"OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY"
-201-
AUGUST
20, 1153 --France. Bernard of Clairveaux dies at
Clairveaux. He was the third son of the knight Tecelin and Aleth, a very
pious mother. He has opposed Peter Abelard and his preaching has
resulted in the second crusade. He leaves behind him such literary works
as On Consolation and On the Love Of God, but he is best
remembered for such hymns as "Jesus, The Very Thought Of Thee," and
"Jesus, Thou Joy Of Loving Hearts."
20, 1644 --England. The Westminster Assembly is ordered by Parliament to
appoint a committee to "prepare a joint confession of faith."
20, 1745 --England. In Staffordshire, Francis Asbury is born. He will
establish the Methodist Church in the United States and will become the
first bishop to be ordained by the Methodist Episcopal Church in
America. When the Revolutionary War breaks out and many ministers return
to England, he remains behind to labor.
In 1785, he will help found the first Methodist College
in America.
20, 1783 --Wales. Thomas Charles, the great revivalist of Northern
Wales, marries Sarah Jones. He is twenty-eight years old.
20, 1912 --England. William Booth dies. He is the founder of the
Salvation Army.
21, 1560 --France. Gaspard de Coligny today reads a petition of the
Huguenots for toleration.
21, 1716 --France. On March 8th, King Louis XIV declared in an edict
that Protestantism was non-existent in France. Today, Antoine Court
assembles the first Huguenot synod to re-establish the "Church in the
desert." They convene in an abandoned mine. After prayer, the first
elders are appointed from among those present. A series of rules and
regulations is resolved upon and ordered to be spread over the entire
province. Briefly, they choose the Bible as their only rule of Faith and
Practice, and based upon I Timothy 2:12 --"I suffer not a woman to
teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence" --they
forbid women to preach. The preachers are then charged to go forth, to
stir up the people and endeavor to bring back the "new converts."
21, 1732 --Germany. David Nitschmann accompanied by Leonard Dober set
out on foot from
Herrnhut for Copenhagan and thus mark the beginning of Moravian
missions.
“Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with
them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in
the body,”
-Hebrews 13:3-
22, 1567 --Netherlands. Alva arrives with an order to
repress heresy with the sword and the state.
22, 1651 --England. Christopher Love is today beheaded on Tower Hill. A
strong Presbyterian, he has been involved in correspondence with
Presbyterians of Scotland in a design to restore Charles II to his
throne. With several others, he was arrested on May 7th, and it was
determined to make him an example in order to check Presbyterian
agitation against Cromwell. When Thomas Manton announces his intention
to preach his funeral, soldiers will threaten to be present to shoot him
through the head in his pulpit. Mr. Manton will remain staunch in his
intentions.
22, 1864 --Switzerland. The Geneva Convention concludes. The result is
that the sick and wounded in war, together with the staff devoted to
their care and all utilities appertaining to the work are declared
inviolable under the sign of the Red Cross on a White field.
22, 1943 --Italy. Because of the professed danger of heresy, and because
it was felt untrained minds could not correctly understand the Bible,
Popes and Councils have strictly regulated the translation of Scripture
into the vernacular and have often forbidden the reading of such
translations by laity. Among these are the Council of Toulouse of 1229
which was called against the Albigensians; the Council of Oxford of
1408, which was called against John Wycliffe; the decree of Pope Paul
IV, in 1559, which gave the Pope exclusive power to authorize the
printing and keeping of Biblical versions in the vernacular; and the
Bull "Unigenitus", issued by Clement XI in 1713.
The decree of 1559 was rescinded in 1757, and passed
into the hands of the local hierarchy, the supervision of printing and
distributing Bibles. Pope Leo XIII granted an indulgence of three
hundred days to the faithful to spend fifteen minutes daily in reading
the Bible with piety.
Today, a decree of the Biblical Commission specifies
the faithful may read for devotion from versions based either on the
official Vulgate, or on the original texts. However, when Scripture
lessons are read from the pulpit after the liturgical recitation of the
same in Latin, only translations from the Vulgate may be used.
22 -September 3, 1948 --Holland. In Amsterdam representatives from one
hundred forty-seven churches from forty-four countries will meet and
tomorrow will declare the founding of the World Council of Churches.
"The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which accept
our Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour." "The World Council shall
offer counsel and provide opportunity of united action in matters of
common interest . . .. The World Council shall not legislate for the
churches, nor shall it act for them in any matter except as indicated
above." The Council will show itself to be liberal in its scope, and in
1948, Rev. Carl McIntyre will found the International Council of
Christian Churches to offset the apostate influence of the World
Council.