Fredrick Arvid Blom – death, May 24, 1927

Love divine, so great and wondrous,
Deep and mighty, pure, sublime!
Coming from the heart of Jesus,
Just the same through tests of time.

Refrain

He the pearly gates will open,
So that I may enter in;
For He purchased my redemption
And forgave me all my sin.

2. Like a dove when hunted, frightened,
As a wounded fawn was I;
Brokenhearted, yet He healed me,
He will heed the sinner’s cry.

3. Love divine, so great and wondrous,
All my sins He then forgave!
I will sing His praise forever,
For His blood, His power to save.

4. In life’s eventide, at twilight,
At His door I’ll knock and wait;
By the precious love of Jesus
I shall enter Heaven’s gate.

Fredrick Arvid Blom died this date, 5/24/1927, at Uddevalla, Sweden.  He emigrated to the USA in the 1890’s and joined the Salvation Army in Chicago.  Later he attended North Park College and Seminary, and served as a pastor for an Evangelical Covenant Church.

At some sad point he backslide  and actually served time in prison.  “I drifted from God, and became embittered with myself and the world.”  Out of prison, Blom was born again and penned the above words “He the Pearly Gates Will Open” describing his wonderful rebirth.

He pastored again this time a Swedish Congregational Church in PA.  eventually he went back home to his native land (1921) where he was born,5/21/1867, near Enköpking, Sweden.

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John Samuel Norris – birth, Dec. 4,1844

I can hear my Savior calling,
I can hear my Savior calling,
I can hear my Savior calling,
“Take thy cross and follow, follow Me.”

Refrain

Where He leads me I will follow,
Where He leads me I will follow,
Where He leads me I will follow;
I’ll go with Him, with Him, all the way.

I’ll go with Him through the garden,
I’ll go with Him through the garden,
I’ll go with Him through the garden,
I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way.

I’ll go with Him through the judgment,
I’ll go with Him through the judgment,
I’ll go with Him through the judgment,
I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way.

He will give me grace and glory,
He will give me grace and glory,
He will give me grace and glory,
And go with me, with me all the way.

 John Samuel Norris was born this date, 12/4/1844, at West Cowes, Isle of Wight, England.  He was a Congregationalist who moved to and was educated in Canada.  Norris was ordained in 1868 and served churches in Canada, New York, Wisconsin, and Iowa.  He wrote more than 100 hymns but is possibly best remembered for his hymn tune entitled NORRIS – “I Can Hear My Savior Calling,” a.k.a. “Where He Leads Me I Will Follow.”  Norris died 9/23/1907 in Chicago.

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Avis Marguerite Burgeson – birth, Oct 11, 1895

Out of the depths to the glory above,
I have been lifted in wonderful love;
From every fetter my spirit is free,
For Jesus has lifted me!

Refrain

Jesus has lifted me!
Jesus has lifted me!
Out of the night into glorious light,
Yes, Jesus has lifted me!

 

Out of the world into heavenly rest,
Into the land of the ransomed and blessed,
There in the glory with Him I shall be,
For Jesus has lifted me!

 

Out of myself into Him I adore,
There to hide in His love evermore;
Through endless ages His glory to see,
My Jesus has lifted me!

 

 

 

Avis Marguerite Burgeson was born this date, 10/11/1895, at Chicago, Illinois.

Avis married Ernest C. Christiansen (1917) who later became vice president in charge of investments for Moody Bible Institute.  She wrote at least twenty some songs  

among which are also “Up Calvary’s Mountain” and “Precious Hiding Place.  Mrs. Christiansen passed from this life in January 1985 at her native Chicago.

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William Newell – birth, May 22, 1868

“At Calvary”

 Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified,
Knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary.

Refrain:

Mercy there was great, and grace was free;
Pardon there was multiplied to me;
There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary.

2.

By God’s Word at last my sin I learned;
Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned,
Till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary.

3.

Now I’ve given to Jesus everything,
Now I gladly own Him as my King,
Now my raptured soul can only sing of Calvary!

4.

Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary

 

William Reed Newell was born this date 5/22/1868 at Savannah, Ohio.

Dwight Moody invited him to join the faculty of the Moody Bible Institute (with Dr. R. A. Torrey).  Newell had an extraordinary gift for Bible exposition. Audiences in Chicago, St. Louis and Toronto loved his weekly Bible classes.  He wrote Romans, Verse-By-Verse; Hebrews, Verse-By-Verse; and The Book of The Revelation. Newell died 4/1/1956 at De­Land, Flor­i­da.

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It is more important that you trust the Rock of Ages than that you know the age of the rocks.

                – William Jennings Bryan, Bible and Its Enemies, The

                                 (Chicago: Bible Institute Colportage Ass’n, 1921) 39.

 

No mental processes can stop the mad race for money.  Man must be born again. 

                – William Jennings Bryan, Bible and Its Enemies, The

                                 (Chicago: Bible Institute Colportage Ass’n, 1921) 43.

 

Evil forces do not hurt for men to do their bidding.  Today is the day (5/5/1925) that a young high school biology teacher, John Scopes, was arrested for teaching the “theory of evolution” in Dayton, Tennessee. 

William Jennings Bryan, a Christian rightly defended the Bible and right in the “Scopes Monkey Trial.”  Mr. Bryan, three times contender (Democrat) for the presidency of the US, died shortly after this historic trial.

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David Brainerd – birth, Apr. 20, 1718

…The sovereignty of God.  I could not bear that it should be wholly at God’s pleasure, to save or damn me, just as He would. 

  – Jonathan Edwards, Life and Diary of David Brainerd (Chicago: Moody Press, n.d.), 27.

 

…Sundry passages of God’s Word opened to my soul with divine clearness, power, and sweetness, so as to appear exceeding precious…

  – Jonathan Edwards, Life and Diary of David Brainerd (Chicago: Moody Press, n.d.), 33.

 

It is good to wrestle for divine blessings.

  – Jonathan Edwards, Life and Diary of David Brainerd (Chicago: Moody Press, n.d.), 43.

 

It is better to wait upon God with patience than to confidence in anything in this lower world.

  – Jonathan Edwards, Life and Diary of David Brainerd (Chicago: Moody Press, n.d.), 87.

 

After I rode more than two miles [horseback], it came to my mind to dedicate myself to God again; which I did with great solemnity and unspeakable satisfaction.

  – Jonathan Edwards, Life and Diary of David Brainerd (Chicago: Moody Press, n.d.), 105.

 

God was gracious to me, helping me to plead with Him for holiness, and to use the stronger arguments with Him, drawn from the incarnation and sufferings of Christ for this very end, that men might be made holy.

  – Jonathan Edwards, Life and Diary of David Brainerd (Chicago: Moody Press, n.d.), 113.

 

David Brainerd was born this date (4/20/1718) at Haddan Connecticut.  He was a missionary to the Stockbridge, Delaware, and Susquehanna Indians.  He prayed, worked, and was exposed to bad weather so much that he was dead at 29 – almost appearing to fail.  But tradition has it a William Carey went to India, Robert McCheyne to the Jews, Henry Martyn to India, as a result (at least in part) of reading his Journal. 

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William Jennings Bryan – birth, Mar. 19, 1860

…Self — the most popular of all the false gods…

                                – William Jennings Bryan, In His Image (NY: Fleming Revell Co., 1922), 75.

 

There is more science in the twenty-fourth verse of the first chapter of Genesis…than in all Darwin wrote.

                                – William Jennings Bryan, In His Image (NY: Fleming Revell Co., 1922), 94.

 

What shall it profit a man if he shall gain all the learning of the schools and lose his faith in God?

                                – William Jennings Bryan, In His Image (NY: Fleming Revell Co., 1922), 118.

 

…The worship of the intellect — an idolatry as deadly to spiritual progress as the worship of images…

                                – William Jennings Bryan, In His Image (NY: Fleming Revell Co., 1922), 127.

           

One can afford to be in a minority but he cannot afford to be wrong.

                                – William Jennings Bryan, In His Image (NY: Fleming Revell Co., 1922), 189.

 

…Confucius…Buddha…Mahomet…Hindu [followers of these] except where they have borrowed from Christian nations…have made no progress in fifteen hundred years.

                                – William Jennings Bryan, In His Image (NY: Fleming Revell Co., 1922), 202.

 

War is not a private affair; it disturbs the commerce of the world obstructs the ocean’s highways and kills innocent bystanders.

                                – William Jennings Bryan, In His Image (NY: Fleming Revell Co., 1922), 231.

 

The preacher should be the boldest of men because of the unselfish character of his work.

                                – William Jennings Bryan, In His Image (NY: Fleming Revell Co., 1922), 261.

William Jennings Bryan was born this date (3/19/1860) in Salem, IL.  He was Democratic contender for the US presidency three-times and Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson until he felt Wilson compromised and Bryan resigned.  He has been called America’s best-known fundamentalist between the uncivil war to the great depression.

 

As a Presbyterian layman, lawyer, and Christian, he defended and won (1925) for the state a victory against the teaching of evolution, in the Tennessee “Scopes Monkey Trial.  Bryan College is named for this great man.  He is also know for his “Cross of Gold” speech 7/8/1896, Chicago.

 

 

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D L Moody – death, Dec 22, 1899

Three great comings are foretold in the Word of God.  First that Christ should come; that has been fulfilled.  Second, that the Holy Ghost should come; that was fulfilled at Pentecost…Third, the return of our Lord from Heaven – for this we are told to watch and wait “till He come.”

           – D L Moody, The Second Coming of Christ (Chicago:The Bible Institution Colportage Ass’n, 1896), 17.

 

The moment a man realizes that Jesus Christ is coming back again to receive His followers to Himself, this world loses its hold upon him.  Gas stocks, and water stocks and stocks in banks and railroads are of very much less consequence to him then.

           – D L Moody, The Second Coming of Christ (Chicago:The Bible Institution Colportage Ass’n, 1896), 18.

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Helen Howarth Lemmel – birth, Nov 14, 1863

“Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”  (stanza 1, chorus, stanza 2)

 

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Chorus

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

 

Through death into
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

 

Written by Helen Lemmel, born this date in England.  She came to American with her family when 12 years of age.  She lived (as a girl in Mississippi, Wisconsin and eventually called Seattle, Washington home.  Her musical talents were used as a music critic, at Moody Bible Institute, and with the work of Billy Sunday. The heartaches of her (including a husband who left her and blindness) make her admonition that much more real.

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