We will be looking at some of the most important men in history especially that of Christian history.
Last week we learned about the Victorian Age in England and how influential Queen Victoria was because of her high regard for Christian principles and the Bible.
Preachers
Victorian England was known for great preachers.
These men looked up to Wesley and Whitefield and followed their example to help keep England on the right path.
One of the greatest Victorian era preachers was none other than….
Add 19th Century England- Preachers Missions and Hymn Writers to the next page of your journal
Add John Wesley (picture and notes) and Queen Victoria (picture and notes) to your journal from Friday school blog.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (journal entry)
Read about Spurgeon
Spurgeon ministered to the same congregation for almost 40 years.
He also ran housing for the poor, opened up 2 orphanages, was an administrator of a Bible college, wrote books and published a magazine. Proceeds from the publications he used to promote evangelism, education and charity.
Listen to one of his sermons
Dwight L. Moody(journal entry)
Read about D.L. Moody
A great American preacher that had much influence on Victorian Britain.
He also had great influence on others like missionaries C.T. Studd and Wilfred Grenfell.
Listen
The Great Century of Missions
The Victorian Age also saw great missionaries. Those that went to great lengths to spread the gospel of Jesus to the ends of the earth.
Amy Carmichael (journal entry)
“Ammai” of orphans and holiness author
Amy Carmichael was born in Ireland in 1867, the oldest of seven children. As a teen, she attended a Wesleyan Methodist girls boarding school, until her father died when she was 18. Carmichael twice attended Keswick Conventions and experienced a holiness conversion which led her to work among the poor in Belfast. Through the Keswick Conventions, Carmichael met Robert Wilson. He developed a close relationship with the young woman, and invited her to live with his family. Carmichael soon felt a call to mission work and applied to the China Inland Mission as Amy Carmichael-Wilson. Although she did not go to China due to health reasons, Carmichael did go to Japan for a brief period of time. There she dressed in kimonos and began to learn Japanese. Her letters home from Japan became the basis for her first book, From Sunrise Land. Carmichael left Japan due to health reasons, eventually returning to England. She soon accepted a position with the Church of England’s Zenana Missionary Society, serving in India. From 1895 to 1925, her work with orphans in Tinnevelly (now Tirunelveli) was supported by the Church of England. After that time, Carmichael continued her work in the faith mission style, establishing an orphanage in Dohnavur. The orphanage first cared for girls who had been temple girls, who would eventually become temple prostitutes. Later the orphanage accepted boys as well.
Carmichael never returned to England after arriving in India. She wrote prolifically, publishing nearly 40 books. In her personal devotions, she relied on scripture and poetry. She wrote many of her own poems and songs. Carmichael had a bad fall in 1931, which restricted her movement. She stayed in her room, writing and studying. She often quoted Julian of Norwich when she wrote of suffering and patience. Many of Carmichael’s books have stories of Dohnavur children, interspersed with scripture, verses, and photographs of the children or nature. Carmichael never directly asked for funding, but the mission continued to be supported through donations. In 1951 Carmichael died at Dohnavur. Her headstone is inscribed “Ammai”, revered mother, which the children of Dohnavur called Carmichael.
Carmichael’s lengthy ministry at Dohnavur was sustained through her strong reliance upon scripture and prayer. Her early dedication to holiness practices and her roots in the Keswick tradition helped to guide her strong will and determination in her mission to the children of southern India.
Gladys Aylward (journal entry)
Gladys was a missionary to China.
Watch this short summary of her life.
Gladys Aylward was born in London in 1904 (or a few years earlier). She worked for several years as a parlormaid, and then attended a revival meeting at which the preacher spoke of dedicating one’s life to the service of God. Gladys responded to the message, and soon after became convinced that she was called to preach the Gospel in China. At the age of 26, she became a probationer at the China Inland Mission Center in London, but was failed to pass the examinations. She worked at other jobs and saved her money. Then she heard of a 73-year-old missionary, Mrs. Jeannie Lawson, who was looking for a younger woman to carry on her work. Gladys wrote to Mrs. Lawson and was accepted if she could get to China. She did not have enough money for the ship fare, but did have enough for the train fare, and so in October of 1930 she set out from London with her passport, her Bible, her tickets, and two pounds ninepence, to travel to China by the Trans-Siberian Railway, despite the fact that China and the Soviet Union were engaged in an undeclared war. She arrived in Vladivostok and sailed from there to Japan and from Japan to Tientsin, and thence by train, then bus, then mule, to the inland city of Yangchen, in the mountainous province of Shansi, a little south of Peking (Beijing). Most of the residents had seen no Europeans other than Mrs. Lawson and now Miss Aylward. They distrusted them as foreigners, and were not disposed to listen to them.Yangchen was an overnight stop for mule caravans that carried coal, raw cotton, pots, and iron goods on six-week or three-month journeys. It occurred to the two women that their most effective way of preaching would be to set up an inn. The building in which they lived had once been an inn, and with a bit of repair work could be used as one again. They laid in a supply of food for mules and men, and when next a caravan came past, Gladys dashed out, grabbed the rein of the lead mule, and turned it into their courtyard. It went willingly, knowing by experience that turning into a courtyard meant food and water and rest for the night. The other mules followed, and the muleteers had no choice. They were given good food and warm beds at the standard price, and their mules were well cared for, and there was free entertainment in the evening–the inkeepers told stories about a man named Jesus. After the first few weeks, Gladys did not need to kidnap customers — they turned in at the inn by preference. Some became Christians, and many of them (both Christians and non-Christians) remembered the stories, and retold them more or less accurately to other muleteers at other stops along the caravan trails. Gladys practiced her Chinese for hours each day, and was becoming fluent and comfortable with it. Then Mrs. Lawson suffered a severe fall, and died a few days later. Gladys Aylward was left to run the mission alone, with the aid of one Chinese Christian, Yang, the cook.
A few weeks after the death of Mrs. Lawson, Miss Aylward met the Mandarin of Yangchen. He arrived in a sedan chair, with an impressive escort, and told her that the government had decreed an end to the practice of footbinding. (Note: Among the upper and middle classes, it had for centuries been the custom that a woman’s foot should be wrapped tightly in bandages from infancy, to prevent it from growing. Thus grown women had extremely tiny feet, on which they could walk only with slow, tottering steps, which were thought to be extremely graceful.) The government needed a foot-inspector, a woman (so that she could invade the women’s quarters without scandal), with her own feet unbound (so that she could travel), who would patrol the district enforcing the decree. It was soon clear to them both that Gladys was the only possible candidate for the job, and she accepted, realizing that it would give her undreamed-of opportunities to spread the Gospel.
During her second year in Yangchen, Gladys was summoned by the Mandarin. A riot had broken out in the men’s prison. She arrived and found that the convicts were rampaging in the prison courtyard, and several of them had been killed. The soldiers were afraid to intervene. The warden of the prison said to Gladys, “Go into the yard and stop the rioting.” She said, “How can I do that?” The warden said, “You have been preaching that those who trust in Christ have nothing to fear.” She walked into the courtyard and shouted: “Quiet! I cannot hear when everyone is shouting at once. Choose one or two spokesmen, and let me talk with them.” The men quieted down and chose a spokesman. Gladys talked with him, and then came out and told the warden: “You have these men cooped up in crowded conditions with absolutely nothing to do. No wonder they are so edgy that a small dispute sets off a riot. You must give them work. Also, I am told that you do not supply food for them, so that they have only what their relatives send them. No wonder they fight over food. We will set up looms so that they can weave cloth and earn enough money to buy their own food.” This was done. There was no money for sweeping reforms, but a few friends of the warden donated old looms, and a grindstone so that the men could work grinding grain. The people began to call Gladys Aylward “Ai-weh-deh,” which means “Virtuous One.” It was her name from then on.
Soon after, she saw a woman begging by the road, accompanied by a child covered with sores and obviously suffering severe malnutrition. She satisfied herself that the woman was not the child’s mother, but had kidnapped the child and was using it as an aid to her begging. She bought the child for ninepence–a girl about five years old. A year later, “Ninepence” came in with an abandoned boy in tow, saying, “I will eat less, so that he can have something.” Thus Ai-weh-deh acquired a second orphan, “Less.” And so her family began to grow…. She was a regular and welcome visitor at the palace of the Mandarin, who found her religion ridiculous, but her conversation stimulating. In 1936, she officially became a Chinese citizen. She lived frugally and dressed like the people around her (as did the missionaries who arrived a few years after in in the neighboring town of Tsechow, David and Jean Davis and their young son Murray, of Wales), and this was a major factor in making her preaching effective.
Then the war came. In the spring of 1938, Japanese planes bombed the city of Yangcheng, killing many and causing the survivors to flee into the mountains. Five days later, the Japanese Army occupied Yangcheng, then left, then came again, then left. The Mandarin gathered the survivors and told them to retreat into the mountains for the duration. He also announced that he was impressed by the life of Ai-weh-deh and wished to make her faith his own. There remained the question of the convicts at the jail. The traditional policy favored beheading them all lest they escape. The Mandarin asked Ai-weh-deh for advice, and a plan was made for relatives and friends of the convicts to post a bond guaranteeing their good behavior. Every man was eventually released on bond. As the war continued Gladys often found herself behind Japanese lines, and often passed on information, when she had it, to the armies of China, her adopted country. She met and became friends with “General Ley,” a Roman Catholic priest from Europe who had teken up arms when the Japanese invaded, and now headed a guerilla force. Finally he sent her a message. The Japanese are coming in full force. We are retreating. Come with us.” Angry, she scrawled a Chinese note, Chi Tao Tu Pu Twai, “Christians never retreat!” He sent back a copy of a Japanese handbill offering $100 each for the capture, dead or alive, of (1) the Mandarin, (2) a prominent merchant, and (3) Ai-weh-deh. She determined to flee to the government orphanage at Sian, bringing with her the children she had accumulated, about 100 in number. (An additional 100 had gone ahead earlier with a colleague.) With the children in tow, she walked for twelve days. Some nights they found shelter with friendly hosts. Some nights they spent unprotected on the mountainsides. On the twelfth day, they arrived at the Yellow River, with no way to cross it. All boat traffic had stopped, and all civilian boats had been seized to keep them out of the hands of the Japanese. The children wanted to know, “Why don’t we cross?” She said, “There are no boats.” They said, “God can do anything. Ask Him to get us across.” They all knelt and prayed. Then they sang. A Chinese officer with a patrol heard the singing and rode up. He heard their story and said, “I think I can get you a boat.” They crossed, and after a few more difficulties Ai-weh-deh delivered her charges into competent hands at Sian, and then promptly collapsed with typhus fever and sank into delirium for several days.
As her health gradually improved, she started a Christian church in Sian, and worked elsewhere, including a settlement for lepers in Szechuan, near the borders of Tibet. Her health was permanently impaired by injuries received during the war, and in 1947 she returned to England for a badly needed operation. She remained in England, preaching there.
Miss Gladys Aylward, the Small Woman, Ai-weh-deh, died 3 January 1970.
George Muller (journal entry)
Watch:
George Muller was a man of prayer and great faith!
Hymn Writers (journal entry)
Assignment:
Pick 2 hymns and add them to your journal with information about the hymns.
Include the author, date, and facts behind the hymn.
One of my favorite hymns is “It is well with my soul” written by Horatio Spafford- the story behind this hymn is inspiring!
Popular Hymns of the 19th Century
| Silent Night! Holy Night! | Joseph Mohr, 1792-1848 [Translated by Joseph Freeman Young, 1820-1885] | Franz Xaver Gruber, 1787-1863 | 1818 |
| The Tyrolese Evening Hymn | Mrs. Felicia Dorethea Hemans, 1794-1835 | Augusta Browne (Garrett) | 1828 |
| From Greenland’s Icy Mountains | Reginald Heber, 1783-1826 | Lowell Mason, 1792-1872 | 1829 |
| My Faith Looks Up to Thee | Ray Palmer, 1808-1887 | Lowell Mason, 1792-1872 | 1832 |
| Rock of Ages | Augustus Montague Toplady, 1740-1778, 1776 | Thomas Hastings, 1784-1872, (composed) 1830 | 1832 |
| Jesus, Lover of My Soul | Charles Wesley, 1707-1788, 1740 | Simeon Butler Marsh, 1798-1875, 1834 | 1834 |
| See, Gentle Patience Smiles on Pain [Tune:Federal Street] | Anne Steele, 1716-1778 [aka Theodosia] | Henry Kemble Oliver, 1800-1885 | 1835 |
| Joy to the World [Tune:Antioch] | Isaac Watts, 1674-1748, from Psalm 98 | George Frederick Handel, 1685-1759; arr. by Lowell Mason, 1792-1872 | 1836 |
| God Bless Our Native Land | Original German words for Verses 1 and 2 by Siegried A. Mahlman, english translation by Charles Timothy Brooks, 1813-1883, and John Sullivan Dwight, 1813-1893, Verse 3 by William E. Hickson, 1803-1870 | Henry Carey, 1689-1743 | 1844 |
| Blest Be the Tie That Binds [Tune: Dennis] | John Fawcett, 1740-1817 | Johann (Hans) Georg Naegeli, 1773-1836; arr. Lowell Mason, 1792-1872 | 1845 |
| Just As I Am Without One Plea | Charlotte Elliot, 1769-1871 | William Batchelder Bradbury, 1816-1868 | 1849 |
| Fairest Lord Jesus | from “Munster Gesangbuch”, 1677 | from “Schleische Volkslieder”, 1842; adapted by Richard Storrs Willis, 1819-1900 | 1850 |
| It Came Upon the Midnight Clear | Rev. Edmund Hamilton Sears, 1810-1876 | Richard Storrs Willis, 1819-1900 | 1850 |
| The Spacious Firmament on High | Joseph Addison, 1672-1719 | arranged by J. Huntington from “The Creation” (1800) by Franz Joseph Haydn, 1732-1809 | 1850 |
| Hark! the Herald Angels Sing | Charles Wesley, 1707-1788 | Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, 1809-1847; Adapted by William Hayman Cummings from “Festgesang” (24 Jun 1840) Tune by Mendelssohn from the 2nd mvt. of the cantata “Vaterland, in deinen Gauen brach der gold’ne Tag einst an”) | 1855 |
| Cantique de Noël (Christmas Song, aka O Holy Night) [first sung at midnight mass on Christmas Eve 1847] | French words by Cappeau de Roquemaure; English translation by John Sullivan Dwight, 1813-1893 | Adolphe Adam, 1803-1856 | 1858 |
| Nearer, My God, to Thee [Tune: Bethany] | Sarah Francis Adams [Flower] | Dr. Lowell Mason, 1792-1872 [and Samuel Lover?] Arr. by T. Bissell | 1859 |
| Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty [Tune: Nicaea] | Reginald Heber, 1783-1826 | John Bacchus Dykes, 1823-1876 | 1861 |
| Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty | Reginald Heber, 1783-1826 | James B. Taylor | 1861 |
| Jerusalem the Golden (Tune:Ewing) | Bernard of Cluny, 12ty century; Translated by John Mason Neale, 1818-1866, altered | Alexander Ewing, 1830-1895 | 1861 |
| We Three Kings of Orient Are | John Henry Hopkins, Jr., 1820-1891 | John Henry Hopkins, Jr., 1820-1891 | 1863 |
| Work for the Night Is Coming | Annie L. Walker | Lowell Mason, 1792-1872 | 1864 |
| Lead, Kindly Light [Tune:Lux benigna] | John Henry Newman, 1801-1890 | John Baccus Dykes, 1823-1876 | 1868 |
| O Little Town of Bethlehem | Rev. Dr. Phillips Brooks, 1835-1893 | Lewis Henry Redner, 1831-1908 | 1868 |
| What a Friend We Have in Jesus | Joseph Medlicott Scriven, 1819-1886 (1855) | Charles Crozat Converse, 1832-1918 | 1868 |
| Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross | Francis Jane Crosby, 1820-1915 | William Howard Doane, 1832-1915 | 1869 |
| Now the Day Is Over | Sabine Baring-Gould, 1834-1924 | Joseph Barnby, 1838-1896 | 1869 |
| Pass Me Not, O Gentle Saviour | Francis (“Fanny”) Jane Crosby, 1820-1915 (aka Mrs. Alexander Van Alstyne) | William Howard Doane, 1832-1915 | 1870 |
| Rescue the Perishing | Francis (“Fanny”) Jane Crosby, 1820-1915 (aka Mrs. Alexander Van Alstyne) | William Howard Doane, 1832-1915 | 1870 |
| Safe in the Arms of Jesus | Francis (“Fanny”) Jane Crosby, 1820-1915 [aka Mrs. Alexander Van Alstyne] | William Howard Doane, 1832-1915 | 1870 |
| Onward, Christian Soldiers [Tune:St. Gertrude. 6.5.6.5.D. with Refrain] | Sabine Baring-Gould, 1834-1924 | Arthur Seymour Sullivan, 1842-1900 | 1871 |
| Something for Jesus | Sylvanus Dryden. Phelps, 1816-1895 | Robert Lowry, 1826-1899 | 1871 |
| Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain [Tune: St. Kevin. 7.6.7.6.D.] | John Mason Neal, 1818-1866 (translated from the Greek of St. John of Damascus, 8th century) | Arthur Seymour Sullivan, 1842-1900 | 1872 |
| I Need Thee Every Hour | (Verses) Annie Sherwood Hawkes, 1835-1918; and (Chorus) Robert Lowry | Robert Lowry, 1826-1899 | 1872 |
| The Son of God Goes Forth to War | Reginald Heber, 1783-1826 | Henry Stephen Cutler, 1824-1902 | 1872 |
| Seven-fold Amen (Setting for SATB) | anon. | John Stainer, 1840-1901 | 1873 |
| I Love to Tell the Story | Arabella Catherine (Kate) Hankey, 1834-1911 | William Gustavus Fischer, 1835-1912 | 1874 |
| All the Way My Saviour Leads Me | Francis Jane Crosby, 1820-1915 | Robert Lowry, 1826-1899 | 1875 |
| Fully Persuaded | J. B, Atchinson | William Fiske Sherwin, 1826-1888 | 1875 |
| It Is Well With My Soul | Horatio Gates Spafford, 1828-1888 | Philip Paul Bliss, 1836-1876 | 1876 |
| The Ninety and Nine | Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane, 1830-1869 | Ira David Sankey, 1840-1908 | 1876 |
| Trusting Jesus, That Is All | Edgar Page Stites, 1836-1921 | Ira David Sankey, 1840-1908 | 1876 |
| Hiding in Thee | William Orcutt Cushing, 1823-1902 | Ira David Sankey, 1840-1908 | 1877 |
| Where Is My Wandering Boy To-night? | Robert Lowry, 1826-1899 | Robert Lowry, 1826-1899 | 1877 |
| Saviour, Breathe an Evening Blessing | J. Edmeston | George Cole Stebbins, 1846-1945 | 1878 |
| Tell Me the Old, Old Story | Arabella Catherine (Kate) Hankey, 1834-1911 | William Howard Doane, 1832-1915 | 1878 |
| Hide Thou Me | Francis Jane Crosby, 1820-1915 | Robert Lowry, 1826-1899 | 1880 |
| I Am Coming | Helen R. Young | Ira David Sankey, 1840-1908 | 1881 |
| Tell It Out Among the Nations [Heathen] That the Lord Is King | Frances Ridley Havergal, 1836-1879 | Arr. by Ira David Sankey, 1840-1908 | 1881 |
| God Be With You [Till We Meet Again] | Jeremiah Eames Rankin, 1828-1904 | William Gould Tomer, 1833-1896 | 1883 |
| When the Mists Have Rolled Away | Annie Herbert | Ira David Sankey, 1840-1908 | 1883 |
| At the Cross | Isaac Watts, 1674-1748 | Ralph E. Hudson, 1843-1901 | 1885 |
| Away in a Manger (or,Luther’s Cradle Hymn) | anon. | James Ramsey Murray, 1841-1905 | 1887 |
| Come, Oh, Come to Me | Mrs. James G. Johnson | James McGranahan, 1840-1907 | 1887 |
| I Will Sing the Wond’rous Story | Francis Harold Rawley, 1854-1952 | Peter Philip Bilhorn, 1865-1936 | 1887 |
| Though Your Sins Be as Scarlet | Francis Jane Crosby, 1820-1915 | William Howard Doane, 1832-1915 | 1887 |
| Tenderly Calling | Francis Jane Crosby, 1820-1915 | Ira David Sankey, 1840-1908 | 1890 |
| Happy Day | Philip Doddrigge, 1702-1751 | Edward Francis Rimbault, 1816-1876 | 1891 |
| Life’s Railway to Heaven | M. E. Abbey | Charles D. Tillman | 1891 |
| Sometime We’ll Understand | Maxwell N. Cornelius | James McGranahan, 1840-1907 | 1891 |
| Whosoever Will May Come | A. Montieth | Ira David Sankey, 1840-1908 | 1891 |
| My Mother’s Bible | M. B. Williams | Charles D. Tillman | 1893 |
| When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder | James Milton Black, 1856-1938 | James Milton Black, 1856-1938 | 1893 |
| Saved by Grace | Francis Jane Crosby, 1820-1915 | George Cole Stebbins, 1846-1945 | 1894 |
See you Friday,
Miss Eunice
CVCA World History 