"OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY"
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MAY
9, 1760 --Germany. At Herrnhut, on his estate,
Count Nicholas Von Zinzendorf dies. A Lutheran, and a Pietist, the Count
has allowed Herrnhut, a community of refugees, to settle on his estate.
The refugees have fled persecution from Moravia where they have been
denied the right to worship. The Moravian Church is thus founded. The
Moravians are also known as the Unity of the Brethren or “Unitas Fratrum”
which has originated in Bohemia in the fifteenth century and is a
combination of the followers of John Huss as well as the Waldensians.
They have been disastrously defeated in the Thirty Years War and have
had to go underground in Bohemia, Poland, and Moravia. These have fled
to Saxony in 1722 where they have settled in the Count’s estate.
9, 1765 --Massachusetts. Mr. Hezekiah Smith forms a Baptist Church in
Haverhill. He will receive much ill treatment there. Once a hammer is
cast at him as he walks the street one evening. He will take it up and
carry it home.
On another occasion, a large stone will be cast through
a window near his head while he was in bed. His enemies will go so far
as to cut off his horse’s mane and tail in the night.
When Mr. Smith is requested by Mr. Solomon Kimball to
preach in his house, the Sheriff will come at the head of a mob to
prevent it. As Mr. Smith begins the service, the chair behind which he
stands will be snatched away. When he perseveres, the rioters will
withdraw, but will lay wait for him in the evening; but in the
Providence of God, the unusual coldness of the night air, will force
them to abandon their evil intent.
9, 1803 --South Carolina. The Fourth and last Synod of the Associate
Reformed Synod of the South is organized at Ebenezer or Brick Church in
Fairfield County. Three others have been founded in New York,
Pennsylvania, and Scioto. The Synod of the Carolinas is organized here
today.
9, 1836 --England. Charlotte Elliott, now forty-seven years of age, and
an invalid, will reminisce how that fourteen years earlier she had come
to Christ when Dr. Caesar Malan exhorted her to come “just as she was.”
Today she will pen her spiritual autobiography in seven stanzas
beginning,
“Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou biddest me come to Thee,
O, Lamb of God, I come.”
10, 1559 --Scotland. Mary of Lorraine, Queen of
Scotland, and mother of Mary Stuart, surnamed “Bloody Mary,” shows her
determination to uproot the Protestant faith in Scotland. In an
interview with Glencairn and Sir Hew Campbell, she claims the right to
break her promises, at which time Glencairn replies, “Then, if you
renounce your promises, we must renounce our allegiance.” Startled by
such a reply, she has summoned all Protestant preachers in the county to
appear before her today at Stirling. The large assembly of Protestants
meeting in Dundee decides upon accompanying them. To assure the Queen
they do not come as rebels, they have sent John Erskine of Dun before
them. The Queen, becoming alarmed, persuades Mr. Erskine to write his
friends asking them to disperse, and promises she will withdraw the
summons. But today, the Queen has broken her promise and commands the
preachers “be put to the hour”, meaning they will be declared outlaws
and rebels by the sound of the hour. No man under penalty of high
treason may hold any communication with them.
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“ ...We must through much tribulation enter into the
Kingdom of God.”—Acts 14:22