"OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY"
-51-
FEBRUARY
28, 1643 --Massachusetts. In Boston, Roger Scott is
condemned and whipped for sleeping in church.
28, 1685 --England. Richard Baxter is arrested by order of Judge George
Jeffreys. The charge is that in his Paraphrase of the New Testament,
he has libeled the Church of England. Lord Jeffrys, acting like an
“infuriated madman” (Britannica), attacked Mr. Baxter during the trial
calling him an “Old schismatic knave, a hypothetical villain,” and even
threatened and insulted his counsel. When Mr. Baxter tried to speak,
Judge Jeffrys bellowed, “Richard, Richard, dost think we will let thee
poison the court? Richard, thou art an old knave. Thou has written books
enough to load a cart, and everyone of them as full of sedition as an
egg is full of meat. But by the Grace of God, I will crush you. He fined
Mr. Baxter 500 marks and committed him to prison until it was paid. He
will be imprisoned for twenty months until the king releases him through
the intervention of friends. Insults, ruinous fines, forced wanderings,
personal peril and imprisonments have no power to daunt him. He
continues preaching and writing until the Toleration Act of 1688 ends
his sufferings and he dies in peace.
28, 1764 --England. Robert Haldane is born in London, England. He will
be a primary instrument in the revival which sweeps Geneva, Switzerland
where he will lecture on the book of Romans. Among his students will be
1.) Merle D'Aubigne, the noted church historian who will write
History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century, and History
of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, as well
as many other. 2.) Frederic Monod, the founder of the "Free Church" in
France will be among his students, as will 3.) Louis Gaussen, the author
of Theopneustia, a classic work on the Inspiration of Scripture.
4.) Caesar Malan, the famous hymn-writer will also be one of his
students, as is 5.) Felix Neff, who will work with the ancient
Waldensians high in the Alps.
28, 1944 --Holland. After years of "demythologizing" the Bible, and
attacking the miracles recorded in it, and exposing the Sacred page to
the scrutiny of pseudo-intellectuals who styled themselves as "higher
critics", God has delivered up the land of Germany to the tyranny of
Nazism. The tyrant, however would not be localized and has spread
through most of Europe.
Today, Corrie Ten Boom is sick
in bed with the flu when agents of the German Gestapo burst into her
father's watch shop. Their living quarters are on the second and third
floors. The family has been hiding Jews.
Her sister Nellie
and brother Willem will be released from prison. Their elderly father
will be taken from his prison cell and transported to the municipal
hospital where he will die.
Corrie and her
sister Betsie will strengthen each other in a Bible they have smuggled
into their prison. At Ravensbruck, they will be forced to dig in the
prison yard eleven hours a day. Betsie will sink under the load. The
sick are taken out to be executed.
Worship services
will be allowed in the barracks of the women's prison. The prisoners
will crowd around to hear Corrie read from God's Word.
A few days after the
death of her sister, Corrie will be released from prison. She will be
later told her release was due to a clerk's "mistake." The week
following her release, all women her age will be executed.
Late in
life, this dear and Godly woman will fall into the modern charismatic
heresy.
29, 1604 --England. At Lambeth, John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury
dies. For years he has carried on a controversy with Thomas Cartwright,
the champion of Puritanism. When he was raised to the Primacy, he
carried out repressive measures against the Puritan party. However, as
the author of the "Lambeth Articles," he showed his unqualifying support
of the Calvinistic views of Predestination and Election.
29, 1640 --England. Benjamin Keach is born in Hammond. As a Baptist
minister his church will be the first to initiate congregational
singing.