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

 

 

O Holy Night

O Holy Night

In 1847, a parish priest in a small town in France asked a local wine merchant named Placide Cappeau to write a poem for his church’s Christmas Eve mass.  During a hard carriage ride to Paris, Cappeau read through the Gospel of Luke and imagined himself an eyewitness to the birth of Jesus.  On that carriage ride, Cappeau wrote the words to a poem he entitled “Cantique de Noel” (Song of Christmas). 

Cappeau asked his friend, Adolphe Charles Adam, to write the music.  It was an easy feat for Adam, a trained and skilled musician, and he composed the tune with ease.  The song was performed for the congregation on Christmas Eve as planned, and it was an absolute hit!  The song quickly spread through France.

O Holy Night!  The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
‘Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees!
Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

However, leaders within the French church learned later to their horror that Cappeau had abandoned the Christian faith in favor of Socialism and that Mr Adam had always been a practicing Jew.  Neither was a believer!  Because of this, performance of the song was banned in French churches.  The French people loved it, however, and continued to sing it in private.  The song remained banned until the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, where the song was a catalyst for a ‘Christmas Eve truce’ between the armies.

The song came to the United States via a man named John S. Dwight, an abolitionist who was visiting France.  He translated the song into English, with some liberties to advocate for his cause, especially in the third verse:

Truly He taught us to love one another.
His Law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother.
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name
Christ is the Lord!
O praise His name forever!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

https://www.incourage.me/2013/12/history-of-christmas-carols.html

https://pjmedia.com/faith/jeff-sanders/2016/12/12/the-unbelievable-inspiring-story-behind-o-holy-night-n96341

 

 

 

 

 

James Pennington

 The Fugitive Blacksmith

James Pennington was born into slavery in the Eastern Shore of Maryland around 1807.  He was apprenticed as a mason and later as a blacksmith.  After receiving a severe beating and witnessing his father receive an even more severe beating James made a dash for freedom at age 19, leaving behind his parents and eleven siblings.  He knew only to travel north and had a number of misadventures along the way – including being captured by bounty-seekers, whom he secured his freedom from by subtly mentioning that he had recently come into contact with a group of escaped slaves who were all suffering from smallpox.  This was clearly a lie, but it did the trick and James was released from his brief period of custody.

Later in his travels, starving and dehydrated, he came across a woman who informed him that he had finally reached Pennsylvania.  She connected him with the Quaker family of William and Phoebe Wright who, as was the habit of many Pennsylvania Quakers in that day, gave him shelter and medical care.  The Wrights taught him to read and write, and paid him a salary for his work.  They were also very likely the ones who nurtured the faith of the young man.

James later moved to New York, where he found modest work.  He lived frugally, and used his wages to pay tutors to increase his education.  He was later allowed to attend classes at Yale Divinity School, provided he sit at the back of the classroom and not ask questions.  He was not allowed to formally enroll in the school in the 1830s, and essentially “audited” the classes.  He was not allowed to receive a diploma, but completed his coursework and was ordained in the Congregational Church and called to pastor a small church on Long Island.  He later moved to accept a position at a church in New Haven, Connecticut.  One of his great delights was in conducting weddings for fugitive slaves.  In 1838, a young couple named Anna Murray and Frederick Douglass came to him asking to be married.  Since they had nothing at the time, James married them waiving the customary fee that was normally paid at the time.

During his time in Connecticut, he wrote a book in 1841 which is believed to be the first history of African Americans ever published, entitled “The Origin and History of the Colored People.”  In 1848, he completed his memoir “A Fugitive Blacksmith,” which was widely read both in Europe and the United States.  Pennington later traveled to Europe to raise money to purchase the freedom of American slaves and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Heidelberg.  Pennington contributed to a number of periodicals advocating for the abolitionist cause.

In 1842, James preached a famous sermon entitled “Covenants Involving Moral Wrong Are Not Obligatory Upon Man.”  In this sermon, he argued that when man’s law requires people to participate in evil, then they must disobey and follow God’s Law.  He had two applications: 1.) Americans who enforce laws holding others in slavery were in violation of God’s Law, and 2.) Those who restored escaped slaves to masters were violating God’s Law which commands God’s people to shelter outcasts (Isaiah 16:3-4). 

Normally a pacifist, probably due to the Quaker influence in his young life, Rev. Pennington ended up helping to recruit black troops during the Civil War.  After the war, he helped nurture a number of congregations in the South and passed away in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1870 after a brief illness.

In 2016, Yale University proclaimed him to be Yale’s first black student and named a classroom in his honor.

Periodical E-mail from Christian History Institute

https://connecticuthistory.org/reverend-james-pennington-a-voice-for-freedom/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_W.C._Pennington