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OCTOBER

Divinity Students:

As a foundation for divinity, undergraduates studied William Ames' Medulla, otherwise known as the Marrow of Theology, or Wolleb's Abridgement of Christian Divinity.
     Upon graduating in July, if he wished to prepare himself for the ministry, he usually remained in residence for an additional three years to read theology and philosophy. At last when he had received the Master of Arts degree, he went forth to assume his clerical duties.
     Who would suspect that a University so founded upon Christ would in the past thirty years be guilty of publishing a book in which Harvard professors would assert we have advanced educationally to a point where God and Jesus Christ play no part in education. The Harvard Report, which cost some sixty thousand dollars further asserted the Bible is no authority in the field of educational endeavors.
     In order to instill into the next generation the great truths of the Word of God, to protect them from error, to raise up a group of learned ministers to take the place of the present when death should seize them, and to prevent the misinterpretation of the Bible by teaching the people how to read it --Mr. Winthrop, Mr. Coddington, Mr. Dudley, Mr. Saltonstall, and others decided they must build a school system which would be servant to the church.
     At this time, few if any dreamed of divorcing education and religion. A century and a half will have to elapse before Thomas Jefferson will make his revolutionary proposal to the Virginia Legislature that they found a system of public schools which would be under the control of no religious sect.
     William Hubbard wrote, "Julian the Apostate complained that the Christians beat the heathen philosophers with their own weapons, therefore did he subtly contrive to deprive the Christians of the benefit of schools and other means of humane learning, thinking that to be the likeliest means whereby to overthrow the Christian religion . . .."
     Regarding Christian education, Mr. Hubbard again wrote, " ...While Israel was without a teaching priest and without a law, they were also without the true God. While the Scriptures are looked up in an unknown language, how can they be opened without the key of humane learning?" Once again he said, "It is not meet that the Israelites should always go down to the Philistines to sharpen their weapons, which they are to use in fighting against the enemies of God's church, or for whetting their tools they must use in tilling God's field . . .."
     " ...Dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present ministers shall lie in the dust" Harvard College was established. The colonists logically began with a college. "The fall of schools," wrote Urian Oakes, "and contempt of learning will make way for rudeness, ignorance, want of able instruments to manage church and state affairs, irreligion and ruin to this poor country . . .. Think not that the commonwealth of learning may languish and yet our civil and ecclesiastical state be maintained in good plight and condition."

28, 1665 --England. Matthew Henry is born to Philip and Katherine Henry at Broad-Oak in Iscoid, Flintshire in the district of Cheshire. His mother was Katherine Matthews whose father possessed quite an estate, so that when Philip Henry was ejected from his pulpit by the Act of Uniformity in 1662, he was able to live comfortably and preach "gratis" as well as relieve some of his needy brethren.

28, 1871 --Africa. Henry Stanley has been sent by the New York Herald to search for David Livingstone. After eight months of searching, Mr. Stanley today finds Mr. Livingstone at Ujiji. In March 1872 he will depart being unable to convince Mr. Livingstone to leave with him. He is bound for Europe and will write, "For four months I lived with him ...and I never found fault in him. I went to Africa as prejudiced against religion as the worst infidel in London . . .. But little by little, seeing his piety, his gentleness, his zeal, his earnestness ...I was converted by him . . .." Upon returning home he will appeal for missionaries to open up new territory.

28, 1887 --England. Charles Haddon Spurgeon withdraws from the Baptist Union because "Believers in Christ's atonement are now declared in union with those who make light of it; believers in Holy Scripture are in confederacy with those who decry plenary inspiration; those who believe in evangelical doctrine are in open alliance with those who call the fall a fable, who deny the personality of the Holy Ghost, who call justification by faith inward, and hold that there is another probation after death . . .. Yes, we have before us the wretched spectacle of professedly orthodox Christians publicly avowing their union with those who deny the faith and scarcely concealing their contempt for those who cannot be guilty of such gross disloyalty to Christ. To be very plain, we are unable to call these things Christian union; they begin to look like confederacies in evil ... It is our solemn conviction that where there can be no real spiritual communion there should be no pretense of fellowship. Fellowship with known and vital error is participation in sin."
     Thus Mr. Spurgeon stands nearly alone as an opposer of what he calls the "Down-grade" movement of Biblical Criticism.

28, 1919 --Washington, D. C. The Prohibition Act is passed. Alcoholic beverages are now illegal in the United States.


 
 

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