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JULY

    
17, 180 --Africa. Twelve Christians, seven men and five women, are beheaded at Scilli after having repeatedly refused to swear to the genius of the Emperor. This oath would have secured clemency for their crime of adhering to the Christian faith. Six of the accused are Numidian Christians. All have been brought before the Proconsul Vigellius Saturninus and who has offered a respite of thirty days on two occasions, but the believers have refused the delay.

17, 1505 --Germany. A few days ago, Martin Luther was returning from the house of Danzig when lightening struck close-by. His friends sure he was dead were surprised when Luther aroused and exclaimed, “St. Anne, I will become a monk!” Today, he enters the Augustinian monastery. Later, he will recall, “If I meant to get to Heaven, it must be by my own efforts. For this reason I ...became a monk.”
     One day as he stands before the convent, a stranger carrying a pistol under his arm will accost him and ask, “Why do you walk about quite alone?” Luther will answer, “I am in the hands of God. He is my Strength and my Shield.” The stranger will grow pale, and beginning to tremble, he will flee.

17, 1674 --England. Isaac Watts is born. As a young man he will correspond with Miss Elizabeth Singer. She will be so taken with his letters she will write in verse of her desire to meet him. When at last he stands before her, her heart will sink within her for his personal appearance leaves much to be desired. When he musters enough courage to propose to her, she will decline saying, “Mr. Watts, I only wish I could say that I admire the casket as much as I admire the jewel.”

On another occasion he will overhear a gentleman speak with appalling surprise when he is with friends in an inn: “What! Is that the great Dr. Watts?” With amazing coolness he will utter some of his verse:

 “Were I so tall to reach the pole, or grasp the ocean with a span,
I must be measured by my soul, the mind’s the standard of the man.”
 

Mr. Watts will be styled the “Father of the English Hymn” and will write perhaps as many as Charles Wesley.

17, 1715 --England. Daniel Doddridge dies. His son, Philip writes, “God is an immortal Father. My soul rejoiceth in Him; He has hitherto helped me and pro-vided for me. May it be my study to approve myself a more affectionate, grateful, dutiful child!”

17, 1754 --New York. King’s College, now Columbia University, opens in New York with ten students.

17, 1805 --England. Henry Martyn sets sail for India. He will arrive in Calcutta in April 1806 and will be horrified at the idolatry of the people bowing before a hideous image. “I shivered,” he writes, “as if standing, as it were, in the neighborhood of Hell.”
      In 1806 William Carey will write of him, “A young clergyman, Mr. Martyn, is lately arrived who is possessed of a truly missionary spirit ...We take sweet counsel together and go to the house of God as friends.”

17, 1874 --England. At Broadlands, near Romsey, the first meeting is held, which will become known as the Keswick Convention. The first meeting will last through the twenty-third of this month and is intended “for the promotion of practical holiness”, using the means of prayer, discussion and fellowship. Next year, it will meet at Keswick where it will meet each year.

17, 1960 --Cuba. Mass is celebrated in the Havana Cathedral for victims of Communism. While Catholics sing “Long live Christ the King,” a Communist mob assembles outside. When the Mass ends, the Godless mob assaults the Catholics. In three weeks, Catholic bishops will sign a statement declaring “Catholicism and Communism—are totally opposed and can never be reconciled . . .. Only by deceit or coercion could the Cuban people be led into a Communist regime.” As a result, Castro’s soldiers will raid churches, and schools. Some will dress in clerical robes and will appear in public places with prostitutes.

 
 

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