"OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY"
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SEPTEMBER
28, 935 --Czechoslovakia. As a result of the pious
training he has received, King Wenceslaus has made Christianity the
religion of Bohemia and has invited priests into the country. He has
even built churches here, but has been unsuccessful in converting the
inhabitants of the country to Christianity. His younger and abler
brother, Boleslaw has caused insurrection and today he murders the king
at the entrance to the church at Bunzlau where he has invited him as his
guest.
28, 1529 --Germany. At Cologne, Adolph Klarenbach is put to death. He
was condemned to death on March 4th, but the people here have been
displeased with the verdict. This summer, however, a plague visited here
and the conviction was spread that God has punished the people here for
showing mercy to heretics.
He has taught "there is no Satisfaction for sin save
the death of Christ alone," and that "good works are signs, witnesses
and pledges of such faith in Christ." He further taught the elements
used in the Lord's Supper are "only external signs and nothing more,"
and defines Baptism as "dipping into water and drawing out again"
inviting death to all fleshly lust and a putting on of a new man and the
living henceforth a spiritual life.
28, 1559 --Germany. The Elector Johann leaves the city of Treves and
seeks to bring it to submission by force. He will call the nobles and
peasants to take up arms, and will invest the city and successfully cut
it off from all its supplies.
On October 11th, the Roman Catholic citizenry will
arrest Olevianus and fourteen other Evangelicals, and on October 25th,
the Archbishop will march victoriously into Treves with one hundred and
twenty troopers and six hundred infantrymen.
28, 1808 --Massachusetts. Andover Theological Seminary opens with
thirty-six students. Leonard Woods is its first professor of Theology.
The student's secret missionary society known as "The Brethren" will
have a prominent place in the organization of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions through the insistent zeal of
Adoniram Judson, Samuel Newell and others. The American Temperance
Society, the American Home Missionary Society, the American Tract
Society, and the American Education Society will all originate on
Andover Hill, as will the first religious newspaper in the United
States.
28, 1836 --Italy. Matteo Prochet is born. He will be the first
Protestant pastor to enter Rome after its capture by Victor Immanuel,
and will there found a Waldensian Church in 1870. The irony is profound
since the Church of Rome has waged a war for centuries attempting to
annihilate the Waldensian church.
28, 1860 --Germany. The Civil Constitution of Hamburg secures complete
religious liberty for all, decreeing that civil rights shall not be
conditioned on, or limited by religious confession.
29, 1227 --Italy. Frederick II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire has
refused to join the Crusade of 1217 to 1221. As a result it failed, much
to the chagrin of Pope Honorius III. Gregory IX succeeded him as Pope
and has insisted that Frederick contribute his share. The Emperor will
start from Brindisi with some sixty thousand horsemen but suddenly
claiming to be ill with a fever, he will return to mainland Italy.
Today Pope Gregory IX excommunicates him and declares
Sicily and Germany under interdict. But his supporters are so strong in
Rome that in March 1228 the Pope will be forced to flee the city.
29, 1658 --England. Thomas Goodwin, John Owen, Philip Nye, and Joseph
Caryl are among those appointed to draw up a confession of faith for one
hundred and twenty Congregational Churches. This confession will be
known as the Savoy Confession.