"OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY"
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JUNE
26, 1691 --England. John Flavel dies in his sixty-fourth
year. He has been struck down so suddenly he has not suffered pain nor
given a groan.
When he was ejected by the Act of Uniformity of
1662, Mr. Flavel preached privately until the passing of the Five-Mile
Act. Driven from Dartmouth, he removed to Slapton five miles away. In
1671, under the Act of Indulgence was passed, he returned to Dartmouth
until he was forbidden to preach. He then fled to London for safety, He
later returned to Dartmouth whereby interest rightly with his
congregation in the 1687 penal laws were elapsed.
26, 1702 --England. Philip Doddridge is born in London. Showing little
sign of life, he will be thrown aside as dead. Fortunately, an attendant
will give him the necessary care, and the child will revive.
Mr. Doddridge will pen the familiar words, “0 Happy Day
that fixed my choice on Thee My Saviour and my God!” “Awake! My soul,
stretch every nerve and press with vigor on” is another of his
well-known hymns. He will write Rise and Progress of Religion in the
Soul, which will direct William Wilberforce to Christ. He is also
the author of the Family Expositor.
26, 1778 --Massachusetts. Two young Baptist preachers have been called
to preach at Pepperell. Today they meet in a field to baptize six
candidates. After prayers are made and a sermon begun, the chief
officers of the town arrive with several followers. Their intent is to
disrupt and disperse the service. The owner of the field warns them to
leave if they will not be peaceable, but they refuse to leave. One of
the preachers asks them to behave like men if they will not like
Christians, and seeks to open the Scriptures to substantiate the Divine
warrant for liberty of conscience.
“Don’t quote Scripture here!” an officer responds; and
a member of the “established” church calls one candidate for baptism, a
“Tory.” When the accused attempts to clear himself of the odious
epithet, the officer shouts, “Hold your tongue, or I’ll beat your teeth
down your throat!”
A dog is carried to the river and contemptuously
immersed.
Next, a gentleman from the town invites the
preachers to conduct the service at his home near another river. The
offer is accepted, but at the close of the service, a man who has been
hired with a bowl of liquor, goes into the river and immerses another
two or three times. Also, two or three more dogs are dipped.
Suddenly three town officers enter the house and advise
the Baptist preachers to leave town for their own safety. When the
preachers ask if their lives will be in danger if they fail to leave
town, they receive no answer, but sensing the prevailing attitudes, they
decide to leave the area and to meet at a distant place where they
complete the baptisms. Still abuse was offered at the close of the
service.
26, 1822 --Virginia. Thomas Jefferson writes to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse:
First, “ ...That there is one only God, and He
all perfect.
Second, That there is a future state of rewards
and punishments.
Third, That to love God with all thy heart and
thy neighbor as thyself is the sum of religion. These are the great
points on which He (Christ) endeavored to reform the religion of the
Jews. But compare with these demoralizing dogmas of Calvin:
1.) That there are
three Gods.
2.) That good
works, or the love of our neighbor, are nothing.
3.) That faith is
everything, and the more incomprehensible the proposition, the more
merit in its faith.
4.) That
Reason in religion is of unlawful use.
5.) That God, from
the beginning, elected certain individuals to be saved, and certain
others to be damned; and that no crimes of the former can damn them; no
virtues of the latter save.
Now which of these is the true and
charitable Christian? . . . I rejoice that in this blessed country of
free inquiry and belief, which has surrendered its creed and conscience
to neither kings nor priests, the genuine doctrine of one only God is
reviving, and I trust that there is not a young man now living in the
United States who will not die an Unitarian.”