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JULY

1, 1690 --Ireland. Having acquired an army of thirty-six thousand English, French, Dutch, and German, and Danish Protestants, William III, Prince of Orange, is marching into the South of Ireland. Today, he arrives at the Boyne River. The Huguenot regiment sees before them the French flag of Louis XIV and the English flag of James II. Louis XIV, the ‘Host Christian King”, has banished the Huguenots from their country, their homes and their families, and has taken common cause with the persecution of the English Protestants. When it becomes known to them every soldier of this force bears the same badge—the white cross in his hat—the same badge which distinguished the assassins of their forefathers on the night of the St. Bartholomew Massacre, they burn to meet them in battle.
     Count Menard de Schomberg crosses the river on the right by the bridge of Slane and turns the left flank of the opposing army. After a short but sharp conflict, he succeeds.
     Next, William proceeds to lead his left, which is made up of cavalry, across the river, considerably lower down, as the main body of infantry composing the center advance. The Dutch guards lead closely followed by Huguenot foot soldiers. Under a storm of cannon end musketry, they plunge into the river and wade across. No sooner do they struggle up the right bank then La Caillemotte, the Huguenot colonel is struck down by musket shot. As he is being carried off the field, covered with blood—through the ranks of his advancing men, he calls out to them, “A la gloire, mes enfans! A la gloire!”
     A strong body of Irish cavalry charges the advancing infantry with such vigor they cause them to shake, then to reel and to give way. Marshall Schomberg, standing eagerly watching the advancing of his troops from the northern bank, now sees the crises of the conflict has arrived. He places himself at the head of his Huguenot regiment of horse which he has held in reserve, and pointing his sword across the river, he cries, “Aliens, mes amis! Rappelez votre courage et yes resentments: voila yes persecuterus!” and they plunge into the stream. The Dutch and Huguenot infantry rally; and William coming up from the left with his cavalry falls upon the Irish flank and completes their confusion. The Irish army with their French confederates is forced to flee in the direction of Dublin—the King at their head.
     On reaching Dublin Castle, James will be received by Lady Tyrconnel, the wife of his viceroy. “Madam,” James cries, “your countrymen can run well!” “Not quite so well as your Majesty for I see you have won the race!”
     William has lost four hundred men, among them Marshall Schomberg who was eighty-two years of age. A party of Tyconnel’s horsemen has cut him down.

1, 1698 --France. At the instigation of Louis XIV, Duke Victor Amadeus II issues a patent forbidding the Reformed in the Valleys from having any religious association with French subjects, and orders all French refugees to leave the country within two months.

1, 1805 --Ireland. Having declined all connection with the Synod of Ulster, Mr. Alexander Carson is forced to vacate his pulpit. He and his people are evicted from their church property. Today, he writes, “As I go out like Abraham, not knowing whither I go, may the blessing of Abraham come upon me, scan out my future lot and fix the bounds of my habitation. May I with confidence and cheerfulness trust myself, my wife and little ones to Thy Providence. O Lord, I know of all men I am naturally the most unfit for the perilous work to which Thou hast called me; Lord, hear Thy servant on behalf of his dear relations; I entreat Thee also to bless my testimony for the conversion of the congregation in which I now labor. O, that the Lord may have a church in this place.”

1, 1835 --Scotland. Robert Murray McCheyne is licensed to preach.

1, 1949 --Italy. Pope Plus XII issues a decree threatening with excommunication Roman Catholics taking or retaining membership in Communist organizations, he will raise a strong outcry against the arrest of Cardinal Mindszenty, Primate of Hungary, taken captive by the Communist invaders.

2, 1489 --England. Thomas Cranmer is born the second of three sons and four sisters, As a boy he will be able to ride the roughest horse in the shire and will be known as a hunter. He will become the first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury. In life he will exhibit weakness, but when he comes to be burned at the stake for his defense of the faith, he will die one of History’s most courageous deaths.

2, 1644 --England. The officers of Oliver Cromwell, ready to preach and pray as to stand as his “Ironsides,” today break the ranks of the Royalist army and the decisive battle of Marston Moor is won by their energy and valor.

2, 1648 --Scotland. The Scot Assembly adopts the Westminster Larger Catechism.

2, 1777 --Vermont. The convention of Vermont assembles at Windsor and adopts organic law that assumes all men are free-born with inalienable rights; that they may emigrate from one state to another or form a new state; that “every sect should observe the Lord’s Day, and keep up some sort of religious worship;” and that every man may choose that form of worship “which seems to him most agreeable to the revealed will of God.”
     They provide for a school in each town, a grammar school in each county, and a university in the state. All officers, whether executive or legislative, are to be chosen annually by ballot, the freemen of every town and all one-year residents being electors. Every member of the House of Representatives must declare “his belief in one God, the Rewarder of the good and the Punisher of the wicked; in the Divine inspiration of the Scriptures; and in the Protestant religion.” Slavery is forbidden forever, and there is to be no imprisonment for debt.

2, 1865 --England. The Salvation Army is founded in London.

2, 1875 --England. The Sunday League is organized at a meeting in Westminster Palace Hotel, here in London. It will have a defiling effect upon the Lord’s Day as a Holy Day and will voice its favor of allowing participation in harmless Sunday amusements, such as in visiting museums, public gardens, and libraries. It will be not long before it supports public lectures on secular themes. It was Voltaire who said, “It is impossible, to destroy the Christian religion so long as the Sabbath is recognized as a Divine institution.”


 

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