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JANUARY

2, 1884 – Switzerland. Johann Gerhard Oncken dies at Zurich. As a young lad his father fled French persecution to England. He is the founder of the Baptist church in Germany.

When he was imprisoned in Hamburg for four months on account of public disturbances arising over his preaching, his followers were scattered, and wherever they have gone, they have carried their doctrine. As a result, the first Baptist church of Denmark was established in 1839.

3, 1645 --England. Parliament discards the Book of Common Prayer and establishes the Directory. The latter rejects the Apocrypha, the sign of the cross, saints’ days, vestments, and the marriage ring.

3, 1705 --Ireland. In the county of Antrim, William Tennent II is born. As a young man, while preparing for his examination prior to his being licensed to preach, he will fall sick and lapse into a trance for three days. His friends, sure of his death, will be at the point of burying him, even though his physician protests, when suddenly he will revive. Though he will regain his health in a year, he will lose all knowledge of reading and writing as well as all previous learning. Soon after this time, his knowledge will rapidly increase. He will write, “For three years, the sense of Divine things continued so great and everything else so completely vain, when compared to Heaven, that could I have had the world for stooping down for it, I believe I should not have thought of doing it.” He is a brother to Gilbert, John and Charles.

3, 1846 --Washington, D. C. Robert C. Winthrop of Massachusetts uses the phrase “Manifest Destiny.” This is the first time it is mentioned in Congress. It was coined by John L. O’Sullivan in a magazine article that appeared in 1845. The phrase involves the conviction that God intends for the United States to overspread the continent.

3, 1898 --Texas. At Austin, Robert Lewis Dabney dies. He has served as chaplain, chief of staff to General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and leaves behind the first biography of the great General. Mr. Archibald Alexander of Princeton has said of Mr. Dabney, that he is “the best teacher of theology in the United States and perhaps in the world.” Mr. Dabney also leaves behind his Defense of Virginia and of the South; The Penal Character of the Atonement of Christ; and Theology, Dogmatics, and Polemics.
 

4, 1433 --Switzerland. Three hundred Hussites led by Procopius, and John Rochyzana, Archbishop of Prague, enter Basel and demand of the church council meeting here—1.) The recognition of the supreme authority of the Word of God, 2.) The preaching of the Gospel and public worship be conducted in the language of the people, 3.) That the cup be no longer withheld from the laity, 4.) And the execution of law in the case of all crimes without respect of persons such as priests.
   The Bohemians have been victorious in the Hussite Wars, and the Council of Basel is suing for peace. A compromise known as the “Compactata” will in the end result in these four Hussite articles being accepted but the right in explaining them will be determined by the Council, the unseen head of which is the Pope and the emperor. Thus these two: the Pope and the Emperor, defeated on so many bloody battlefields, have triumphed at last through diplomacy.

4, 1528 --Germany. The first imperial mandate against the Anabaptists in the time of the Reformation is passed today at Speier, and grounds its required suppression on the Imperial law dating back to the Code of Justinian (529) which made rebaptism one of two heresies punishable by death. It treats them as criminals. The Anabaptists in Justinian’s day were those who rejected the validity of certain bishops such as those among the Novatians, the Donatists, etc. These of the sixteenth century consider true baptism possible only upon repentance and faith; thus, they reject infant baptism and accept only adult baptism. They further maintain 1.) A voluntary church of believers only, 2.) Baptism of adults expressing repentance of sin and faith in Christ, 3.) Separation of church and state, 4.) Complete liberty of conscience, 5.) A life conformable to Biblical holiness, 6.) Separation from the world, 7.) A rejection of warfare, 8.) A rejection of swearing of oaths, 9.) Simplicity o£ life and dress, and 10.) Obedience to the teachings of Christ. They are basically evangelical and peaceful, only a small minority is heretical or revolutionary.

4, 1581 --Ireland. In Dublin, James Usshur is born. He will be distinguished for his chronology which is still printed in most English Bibles. In addition to his having traced Creation back to 4004 BC, he will become widely quoted in catechisms for his statement, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”

4, 1866 --Scotland. James Chalmers sails with his wife for New Guinea aboard the “John Williams,” named for the missionary and martyr. He will soon write of natives wearing human jawbones on their arms. On one occasion, Mrs. Chalmers will be offered a gift of part of a man’s chest already cooked. She will remain only two years before going to Australia for a rest. She will die there in 1879.
     Mr. Chalmers will be invited to preach in human temples lined with human skulls—the remnant of feasts and human sacrifices. Here he will often preach all night.

 

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