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OCTOBER
 

14, 1644 --England. William Penn is born in London to Admiral Sir William Penn and his wife Margaret. The family name is Welch and means the "crest of a hill." As a young man, Dr. John Owen will teach him.
     When the great plague breaks out it will give him serious thoughts, and his father to distract his mind will send him to the splendid vice-regal court of the Duke of Ormond in Dublin. Here he will join the Duke's son in an expedition to put down a mutiny at Carrickfergus.
     He will be placed in charge of the family estates in Ireland. One day he will hear the preaching of Thomas Loe who will begin his sermon by saying, "There is a faith which overcomes the world, and there is a faith which is overcome by the world." Mr. Penn will be so deeply moved he will renounce the world at once and for good, and will spend the rest of his life as a Quaker.

14, 1660 --England. Hugh Peter, once the minister of Salem in Massachusetts, has zealously opposed monarchy and episcopacy, and though he is not guilty of regicide in the execution of Charles I, he is considered an accomplice on account of his influence upon others. As the "best of men have feet of clay," so Mr. Peter is tainted with bigotry towards those who do not worship at the same altars as himself. Thus he could thank God for the massacres of Cromwell in Ireland. Yet he could plead for the rights of the poor and feeble.
     At his trial, Mr. Peter, the father-in-law of the younger Winthrop, is allowed no counsel, and his death has already been decided, even though false witnesses have not been able to substantiate their charges against him. Turning to his daughter, he counsels her, "Go home to New England and trust God there."
     At the gallows, he will be made to wait while the body of his friend is cut and quartered before his eyes. "How like you this?" asks his executioner, as he rubs his bloody hands.
     "I thank God I am not terrified at it; you may do your worst . . .. Weep not for me," he tells his friends, "my heart is full of comfort," and he smiles as they make him ready to be hanged. Hugh Peter, "the first freeman of Massachusetts," loses his life for opposing monarchy, yet even in his death, his enemies will pursue him by defaming his character.

14, 1755 --Wales. Thomas Charles is born in South Wales. As a youth he will be converted under the preaching of Daniel Rowland, the Methodist preacher God will use to bring revival to Wales. John Newton will influence him in his university days. God will use Mr. Charles to bring revival to the South of Wales. Together with some friends he will form the British and Foreign Tract Society.

14, 1771 --England. John Gill dies having written ten million words that involve Gospel treatises and a set of commentaries, which unlike any others comment upon every one of the 775,000 verses in the Bible. The English songwriter, Augustus Toplady will write of him, "It would perhaps try the constitutions of half the literati in England only to read with care and attention the whole of what Gill wrote!"

14, 1922 --Michigan. In Detroit, The Evangelical Association and the United Evangelical Church unite to form the Evangelical Church.

14, 1930 --Belgian Congo (Zaire). Joseph Desire Mobutu is born. Though he will be educated in Catholic missionary schools, he will turn his back on God when he proclaims himself President of the Congo. He will seize Christian schools and will forbid religious instruction. In the place of Christianity, the schools will be made to teach "Mobutism," his own political philosophy. Christian art will be replaced with photographs of him. He will ban religious youth organizations, Christian periodicals and religious broadcasts. Christmas will also be banned as a national holiday. In some newspapers, hymns will be printed which substitute the name of Mobutu for Jesus.
     When moral laxity reaches alarming proportions, the government will return schools to the control of the Church.

15, 1844 --England. At Rocken, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche is born. In 1876 when only thirty-two years of age, he will be attacked by a disease which affects the eyes and the brain in general, and will go to Venice, Switzerland, Turin, Genoa, Nizza and even a sanitarium in Jura. In 1888, he will be pronounced hopelessly insane and will be cared for by his devoted sister. Though his writings are the product of his insanity, liberal theologians will applaud them.

15, 1845 --Massachusetts. After thirty-two years on the mission field in India and Burma Adoniram Judson arrives by ship in Boston Harbor.

15, 1900 --Arkansas. The renowned Methodist evangelist, Sam Jones, dies aboard a train bound for Little Rock. He will be buried in Cartersville, Georgia. He has just completed evangelistic meetings in Oklahoma City. He has suffered a stroke. He will be remembered for his homespun philosophy of life and his pugilistic fight against the liquor traffic.
     In a series of meetings he conducted in Augusta, Georgia, a devoted Christian wife daily urged her husband to attend the meetings with her. When he repeatedly refused, she dropped the matter. But one night he amazed her when he voluntarily announced his intentions to attend the service that evening. The poor woman looked in vain for any comment from his lips as to his feelings about the sermon.
     The next morning, however, he rose as usual and went to his job: he was the owner of a saloon. As he walked west on Broad Street, he stopped to hire some men who were standing idle. The crew entered a hardware store where some axes were purchased before they continued to the site of the tavern.
     When the hired men realized what the owner had in mind to do, they refused to be a party to it. Thus working by himself, he destroyed ten thousand dollars of liquor. It is said that the liquor flowed down Broad Street and some men were seen lying in the gutter lapping it up.
 

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