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FEBRUARY
 

 8, 356 --Turkey. After a long series of intrigues against him, Athanasius discovers the Duke Syrianus has surrounded the church of St. Thomas with five thousand soldiers intending to arrest him this night. He escapes into Egypt.

8, 1523 --Germany. In a letter to Frederick, Martin Luther, Philip Melancthon, Amsdorff, Bugenhagen, and Linck consult together because of a philippic their prince has received from the Pope. "No prince," they write, "can undertake a war without the consent of the people from whose hands he received the government . . .. "
             On another occasion, he observed, "God lets rogues rule for the people's sin." He denied that priests and bishops had the right to make laws governing how men should believe and said, "Man's authority stretches neither to Heaven nor to the soul." "The Gospel is every man's right; and it is not to be endured that anyone should be kept therefrom. The Evangel is an open doctrine: it is bound to no place, and moves along freely under Heaven, like the star which ran in the sky to show the wizards from the East where Christ was born. Do not dispute with the prince for peace. Let the community choose their own pastor, and support him out of their own estates. If the prince will not suffer it, let the pastor flee into another land and let those go with him who will, as Christ teaches."

             Hutten said of Luther, “There is no man in Germany who more utterly despises death than does Luther.”

8, 1587 --England. The army of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, has been defeated at Carberry Hills and she was taken prisoner on that same June day in 1567. She was led through Edinburgh, her clothes torn, her hair disheveled, amidst the jeers and taunts of a multitude. And on June 16, she was confined in Loch Leven Castle where she signed her abdication of the throne in favor of her son, James VI.
            On May 2, the following year, she escaped. Everywhere she has been she has fascinated men, and George Douglas, brother of the lord of Lock Leven Castle, was one who fell under her spell and planned her escape. Willie Douglas, his nephew, has secured the castle keys and has rowed the Queen ashore. She soon gathered another army of six thousand men.
          The Regent of Moray met her outside Glasgow at Langside on May 13th, 1568, and though his army has been much smaller, he has decisively defeated her. The Queen fled the battle-field and traveled sixty miles before resting. On May 16th she crossed the Solway and sought refuge in England from her cousin Queen Elizabeth, and has spent the last nineteen years here.
          But her intrigues have not abated. The Romanists still long to see Elizabeth deposed and the Catholic Mary on the English throne. After repeated plots have been discovered, Queen Elizabeth has finally yielded to sign her death warrant. Today, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, is beheaded at Fotheringay.

8, 1851 --England. James Haldane dies this Saturday morning. About an hour ago, his wife remarked, "You are going to Jesus. How happy you will be soon!" A vivid smile was seen to lighten his countenance as he said emphatically, "0, yes!" He and his brother Robert have worked successfully to have the Apocrypha excluded from the Bible issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

9, 1542 – Germany. The Third Imperial Diet of Spires (Speyers) is opened by King Ferdinand. The purpose is to secure aid against the Turks who are threatening Austria.

9, 1555-- England. Bishop John Hooper has preached so vigorously against the use of clerical vestments describing them as Aaronical and superstitious he has been sent to the Fleet. Thomas Cranmer and Nicholas Ridley have tried in vain to relieve his conscience, while Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr have recommended he submit.
               On August 29, 1553, Mr. Hooper was thrown into prison where his harsh treatment caused him to utter he was used "worse and more vilely than the veriest slave." He and John Rogers are the first to be cited under Mary Tudor, who will come to be known as "Bloody Mary" on account of her spirit of persecution.
           Last month, Mr. Hooper was condemned for maintaining the lawfulness of clerical marriage, and divorce, and for denying the doctrine of transubstantiation. When a friend lamented his sentence, he said, "Death is bitter and Life is sweet, but alas! Consider that Death to Come is more bitter and Life to Come is more sweet!" And when another asked his health, he responded, "I am well, thank God; and death to me for Christ's sake is welcome."

            Today, as he is led to the stake, he is forbidden to address the crowd, but is offered a pardon on condition he will recant. He replies, "If you love my soul, away with it." He is burned within sight of his own cathedral.
 

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