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NOVEMBER
 

"Our fathers chained in prisons dark
Were still in heart and conscience free:
How sweet would be their children's fate,
If they like them could die for Thee."

-Frederick W. Faber-
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8, 392 --Italy. Theodosius I issues a law placing animal sacrifice and soothsaying on a footing with high treason.

8, 789 --Germany. Willehad began his missionary labors at the place where Boniface was slain in 754. His sermons so enrage the people he barely escaped death. At the instigation of Charlemagne, he removed to new territory, but when the people revolted under Widerkind, duke of the Saxons, he escaped to Frisia while several of his co-laborers were killed. Today he dies at Blexen.

8, 1603 --France. An exclusive patent is issued to De Monts, a Calvinist, granting him the sovereignty of "Acadia" from the site of the present day city of Philadelphia to lands one degree north of the city of Montreal. Exclusive control of the government and freedom of religion for Huguenot emigrants are among the privileges conceded. Monsieur De Monts is known for his honesty.

8, 1620 --Czechoslovakia. The Protestants of Bohemia have elected the Elector Palatine Frederick V as their king and have expelled the Jesuits from the country. The Holy League of Roman Catholic Estates under Duke Maximilian of Bavaria comes to the support of Emperor Ferdinand. Today the Battle of White Hill is joined and at Prague, the Protestant forces are defeated by Tilly and his Imperial Army under the command of Duke Maximilian, just outside the wails of Prague. Immediately, thirty thousand families of Lutherans and of Reformed Creeds are exiled from the country. Their land, valued at forty million crowns is confiscated. Protestantism will be nearly non-existent for more than one hundred and fifty years.

8, 1644 --England. The Westminster Assembly has first turned its attention to the revision of the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion. Today the "Propositions Concerning Church Government and Ordination of Ministers" is sent to Parliament in completed form. But Parliament will take many liberties with the document and will send it back to the Assembly for amendment. It will not be accepted until 1648.

8, 1674 --England. John Milton dies leaving behind him such classic works as Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Sampson Agonistes, and assorted other works. He has served as Secretary to Oliver Cromwell.
     In England, following the Reformation, the power of censorship was in the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Mr. Milton urged against this practice in his Areopagitica, which he published in 1643. The practice will end in 1695 when the House of Commons refuses to renew the Licensing Act. It is his conviction the best form of government is a republic.
 

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