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MARCH

29, 1549 --Switzerland. Idelette de Bure dies. Stricken with grief, her husband, John Calvin, writes to Viret, “Truly mine is no common grief. I have been bereaved of the best friend of my life; of one who if it had been so ordained, would willingly have shared not only my poverty, but also my death. During her life she was a faithful helper of my ministry. From her I never experienced the slightest hindrance.” He will live fifteen years more, but will never marry.

29, 1715 --France. A proclamation is published by Louis XIV declaring the entire conversion of the French Huguenots, and sentencing those who after this date relapse from Catholicism to Protestantism to all the penalties of heresy.
        Men are dragged before altars to be tortured into denial of their faith. They are whipped, slowly roasted, plunged into wells, gashed with knives and wounded with redhot pincers. But, Louis, known as “The Most Christian King”, lives the life of a profligate. His confidant, Madame de Maintenon was educated a Calvinist but converted to Romanism. She then began to study the mysteries of the passions.
        She was already advanced in life when she attracted the attention of the king, and she understood full well his character. Seeking to enthrall his mind through the influence of religion, she herself became devout in appearance. As he was troubled by remorse, the king became the dupe of bigots who led him to seek the making of proselytes to the church as an atonement for the voluptuous profligacy of his life. Madame de Maintenon knew how to awaken in him compunctions, which she alone could tranquilize, and to subject his mind to her sway by substituting the sentiments of devotion for the passions of love. The conversion of the Huguenots was to excuse the sins of his earlier years.
        The Huguenots will be welcomed in America. Exiled from their homes, and their homeland, towns in Massachusetts will contribute liberally to assist them in the establishing of new homes. Many have fled in dire poverty. Though some will settle in New York, their main resort will be South Carolina where the fires of religious persecution have never been kindled.
They have left their stamp indelibly in our country, for Faneuil Hall in Boston, often called the “cradle of Liberty” on account of it being a favorite meeting place of American patriots in the era of the War for Independence, was the gift of Peter Faneuil, the son of a Huguenot.

29, 1788 --England. Charles Wesley dies dictating,

 “In age and feebleness extreme,
Who shall a sinful worm redeem?
Jesus, my only Hope Thou art,
Strength to my failing flesh and heart,
Oh, let me catch a smile from Thee
And drop into eternity!”       

The “Sweet Singer of Methodism” has written some 6500 hymns, among which is “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!” He has often written hymns while standing in the pulpit. Where most people are aware of his contribution to hymnody, many are not aware of him as a fear-less preacher.
One day he went down to Bristol at a time when bread was very scarce. The poor people were alarmed about the new corn laws and a great bread riot resulted. When a large mob rushed into Bristol, Charles met them and asked them, what they were doing.
        “We must have bread!” they shouted.
        “But you can’t get bread in this way,” he responded. Immediately some of the ringleaders, fearing that he might induce the people to return to their homes, angrily approached him. Mr. Wesley addressed them by saying, “Follow me,” and he led them to the schoolroom where he preached to them. While another mob was causing mischief at Kingswood, Mr. Wesley kept the miners under control by instructing them that they would be more like to obtain bread through praying than by plundering.

        Once while he was preaching at Sheffield, a captain put a broadsword to his chest. Mr. Wesley unfastened his waistcoat and shirt and baring his chest said, “Strike, sir, if you dare.”
When a man armed with a sickle stood ready to cut him down, Mr. Wesley called to him, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command you to stand back!” The man was abashed and confounded and slunk away into the crowd.

29, 1887 --New Jersey. Mr. Ray Palmer, a Congregationalist, dies at Newark leaving behind his well-known hymn, “My Faith Looks Up to Thee,” which he wrote one evening having just graduated from Yale College. He kept the words in his pocket for two years, when in the autumn of 1832 his good friend Dr. Lowell Mason will ask him for a hymn. Mr. Mason was so impressed that he composed a tune for it and later told him, “Mr. Palmer, you may live many years and do many good things, but I think you will be best known as the author of “My Faith Looks Up to Thee.”
 

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