One of the little known stories of 19th century missions is that of Francis Thomas McDougall. It is the story of a forceful man. Francis was born in England but spent much of his childhood and youth overseas with his military father. Growing up, Francis became interested in medicine and enrolled in the University of Malta. Later he transferred to King's College, London, and took his medical degree at London University, becoming a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1839. Continuing his education he entered Oxford. While there, he rowed on the university's winning team of eight. His physical prowess and medical training would prove valuable in his later career.
He did not at first employ his medical degree but helped supervise an ironworks. He married the daughter of one of the men connected with the firm. When the works failed, he decided to take holy orders, a thing he had long contemplated. He was ordained in 1845. He was then 28 years old.
For two years he held curacies in England, and for a short time worked at the British Museum. When a chance opened for him to go to Borneo (now called Kalimantan) as a missionary, he turned it down, but later repented the decision and in December 1847 sailed for the mission field.
Francis was a pioneer in medical missions. His supervisors actually thought he was stepping out of line when he began to tend the sick. He had to convince them he was doing only what was right.
He had little success among the Muslim Malays who, coming from the peninsula, were overlords to much of Borneo. He did better among the Chinese traders who had settled Borneo, but best among the indigenous Dyaks. His work brought many of them to believe in Christ.
On this day, October 18, 1855 he was made Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak. Although he was actually bishop of Borneo, the church hesitated to give him that title because England did not rule the island. Francis and his wife, Harriette suffered much in the years that followed. Illness racked their bodies. Their children died. A riot by the Chinese wiped out much of their work. In spite of this formidable opposition. Francis and Harriette persevered, unconquerable even when other missionaries fled. Harriette wrote delightful letters and sketches of their life.
Francis took the blows of life on the chin, but not without resistance. Once a boat on which he and a local bigwig were passengers was attacked by pirates. Every man aboard was ordered to the defense. The bishop fought gallantly with the best of them and helped repel the pirates. His exuberant account of the affair was rebuked at home. A British bishop was not supposed to enjoy a brisk brawl. Broken health forced him to return to England in 1867, twenty years after he first set foot in the East Indies. Among his achievements was a Book of Common Prayer and Catechism in Malay.
torsdag 24 mars 2011
Lowered over a Wall, Calvin Fled Paris
When the apostle Paul escaped Damascus by being lowered over the wall in a basket it was not the last time a Christian evangelist would dramatically flee from persecution. On this day, November 2, in 1533, John Calvin made a similar thrilling escape from Paris.
A devout Catholic, Calvin studied law at the Universities of Orleans and Paris. He was a brilliant student, and with the Protestant Reformation in the air, he began reading Martin Luther and became a leader of the Reformation in France, at the risk of arrest, imprisonment, or even death.
In 1532 Calvin wrote that "Only one ...salvation is left open for our souls, and that is the mercy of God in Christ. We are saved by grace... not by our works." Calvin became a leader of the evangelical party in Paris, often encouraging his followers with the words of Paul: "If God is for us, who can be against us?"
In 1533 the newly elected head of Paris University, Nicholas Cop apparently asked Calvin to collaborate on an inauguration address. The speech called for the church to return to New Testament ideals. It accused traditional theologians of being nothing but a set of sophists. "They teach nothing of faith, nothing of the love of God, nothing of the remission of grace, nothing of justification, or if they do so, they pervert and undermine it all by their laws and sophistries. I beg of you, who are here present, not to tolerate any longer these heresies and abuses."
The king and church authorities were furious. With the police hot on their heels, Cop and Calvin fled for their lives. Calvin lowered himself from a window on bedsheets tied together, and escaped Paris dressed as a farmer with a hoe on his shoulder. Taking the alias Martianus Lucianius, he reached safety in tolerant Basel. For three more years he wandered as a fugitive evangelist under such assumed names. Finally he settled in Geneva, Switzerland where he became one of the best-known leaders of the Reformation.
Bibliography:
1.Adapted from an earlier Christian History Institute story.
2.Bouwsma, William J. John Calvin; a sixteenth-century portrait. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
3.Stevenson, Richard Taylor. John Calvin: the statesman. Cincinnati: Jennings and Graham, 1907.
A devout Catholic, Calvin studied law at the Universities of Orleans and Paris. He was a brilliant student, and with the Protestant Reformation in the air, he began reading Martin Luther and became a leader of the Reformation in France, at the risk of arrest, imprisonment, or even death.
In 1532 Calvin wrote that "Only one ...salvation is left open for our souls, and that is the mercy of God in Christ. We are saved by grace... not by our works." Calvin became a leader of the evangelical party in Paris, often encouraging his followers with the words of Paul: "If God is for us, who can be against us?"
In 1533 the newly elected head of Paris University, Nicholas Cop apparently asked Calvin to collaborate on an inauguration address. The speech called for the church to return to New Testament ideals. It accused traditional theologians of being nothing but a set of sophists. "They teach nothing of faith, nothing of the love of God, nothing of the remission of grace, nothing of justification, or if they do so, they pervert and undermine it all by their laws and sophistries. I beg of you, who are here present, not to tolerate any longer these heresies and abuses."
The king and church authorities were furious. With the police hot on their heels, Cop and Calvin fled for their lives. Calvin lowered himself from a window on bedsheets tied together, and escaped Paris dressed as a farmer with a hoe on his shoulder. Taking the alias Martianus Lucianius, he reached safety in tolerant Basel. For three more years he wandered as a fugitive evangelist under such assumed names. Finally he settled in Geneva, Switzerland where he became one of the best-known leaders of the Reformation.
Bibliography:
1.Adapted from an earlier Christian History Institute story.
2.Bouwsma, William J. John Calvin; a sixteenth-century portrait. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
3.Stevenson, Richard Taylor. John Calvin: the statesman. Cincinnati: Jennings and Graham, 1907.
Fyodor Dostoevsky: More than a Novelist
The famous Russian novelist and Christian, Fyodor Dostoyevsky was born on this day, November 11, 1821. From earliest childhood Dostoyevsky knew the gospels and learned Bible stories from the deacon at the hospital where his father was a doctor. As he looked back in later years, he rejoiced that as a child he was brought up in a home that knew Christ, and that his mother and father had given him something holy and precious to carry him through the rest of his life.
As a young man, Dostoyevsky was an activist promoting the social ideals of his day. In 1849, at age 26, he was charged with conspiracy against Tsar Nicholas' government and sentenced to death. Standing before a firing squad, he was reprieved at the last moment (the dramatic moment turned out to be an act staged as a terrifying warning), and sent to prison in Siberia for four years. On his way, a group of women gave him a New Testament which he treasured the rest of his life. The underlining in his New Testament shows that he emphasized two themes: persecution of the just and the coming Day of Judgment. He believed that man's road to salvation must be through suffering.
However, his view of suffering was not pessimistic. In his writings, the darkness was always lighted, however indistinctly, by the sufferings of Christ. The most degenerate person still retains a spark of God's image and must be loved as our neighbor.
He also believed in God's Providence. Once, when a friend remarked that his Siberian punishment had been unjust, Dostoyevsky disagreed, pointing out that God had sent him to Siberia to teach him important lessons. Dostoyevsky's best known novels--The Idiot, Memoirs from Underground, Crime and Punishment, and The Brothers Karamazov--explore man's sinful soul and show that suffering has a purifying effect upon an individual.
Dostoyevsky, an epileptic, struggled all his life with powerful compulsions, such as gambling. Although he saw Christ as embodying freedom for men (a freedom that the Grand Inquisitor he invented in The Brothers Karamazov considers cruel, because most people can't bear it), Dostoyevsky never seemed to understand how to experience that freedom himself.
He died in 1881. The epitaph on his grave is from John l2:24: "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."
Bibliography:
1.Adapted from an earlier Christian History Institute story.
2.Berdyaev, Nicholas. Dostoevsky. Cleveland: World Publishing, 1962.
3.Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov. Various editions.
4.Kaus, Otto. Dostojewski zur Kritik der Personlichkeit. Munchen, 1916. Source of the image.
5.Wintle, Justin. Makers of Nineteenth Century Culture, 1800-1914. London; Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982; p. 175.
As a young man, Dostoyevsky was an activist promoting the social ideals of his day. In 1849, at age 26, he was charged with conspiracy against Tsar Nicholas' government and sentenced to death. Standing before a firing squad, he was reprieved at the last moment (the dramatic moment turned out to be an act staged as a terrifying warning), and sent to prison in Siberia for four years. On his way, a group of women gave him a New Testament which he treasured the rest of his life. The underlining in his New Testament shows that he emphasized two themes: persecution of the just and the coming Day of Judgment. He believed that man's road to salvation must be through suffering.
However, his view of suffering was not pessimistic. In his writings, the darkness was always lighted, however indistinctly, by the sufferings of Christ. The most degenerate person still retains a spark of God's image and must be loved as our neighbor.
He also believed in God's Providence. Once, when a friend remarked that his Siberian punishment had been unjust, Dostoyevsky disagreed, pointing out that God had sent him to Siberia to teach him important lessons. Dostoyevsky's best known novels--The Idiot, Memoirs from Underground, Crime and Punishment, and The Brothers Karamazov--explore man's sinful soul and show that suffering has a purifying effect upon an individual.
Dostoyevsky, an epileptic, struggled all his life with powerful compulsions, such as gambling. Although he saw Christ as embodying freedom for men (a freedom that the Grand Inquisitor he invented in The Brothers Karamazov considers cruel, because most people can't bear it), Dostoyevsky never seemed to understand how to experience that freedom himself.
He died in 1881. The epitaph on his grave is from John l2:24: "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."
Bibliography:
1.Adapted from an earlier Christian History Institute story.
2.Berdyaev, Nicholas. Dostoevsky. Cleveland: World Publishing, 1962.
3.Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov. Various editions.
4.Kaus, Otto. Dostojewski zur Kritik der Personlichkeit. Munchen, 1916. Source of the image.
5.Wintle, Justin. Makers of Nineteenth Century Culture, 1800-1914. London; Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982; p. 175.
Dwight L. Moody Was Converted
Dwight L. Moody didn't attend school beyond the fifth grade; he couldn't spell, and his grammar was awful. His manners were often brash and crude, and he never became an ordained minister. Once, before his conversion, he so outraged an Italian shoe salesmen with a prank, that the man chased him with a sharp knife, clearly intending to kill him. Yet, Dwight L. Moody was used by God to lead thousands of people to Christ. Moody's life of Christian service began with his conversion on this day, April 21, 1855.
Dwight came to Boston as a teenager from Northfield, Massachusetts, and he felt all alone in the big city. The boy was desperate for work. An uncle took him on as a shoe salesman--on condition that he be obedient and that he attend Mt. Vernon Congregational Church. The young man had been raised in a Unitarian church which denied the full divinity of Christ and did not emphasize human need for salvation from sins. Now Dwight heard about those things. But he decided that he wanted to enjoy the pleasures of the world and wait to get saved until just before he died.
However, the kindness of his Sunday School teacher, Edward Kimball, turned young Moody into his life-long friend, and encouraged him to persist in his church attendance and regular Bible reading. Though Moody did try to read the Bible, he couldn't understand it. Kimball later said he had never seen anyone whose mind was as spiritually dark as Dwight's.
That changed on this day, April 21, 1855. Kimball came to the shoe store to ask Dwight to commit his life to Christ. Dwight listened closely and became a Christian that day. Immediately he began sharing his faith with others, including his own family. They wanted nothing to do with his faith. "I will always be a Unitarian," his mother said. (However, she converted shortly before her death.)
And at first Moody wasn't allowed to become a church member. Asked what Christ had done for him, the nervous boy replied that he wasn't aware of anything particular. Leaders felt that was an unacceptable answer.
When Moody later moved to Chicago he wandered the streets to find young boys to bring to his Sunday School class. He had a passion for saving souls and determined never to let a day pass without telling someone the gospel of Jesus Christ. Often he irritated strangers on the street by asking them if they were Christians -- but his pointed questioning stirred the consciences of many. God used the converted shoe salesman to become the leading evangelist of his day.
Estimates vary, but Dwight is thought to have led as many as a million people to confess faith in Christ. Among his many achievements on either side of the Atlantic was the founding of Moody Bible Institute.
Bibliography:
1.Adapted from an earlier Christian History Institute story.
2.Findlay, James F. "Moody, Dwight Lyman." Encyclopedia of American Biography, edited by John A. Garraty. Harper and Row, 1975.
3.Harvey, Bonnie C. D. L. Moody, the American Evangelist. Barbour Books, 1997.
4.Moody, William D. Life of D. L. Moody by His Son. Revell, 1900
Dwight came to Boston as a teenager from Northfield, Massachusetts, and he felt all alone in the big city. The boy was desperate for work. An uncle took him on as a shoe salesman--on condition that he be obedient and that he attend Mt. Vernon Congregational Church. The young man had been raised in a Unitarian church which denied the full divinity of Christ and did not emphasize human need for salvation from sins. Now Dwight heard about those things. But he decided that he wanted to enjoy the pleasures of the world and wait to get saved until just before he died.
However, the kindness of his Sunday School teacher, Edward Kimball, turned young Moody into his life-long friend, and encouraged him to persist in his church attendance and regular Bible reading. Though Moody did try to read the Bible, he couldn't understand it. Kimball later said he had never seen anyone whose mind was as spiritually dark as Dwight's.
That changed on this day, April 21, 1855. Kimball came to the shoe store to ask Dwight to commit his life to Christ. Dwight listened closely and became a Christian that day. Immediately he began sharing his faith with others, including his own family. They wanted nothing to do with his faith. "I will always be a Unitarian," his mother said. (However, she converted shortly before her death.)
And at first Moody wasn't allowed to become a church member. Asked what Christ had done for him, the nervous boy replied that he wasn't aware of anything particular. Leaders felt that was an unacceptable answer.
When Moody later moved to Chicago he wandered the streets to find young boys to bring to his Sunday School class. He had a passion for saving souls and determined never to let a day pass without telling someone the gospel of Jesus Christ. Often he irritated strangers on the street by asking them if they were Christians -- but his pointed questioning stirred the consciences of many. God used the converted shoe salesman to become the leading evangelist of his day.
Estimates vary, but Dwight is thought to have led as many as a million people to confess faith in Christ. Among his many achievements on either side of the Atlantic was the founding of Moody Bible Institute.
Bibliography:
1.Adapted from an earlier Christian History Institute story.
2.Findlay, James F. "Moody, Dwight Lyman." Encyclopedia of American Biography, edited by John A. Garraty. Harper and Row, 1975.
3.Harvey, Bonnie C. D. L. Moody, the American Evangelist. Barbour Books, 1997.
4.Moody, William D. Life of D. L. Moody by His Son. Revell, 1900
Titus Coan: Early Missionary to Hawaii
Never mind that father had forbidden it. Father was far away. Nine year old Titus was going sledding with a friend on a frozen pond. Out onto the ice he whizzed. It broke. Titus could not find the bottom and rose to the surface, screaming for help. His friend was too frightened to attempt a rescue. Every time Titus grabbed the edge of ice, another piece broke under his weight. It seemed he must die. But at last he found a sturdy patch and his partner crept close enough to give him a hand. Thousands, including Titus himself, would have perished eternally if he had drowned that day.
Eighteen years after his ice accident, Titus was converted in the religious movement known as the Second Great Awakening. A few years later, he sailed to Hawaii as a missionary, carrying the revival spirit with him.
As soon as his tongue commanded the language, he declared his intention to visit every one of the 16,000 people on Hilo Island. Determined to conduct sound follow-up work and to pray intelligently, he made systematic notes on each person he met. In future tours, he would check up on each person and update his notes.
Any ward boss in a city could do the same. But no ward boss has the power of God to transform lives. Wherever Titus went, men and women fell under conviction. The classic signs of revival followed. People cried out for mercy. Panting to hear more of God, they ran from meeting to meeting. They studied the word late into the night and then rose early the next day to seek God anew. Prayer services ran for hours. Friends led the blind and carried the lame to church so they wouldn't miss the opportunity of salvation. Hardened rogues bent their hearts to Christ. Hundreds and thousands turned from wicked deeds.
In the two year period 1837-38, so many converts were added to Titus's church that it became the biggest single congregation in the world. By 1870 it had 13,000 members. No one was admitted to membership until he or she proved over a period of several months that their repentance was sincere. A check of the trusty notebooks told the story.
Coan always hoped to "to die in the field with armor on, with weapons bright." That wish was granted. He suffered a stroke in the midst of a revival. On this day, December 1, 1882, he died praising God. He had seen 70% of Hilo's population turn to Jesus.
Bibliography:
1."Coan, Titus." Virtual American Biographies. http://www.famousamericans.net/tituscoan/
2.Johnston, Julia H. Fifty Missionary Heroes Every Boy and Girl Should Know. London: S. W. Partridge, 1899. Source of the image.
Eighteen years after his ice accident, Titus was converted in the religious movement known as the Second Great Awakening. A few years later, he sailed to Hawaii as a missionary, carrying the revival spirit with him.
As soon as his tongue commanded the language, he declared his intention to visit every one of the 16,000 people on Hilo Island. Determined to conduct sound follow-up work and to pray intelligently, he made systematic notes on each person he met. In future tours, he would check up on each person and update his notes.
Any ward boss in a city could do the same. But no ward boss has the power of God to transform lives. Wherever Titus went, men and women fell under conviction. The classic signs of revival followed. People cried out for mercy. Panting to hear more of God, they ran from meeting to meeting. They studied the word late into the night and then rose early the next day to seek God anew. Prayer services ran for hours. Friends led the blind and carried the lame to church so they wouldn't miss the opportunity of salvation. Hardened rogues bent their hearts to Christ. Hundreds and thousands turned from wicked deeds.
In the two year period 1837-38, so many converts were added to Titus's church that it became the biggest single congregation in the world. By 1870 it had 13,000 members. No one was admitted to membership until he or she proved over a period of several months that their repentance was sincere. A check of the trusty notebooks told the story.
Coan always hoped to "to die in the field with armor on, with weapons bright." That wish was granted. He suffered a stroke in the midst of a revival. On this day, December 1, 1882, he died praising God. He had seen 70% of Hilo's population turn to Jesus.
Bibliography:
1."Coan, Titus." Virtual American Biographies. http://www.famousamericans.net/tituscoan/
2.Johnston, Julia H. Fifty Missionary Heroes Every Boy and Girl Should Know. London: S. W. Partridge, 1899. Source of the image.
Henry Alford - Author of Thanksgiving Hymn "Come Ye Thankful People Come"
November 18, 1827
Henry Alford - Author of Thanksgiving Hymn "Come Ye Thankful People Come"
Dan Graves, MSL
Email thisPrint thisDiscuss thisShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on DeliciousShare on DiggmoreOn November 18, 1827, sixteen-year-old Henry Alford wrote in his Bible: "I do this day, as in the presence of God and my own soul, renew my covenant with God, and solemnly determine henceforth to become His, and to do His work as far as in me lies." The rest of his life, this serious and holy young man showed that he meant what he said.
At college, he chummed with the noblest men of his day, among them Alfred Lord Tennyson. One of the deans said, "I really think he was morally the bravest man I ever knew. His perfect purity of mind and singleness of purpose, seemed to give him a confidence and unobtrusive self-respect which never failed him." Rejecting participation in the sins that were so common among young men at Cambridge, he became an outstanding scholar. It did not go to his head. For example, he wrote in his journal, "I went up to town and received the Holy Orders of a Priest; may I be a temple of chastity and holiness, fit and clean to receive so great a guest; and, on so great a commission as I have now received, O my beloved Redeemer, my dear Brother and Master, hear my prayer."
To the person in the pew, Henry Alford is best known as the author of the Thanksgiving hymn "Come Ye Thankful People Come." Among scholars, he is better known for his commentary on the Greek New Testament, on which he labored for eighteen years. He did much of this work while carrying on the duties of a vicar to the small parish of Wymeswold. It had been neglected and he rebuilt it, visiting every soul in his keeping. One of his major undertakings was a series of Sunday afternoon sermons in which he taught through books of the Bible, explaining their meaning. He had a knack for explaining things in a way the simple people could understand.
For example, explaining that Paul expected Christ to return in his own lifetime, he wrote, "Nor need it surprise any Christian that the apostles should in this matter of detail have found their personal expectation liable to disappointment respecting a day of which it is so solemnly said that no man knoweth its appointed time, not the angels in heaven, not the Son, but the Father only (Mark xiii. 32)."
After many years of hard work, chiefly at Wymeswold, he accepted a position at Canterbury Cathedral that allowed him more time to write. At Canterbury, he began a series of Sunday afternoon services as he had done at Wymeswold. Again these attracted large crowds. His preaching was evangelical. Formal church leaders considered him a bit radical but his good humor and friendliness won their affection. He was notable for being able to see the best points in all Christian positions, however much he might disagree with them.
Henry died rather unexpectedly in 1871. In addition to Bible work and hymns, he edited the poems of John Donne and translated Homer's Odyssey.
Read more church history articles here.
Bibliography:
1.Alford, Henry. Alford's Greek Testament; an exegetical and critical commentary. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Guardian Press, 1976.
2.Cross, F. L. and Livingstone, E. A. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press, 1997.
3.Day, Nigel. "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come." http://www.stpetersnottingham.org/hymns/thankful.htm
4.Hare, Augustus J. C. (Augustus John Cuthbert). Biographical Sketches; being memorials of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley...Henry Alford...Mrs. Duncan Stewart, etc. London: G. Allen; New York, Dodd, Mead, and co., 1895.
Henry Alford - Author of Thanksgiving Hymn "Come Ye Thankful People Come"
Dan Graves, MSL
Email thisPrint thisDiscuss thisShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on DeliciousShare on DiggmoreOn November 18, 1827, sixteen-year-old Henry Alford wrote in his Bible: "I do this day, as in the presence of God and my own soul, renew my covenant with God, and solemnly determine henceforth to become His, and to do His work as far as in me lies." The rest of his life, this serious and holy young man showed that he meant what he said.
At college, he chummed with the noblest men of his day, among them Alfred Lord Tennyson. One of the deans said, "I really think he was morally the bravest man I ever knew. His perfect purity of mind and singleness of purpose, seemed to give him a confidence and unobtrusive self-respect which never failed him." Rejecting participation in the sins that were so common among young men at Cambridge, he became an outstanding scholar. It did not go to his head. For example, he wrote in his journal, "I went up to town and received the Holy Orders of a Priest; may I be a temple of chastity and holiness, fit and clean to receive so great a guest; and, on so great a commission as I have now received, O my beloved Redeemer, my dear Brother and Master, hear my prayer."
To the person in the pew, Henry Alford is best known as the author of the Thanksgiving hymn "Come Ye Thankful People Come." Among scholars, he is better known for his commentary on the Greek New Testament, on which he labored for eighteen years. He did much of this work while carrying on the duties of a vicar to the small parish of Wymeswold. It had been neglected and he rebuilt it, visiting every soul in his keeping. One of his major undertakings was a series of Sunday afternoon sermons in which he taught through books of the Bible, explaining their meaning. He had a knack for explaining things in a way the simple people could understand.
For example, explaining that Paul expected Christ to return in his own lifetime, he wrote, "Nor need it surprise any Christian that the apostles should in this matter of detail have found their personal expectation liable to disappointment respecting a day of which it is so solemnly said that no man knoweth its appointed time, not the angels in heaven, not the Son, but the Father only (Mark xiii. 32)."
After many years of hard work, chiefly at Wymeswold, he accepted a position at Canterbury Cathedral that allowed him more time to write. At Canterbury, he began a series of Sunday afternoon services as he had done at Wymeswold. Again these attracted large crowds. His preaching was evangelical. Formal church leaders considered him a bit radical but his good humor and friendliness won their affection. He was notable for being able to see the best points in all Christian positions, however much he might disagree with them.
Henry died rather unexpectedly in 1871. In addition to Bible work and hymns, he edited the poems of John Donne and translated Homer's Odyssey.
Read more church history articles here.
Bibliography:
1.Alford, Henry. Alford's Greek Testament; an exegetical and critical commentary. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Guardian Press, 1976.
2.Cross, F. L. and Livingstone, E. A. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press, 1997.
3.Day, Nigel. "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come." http://www.stpetersnottingham.org/hymns/thankful.htm
4.Hare, Augustus J. C. (Augustus John Cuthbert). Biographical Sketches; being memorials of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley...Henry Alford...Mrs. Duncan Stewart, etc. London: G. Allen; New York, Dodd, Mead, and co., 1895.
Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago Published
When Alexander Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970, the Soviet government would not allow him to accept the prize. He was famed as the author of a realistic tale of prison existence, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, published in 1962. This was based upon his experiences in Stalin's prison camps.
When One Day was accepted for publication, Solzhenitsyn offered up this prayer:
How easy it is for me to live with you, Lord!
How easy for me to believe in you,
When my spirit is lost, perplexed and cast down,
When the sharpest can see no further than the night,
And know not what on the morrow they must do
You give me a sure certainty
That you exist, that you are watching over me
And will not permit the ways of righteousness to be closed to me.
Here on the summit of earthly glory I look back astonished
On the road which through depths of despair has led me here.
To this point from which I can also reflect to men your radiance
And all that I can still reflect - you shall grant to me.
And what I shall fail you shall grant to others.
The year after he won the Nobel, Solzhenitsyn found himself in exile. He settled in the U.S.
On this day, December 28, 1973 a new book by the Nobel-winner appeared in the Paris book markets. This book, too, was about prison--a documentary of the horrors of the Gulag Archipelago, Stalin's prison camps in central Asia, a system of inland "islands" which taken together would have been as big as the country of France.
Trained as a mathematician, Solzhenitsyn found his fame as an author instead. In 1945, while serving in the Russian army, he was arrested and sent to prison for criticizing Russian dictator Josef Stalin in a letter. While in prison he met Christians whose faith impressed him, and he came to appreciate the deepened understanding of truth which comes through suffering.
The day came when he was able to say, "Bless you, prison, for having been in my life." For in prison, he recognized what a spiritual monster he had been. There he listened to his conscience; there he found God. Prison made him firm.
While in exile, Solzhenitsyn not only sought the spiritual renewal of his native Russia, but he also lovingly rebuked the west for its materialism and growing moral decadence. He continued to publish literary works which documented the moral injustices of the Communist state and the terror under Lenin and Stalin.
Bibliography:
1.Adapted from an earlier Christian History Institute story.
2.Nielsen, Niels C., jr. Solzhenitsyn's Religion. New York: Pillar Books, 1976.
3.Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr I. The Gulag Archipelago. New York: Harper and Row, 1975
When One Day was accepted for publication, Solzhenitsyn offered up this prayer:
How easy it is for me to live with you, Lord!
How easy for me to believe in you,
When my spirit is lost, perplexed and cast down,
When the sharpest can see no further than the night,
And know not what on the morrow they must do
You give me a sure certainty
That you exist, that you are watching over me
And will not permit the ways of righteousness to be closed to me.
Here on the summit of earthly glory I look back astonished
On the road which through depths of despair has led me here.
To this point from which I can also reflect to men your radiance
And all that I can still reflect - you shall grant to me.
And what I shall fail you shall grant to others.
The year after he won the Nobel, Solzhenitsyn found himself in exile. He settled in the U.S.
On this day, December 28, 1973 a new book by the Nobel-winner appeared in the Paris book markets. This book, too, was about prison--a documentary of the horrors of the Gulag Archipelago, Stalin's prison camps in central Asia, a system of inland "islands" which taken together would have been as big as the country of France.
Trained as a mathematician, Solzhenitsyn found his fame as an author instead. In 1945, while serving in the Russian army, he was arrested and sent to prison for criticizing Russian dictator Josef Stalin in a letter. While in prison he met Christians whose faith impressed him, and he came to appreciate the deepened understanding of truth which comes through suffering.
The day came when he was able to say, "Bless you, prison, for having been in my life." For in prison, he recognized what a spiritual monster he had been. There he listened to his conscience; there he found God. Prison made him firm.
While in exile, Solzhenitsyn not only sought the spiritual renewal of his native Russia, but he also lovingly rebuked the west for its materialism and growing moral decadence. He continued to publish literary works which documented the moral injustices of the Communist state and the terror under Lenin and Stalin.
Bibliography:
1.Adapted from an earlier Christian History Institute story.
2.Nielsen, Niels C., jr. Solzhenitsyn's Religion. New York: Pillar Books, 1976.
3.Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr I. The Gulag Archipelago. New York: Harper and Row, 1975
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