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APRIL

18, 1521 --Germany. This morning, Luther prays, "God Almighty! God Eternal! How terrible is the world! How it opens its mouth to swallow me up! and how defective my confidence in Thee! How weak the flesh; how powerful Satan! If I must put my hope in that which the world calls powerful, I am undone!...The affair is decided and judgment is pronounced! ...O God! O God! O Thou, my God! Assist me against all the wisdom of the world! Do It: Thou must do it ...Thou alone ... for it is not my work but Thine. I have nothing to do here; I have nothing to do contending Thine with the mighty of the world! I, too, would like to spend tranquil and happy days, But the cause is Thine! and it is just and everlasting! 0 Lord! be my help! Faithful God, Immutable God! I trust not in any man. That were vain. All that is of man vacillates! All that comes of man gives way. 0 God! 0 God dost Thou not hear? ...My God! art Thou dead? . . . No, Thou canst not die! Thou only hidest Thyself. Thou hast chosen me for this work. I know it! Act then, 0 God! ...Stand by my side for the sake of Thy well beloved Son, Jesus Christ, Who is my Defense, my Buckler, and my Fortress.
     "Lord, where standest Thou? ...0, my God, where art Thou? Come! Come! I am ready! ...I am ready to give up my life for Thy truth ...patient as a lamb for the cause is just, and it is Thine! I will not break off from Thee either now or through eternity! ...And though the world should be filled with devils, though my body, which however is the work of Thy hands should bite the dust, be racked on the wheel, cut in pieces ...ground to powder ...my soul is Thine, yea, Thy Word is my pledge. My soul belongs to Thee, and will be eternally near Thee ... Amen ... 0 God, help me ... Amen."

18, 1546 --Germany. Today the Council of Trent declares, “This synod ordains and decrees that henceforth Sacred Scripture, and especially the aforesaid Old and Vulgate editions, be printed in the most correct manner possible; and that it shall not be lawful for anyone to print, or cause to be printed, any books whatever on sacred matters, without the name of the author; or in future to sell them, or even to possess them unless they shall have been first examined and approved by the ordinary."

18, 1587 --England. John Foxe is so fully persuaded his death is near, he has sent his two sons from home to avoid causing them grief. As he has been assured, before they will return home, he will have entered his eternal home.
     John Foxe is the renowned chronicler of the Acts and Monuments, better known by the title Book of Martyrs, though poverty has forced him into the printer's trade. His masterpiece has taken him eleven years to complete, and to assure accuracy, he has written each line himself.
    Sir Francis Drake will carry Bibles, Prayer Books, and Foxe's Book of Martyrs aboard his ships, and John Bunyan, when confined in the Bedford Jai1, will find great comfort in the Word of God and his copy of the Book of Martyrs.
     This work was written after having lived for a time in Basle, Switzerland with some English refugees who had fled their homeland to avoid fierce and cruel persecution. "If it be asked", he has stated, "'Why was Abraham chosen and not Nahor? Why was Jacob chosen and not Esau? Why was Moses elected and Pharoah hardened?' It cannot be answered otherwise than this: because it was the good will of God." "And", he will say on another occasion, "Whom God hath chosen, the same He hath Justified."
     His chronicler states, "His death occasioned great lamentations throughout the city, and his funeral was honored with a great concourse of people each of whom appeared to bewail the loss of a father or a brother."


 

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