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FEBRUARY
 

 24, 303 --Italy. As pagan leaders have become increasingly alarmed at the rapid spread of Christianity, the Emperor Galerius today sends out a direct edict for savage persecution. Previously the church has been persecuted without any definite laws.

24, 391 --Italy. Emperor Theodosius I addresses the pretorian prefects, "No one shall pollute himself with sacrifices. No one shall slaughter an innocent sacrificial beast. None shall set foot in a heathen sanctuary, nor visit a pagan temple. None shall look up to an idol made with human hands."

24, 1525 --Spain. Emperor Charles V in the Battle of Pavia has taken Francis I of France captive. The Pope has conspired with the Emperor against France. Ten thousand knights lay dead on the field. Francis will spend a year as a prisoner until he is released in January 1526 after signing a treaty in which the Emperor and the king "shall endeavor to extirpate the enemies of the Christian religion, and the heresies of the sect of the Lutherans ... They should make war against the Turk and heretics excommunicated by the Church."

24, 1683 --England. In London, Francis Bamfield, a Baptist non-Conformist preacher is arrested while preaching. He has already spent some ten years in different prisons. His crime is that he does not subscribe to the king's religion.

24, 1688 --Germany. The electoral ordinance issued today provides for the conducting of weekly catechetical examinations for children and adults throughout the country. It is an influence of the Pietistic movement.

24, 1864 --England. On March 24, 1860, a book appeared entitled Essays and Reviews which has espoused liberal views, denying Inspiration of Scripture, Eternal Suffering of the Damned, as well as heretical views in the doctrines of Propitiation and Justification. Samuel Wilberforce, bishop of Oxford has accused the seven essayists of "neology, rationalism and skepticism" and has denounced them for their dishonesty in holding such views and remaining in the church.
          On February 16, 1861, the "Episcopal Manifesto" was issued in the form of a letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was signed by twenty-five bishops who have joined the Archbishop "in expressing the pain it has given them that any clergyman should have published such opinions."
           Today, at the instigation of E. B. Pusey, the "Oxford Declaration" on Inspiration and Eternal Punishment is sent to every minister in the Church of England in Wales, Ireland and England urging them to sign. Eleven thousand clergymen will sign it in the next few weeks.
          On June 24, 1861, the Upper House of Convocation having voted 8 to 2 to condemn the book, today the Lower House concurs by a vote of 39 to 19, though Mr. A. P. Stanley has stood opposed to it.

25, 1645 --England. Thomas Goodwin preaches before Parliament.

25, 1745 --Connecticut. The heads of Yale College publish their position against Mr. George Whitefield declaring, "From these two principles which you have laid down, 1.) The generality of ministers are unconverted, and 2.) All unconverted ministers are such baneful and pernicious men, it naturally and necessarily follows that the people ought to discard them, or separate from them: If these two principles are right and true, we are satisfied your design is good, and we would readily join with you." But they are not satisfied his "design is good," and neither do they "join with" him.

25, 1803 --Germany. The Imperial deputation of the German Empire passes a decree secularizing church property. Not until now does the ancient Roman Catholic Church of Germany collapse.

25, 1846 --Oregon. Marcus Whitman, a medical doctor, having settled among the Cayuce Indians, has labored to teach medical, agricultural, and other educational knowledge here. His partner in exploration, Mr. Henry Spaulding, a minister, has founded the first Protestant church west of the Rockies. Congregational in government, it is attached to the Bath Presbytery in New York. Mr. Whitman acts as elder.
          Today he receives a letter from Rev. David Greene, Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions which has appointed him and Mr. Spaulding their agents in the Oregon territory.
         "I fear from your account of what you have to do for the whites and Indians, in respect to mills, fields and herds, that you will almost lose sight of the great spiritual object of your mission, and be too nearly satisfied with seeing the Indians advancing in industry, the arts of civilized life, and the means of comfortable living . . .. It is highly important that your example and instructions should constrain them to see that in your estimation, the great thing is to repent and believe the Gospel and become reconciled to God . . .. You are doing well --a most important work, we doubt not, for the temporal and social welfare of the Indians, and one nearly connected with, and perhaps indispensable to their full enjoyment of Christian privileges, or making rapid or great advances in Christian knowledge. But is as much done, comparatively for their souls and their spiritual interests?"
          Within two years, a rumor will spread among the Cayuses that Mr. Whitman is responsible for the recent epidemic of measles among them. An attack will result on the mission and fifteen persons, including the doctor and his wife will be massacred. As a result, the mission will be closed.

25, 1862 --England. Andrew Reed dies at London. He leaves behind him his notable hymn, "Holy Ghost, With Light Divine."

 

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