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MARCH

22, 1471 --Czechoslavakia. George Podiebrad, King of Bohemia, dies at Prague. He has united Bohemia formerly torn by religious discord. When Pope Pius II demanded the king’s unconditional obedience, he at first stalled. The Pope then excommunicated him. His successor, Pope Paul II, authorized the formation of a league of discontented nobles, and Mathias Cominus, King of Hungary, to help the church. But King George Podiebrad of Bohemia is not conquered and the Bohemian crown will pass to Ladislas II.

22, 1622 --Virginia. Indians swoop down upon unsuspecting English settlers, and in one hour, three hundred and forty-seven Englishmen are killed. Last night, a converted Indian warned the inhabitants of Jamestown and the nearby settlements, and these were thus prepared for the attack. As a result, this day will be set aside annually to commemorate the deliverance of the colony from utter extermination.

22, 1758 --Massachusetts. Jonathan Edwards dies. He has been the instrument in the hands of God to bring about the revival along the eastern seaboard known as the “Great Awakening.” He is known as the Preacher of this revival whereas George Whitefield will be known as the Evangelist. This revival has occurred at the same time as Pietism occurred in Germany, and the Netherlands, and as the Wesleyan Revival in England.

22, 1832 --Massachusetts. In Lee, Rev. Alvan Hyde, pastor of the Congregational Church here, writes to Mr. William Sprague of the 1792 revival:

              “Dear Brother, In compliance with your particular request I now commence a concise narrative of the work of God’s Holy Spirit in reviving religion at several periods, among the people of my pastoral charge.
             “The first season of ‘refreshing from the presence of the Lord’ which this people enjoyed, commenced in June 1792, a few days after the event of my ordination. “There was, at this time, no religious excitement in this region of the country, nor had I knowledge of their being a special work of God’s grace in any part of the land. The Church here was small and feeble, having only twenty-one male members belonging to it. It was, however, continuing with one accord in prayer.
             “With a view to form a still more particular acquaintance with the people committed to my charge, I early began to make family visits in different sections of the town. These visits of which I made a number in the course of a week, were improved wholly in conversing on the great subject of religion, and in obtaining, with as much correctness as I could, a knowledge of their spiritual state, that my instructions on the Sabbath, and at the weekly meetings, might be better adapted to their case. This people had been for nine years without a pastor, and were unhappily divided in their religious opinions. Some were Calvinists, and favored the Church, but the largest proportion were Arminians. And as they had been in the habit of maintaining warm disputes with each other on the doctrines of the Bible, I calculated on having to encounter many trials. Contrary to my expectations, I found on my first visits, many persons of different ages under serious and very deep impressions, each one supposing his own burdens and distresses of mind, on account of his sins, to be singular, not having the least knowledge that any others were awakened. It was evident ...a marvellous work was begun, and it bore the most decisive marks of being God’s work. So great was the excitement, though not yet known abroad, that into whatever section of the town I now went, the people in that immediate neighborhood, would leave their worldly employments at any hour of the day, and soon fill a large room. Before I was ware, and without any previous appointment, I found myself on these occasions, in the midst of a solemn and anxious assembly. Many were in tears, and bowed down under the weight of their sins. And some began to rejoice in hope. These seasons were spent in prayer and exhortation, and in conversing with the anxious, and with such as found relief, by submitting themselves to God, adopting my instruction to their respective cases. This was done in the hearing of all who were present.
            “As yet there had been no public religious meetings, excepting on the Sabbath. A weekly lecture, at the meeting house, was now appointed to be on Thursday; and though it was the most busy season of the year, the house was filled. This lecture was continued for more than six months without any abatement of attention; in sustaining which I was aided by neighboring ministers, and by numbers from a distance, who came to witness this display of Sovereign Grace. The former disputes of the people, respecting religious sentiments, in a great measure subsided, their consciences seeming to testify in favor of the truth. The work spread into every part of the town, and what was worthy of special notice, it was entirely confined within the limits of the town, excepting in the case of a few families which usually attended public worship with us from the borders of the adjacent towns. Especially powerful was the work among those who had taken their stand in opposition to the small church and the distinguishing doctrines of Grace. Many of this class were convinced, that they had always lived in error and darkness, and in a state of total alienation from God. They were compelled, notwithstanding their former hatred of the prominent truths of the Gospel, to make the interesting inquiry, ‘What shall we do to be saved?’
            “The truths which I exhibited in my public discourses, and in the many meetings between the Sabbaths were ...the Holiness and Immutability of God; the Purity and Perfection of the Law; the Entire Depravity of the Heart consisting in voluntary opposition to God and holiness; the Fullness and Sufficiency of the Atonement made by Christ; the freeness of the offer of Pardon made to all on condition of Repentance; the Necessity of a Change of Heart by the Holy Spirit arising from the deep-rooted Depravity of men which no created arm could remove; the Utter Inexcusableness of Sinners in Rejecting the Kind Overtures of Mercy as they Acted Freely and Voluntarily in Doing it; and the Duty and Reasonableness of Immediate Submission to God .…
          “All our religious meetings were very much thronged, and yet were never noisy or irregular, nor continued to a late hour. They were characterized with a stillness and solemnity which I believe have rarely been witnessed. The converts appeared to renounce all dependence on their own doings, feeling themselves entirely destitute of righteousness, and that all their hope of salvation was in the mere mercy of God in Christ, to whom they were willing to be eternal debtors. To the praise of Sovereign Grace, I may add, that the work continued, with great regularity and little abatement, nearly eighteen months. In this time, as appears from the records, of the church, one hundred and ten persons of different ages united themselves unto the Lord and His covenant people. All these were examined in the presence of the church, and were received, on the ground of their professing to have experienced a change of heart and to have passed from death unto life. They appeared to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit, and to exemplify the religion of Jesus in their subsequent lives. The instances of apostasy have been but few.
            “This revival of religion produced a surprising change in the religious sentiments and feelings of the people, and in the general aspect of the town. It effected a happy union; ...not did the people lose their relish for religious meetings.
             “In the year 1800, we were again favored with special tokens of God’s presence in a work of the Holy Spirit. This display of Sovereign Grace was witnessed soon after I commenced a weekly religious conference with particular reference to the young people; and it was noticed that the subjects of the work were confined almost wholly to those who attended this conference. As in the former revival, I explained and enforced the doctrines of the Gospel, showing the youth, who flocked together in great numbers, that sinners had brought ruin upon themselves, and were awfully guilty and justly condemned, and that all their hope of salvation was in a crucified Saviour. Prayer and Praise accompanied this instruction. No attempts were made to produce an excitement, only in view of the plain truths of the Gospel. The great body of the people as they did not attend on these means were not affected and solemnized, as they were in the first revival; but the convictions of the awakened were clear, rational and pungent, and those who received comfort appeared understandingly to embrace the soul-humbling doctrines of the cross, and to be renewed in the temper of their minds. This revival occasioned an accession to the church of twenty-one persons, the most of whom were between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four.
            “A few years now passed in which we had no revival . . .. (But) in September 1806, the Lord graciously visited us again....”
 

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