William Tyndale – martyred, Oct. 6, 1536

 …the…doctor [unnamed Romanist] burst out into these blasphemous words, “We were better to be without God’s laws than the pope’s.”  …Tyndale, hearing this, full of godly zeal, and not bearing that blasphemous saying replied, “I defy the pope, and all his laws;” and added, ‘if God spared him life, ere many years he would cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than the he did.’

                – John Fox, Book of Martyrs (unknown printer/date, reprint, Grand Rapids:

                                Zondervan Publishing House, 1963), 178.

 

William Tyndale was martyred this date 10/6/1536 at the town of Vilvorde (18 English miles from Antwerp.  His dying words were “Lord!  Open the king of England’s eyes.”

He was a great Bible translator giving us the foundation for much of the classic Authorized Version.  Tyndale was born ca. 1494 near the border of Wales.

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Martin Luther – married, Jun. 13, 1525

…The devil’s cunning…if he cannot hurt by persecuting and destroying, he doth it under color of correcting and building up.

                – Luther, Martin, Commentary…Galatians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1930), 44.

 No man hath so grievously fallen at any time, but he may rise again. 

And on the other side, no man taketh so fast footing, but he may fall.     

                – Luther, Martin, Commentary…Galatians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1930), 94.

 

…No man can sufficiently conceive how horrible the idolatry of the Papist is. 

                     – Luther, Martin, Commentary…Galatians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1930), 116.

 

…Where the Holy Ghost dwelleth, he will not suffer a man to be idle.                

                – Luther, Martin, Commentary…Galatians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1930), 133.

 

…This is the proper office of an apostle, to set forth the glory and benefit of Christ                     

                – Luther, Martin, Commentary…Galatians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1930), 255.

 

Martin Luther, on this date (6/13/1525) married a former nun, Katharina von Bora.  Their union was blessed with Hans, Martin, Paul, Magdalena, Elizabeth, and Margaret.

Tradition has it that Katie “proposed” to Martin, reminding him he had encouraged others to marry but had not married himself.  He was 42, she was 26.  They were married twenty-one years before Martin died – she outlived him six years.

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A W Tozer – birth, Apr. 21, 1897

  A religion, even popular Christianity, could enjoy a boom altogether divorced from the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and so leave the church of the next generation worse off…

                – A W Tozer, Keys to the Deeper Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub.,1957), 12.

 …That word perfection never meant a spiritual terminal point nor a state of purity that made watchfulness and prayer unnecessary.  Exactly the opposite was true.

                – A W Tozer, Keys to the Deeper Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub.,1957), 30.

 …We so desperately need leaders with the gift of discernment…we do not have them and are compelled to fall back upon the techniques of the world.

 This frightening hour calls aloud for men with the gift of prophetic insight.  Instead we have men who conduct surveys, polls and panel discussions.

 We need men with the gift of knowledge.  In their place we have men with scholarship – nothing more.   

                – A W Tozer, Keys to the Deeper Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub.,1957), 40.

 …Let us beware of that imitation faith which is no more than a mental assent to truth… True faith invariably brings a witness.

                – A W Tozer, Keys to the Deeper Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub.,1957), 52.

A W (Aiden Wilson) Tozer was born this date (4/21/1897) in (what is now) Newburg, PA.  He was converted after hearing a man preaching on the street in Akron, were Tozer was working in a tire factory. 

 It is said that he never owned a car and seldom made pastoral calls.  He did pray, preach, and publish: “The Pursuit of God”, “The Root of Righteousness” and “God Tells the Man Who Cares.”

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William Law – death, Apr. 9, 1761

We indeed sometimes talk as it a man might be humble in some things and proud in others: humble in his dress but proud of his learning; humble in his person but proud in his views and designs.

 

– William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Grand Rapids: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1971) 21.

 

…The use and manner of clothes is a mark of the state of a man’s mind…

– William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Grand Rapids: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1971) 43.

 

If a man…should voluntarily kill himself by refusing to eat and drink everyone would own that such a one was a rebel against God…

– William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Grand Rapids: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1971) 50.

 

God is to be glorified, holiness is to be practiced, and the spirit of religion is to be the common spirit of every Christian…  

 – William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Grand Rapids: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1971) 54.

 

The soul and body are so united that they have each of them power over one another in their actions.

– William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Grand Rapids: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1971) 91.

 

For as great as the power of the world is, it is all built on a blind obedience and we need only open our eyes to get rid of its power.

– William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Grand Rapids: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1971) 104.

 

Remember that there is but one man in the world with whom you are to have perpetual contention and be always striving to exceed him, and this is yourself.

– William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Grand Rapids: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1971) 114.

 

…Nothing…makes it [the mind] less master of its own actions, or less capable of following reason, than a love of praise and honor.

– William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Grand Rapids: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1971) 115.

 

Instead of the vain, immodest entertainment of Plays and Operas I have taught you to delight in visiting the sick and poor…

– William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Grand Rapids: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1971) 121.

 

Never…allow yourselves to despise those who do not follow your rules of life…

– William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Grand Rapids: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1971) 123.

 

If I hate or despise any one man in the world, I hate something that God cannot hate…

– William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Grand Rapids: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1971) 132.

 

There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as praying for him…

– William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (Grand Rapids: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1971) 137.

 

William Law died this date (4/9/1761) at King’s Cliff, Northamptonshire, England.

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John Knox – birth, Feb. 28, 1513

As for the fear of danger that may come to me let no man be solicitous, for my life is in the custody of Him whose glory I seek, and therefore I cannot so fear their boast or tyranny that I cease from doing my duty, when of His mercy He offereth me the occasion.

                – Wm. Taylor, John Knox, (NY: A C Armstrong & Son, 1885), 124. 

 

I am in the place where I am demanded of my conscience to speak the truth; and therefore the truth I speak; impugn it who so list.

                – Wm. Taylor, John Knox, (NY: A C Armstrong & Son, 1885), 177. 

 

Go tell your master that sentence is pronounced against him; that the Divine vengeance shall never depart from him or from his house, except they repent; but that his name shall remain an execration to posterity, and none proceeding from his loins shall enjoy his kingdom in peace.  

                – Wm. Taylor, John Knox, (NY: A C Armstrong & Son, 1885), 196. 

 

“Without [sc. outside] the preaching place Madam I think few have occasion to be offended at me; but there Madam I am not master of myself but maun [sc. must] obey Him who command me to speak plain and to flatter no flesh upon the face of the earth.” 

                                                            – John Knox (to Mary Queen of Scots)

  – John R W Stott, Between Two Worlds (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publ., 1982), 304.

John Knox was born this date (2/28/1513) in Giffordgate, Scotland.  He was a strong voice for right in his day.

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George Washington Carver – death, Jan. 5, 1943

“May the Lord poor out his choicest blessings upon you and your work.  Yours for Christ, Geo. W. Carver.  (close of a letter written to Booker T. Washington, May 8, 1896)

   -Basil Miller, George Washington Carver, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1943), 56.

 

“You never saw a heavy thinker with his mouth open.  Stop talking so much…”

   -Basil Miller, George Washington Carver, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1943), 124.

 

Ninety-nine per cent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.

   -Basil Miller, George Washington Carver, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1943), 131.

 

Holding up before the audience a dinosaur tooth…he said, “There is no conflict between Genesis and geology or any true science.”

   -Basil Miller, George Washington Carver, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1943), 139.

 

“It is not we little men who do the work but it is our blessed Creator working through us…other people can have this power, if they only believe.  The secret lies” – touching his Bible which was on his desk – “right here, in the promises of God.  They are real, but so few people believe them to be real.”

   -Basil Miller, George Washington Carver, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1943), 161.

 

George Washington Carver died this day (1/5/1943).  He was truly one of America’s greatest scientists.    

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