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SEPTEMBER
 

29, 1676 --Massachusetts. King Philip's War draws to a close, and Mr. Samuel Hubbard writes to a fellow minister in England, "God has been long wait-ing with patience, by several signs and warnings these forty years as I can witness; but we in our turnings have not so turned to the Lord as ought to be, and His displeasure is broke forth in the country by the natives, who were forced thereto, as some of them said (and in very deed I judge truly).”

29, 1770 --Massachusetts. Yesterday, George Whitfield preached for two hours in Exeter, Massachusetts. "You are more fit to go to bed than to preach," he was told. But nevertheless, he preached for two hours and in the course of his sermon declared, "I go to a rest prepared; my sun has arisen, and by and by from Heaven, it will give light to many; now it is about to set --no, it is to rise to the zenith of immortal glory. I have outlived many on earth, but they cannot outlive me in Heaven. My body fails but my spirit expands. How willingly I would live forever to preach Christ, but I die to be with Him!"
      Following the sermon, he left immediately for Newburyport and to the home of his friend Rev. Parsons. Tonight after supper, before retiring, even as he ascends the stairs to his bedroom, eager ears listen to see if he will give them a word of exhortation. It has been his custom to preach every day of the week and often three and four times in a day. This evening he preaches until the candle he is holding is extinguished. He will die in an asthma attack in his sleep. It ends thirty-four years of preaching which has entailed some eighteen thousand sermons. He has made seven preaching tours in America and has preached among Congregationalists, Presbyterians, and Baptists. He was the first of the Oxford "Methodists" to profess conversion, being in the year 1735. The last words he was heard to utter were, "Fly, fly, o Time! Welcome, welcome, long looked for eternity!"

29, 1867 --Massachusetts. The first Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) building will be dedicated here in Boston. The organization has been developed in the United States through the efforts of Dwight Lyman Moody. In December 1869, its first building will be built at Twenty-third Street and Fourth Avenue in New York City at a cost of Four hundred eighty-seven thousand dollars.

29, 1953 --Poland. In 1950, the Roman Catholic Primate of Poland, Cardinal Wyszynski, signed an agreement with the Communist government not to interfere politics on the condition the government will not interfere with the Church, but that the Church would be granted freedom of speech, freedom of worship, and freedom to teach religion in public schools and government institutions. The government, however, began immediate repressions, and Cardinal Wyszynski thundered that the Church has proven its
good will but that the government has showed its true colors which is oppression.
     Today, he is arrested. He is promised his freedom if he will step down from acting head of the Polish Catholics. He steadfastly refuses. When the country of Poland stands united in its opposition to the will of the Soviets, Russia will be embarrassed. With the rise of one of Poland's own sons as the top Communist of the country, one of the first acts he will do is to free the Cardinal.

30, 420 --Israel. Jerome (Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus) dies near Bethlehem. As a young man, he was taught by Gregory Nazianzin at Constantinople. His preaching against Pelagianism resulted in his being forced to flee and seek refuge in a nearby fortress when a body of Pelagians stormed into his monastery setting the buildings afire and violently handling the inmates. A deacon was killed in the fracas.
     He leaves behind him his Vulgate, a revision of the Latin Bible based upon the Greek text. It will be used for one thousand years.

30, 1453 --Italy. Pope Nicholas V issues a crusading bull in an attempt to unite Europe against the Turks.

30, 1641 --France. Henri Arnaud is born. As a pastor, when at the instigation of Louis XIV, Victor Armadeus II, Duke of Savoy unleashes the rod of persecution against the Waldensians. Mr. Arnaud will counsel resistance. When this fails, he will flee to Switzerland with three thousand of his people.

30, 1672 --Massachusetts. "If offences be, you must not dwell upon them nor repeat them; but cross scores every night under pain of giving place to the Devil. To remember past offences will separate dearest friends. It is enough to bear our own burdens of the day, in the day. God forgives us daily, so must we." Thus preached Thomas Thatcher. Boston Sermons.

30, 1672 --Massachusetts. "We easily obey them whom we reverence." Boston Sermons.



 

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