June_155

30, 1315—At Sea. Raymond Lull dies near Cabrera, one of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. As a young man living at the court of King James of Aragon where he was grand seneschal, he was careless and worldly. But becoming convinced of the vanity of pleasures, he turned his attention to heavenly things, and resolved to devote his life to Christ.
      When a Moorish slave made an attempt on his life, Mr. Lull persuaded him to teach him Arabic, and in the fall of 1291, he sailed from Genoa and landed at Bugia in Tunisia. Hero he preached against Islam and challenged Mohammedan scholars to a public debate. His arguments were so forceful, the king felt impelled to condemn him to death, but commuted the sentence to banishment when a scholar interceded in his behalf. He remained concealed on board a ship in the harbor for some time waiting an opportunity to once more penetrate the country. Discouraged he returned to Italy.
     His second venture to North Africa was with the design of combating the Averroists. Appearing in Bugia, he was imprisoned for six months and was again banished. Returning to Italy, he was shipwrecked near Pisa and lost all his possessions, as well as his books.
     His last journey to Africa as a missionary again brought him to Bugia in Tunisia. Here he lay in concealment with Christian merchants. He soon appeared again in public with fiery attacks on Islam. The Mohammedans have risen against him, driving him out of the city with sticks and stones. Yesterday, they left him half-dead on the seashore. He was picked up by two Christian ship captains but today, while on his way to the Spanish Island of Majorca, he dies.

30, 1604 --England. The list of scholars to translate the Authorized Version of Holy Scripture is completed and submitted to James, King of England.

30, 1690 --England. The Roman Catholic king, James II, has fled before William III, Prince of Orange, and has sought refuge in France in the court of Louis XIV.
     The Roman Catholic king of France will employ the French fleet to restore James to his throne. Today, the French fleet will destroy the Dutch-English fleet in the Battle of Beachy Head, but the expected invasion will not be launched.

30, 1690 --Italy. The Pontifical Biblical Commission declares the first eleven chapters of Genesis are history and not myth.

“God is not Dead,
Nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right Prevail.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow-

“When I reach life’s earthly bound,
And the shadows darken round,
All familiar things and dear
Fading fast from eye and ear—
In that hour of Mortal smart,
Trembling flesh and failing heart,
Shall l find my anchor vain,
Parting in that latest strain?
Hear the Shepherd’s voice of old,
Looking on His helpless fold,
Looking far, with gaze Divine,
Down the age’s lengthening line—
‘Every feeble sheep I know,
Life eternal I bestow,
None shall pluck them from My hand’—
Shall that word of Promise stand?
Or when countless foes affright,
Closing found in latest fight,
In that deadly hour and dim
Shall my soul be snatched from Him?
‘Heaven and Earth shall pass away,
Not My words,’ so Christ doth say;
In Death’s grasp His Truth shall be
Shield and Buckler unto Thee.”

Horatio Bonar-
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“Why do the Heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the Earth set themselves, and the Rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.’
He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.”
Psalm 2:1-4-