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FEBRUARY
 

12, 1401 --England. William Sawtre dies in the flames of a Roman Catholic altar and becomes England's first protestant martyr since the Albigensian War of 1210.

12, 1609 --Holland. In 1606 Pastor John Robinson became an officer in the Separatist congregation meeting in the house of William Brewster in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire. Today the congregation having fled the persecution of James I will find asylum in Leyden, Holland. Mr. Robinson will be ordained as pastor while here in the city, and in January 1611, he and three others will purchase a house for eight thousand guilders. It will be used as a church and a dwelling with several small houses being erected on the property for the maintenance of poorer members.
               A portion of this church will emigrate to the shores of Massachusetts and begin the settlement of Plymouth in 1620, in the month of December.

12, 1663--Massachusetts. Cotton Mather is born in Boston. When only fifteen years old, he will take his Bachelor's degree from Harvard. Later, at great personal risk, he will introduce and defend inoculation against smallpox. Mr. Mather has been most unfairly singled out for censure in the witchcraft trials. His attitude, however, does not differ from that of Richard Baxter, and Sir Matthew Hale in England, and Sir William Phips, for that matter.

12, 1859 --New Hebrides. On the island of Tanna, Mrs. John Paten, Mary Ann Robson, dies in childbirth. Her infant son will also die on March 20th.

12, 1878 --Scotland. At Edinburgh, Alexander Duff dies. He has served as the first missionary of the Church of Scotland to India but in 1843, he withdrew in order to align himself with the Free Church. As a young man, he served under Dr. Thomas Chalmers.
             When he first sailed for Calcutta in 1829, he lost all his books in a shipwreck, but he has established a school in Calcutta that operates on two principles: 1.) That the Scriptures should be read in every class able to read them, and 2.) That through the English language, western science should be taught despite the revolutions it would cause in the minds of many Hindus.

13, 1689 --England. Having driven out, James II who flees to France, William, Prince of Orange, and Mary are proclaimed joint monarchs in London having assented today to the Declaration of Rights. Included in these Rights, it is stated: 1.) Any claimant to the English throne who "shall profess the Popish religion or shall marry a Papist shall be excluded and be forever incapable to inherit, possess or enjoy the Crown and Government of this realm and Ireland . . ." 2.) Any future monarch must swear a "Coronation Oath" denying the principle doctrines of the Roman Catholic religion.
                  Non-conformists will call this as the "Glorious Revolution" hailing it with gratitude to God. They will frequently preach commemorative sermons on November 5th --the day William arrived at Tor Bay.


 

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