"OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY"
-41-
FEBRUARY
10, 1535 --Holland. Five fanatics run naked through the
streets of Amsterdam shouting, "Woe, woe! Do penance and go to Muenster
which has been given to the children of God." The city of Muenster has
been captured by a mob of renegade Anabaptists who seek to set up the
Kingdom of God on earth. Mr. Jan Brenkelsz has become the "King of Zion"
and will introduce both communism and polygamy.
10, 1859 --South Africa. The Reformed Church in South Africa originates
in Rustenburg in Transvaal. It is composed of the most conservative of
the Dutch Boers, frequently called "doppers," a name corrupted from the
Dutch word, "domper" meaning "a man intellectually behind the times."
11, 1498 --Italy. Savonarola preaches to an immense crowd declaring
Popes might err. Pope Julius II will take this position in his bull "Cum
Tanto Divino" of 1505 pronouncing papal elections secured by bribery to
be nullified. The present Pope, Alexander VI has secured his election by
such shameless bribery.
Letters will
arrive in Florence declaring Savonarola should be "put to death even if
he were another John the Baptist."
11, 1635 --England. Mr. Charles Chauncy has been imprisoned during the
last several months on account of his Puritanism. Today he yields before
the High Com-mission Court. For this weakness, he will feel remorse, and
deciding upon sailing for America, he will first publish The
Retraction of Charles Chauncy, Formerly Minister of Wars in
Hertfordshire " for the satisfaction of all such who either are or
justly might be offended with his scandalous submission made before the
High Commission Court, February 11, 1635." He will become the second
president of Harvard College succeeding Henry Dunster.
11, 1729 --Massachusetts. Mr. Solomon Stoddard dies at Northampton. He
is remembered for his theory that "the Lord's Supper is instituted to be
a means of regeneration" and that people may and ought to come to it
though they know themselves to be in a "natural condition." When his
grandson, Mr. Jonathan Edwards, opposes this "Half-Way Covenant" while
pastoring the church of his grandfather whom he has succeed-ed, he will
be dismissed.
11, 1813 --India. At Bombay, Gordon Hall and Samuel Nott, the first
missionaries to western India, arrive having been sent by the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Partly on account of their
being Americans and partly because of the policy of opposition to all
missionaries, the East India Company forbids them to work in the city of
Bombay. They will be on the verge of being deported when a change in the
charter of the Company leaves them free to carry on their work.
In 1815, they will establish in Bombay the first school for boys in
western India that is based on modern methods. In 1824, they will
establish the first school for girls in India.
11, 1866 --Washington, D. C. The United States Christian Commission,
first proposed in 1861 by Vincent Colyer of New York, is an organization
established to care for the religious needs of the soldiers in the field
during the Civil War. The Young Men’s Christian Association meeting in
New York the same year took up the idea. Today is the final meeting of
the Commission.