in that Martin’s unit was, at that time, preparing to go into battle.  Martin was jailed, accused of cowardice.  In response, he volunteered to go with the army, unarmed, into the front lines of the battle.  His superiors were ready to accept his offer, when the opposing force sued for peace and the battle avoided.  Martin’s request for release from service was granted.

Martin became a hermit and settled near Tours, France, under the discipleship of Hilary of Poitiers.  Hilary was an outspoken critic of the Arian heresy plaguing the church and Martin joined him in its rebuke.  He emerged periodically to preach and witness, traveling once to visit his parents to secure their conversion.  His mother found faith during that visit, his father at a later time.  During that particular trip, his biographer records that he was held prisoner by a group of brigands, hoping to get a ransom for him.  Martin won one of his captors to faith, who arranged for his release.

He established a number of monasteries in Western France, traveling back and forth between them to ensure their physical and spiritual health.  His intent was for these monasteries to be hubs of evangelism in their areas.  In the year 371, Martin was asked to come to the city of Tours, ostensibly to pray for a sick woman, where he was abducted and compelled to become bishop of the city.  Though he was reluctant to accept the position (legend says he hid in a barn full of geese, whose squawking gave him away), he immedi Drately embraced the role – influencing the removal of many pagan temples and images.  Martin made a point to make periodic visits to the churches within his jurisdiction, traveling extensively to do so.  He continued his advocacy for the poor, and wrote extensively to try to reduce the oppressive taxation the waning Roman empire began to demand from its middle class.  Martin arranged a system where his churches could act as asylum for those in danger of entering debtor’s slavery.

Today, Martin is widely remembered in France – where numerous churches and monuments have been erected in his honor.

E-mail from Christian History Institute, 11 Nov 2020.

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

 

 

 

John Eliot - Apostle to the Indians

John Eliot – Apostle to the Indians

William Carey set out on his missionary voyage to India in 1792 – a date many call the beginning of the modern missionary movement.  However, there was a foreign missionary a century and a half earlier who was well ahead of his time in the spirit and practice of evangelism.

John Eliot was born to a wealthy family in England in 1604.  Little is known about his early years, but we know he graduated from Cambridge University and came under the influence of famed Puritan preacher Thomas Hooker.  Of the Hookers Eliot later wrote, “When I came to this blessed family, I then saw, and never before, the power of godliness in its lively vigor and efficacy.”

As Anglican leaders put pressure on Puritans, Eliot moved to Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1631 and became pastor of the church there.  There, he married Anne Mumford.  A part of the Massachusetts Bay charter (1628) was the “royall intention and the adventurer’s free profession, the principal ende of this Plantation” was “to wynn the natives of the country to the knowledge and obedience of the onlie true God and Saviour of mankinde.”  Unlike many of his fellow settlers, Eliot was moved by the spiritual ignorance of the natives in his area and the poverty in which they lived – most tribes having been previously decimated by plagues. 

Eliot displayed remarkable patience and piety in his efforts to win the local Algonquin tribes.  He patiently learned the complex language, taking in an Indian boarder in 1646 as a tutor.  The Algonquin language used pictorial symbols in a crude attempt at writing and compressed complex ideas into single lengthy run-on words.  Many colonists figured it would be more efficient to teach the Indians English and then teach them God’s Word.  One fellow pastor even claimed that, in an exorcism, the demons could understand English, Greek, Hebrew, and Latin – but even they could not understand the “barbarous” language of the Indians. 

After two years, Eliot finally felt comfortable preaching in the native tongue.  He chose a small village a few miles north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, which was on very friendly terms with the Englishmen.  His sermon was well-received and he was invited back.  As he taught, he was presented with some remarkable questions: “If God is all-powerful, why does he not just kill the Devil who makes men to be bad?”  “Was the Devil, or man made first?”  “Might there be something, even a little, to be gained by praying to the Devil?”  “Are all the Indians who died before us doomed to Hell?”  “Where go little children who die go, to Heaven or to Hell?”  and “If God made Hell in one of the six days, why did He make it before Adam had sinned?”  The complexity of these questions helped to convince him of the genuine reception of those who professed faith.

Eliot’s methods would not entirely pass muster among modern missionaries.  He required of his converts that they adopt many English ways.  He received a parcel of land from the Massachusetts authorities and settled the “praying Indians” (as they came to be known) there.  He found donors in England willing to supply money to purchase tools, clothing, and blankets for the families and spinning wheels for the women.  With little direct English assistance, they built a modern town with streets and houses, fenced farms and organized fields.  Often, converts were not allowed to be baptized until they had been properly “civilized.”  Eliot was careful not to push them too hard, and he built a great deal of trust with them.  In time, 14 of these settlements of “praying Indians” were established with over 1,100 Praying Indians and Eliot visited them all, regardless of weather or other impediment, and trained ministers in each.

Eliot’s crowning labor of love was a translation of the Scriptures into the Algonquin language.  The rudimentary system of pictures was not sufficient for the task.  Instead, he taught them the English alphabet (and had to invent a few new characters as well) then used those characters to translate the Bible for them.  This task took him over ten years to complete, with no assurances it would ever even be printed.  Frankly, given his workload, it was amazing he had any time at all to complete the task.

The London Bible society, upon hearing of his completed work, offered to fund the cost of publishing the work – this type of work being the very premises on which the society was founded.  In 1659 printing was begun in Harvard – the first Bible printed in North America.  1,500 Bibles were printed and bound, the earliest example of the translating and printing of the entire Bible as a means of evangelization.  English Bibles would not be printed in North America for another century.

Unfortunately, in 1675, a confederation of Indian Tribes under the leadership of a chief called “King Philip” began a bloody war with the colonists.  Englishmen, suddenly very uneasy at the thought of entire fortified town of Indians near their settlements, began to treat Eliot’s converts with suspicion and downright hostility.  Against Eliot’s vehement protests, many were even forced to move to Deer Island in Boston Harbor, unprotected from the Atlantic winter.  His ready supplies having dried up, Eliot supplied them as best he could, though many perished from the treatment.

Despite these hardships, the Praying Indians remained loyal to John Eliot and many even joined in the war against King Philip, forming a scouting company and rendered valuable service to the English.  In the final battle, it was a Praying Indian who fired the shot which killed the rebel King Philip.

Although the English were victorious against the Indians, this incident was a blow to John Eliot’s work from which it was never able to recover.  He continued to minister to those who remained until his death in 1690 at the age of 84.  Sporadic villages of these Praying Indians continued up into the 18^th century.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/missionaries/john-eliot.html

https://www.americanheritage.com/apostle-indians

https://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/john-eliot.html

Easter celebrations around the world

 

Easter celebrations around the world

Easter has sadly become a largely secular holiday though, like Christmas, it is certainly rooted in a wonderful event in the Christian faith.

In the United States, it is common to see Easter bunnies and Easter eggs.  Jelly beans and chocolates abound.  Egg hunts and grassy baskets abound.  These traditions, very loosely based on the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, have taken on many forms around the globe.

In the Greek island of Corfu, earthenware pots are thrown out of upper-story windows and smashed onto the streets.  They believe this tradition started by copying a similar tradition in Venice, where new Christians threw possessions onto the street to symbolize throwing old things away and beginning their life anew.

Another Greek tradition is with red-dyed eggs.  Following midnight mass, each person cracks their egg against another person’s egg.  The ‘last egg standing’ is the winner and is supposed to have good luck that year.

In Poland, Ukraine, and a few other East European countries people throw buckets of water on each other the Monday after Easter, a celebration they call “wet Monday.”  This is to commemorate the baptism of a Polish prince over 1,500 years ago and the introduction of Christianity to that region.

In Scandinavia, on Easter children dress up and walk along the street asking people for candy and chocolates.  Sometimes, the children will exchange the candy for artwork they have spent time drawing. 

In some parts of Spain, Easter festivities take place beginning on the Thursday before Easter.  At night, some dress up in skeleton costumes and reenact scenes from the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.  The skeletons supposedly represent death.

In Australia, in 1991, a campaign ensued to replace the Easter bunny with the Easter bilby (a small Aussie marsupial).  Australia has a great problem with rabbits, which are considered pests and destroy crops.  Chocolate makers who make chocolate bilbies donate profits to help endangered animals.

As in Australia, in New Zealand fall is coming on when Easter is celebrated.  Because of the temperature change, many New Zealanders enjoy the season’s first hot cross buns on Easter Sunday.

Vanuatu, a Pacific Island nation north of Australia, makes Easter a national holiday – from Good Friday through Easter Monday.  On Easter morning, there is a traditional sunrise service – which must be absolutely beautiful in that area of the world.

In Ethiopia, Christian churches celebrate what they call ‘Faskia’ – which is the 55 days leading up to Easter Sunday.  This is a bigger holiday than Christmas.  People spend the 55 days fasting from meat and animal products.  The night before Easter is a somber, reflective vigil, but Easter morning breaks out in dancing and festive music.

In the Philippines, Easter is a major holiday.  Two processions happen: first the men walk through town, following an image of Jesus risen from the dead.  Second, the women walk through town following an image of Mary, mother of Jesus, wearing a black veil.  The two groups meet at the church to show Jesus comforting his mother after He was raised from the dead.  Then, young girls dressed as angels remove the veil from Mary’s face and the people celebrate His rising!

In southern France, a very unique thing happens on Easter in the small town of Bessieres.  The people of the town get together and crack over 15,000 eggs to make one giant omelet which is served with bread to visitors.  According to tradition, Napoleon traveled through there with his army and was served omelets by the residents.  Being his first taste of an omelet, the emperor stayed an extra day and had the town cook a single, giant omelet to feed his entire army.

In Bermuda, kites are flown on Good Friday.  Many years ago, a teacher wanted to illustrate to his students Christ ascending into Heaven.  He took the children outside and set a kite aloft, decorated with the face of Jesus. 

No matter how Easter is celebrated, it is important to remember the reason for the season.  Easter is a celebration of a risen Savior, a resurrected Lord.  The proper symbol of Easter is not a man dead on a cross, but an empty tomb, singing angels, and rejoicing disciples.  Easter is hope – a confident assurance in a Savior who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world, as well as for MY sins…and for yours.

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/10-different-ways-easter-is-celebrated-around-the-world.html

https://www.wycliffe.org/blog/featured/how-easter-is-celebrated-in-countries-around-the-world

https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/how-countries-around-the-world-celebrate-easter

Lott Cary

Lott Cary was born a slave on a plantation in Charles City County, Virginia (southeast of Richmond), in 1780.  His situation was such that his extended family lived together.  His family attended a Baptist church and feared the Lord greatly.  Later in his life, Lott remembered his grandmother Mahala as the one who greatly shaped his faith.

When he was twenty-four years old, Lott’s owner sent him to Richmond to work in a tobacco warehouse.  While there, he began drinking and behaving in ways he was not proud of later.  After two or three years, he began to feel conviction of his sin and was converted in the First Baptist Church after hearing a sermon about Nicodemus.  He was baptized there and, intensely curious about the story of Nicodemus, made arrangements to learn to read so he could study the story himself.

His faith affected his work ethic, his work at the warehouse thrived, and he was promoted to supervisor of the warehouse.  He was often tipped by tobacco buyers and he was allowed to keep and sell extra tobacco.  This money was diligently saved and Lott soon had enough to purchase freedom for himself and his young family.  The warehouse kept him on as a salaried employee.

Lott Cary felt the call to preach and began preaching to slaves around the Richmond area.  People of all races who attended his sermons called them among the most moving they had ever heard.

Feeling an increasing call to go to Africa as a missionary, in 1815 Lott worked with other ministers to form a Baptist society for African missions.  The Society saw the state of Liberia as a starting point for missions to the entire continent of Africa.  They raised funds for a number of years and in 1821 Cary left as co-lead of a team to establish a mission in Monrovia, Liberia, where a number of freed blacks had resettled.  Intending to preach, Cary found himself enmeshed in the political climate and in the practical matters of government – even to matters of training local doctors and to the self-defense of the small city from large bands of bandits and rebels.  All of these duties were performed while he was active as the pastor of several churches in the city.

In 1826, Lott Cary was the acting governor of Liberia but was unfortunately killed with seven other people in an explosion when he was helping to prepare cartridges for the colony’s defense.

His untimely death left a great hole to fill, but because of his efforts in his day, Liberia remains a free nation and the National Missionary Baptist Convention continues to send missionaries around the world.  There is also a large missions organization headquartered in Lanham, MD, named after him which sends multicultural teams into parts of Africa on a short-term basis for purposes of evangelism, health, anti-human trafficking, and disaster response.

https://mbcpathway.com/2021/02/25/lott-cary-former-slave-becomes-first-baptist-missionary-to-africa/

https://www.imb.org/2018/08/28/missionaries-you-should-know-lott-cary/

http://lottcarey.org/

The Mockery of Methodism

The Mockery of Methodism

In 1843, the great Methodist movement was shaking the foundations of Great Britain.  John Wesley traveled the country on horseback, living modestly, worshiping devoutly, and preaching fiercely.  His mannerisms and his teaching engendered both praise and ridicule.  The following circumstance is recorded in Wesley’s personal journal.

On Monday, October 31^st, Wesley and his companions entered the city of Newcastle.  That Wednesday an advertisement was published for a comedic play that Friday which was scheduled which stated that there would be an added portion to the play, a ‘farce,’ which they called “Trick Upon Trick, or Methodism Displayed” intended as open mockery to Wesley and his work.

That Friday, Moot Hall in Newcastle was packed to the max.  They literally had to construct seats on the edges of the stage to handle the overflow.  The crowd was estimated to be 1,500 people.

As the comedians began the first act of farce, the newly constructed seats collapsed, the supports giving way “like a rotten stick.”  It took some time, but order was restored and the play went on.  During the second act, the more expensive seats, the ‘shilling seats’ also cracked and sank down several inches.  This caused a mild panic and a number of people ran for the door and did not return.  Once order was restored, they continued the play.

When the third act began, the entire stage suddenly sank six inches.  The actors retreated to the back and had to be coaxed back onto the stage.  Near the end of the third act, the cheaper ‘sixpenny seats’ collapsed to the ground without warning.  More people fled the hall.

With only 200-300 people remaining in the hall a man named Mr Este, who was playing the irreverent Methodist in the farce, announced to those remaining that the cast was resolved to continue the production.  Literally as he was speaking, the stage suddenly sank six more inches, sending Mr Este fleeing to the safety of the back and the few remaining patrons to the door.

Wesley was careful to note that not a single person was injured - a fact he attributed directly to the mercy of God.  He concluded the account in his journal with a wry statement: “Which is most surprising – that those players acted this farce the next week – or that some hundreds of people came again to see it?”

https://ccel.org/ccel/wesley/journal/journal.vi.v.xvi.html

 

 

 

Fifty-Seven Cents

57 Cents

The Temple Baptist Church of Philadelphia today has a seating capacity of 3,300 people.  The church is the origin of Temple University and the Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia.

Temple Baptist was a growing church in 1886 under the leadership of their pastor, Dr. Russell Conwell who is well known for his sermon entitled ‘Acres of Diamonds.’  Dr Conwell was walking to church one Sunday morning when he came across a young, shabbily-dressed girl, alone on the street, crying.  When he stopped and asked her what the matter was, she told him that she couldn’t go to Sunday School because the classrooms were full.  Dr Conwell learned her name was Hattie May Wiatt and that she lived in one of the city’s run-down tenements. 

Demand for the children’s’ classes was significant, and the church at the time had no choice but to turn many children away once classroom space was full, but his heart went out to this particular girl.  He picked her up, escorted her into the church personally, and walked her to a class she could be a part of.  As they walked to class, the Pastor told her, “someday we’re going to have a building big enough for all the little children who want to come hear about Jesus.”

Two years later, Pastor Conwell officiated Hattie May’s funeral after a sudden illness.  Her heartbroken mother handed him a small, worn-out purse she said had belonged to her daughter.  The pastor opened the purse to find 57 pennies (no small savings for a girl from a poor family at that time) and a scribbled note which read, “This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday School.”

Dr Conwell took those pennies and the note back to his church and issued a challenge to build.  He auctioned off the pennies one-by-one and immediately raised over $250 – enough to buy a nearby house which was the church’s first expansion.  For many years, Sunday School classes for children were held there and later, the first classes of Temple University.   As the building program took off, some members of the church formed what the called the “Wiatt Mite Society” with the goal of making Hattie May’s little offering grow as much as possible.  They raised a great deal of money, in large and small donations, toward the expansion of their church building and other needs of the church and eventual University.

Later, when the church was ready to build a new campus, the church leadership was negotiating with the bank to finance the purchase of the land.  Knowing the story of Hattie May, the banker offered the land, worth ten thousand dollars, to the church for a down-payment of fifty-seven cents.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/57-varieties-of-truth/

https://www.truthorfiction.com/hattiemaywiatt/

My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

Edward Mote was born in 1797 in London to unbelieving parents who pretty much let him go his own way, giving him little in the way of spiritual or moral direction.  He said of his younger years, “So ignorant was I that I did not know that there was a God.”  As a teenager, he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker who introduced Edward to the Gospel.  He responded to the Gospel, was saved, and was baptized when he was 18 years old. 

He worked in the business of cabinetry until he was 50 years of age, then entered the ministry.  He became the pastor of the local Baptist church in Horsham, West Sussex for the last 26 years of his life.  He was loved by his congregation and was offered the church parsonage as a gift.  He declined, saying he would rather have the pulpit, “and when I cease to preach Christ, then turn me out of that.”

Edward wrote some songs for his little church to use in worship.  One day, he had a thought in his head to write a hymn on the ‘gracious experience of a Christian.’  He wrote a chorus based on the Parable of the Builders and used as a chorus “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”  That day he wrote the first few verses.

The fledgling song stayed on the scratch paper in his pocket for quite some time.  Later, he paid a visit to some congregants of whom the wife was critically ill.  She asked for a song and, as he didn’t have a hymnal to sing from, he pulled the scrap of paper from his pocket and sang it with the couple.  The woman asked for a copy of the song, so Edward hurried home and finished the text.  He then sent the song off to a publisher writing, “As these verses so met the dying woman’s case, so my attention to them was the more arrested.”

In the nearly two centuries since, this song has been a hymn of hope and assurance for the Church, regardless of trial and circumstance.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ the solid Rock, I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ the solid Rock, I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.

His oath, His covenant, His blood, support me in the whelming flood
When every earthly prop gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.
On Christ the solid Rock, I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.

When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in Him be found,
Clothed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne!
On Christ the solid Rock, I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.

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

https://hymnary.org/text/my_hope_is_built_on_nothing_less

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Martin Luther’s letter, ‘Whether One May Flee From A Deadly Plague’

Martin Luther’s letter, ‘Whether One May Flee From A Deadly Plague’

The year was 1527, well into the time of the nascent Protestant Reformation.  The Black Plague had cropped up in Wittenburg and outlying areas and was ravaging the area.  It was well-known that this disease had killed about half of the entire European continent just a few generations before.

People of means tended to flee the plague.  They often had country homes or relatives in distant lands where they could flee to and wait out the disease.  Those without the means to do so stayed as sheltered as they could within the confines of the city. 

It was against this backdrop that Reverend Doctor Johann Hess, Protestant pastor at Breslau, Germany, wrote to Martin Luther requesting his advice on the question of whether it was sinful for him to flee the plague, or if his Christian duties compelled him to stay.  For the record, Martin Luther and his entire family stayed behind to assist in alleviating the suffering of his flock for the duration of the plague.

Knowing the intent of Rev Hess was to publish the letter for the edification of other ministers, Luther penned an 8-page reply.  The letter is a masterpiece of Biblical wisdom coupled with common sense, and gives us direction not only with the current (comparatively mild) COVID-19 pandemic, but also as an example of Biblical interpretation in light of current events.

Regarding those in the ministry, Luther says that, in principle, they should stay.  “A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, but the hireling sees the wolf coming and flees” (John 10:11).  The need for ministers of the Gospel is very real in a situation where people are dying.  In practice, Luther encourages the clergy of the city to gather together and determine how best to meet the spiritual needs of the city in such a circumstance – with some leaving and some staying. 

Regarding those in public office (mayors, judges, etc), they are the fine line between order and anarchy.  As they were appointed by God to their role, they should stay and fulfill their duties unless some provision has been made for their duties to be assumed in their absence.  Likewise, those with a role of service to another (naming domestic servants, parents, and children) should not flee unless provision for their duties is taken over by another.

Finally, faithful Christians not in the above categories must evaluate themselves.  There is no shame in fleeing, provided their leaving does not endanger another or leave the sick without provision or care.  As Christians, we have a stated responsibility to help our neighbors in time of need as if that neighbor were Christ Himself.  We are hypocrites if we say we would help Jesus in time of need, but do nothing to assist a neighbor in a critical time.  Likewise, we dishonor Jesus if we take unneeded risks or avoid routine medical care at such a critical time.  The latter, Luther asserts, moves us from the point of trusting God, to the point of testing God.

Luther points out practical measures such as keeping a distance (i.e. ‘social distancing’), quarantining when sick, and making provision for those in quarantine.  He also circles back to the Spiritual – stating that in such a time people should: 1.) Attend church and listen to the sermon to learn through God’s Word ‘how to live and how to die.’; 2.) Become reconciled with your neighbors and make your heart right with God; and 3.) Those tending the sick should take care not to wait until the last minute to call for the pastor.  Too often, the pastor would arrive to find the person incoherent or past the point of being able to respond to the Gospel.

Luther, thus, lays out his logic for a Biblical response of a minister to a devastating plague.  While he does not say this directly, the full intent of his letter is to pull a person away from focus on self to a focus on the ministry to others: first of all if our position in life demands it, and secondly if there is a real opportunity to show love to our neighbor – love which involves a level of risk in ministering to those in need.

https://blogs.lcms.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Plague-blogLW.pdf