SEPTEMBER 2, 1565 --GEORGIA/FLORIDA
A body of 400 persecuted Huguenots (French Protestants) have taken refuge here near the Florida border under the command of Jean de Ribaut. They have emigrated, and for several years have been a quiet, inoffensive people living in peace with the Indians. They have cultivated the soil, built villages, etc.
On the 28th of July, a powerful Spanish fleet has come in sight of the Spanish coast of Florida. On the 8th of August they set ashore and began laying the foundation of a town which they name St. Augustine. When it is sufficiently under way, Menendez turns his attention to the Huguenots.
He directs a fleet of ships carrying some 2500 Spanish soldiers and aims for the Huguenot settlements. The French make no resistance today as 200 men are seized and flayed alive. Under promises for clemency, the French surrender, and the Spanish slaughter 700 more of their number hanging their bodies upon the nearby trees with this inscription: "Not as Frenchmen, but as Heretics." They then take possession of the French settlement, but they will not enjoy it long.
A privateer named Dominque de Gourges secretly arms and equips a vessel at La Rochelle. Then stealing across the Atlantic, he collects a strong party of Indians in two days. Coming suddenly upon the forts of the Spaniards, he takes them by storm and slays and afterwards hangs every man he finds there, leaving their bodies on the same trees on which they had hanged the Huguenots. But de Gourges leaves a different inscription: "Not as Spaniards but as murderers."
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"There aren’t many great sermons preached today. Preachers are bound by too many other things to be Great Preachers. They give more advice than a Lawyer; visit more sick than a Doctor; attend more meetings than a Club-Woman; shake more hands than a Politician...and use the other part of their time as Errand Boys. They are Organizers, Promoters, Executives and Toast-Masters --anything but Prophets, speaking for God to eternity-bound sinners.... "
____________________-T. T. Martin, pastor and missionary-______________
Reprinted from The Pioneer,
Larry Mattis, editor, pastor
Baptist Church Fellowship, Ann Arbor, Michigan
"You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." –Matthew 20:25-28
Pothinus and Irenaeus were students of Polycarp, a disciple of the Apostle John. Little, if anything, is known of their training and labor before their conversion. Philip Schaff, the noted church historian, says of them: "They were good men rather than great men." How profound! How sublime! May the grace of God make each of us "Good Men."
"What a union of two believers --One Hope, One Vow, One Discipline, One Worship! They are brother and sister, two fellow servants, one spirit and one flesh. Where there is one flesh there is also one spirit.
"They pray together, fast together, instruct, exhort, and support each other. They go together to the church of God and to the Table of the Lord.
"They share each other’s tribulation, persecution, and revival. Neither conceals anything from the other; neither avoids, neither annoys the other.
"They delight to visit the sick, supply the needy, give alms without constraint, and in daily zeal lay their offerings before the altar without scruple or hindrance.... Psalms and hymns they sing together and vie with each other in singing to God.
"Christ rejoices when He sees and hears this. He gives them His peace."
-Tertullian-
Rachel loved Jacob, but introduced idolatry into his family.
Michal did good to David at first in saving his life, but later despised him as a servant of God.
So it was, that Luther wrote, "The greatest gift of God is a pious, amiable spouse who fears God, loves his house and with whom he can live in perfect confidence."
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It was said of Martin Luther that he would affectionately call his wife, "Katie, my Rib."
But when she would exert herself, he called her "Sir Kate!"
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7, 1631 --Germany. Gustavus Adolphus, the Protestant king of Sweden, is victorious over Tilly at Breitenfeld, thus preserving Protestantism in northern Germany.
9, 1708 --Connecticut. The Saybrook Synod adopts the "Heads of Agreement" which states that "none of our particular churches shall be subordinate to one another; (and that) "each particular church hath right to choose their own officers." It was drawn up by the "Happy Union" in London which consists of Congregational and Presbyterian ministers. Increase Mather in London acting as agent for Massachusetts has played a major role in its achievement.
11, 1777 --Pennsylvania. During these first 150 years, the English colonies here in America have depended upon England to supply their Bibles. The outbreak of the Revolutionary War has stopped this source. Today a special committee of Congress reports, "the use of the Bible is so universal and its importance so great" it will recommend to import 20,000 Bibles from Holland, Scotland, or elsewhere, "into the different parts of the States of the Union."
13, 1774 --Pennsylvania. The First Continental Congress has met in Carpenter’s Hall here on September 5th. Today the Warren Association of Baptist churches writes to Congress:
"Honorable Gentlemen. As the Baptist Churches in New England are most heartily concerned for the preservation and defence of the rights and privileges of this country, and are deeply affected by the encroachments upon the same which have been lately made by the British
Parliament, and are willing to unite with our dear countrymen to pursue every prudent measure for relief, so, we would beg leave to say that, as a distinct denomination of Protestants, we conceive that we have an equal claim to charter rights with the rest of our fellow subjects, and yet we have long been denied the free and full enjoyment of those rights as to the support of religious liberty.... "