TODAY IN HISTORY
October 10th
1560 Birth of Jacob Arminius, the Dutch theologian from whose writings and doctrines Protestants opposed to Calvinism have since been called “Arminians.”
1821 Charles Finney, 29, claimed to have received “a mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost,” and was converted to a Christian faith. Finney soon abandoned his pursuit of law and embarked on a 50-year career in evangelism and higher education.
1838 Birth of Theodore Zahn, German Lutheran Bible and patristics scholar. Author of many monographs and commentaries, Zahn’s leading work was his 3-volume “Introduction to the New Testament” (1899; 1909).
1841 Birth of William A. Ogden, American sacred composer. A student of Lowell Mason, Ogden became a well-known music teacher, and penned the hymns “Bring Them In” and “He is Able to Deliver Thee.”
1851 Birth of W. Robertson Nicoll, Scottish theologian. At one time editor of five periodicals, his most enduring achievement was “The Expositor’s Greek Testament,” a series of 50 volumes of commentaries he edited and published between 1888-1905.
October 11th
1521 Leo X conferred the title “Fidei Defensor” (Defender of the Faith) upon England’s Henry VIII. Three popes and 13 years later, Henry severed all ties with Rome to establish the Church of England.
1551 The 13th Session of the Council of Trent opened, during which major decisions were reached regarding the Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist.
1895 Birth of Avis B. Christiansen, devotional author. One of the most prolific hymnwriters of the 20th century, two of her most enduring hymns today are “Up Calvary’s Mountain” and “Precious Hiding Place.”
1914 During World War I, the Cathedral of Notre Dame suffered minor damage during an air raid on Paris. (Notre Dame, the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages, is distinguished for both its size and antiquity.)
1954 Presbyterian apologist Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: ‘Doctrinal rightness and rightness of ecclesiastical position are important, but only as a starting point to go on into a living relationship — and not as ends in themselves.
October 12th
1518 Summoned before Cardinal Thomas Cajetan, German reformer Martin Luther, 35, refused to recant the 95 theses he had posted the previous October on the chapel door at Wittenberg Castle.
1812 The Half Moon Bluff Baptist Church was organized near Clifton. It was the first Baptist congregation to be constituted in the American territory now comprising the state of Louisiana.
1883 Birth of C. Harold Lowden, American sacred composer. His most enduring hymn tunes today are GENEVA (“God Who Touchest Earth with Beauty”) and LIVING (“Living for Jesus a Life That is True”).
1949 American missionary and martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: ‘For my generation I must have the oracles of God in fresh terms.’
1971 The rock musical “Jesus Christ, Superstar” debuted on Broadway. (Twenty years later, the actor who played the part of Jesus, Jeff Fenholt became a born-again Christian.)
October 13th
_539 (BC) The Persian armies of Cyrus the Great captured Babylon. (Babylon, under Nebuchadnezzar, was the former military scourge which had taken Judah into exile in 586 BC (see 2 Kings 25).
1670 In Virginia, slavery was banned for Negroes who arrived in the American colonies as Christians. (The law was repealed in 1682.)
1843 B’nai B’rith (“Sons of the Covenant”) was established in New York City by a group of German Jews. It is both the oldest and the largest of the Jewish fraternal organizations.
1917 The Virgin Mary last appeared to three shepherd children near Fatima, Portugal. Six visions had occurred between May and October, each on the 13th of the month. (This last vision was attended by over 50,000 pilgrims.)
1988 The Bishop of Turin, Italy announced that the Shroud of Turin, long believed to be Christ’s burial sheet, did not withstand scientific testing. It dated back only to 1280, and not to the time of Jesus’ crucifixion (ca. AD 30-33).
October 14th
1529 Spanish reformer Juan de Valdes, 29, published his “Dialogue on Christian Doctrine,” which paved the way in Spain for Protestant ideas. But his treatise was condemned by the Spanish Inquisition, and Valdes was forced to flee Spain, never to return
1604 The Hampton Court Conference opened in London, during which Puritan representatives met with their monarch, King James I, to discuss reform within the Church of England.
1893 Pope Leo XIII appointed Archbishop Francesco Satolli as the Vatican’s first Apostolic Delegate to the United States.
1966 French-born American trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote in a letter: ‘The best way to solve the problem of rendering to Caesar what is Caesar’s is to have nothing that is Caesar’s.’
1972 American Presbyterian apologist Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: ‘I have come to the conclusion that none of us in our generation feels as guilty about sin as we should or as our forefathers did.’
October 15th
1784 Birth of Thomas Hastings, American sacred composer. Hastings was an albino afflicted with extreme nearsightedness, yet from his pen came such enduring hymn tunes as TOPLADY (“Rock of Ages”) and ORTONVILLE (“Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned”).
1790 Ann Teresa Mathews (aka Mother Bernardina) and Frances Dickinson founded a convent of Discalced Carmelites (a contemplative working order) in Port Tobacco, Maryland. It was the first Catholic convent founded in the United States.
1840 In Melville, Missouri, the Evangelical Synod of North America was founded. It later became one of the branches of today’s United Church of Christ.
1900 Pentecostal evangelist Charles Fox Parham opened Bethel Bible Institute in Topeka, Kansas. It was here on January 1, 1901 that the first Christian in modern times was reported to have spoken in tongues: student Agnes Ozman.
1948 American missionary martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: ‘”They shall mount up with wings as eagles” (Isa. 40:31). These wings are not so typical of purity as they are of power — strength to live above snares and everything ese…Thanks for wings, Lord.’
October 16th
1311 The Council of Vienne was convened, called by Clement V. During its three sessions, the council suppressed the Knights Templars (the principal military-religious order of the Middle Ages).
1649 The American colony of Maine passed legislation granting religious freedom to all its citizens, on condition that those of contrary religious persuasions behave acceptably.
1752 Birth of Johann G. Eichhorn, German Old Testament scholar. Eichhorn was a pioneer in “higher criticism,” which evaluated Scripture through literary analysis and historical evidence, rather than by the unquestioned authority of systematized religious tradition.
1789 In Philadelphia, as the second general convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church closed, a church constitution had been adopted. Canons of the new denomination were ratified and a revised version of the “Book of Common Prayer” was authorized.
1812 Death of Henry Martyn, Anglican missionary to Persia. During his short life of 31 years, he translated the New Testament into Hindustani, later into Arabic and Persian. He died at sea, while returning to England.
October 17th
1483 Pope Sixtus IV launched the Spanish Inquisition, placing it under joint direction of the Church and state. Tomas de Torquemada, 63, was appointed Grand Inquisitor in charge of removing Jews and Muslims from Spain.
1582 Birth of German scholar Johann Gerhard, most influential of the 17th century Lutheran theologians. His writings attained a European circulation second only to the Bible and Thomas a Kempis’ “Imitation of Christ.”
1651 French scientist Blaise Pascal wrote in a letter: ‘Jesus Christ suffered and died to sanctify death and suffering; he has been all that was great, and all that was abject, in order to sanctify in himself all things except sin, and to be the model of every condition.’
1792 Birth of John Bowring, English statesman, linguist, merchant, theologian and author of the hymn, “In the Cross of Christ I Glory.”
1812 In Washington Co., PA, the first of seven eventual conferences convened, leading ultimately to the founding in 1836 of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States.
October 18th
1662 Birth of Matthew Henry, English Presbyterian pastor. He is remembered for his “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments” (1708-10) — still in print! — whose value lies in its devotional and practical comments on the books of the Bible.
1685 Louis XIV revoked the 1598 Edict of Nantes, which had permitted French Protestants limited religious tolerance. The Huguenot exodus which followed drained France’s industrial economy, and possibly hastened the French Revolution.
1931 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: ‘The [Christian] “doctrines” are translations into our concepts and ideas of that which God has already expressed in language more adequate, namely the actual incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection.’
1949 Country songwriter Stuart Hamblen, 31, underwent a spiritual conversion. Author of the popular 1954 hit “This Old House,” Hamblen later wrote such Christian favorites as “It Is No Secret What God Can Do,” “How Big is God?” and “They That Wait Upon the Lord.”
1954 “The Week in Religion” aired for the last time over Dumont television. First broadcast in March 1952, this ecumenical Sunday evening panel show divided the hour into 20-minute segments each for Protestant, Catholic and Jewish news.
October 19th
1562 Birth of George Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury. A recognized leader of the English Calvinists, Abbot also demonstrated Puritan sympathies, and took a leading part in translating the 1611 King James Version of the Bible.
1609 Death of Jacob Arminius, 49, the Dutch theologian who lent his name to the beliefs (known today at Arminianism) which oppose the major tenets of Protestant Reformed (Calvinist) theology.
1720 Birth of John Woolman, American Quaker reformer. His “Journal,” written from 1756-72, greatly influenced 19th century abolitionists.
1744 English revivalist George Whitefield, 29, arrived in Maine at the start of his second visit to America. Whitefield struggled to adapt the beliefs of Calvinism to the Arminian teachings of proto-Methodists John and Charles Wesley.
1921 Birth of Bill Bright, American youth evangelist. Bill and his wife Vonette founded Campus Crusade for Christ in 1951, incorporating this evangelical Christian student organization in California in 1953.
October 20th
1802 Birth of Ernst W. Hengstenberg, German O.T. scholar. An outspoken defender of evangelical Christianity against the rationalism of his day, Hengstenberg’s most significant writing was his four-volume “Christology of the Old Testament.”
1828 Birth of American lawyer Horatio Gates Spafford. In 1873, upon learning of the drowning of his four daughters following a ship collision in the Atlantic, Spafford penned the lines to the hymn, “It is Well With My Soul.”
1892 Birth of Harry Dixon Loes, sacred music educator. A writer of gospel songs and choruses, it was Loes who composed the hymn tune REDEEMER (“Up Calvary’s Mountain, One Dreadful Morn”).
1908 Birth of Stuart Hamblen, country songwriter who flourished during the 1950s. His best-remembered Christian songs include “Known Only to Him,” “Beyond the Sunset,” and “It Is No Secret.”
1957 English apologist C.S. Lewis shared his longing for heaven in a letter: ‘It’ll be nice when we all wake up from this life, which has indeed something like a nightmare about it.’
October 21st
1532 German reformer Martin Luther declared: ‘For some years now I have read through the Bible twice every year. If you picture the Bible to be a mighty tree and every word a little branch, I have shaken every one of these branches because I wanted to know what it was and what it meant.’
1692 William Penn was deposed as Governor of Pennsylvania. His overtures of gratefulness to James II for permitting religious freedom for dissenters of the Church of England led William and Mary to charge Penn with being a papist.
1751 The first Baptist association in the American South was organized at Charleston, SC. It was formed under the initiative of Oliver Hart, who had left the Philadelphia area to become pastor of the Charleston Baptist Church in 1749.
1808 Birth of American Baptist clergyman Samuel Francis Smith. Credited with writing over 100 hymns, Smith is best remembered as the author of “America” (“My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”), written at age 23, while a student at Andover Seminary.
1892 Birth of James L Kelso, American Presbyterian archaeologist. He participated in digs at the biblical sites of Debir, Bethel and Jericho, and authored the text “Ceramic Vocabulary of the O.T.”
October 22nd
451 During the Fifth Session of the Council of Chalcedon, the final form of the Chalcedonian Creed was drafted. It became the Early Church’s highest and most enduring “definition” of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
1844 The “Great Disappointment” began when this latest date, set for the return of Christ by religious leader William Miller, passed without event. Over 100,000 disillusioned followers returned to their former churches, or abandoned the Christian faith altogether.
1899 American Presbyterian missionary James B. Rodgers, 34, baptized his first Filipino converts to the Christian faith, thus inaugurating the beginning of Philippine Protestant churches.
1952 The complete Jewish Torah was published in English for the first time. A collection of oral and written commentary (dating 200 BC to AD 500) on the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah comprises the basic religious code of Judaism.
1966 Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth declared in a letter: ‘God makes no mistakes.’
October 23rd
4004 (BC) According to the sacred timeline worked out by Archbishop James Ussher, 73, “the heavens and the earth” were created on this date at 9:00 a.m. (GMT). Ussher’s “Chronologies of he Old and New Testaments” was first published 1650-54.
1239 In England, the main cathedral at Wells (begun c.1186) was consecrated. The most striking interior feature of the cathedral are the inverted arches (14th century) by which the piers of the tower are strengthened.
1385 In Germany, the University of Heidelberg was founded under Pope Urban VI as a college of the Cistercian order. (Among its faculties today are theology, law, medicine and philosophy.)
1857 Delegates from eight states met in Nashville and organized the Southern Baptist Sunday School Union. The organization proved short-lived, when it was nullified by the onset of the American Civil War.
1871 Birth of Edgar J. Goodspeed, American Greek N.T. scholar. He taught at the University of Chicago 1898-1937. In 1931, he co-authored with JMP Smith “The Bible: An American Translation,” better known today as “Smith and Goodspeed.”
October 24th
1260 Under Pope Alexander IV, Chartres Cathedral in France was consecrated. Completed in less than 30 years, the structure represents high Gothic architecture at its purest.
1538 French reformer John Calvin wrote in a letter: ‘Among Christians there ought to be so great a dislike of schism, as that they may always avoid it so far as lies in their power.’
1790 English founder of Methodism John Wesley, 87, made the last entry in his 55-year-long journal, written after preaching a sermon: ‘I hope many even then resolved to choose the better part.’ (Wesley died the following March.)
1911 Missionary widow Aimee Elizabeth Kennedy Semple, 21, married Harold Stewart McPherson, also 21. Afterward, Aimee Semple McPherson went on to establish the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in 1918. (She and Harold would divorce in 1921).
1956 In Syracuse, New York, Margaret Ellen Towner became the first woman ordained in the Presbyterian Church.
October 25th
1147 The armies of the Second Crusade (1147-49) were destroyed by the Saracens at Dorylaeum (in modern Turkey). The Crusaders went on with fruitless campaigns against Damascus, Syria.
1564 Birth of Hans Leo Hassler, sacred composer. The first notable German musician educated in Italy, Hassler left a rich musical legacy, including the hymn tune PASSION CHORALE, to which the Church now sings, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.”
1800 Birth of Jacque Paul Migne, French theological publisher. Establishing his own press in 1836, Migne published a voluminous collection of writings by the ancient Greek and Latin fathers (161 vols: “Patrologia Graecae”; 221 vols: “Patrologia Latinae”) during his remaining 39 years.
1921 Franklin Small, 48, and a group of dissatisfied members of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, obtained a Dominion charter to establish the Apostolic Church of Pentecost of Canada. In 1953, this group merged with the Evangelical Churches of Pentecost, whose major congregations are located today in the Canadian prairie provinces.
1941 The first Youth For Christ rally was held at Bryant’s Alliance Tabernacle in New York City. An international evangelical youth organization, YFC has no single founder, but rather emerged out of weekly rallies held for the youth of New York City during the 1930s.
October 26th
1779 Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: ‘The Lord is so rich that He easily can — so good that He certainly will — give His children more than He will ever take away.
1813 Birth of Henry T. Smart, English sacred organist. Though largely self-taught, Smart published many compositions, two of which are still popular as hymn tunes: LANCASHIRE (“Lead On, O King Eternal”) and REGENT SQUARE (“Angels From the Realms of Glory”).
1889 Birth of Millar Burrows, American archaeologist. Director of the American School of Oriental Research at Jerusalem 1931-32, 1947-48), Burrows’ most popular published work was “What Mean These Stones?” (1941).
1948 The Pentecostal Fellowship of North America was organized at Des Moines, Iowa. The association is comprised of 24 Pentecostal groups and meets annually to promote unity among Pentecostal Christians.
1963 One month before his death at age 65, English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter addressed to a child: ‘If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you, and I hope you may always do so.’
October 27th
1553 In Switzerland, Spanish physician Michael Servetus, 42, convicted for promulgating anti-Trinitarianism, was condemned for heresy and blasphemy, and burned at the stake in Geneva.
1771 Landing at Philadelphia, pioneer bishop Francis Asbury, 26, first arrived in America. He had been sent from England by John Wesley to oversee Methodism in the American colonies, and stayed all of his remaining 45 years, till his death in 1816.
1889 The first Lithuanian Church in America was organized in Plymouth (near Wilkes-Barre), PA. Rev. Alexander Burba was its first pastor.
1963 One month before his death at age 65, English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: ‘Autumn is really the best of the seasons; and I’m not sure that old age isn’t the best part of life.’
1977 American missionary and apologist Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: ‘The unforgivable sin is not something done once and for all and which when done is without remedy. it is the constant, unremitting resistance of the gracious work of the Holy Spirit for salvation.’
October 28th
312 Roman emperor Constantine, 32, defeated the army of Maxentius, a contender to the throne, at Milvian Bridge, after trusting in a vision he had seen of the cross, inscribed with the words, “In this sign conquer.” Constantine was converted soon after and became the first Roman emperor to embrace the Christian faith.
1646 At Nonantum, Mass., colonial missionary John Eliot (“Apostle to the New England Indians”), 42, conducted the first Protestant worship service for the Indians of North America. He also delivered the first sermon preached to the Indians in their native tongue.
1777 Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter; ‘The Lord usually reserves dying strength for a dying hour.’
1820 Birth of John H. Hopkins, a leader in the development of Episcopal church hymnody during the mid-19th century. Today, he is better remembered as the author and composer of the Christmas hymn, “We Three Kings of Orient Are.”
1949 American missionary martyr Jim Elliot, 22, inscribed in his journal perhaps the most oft-quoted of all his sayings: ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.’
October 29th
1869 Birth of E. O. Sellers, American Baptist musician. At various times the song evangelist for R.A. Torrey, Gipsy Smith, A.C. Dixon and J. Wilbur Chapman, Sellers is remembered today for his two original hymns: “Thy Word Have I Hid in My Heart” and “Wonderful, Wonderful Jesus.”
1870 Birth of Juji Nakada, Japanese Christian evangelist. In 1901 he influenced Charles and Lettie Cowman (authors of “Streams in the Desert”) to come to Japan, where in 1910 they incorporated the Oriental Missions Society.
1889 New York City missions pioneer Albert B. Simpson, 46, incorporated the International Missionary Alliance. Combined in 1897 with a group formerly also organized by Simpson, it became the Christian and Missionary Alliance, one of the most missions-minded denominations in modern American Protestantism.
1919 The Apostolic Christian Association was incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia. It later merged with what is now the International Pentecostal Church of Christ, headquartered in London, Ohio.
1955 American missionary Jim Elliot, 28, wrote in his journal: ‘First time I ever saw an Auca–1500′ is a long ways if you’re looking out of an airplane.’ Ten weeks later, on Jan 8, 1956, Jim and four other missionaries would be speared to death by these same Indians they had come to Ecuador in hopes of evangelizing.
October 30th
1536 Thirteen years after Lutheran ministers came to bring spiritual renewal to its people, Denmark adopted Lutheranism as its official state religion.
1738 English founder of Methodism John Wesley explained in a letter: ‘By a “Christian,” I mean one who so believes in Christ as that sin hath no more dominion over him.’
1768 The Wesley Chapel on John Street in New York City was dedicated. It was the first Methodist church building to be erected in the American colonies, and was restored in 1817, and again in 1840.
1902 Pope Leo XIII published the apostolic letter “Vigilantiae,” which officially established the Pontifical Commission of Biblical Studies. Created to safeguard the authority of Scripture from outside secular criticism, in 1904 the Commission was empowered to confer academic degrees.
1976 Dr. Joseph H. Evans was elected president of the United Church of Christ. It made him the first African-American leader of this predominantly white denomination.
October 31st
_451 At the 15th Session of the Council of Chalcedon, Canon 28 was adopted, granting Constantinole a patriarchate extending over the civil dioceses of Pontus, Asia, and Thrace.
1517 German Augustinian monk Martin Luther, 31, nailed to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg a list of 95 theological points he wished to debate … and touched off the Protestant Reformation!
1832 American Episcopal scholar George Washington Doane, 33, was consecrated as second Bishop of the Diocese of NJ. Doane is better remembered today as author of the hymn, “Softly Now the Light of Day.”
1852 Swiss moral philosopher Henry F. Amiel wrote in his journal: ‘Every landscape is, as it were, a state of the soul, and whoever penetrates into both is astonished to find how much likeness there is in each detail.’
1870 Birth of Hugh Ross Mackintosh, Scottish theologian. Teaching systematics at Edinburgh 1904-35, Mackintosh had a firm grasp of the German theological writers of his day and sought to make their teachings known in Britain, for which he was unfairly judged a liberal.
November 1st
0451 The Council of Chalcedon (located in modern Turkey) adjourned. Begun on Oct 8th, its 17 sessions were attended by over 500 bishops __ more than participated in any other ancient Church council.
1512 Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo, 37, unveiled his 5,808_square_foot masterpiece, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. He had been commissioned in 1508 by Pope Julius II to do a work depicting the whole story of the Bible.
1537 German reformer Martin Luther stated during one of his “Table Talks”: ‘There are many fluent preachers who speak at length but say nothing, who have words without substance.’
1950 Pope Pius XII proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. His Apostolic Constitution “Munificentissimus Deus” taught that, at the end of her earthly life, Jesus’ mother was taken, body and soul, into heaven to be united with the risen Christ.
1963 English linguistic scholar J.R.R. Tolkien wrote in a letter: ‘In the last resort, faith is an act of will, inspired by love.’
November 2nd
1164 Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket, 45, began a six_year self_imposed exile in France. Once a close friend of England’s Henry II, Thomas had more recently become an outspoken opponent of the king’s royal policies.
1600 Staunch Anglican theologian Richard Hooker died at 46. His last words were: ‘God hath my daily petitions, for I am at peace with all men, and He is at peace with me… and this witness makes the thoughts of death joyful.’
1789 During the chaos of the French Revolution, the property of the Church in France was taken over by the state.
1830 A general convention of Methodist reformers opposed to the episcopal (i.e., bishop_led) form of church government met in Baltimore, MD, to establish the Protestant Methodist Church.
1917 British foreign secretary Arthur J. Balfour, 69, issued the Balfour Declaration, calling for “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” The document’s recognition of a Jewish nationalism planted the seed which in 1948 led to an establishment of the modern state of Israel.
November 3rd
0753 Death of St. Pirminius, first abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Reichenau (located in modern Germany). His name endures today as author of a book entitled “Scarapsus,” which is the earliest known writing to contain the Apostles’ Creed as it is worded in its present form.
1631 English clergyman John Eliot, 27, first arrived in America, at Boston. He afterward became the first Protestant minister to devote himself to evangelization of the American Indian.
1784 English clergyman Thomas Coke, 37, first arrived in America, at New York City. He was the first Methodist bishop to come to the New World.
1818 Pliny Fisk, 26, set sail for Palestine. Ordained by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Fisk became the first American missionary to journey to the Near East.
1925 The Pentecostal Ministerial Alliance was organized at St. Louis, MO. It became the forerunner of a new denomination, established in 1932 as the Pentecostal Church, Inc.
November 4th
1646 The Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a law making it a capital offense to deny that the Bible was the Word of God. Any person convicted of the offense was liable to the death penalty.
1740 Birth of Anglican clergyman Augustus M. Toplady. A highly respected evangelical leader, Toplady authored the hymn “Rock of Ages” two years before his premature death at 38 in 1778.
1898 The first church to bear the Pentecostal Holiness name was organized at Goldsboro, NC, under the leadership of Methodist evangelist Ambrose Blackman Crumpler, 35.
1936 Future U.S. Senate Chaplain Rev. Peter Marshall, 34, married Catherine Wood, 22. Following Peter’s premature death at age 46, Catherine immortalized his name through her 1951 bestÃselling biography, “A Man Called Peter.”
1966 London’s “Evening Standard” newspaper published John Lennon’s controversial remark stating that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus.” The quote touched off a storm of controversy and international protest, resulting in a world_wide boycott of Beatles music.
November 5th
1917 In Moscow, following abdication of Russian Czar Nicholas II, the historic Orthodox Church Council of 1917_1918 restored the office of patriarch, suppressed by Peter the Great in 1700.
1935 The Cooperative General Association of Free Will Baptists (northern U.S.) and the General Conference of Free Will Baptists (southern U.S.) merged in Nashville, TN, to form the National Association of Free Will Baptists.
1950 Billy Graham’s “Hour of Decision” program was first broadcast over television.
1959 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: ‘All joy (as distinct from mere pleasure, still more amusement) emphasises our pilgrim status; always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings are wantings.’
1970 American Presbyterian missionary Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: ‘The Bible does not minimize sexual sin, but neither does it make it different from any other sin.’
November 6th
1777 Anglican hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: ‘God often takes a course for accomplishing His purposes directly contrary to what our narrow views would prescribe. He brings a death upon our feelings, wishes and prospects when He is about to give us the desire of our hearts.’
1789 Following the American Revolution, Father John Carroll, 54, was appointed the first Roman Catholic bishop in the newly organized and independent United States of America.
1853 The first Chinese Presbyterian Church in the U.S. was organized in San Francisco, CA.
1953 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: ‘Our prayers are really His prayers; He speaks to himself through us.’
1977 In Toccoa Falls, GA, the Barnes Lake Dam burst, following heavy rains, and the resulting flood destroyed the (Christian and Missionary Alliance) campus of Toccoa Falls Bible Institute. Thirty_eight students and instructors were also killed in the tragedy.
November 7th
1637 Controversial colonial religious leader Anne Hutchinson, 46, was convicted of spreading heresy and banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Mrs. Hutchinson afterward relocated in Rhode Island with her family and friends.
1793 During the French Revolution, “Christianity” was abolished on this date. Reason was deified, and as many as 2,000 churches were afterward destroyed throughout France.
1828 Birth of American biblical lexicographer Joseph Henry Thayer. A Congregationalist pastor, Thayer’s main interest was New Testament language and in 1886 he published his definitive “Greek_English Lexicon of the New Testament.”
1837 American Presbyterian abolitionist and newspaper editor Elijah P. Lovejoy, 35, was murdered. Forced earlier to move his business from St. Louis to Alton, Illinois, Lovejoy was shot during the night by an anti_abolitionist mob while defending his presses.
1847 Birth of Will L. Thompson, American songwriter. With a major interest in sacred music, Thompson’s pen has left the Church two enduring hymns: “Jesus is All the World to Me” and “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling.”
November 8th
1837 Mt. Holyoke Seminary first opened in Massachusetts. Founded by Mary Lyon, 39, it was the first college in the U.S. established specifically for the education of women.
1889 Birth of Oswald J. Smith, Canadian clergyman. Founder of the People’s Church of Toronto, Smith also authored a number of books and composed more than 1,200 hymns, including “The Song of the Soul Set Free.”
1904 Emile Combs introduced a bill for the separation of Church and State in France. The bill passed in December 1905, thereby ending the Concordat of 1801 and allowing complete liberty of conscience.
1951 American Presbyterian missionary Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: ‘The higher the mountains, the more understandable is the glory of Him who made them and who holds them in His hand.’
1952 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: ‘When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now…. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.’
November 9th
1538 German reformer Martin Luther declared: ‘It would be a good thing if young people were wise and old people were strong, but God has arranged things better.’
1800 Birth of Asa Mahan, American educator and Congregational clergyman. President of Oberlin College in Ohio from 1835_1850, Mahan was instrumental in establishing interracial college enrollment and in the granting of college degrees to women.
1836 Birth of Christian business traveler Samuel Hill. In 1899 Hill, John Nicholson and W.J. Knights co_founded the Gideons, a Christian organization that ministers through distribution of the Scriptures. To date, the Gideons have placed over 12 million Bibles and 100 million New Testaments.
1837 British philanthropist Moses Montefiore, 52, became the first Jew to be knighted in England. Montefiore was a banking executive who devoted his life to the political and civil emancipation of English Jews.
1938 The worst Jewish pogrom in peacetime Germany took place as Nazi thugs led a “spontaneous” campaign of terror. During the night 267 synagogues were plundered, 7,500 shops were wrecked, 91 Jews were killed and 20,000 others were arrested and sent to concentration camps. It was afterward known as “Kristallnacht” because of the thousands of windows broken.
November 10th
1766 In New Brunswick, New Jersey, Queen’s College was chartered under the Dutch Reformed Church, to provide education “…especially in divinity, preparing [youth] for the ministry and other good offices.” The present name of the school, Rutgers University, was adopted in 1924.
1770 French philosopher Fran_’__ois Voltaire, 75, uttered his famous remark: ‘If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.’
1871 Following seven months of searching, foreign correspondent to the “New York Herald” Henry M. Stanley succeeded at last in locating Scottish missionary David Livingstone in Ujiji, Central Africa. Stanley prefaced his encounter with these words: ‘Dr. Livingstone, I presume.’
1952 English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: ‘I believe that, in the present divided state of Christendom, those who are at the heart of each division are all closer to one another than those who are at the fringes.’
1977 It was announced that Pope Paul VI had ended the automatic excommunication imposed on divorced American Catholics who remarried. (The excommunication was first imposed by the Plenary Council of American Bishops in 1884.)
November 11th
1215 The Fourth Lateran Council was convened by Pope Innocent III. It was the council which first defined “transubstantiation,” the Catholic belief that the bread and wine of the Eucharist change invisibly into the body and blood of Christ.
1620 The “Mayflower Compact” was signed by the 41 Separatists among the passengers of the “Mayflower,” serving as the basis for combining themselves “into a civil body politic.” Democratic in form, the Compact comprised the first written American constitution, and remained in force until 1691.
1760 English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: ‘You cannot live on what He did yesterday. Therefore He comes today.’
1793 Five months after setting sail for India, English pioneer missionary William Carey, 32, reached Calcutta. (Later, Carey founded the Baptist Missionary Society, the first of the British Protestant missions agencies.)
1966 The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren voted to merge into one denomination in the U.S., afterward to be called the United Methodist Church. (The “declaration of union” took place officially on April 23, 1968.)
November 12th
1556 Dutch Anabaptist reformer Menno Simons wrote in a letter: ‘I can neither teach nor live by the faith of others. I must live by my own faith as the Spirit of the Lord has taught me through His Word.’
1701 The Carolina Assembly passed a Vestry Act making the Church of England the official religion of the Carolina Colony. (Strong opposition by Quakers and other resident Nonconformists forced the colony’s proprietors to revoke their legislation two years later.)
1818 Birth of Henri F. Hemy, English church organist. Of his several original compositions, best known is the tune ST. CATHERINE, to which we commonly sing the hymn, “Faith of Our Fathers.”
1899 American evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody, 62, began his last evangelistic campaign in Kansas City, Missouri. Becoming ill during the last service, Moody was unable to complete his message, and died a few days later, on Dec 22.
1954 American Presbyterian missionary Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: ‘Loyalty to organizations and movements has always tended over time to take the place of loyalty to the person of Christ.’
November 13th
0354 Birth of St. Augustine of Hippo, greatest of the Early Latin Church Fathers. Of his many writings, two have endured: “Confessions” describes the circumstances leading to his conversion to the Christian faith, and “The City of God” was written as a Christian view of the sacking of Rome by the Visigoths in the year 410.
1564 Pius IV ordered his bishops and scholars to subscribe to “Professio Fidei,” the Profession of the Tridentine Faith recently formulated at the Council of Trent (1545_63) as the new and final definition of the Roman Catholic faith.
1618 In the Dutch commune of Dordrecht, the Synod of Dort convened to discuss the Arminian controversy vexing the Reformed faith. In the end, about 200 Arminian (Remonstrant) ministers were deposed and fifteen were placed under arrest and later expelled from the country.
1804 Anglican missionary to Persia, Henry Martyn wrote in his journal: ‘God and eternal things are my only pleasure.’
1962 The name of St. Joseph was added to the canon of the Roman Catholic mass. It constituted the first alteration made to this canon since the seventh century.
November 14th
1558 Dutch Anabaptist reformer Menno Simons wrote in a letter: ‘We ought not to dread death so. It is but to cease from sin and to enter into a better life.’
1739 English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in his journal: ‘We can preach the Gospel of Christ no further than we have experienced the power of it in our own hearts.’
1741 In Wales, English revivalist George Whitefield, 27, married widow Elizabeth Burnell, 36. (Whitefield apparently did not allow marriage to interrupt his evangelistic activities, since he was not home when their first child was born.)
1784 Samuel Seabury, 55, was consecrated Bishop of Connecticut and Rhode Island, the first bishop of the American Protestant Episcopal Church, and the first Anglican bishop in America.
1941 Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship was incorporated in Chicago. An interdenominational organization with chapters at both colleges and schools of nursing, IVCF provides Christian fellowship, nurture and discipleship among Christian college_age students.
November 15th
1626 The original Mayflower “pilgrims” (Separatists), having lived in their American colony for six years, bought out their London investors for 1,800 pounds.
1760 Anglican hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: ‘Our love to Him is the proof and measure of what we know of His love to us.’
1804 Anglican missionary to Persia, Henry Martyn wrote in his journal: ‘Corruption always begins the day, but morning prayer never fails to set my mind in a right frame.’
1839 Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: ‘I know well that when Christ is nearest, Satan also is busiest.’
1957 Patriarch Ignatius Yacoub III officially established the Archdiocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the U.S. and Canada. At the same time, Archbishop Mar Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, former
November 16th
1621 The Papal Chancery first adopted January 1st as the beginning of the calendar year. Previously, March was the first month, which explains why our modern names for the 9th_12th months begin instead with prefixes meaning “7” (sept_), “8” (octÃ) “9” (nov_) and “10” (dec_).
1894 Death of James McCosh, 83, Scottish_born theologian and educator. President of Princeton from 1868_88, McCosh was one of the first orthodox clergymen in America to accept and defend the theory of ev