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APRIL

 25, 387 --Italy. Today in Milan, Ambrose baptizes Augustine and his friend Alypius who were converted last year. It is Easter.

25, 1542 --Mississippi. Ferdinand de Soto, has been the favorite companion of Pizarro and has assisted the conqueror in the storming of Cuzco and the subsequent arrest of Atahualpa, the Inca chief. He has shared the immense ransom delivered by the chief when he thought he could purchase his freedom.
     After returning to Spain, he has again visited the New World, and has been diligently exploring the Mississippi River. Last year in the month of June, when Indians adored these Spaniards as "children of the sun", they brought to them their blind that they might be healed by the "sons of light." At that time De Soto replied, "Pray to God alone, Who is in Heaven, for whatsoever you need." But he has himself steadily become blinded by his avarice, and lust for power.
     Today, near Natchez, he attempts to overawe the Indians whom he fears on account of his weak and hungry, and diminished party. He claims a supernatural birth and demands obedience and tribute. “You say, you are the child of the sun," replies the undaunted chief, "dry up the river, and I will believe you. Do you desire to see me? Visit the town where I dwell. If you come in peace, I will receive you with special good will; if in war, I will not shrink one foot back!"

25, 1599 --England. At Huntington, Huntingdonshire, Oliver Cromwell is born. He will attend Cambridge University for a year only to leave it the following year upon the death of his father, and in order to care for his mother and sister. In 1642, he will raise a troop of arquebusiers composed of sixty "God fearing" men to assist the Parliamentary army.
      He will early espouse the idea of religious liberty but against the great majority of those with whom he fights. In 1647, together with his son-in-law, he will submit to the king a treaty known as the "Heads of the Proposals" and which if they had been carried into effect would have been the settlement of 1689 with more democracy, Puritanism, and leaving all forms of worship as well as the Prayer Book to the discretion of the worshippers.

25, 1735 --England. Samuel Wesley dies a faithful shepherd to his flock. He was early educated among dissenters, but in 1683 he renounced non-Conformity. He has turned to writing to eke out a bare living. He has had nineteen children, nine of whom have died in their infancy, yet he leaves behind two outstanding sons, John and Charles. He has almost reached the age of seventy-two years. A few moments before his death, he was heard to confess, "I thank Him for all; I bless Him for all; I love Him for all."

25, 1800 --England. William Cowper dies. Dubbed, "the greatest poet of his time," he leaves behind several poems, which will later be set to music. Among these are "God Moves In A Mysterious Way," "There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood," and "0, For A Closer Walk With God." For the past forty-five years, he has suffered with periods of profound depression. Having found an intimate friend in John Newton, he has assisted Mr. Newton in writing his Olney Hymns and has contributed some sixty-eight hymns, while Mr. Newton has supplied two hundred and eighty.

25, 1806 --Scotland. In a farmhouse at Moulin, Perthshire, Alexander Duff is born. He will become the first missionary of the Church of Scotland to India. When the Church of Scotland splits in 1843, he, like all missionaries, will align himself with the Free Church. As his mission property legally belongs to the Church of Scotland, he will lose everything until friends rally to his support.

25, 1815 --Burma. Adoniram Judson leaves his mission board to join the American Baptist Missionary Union.



 

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