PART III - Conclusion

"Thus do I sever you from the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant!" the bishop shouted. But can any earthly bishop sentence to Hell one whom God declares to be acceptable to Him? Shall Savonarola, the saintly fifteenth century preacher, cower at such fearful words? What an awful allusion lies in these words which claim the right to cast off the soul of man finally--eternally!

The man of God does not shrink back. "Not from the Church Triumphant! You cannot do that."

To prolong the torture of Savonarola, his companions were hanged first--right before his eyes. Now it was his turn, and the faithful preacher steps lightly between the dead swinging bodies of his brethren.

As the executioner adjusts the cord about his neck, he raises his tender eyes toward Heaven, while his lips move in prayer. The noose is tightened.

Below, the waiting torches fire the pile of oily faggots, and the flames shoot Heavenward licking the cross where the three bodies swayed.

Suddenly, there came a gust of wind that parted the smoke and the flames, and the staring mob grew silent: the fire had burned the thongs that bound the arms of Savonarola, and one hand was uplifted in blessing and benediction.

And so Savonarola triumphed! For through his faithfulness, the grace of God graduated him from the Church ever militant on earth, to the Church eternally triumphant in Heaven.

-Elbert Hubbard-

JUNE

*2, ----: This 23rd day of Sivan, the king, Ahasuerus will call his scribes to write according to all Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews; that the lieutenants, the deputies, the rulers of all 129 provinces in the Persian empire were to permit the Jews to gather together to defend their lives against all who would assault them. This was done because Haman, who ranked highest over all the princes in the Persian Empire, had conspired against

the Jews for the purpose of destroying them all. These letters will be written in the king’s name, sealed with the king’s ring and carried by couriers on horseback and any other such means of transportation.--Esther 8:9-11

3, 1905--James Hudson Taylor dies at Chang-Sha, Hunan, China. He has founded the Great China Inland Mission; and here where he dies is the capital of the last province of inland China to be opened to the Gospel.

3, 1879--Francis Ridley Havergal dies at Caswell Bay, England. "Blessed rest!" she has uttered.

*6, ----: This 27th day in the month of Sivan, the ark carrying Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives rests upon the flood as the 40 days and nights of rain draw to a close.--Genesis 7:12

7, 1891--On Sunday morning, Charles Haddon Spurgeon preached his last sermon in the Metropolitan Tabernacle.

7, 1913--The is "The Old Rugged Cross" day, for in a Methodist Church in Polagon, Michigan, Rev. George Bennard introduces his new hymn which he composed in the parsonage there. Rev. and Mrs. L. O. Bostwick then occupied the parsonage.

8, 1820--Adoniram Judson is arrested in Burma for preaching the Gospel.

9, 1790--At the age of 55 years, Rev. Robert Robinson dies "soft, suddenly and alone." He has penned that famous hymn--

Streams of mercy, never ceasing

Call for songs of loudest praise.

He had been converted at the age of seventeen years after having been a dissolute youth. A sermon by the famed 18^th century evangelist George Whitefield had been used by God to bring conviction to his heart.

11, 1744--At the age of 26 years, David Brainerd is ordained by a presbytery to the Gospel ministry. He will be sent to a mission among the North American Indians.

13, 1793--William Carey sails with his wife and four children. His destination is the land of India

*NOTE: All dates referring to the Hebrew Calendar may be as much as two   weeks leeway. This is due to the rotation of the Jewish calendar.

"A profane spirit had invaded religion, and the most sacred seasons of the church, those which most forcibly and powerfully invited the faithful to self-examination and love, were dishonored by buffoonery and mere heathen blasphemies. The ‘Easter Drolleries’ held an important place in the acts of the church. As the festival of the resurrection required to be celebrated with joy, everything that could excite the laughter of the hearers was sought out, and thrust into sermons. One preacher imitated the note of the cuckoo, while another hissed like a goose. One dragged forward to the altar a layman in a cassock; a second told the most indecent stories; a third related the adventures of the Apostle Peter, among others, how in a tavern, he cheated the host by not paying his score. The inferior clergy took ad-vantage of the occasion to turn their superiors into ridicule. The churches were thus turned into stages, and the priests into

mountebanks."--(History of the Reformation, Vol. 1 of 5 vols. pp. 35,36, by Merle D’Aubigne)

Are we returning to such "buffoonery" as was characteristic of the Dark Ages?