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APRIL

8, 1749 --Wales. At Garth in South Wales, Mr. Gwynne, a magistrate known by the name of "The King of Wales" because of his great power, has been determined to arrest Mr. Howell Harris on account of his preaching. He went on horseback when the friar of the Wesleys was preaching and stopped to listen, and did not think it was all that bad. But as he continued to listen, it pleased God to prick his heart and he was converted.
    When the service ended, he approached Mr. Harris and said, "Come home with me," and the amazed crowd watched Mr. Harris ride off on his poor nag with the charger of Mr. Gwynne.
    When Mr. Harris was brought into the home with great honor, Mrs. Gwynne, knowing her husband had gone to arrest the preacher, thought her husband had gone mad. But Sarah, her daughter, became interested in the Gospel as had her father.
     Mrs. Gwynne soon ventured to hear Mr. Harris for herself and when John Wesley visited Wales, she went to hear him as well.
     Two years passed, and Charles Wesley arrived in Wales on his way from Ireland. His health was low due to his work and by exposure. He rested here at Garth before preparing to return to London. Mr. Gwynne accompanied him on the road together with his daughter Sarah. But Charles has not been able to forget Sarah Gwynne, and accordingly, today he marries her.
     While his brother, John married a widow who stayed at home to revile, and embitter his life, Sarah will grace the home of Charles, and will accompany him on almost all his journeys, riding behind him on the horse, or walking by his side.
     She will give birth to eight children, but after she buries two in their infancy, she will be stricken with Smallpox which will leave her face permanently disfigured, but to Charles, she was lovelier than before.
     One day when he went to preach, a child whom he had left well was buried before he returned home. In all, five of their children will die, and Sarah's heart will be broken. She will cry to God to spare some of her children, and two sons and a daughter will remain. The daughter will become a fine woman, but the two sons will become a heartache to them, for one will become a Roman Catholic, while the other will become a moralist, though both will be noted musicians.
     Mr. Wesley writes verse more easily than prose and will compose on horseback, in a stagecoach and often in the pulpit. Sarah will take down his last verse "when he can scarcely articulate."
 

8, 1861 --Austria. Today the Protestant patent confers upon Protestants full equality before the Law.

8, 1864 --Confederate States of America. The Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederacy have recommended a day of fasting and prayer. President Jefferson Davis responds by setting apart this day.
      Rev. S. H. Smith, observing this day's observance in General Gordon's brigade writes, "I have no idea that ever before was there such a day realized by the present generation. Old professors of religion expressed a degree of confidence in God, of an early deliverance from this bloody revolution, that astonished themselves. Who can tell but that yesterday was the birthday of Southern Independence? Oh, if we could have ascended above the earth and looked down upon a nation upon their knees before God, confessing their sins, and suing for mercy, I imagine we could have heard the shouts of the Redeemed and the Songs of the Angels as they exclaimed, 'Peace on earth and good will to men.'"

8, 1901 --New Guinea. At Risk Point, Goaribari Island, Gulf of Papua, James Chalmers is martyred by cannibals. Since 1877 he has labored among them with the Gospel at the constant peril of his life. A Scotsman, he has served as missionary under the London Missionary Society.

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