Conference: God's Providence in the Founding of America

The church our friends the Breagy's planted, Moore Christian Assembly is doing a Conference next weekend. The speaker is Dr. Joe Morecraft, and the topic is the God's Providence in the Founding of America: The American Mind of 1776. We will be attending some of the time.

It is free, and you can read more information about it, and register here.

You can also preorder the CDs here.

Blogging the Reformers: Thomas Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer was born in England in 1489. He attended Jesus College in Cambridge, and later taught there. He assisted King Henry VIII in 1527 to make a theological argument for why he could divorce the queen. In 1532 Henry appointed him Archbishop of Canterbury to assist him in reforming the church. The king was not a Christian, but to increase his own power he broke from the Pope and appointed himself as head of the church. At some points he would lean toward the Reformation, and at others toward the Catholics. During his 22 years as Archbishop, Cranmer worked to advance the Reformation, but he was timid and at times went along with the king against the Reformation. In 1553 he was arrested by the Catholic Queen “Bloody” Mary and was tried for heresy. He was convicted to be burnt, but eventually recanted all Lutheran doctrine and acknowledged the pope as head of the church. Instead of absolving him, Mary commanded him to be burnt anyway. Before his execution, he was given the opportunity to preach. He wrote a sermon in which he again recanted, but instead of giving the sermon he renounced the recantations and said that he would rather be burnt than recant. He was pulled from the pulpit and taken to be burnt. As he was burning, he stuck his right hand into the fire because it was the one which he used to sign the recantation. He died March 21, 1556.

D'Aubigne on Cranmer

“Cranmer moved forward slowly: he modified an evangelical movement by a clerical concession. When he had taken a step forward, he stopped suddenly, and apparently drew back; not from cowardice, but because his extreme prudence so urged him. The boldness of a Farel or a Knox is in our opinion far more noble; and yet this extreme moderation saved Cranmer and protestantism with him. ... God gives to every people and to every epoch the man necessary to it. Cranmer was this man for England, at the time of her separation from the papacy.” 1

Cranmer's Last Sermon

“And now forasmuch as I am come to the last end of my life, whereupon hangeth all my life past, and all my life to come, either to live with my master Christ for ever in joy, or else to be in pain for ever with the wicked in hell, and I see before mine eyes presently, either heaven ready to receive me, or else hell ready to swallow me up; I shall therefore declare unto you my very faith how I believe, without any color of dissimulation: for now is no time to dissemble, whatsoever I have said or written in times past.

First, I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, etc. And I believe every article of the Catholic faith, every word and sentence taught by our Savior Jesus Christ, His apostles and prophets, in the New and Old Testament.
And now I come to the great thing which so much troubleth my conscience, more than any thing that ever I did or said in my whole life, and that is the setting abroad of a writing contrary to the truth, which now here I renounce and refuse, as things written with my hand contrary to the truth which I thought in my heart, and written for fear of death, and to save my life, if it might be; and that is, all such bills or papers which I have written or signed with my hand since my degradation, wherein I have written many things untrue. And forasmuch as my hand hath offended, writing contrary to my heart, therefore my hand shall first be punished; for when I come to the fire it shall first be burned.

And as for the pope, I refuse him as Christ's enemy, and Antichrist, with all his false doctrine."2

1 J. H. Merle D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 2000) volume 5, book viii, p. 54

2 Foxe, John Foxe's Book of Martyrs (New York: Eaton and Mains, 1911) Google Books. p. 384-385

Blogging the Reformers: Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon, England on April 25, 1599. His family was in the lower class of gentry, and he remained fairly obscure for the first part of his life. He married Elizabeth Bourchier on August 22, 1620 at 21 years of age. They had nine children. He was saved sometime later, and became a zealous Puritan. One biographer said, “He was henceforth a Christian man, not on Sundays only, but on all days, in all places, and in all cases.” Another said, “Oliver Cromwell was now a real Christian: he remained one until his last breath; and, if we except a few moments of trouble, to which the most godly men are subject, he persevered in faith and confidence till his course of mortality was completed.”

Read more here.

More Snow Pictures

Blogging the Reformers: John Alasco

John Alasco was born into one of the most influential families of Poland in 1499. At the age of 25 he was a Roman Catholic, but had heard of the Reformation and wished to examine it more fully. Therefore he traveled to Europe, and arrived in Zurich in 1525 to see Zwingli. He said to him, “Apply yourself, to the study of the sacred writings.”1 He later went to see Erasumus, and stayed in his house while he was there. Erasmus also gave him the advice to study the scriptures. Alasco therefore learned Hebrew and Greek and studied the scriptures. But when the king of Poland heard that he was with Erasmus, he ordered him to return to Poland and associate with nobility, since he was the heir to the throne. While in Poland, he was convinced to sign a document saying that he was a Catholic, but later he became a clear Protestant. He lost the kingdom and left Poland for the sake of Christianity. D'Aubigne said, “Alsco does not stand in the first rank of the men of the Reformation. But in one respect he surpassed them all ... He knew better than any one what it was to sacrifice for Jesus Christ the world...”2 He left Poland, and ministered in Friesland, the Netherlands, England and other places. He died on January 8th, 1560.

1 J. H. Merle D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 2000) volume 7, book xiii, p. 435

2 Ibid, p. 451

The Three Most Influential Changes in the British Navy From AD. 660-1815

by Stephen Horn
based on The Safeguard of the Sea and The Command of the Ocean by N.A.M. Rodgers

The seas were an influential part of the British Nation. They were used for raids and invasions by other nations, and since Britain is an island its ships were an important part of its defense system. Some of the important changes that were made to ships during AD 660-1815 were the removal of infantry from the ships, the addition of cannon, and the additions in sails and masts. All of these changed the ships and their warfare. Around 660, the ship was the Viking ship, with one mast, and oars for when there was no wind. The main way the ships fought was with the soldiers on board. Around 1815, the ships were mainly men o’ war, with three masts and many sails. The main weapon on these was their cannon, men only boarding a small minority of the time.

Read More

Snow in North Carolina

On Friday and Saturday it snowed 6 inches here! Here are some pictures:

Stephen shoveling snow

More pictures are here.

If you have not seen it yet, you can see the video we put up before of us sledding here.

New Hampshire Conference: Day 2-3

Sorry that we have not completed this post. The next day we had breakfast, and Daddy did Living the Gospel in which he said that you should live the gospel out in your life when you share it with others. Then he did Defending the Gospel. His main point was that every false argument has to contradict itself at some point. Then we had lunch and there were a few hours of free time. Daddy was preparing his next talk, and we talked to people and played broom ball on a frozen pond. Daddy's last message was Sharing the Gospel and he talked about telling people the gospel. Then after dinner we left, and Daddy, Stephen and I went to the pastor's house to spend the night, while the rest of our team went to another elder's house. The next morning we went to church, and ate lunch at one of the elder's house, then left for home. We arrived at home very early the next morning.

Blogging the Reformers: Peter Viret

Peter Viret was born in Orbe, Switzerland in 1511. At twelve years of age he went to the University of Paris to study as a Catholic. There he met William Farel, who he would later work with in Geneva. When he returned to Orbe, the city was in conflict between Roman Catholicism and the Gospel. There he was saved and preached the gospel. In 1534 he went to Geneva, and was one of the leaders of the Reformation there along with William Farel, Antonio Froment and John Calvin. He suffered persecution there from the Catholics. At one point he was badly wounded during a riot by the Catholics, and then became very ill after they convinced a woman to poison his soup. He recovered after almost dieing, but felt the effects of the poison his entire life. He became the pastor of Lausanne in 1541, and continued there for 22 years. At different times he was also a pastor at Berne, Geneva, Orbe, and other towns. One man said, “He handled the Scripture well, and he was gifted with eloquence which charmed the people.”1 He died in Switzerland in 1571.

1 J. H. Merle D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 2000) volume 7, book xi, p. 12