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MAY

 28, 1782 --Massachusetts. Mr. Asa Hunt, as an exhorter from the Rhode Island government, has attended several meetings in Scituate. It has resulted in his incurring the resentment of the people of Hingham where for a long time their ministers have taught the world is to rule over the church. One, however has opened his home to Mr. Hunt to conduct a service this evening.
     As the meeting begins, a mob approaches and obtaining permission from the man who has invited Mr. Hunt to his home, they enter and seize the preacher, and carry him off still clutching his Bible in his hand. When he tells the mob the Scriptures are the best law he has ever heard, they angrily snatch the Scriptures from his hand and begin to stamp it underfoot all the while cursing and swearing.
      The preacher is beaten; his clothes are torn, and then he is carried off together with two of the brethren from Hingham who have been baptized. The mob then threatens the preacher with Death if he should ever return.
     John Ewer, Bishop of Landaff declared on February 20, 1767, speaking of the first planters of New England, “What reproach could be cast heavier than they deserve? Who with their native soil, abandoned their native manners and religion: and ere long were found in many parts living without remembrance or knowledge 0f God, without any Divine worship, in dissolute wickedness, and the most brutal profligacy of manners. Instead of converting barbarous infidels, as they undertook to dog they became themselves infidels and barbarians. And is it not some aggravation of their shame, that this their neglect of religion was contrary to the pretenses and conditions under which they obtained royal grants and public authority?”

28, 1807 --Switzerland. Louis Agassiz is born in the parsonage of Metier-en-Vuly, on Lake Morat. After becoming an American citizen in 1861, he will become the greatest of American Naturalists. As a Christian, he will emphasize his belief that Creation was the work of the Almighty and that He used no physical agents to effect His work. Thus he stands against the popular view of evolution.

29, 1434 --Bohemia. Bohemia has been sued for peace. Her terms are four in number:
1.) Free Preaching of the Word of God; 2.) The right of the laity to the Cup, and the use of the vernacular tongue in worship; 3.) The ineligibility of the clergy to hold secular office and rule; 4.) The execution of laws in case of all crimes without respect of persons.
     The Hussites are comprised of two groups: the Calixtines who have agreed to a compromise which would allow the Pope and the Emperor the right to explain the meaning of each article; and the Taborites under Procopius who refuse any compromise. Today the Calixtines and the Taborites take to the field to settle the outcome.
     The contest is running in the favor of Procopius when the general of his cavalry rides off the field with all under his command. Procopius gathers around him the bravest of his soldiers and rushes into the thick of the foe contending for a while against fearful odds, but at least sinks overpowered by numbers.
     As a priest he never bore arms, but he learned warfare under the famed Ziska and has conducted campaigns with amazing genius. He upheld the cause of Bohemia so long as Bohemia remained true to herself. Emperor Sigismund has said, “The Bohemians would be overcome only by Bohemians.” The Hussite Wars end. Pope Pius II, Aeneas Sylvius, has said every woman among the Taborites was well acquainted with the Old and New Testaments. They must now flee to mountain recesses “in dens and caves of the earth” for persecution that is now unleashed against them,
     In 1485, they will form themselves into a distinct church under the name “United Brethren,” and will send messengers into various countries to see whether or not they are alone in the truth. They will discover that there is a church in the Alps, and they rejoice they are one with the Waldensian Church. By the turn of the century, they will number two hundred churches.

29, 1546 --Scotland. Cardinal-Archbishop David Beaten is murdered in his bedchamber by members of the Reformed party on account of his execution of George Wishart. Mr. Beaten is well known for his immoral life and his severe persecution of the Reformed Church.

29, 1733 --Georgia. The chief men of the eight towns of the lower Muskhogees, accepting the invitation of General James Oglethorpe, come to make an alliance with the English settlers. Long King, the elderly chief of the Oconas, speaks for them all: “The Great Spirit who dwells everywhere around and gives breath to all men sends the English to instruct us.” The chief of Coweta stands, “ ... When I heard you were come, and that you are good men, I came down that I might hear good things.”

29, 1810 --Scotland. At Edinburgh, Andrew Bonar is born. The youngest brother of Horatio, he will go to Palestine in 1859 with Robert Murray McCheyne. Both brothers will become godly preachers in Scotland.

29, 1874 --Switzerland. In 1848, all adherents of Christian confessions were guaranteed unmolested residence and freedom of worship, but by the federal constitution issued today, state primary education is open to all without restriction of confessional faith or freedom of conscience and is pronounced inviolable within the state. There is to be no coercion of religious affiliation, religious instruction, or of any religious performance, and no penalty on account of religious opinions. Parents or guardians exercise control of their children’s religious instruction until the end of the sixteenth year. Religious beliefs are not to exempt anyone from public office. No one is obliged to pay taxes for the special purposes of religious worship of a society to which he does not belong. Freedom of worship is guaranteed within the limits of morality and public order.

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