A Fifer's Tune

On July 10, 1584, William of Orange was gunned down by Balthasar Gérard, at the Prinsenhof, in what was perhaps the first assassination in history to be committed by firearm. As the great Dutch statesman collapsed, his last words were reportedly, "Mon Dieu, ayez pitié de mon âme; mon Dieu, ayez pitié de ce pauvre peuple" ("My God, have have pity on my soul; my God, have pity on this poor people").

Already a hero to his people for leading them in the great war of independence against Spanish tyranny, a song was composed in his honor as early as 1581, based on an earlier French tune made popular during the 1568 seige of Chartres which was first called "Oh la folle enterprise du Prince de Condé" or "Autre chanson de la ville de Chartres assiégée par le prince de Condé." Wilhelmus van Nassouwe or Het Wilhelmus is said to be the world's oldest national anthem and its words reflect the values of the man and his country.

Alas! my flock. To sever
Is hard on us. Farewell.
Your Shepherd wakes, wherever
Dispersed you may dwell,
Pray God that He may ease you.
His Gospel be your cure.
Walk in the steps of Jesus
This life will not endure.

Unto the Lord His power
I do confession make
That ne'er at any hour
Ill of the King I spake.
But unto God, the greatest
Of Majesties I owe
Obedience first and latest,
For Justice wills it so.

There is a story told about one particular time Het Wilhelmus was played on the other side of the world two years after William's death. Following the August 1585 Treaty of Nonsuch, whereby England officially entered the Eighty Years' War on the side of the Dutch, Sir Francis Drake, having already circumnavigated the earth several years ago, commenced the Anglo-Spanish War by leading the English attack on the Spanish colonial cities of Santo Domingo (in what is now the Dominican Republic) and Cartagena (in what is now Columbia), sacking both before turning northward. After spying a crude fort on the Florida coast (Anatasia Island) in June 1586, Drake and his men decided to investigate. In the course of their reconnaissance, some of his scouts saw a man rowing across the river and heard him playing a certain tune on a fife. It was a tune they recognized and which identified the rower as not a Spaniard but a Protestant. Nicholas Borgoignon, a French fifer and survivor of the Fort Caroline settlement, who had been first imprisoned by the Spanish at St. Augustine some 21 years before in 1565, rowed out to greet the English forces with the news that the Spanish had abandoned their fort, San Juan de Pinos. With the intelligence from Borgoignon, Drake's forces located and marched on the town of St. Augustine, sacked it, burned the fort, and captured a huge treasure chest among other Spanish possessions. It was the Prince of Orange's Song, Het Wilhelmus, that helped to deliver a French Huguenot prisoner and seal the fate of St. Augustine.

Pray Around the World

How many prayers begin and end with "I" and "me"? Ideal intercessory prayer is certainly concerned with the needs of the one praying, but must not terminate there; rather move beyond petitions for oneself in concentric circles, as it were. "Is there none, O man, that needs the mercy of God besides thyself?" (William Gurnall) Begin at home, with the needs of family, and move outward in your petitions to God. We have neighbors with needs -- are you cognizant of the needs of your neighbors? What of the town in which you live? What of those in authority over you in your county, state or federal government? What of the poor, the sick, the homeless, the aged, the lonely, the downcast, those in prison, those who are destitute? What of the congregation you attend, the denomination of which you are a member, the international church of Jesus Christ? What of the Jews and the Gentiles who must be gathered in, and the kingdoms which must be brought in to God's kingdom? We are not all missionaries, and many of us will not travel around the world, but we can, in contemporary parlance, "pray globally, and act locally." William Gurnall gives us a guide and a motive for praying around the world (The Christian in Complete Armour, Vol. 2, p. 525):

[L]et not the sea that divides thee and the other parts of the earth make thee think thou art not concerned in their happiness or misery. Let thy prayers walk over the vast ocean, and bring matters for thy devotions, like the merchant's ship her freight from afar. Visit the churches of Christ abroad; yea, the poor Indians and other ruins of mankind that lie where Adam's sin threw them with us, without any attempt made as yet upon them by the gospel for their recovery, and carry their deplored condition before the Lord. Our [Sir Francis] Drake is famous for compassing the earth with his ship in a few years; thou mayst by thy prayers every day, and make a more gainful voyage of it too than he did.

Geneva's Triple Light

In an elegaic poem about Jonathan Mitchell (1624 - 1668) written by one Francis Drake (fl. 1650 - 1668), he refers to "Geneva's Triple Light," meaning William Farel, Pierre Viret and John Calvin. They were the Genevan "Triumvirate" (again to use Drake's phrase) of the age.

Unlike Caesar, Pompey and Crassus, however, this triumvirate was an example not of rivalry and jealousy, but of brotherly love. Calvin's dedication to Farel and Viret prefacing his commentary on Titus is a true testimony to this brotherly love:

TO TWO EMINENT SERVANTS OF CHRIST,

WILLIAM FARELL AND PETER VIRET,

HIS DEARLY BELOVED BRETHREN AND COLLEAGUES,

JOHN CALVIN

OFFERS HIS SALUTATIONS.

My Commentary-which now goes forth bearing the inscription of your name-is, indeed, a small gift; yet I fully believe that it will be acceptable to you, for this reason, that the subject of the Epistle induced me to make this Dedication. The task of putting the finishing hand to that building which Paul had begun in Crete, but left incomplete was undertaken by Titus. I occupy nearly the same position with regard to you.

When you had made some progress in rearing this church with vast exertions, and at great risk, after some time had elapsed I came, first as your assistant, and afterwards was left as your successor, that I might endeavor to carry forward, to the best of my ability, that work which you had so well and so successfully begun. This work, I and my colleagues are endeavoring to perform, if not with so great progress as might have been desired yet heartily and faithfully, according to our small ability.

To return to you, in consequence of holding the same relation to you which Paul assigned to Titus, I have been led to consider this similarity as a good reason for selecting you above all others, for dedicating to you this labor of mine. Meanwhile, to the present age, and perhaps to posterity, it will, at least, be some evidence of that holy union and friendship which exists between us. I think that there has never been, in ordinary life, a circle of friends so sincerely bound to each other as we have been in our ministry. With both of you I discharged here the office of pastor; and so far was there from being any appearance of envy, that you and I seemed to be one. We were afterwards separated by places; for you, Farell, were invited by the church of Neufchastel, which you had rescued from the tyranny of Popery, and brought into obedience to Christ; and you, Viret, are held in the same relation by the church of Lausanne.

While each of us occupies his own position, our union brings together the children of God into the fold of Christ, and even unites them in his body; while it scatters not only those outward enemies who openly carry on war with us, but those nearer and domestic enemies, by whom we are inwardly assailed. For I reckon this also to be one of the benefits resulting from being closely related, that filthy dogs, whose bites cannot succeed so far as to tear and rend the Church of Christ, do nothing more than bark against it with all their might. And, indeed, we cannot too thoroughly despise their insolence, since we can, with truth, glory before God, and have proved to men by the clearest evidence, that we cultivate no other society or friendship than that which has been consecrated to the name of Christ, which has hitherto been advantageous to his Church, and which has no other aim than that all may be at one with us in Him.

Farewell, my most excellent and most upright brethren. May the Lord Jesus continue to bless your pious labors!

Geneva, 29th November 1549.

Theodore Beza, Johannis Calvini Vita:

Calvin greatly delighted in that intimate friendship which he enjoyed with Farel and Viret, -- a friendship hateful to the evil-minded, but most gratifying to the good. And it was indeed a fair sight to contemplate these three extraordinary men, endowed with such various gifts, labouring in perfect union together to accomplish this heavenly design. Farel was conspicuous through greatness of soul, and a certain heroic nature; no one could remain unmoved by the thunder of his eloquence, or listen to his fervent prayers without feeling raised towards heaven. Viret, on the contrary, spoke with such exquisite sweetness, that his hearers hung irresistably on his lips. But as to Calvin, as many as were the words which he uttered, so many were the deep thoughts which filled the breasts of his hearers: so that it has often entered my mind, that in the union of the gifts enjoyed by these three, we see that which would constitute the highest perfection of an evangelical teacher.