Isle of Man Romances
The Isle of Man Romance series consists of "sweet" romance novels set in the beautiful Isle of Man. The novels feature re-occurring characters and might be best read in order, but each one is a complete story on its own.
Katie's life changes dramatically only a few months before her planned wedding. With the wedding cancelled, an unexpected opportunity to do some research on the picturesque Isle of Man seems the perfect escape. She can get away from all the sympathetic looks and gossipy remarks and focus on her career while nursing her broken heart.
Finlo Quayle is the gorgeous owner of the island's only charter airline. William Corlett is the intelligent and sexy man who runs the Institute that is funding Katie's research. Katie finds herself being fought over by two very different men, both of whom attract her in very different ways.
Now the only thing Katie is sure of is she isn't going to let a ghost make any decisions about her love life for her.
Carly thinks her life is just about perfect. She recently bought an adorable little house in her hometown in Pennsylvania. She has a job she loves, teaching first grade at the same elementary school she once attended. And she has the same boyfriend that she fell in love with in that very school, when they were both in third grade. He'll get around to proposing one day, she's just sure of it. Carly doesn't want to change anything in her life.
Doncan thinks his life is just about perfect. He's followed in his father's and his grandfather's footsteps and is an advocate (lawyer) on the Isle of Man dealing mostly with estates and trusts. This earns him a generous income that allows him to drive a luxury car and live in a fabulous penthouse apartment. He's never short of female company and he doesn't want to change anything in his life.
When Carly's grandmother inherits a cottage on the Isle of Man, Carly makes the journey to the Island to settle the estate. Doncan wants the paperwork signed and the cottage safely sold to his cousin who is ready to tear it down and build luxury apartments in its place. Carly falls in love with the old cottage and the beautiful Island, while Doncan tries hard to keep her happy so she will sign on the dotted line. Suddenly both of their lives are changing in ways neither of them ever imagined.
Lisa and Darcy have been best friends since primary school, when they agreed that school was boring and boys were gross. Twenty-odd years later, Darcy has definitely moved on. She's now a gorgeous redhead with a figure that stops traffic and a taste for men who won't commit. Lisa's happily single and focused on her job in IT, which she loves.
When Darcy finally meets a nice guy who doesn't have commitment issues, Lisa's thrilled. Mark Blake works for Manx National Heritage and not only is he very nice, but also smart and attractive, with dark hair and stunning blue eyes.
With a friend's wedding fast approaching, Darcy is determined to find Lisa the perfect man, or at least a decent date for the wedding. As Lisa endures a series of miserable blind dates, she gets a new assignment at work. She's to install a new computer system for Manx National Heritage, working closely with their special projects director, Mark.
Lisa finds that she enjoys Mark's company and they work well together. As they make their way around the island, visiting heritage sites and getting to know each other, she's horrified to find herself falling for her best friend's boyfriend. She and Darcy have never fought over a man before, and she would never do anything to mess up their friendship. Besides, what man would look twice at her, when he's already involved with the stunningly beautiful Darcy?
More blind dates, more heritage sites and one interfering ghost turn Lisa's life upside down. Can she find her happily ever after and keep her best friend in the process?
Darcy Robinson couldn't be happier that her best friend, Lisa, has found the man of her dreams. Now it's time for Darcy to make some big changes of her own. Quitting her job was easy, but finding a new one proves a little bit more difficult.
Gorgeous, sexy and super wealthy Alastair Breckenridge seems more like the perfect boyfriend, not the perfect boss. But Darcy is determined to keep her personal life and her new career separate. If only she could persuade Alastair to believe her as she begins working on making "Manx Christmas World" an event to remember.
Alastair is the least of her problems, though, once she meets Kerron Kewley, the handsome and muscular farmer who owns the land where the event is scheduled to be held. He doesn't want anything to do with "Manx Christmas World" and he's determined to make Darcy either relocate the event or cancel it altogether.
Can Darcy succeed at her new job and make "Manx Christmas World" a success?
Can she resist Alastair's charms, at least until after opening day?
Can she ignore the unmistakable chemistry between herself and Kerron Kewley, even as they argue their way towards the biggest Christmas extravaganza the island has ever seen?


How to Cope with a Sensitivity to Criticism
Finding the Right Partner: Factors of a Successful Relationship
How to Know if You are an Empath
Guilt and the Importance of Coping With It
Resilience: What is it and How Do You Build It?
Disparaging Humor: What is it and How Do You Overcome It?
Mother-Daughter Relationships: What a Strained Relationship Looks Like and How You Can Improve It
What is Gratitude, and How do you Cultivate it?
How to Cope with Empty Nest Syndrome
Understanding Trauma and PTSD: The Benefits of Psychotherapy for Trauma
What is Grief and How Can You Support Someone Grieving?
Embarrassment: What is It and What Causes it to Happen?
Copyright © 2010


The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT), in partnership with the Vermont Department of Libraries and the Vermont Agency of Food and Markets, announces the 10th annual Agricultural Literacy Week, November 18 - 24, 2019. The events of this week-long celebration occur across the state to inform and educate people about the economic and cultural importance of farms in Vermont communities.
For this year’s Agricultural Literacy Week, NOFA-VT is proud to present “Celebrating Our Culinary Traditions.” The theme focuses on the seasonal delight brought to the table by our local field. Three main events at libraries around the state will feature Vermont cookbook authors and offer a taste of prepared foods made from local, seasonal ingredients.
The opening event will be held at the Vermont State Library, located at 60 Washington Street in Barre, on Tuesday, November 19th from 5:00-7:00pm. Free Parking is available on both sides of Washington Street and Route 302. Students from Barre Town Elementary School will prepare a Vermont sampler with help from cookbook author Katie Webster. In Katie’s words, she is a “healthy pragmatic locavore omnivore culi-nerd”. She is author of “Maple” and curator of the “Healthy Seasonal Recipes” blog.
Join us at one of these events!
Libraries and community centers will be joining in the celebration by hosting their own event: Simple Suppers, a format to develop community meals, guest farmer talks, and more are a great way to celebrate the harvest of Vermont.
“The magic of Agricultural Literacy Week is that it engenders new connections in the community and inspires exploration of ideas beyond traditional library programming. It’s also super fun!” - Joy Worland, Librarian (Agricultural Literacy event host)
Funding support for Agricultural Literacy Week is provided by The Forrest C. & Frances H. Lattner Foundation and the Johnson Family Foundation Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation.


“Don’t ever call me mad, Mycroft. I’m not mad, I’m just…well, differently moralled, that’s all.”
- Acheron Hades
I received a copy of Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair as a gift two Christmases ago, and now have finally gotten around to reading it. The first entry of Fforde’s Thursday Next novels introduces us to an alternate version of England in 1983 where things like time travel and genetically engineered dodos are relatively commonplace, and where English literature is taken seriously enough for an entire criminal racket of manuscript thievery and forgings to spring up. Our protagonist, Thursday Next, is a SpecOps agent belonging to a division investigating literary crimes. The theft of Martin Chuzzlewitt‘s autograph copy quickly sends her in pursuit of her arch nemesis and ex professor, Acheron Hades.
The Eyre Affair attempts to be two different things at once; it wants to be both an absurdist comedy and a slightly tongue-in-cheek crime thriller. These two goals do not completely mesh. For the first half of the book I was finding its world to be too random for me to feel invested in the plot and for goodness’ sake these characters have names like Victor Analogy and Jack Schitt.
That said, things fared better in the second half, mainly because the characters had been developed enough to feel like more than a cutesy joke, but also because once the titular Jane Eyre factors into the plot, the story becomes this delightfully weird meta-fanfiction.
Its fair to say that enjoyment of this book is directly proportional to one’s own degree of English lit geekdom.
Since this is not only the first in a series, but also Fforde’s first novel altogether, it may be that my problems here become smoothed over in future entries. Anyway, I enjoyed it enough to perhaps pick up the next one at some point.


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Mackin Educational Resources
Mackin provides a thorough range of services to meet all of your library, classroom, and media center needs.
For more than 30 years, Mackin Educational Resources has provided library and classroom materials for grades PK-12. Working with over 18,000 publishers and a database of more than 2.5 million printed titles and more than 350,000 digital titles, Mackin supplies print books, eBooks, online educational databases, audiobooks, video resources and more, along with digital content management and custom collection analysis services.
A true partner in education, Mackin’s continued success and unblemished reputation is known by thousands of teachers, administrators, and librarians across the country and throughout the world.
Address: 3505 County Road 42 West
Zip Code: 555306
Hours of Operation: 7:30 am - 5:00 pm Central Time
Email Address: firstname.lastname@example.org


Conditions of submission
Rules for participation
All current HKBU students, either UGC-funded or self-funded, are eligible to participate. There will be two categories, undergraduate and postgraduate:
- The undergraduate category is open to all students enrolled in HKBU undergraduate programmes.
- The postgraduate category is open to all students enrolled in HKBU taught and research postgraduate programmes.
The author should submit an original story/poem in English. The maximum length is 7,500 characters (including spaces). Students must use ONE of the titles/story prompts provided.
Authors shall submit their work using a Short Édition account that they will need to create. The author should clearly indicate how they would like to be credited on their work. This name will appear next to the title of their story.
Rights, Guarantees, and Responsibilities
Guarantees and responsibilities
The author declares that they are the sole author of any text they submit, and that this same text is an original creation. The author declares that they control the copyright of the submitted text, meaning that they have never transferred these rights to a third person/entity.
Copying and distribution
The author grants a non-exclusive right to the project organizer to reproduce, correct and publish their stories via Short Édition dispensers owned by Hong Kong Baptist University.
The copyright of the work shall remain with the author. The author agrees and acknowledges that in this specific case, publication and distribution of their work shall not result in the payment of royalties from neither Short Édition nor Hong Kong Baptist University.
Selection and publication
The coordinators of the Hong Kong Baptist University project have sole discretion in selecting works for distribution via Short Édition dispensers owned by Hong Kong Baptist University. They may also reject or remove works from the dispenser without giving any prior notice or justification to the author. The author can also ask for their work to be removed by notifying the project coordinators in writing.
If you have any questions please contact us!


Version 0.91 was released on June 24th, 2010.
Download the new version form download section of this website.
For examples and function reference see the Wiki.
The Artificial Scanning-Charged-Particle-Microscope Image Generator (ARTIMAGEN) is a library that can generate artificial images of various samples, including gold-on-carbon resolution sample, or some semiconductor structures. ARTIMAGEN was originally developed for scanning electron microscopy (SEM), but now it is applicable in helium-ion microscopy as well. Numerous effects that appear in real instruments are simulated (noise, drift-distortion, edge-effect, etc.), which enables assessment of imaging, metrology or other techniques that work with micrographs. Unlike the real images, the artificial images exhibit defined types and amounts of these effects, which is their key advantage.
The Artificial Image Generator has been developed by Petr Cizmar at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. The first version of the generator was written in C to evaluate the ISO-candidate image-sharpness-calculation techniques. Later, the Artificial Image Generator became needed for other applications as well and support for new kinds of samples was added. In order to make the generator more flexible, it was rewritten to C++. The users now may take advantage of the modular object structure of the program.
At this time, also programs written in C or other languages may be linked with the library, which is enabled by the C wrapper. The basic usage of the library is quite easy (see the Howto).
As an example of the ARTIMAGEN library usage, the gAIG program was written, which is a GUI front end to the library (demonstrating just the basic usage). It can be obtained from the download section. The program is multi-platform, it can be compiled for Windows32, Linux (32-bit and 64-bit versions), MacOSX, and others (untested).
The scientific background of this
software is described in the
 P. Cizmar, A. E. Vladar, B. Ming, and M. T. Postek.
Simulated SEM Images for Resolution Measurement.
SCANNING, 30(5):381391, Sep-Oct 2008.
 P. Cizmar, A. E. Vladar, and M. T. Postek.
Optimization of Accurate SEM Imaging by Use of Artificial Images
Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7378 737815-1, May 2009
This program uses the standard GNU Autotools toolkit, the installation procedure is standard:
./configure make && make installIn order to compile libartimagen as a shared library, use "./configure --enable-shared" instead of "./configure". However, it is not recommended, since shared libraries must be compiled as the Position Independent Code, which is in case of this library (with use of the gcc-4.3.3 compiler) producing significantly less optimized code


A Timeless, Beautiful Allegory of the Biblical Love Story of Ruth and Boaz.
The Great Rebellion of 1857 was a remarkably bloody business. At a time when Britain’s imperial influence in India was sparking brutal clashes on both sides, no one could have expected Rena, an Indian woman, to marry a British officer—nor do they understand her decision to follow her mother-in-law to England after her husband’s tragic death.
Once the two widows are in Abbotsville, the stern yet compassionate Lord Barric attempts to help them despite his better judgment. Soon he is torn between the demands of reputation and his increasing desire to capture Rena’s heart for his own.
*Shipping cost is driven by weight and address, and allows you to ship multiple titles for about the same cost as one book.
Publisher: Shiloh Run Press
Publish Date: April 2019
Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pound
Page Count: 320
Christian Fiction/ Historical Romance


The Old Testament, which contains the writings of Moses, the rulers of Israel, and the prophets, was completed around 450 years before Jesus was born. In its pages, there are over 300 prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, covering His ministry and such details as the place of His birth.
For example, the prophet Micah prophesied, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." (Micah 5:2). The story of Jesus' birth recorded in the New Testament reveals that Jesus was born in Bethlehem after Mary and Joseph had to travel to the place of Joseph's birth for the Roman census. (Matthew 2:1-6).
In another example, Zechariah the prophet foretold that the Messiah would come into Jerusalem, bringing salvation, riding upon a donkey (Zechariah 9:9). In Matthew's book in the New Testament, we find the story of Jesus entering into Jerusalem, riding upon a donkey, as the people waved palm branches and shouted praises unto Him. (Matthew 21:1-11).
Jesus is found in many of the "types" or symbolism of the rituals and events of the Old Testament: A perfect Lamb, without blemish, was sacrificed for the sins of the people upon an altar; A Rock was smitten in the wilderness from which water poured out; A serpent was lifted upon a pole to which the people looked to by faith for healing. "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent on a pole in the wilderness," Jesus states, "so must the Son of Man be lifted up" which referred His crucifixion.
More than 300 prophecies, such as these examples, were fulfilled by Jesus Christ through His life, ministry, death and resurrection. No ordinary man could have fulfilled all of these prophecies.


SPECIAL GENIUS TEST PRICE! A WHOLE BUNCH OF MONEY OFF!
Paul Schreber is a man who wants to go home – but can’t. He is a man crippled by an illness he doesn’t understand – and sometimes doesn’t even know he has. He's no condition to face the worst - but the worst keeps on happening to him. His family is disintegrating, past traumas are coming back to haunt him - and so are those troubling, seemingly laid-to-rest fears of persecution...
Paul Schreber is paranoid - and they really are out to get him.
Playthings, Alex Pheby's astonishing second novel, delves deep into a disturbed mind - and in doing so, also unearths the roots of the great ills in the twentieth century, the psychological structure of fascism, the cancer of anti-Semitism, and the abuse of institutional power.
Based on the true story of a man who became a case study for Freud and a foundation stone in the psychological make-up of the twentieth century, Playthings is an intense and poetic exploration about what it means to be human. It will shake you to the bone.
"If Playthings is a neuronovel then it's arguably the best neuronovel ever written, particularly in its depiction of memory and the instability of personality. But it transcends any such category and is simply a superb novel tout court, Kafkaesque in its nightmarish fluency and a powerful exposition of Kant's celebrated view that 'the madman is a waking dreamer.'" --Literary Review
"Throughout this compelling novel the space between reader and Schreber becomes a sombre reminder of how alone we all are." --The Guardian
"Playthings gets into the head, with tender attentiveness, of a man having a psychotic breakdown and takes up the story where the Schreber left off." --The Lancet
"An incredible work of fiction, all the more fascinating for being based on an actual case. The writing is taut, intense, the everyday world a phantom which Schreber tries so desperately to attain. His disturbance of mind is not so much explained as experienced. This story is powerful and moving; I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the humanity behind mental illness." --Never Imitate
"Writing of the highest order." --Neil Griffiths
"Creating something out of this nothing is not an easy task but with this most unusual novel, the author has succeeded in doing just that." --Irish Times
*I'm afraid we can't extend the free P&P to addresses outside the UK. But don't let that stop you! Go ahead and buy it - and we'll drop you an email to arrange the extra postage cost. Or email us first. Up to you!


Full-text of older CIPD publications
The full-text of all the CIPD's research publications and surveys from 1999 onwards is available to our members from our HR and L&D database.
This page gives you tips for finding our older reports and links you to the HR and L&D database where you can search for them and view the full-text.
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Probable dates for creation of Narmer Palette. c. BCE - c. BCE. Reign of Menes, a.k.a. Narmer, first king who is thought to have unified Upper and. BCE. Reign of Menes, a.k.a. Narmer, first king who is thought to have unified Upper and Lower Egypt. Reign of King Merenre Nemtyensaf I in Egypt. BCE . Rule of Pharaoh Amasis of Egypt, who built a shrine to Ammon at Siwa. Narmer was an Egyptian Pharaoh who ruled in the 31st century BC. The famous Narmer Palette, discovered in in Hierakonpolis, shows Narmer displaying the insignia of both Upper and Lower Egypt, giving rise to the theory that he unified the two kingdoms. Traditionally, Menes is.
Narmer was an ancient Egyptian king of the Early Dynastic Period. He probably was the .. Narmer's tomb is located next to the tombs of Ka, who likely ruled Upper Egypt Chronology, I. Egypt to the end of the Twentieth Dynasty", in Edwards, I.E.S.; Gadd, C.J., The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume I, Part I, Cambridge. Ancient Egypt: Early Dynastic Period - Narmer. Petrie suggested that she was a Lower Egyptian (northern) princess who he married to consolidate his rule but. Interesting facts about the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Narmer, ideal for kids, History: He ruled as the king of Egypt during the period in ancient Egyptian history.
Nov 11, Very little is known about the king we call Horus Narmer. interpreted that Narmer was the first king to have ruled over he whole of Egypt. Jun 4, Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love. Build your family tree Narmer was an Egyptian Pharaoh who ruled in the 32nd century BC . Thought to be the Narmer, Pharaoh of Egypt's Timeline. Jan 8, Narmer was an ancient Egyptian ruler known to be the last king of the The other popular view is that he ruled sometime between 3, and. Menes was said to have ruled for 62 years and died after being defeated when he fought against a hippopotamus, the Egyptian symbol for an invader from a. He was married to Neithhotep., they gave birth to 1 child. He died Narmer was an Egyptian Pharaoh who ruled in the 32nd century BC. . Timeline Narmer.
Menes: Menes, legendary first king of unified Egypt, who, according to Quick Facts According to Manetho, Menes reigned for 62 years and was killed by a. Narmer (Ancient Egyptian - "Striker") was an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled in the 32nd century BC. Thought to be the successor to the pre-dynastic Serket, he is. Menes sent an army down the Nile and defeated the king of Lower Egypt in battle . During kingdoms it was not uncommon for one family to rule for many years. According to Manethonian tradition, the victorious king Menes ruled years . no Horus falcon, the facts both point at the fact that she was indeed a woman.
The dynastic Egypt chronology that we use to name and classify the A procession of the early dynastic Pharaoh Narmer is illustrated on this facsimile of the. They ruled both upper and lower Egypt and were both the political and religious leader. Historians divide up the timeline of Ancient Egyptian history by the dynasties The first Pharaoh was a king named Menes who united both upper and. The first true pharaoh of Egypt was Narmer (sometimes called Menes), who died he was believed to be united with the sun and then a new Horus ruled on. Feb 4, Timeline Noah to Christ – A Long Sojourn and a Revised Egyptian Chronology They made a list of pharaohs and how long they reigned and.


We’ve been reviewing workforce and career focused educational resources and tools for the AMRoC website, and recently took a look at Skills Commons , a free and open online library of learning and program support materials for job-driven workforce development, created by the US Department of Labor and drawing from the Open Educational Resources (OER) Commons. That of course, led us down the rabbit hole of exploring OER Commons. We’ve come up for air and are happy to highly recommend this great resource, which has applications far beyond workforce education.
The site speaks well for itself. Supported in part by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME) created OER Commons as part of the Foundation’s global OER initiative.
“The worldwide OER movement is rooted in the human right to access high-quality education. This shift in educational practice is not just about cost savings and easy access to openly licensed content; it’s about participation and co-creation. Open Educational Resources (OER) offer opportunities for systemic change in teaching and learning content through engaging educators in new participatory processes and effective technologies for engaging with learning.”
All you need to do to use the site is register, a quick and efficient process that immediately make the whole suite of OER resource and tools readily available.
Here’s the basics:
- Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that can be freely used and reused at no cost, without the need to seek permission.
- There are over 50,000 Open Educational Resources on the site, which is continuously growing
- Usage rights vary somewhat, ranging from the ability to download a resource and share it with colleagues and students, to also having the ability to edit or adapt content in some and then reshare the new version.
- Full university courses
- Interactive mini-lessons and simulations
- Adaptations of existing open work
- Open Textbooks
- K-12 Lesson Plans, worksheets, and activities
Subject areas are many and varied:
- Applied Science
- Arts and Humanities
- Business and Communication
- Career and Technical Education
- English Language Arts
- Life Science
- Physical Science
- Social Science
You can browse by subject or Curated Commons Collections .Click on your choice, and a whole other array of options becomes available. You can select by reviews or other qualities. Some lessons are text based, and others are video, like this one.
Others are open textbooks. Using Open Educational Resources puts the onus on the user, of course, to determine if selected content is optimum for needs, with quality content and reliable, expected outcomes – an evaluation aided by the user scoring system and plenty of feedback opportunities. But hopefully educators are always evaluating teaching resources, free or cost based, with an eye to quality and accuracy. In our experience, a measure of sturdy common sense in evaluating training and educational materials goes a long way, wherever the materials are sourced. That caveat aside, we find OER Commons a terrific and well developed resource, if only for the menu of options available across all fields of use.
Among the tools available at OER is Open Author a publishing tool that helps educators build Open Educational Resources, lesson plans, and courses on your own or collaboratively with others, and then share them back to OER and with other educators and learners. The Resource Builder platform, for developing Open Author materials, is especially attractive, designed to make it easy to combine text, images, video and audio files and more, and to save them as openly licensed educational resources, which can then be printed or downloaded, with all related content. Users can create K-12 lessons or higher education modules, as needed.
A recent post at the TCEA TechNotes blog – OER Implementation in Six Steps – provides a good entry level primer for educators whose school districts are implementing the use of Open Educational Resources district-wide. Adapted from an OER Planning Framework developed by Achieve.org , the article distills the process of using and adapting OER materials to some essential basics to understand vision, goals and measures of success.
“OER is more than just a way to reduce the cost of your instructional materials,” writes TCEA blogger, Jennifer Bergland . “The process of creating them has proven to be an excellent professional development experience for the teachers involved. The creation or modification of OER also enables you to design your instructional materials to meet the educational needs and struggles of your particular students.”
You can simply jump in and start exploring and utilizing OER Commons resources to your heart and mind’s delight, or you can take a more studied approach to implementation, depending on needs, interests or institutional requirements. Additional resources for using and understanding OER Commons and similar resources:
- Open Educational Resources Foundation
- Ontario College Libraries’ OER Toolkit
- TopHat OER textbooks
- Getting Started Using Open Educational Resources (OERs)
- Foundation for OER Strategy Development
- Open Textbook Library
- Center for Open Education
We’ve added OER Commons to our Resources page.


On May 17th, Brian Lies, children’s author and illustrator, will be here at I-LES speaking to students about being an author and an illustrator of children’s books. A lot of the books he has written and illustrated are fiction stories that have bats as the main characters. After vacation, students will start to become familiar with some of his books.
This week you will find an order form for his books attached to the newsletter.
Even though he will not be here until later on in May, we have to pre-order his books. Please fill out the attached order form and send it back to school by May 1st. On the back of the order form, you can read a little information about each book. Some books are offered in paperback (PB) and some are hard covered (HC) books. I will pre-order the books and Brian will autograph them for students. There will be extra books on hand for purchase at the last minute on a first come, first serve basis.
We are looking forward to Brian’s visit. This special event is sponsored by our wonderful PTO and a special thank you goes out to them for funding this. Feel free to check out Brian’s website at www.brianlies.com.


Drusilla Eugenie Halderman is the name Charles Halderman wrote in his Bible to record my mother’s birth in Bisbee, Arizona, on July 13, 1920, as though she were the eighth child born to him and his wife, Minnie. In fact, Drusilla’s mother was Emma Halderman, Minnie and Charles’ daughter. Emma was nineteen years old and unmarried. Minnie and Charles moved from Bisbee with their family following Drusilla’s birth. Little is known of their decision to relocate, the facts having gone to the graves of the keepers.
Settling in Tulare, California, the Haldermans opened a new chapter in the family narrative, a curious mixture of fiction and non-fiction, managed by Minnie. Life before California was little, if ever, discussed. Drusilla grew up with the understanding that Minnie was her mother and Emma, her sister. Minnie’s fiction left Emma, a beautiful young flapper, free to entertain the attentions of the young men who pursued her.
Charles “operated a dairy in… [Tulare] for seven years,” stated an obituary published in The Fresno Daily Morning Republican on October 21, 1930. According to the obituary, Charles died at age 56 while “visiting a brother in Arizona.”
Emma married Albert Irwin on January 2, 1926. Sometime in 1936, Emma told Drusilla the truth of their relationship and of their (Albert’s and Emma’s) plan to adopt her. The decision to adopt Drusilla required Minnie’s and Charles’ consent for which Emma asked in letters to each of her parents in August 1936. Minnie gave her consent in a letter from Greenville, California, dated August 7, 1936. Charles consented, but his letter, dated August 10, 1936 and postmarked Courtland, Arizona, calls into question the validity of his 1930 obituary.
With her parents’ consents, Emma engaged M. C. Kerr, an attorney in Quincy, California, to proceed with the adoption. A letter dated September 10, 1936, from Kerr to Emma, enclosed a copy of the petition for adoption along with copies of the relinquishments for Minnie’s and Charles’ signatures. Kerr’s letter requested a payment of $10.00 to cover the petition filing fee and other “necessary cash fees.” In the depths of the Great Depression, $10.00 may as well have been $10,000. The adoption was never finalized.
“Their intention is as good as fact for me,” my mother said.
A fiction invented to shield an unwed daughter with a child as well as one’s family from social stigma and embarrassment may be justifiable, potential emotional and psychological damage to the child notwithstanding. The pressure of the social mores of the time may have compelled Minnie to publish a false obituary to veil her separation from Charles thereby ensuring her respectability as a “widow.”
“’That crazy old lady!’ That’s how Albert described Minnie,” Mom said. “And, he’d usually add, ‘She couldn’t tell the truth if she had to.’”


Tips for Writing an Abstract
An abstract is a brief, powerful statement that details a larger piece of work. The components of an abstract vary depending on the course or discipline. For instance, a social science abstract may enclose the purpose, scope, contents, and work results. For humanities, the abstract may house the thesis, check on background, and the conclusion. It is itself an original document and does not contain excerpts from the passage.
Reasons for writing an abstract
The two key reasons for writing an abstract are indexing and selection. The abstract is a bridge for readers with longer work to help them decide if they should or not read the document. Several databases present online utilize abstract to assist in enormous indexing work. The abstract should, therefore, contain phrases and keywords that give room for fast and easy searching.
When do people jot abstracts?
- When jotting a proposal for a book
- When submitting passages and articles to online journals
- When writing a Ph.D. dissertation or a thesis for Master’s
- When writing a conference paper proposal
The author of the work writes the abstract, but you can outsource an external writer to draft your abstract. In a job that involves multiple authors, the first writer is the one who jots the abstract.
Abstracts come in two types, informative and descriptive. Both have different purposes and aims, which also trickles down to the difference in styles and components.
This abstract illuminate the type of data retrieved from the work. It does not make any judgments whatsoever about the job, and it also does not give conclusions or results of the research work. It houses the keywords present in the text and may or may not include the research’s methods, scope, and purpose. The descriptive abstracts detail the work getting abstracted. They are usually short and spans about 100 words.
Many abstracts are usually informative. A great informative abstract substitutes the work itself. That means that the writer jots and elongates the significant arguments, vital results, and the paper’s evidence. The informative abstract entails the abstract descriptive information, which is the scope, purpose, methods, products, conclusions of the study, and the author’s recommendation.
How to write an abstract
the abstract’s format will entirely depend on the text getting abstracted. A scientific research paper’s abstract will house elements that lack in an article of literature, and the reverse is the same. All abstracts have some things in common like:
- Writing reason: what is the vitality of research? Why would someone have an interest in your work?
- Problem: what issue is the work trying to solve? What is the project’s scope? What are the main arguments of the paper?
- Methodology: a scientific project’s abstract may have approaches or models utilized in the overall study, and others may go ahead and describe the evidence used in the study.
- Results: On the same note, an abstract of a science project may house specific data that details the study results.
- Implications: what are some of the changes that should get made from the results of the project’s findings? How does the work contribute to the knowledge on the topic?
All the abstracts include the following
- Citation of the source of information
- The critical information comes first
- The same style and type of language used in the original
- Phrases and keywords that focus on the work
- Powerful, concise, and precise language
Abstracts may house the following elements
- The thesis of the project that gets covered in the first line or sentence. The first sentence is usually the introductory statement of the project
- The same structure of the original work in chronological orders
- Information of background that puts the work in the broader literature body.


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This ToolKit and Teaching Manual have been designed and are intended for use by Social Facilitators and Master Trainers of SEED-SCALE to promote and support holistic and sustainable approaches by social entrepreneurs and development workers. The content and modules of this training toolkit are presented in the following manner:
- Each module contains a specific set of Teaching Objectives, which reflect the core concepts and/or practical approaches that are necessary for understanding the proposed learning content within each module.
- Each module begins with a brief discussion of the underlying social theories upon which the module’s content is premised. These discussions of social theory provide supporting evidence from the social and natural sciences about explanations of “Why” that are commonly associated with the applications of “How” to practice SEED-SCALE.
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Chaplains' Corps Chronicles September 2017
Chaplains’ Corps Chronicles
Sons of Confederate Veterans
Anno Domini 2017
Issue No. 141
“That in all things Christ might have the preeminence.”
"I think it worth a lifetime of hardship to prepare, under God, one of our dear defenders thus to die." Chaplain J. Wm. Jones
Chaplain-in-Chief Ray Parker
2961 Gaffney Avenue SE
Palm Bay, Florida 32909
Editor: Past Chaplain-in-Chief H. Rondel Rumburg
PO Box 472
Spout Spring, Virginia 24593
Assistant Editor: Past Chaplain-in-Chief Mark Evans
20 Sharon Drive,
Greenville, SC 29607
“That the Southern people literally were put to the torture is vaguely understood, but even historians have shrunk from the unhappy task of showing us the torture chambers.” Claude G. Bowers
“Reconstruction was … an artificial fog, behind which the ‘master minds” staged a revolution that changed America from a democracy to a plutocracy of ever-growing magnitude.” Rep. B. Carroll Reece (R-TN) 1960
“That the Southern people literally were put to the torture is vaguely understood, but even historians have shrunk from the unhappy task of showing us the torture chambers.” Claude G. Bowers
“Reconstruction was … an artificial fog, behind which the ‘master minds” staged a revolution that changed America from a democracy to a plutocracy of ever-growing magnitude.” Rep. B. Carroll Reece (R-TN) 1960
Quote from a Confederate Chaplain
“The Confederates have no reason to retract the views they held, nor any cause to be ashamed of the men who led them; nor of the fight they made against overwhelming numbers and resources. And, after considering fairly the character of the Confederate soldiery for general intelligence, decided morality, patriotic spirit, true courage and magnanimous soul, it may be finally and permanently recorded of them, as it is similarly written of their fallen Confederacy:
No armies ever rose so fair,
None fell so pure of crime.”
Chaplain J. Wm. Jones
Fellow Compatriots in the Chaplains’ Corps and Friends of the Cause:
I greet you in the wonderful name of Christ our Lord. We trust you will show your appreciation for this publication by introducing it to others. Please pray that we would glorify God, honor His inspired Word and faithfully remember the fallen.
Sowing the Wind—Reaping the Whirlwind
God has certainly given warnings about the wages of sin. He has said that those who hate Him love death (Prov. 8:36). Paul reminded, “He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption” (Gal. 6:8). “They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind” (Hosea 8:7). Sowing to the wind reaps irresistible destruction. The fruit of their sowing they could not control but were swept away by it.
Jeremiah Burroughs in his Exposition of the Prophecy of Hosea published in 1643 pointed out: “Carnal politicians … leave the rule of the word, and carry on their actions altogether by the rules of carnal policy, thinking to effect great things by their devices. These, despising the word and worship of God as things beneath them, sow but the wind while they profess to be engaged in weighty matters. The people here were moved by carnal policy, and God calls it … sowing the wind: they thought they had framed to themselves a notable piece of work, but, saith God, it is but sowing the wind” . They reap or harvest the whirlwind of God’s wrath. This is true even though most reject God’s Word, which does not slow down the almighty sovereign in His quest of victory.
How are Christian folks contending? Perhaps we should ask: How did Paul, John the Baptist, and Elijah contend? One writer asserted, “If there is going to be a renaissance of religion, its bearers will not be people who have been falling all over each other to be ‘relevant to modern men.’ …Strong eruptions of religious faith have always been marked by the appearance of people with firm, unapologetic, often uncompromising convictions—that is, by types that are the very opposite from those presently engaged in the various ‘relevance’ operations. Put simply: Ages of faith are not marked by ‘dialogue’ but by proclamation…. I would affirm that the concern for the institutional structures of the Church will be vain unless there is also a new conviction and a new authority in the Christian community” [Peter Berger, quoted by James Montgomery Boice, Two Cities, Two Loves: Christian Responsibility in a Crumbling Culture, 145]. One of our weaknesses, besides the weak spiritual relationship with the Lord, is that we want people to like us. We should want the Lord to like us. The proper approach is described in Proverbs, “When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be a peace with him” (Prov. 16:7). Where are the prophets?
Remember Jesus’ words about a certain nobleman whose citizens hated him saying, “We will not have this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14). What is the reply? “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me” (Luke 19:27). The point is the rejecting of the rule of Christ brings disaster in time and eternity for this is sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind.
What is to happen to our culture and country? How far we have drifted? No country can remain free when virtue is lost. President George Washington in his Farewell Address declared, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to prosperity, religion (meaning Christianity) and morality are indispensable supports.” President John Adams was of the same opinion, “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people (he had reference to Christians). It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Dr. John Witherspoon the minister, who signed the Declaration of Independence, declared: “There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage” [Sermon 45]. The government is taking your temporal property to endorse evil and buy votes. With the multiplicity of religions now in this country which is the only one being restricted? Yes, biblical Christianity!
We have a culture in a rapid downward spiral into chaotic collapse. Paul nailed the reason, “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:18). Everyone is doing that which is right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25). T. S. Eliot, though not our kind of orthodoxy, wrote: “If Christianity goes, the whole of our culture goes. Then you must start painfully again, and you cannot put on a new culture ready-made…. You must pass through many centuries of barbarism. We should not live to see the new culture, nor would our great-great-great-grandchildren; and if we did not one of us would be happy in it” [Christianity and Culture, “Notes Towards the Definition of Culture,” 200]. That comment is clear and on target with the exception that God can overrule evil for good if He pleases! But “History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations that have become indifferent to God, and died” [Whittaker Chambers]. The writer Elton Trueblood, no stark conservative, wrote a few decades before this century began, “By the year 2000, Christians will be a conscious minority surrounded by an arrogant militant paganism.” Are we there yet? The Lord said, “Without me ye can do nothing.” However, it seems we keep trying to do without Him!
Please consider ConfederateChaplain.com & Chaplain-in-Chief.com
This issue contains our Chaplain-in-Chief’s editorial. You will also find our Chaplain-in-Chief’s article titled American Slavery: Not the Cause of the War. Your editor has provided a biographical sketch of Chaplain Joseph Ellerbe Chambliss. Assistant editor, Mark Evans, has written an article entitled A Monument and a Cause. This issue, as usual, includes A Confederate Sermon submitted by Kenneth Studdard of Rev. Charles Minnigerode which is titled Weighed in the Balances. Our Book Review is by your editor on The Daring Mission of William Tyndale by Steven J. Lawson.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Editor H. Rondel Rumburg
[Compatriots, if you know of any members of the Chaplains’ Corps or others who would like to receive this e-journal, please let us have their names and e-mail addresses. Also, feel free to send copies of this journal to anyone you think would like to receive it. If you want to “unsubscribe” please e-mail the editor or assistant editor. Confederately, HRR]
*The Chaplain-in-Chief's Message, Dr. Ray L. Parker
*American Slavery: Not the Cause of the War, Dr. Ray L. Parker
*Chaplain Joseph Ellerbe Chambliss, Dr. H. Rondel Rumburg
*A Monument and a Cause, Rev. Mark Evans
*A Confederate Sermon, Rev. Charles Minnigerode
*Book Review: The Daring Mission of William Tyndale
THE CHAPLAIN-IN-CHIEF'S MESSAGE
Dear fellow Chaplains and Friends of the Corps:
The July SCV National Reunion in Memphis, Tennessee was an outstanding success. Hundreds of Confederate Americans congregated to celebrate our shared history and to honor the memory of Confederate soldiers. Two events were of special interest to the Chaplain's Corps.
1) The Chaplains' Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning. This is actually the first formal event of the Reunion -- and rightfully so; let us always begin with prayer. The banquet room was filled with compatriots who came to fellowship and pray. One very special guest was our good friend H. K. Edgerton -- a well-known black Confederate. As you can imagine, he was there in Confederate uniform waving the Battle Flag. It was an honor to have him in our midst.
2) The Memorial Service on Friday afternoon was held at the Scottish Rite Auditorium and Forrest Park. There were over 200 in attendance as we remembered our compatriots who crossed the river this past year. Following the service, we congregated at Forrest Park to pay our respect to General Forrest.
The Reunion is always a good time of fellowship and encouragement. It was good to be with others who appreciate Southern heritage.
The dates for the 2018 National SCV Chaplains' Conference are May 17 and 18. I hope you will keep those days "clear" and plan to attend. Please share any ideas or suggestions that you feel could make the Conference even better. Just forward to my email at firstname.lastname@example.org
The National Confederate Museum at Elm Springs will feature a section highlighting the service of Confederate chaplains and the great revival that spread through the Southern armies during the War. Several past Chaplain Corps' leaders are working with the Chaplain-in-Chief and Executive Director Colonel Mike Landree in designing this section. If you have items that would be appropriate for this section (Bibles used by Confederate chaplains, hand written sermons by Confederate chaplains, etc.), please let me know so we can explore that possibility.
I also hope that you will spend quality time at the Chaplain-in-Chief's Web Page each month. You will find a monthly article, prayers for use in the monthly camp meeting, a monthly sermon, and a "Happening Now" page to keep you up to date with news from across the Confederation. You may reach the web site at this link: http://chaplain-in-chief.com/
Ray L. Parker
American Slavery: Not the Cause of the War
(Confederate Flags and Monuments Do Not Glorify Slavery)
Ray L. Parker
The Institution of Slavery is as old as Human Culture
A simplistic dictionary definition of slavery is "someone who is legally owned by another person and works for that person without pay." Needless to say this is a minimal description of the institution. It does not touch the initiation of the process, the continuation of the process, the room and board of the process, the cultural aspects of the process, the injustice of the process, etc.
The institution of slavery is found in the oldest cultures. Even the Scripture includes passages on slavery. The Israelites were held as slaves in Egypt following the days of Joseph. Moses wrote, "Therefore they (the Egyptians) set over them (the Israelites) taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses" (Exodus 1:11).
Even the Israelites, following their deliverance from Egypt, practiced slavery. The Lord gave instruction to the nation, "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing" (Exodus 21:1). The Lord declared to the Prophet Jeremiah, "At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee" (Jeremiah 34:14).
The biblical laws regarding non-Hebrew slaves were quite different. Non-Hebrew slaves were considered permanent possessions and never had to be freed. The Lord spoke to the nation through Moses, "Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids ... And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever" (Leviticus 25:44, 46).
In the New Testament the Apostle Paul often dealt with the institution of slavery. Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, "Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh" (Ephesians 6:5). Paul instructed masters, "And ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening" (vs. 9).
While in the city of Rome, Paul met a runaway slave named Onesimus (Philemon 1:10). Onesimus became a believer under Paul's ministry. Paul sent Onesimus back to his owner Philemon. With Onesimus Paul sent a personal letter to Philemon asking him to receive and restore Onesimum. Paul wrote, "For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever; not now as a servant, but about a servant, a brother beloved" (vss. 15-16).
It is evident therefore that the institution of slavery did not begin in colonial America. It is also historically evident that slavery was practiced in colonial America. It is also evident that the American nation ended slavery with the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This amendment was passed in the Senate on April 8, 1864 and in the House on January 31, 1865. The amendment was ratified by the required number of states on December 6, 1865.
It is also of interest to note that the "first" Thirteenth Amendment proposed earlier in the 1860s was the Corwin Amendment. Senator William Seward of New York introduced the amendment in the Senate and Thomas Corwin of Ohio introduced it in the House of Representatives. This amendment was passed by the Congress on March 2, 1861, and submitted to the state legislatures for ratification. This amendment would shield "domestic institutions" of the states (which in 1861 included slavery) from the constitutional amendment process and from abolition or interference by Congress. President Lincoln said of the Corwin Amendment, "I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution ... has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service ... holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable."
The Corwin Amendment was not adopted by the Southern States and thus did not become a Constitutional Amendment. This is an interesting historic fact. If the reason for Southern secession was slavery, the Corwin Amendment would answer that problem. However, since secession involved so much more, the amendment was not adopted.
The Institution of Slavery Had Impact on America
Historical records indicate that some of the first African slaves arrived on American shores in 1619 during the British colonial period. If these records are accurate some 20 slaves were off loaded in what is now the state of Virginia by a ship under the Dutch flag. These 20 joined in work with hundreds of indentured servants already present. Indentured servants worked for an agreed upon period of time to pay off an indebtedness. In the 17th century, nearly two-thirds of English settlers came as indentured servants to American shores. Thus the early colonists of Virginia treated the first Africans in the colony as indentured servants.
The first American slave ship, The Desire, commissioned in 1638, brought back the first cargo of African slaves. The slave trade soon provided irresistible profit. New England slave ships could sail to West Africa and trade less than $100 worth of rum for a slave that could be sold for $650 or more. Most of these Africans were purchased from West African chieftains who became experts in supplying human cargos for New England merchant shipping.
Massachusetts legally recognized slavery in 1641. Between 1755 and 1776 over 23,000 Africans were brought to Massachusetts. Massachusetts was joined by Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York in the slave trade. By 1750 Newport boasted a fleet of 170 slave ships. By 1787 Rhode Island had taken the American lead in slave trading. Virtually all American slave trading was done by New England owned ships.
From the 16th to the 19th century some 645,000 Africans were transported to the United States to serve as part of this labor force. In 1808 Congress banned the transport of Africans to the United States for the purpose of slave labor. American slavery was then totally internal.
During most of the British colonial period, slavery existed in all the colonies. People enslaved in the North typically worked as house servants, artisans, laborers and craftsmen, with the greater number in cities. As the North became more industrialized and the South continued agrarian, the active practice of slave labor moved South, though it is also a historical fact that salves continued to be found in Northern states. The agricultural South had a significantly higher number and proportion of slaves in the population, as its commodity crops were labor intensive.
Northern States with less of a slave population still responded to what they felt was a cultural problem in regard to Africans. Indiana, Iowa, Illinois and Oregon banned immigration to their states by any black person, slave or free. Pennsylvania congressman David Wilmot proclaimed that “The Negro race already occupy enough of this fair continent.” On October 13, 1858 Abraham Lincoln said, “I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races.” In August of 1862 Lincoln told Editor Horace Greeley his objective in the war was to save the Union and not to either save or destroy slavery. He went on to say that if he could save the Union without freeing a single slave, he would do it.
Lincoln’s plan for blacks involved colonization to foreign countries. He especially favored Central American as an ideal location. It was, in Lincoln’s opinion, similar in climate to Africa and thus suited to the African. In addition, the historic Underground Railroad guided Africans through the Northern States (rather than to the Northern states) to Canada.
Historical evidence therefore indicates that reaction to African nationals was part of the 19th century culture and a much discussed and debated political, moral, and religious topic. Africans were part of the Southern culture. Africans were not welcomed in the Northern States; and yet many hold the practice of slavery as the cause of the War. In their thinking there is need to go no further. Slavery is the cause.
In this part of the discussion it must be remembered that no slaving ship ever sailed under the Confederate flag; slaving ships did sail under the flag of the United States. It is also certainly true that historical and cultural societies as the Sons of Confederate Veterans do not condone slavery. I have often said that if it were possible to create a time machine and have the power necessary to travel back to the earliest days of slavery and stop the practice the world today would be a better place and our country today would be a better place.
But it must be said that in spite of all the debate and emotional turmoil in the early 1860s regarding African nationals, slavery was not the cause of the war. Lincoln himself stated that his purpose in pursuing the conflict was not to free the slave but to preserve the Union (which, in reality, was never in jeopardy). The cause of the war was not slavery.
How then has slavery floated to the top as the cause of the War? In discussions of the war it is often the case that the Northern invasion of the South is pictured as an act of moral purity to free the slaves. Any honest investigation of the historical records demonstrates that this is not true. Why then is it perceived as truth?
Perhaps the words of President Woodrow Wilson provide an answer: “It was necessary to put the South at a moral disadvantage by transforming the contest from a war waged against states fighting for their independence into a war waged against states fighting for the maintenance and extension of slavery.”
Therefore Confederate flags, monuments, historical markers, grave sites, names, etc. do not celebrate slavery, racism, white supremacy, or bigotry. Rather they celebrate the bravery of Southern forces defending their homes, families, and states against armed forces practicing total war against the Southern population. There is no greater disgrace than Southern governors / leaders dishonoring the young men of their states who paid the supreme sacrifice to defend the State they loved. There should be a mighty, united voice sounded against this shame.
Chaplain Joseph Ellerbe Chambliss
Davis’ Mississippi Brigade
By Dr. H. Rondel Rumburg
Those who were the fruit of Christ in the camps “had the pure gold of their Christian character refined and purified by the fiery trials through which they were called to pass.” JWJ
Birth and Heritage
By the grace of God Joseph Ellerbe Chambliss was born into a minister’s home on February 10, 1843 in Wetumpka, Alabama. His father was Alexander Wilds Chambliss (1812-1895) and his mother was Rebecca Ann Ellerbe Chambliss (1813-1883). Joseph’s father had come to know Christ as his Lord and Saviour as a lad. Alexander expressed that God had called him to preach the gospel and this revelation was met by swift and fearful opposition from his father. Alexander believed himself called of God and set his face as a flint to be obedient regardless of the opposition. He attended Furman Institute and at twenty-two married Rebecca Ellerbe whose father was a planter of great wealth. After his marriage he entered a Presbyterian seminary at Maryville, Tennessee. Alexander was a good student becoming accomplished in theology, history, and Greek. His life as a minister and educator was of the highest mark. At thirty years of age he went to Alabama where Joseph would be born as their third child. The area was the raw frontier even including occasional Indian attacks. Alexander became an author and was closely identified with Howard College (now Sanford University). He ministered in many other places such as Central Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee where he pastored until the Federal Army drove him out by force. His impact as a man of God was evident in his home where his four sons became ministers of Christ’s gospel of salvation by grace alone. There was William Ellerbe Chambliss (1836-1887), John Alexander Chambliss (1840-1916), Joseph Ellerbe Chambliss (1843-1916) and Charles Mallory Chambliss (1852-1923).
Joseph’s grandfather was John Chambliss who was a planter of great wealth. John had been born into a Virginia family of Huguenot descent. His grandmother was Sarah Williams Chambliss who was of Welsh descent. She died when his father Alexander was just a boy.
Joseph’s parents were educators in their own right in the elementary things of life, in the things of God, and his father had been active in education. He grew up in pioneer country but was evidently well-schooled in the rudiments of education that prepared him to succeed in advanced classical education. Some of the excellent schools of Alabama and Mississippi were where he finished his education with some distinction. His prowess as a scholar was clear to those with whom he came into contact and those with whom he labored.
His conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord by tradition was during his college schooling. When he was called to preach and licensed we have no record. Howard College (now Sanford University) in Alabama bestowed an honorary Doctor of Divinity upon him.
War Time Pursuits
When war came the men of the South sought to do their duty toward God and their people. With the enemy at the gates men had not long to consider. This was true for young men. Joseph was around eighteen when the sabers began to rattle and the South was accosted by a warring army in blue from the North which invaded.
Joseph E. Chambliss at first joined the Confederate Army as a private and he sought to do his duty as a soldier. However, he was soon very ill and because of the condition of his health he was discharged. He regained his strength and again took the field as a servant of the Lord. During the rest of the war he was an agent for the South Carolina Colportage Board, a missionary and chaplain.
He had become active in the Baptist Denomination in South Carolina and attended the state meetings that were held at Darlington and Greenville in 1863 and 1864. He closed one session in prayer and reported on the colportage work.
As has been noted his ministry was varied during the war. Carrying the good news of the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ His Son was a very important task. It appears that Joseph sought to do this as best he could and in any way he could. The Lord greatly blessed the efforts of His servants during and after the war. Chaplain J. William Jones writing in Confederate Military History, Vol. XII on “The Morale of the Confederate Army,”
I received … some very striking statistics as to the large number of soldiers who were entering the ministry, and I have strong reason for the statement that a very large proportion of our evangelical preachers … learned in the army to “endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.” And certainly a very large proportion of our church members within the past twenty years have been those who found “Christ in the camp,” or had the pure gold of their Christian character refined and purified by the fiery trials through which they were called to pass.
There were so many great movements during the war in the Confederate Army with the attributes of God the Holy Spirit. The blessed Spirit worked in regenerating a multitude of men and sanctifying their lives to the glory of God the rest of their lives. Oh, what a blessing Joseph E. Chambliss and the other men who served the Lord had during those days. Many of the young men during revival times were militant in their service to God. Chaplain Jones recorded in the previously mentioned writing something of the sense of this that involved Chambliss,
And certainly the young converts, while in camp, met admirably all the tests of genuine conversion. They used to have brigade prayer-meetings, regiment prayer-meetings, company prayer-meetings and mess-prayer-meetings, until one of our missionaries, Rev. J. E. Chambliss, reported to our chaplains’ association that he could find no time in Davis’ Mississippi Brigade to preach without conflicting with some prayer-meeting. The earnestness with which these young converts went to work to lead their comrades to Christ was clear evidence of the genuineness of their own conversion…. A youth of the Ninth Louisiana regiment, named Bledsoe, professed conversion in hospital at Charlottesville, under the instructions of Post Chaplain J. C. Hiden, and returned to his brigade with the burning zeal of the young convert determined to do something for the spiritual good of his comrades. Bledsoe hunted diligently through the camp for men who would unite with him in a prayer-meeting, and at last found five others who would agree to do so … and began to pray for God’s blessing upon themselves and the brigade. The meeting grew nightly in numbers and interest until in about a week Bledsoe came to tell me that a number of men had professed conversion, and they wanted me to go up and take charge of the meeting. I found some 100 in attendance, fifteen professing conversion, and a number of inquirers after the way of life. The meetings grew in interest and were moved into the center of the brigade, where the work went on until over 200 professed to find “peace in believing.”
What an interesting conflict Chambliss experienced. Oh, that we should have such problems today!
Post War Era
Toward the end of the war Joseph met Lavice Gwin of Madison, Virginia. She was a devout child of God and sought to serve the Lord with her life. She was a loving wife and mother as the Lord added children to their home. There were ten arrows in their quiver.
His ministry was in churches in Aiken, South Carolina; Williamsburg and Harrisonburg, Virginia; Eutaw Place in Baltimore, Maryland; and he pastored in North Carolina and Camden, New Jersey. Then he received a call to the First Baptist Church of Kansas City, Missouri. About the time he arrived there the church divided and he went with those who withdrew to organize Calvary Baptist Church. He became the pastor of this assembly. His health could not keep up with the pace of this pastorate and he had to resign after eight years in order to find a climate that would be more conducive to his health. During the seven years of his recuperation he filled the pulpits of churches in Alabama. Then in 1889 he returned to Missouri to pastor a church in Montgomery City and subsequently ministered to churches in that vicinity. Health issues continued to trouble him and affect his ministry. He visited various country churches as visiting minister. He settled in the foothills of the Ozarks in Stoutland, Camden County.
He came from a very gifted family of ministers including his father and three brothers; and it was said of him,
He wielded a facile pen and wrote much for “The Central Baptist,” of which paper he was for a time a member of the editorial staff. “The Word and Way” published frequent communications from his pen and his brethren were assured of something of interest when they saw his name signed to an article. His chief achievement, however, as an author, is found in the book, The Life and Labors of Livingston in Africa.
Having health issues for much of his life he finally was called into the Lord’s presence on January 9, 1916. His body was interred beside his wife Lavice Gwin Chambliss in Greenwood Cemetery in Gallatin, Missouri where he had lived while vice-president of Grand River College. “So shall he ever be with the Lord.”
Confederate Military History, Vol. XII, Atlanta: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899.
Jones, J. William, Christ in the Camp, Harrisonburg: Sprinkle Publications, 1986.
A Monument and a Cause
Mark W. Evans
Early Saturday morning, August 21, 2017, members of the 16th Regiment, SC Volunteers, Camp #36, along with other SCV members, gathered around a Confederate Soldier's monument located on Main Street in the city of Greenville, SC, adjacent to Springwood Cemetery which contains almost 300 Confederate graves. Hostile organizations, determined to remove Confederate monuments, were scheduled to conduct a protest in the afternoon. Rollis Smith, Commander of the SC 2nd Brigade and also of Camp #36, had met with the Chief of Police and paved the way for a good relationship with local and state law enforcement agencies. A friendly legislator contacted SC's elite law enforcement agency, SLED, and received assurance that they would be present and the law would be enforced. There was reason for concern because SC law makers had broken promises concerning the removal of the Battle Flag from the SC State House. Commander Smith, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, who served in the Marine Corps' Force Recon, developed a plan to confound our heritage enemies. Within a few days, he presented his plan to the camp with the hope of defeating the purposes of the protestors, placing the SCV in a favorable light before the public, and gaining the moral high ground in the monument controversy. Dressed in collared shirts and suitable slacks, with SCV pins or emblems noticeably displayed, we were to surround the monument as sentinels of our heritage. Our goal was to remain as one unit, separated from all the other organizations.
We gathered around the monument before the arrival of our opponents -- much to their surprise and anger. City, county, and state law officers were present in force. They placed physical barriers between the opposing parties and explained the various conditions required for good order. The Chief of Police, a former resident of New York, personally instructed our SCV gathering and informed us of the protestors' objection to our securing the position around the monument. The Chief settled the issue by allowing us to stay in our position for some two hours and later giving equal time to the protestors. No one, from either side, could even touch the monument. We had attained the advantage of prime time as well as occupying the key position. The Chief also permitted us to remain as a separate group, eliminating the infiltration of protestors and hate groups, including the KKK and neo-Nazi organizations.
We began our vigil with prayer, seeking the Lord's protection and victory. For the next 2 hours, our adversaries across the street shouted obscenities and taunts. The mixed crowd, close to us on the left, met the protestors' shouts with their own expressions of rage. We stood quietly without responding to provocations. Commander Smith presented a written news release to the various news agencies and spent much time in interviews, explaining the true history of the South and the purpose of our monuments. He educated both the public and the news reporters. When our departure time approached, we gathered in front of the monument, took off our hats, and once again went to the Throne of Grace, committing our righteous cause to the Lord of hosts. Then we gathered our belongings, made sure the area was clean, quietly departed, and left both sides to the attention of law enforcement personnel. By this time, in the heat of the sun, our opponents on both sides were losing momentum. They soon gave up the fight. We headed home, thankful to the Lord for His providential care and joyful to be a part of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Commander Smith has a relative who works for Fox News at the national level. She reported that they received a 45 minute film of the event. As they reviewed it, they noticed a group of men surrounding the monument and concluded that they were undercover officers. As the Fox News people continued to watch, they heard Commander Smith say, "We are the Sons of Confederate Veterans." Smith's cousin reported the newsroom response: "Their jaws dropped to the ground." Two of the local TV news programs read Commander Smith's news release on the air, word for word. Another significant accomplishment was that the law enforcement personnel recognized that we were not part of the "hate groups," but stood upon moral principle and law and order. We believe that we have gained friends and advanced the Cause our relatives fought to preserve. The Bible gives us sound instruction: "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21).
A CONFEDERATE SERMON
Submitted by Chaplain Kenneth Studdard
Charles Minnigerode (1814–1894) served as pastor of St. Paul’s Church of Richmond for 33 years. He was best known as Jefferson Davis’ pastor for Davis who attended St. Paul’s during the War. It was Minnigerode who was first allowed to visit President Davis during his imprisonment at Fortress Monroe following the war. He was a comfort and spiritual guide to President Davis during this difficult time.
Charles Minnigerode was a faithful pastor and preacher of the Gospel. His sermon “Jesus Christ and Him Crucified” was considered a powerful presentation of the Gospel. The New York Times in its obituary of Minnigerode noted that “it was these words that the good old man had on his tongue in his last hours.”
Weighed in the Balances
Tekel—thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Daniel v. 27.
The grandeur of the ancient world is passed away. But its traces are left on the surface of the earth, and its influence is perpetuated in the civilization of our day. The traveler on the Nile beholds the narrow valley studded with the monuments of her former glory—the pyramid, the obelisk and the sphinx; and in her mountain sides still stand the tombs which, in their beds of rock, embrace the embalmed generations of the men that lived millenniums ago. — Jerusalem, which was visited with a destruction, the like of which is not recorded in the annals of history, still lures the pious pilgrim to her sacred mount. — Athens, amidst her broken pillars, her ruined temples and her mutilated statues, struggles into a new civilization, as the withered tree will often clothe its naked branches with a second growth of verdure. — Rome, which oftener than any other city saw the conqueror within her walls, and was sacked and burned repeatedly by the ancient and the modern barbarian, still proudly rears her throne upon the seven hills. Ancient Rome still lives in her laws, which form the nucleus of all our codes of law; and modern Rome shouts "vivas" to the new king that has once more united Italy under her sway; and papal Rome wields her scepter over more souls than ever bowed to the power of her Caesars.
But Babylon the great is fallen and is no more! She has left no "footprints on the sands of time." Posterity owes her nothing but the lesson of retributive justice upon the wickedness of man. The plains of Shinar are a desolation!
As the traveler approaches it from the East, on the road from Bagdad, and stands upon the earthen ramparts which tradition and historical speculation assume to be the most northern remains of the ancient city, there spreads before him a boundless plain. The Euphrates, with its dark belt of ever green palms, which flowed through the middle of the vast metropolis, still rolls its flood along; but it winds through a naked and hideous waste. The foot of man does not rest there; the hand of man does not build there. Where once stood the city that covered more than the area of London, replete with palaces and gardens, and filled with riches such as now fill only the dreams of fiction; where smiled a country that gave her harvests almost without labor and bloomed as a garden, dissected with the numerous canals, which sent the fertilizing waters of her glorious river into all its parts; where was the mart of the world, and roads of traffic centered, that combined the trade of the North and the East and the West; where was the meeting-place of caravans, and where ships enlivened the harbor, that came laden with the gold and choicest spices of the coasts of Persia and Hindustan: there now all is one great wilderness and solitude; "owls start from the scanty thickets and the foul jackal skulks through her furrows." Truly, "the glory of kingdoms and the beauty of the Chaldeans' excellency are as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. Wild beasts of the desert lie there, and their houses are full of doleful creatures; and the wild beasts of the islands cry in their desolate houses, and the dragons in their pleasant places, for her day is come!'
But the text brings us back to the days when Babylon was yet standing, and glorying in all her beauty and wealth, "the Lady of Kingdoms." "Is not this the great Babylon that I have builded?" Only a few decenniums had passed since Nebuchadnezzar raised her to the pinnacle of glory and made her the mistress of nations. Judea fell before her, and Jerusalem sent her captive sons to the rivers of Babylon. Egypt was defeated by her proud warriors, and Phoenicia crouched under her yoke. Like a new city, old Babylon rose from her former position under the ambitious monarch and his queen. The temple of Belus was finished; the new palace erected, whose circuit was equal to that of a moderate-sized city; and the gallant king, to please his Median queen, recalled her mountain scenery, in the verdant terraces which rose four hundred feet above the ground, the wonder of the world. The spoil of vanquished countries loaded her treasury; her commerce gathered the finest wools and shawls from Cashmere; emeralds, jaspers and other precious stones from Bactra; gold and gold dust from the Indies; and extended through Phoenician traders and the ships of Tarshish down the western coast of India, and brought from the island of Ceylon the rarest spices and choicest pearls. Mechanical arts and mathematical science, astronomy and astrology, the art of working in metal, and her woolen manufactures, which wove those splendid Babylonian robes (so far famed for delicacy of texture and brilliancy of color): all presented a state of civilization which the East had not seen before. But, alas! she bore within her the curse of luxury and effeminacy. Her very religion—the religion of Belus and Mylitta—only ministered to the grossest passions of the human heart. The effeminacy and licentiousness of her inhabitants beggars description, but makes it plain how a few years could lay the proud city in the dust.
Times had changed since the death of the great king. Her power sank, whilst her luxury and oppression continued. And her lofty walls and brazen gates were but a poor safeguard against the new foe, that brought his hardy soldiers before them. In her security she fell; in the midst of revelry, her doom overtook her!
It was a festive day in Babylon. “Belshazzar, the king, made a feast to a thousand of her lords." Up the broad flight of steps, guarded right and left by colossal statues of crouching lions, the guests hurry towards the grand portal, a magnificent gateway, formed by the towering statues of winged bulls with human faces and crowned with the royal tiara. The first entrance led to others of a similar construction, until the great hall is reached where the feast is spread on tables of gold and silver, and ivory and costly wood, with cups most curiously carved or covered with inscriptions. The tiles they tread on are filled with the records of the kingdom; and on the walls, where the bricks are covered with plaster, and the richest colors—tastily distributed—divide and frame the paintings, their country's glory is represented in triumphal marches, and trains of captives suing for pardon, or tributaries bringing gifts. The hall itself stretches along to an immense length, and at the end is the great platform, where, in distant magnificence, reposes the king "to drink wine before his lords." The whole is lighted with lamps and chandeliers. The lighted hall and the illuminated gardens call the people to the courts of the palace, and spread the feast from the lords through the masses of the frivolous inhabitants.
And now the music animates the festive assembly, and the wine glows in the glass, and the passion is fired, and the drunken shouts are heard; and the dancers rise—the women whom Babylonian custom admitted to their feasts: who, having long laid aside their modesty, now free themselves of the encumbrance of the flowing robe, and madden the excited senses of the luxurious king and lords by their attractive art.
Behold a Babylonian Bacchanal! What though the Mede and Persian lie before the city: the high walls of Babylon shall laugh at them! What though prophecies have rung in the ears of the revelers: their gods, their gods that speak to them from the sculptured walls, and point them to the painted triumphs and the prosperity and days of mirth and revelry their favor had bestowed upon them, their gods of gold and silver and brass shall overrule the 'predictions and the threatenings of that stern Jehovah!
"Bring hither the golden and the silver vessels from Jehovah's temple, and let Babylonia's king and princes, their wives and concubines, offer them in festive glee to Babylonia's gods!"
And the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God, which was at Jerusalem, were brought, and the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines, drank in them. And the shouts rose higher, and the laughter grew wilder, and blasphemies and obscenities mingled with their mirth, as they drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of silver, of brass and of iron, of wood and of stone.
Ah! brethren, how many a Babylonian Bacchanal is witnessed on this earth! "The harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe and wine are in their feasts; but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of His hand." How many lives are nothing but a Babylonian Bacchanal, "God being not in all their thoughts!" Yes, brethren, many a Belshazzar's feast is met with, with its wild devotion to the glee of earth and the mad excitement of the fleeting moment; whilst around the thoughtless revelers, as the Medes and Persians around the walls of Babylon, are the armies of the avenging angels of God's justice!
But hark! What means this sudden, piercing cry? and now—the dead silence which succeeds the noise and laughter? What means this sudden change? Behold the king, how he starts! and his royal mitre falls from his head, and his hair seems to stand on end; his eyes roll wildly, and ever turn to that bright wall, lighted by the chandelier! And his color has changed "and he begins to tremble;" the joints of his limbs are loosed, and his knees smite one against another. See the pallor that spreads over all faces, and the trembling lip and staring eye—staring on that bright wall, lighted by the chandelier!
"In that same hour came forth fingers as of a man's hand, and wrote over against the chandelier upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace."
Oh king! in vain dost thou appeal to the wisdom of thy astrologers, thy Chaldeans and soothsayers—it is a message from God unto thee! And none but His prophet shall read that writing.
There stands the young prophet, the despised son of the despised captives of Judea, who, disdaining the king's gifts, his scarlet robe and golden necklace and high office, boldly read his doom: "Tekel—thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting!"
In that night Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was slain. In that night the strong walls and brazen gates of Babylon ceased their protection; the faithful river ceased its service. According to prophecy it was turned into another channel, and the army of the Medes and Persians walked through its dry bed into the city and surprised the drunken revelers. In that night Babylon fell; Darius, the Median, took the kingdom, and "Belshazzar, the king, was slain."
Brethren, have you ever had thoughts of such a night? Ever had forebodings of such a night? Have you ever known persons who had been contented to live “without God” in the world, when they saw the handwriting of death, send for the minister, the prophet of God, to smooth their dying pillow? And ever doubted the probability of a peaceful death after a wicked life? Ever feared that the awful word "wanting" should be uttered over the soul that had begun to think of God and repentance only when life was over? Have you not, in that dread moment, understood the poet's description—
How the frantic soul Raves round the walls of her clay-tenement, Runs to each avenue and shrieks for help, But shrieks in vain!
There is a painting of solemn import found in the Campo Santo of Pisa, "The Triumph of Death," by Andrea Orgagna. It dates from the second half of the fourteenth century, and is an affecting representation of the triumph of death over all the splendor and grandeur of earth and worldliness. To the right of this large painting is a group of men and women, engaged in music and conversation. The flowers with which the ground is covered, the arbor of the myrtle and the orange in which they are gathered, as Well as the amorettes that hover round them, are all intended to paint the soft, luxurious life of earthly pleasure and the sweets of love. But, unperceived by them, there hovers close to that idyllic arbor the messenger of death, with wings full of eyes and the scythe lifted for action; this is death unexpected! — To the left a noble hunting party—king and queen, and knights and squires and dames on prancing steeds, with falcons on their glove and the hounds following. But suddenly the horses start and turn; before them lie three open coffins—they are riding into mouldering dust. This is the warning of death. — In the middle of the painting death is at work; and king or queen, noble or low, bishop or priest, are lying on the ground, their souls escaping with their last breath in the shape of little babes, and the angels, good or bad, waiting to receive their own, and carrying these to the mansions of heaven, or hurling those into devouring flames.
Now, my beloved brethren, are you of those whom death shall surprise unprepared? or who will take his warning now while time is yet given you? He comes, He surely comes to all of us, and stretches us low in the indiscriminate summons he gives to the good and to the evil. "Oh! wicked man, thou shalt surely die!" is said to all. Is it not probable that the words of the prophet, "This year thou shalt die," are said to some of us? And is it not absolutely certain that the day will come, when God shall say to him that is only thinking of heaping up treasures and guarding earthly riches, or to him that forgets eternity in the pursuit of passing pleasures and earthly fame: "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee."
Oh! if we could but see the invisible hand which now is writing our doom upon these walls; if we could ascend and see the balance that is held in the hand of the Judge who judgeth righteously, and take warning, all take warning, ere it is too late, and ere the sentence "wanting" is irrevocably pronounced.
Let the eye of faith transport us, brethren, from the hall of Belshazzar and that awful handwriting to the hall above and to the real balance. Behold how the whole race of Adam, in the long line in which it has traveled for six thousand years over this earth, stands there, and all are weighed, weighed in the balances!
Behold! they come from the fireside, they come from the tented field; they come from the hermit's secluded cell, they come from the public mart. They start from the bed of luxury, they start with the sweat on their brow. They are summoned in youth, they are called in old age; from the work shop, the ball-room, the study, the bench—they must follow the merciless call. The promising youth, the hopeful aspirant, the loving mother, the only son—death summons all. The good and the bad, those prepared and those unprepared—all must come. The miser is called away from his gold, the drunkard from his cups, the laborer from his honest work, the pious from their prayers, the king from his throne, the prisoner from his dungeon, the rich or the poor, the happy or the unhappy—all, all are found in that long procession, and all are weighed in the balances.
Those balances! They are held in the hands of Eternal Justice, and the book of God's law lies in one scale. Come on ye children of men and fill the other scale; ye must be weighed!
There comes the murderer, the thief, the drunkard, the adulterer and slanderer; and fain they would turn from that dread balance, for with blanching cheeks and trembling lips they confess that they bring nought to God but crimes.
There goes the miser with his gold, but ere he reaches the balance it has crumbled into dust.
There go the great of the earth with their glory, but it is dissolved in air ere they can be weighed.
There come those whose only pursuit on earth was pleasure, and behold it is turned to remorse; who lived in lust and revelry, and scorpions scourge their souls.
Here goes the man of learning, the student of this world's philosophy. Ah! as he approaches that balance he sighs that he forgot to seek that wisdom which is from above, which makes wise unto salvation.
There comes the moral and the upright man of the world, that has been honest and dealt fairly and lived decently; but oh! as he looks upon that law and sees its terrible character of holiness revealed, he dares not throw his morality in the scale, he stands convicted: Wanting!
Lo! there goes one, and the clamor of the multitude follows him, whom he hath fed and warmed; he has been generous and benevolent, and given his goods to feed the poor. There goes one that gave his body to be burned, and his good and glorious deeds are thrown into the scale—wanting!
But make room! There comes the Christian professer, and boldly lays his profession of religion in the vacant scale. Depart! empty professor, thou art found wanting!
Again one comes and lays his prayers there—wanting!
Or lays his tears of penitence into the balance—wanting!
Or puts his good intentions there—wanting!
His pious aspirations—wanting!
His sincerity and struggles—wanting!
Ah! brethren, learn—learn while time is given you, that nothing you can bring of your own can turn the scales and save you from the sentence "wanting!" And that none, and not the best of your good works, can meet the claims of the law of God and balance the scales!
Behold! there comes one, with his eyes cast down and with the sense of utter nothingness in his heart; that brings no ransom in his hand and pleads no action of his own. He comes with the confession of unworthiness, the acknowledgment of his just condemnation. He comes, and all-despairing of himself he dips his hand into the stream that flows from Jesus' side, and lays His blood, the blood that bought him, in the scale—: and the scene is changed! the law is outweighed! The blood of Jesus, and that blood alone, has met its claims, has borne its curse and blotted out its handwriting; and the angels of heaven receive the wayfaring traveler, who stands before God in the name of Christ, and the eternal mansions ring with the shout of victory—"Thanks, thanks be unto God, that giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"
The Daring Mission of William Tyndale
by Steven J. Lawson
(c) 2015 Reformation Trust, 184 pages, hardback
Reviewed by H. Rondel Rumburg
What is the greatest treasure that God has given the Christian? Yes, God gave His Son Jesus Christ in pardon and forgiveness of sin, but after experiencing salvation what is the greatest treasure? His Word in the English language—the Bible; it has been made available to us to read for direction and instruction in righteousness. It is “the Word of God” and it “liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Pet. 1:23). God has spoken to us through His eternal and perfect Word which is our guide for life which also reveals eternity. How could we calculate the value of having God’s Word? One way is to follow the bloody trail left behind by those who suffered to make it our treasure.
In October of this year will be the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Many naturally think of Martin Luther the German reformer and rightly so. The English-speaking world was impacted by Luther through various men. Perhaps the man who had the greatest influence on the English world was a man by the name of William Tyndale born near Gloucestershire. This man gifted in languages translated the first New Testament into English from the Greek and parts of the Old Testament from Hebrew. Actually he translated the New Testament two times and a great deal of the Old Testament. The first time was in 1526 and the second and most used translation was in 1534.
William Tyndale was in prison on October 6, 1536. He had spent a year of suffering while imprisoned in Vilvorde Castle near Antwerp, Belgium. On this day he was escorted to the place of his death. Tyndale gazed into the heavens and cried out, “Lord! Open the king of England’s eyes.” They tied him to the stake and strangled him to death, and then burned his body. Lawson described the scene:
The procurer-general gave the signal and the executioner quickly tightened the iron noose, strangling Tyndale. The crowd watched Tyndale gasp for air as he suffocated and died. However, his mere death did not satisfy. The procurer-general grabbed a lighted wax torch and handed it to the executioner, who threw it on the straw and brushwood. The blazing fire caused the gunpowder to explode, blowing up the corpse. What remained of the limply hanging, burnt body of Tyndale fell into the raging fire.
This was done to him for the crime of translating God’s Word into the English language of the common people so they might have it to read. Tyndale devoted his life to this task for the glory of God.
Tyndale’s voice was not silenced. In the providence of God 90% of our wonderful and majestic Authorized Version of the New Testament comes from the pen of William Tyndale, the gifted and mighty Bible translator. There is no way to calculate the impact that this one man of God had on us. He made our language a harmony of God speaking from eternity to us in time through English. Tyndale was saturated with God and God’s Word.
Dear reader do you know much about William Tyndale? You should! This book by Steven J. Lawson is very readable. It also encapsulates the life of Tyndale and his major beliefs doctrinally. Now, if you have in mind to read a more extensive biography that is scholarly you might purchase and read David Daniell’s William Tyndale: A Biography. But this reviewer does not believe you will be sorry if you read Lawson’s fine popular treatment. It is the least you can do if you treasure having the Bible in your language!
We must remember who we are and what we must be about:
The SCV Challenge by Lt. Gen. S. D. Lee
To you, Sons of Confederate Veterans, we will commit the vindication of the cause for which we fought. To your strength will be given the defense of the Confederate soldier’s good name, the guardianship of his history, the emulation of his virtues, the perpetuation of those principles which he loved and which you love also, and those ideals which made him glorious and which you also cherish. Remember, it is your duty to see that the true history of the South is presented to future generations.
Sons of Confederate Veterans
This is an enlarged Sesquicentennial Edition of the Chaplain’s Handbook. It is enlarged from 131 pages to 165 pages. A chapter has been added on the topic, SCV Chaplains Should be Gentlemen; there has also been added a third burial service, The Order for the Burial of the Dead of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America; a chapter on Praying in Public has been added; and a chapter on Prayer Suggestions for Public Use. All the other chapters remain the same.
Hopefully, those using the handbook will find it even more useful than before. There is the same cloth cover, acid free paper for longevity, sewn signatures, etc.
The retail price is being kept to a minimum of $12, which is very low for a hardback quality publication. Contact SCV headquarters or biblicalandsouthernstudies.com for a copy.
 John Alexander Chambliss was a Confederate Chaplain and his life was treated by this author in a previous Chaplains Corps Chronicle.