Historical Writings

Death of Michael of Kiev, the first Metropolitan of Kiev.

Leo X issued the papal encyclical 'Exsurge Domine,' which condemned German Reformer Martin Luther as a heretic on 41 counts and branded him an enemy of the Roman Catholic Church.

Margaret Jones of Charlestown became the first person tried and executed for witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts.

In Boston, the King's Chapel was organized. It was the first Anglican church established in colonial New England.

In response to a query from Salem leaders regarding trial procedures, Cotton Mather and eleven associates sign a statement on witchcraft that shows their literal belief in the claims coming out of the Salem witch trials.

Birth in New York of John Marrant, an African-American who will become a missionary to Native Americans, one of America's first African-American missionaries.

Death at Halle, Germany, of Karl Heinrich von Bogatzky, a German Pietist hymnwriter.

Death of Dorothy Frances Blomfield Gurney at Notting Hill, London. She had authored the wedding hymn "O Perfect Love."

Kierkegaard scholar Walter Lowrie is so impressed with Charles Williams's editorial suggestions for a series on the Danish philosopher that he writes: "I am willing to have [Williams] carry them out in the revision of the proofs up to the end of the book, without delay of referring them to me." Charles Williams will become one of the literary circle around C.S. Lewis, known as the Inklings.

Death in London of Anglican mystic Evelyn Underhill, author of Mysticism (1911) and Worship (1937) among other books.

American missionary martyr Jim Elliot wrote in his journal: 'A man without Christ has his roots only in his own times, and his fruits as well.'

Greater Europe Mission moved its headquarters from Chicago to Wheaton, Illinois. Founded in 1949, GEM is an evangelical missionary agency involved in church planting and evangelism in over a dozen European countries.

John Stott leads a memorial service for influential British evangelist Eric John Hewitson Nash at All Souls' Church in London.

Three million believers parade through Sao Paolo, Brazil, according to organizers, in the world’s largest “March for Jesus” headed by the leaders of the Reborn in Christ Pentecostal church.