Reformátusok Lapja, 1971 (71. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1971-04-01 / 4. szám

REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA

11

narrative. “Nevertheless we lost our Admiral, (the ship Delight) with all the men and provisions, not knowing certainly the place.”

The day was Thursday, August 29th. The wind rose and blew vehemently. Rainfall and fog made visibility very poor. The ships were driven among flats, rock and sandbars.

The two smaller vessels, the Golden Hinde and the Squirill, (on which the General was at this time) managed to escape the cliffs and gained depth signaling to the larger Delight to do likewise. The Admiral ship, however, “stroke ground and soon afterwards had her stern and hinder parts beaten in pieces.”

In the violent storm the two smaller ships escaped They kept a vigilant eye on the main ship “for we desired to save the men by every possible means. But all in vain. God had determined their ruin,” says Master Hayes and concludes the narrative:

“This was a heavy and grievous event, to loose at one blow our chief ship . . . But more was the loss of our men which perished almost of a hundred soul. (According to other accounts 102.) Amongst whom was drowned a learned man, an Hungarian, born in the city of Buda, called thereof Budaeus, who of piety and zeal to good attempts, adventured in this action, minding to record in the Latin tongue, the gests and things worthy of remembrance, happening in this discovery, to the honour of our nation, the same being adorned with eloquent style of this orator and rare poet of our time."

In his chronicle-in-verse the chronicler and poet identifies himself as a Magyar and says:

“Raised in the sciences with the assistance of the most learned men, in whom our most happy Pannónia (Hungary) abounded, according to the custom of our people I was sent to visit the colleges of our Christian world.” Stephen Parmenius de Buda (István Budai Parmenius in the original) was a Hungarian Protestant reformer, trained in Hungary and in Western European universities including Oxford. His penmanship proves that he was a scholar and a bom poet.

And this pioneer-minded Hungarian Protestant clergyman of the 16th century became a martyr of early Canadian explorations when he perished in the storm on August 29th, 1583 121 leagues S.W. from Cape Race, at Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.

*

Only the Golden Hinde returned to England under Captain Edward Hayes saving for posterity perhaps the most precious of its relics, the Budai Parmenius, Chronicle.

Sir Humphrey Gilbert whose motive for these journeys was “the planting of God’s word” who was also lost at sea on the return trip, left to us a memorable motto which may have been a common treasure of both of them:

“We are as near to heaven by sea as by land.”

Dr. Kalman Toth

<3n C<J rust

God gives to each of us a gift,

In trust He makes this loan.

To have, to hold, to share, to love;

But, one day He claims his own.

God gives to us our parents dear And a family filled with joy.

Perhaps, a mate to share one’s life With a lovely girl or boy.

God gives to each some of these gifts,

To plant the seed of love.

To cherish all our earthly things;

Precious loans from Him above.

God gives to us the gift of life,

A loan He gives in trust.

Someday He’ll claim us for His own As Lord God is fair and just.

Margaret Fekete Csóványos-------------* • ^ -------------PRAYER

Eternal God our gracious heavenly Father and Savior through thine only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ. As we stand in awe and humility in this time of the visitation of the angel of death, understanding again that we have no abiding city in this world but we all must seek the one that shall come to us, we also understand that Thou art the sole author and disposer of our lives, who calls us home after our days are gone and our work is done.

Save us from overexaggerating the depth of the tragedy that has befallen to this beloved brother of ours, or to minimize its impact upon us, but rather, O Lord enable us to behold this casket as a vehicle in which a weary traveler fares towards Thy heavenly abode. Let his perishable ashes ascend to Thee as a good and acceptable sacrifice of one who loved Thee and served Thee truly here.

Neither is this solemn occasion a time for anything else but for the affirmation of our hope and faith that man does not live in vain and does not die in vain. Somewhere in the mysterious Book of Life there is a chapter written on each of us which then becomes the very purpose and goal for each man. Herein lies the inestimable value of each man that every human life has a unique destiny which no other can substitute.

This is also a time for bearing witness to Thee through the dedicated life and service of Stephen whose sojourn has now come to an end here. But it is only this world, this sick, war-torn, sad world to which he died. In this he had seen the ravages of human sin, experienced the bitter life of the homeless who left behind the land of his forbears,