Tag: A Kenneth Curtis and Daniel Graves

St. Augustine Was Baptized On This Day – April 25 in 387

Series: On This Day in Christian History – “Raised to New Life”

 By A. Kenneth Curtis and Daniel Graves

“And we were baptized and all anxiety for our past life vanished away.” With these joyous words Augustine recorded his entrance into the church on this day in 387.

It had taken Augustine thirty-three years to get to the public confession of Christ that was represented by his baptism. He was born in North Africa in 354 to a Christian mother and a pagan father. He became a student in Carthage at twelve years of age. At sixteen, he began to teach grammar.

While he was young, he became promiscuous. He tells in his famous Autobiography that he boasted of sins he had not had the opportunity to commit, rather than seem to have fallen behind his peers.

His mother, Monica, was determined to see him converted. He was equally determined to have pleasures. He took a mistress, and she bore him a son, whom they named Adeodatus, which means “gift of God.” For awhile Augustine resented the lad but soon became inseparable from him.

When he was twenty-nine, Augustine’s restless spirit drove him to Italy. His mother decided to accompany him so that her prayers might be reinforced by her presence. But Augustine gave her the slip, sailing away while she knelt praying in a chapel.

In Rome he taught rhetoric for a year, but was cheated of his fees. And so he looked for a more fertile field of labor and settled on Milan. His mother caught up with him and prevailed upon him to attend the church of St. Ambrose. Augustine found that Christian singing moved him deeply, and in spite of himself he began to drift toward his mother’s faith. He found the writings of the Apostle Paul deeply stirring and more satisfying than the cool abstractions of philosophy. He wrestled with deep conviction but was unable to yield himself to God because of his strong attachment to the flesh.

Finally he reached a day when his inner struggles were too great to bear. He tried reading Scripture but abandoned the effort. Unable to act on the truth he knew, he began to weep and threw himself behind a fig tree. “How long, O Lord,” he cried. And his heart answered “Why not now?” A child’s sing song voice came clearly to him, repeating over and over, “Take it and read it.” It seemed a message from God. Augustine snatched up the Bible and read Paul’s words:

“Let us behave decently…not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh” (Romans 13:13-14).

Faith flooded upon him. He immediately thrust aside the sins of the flesh that had held him in bondage. “But faith would not let me be at ease about my past sins, since these had not yet been forgiven me by means of your baptism.” He entered the water and was relieved.

After his mother’s death, Augustine returned to Africa, where he founded a monastery and became the bishop of Hippo and a brilliant and prolific theologian. More than any other man, his imprint was stamped upon the medieval Church.

Other Significant Events on April 25th in Church History:

799: Pope St. Leo III’s eyes were stabbed and his tongue torn out in a conspiracy by the nephews of an earlier pope. He recovered and crowned Charlemagne emperor.

974: Ratherius, who raised a ruckus to end clergy marriages, died on this day.

1475: A young Savonarola left home and walked to Bologna, taking the family Bible with him. He became a monk and later a reformer. He was eventually martyred for his faith.

1800: William Cowper, a depressed but original poet and hymn writer, died. He is remembered for his friendship with ex-slaver John Newton and for his hymn “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood.”

1879: Joseph Barber Lightfoot, considered the greatest biblical scholar of his day, was consecrated as bishop of Durham. He was a godly man and became one of the greatest bishops of the day.

1911: A rare Gutenberg Bible sold for $50,000, the equivalent of at least $500,000 today.

Adapted from the April 25th entry in This Day In Christian History, edited by A Kenneth Curtis and Daniel Graves, Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications

Andrew Duncan’s Last Will And Testament – My How Times Have Changed!

On This Day in Christian History – April 14th – By Mike and Sharon Rusten

“Don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.” – Matthew 6:31-33

Andrew Duncan was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in Scotland in 1597, a difficult time to be a Presbyterian. In 1603 James I of England began a campaign to place Anglican bishops over the Church of Scotland, which was Presbyterian. In 1605 Duncan and five other prominent Presbyterian ministers were arrested for defying the king by attending a general assembly of the Church of Scotland in Aberdeen. They were imprisoned for fourteen months and then banished to France. After about six years Duncan was allowed to return to his church in Scotland but soon fell in disfavor again, suffering multiple imprisonments and finally exile.

Once while living in lonely exile, Duncan and his family ran out of food. With his wife in and children in tears, Duncan prayed and then told them that God would provide. After his family went to bed that night, a stranger came to the house and gave Duncan a sack of food for the family. He left without giving his name. Duncan brought the sack to his wife saying, “See what a good Master I serve.”

Andrew Duncan and his family suffered great hardships for their faith, but Duncan remained steadfast. Nearing the end of his life, he wrote his last will and testament:

“I, Andrew Duncan,…set down the declaration of my latter will, concerning these things, which God hath lent me in this world; in manner following,–First, as touching myself, body and soul; my soul I leave to Christ Jesus, who gave it, and when it was lost, redeemed it, that He may send His holy angels to transport it to the bosom of Abraham, there to enjoy all happiness and contentment; and as for this frail body, I commend it to the grave, there to sleep and rest, as in a sweet bed, until the day of refreshment, when it shall be reunited to the soul, and shall be set down at the table with the holy patriarchs, prophets, and apostles; yea, shall be placed on the throne with Christ, and get the crown of glory on my head. As for the children whom God hath given me, for which I thank His Majesty, I leave them to His providence, to be governed and cared for by Him, beseeching Him to be the tutor, curator, and agent, in all their adoes, yea, and a father; and that He would lead them by His gracious Spirit, through this evil world; that they may be profitable instruments…holding their course to heaven, and comforting themselves with the glorious and fair-to-look-on heritage, which Christ hath conquered for them, and all that love Him. Under God, I leave John Duncan, my eldest son, to be tutor to my youngest daughter, Bessie Duncan, his youngest sister, to take a care of her, and to see that all turns go right, touching her person and gear. My executors I leave my three sons, John, William, and David Duncan, to do my turns after me, and to put in practice my directions; requesting them to be good and comfortable to their sisters, but chiefly to the two that are at home, as they would have God’s blessing and mine. As concerning my temporal goods, the baggage and blathrie of the earth, as I have gotten them in the world off God’s liberal hand, so I leave them behind me in the world; giving most humble and hearty thanks unto my heavenly Father for so long and comfortable loan of the same.” – 14th April, 1626

 For Reflection:

How do you regard your possessions? Do you see them as something you own, or do you see yourself as a steward of what God has entrusted to you?

*Mike and Sharon Rusten are not only marriage and business partners; they also share a love for history. Mike studied at Princeton (B.A.), the University of Minnesota (M.A.), Westminster Theological Seminary (M.Div.), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Th.M.), and New York University (Ph.D.). Sharon studied at Beaver College, Lake Forest College, and the University of Minnesota (B.A.), and together with Mike has attended the American Institute of Holy Land Studies (now Jerusalem University College). The Rustens have two grown children and live in Minnetonka, Minnesota. This article was adapted from the April 14 entry in their wonderful book The One Year Book of Christian History, Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2003.

*Significant Events on April 14th in Church History:

1521: After landing in the Philippines, Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan began giving instruction and baptism to more than 800 Filipinos.

1570: The Consensus of Sendomir unified the Lutherans, Calvinists, and Moravians of Poland.

1950: Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese commander who led the World War II attack on Pearl Harbor, converted to Christianity.

1950: Agreement was reached between the Catholic Church and the Communist government of Poland. The agreement included nineteen articles and a protocol.

1951: Bishop Francis X. Ford was arrested by the Chinese Communists as they cracked down on the Church. Accused of espionage and the recruitment of resistance forces, he was executed a few months later. Many other Catholics were arrested this time as well.

*Adapted from This Day In Christian History, edited by A Kenneth Curtis and Daniel Graves, Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications.

On April 13, 1742 The World First Heard Handel’s Masterpiece – “Messiah”

 On This Day in Church History – April 13th

At twelve noon on this day in 1742, the world first heard the lovely strains of the overture of the most famous oratorio ever written. There has not been a year since then that George Frederick Handel’s Messiah, with its memorable arias and majestic choruses, has not been performed in a concert hall somewhere.

The performance took place in Dublin, in the Fishamble Street Musick Hall (Original spelling – entrance today pictured at right). Dubliners received it with enthusiasm. The Dublin Gazette wrote, “The best judges allowed it to be the most finished piece of music,” and “Words are wanting to express the exquisite delight it afforded.” Two years later, annual performances were established in Dublin. London, however, did not receive the oratorio as readily. Because of criticism, it did not catch on in the capital until 1749.

Handel had turned to oratorios, most of them on religious themes, only after he could not make go of opera with his English audiences. Messiah was special even within the genre of oratorio. Handel deliberately wrote it so that it could be performed by as few as four singers with strings, continuo (bass line played by keyboard or stringed instrument), two drums and two trumpets.

The idea was to produce a work that could be staged almost anywhere. This was a great boon to Handel, who was often near destitution. A piece like Messiah, which could be performed by small ensembles, offered more than the usual number of opportunities to raise desperately needed cash.

Charles Jennens pulled together the text of Messiah from fragments of Scripture relating to Christ. The power of the Scriptures comes by laying them forth almost as translated (he used more than one translation where it suited his purpose), joining them so that they built on and clarified one another without comment. Old and New Testament passages that belonged together were put side-by-side.

Where Jennens modified passages, he did so to make them scan better and to keep the texts in the third person throughout. Handel, who claimed to know the Bible as well as any bishop, made a few alterations himself. Jennens, a devout Anglican, intended through his lebretto to challenge the Deists, who denied Christ’s divinity: “And His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”

He certainly succeeded in presenting the challenge, for Messiah portrays Christ as son of God, the fulfillment of prophecy, Savior of the world and coming King.  John Newton (author of the hymn “Amazing Grace”), slaver turned Anglican clergyman, preached fifty sermons on the text. Although Newton preached his series as a rebuke to those who glorified the music to those who glorified the music above God’s Word, he said the piece covered all the principle truths of the gospel. That Jennens fused the words together without once backtracking or repeating a passage demonstrates a great deal of perfectionism.

Handel brought the whole to a magnificent completion, writing the work in twenty-three fervent days despite already suffered a stroke. The music often rises to great loveliness and power. Passion builds until the climactic Hallelujah chorus: “Hallelujah, Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.” Of the chorus, Handel said in his broken English, “I did think I did see all heaven before me and the great God Himself!” [DPC – If only modern composers could say the same of their music!]

 

 *Significant Events on April 13th in Church History:

 799: Paulus Diaconis, a monk, died. Diaconis was called to Charlemagne’s court, where he complied a book of homilies from the Church fathers that received wide circulation throughout the empire. He prepared an accurate and useful history of the Lombards and wrote other historical works.

1055: Victor II, a reform-minded pope, was enthroned. Holy Roman Emperor Henry II opposed his friend’s election because he didn’t want to lose Victor as a counselor.

1059: In an attempt to normalize papal elections, Pope Nicholas II issued a decree limiting elections to cardinals.

1598: King Henry IV, whose mother, Jeanne d’ Albret, was a prominent French Protestant (Huguenot), issued an edict in Nantes granting toleration to the Huguenots.

1829: In an Emancipation Act, the English Parliament granted freedom of religion to Roman Catholics after 200 years of suppression. Within a few weeks, a Catholic was elected to Parliament.

1950: Monasteries and convents in Czechoslovakia were attacked by communists this night and their monks and nuns were carted off.

1986: Pope John Paul II visited a synagogue in Rome as a goodwill gesture toward Jews. His visit was the first recorded incident of a pope visiting a Jewish house of worship.

*Adapted from This Day In Christian History, edited by A Kenneth Curtis and Daniel Graves, Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications.