FEBRUARY 7
Bonhoeffer's soul shone in the dark desperation of prison (1945)
“Christ for the world we sing, the world to Christ we bring, with loving zeal the poor, and them that mourn, the faint and overborne, sin sick and sorr...”
Price, Carl Fowler. One Hundred and One Hymn Stories. Abingdon, 1923.
More People Read Us than Read the Bible (1900)
Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men, 2 Corinthians 3:2. I remember reading of a blind ma...
Events
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Benedict of Nursia visits his twin sister Scholastica. According to Pope Gregory I, knowing that she will soon die, Scholastica asks her brother to stay beside her. Benedict refuses. Scholastica lowers her eyes in prayer and such a severe thunderstorm comes up that Benedict cannot leave. Three days later, his sister dies.
Authority for the date: Harper, Howard V. Days and Customs of All Faiths. New York: Fleet Publishing, 1957.1451
Death of Peter of Mladonovice, friend of Jan Hus and recorder of that martyr’s mistreatment and death at the hands of the Council of Constance.
Authority for the date: Spinka, Matthew. Hus and the Council of Constance. New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1965.1497
Girolamo Savonarola and his followers burn works of art in Florence.
Authority for the date: Van Paassen, Pierre. Crown of Fire; the life and times of Girolamo Savonarola. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1960.1528
The Swiss Canton of Bern officially embraces Protestantism, passing an edict abolishing Romish bishops.
Authority for the date: Bevan, Frances. William Farel. London: Alfred Holness; Glasgow: Glasgow Bible Society and Book Depositorym, 1888.1569
Philip II, king of Spain, decrees the establishment of the Inquisition in Lima. Among its many victims will be Jews.
Authority for the date: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0013_0_12543.html1642
Death of Anglican prelate William Bedell, bishop of Kilmore, Ireland, as the result of torture and exposure. Although he had been popular with both Roman Catholics and Protestants because of his fair dealings and insistance on presenting the gospel in Gaelic, Roman Catholics seized him because he would not hand over refugees to be murdered.
Authority for the date: https://www.findagrave.com1649
The British Parliament ratifies the Westminster Confession which had been accepted by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland the previous August.
Authority for the date: Duncan, J. Ligon III “Owning The Confession.” Premise Vol. II, No. 1 (January 28, 1995).1672
Solomon Stoddard accepts a call as pastor of Northampton Church, Massachusetts. He will minister there for fifty-five years. Among his most famous innovations will be the so-called “Halfway Covenant” that will allow people who are unsure of their salvation to partake of Communion. He will also become the grandfather of famed theologian Jonathan Edwards.
Authority for the date: Coffman, Ralph J. Solomon Stoddard. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1978.1856
Rev. Daniel Bliss lands in Syria where he will work as a missionary for close to fifty years, seven years in traditional activities and the remainder as an educator.
Authority for the date: Creegan, Charles C. Pioneer Missionaries of the Church. American Tract Society, 1903.1876
Death in Illinois of Frances Gaines Cartwright, who had shared the itinerant ministry of her husband Peter Cartwright and lost a daughter when a tree crashed on the girl in the wilderness.
Authority for the date: “Peter Cartwright and Frances Cartwright, United Methodist Church.” www.alliancelibrarysystem.com1876
Moody and Sankey commence a New York evangelistic “crusade” at the Great Roman Hippodrome on Madison Avenue.
Authority for the date: www.eaec.org/faithhallfame/irasankey.htm.1916
The Orthodox monk Hermogenes is tonsured at the Belogorsk monastery. Two and a half years later he will be shot by Bolsheviks.
Authority for the date: Moss, Vladimir. Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of the Urals, Siberia and Central Asia.1938
Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller is put on trial by the Nazis because of his outspoken opposition to their policies and will be incarcerated for seven years, most of it in a concentration camp.
Authority for the date: www.christianitytoday.com.1943
David H. Youngdahl becomes the first chaplain endorsed by the Baptist General Conference to die in military service, going down on a transport en route to Europe during World War II.
Authority for the date: The Standard (June 2002).1977
Rhodesian terrorists kill seven white Roman Catholic missionaries, including four nuns, at St. Paul’s Mission, Musami. They ignore black Christians and staff.
Authority for the date: http://www.rhodesia.nl/mission.htm.