Atop the regal crown stamped across the top of the Coronation invitations is the Cross of Christ in Christianity. Queen Victoria of the House of Windsor and Queen Elizabeth II leaned Protestant and kept the faith of Christ a priority during their reign. Queen Elizabeth said on many occasions that she was of the Christian faith and in a Christmas messages understood her calling and actions would be held as a “personal accountability before God”.
This crown with the cross of Christ is being offered on the Royal website for children to color.
According to the Guardian news organization “ Charles shares his mother’s faith and devotion, though it has a slightly different complexion”. Queen Elizabeth offered Christian messages yearly in her leadership as the Queen of England. In them she spoke of her devotion for Christ. While Charles is said to have that same commitment, he also has interest in other religions which causes concern for the Monarchy leadership regarding “the Faith”.
In 1994, he “triggered controversy when he said he would be defender “of Faith” rather than Defender of “the Faith”, wrote Harriet Sherwood of The Guardian . Although he tried to back-track on his comments and explain himself, many are concerned he could change the coronation oath.
In looking at this topic on Defender of the Faith, many are interested such as, PremierChristianty, Religion News, the Gospel Coalition, Christianity, Express, National Secular Society, the Conversation, the Washington Post and more. They are all wanting to see where the new King is going with the powerful words, “faith”, the Faith”.
Hebrews 3:12 offers a serious warning to all of the faith: Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Sources: The Guardian, Washington Post, Gospel Coalition, Royal News , https://. bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Falling-Away-From-God
Robert James Bateman was born in Bristol, England. He met and married Emily Hall Bateman in Britton on February 9, 1880. It is said he was returning to Jacksonville, Florida where he was the founder of the Central City Mission.
Bateman was returning from England when the Titanic Ship hit an iceberg and sunk on April 14,1912. People were relegated to getting on life boats to save their lives. Because the ship was deemed “unsinkable”, the White Star Line did not put enough life boats on the ship. Bateman is said to have stayed behind, lead the band in the song “Nearer My God to Thee” as the ship went down. 1,523 people lost their lives on that fateful night in the North Atlantic Ocean.
There is evidence that he gave his Bible to Aida Balls, his sister-in-law. His Bible was put on display in the Baxter Seminary Library in the 1940’s and later is said to have been put on display at the Titanic Museum in Tennessee. It is now at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC.
Titanic Museum Display
Bateman’s lifeless body was returned to his wife in Jacksonville. His service was held at the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida on May 12, 1912. Bateman( 1860-1912) is buried at Evergreen Cemetery off of Main Street in Jacksonville, Florida. There are five memorials tied to the Titanic at Evergreen Cemetery.
Bateman found by the Mackay-Bennett group
Bateman was known as a true Christian with many articles quoting his love of Christ and desire that people be saved.
Notes in Bateman’s Bible (J. Cowart collection)
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Sources: Florida Baptist Historical Society, Voice of the Martyrs, Cowart, Old newspapers in public domain, Scottishrite.org, Evergreen Cemetery, Personal visit to Evergreen.
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Symbolism… ” The idea that things represent other things”. In Israel, the twelve stones represented the remembrance of “God’s faithfulness, providence and love every time they would look at the stones”. There were twelve tribes of Israel so each stone represented each tribe.
The scripture says, “Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.” Joshua 4:9. That event occurred when Israel passed over the Jordan river to enter the Promised Land. Each stone was for each Tribe of Israel, such as one stone was for the Tribe of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin.
Our family has been so blessed and so this Easter time, twelve stones were placed at the entrance of our chapel area at Vaughan’s Homestead in remembrance of God’s faithfulness and providence.
These stones; bricks were those that were put on this property when our home was being built in 1960. Our stones are named: Alec, Geneva, Ronnie, Nan, Daniel, Katie, Ramey, Vaughan, Sargent, Derrick, Kristie and one for the extended family as a whole.
May we all be found faithful and when we look upon the stones, realize that God is our fortress and strength.
I don’t remind myself enough that God’s Holy Word says, “The Wages of Sin is Death”. There are so many ways in which this is true. It is not only so that we would die physically because of poor choices but things in our lives that were living and thriving die because of the bad choices we make. That is why people go to court, to detention, to jail. That is why relationships die or thrive. That is why people have good or bad credit; a good name or a bad name. That is why people are trusted or not, hired or fired, honored or dissed; loved or hated. One way in which we live, we perpetuate life or because of poor choices, death.
Sammis, 1887
John Sammis wrote in 1887 these words: When we walk with the Lord in the light of his Word, what a glory he sheds on our way! While we do his good will, he abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey. Refrain: Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share, but our toil he doth richly repay; not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross, but is blest if we trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Sammis-PUBLIC DOMAIN
We want the living in our lives. We must make the choices in our lives that the things of God thrive and live within our person and on our time on this earth. This will occur because we simply “trust and obey the living Christ”.
It is true in my own life that death came because of a poor choice I made here or there. Over the years, I look back at bad choices that I have made and behind them are the deaths of something as a result. This is my life and there is no reason to tell of my wrong-doing and there are too many instances, Lord forgive me but…this morning, I remember and will choose this day whom I will serve. It will not be the evil one. It will be the “I Am”, the Creator of all, the Lord God Almighty.
If you travel to Fort Caroline, near the mouth of the River, off the coast of Mayport, in Jacksonville, Florida, you can see the Fort Caroline monument “, Standing tall in the sand, it marks the spot on which Jean Ribault, became the first Protestant to set foot on American soil. The marker was unveiled “with appropriate ceremonies” by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
1924 Jacksonville Journal. Photo O’Brien E. Watt via Ramey Collection
That same week, there were festivities throughout the city of Jacksonville to celebrate this obviously exciting event. Gatherings and street parties were had with a “most brilliant close” to the placing of this historic monument according to the Jacksonville Journal. At the closing event held at the Mason Hotel Mason, Mrs. W. S. Jennings opened “with grace and charm”. The Honorable Mayor John T. Alsop of the city, expressed his “pleasure at having in Jacksonville a distinguished gather and welcomed the guest.” Also at the event was T. C. Imeson, chairman of the city commission, Dr. R. H Carswell, Mrs. Florence Murphy Cooley, and others. Mrs. James A. Craig thought it important to introduce her children and quoted Longfellow’s poem, “Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime and departing leave behind us footprints in the sands of time”.
I highly recommend that you take your families to see the monument and while you’re there remind them that they too can make a difference for Christ.
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Sources: Kingsley Plantation, Mayport documents, Jacksonville Journal, Personal visit.
There was a metal monument of Daniel Boone, with his flintlock rifle and his dog placed on a stone at the corner of Bay Street in Jacksonville, Florida. Times Union photographer, Bob Self took a photo of this monument while photographing and profiling the emptying of the 1958- year courthouse. This Boone monument was placed at the corner of that building beneath a group of overgrown trees. I remember it well.
Sample of the Boone Monument.
Self, photographer for the Times Union newspaper, wrote that the plaque was placed at the courthouse built in 1902 in November of 1921. Later, it was moved to the 1958 courthouse. I was a kid when I saw the one in Jacksonville, Florida and through the years, I remember seeing it when coming through the back doors with large, open glass at the old courthouse. It was there when I had jury duty back some 10 years ago that we got on and off of the jury bus which took us to lunch.
The marker was placed at the corner of Bay Street by the Courthouse
According to Tommy Townsend who talked with J. Hampton Rich, the organizer of this plaque project, he placed 358 of them from “Virginia Beach to San Francisco”. Jacksonville, Florida got one but why? No one really knows except, Daniel Boone was a folklore character. He was born in 1734 and died in 1820. Being an American pioneer, many still call him one of the “first folk heroes of the United States”. His fame of exploring and settling Kentucky, blazing though the Cumberland Gap and all the while dealing with the Indians. His story went far and wide and exploded for sure when the 1964 Daniel Boone television series came out. Fess Parker played Daniel Boone. Boone was known to be God-fearing and is said to have taken his Bible with him on his excursions.
It is unclear if Boone ever came to Jacksonville, Florida but his marker did and all because of the a campaign to keep the Boone name alive while highlighting and gaining members for the Boone Trail Highway Association. The association would raise money, have monuments made and take them to those who celebrated Boone and his life by their gifts and donations towards the plaques.
The 1958 courthouse was demolished and the new courthouse completed in 2012. The courthouse is gone. The monument is too. I have now walked the current courthouse grounds at 501 West Adams Street to see if it was removed from the old courthouse and placed at the new. I’ll keep you posted if things change but right now… no monument of Daniel.
Each of the markers highlight the fact that the metal is “From Battleship Maine”. The USS Maine (1889) was a Navy ship that sank in the Havana harbor which in simple terms help to bring about the Spanish-American war. The metal was used from that wreckage to make the plaques.
Metal from the Maine was used….
Apparently, Rich started the “Boone Trail Highway Association” to promote highway projects and he said to keep live the name of Daniel Boone. On HMdb. org, there is a “historical data base” that charts the Boone Trail Highway markers. From topics and information, to locations, the list is quite extensive. I did not see Jacksonville on the site though, so there’s that…..When I locate the Jacksonville Boone marker, I’ll up date you and them.
They say, even the great Babe Ruth was a member of his The Daniel Boone Highway Trail Association. While Ruth may have been a member, I feel like the man in Hillsville, Va who wrote: “We had no idea what Maine or Daniel Boone had to do with our town in Hillsville”.
Chester Harding Portrait of Daniel Boone
There are many who feel that same way. We really have no idea what Daniel Boone has to do with Jacksonville except for when we were growing up we would sing his song:
“Daniel Boone was a man Yes, a big man With an eye like an eagle And as tall as a mountain was he Daniel Boone was a man Yes, a big man He was brave, he was fearless And as tough as a mighty oak tree From the coonskin cap on the top of ol’ Dan To the heel of his rawhide shoe The rippin’-est, roarin’-est, fightin’-est man The frontier ever knew Daniel Boone was a man Yes, a big man And he fought for America To make all Americans free.“
See you tomorrow,
Nan
Sources: Openplaques, Daniel Boone Trail Highway Association, Bob Self, Florida Times Union, Wikipedia, Theme song sung by the Imperials, personal visit. 1/29/23
The famed evangelist, Billy Graham preached his first sermon at Bostwick Baptist Church in Palatka, just south of Jacksonville, Florida in 1937. Only the year before, in 1936, Ralph Eddins would be born in Billy Graham’s home state of North Carolina. Both Northcarolinians, Graham and Eddins would have a passion to proclaim the Gospel of Christ and “be the kind of man my child wants to see”. Graham, a generation before Eddins spent his entire life traveling the world, meeting the most famous, wealthy, prominent and distinctive people in the universe using his influence to spread God’s message of grace.
Graham was an 18-year-old college student “with knocking knees and four borrowed sermons” who preached at the Bostwick Baptist Church to about 40 congregants on Easter Sunday weekend in April of 1937.
YOUNG BILLY GRAHAM WITH TWO OF HIS TEACHERS, JOHN MINDER LEFT AND CECIL UNDERWOOD EASTER SUNDAY 1937. AT THE BAPTIST CHURCH BOSTWICK PALATKA, FLORIDA.(BGA photo).
Ralph Eddins was not yet one year old but God had a plan for him just as he did for Graham. Billy Graham would go on and preach to millions world-wide and often referred to his first opportunity to share the Gospel at Bostwick. Eddins would go forward, end up in Florida, marry Helen, have three children and impact the lives of many far and wide in his own time and place. He would end up in his son, David Eddin’s church at Bostwick just as Graham began there.
Ralph Eddins had his home-going service at Bostwick Baptist Church where his eldest son is now pastor. The Senior Eddins, for almost six decades would proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ telling in serious fashion about God’s grace, forgiveness, mercy and eternal promises. His son, David also, following in his Father’s footsteps is now at Bostwick Baptist proclaiming that same hopeful message. At his Father’s “celebration”, the young Eddins spoke of his Dad’s love of God’s Word and his determination to share it. He spoke about his Dad’s gifts of carpentry and matter-of-fact attitude and how he woke up every day happy with “heaven on his mind”.
David’s son, Nathan also spoke and having been called into the ministry himself, was influenced by his Grandad’s diligence in living out the Gospel of Jesus. He too reminisced about his grandfather being a man of his word, being of strong opinion and never wavering.
From the Bostwick pulpit at his home-going, his daughter told how her Father was “dogmatic, outspoken and opinionated” while always faithful to his calling. Tommy Brown, long time friend and a pastor from North Carolina spoke as well and told of Eddins’ influence on his life.
Eddins was honored with a church full of those who came to celebrate his new life in heaven. There was grieving but not for him. His youngest son, Jason wept for his loss but said he was confident of his excitement waking in heaven. Eddins’ decades of service through the years would be continued by family and friends as eternity was on the mind of all who came to celebrate his life.
As Pastor Tommy Brown put it, “Well done though good and faithful servant”. At Billy Graham’s funeral, the same was said of him. Surely the two met in heaven and indeed with Jesus.
Since a visit to the Old City Cemetery on East Union Street, I realize there is a focus by the government of Jacksonville to improve the cemeteries in the city where rot and decay resides. There is though more than one battle of blight where the dead are concerned.
Tomb stone 1885-1932
Trying to research the history of the oldest downtown cemetery has piqued my interest and now comes an online map shared by Kelsi Hasden about the whereabouts of another old cemetery near downtown Jacksonville. After looking up St Nicholas Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery on the City Council agenda, I see it’s one of the Black cemeteries getting distinction of being another of the old burial cites and will receive monies provided to improve it. I wanted a closer look. By its name, It was probably a plant by Bethel Baptist from downtown Jacksonville in the 1880’s. Bethel and First Baptist began together in 1838, and was the first Baptist church in the city. Both Black and White members worshipped together.
Military stone with cross at the top
This morning, I set out to find this southside church and cemetery. The cemetery was once under the care of St. Nicholas Bethel Baptist Church at some point was enclosed with fencing such that unless you know it’s a cemetery, its just a place of broken cement and where roaming feral cats and the possible homeless frequent. While there, I saw broken stones when peeking through the fence and multiple cats as well as a homeless bag-pack. I did not open it.
Feral cat among many
Using the map provided on the January 5th blog of “The Jaxson” write-up, I was able to go right to the location and photograph the remains of the remains. While looking through the view-finder on my camera I saw a tabby cat, grey Russian blue type and a solid black cat. Living beside an apartment complex and frequenting the dumpster area seemed like a good thing for them. They all appeared full and healthy but ran when I reached towards my camera to zoom closer.
The grounds are completely grown up with wood rot, tree growth and thick brush. Beneath all of that were broken tombstones, cement slabs and obvious lack of care for the dead. The two stones that I found intact were difficult to read but I was happy to see the cross boldly engraved at the top.
Florida Memory. com offers a document of the founding of this church to be 1880, located on “San Diego Road, 1/2 mile from Kings Avenue, South Jacksonville, Duval County.”
Florida Memory.com church doc
At that time this was a white building which was moved to the present site, and remodelled in 1917. It does not say from where it was moved unless it was closer to the cemetery? The present church is slate blue. The pastor is Carl C. Patterson according to the sign out front.
St Nicholas Bethel on San Diego Road
The pastor at the time was J. C. Christopher serving from 1880-1885. It looks as though the city of Jacksonville will allocate funds in order to help get the graveyard cleaned up which will allow respect to be paid to the interments. There appears to be both military and civilian graves in the area. This will be no small job but kudos to the City Council for approving this project. Its current address is 2602 San Diego Road so there is a lot more than a cemetery clean up. There is the history to ponder.
“Visit Jacksonville’s” first line on Google Search is “Perfectly positioned in Northeast Florida, Jacksonville…”. I love this city. I love her skyline, the waterways, beaches, bridges, woodsy areas, clock, churches and history. I love that the St. Johns river which runs right through the city is only one of a handful of rivers flowing North. (The Nile, Ob, Yenisey and Red river). I love it that Jacksonville’s land area is one of the largest in the nation and that we are a Christian city. (We are if we will just live it out”.)
Jacksonville is also most known for its parks with the largest park system in the nation and its beauty. What a beautiful city we have. Recently, Forbes named Jacksonville, Florida as the 2nd best place to live in the United States.
Of course and certainly could be “the best”.
Jacksonville is considered a city of religious diversity with many faiths represented. According to WJCTNews, Christianity accounts for 94.4 percent of the religiously identified population”. Faith matters in Jacksonville so with that said, I hope and pray that your 2023 year will be filled with God and His work in you. If 94% of Jacksonville would just live out the gift God gave each person, this city could live peaceably before each other, reduce crime, improve our families, homes and community all in one year. It is my God’s power and grace things happen, nothing we do “lest we boast”.
Let the Holy Spirit of God have His way in your life this year. Live for Jesus.( And yes, you’ll err but go forward with apologies to God to do better). “There is none righteous, no not one”.
“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11
She was just sobbing, and not just sobbing. Her face was buried in her hands and though I could not hear her weep, I knew she was in a serious cry. I could see the moisture being wiped away from her eyes and her beautiful black face was agonizing. I wish I had known her well enough to ask if I could come to her and let her tell me. Tell me what though? Obviously she had lost a loved one and she was writhing in pain from this loss.
Today, I visited Evergreen Cemetery, the burial grounds of over 80, some say 90,000 souls. The trip was in an effort to get a birthdate for a story I’m working on. I knew the office had a vault that kept detailed records of internments so I was in hopes I could get a date settled in my mind and in addition, I could photograph the grave. After going to the office, getting info about the grave area, I found the grave for which I came. A map was given me and the area was found quickly and in a short time, I was headed to check out other parts of this beautiful area. It is a cemetery but a beautiful one.
After visiting several areas, I started out of the North gate rather than go back through the entire cemetery when I realized the North gate was locked; probably due to it being New Years Eve.
This caused me to round the back behind the mausoleum and there I saw this beautiful Black woman, probably in her 30’s sitting in front of a full area of graves rocking back and forth with her phone in her lap and hands on her face. She was crying and not a mere whimper. I mean she was grieving, crying and in pure lament.
I rolled down my window and asked if I could help her. She nodded, “no”. Then I said, But are you okay?” With a tearful cry, she moaned, “yes” and the full length of her fingers stretched across her eyes. I said “Precious, I’m so very sorry”. “ I just so sorry for your loss”. “I will pray for you and may God bless and be with you”.
Worrying I might be overstepping, I slowly drove away. I wanted to do more. I wanted to say more but was it right for me to even say anything? As I was photographing the front of the cemetery, I saw her car leave the gravesite. I reached out my hands and fingers toward her and prayed in the Name of Jesus for His power and work to take place in her precious life. He knows. He heard her.
