"OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY"
-71-
MARCH
30, 1533 --England. Thomas Cranmer is consecrated the
first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury. He has drawn up a formal
protest declaring that an oath of obedience to the Pope would be a form
and not a reality. He will not bind himself to do anything contrary to
the king and commonwealth of England, or restrain his liberty in things
pertaining to the reformation of the Christian religion and its
government of the Church of England. Approximately in the year 1525, he
will begin “in private to pray for the abolition of the Papal power in
England.”
30, 1555 --England. Robert Farrer, bishop of St. David’s and one of
England’s reformers, is burned at the stake. He has told an onlooker,
“If ye see me once stir while I am burning, then give no credit to the
truth of the doctrine for which I suffer.” He makes good his word, and
does not move until a blow to his head causes him to fall into the midst
of the flames.
30, 1661 --Scotland. Samuel Rutherford dies. He has said, “If He should
slay me ten thousand times, I will trust!” Because of his book, Lex
Rex, “The Law and The King”, Mr. Rutherford is confined to his own
house. A parchment has been sent requiring him to appear before the
ensuing Parliament on the charge of high treason. His reply: “Tell them
I have a summons already from a Superior Judge and Judicatory and ere
your day arrives, I will be where few kings and great folks come.”
His last words will be, “Glory, Glory
dwelleth, in Immanuel’s Land!” The noted hymn, “The Sands of Time” is a
nineteen-stanza biography of his life written by Mrs. A. R. Cousin, wife
of W. Cousin, Free Church minister of Melrose, and contains many of his
sayings.
30, 1820 --Hawaii. A group of Congregational missionaries from New
England arrive in the Hawaiian Islands. King Kamehameha II welcomes
them.
30, 1821 -- India. Samuel Newell dies of Cholera at Bombay. He was
ordained at Salem, Massachusetts with Adoniram Judson, Samuel Nott,
Gordon Hall and Luther Rice, and sailed with Mr. Judson for Calcutta.
30, 1858 --Pennsylvania. Mr. Dudley Tyng, a fearlessly uncompromising
Episcopalian preacher and pastor of the Church of the Covenant in
Philadelphia, will preach to five thousand men who assemble to hear him
preach on Exodus 10:ll—“Ye that are men, go and serve the Lord.” Over
one thousand will profess Christ. “I must tell my Master’s errand, and I
would rather that this arm be amputated at the trunk than that I should
come short of my duty to you in delivering God’s message.”
On Tuesday, April 13th, he will be
witnessing a corn-thrasher in operation when as he raises his arm to pat
the mule on the head, the long sleeve will be caught between the cogs.
His arm being mutilated, the main artery severed, as well as the median
nerve injured, it will be amputated at the shoulder. He will die two
days later on Monday, between one and two o’clock.
George Duffield, Jr. pastor of Temple
Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, will preach a memorial sermon the
following Sunday from the test, Ephesians 6:14 --“Stand, therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness.” Mr. Tyng’s dying words inspired Mr. Duffield’s
original poem, “Stand up, Stand up for Jesus”.