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OCTOBER

When Judgment Day is Drawing nigh,
When God the works of men shall try,
When East and West the fire shall roll,
How will it be with your poor soul?
When wicked men His wrath shall see,
And to the rocks and mountains flee,
When hills and mountains flee away,
When all the works of men decay,
Where shall you be?
When Heaven and earth as some great scroll,
Shall from God's angry presence roll,
When all the saints redeemed shall stand,
Forever blest at God's right hand,
Where shall you be?
All trouble done, all conflict past,
And old Lucifer bound at last,
When Christ shall reign from shore to shore,
And peace abide forevermore,
Where shall you be?

-Charles P. Jones-
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1, 1163 --England. Henry II of England calls a meeting of the clergy at Westminster and demands they renounce all claims to exemption from civil jurisdiction and that they acknowledge equality of all subjects before the law. Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury refuses to yield.

1-3, 1529 --Germany. The Conference of Marburg meets to settle the controversy between Ulrich Zwingli and Martin Luther concerning the significance of the Lord's Supper. A great concourse has assembled, but only fifty to sixty are allowed to enter. Martin Luther finds harmony in all areas of dogma except regarding the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. He takes a piece of chalk and writes the words of Christ on the table, "This is My body." Oecolampadius uses John chapter six to show Christ spoke metaphorically when He said, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you;" and then proceeded to show numerous other metaphors in Scripture.
     Martin Luther agrees with the arguments including his interpretation of the text. Martin Bucer, representing the Strasburg theologians states their convictions as to the Trinity, Original Sin and Baptism, etc. and asks Luther for a testimony as to his orthodoxy. Luther refuses saying, "Our spirit and your spirit do not agree." Convinced God has blinded the eyes of Zwingli, thus making it impossible for him to see the true doctrine of the Lord's Supper, Luther now denounces Zwingli and his followers as "fanatics," "patricides," "matricides," "fratricides," "devils," "knaves," "heretics," "rioters, " "hypocrites," etc. and leaves them to the judgment of God. He permits them to teach as they think it justifiable before God.
     On October 4th, the "Articles of Marburg," are signed. These fourteen propositions assert agreement on the doctrines of the Trinity, the Person of Christ, Faith, Justification, the Word of God, Baptism, Good Works, Confession, Secular Authority, Tradition, and Infant Baptism. The fifteenth article deals with the Lord's Supper and declares charity should be shown toward each other.
(Note: Luther later in his life came to renounce Consubstantiation in favor of the metaphorical view. This can be read in his discourses called, Luther's Table Talks.  This book was not widely known for many years. The story of its Providential recovery in itself is amazing.)

1, 1549 --Prussia. At Konigsberg, Johann Briessmann dies. He has been the first minister in Prussia to marry. He has recommended the "lectio continua", or the continuous reading of the whole Bible in worship to render his people acquainted with the whole Bible. He leaves behind the first Prussian hymnbook with which he introduced singing in public worship.

1, 1859 --England. John Angell James dies a foremost, Evangelical, Non-conformist. Through the assistance of Robert Haldane, Mr. James has entered a theological academy.
     It is said that a copy of his Anxious Inquirer has entered an American frontier town with the result that twenty-seven people there have given hopeful evidence of conversion.
     It is Mr. James who has introduced Mr. Charles Finney's book Lectures On Revivals to England, but in 1843 he wrote, " ...I think Finney's books have done a little harm in this country and I regret I ever gave a recommendation to his lectures . . ..” The sentiment here that has given uneasiness is a virtual denial of the Spirit's work in conversion. It is, however, the same Mr. James who has also introduced England to Mr. W. B. Sprague's book Lectures On Revivals of Religion.
     Today, a few hours before he dies, he writes, "I have made next to the Bible, Baxter's Reformed Pastor my rule as regards the object of my ministry . . .." He has often read it on Saturday evenings to prepare himself for Sunday. His successor will be R. W. Dale, who will surrender the doctrines of 1.) The Verbal Inspiration of Scripture, 2.) The Eternal Punishment of the Wicked preferring the Annihilation or "Conditional Immortality" theory, and 3.) The Deity of Christ. Mr. Dale will stand in the forefront of those who will throw off the fetters of the old Calvinist orthodoxy."

1, 1965 --Indonesia. Communists strike in an attempt to gain control of the country. The plan is to murder eight army generals by pretending to catch them attempting a military coup. When two generals escape and expose the plan, a blood-bath will result in which anti-Communist Muslims will purge their land of four hundred thousand Communists. The new government will demand every citizen to adhere to the tenet that the country was built on the foundation of the existence of God. Revival will sweep the country in a manner inexperienced in recent generations.

(Note: This revival was not necessarily of saving faith, but similar to the days of Constantine, it was to survive the Muslim sword. However, it is interesting where the communists ran for help—to the church.)

 

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