1893 HT: Dan Graves On this day, January 23, l893, Christians throughout the world mourned the death of Phillips Brooks. Yet sorrow soon turned to songs of triumph and praise of God for Phillips Brooks’ life. Over his tomb they would erect these words: “A preacher of righteousness and hope, majestic in stature, impetuous in…
1793 HT: Christian History Institute FOR TWENTY YEARS, John Berridge was known as “the old devil” by the clergymen around Everton (a district of Liverpool in England). They grumbled against him because he preached to the people of their parishes—souls they had neglected. Not only that, but he used illustrations they considered in bad taste,…
1563 HT: Dan Graves Some things must be memorized to be really useful. If your work required you to multiply numbers such as 6×7 or 8×9, you would save a lot of time by memorizing the multiplication table. The same is true of Bible truths. A good catechism sets out the core truths that Christians…
1604 HT: Christianity.com Have you ever attended a frustrating meeting where nothing much seems to get done? The Hampton Court conference, held in 1604, was like that. When James VI of Scotland rode south to London on the way to the coronation that would make him James I of England, Puritans presented him with a…
1543 British Parliament prohibits the reading of the New Testament in English by “women or artificer’s prentices, journeymen, servingmen of the degree of yeoman, or under, husbandmen or labourers…” 1604 Puritan John Rainolds suggests to King James I “that there might bee a newe translation of the Bible, as consonant as can be to the…
1743 HT: Dan Graves David Brainerd, was a legendary pioneer missionary to the American Indians. He died in 1747 when he was only 29 years old, but his journal has inspired Christians in every generation since. One day in December, 1742, he made an entry that gave later generations a peek at the experience of…
1915 HT: Dan Graves In 1914, Mary Slessor, a world-famous missionary to Nigeria, fell so ill that she had to be taken by canoe to hospital. A few weeks later she collapsed again. As she lay semi-conscious she whispered “O God, release me.” She died on this day, January 13, 1915, mourned by thousands of…
1588 HT: Dan Graves Can you imagine the outcry if the Boston Globe were to announce that the Governor of Massachusetts had preached one Sunday from the Bible, using as his text, Christ’s “Sermon on the Mount?” Does the very idea sound ridiculous and impossible? Well, such an event did take place in 1630. Governor John Winthrop…
1817 HT: Dan Graves Once when young Timothy Dwight did not show up for dinner, his parents went looking for him, fearing tragedy. They found him under an apple tree, surrounded by Indians. Four-year-old Timothy was instructing the American natives in the catechism. The boy, grandson of colonial preacher, revival leader and educator Jonathan Edwards,…
1915 HT: Dan Graves MARY SLESSOR was one of the best-known missionaries of the nineteenth century. A hard childhood in Scotland prepared her for the strenuous life of the mission field. By age eleven she was working in a mill, preparing jute and flax for weavers. As she grew older she became a weaver, able…