December

11, 1776 --Pennsylvania. The Congress of the United States calls upon the individual states to appoint for themselves a day of fasting and humiliation.

11, 1823 --Germany. John Jacob Esher is born. In 1845, he will enter the ministry of the Evangelical Association in the Illinois Conference. He will organize the first annual conferences in Europe and Asia, and will be the first bishop of that denomination to visit the missions in the Orient and to travel around the world. He will write the first comprehensive theology of the Evangelical Association.

11, 1825 --Africa. Sierra Leone. Adjar was twelve and a half years old when Mohammedan slave traders captured him. He was sold to the Portuguese and shipped from Lagos, Nigeria; but the ship was in turn captured by a British man-of-war, and he was taken to Bathurst, Sierra Leone where he was given his freedom. He has been converted here in the Church of England, and today is baptized taking the name "Samuel Crowther." In 1864, he will become the first bishop of the Niger.

11, 1905 --France. France passes a law separating Church and State.

12, 1600 --Scotland. At Edinburgh, John Craig dies. As a Dominican monk, he was converted to Protestantism by reading Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. In Rome he was confined in prison being condemned to the stake by Pope Paul IV. When the Pope died in 1559, a mob opened the prisons and he escaped. After the death of John Knox in 1572, he succeeded him as leader of the Scottish church. As chaplain to the king, he was bold enough to rebuke him to his face but too vacillating to suit the conservatism of Melville.

12, 1665 --England. John Richardson writes to Increase Mather in New England, "It is a sorrowful time with Dissenters; their ministers are much persecuted with much violence on the ‘Act of Forty Pounds Per Month,’ and other acts. Mr. Baxter's house is broken open, and his person seized (he will be released). Mr. Meads goods seized but he escaped. Mr. Cookraine, Mr. Partridge, their goods seized, and Mr. James imprisoned and Mr. Wise. Others sought after fain to conceal themselves, and convey their very household stuff out of the way. Yet many continue to preach on the Lord's Day, and some lecture. How far they will proceed, is to be feared." A month later, he will write, "Dr. Owen is very ill, and it is feared will not recover. Mr. Vincent, a London minister convicted on the "Thirty-fifth Elizabeth" lies a prisoner these three months. Many must leave the King's dominions, or suffer death."

"Everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life."

-Matthew 19:29-

12, 1668 --England. Last year, William Penn was imprisoned for attending a Quaker meeting in Cork. At that time, he wrote a letter to the Earl of Orrery, lord-President of Munster in which he said, "Though to dissent from a national system imposed by authority renders men heretics, yet I dare believe your lordship is better read in reason and theology than to subscribe a maxim so vulgar and untrue." The earl ordered his release.
      But William Penn, Senior, observing his son did not uncover his head when he came into his presence, asked an explanation. His son answered he could uncover his head only to God, and not in homage to any man. "Not even to the king?" asked his father. William asked for an hour to consider, and returned with the answer, "Not even to the king." His father disowned him and turned him out of doors in a fit of anger. But before his death in 1670, he will be reconciled to his son and advise him to keep his "plain way" of life and preaching.
     Today, Mr. Penn, himself a Quaker, will be imprisoned in the Tower of London at the insistence of the Bishop of London. He will remain here until July 1669. His offence is that he has published a tract without a license and which is entitled, "The Sandy Foundation Shaken," He will send word to his father, "My prison shall be my grave before I will budge a jot; for I owe my conscience to no mortal man." While confined in the Tower he will write, "No Cross, No Crown," his most widely read work.
     To the Secretary of State he will write, "What if I differ from some religious apprehensions? Am I therefore incompatible with human society? I know not any unfit for political society, but those who maintain principles subversive of industry, justice, fidelity, and obedience." "It ought to satisfy the most rabid sectarian that he can forbid his rival a share of Heaven, without also banishing him from the earth."
     He will tell Dr. Stillingfleet who will be sent by the king to endeavor to change his judgment, "Whosoever was in the wrong, those who used force for religion never could be in the right." The king will release him from the Tower through the intercession of the Duke of York.

12, 1745 --France. Pastor Mathieu Majal, a Huguenot, is arrested and taken to Vernoux. His arrival will occasion a riot and several people will be killed. It will be referred to as the "Massacre of Vernoux." When tried, he will convince the court of his innocence of the charge of treason, but will be condemned by order of the king and shot.

12, 1776 --Pennsylvania. The Congress of the United States has voted to remove to Baltimore on account of news having been received of British forces moving towards Philadelphia. Samuel Adams addresses them, "I do not regret the part I have taken in a cause so just and interesting to mankind. The people of Pennsylvania and the Jerseys seem determined to give it up, but I trust that my dear New England will maintain it at the expense of everything dear to them in this life; they know how to prize their liberties. May Heaven bless them. If this city should be surrendered, I should by no means despair . . .. Britain will strain every nerve to subjugate America next year; she will call wicked men and devils to her aid. Our affairs abroad wear a promising aspect; but I conjure you not to depend too much upon foreign aid. Let America exert her own strength. Let her depend upon God's blessing, and He who cannot be indifferent to her righteous cause will even work miracles, if necessary, to carry through this glorious conflict, and establish her feet upon a rock.

12, 1808 --Pennsylvania. A Bible Society is founded in Philadelphia.

12, 1841 --Scotland. Robert Haldane dies. He leaves behind an Exposition on Romans. He is a Baptist.