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JULY

    
10, 138 --Italy. At Baiae, one of the resorts of Julius Caesar, Nero and Pompey; Publius Aelius Hadrianius (Hadrian} dies. He leaves behind the “Pantheon”, his temple to all the gods. When he erected a temple to Jupiter on the ruins of Jerusalem, the Jews revolted under the leadership of Bar Kokba. When finally suppressed, the Jews were forbidden to enter Jerusalem upon pain of death.

10, 511 --France. Clovis, king of the Franks has called a synod at Orleans, and is the first synod to be held here. The king has conquered the west Gothic kingdom in Gaul and the purpose of the synod is to organize the church in the region in a mode more orthodox than that under the Goths. It consists of thirty-two bishops and five metropolitans, and is concerned with—
      1.) The inviolability of churches as places of asylum except for the ravisher of a woman, or against a runaway slave;
      2.) Marriage;
      3.) And church property.

      It asserts a slave should not be ordained without his minister’s consent, nor is the remarriage of widows of priests or deacons allowed; and divination is forbidden.
     It was due to the Christian teachings of his wife, Chlotildis that Clovis was ready to accept Christianity, After a victory won in battle by prayer.

10, 1509 --France. John Calvin is born at Noyon, in Picardy. He is the second of three sons and two daughters. Charles, the oldest and Anthony died in early life. His father, Gerard, is Procurator fiscal of Noyon.
     As a young boy he will be sent to study for the priesthood, but when his father falls out with the ecclesiastical authorities, he will order his son to change his study to law.
      “I was too obstinately devoted to the superstitions of Popery to be easily extricated from so profound an abyss of mine.” But in 1533, “God by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame. Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness, I was immediately inflamed with so intense a desire to make progress therein, that although I did not altogether leave off other studies, I yet pursued them with less ardor. I was quite surprised to find that before a year had elapsed, all who had any desire after purer doctrine were continually coming to me to learn, although I myself was as yet but a mere novice and tyro.”

10, 1682 --England. John Flavel, finding himself unable to escape his enemies as they search for him, takes a ship to London. Meanwhile, the hatred of those who hunt him makes an effigy of him and carries it through the streets of Darmouth. Mr. Flavel is one of the thousands who have refused to conform to the regulations imposed by the Church of England.

10, 1859 --England. Charles Spurgeon preaches in the open air to ten thousand people. It is the occasion of the death of a man who has been struck by lightning. His text is “Be ye also ready.”

10, 1908 --Maine. At Poland Springs, Mrs. Joseph Knapp dies. She has worked with the lyricist, Fanny Crosby, to compose the music for “Blessed Assurance! Jesus is Mine,” and “Open the Gates of the Temple.”

11, 335 --Egypt. Because of his refusal to readmit Arius into the Church, Athanasius is forced into exile.

11, 1689 --England. The London Confession of Faith is finished. Pastors from one hundred Baptist congregations in England and Wales have participated in the work. This is the Westminster Confession of Faith with only a few minor differences, the most significant being baptism. Among these men is Benjamin Keach, the second generation Predecessor of Charles Spurgeon at Park Street Church.
     Nearly a hundred years hence and the Philadelphia Confession of Faith will appear in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It will be the same confession.

11, 1732 --England. The mother of John Newton dies. He is two weeks from being seven years old.

11, 1742 --Scotland. George Whitefield preaches in Cambuslang, a town of nine hundred people, but some twenty thousand people have come to hear the preaching of the Word of God. Of these seventeen hundred will celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Mr. Whitefield will preach at two o’clock, six o’clock, and nine o’clock, and the people will be struck to their hearts. When he tires, Pastor McCullock preaches and the services continue past midnight. Through the night, prayer and praise will be heard in the surrounding fields, and nearby barns.

11, 1779 --Scotland. Mr. Andrew Mitchell Thomson is born. He will excite the “Apocrypha Controversy” in 1827 giving up his membership in the British and Foreign Bible Society assailing that organization for binding the Apocrypha with the Scriptures.

11, 1846 --New York. Adoniram Judson sets sail for a third voyage to Burma. A few days ago he married Miss Emily Chubbuck of Eaton, New York.

11, 1955 --Washington, D.C. A law is passed by the eighty-fourth Congress, and approved by the President to provide that all paper currency and coins of the United States appear bearing the motto, “In God We Trust.”


 

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