Historical Writings

Death of St. Maximus the Confessor, who had been a vigorous opponent of Monothelitism. Dreadfully persecuted, he had been humiliated, had his tongue cut out and his right hand chopped off. Monothelitism was the heresy that Christ had a divine, but no human, will.

In Roanoke, Virginia, Manteo became the first American Indian converted to Protestantism, and was baptized into the Church of England by members of Sir Walter Raleigh's expedition to the New World.

The first Welsh immigrants to the American colonies arrived in Pennsylvania. They were Quakers, and settled near modern Philadelphia.

In the German village of Herrnhut, religious reformer Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf, 27, organized a group of Bohemian Protestant refugees into the first Moravian community of "Unitas Fratrum" (united brotherhood).

John Witherspoon assumes the presidency of Nassau Hall (i.e. the original Princeton).

Death of Tikhon of Zadonsk, a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, notable for his spiritual writings that stressed love and forgiveness. "Do we forgive our neighbors their trespasses? God also forgives us in His mercy. Do we refuse to forgive? God, too, will refuse to forgive us. As we treat our neighbors, so also does God treat us."

Martin John Spalding is ordained in Rome. He will become bishop of Louisville, Kentucky, where he will work tirelessly to expand the Roman Catholic Church, and will found the American College at Louvain.

Ganga Narayan Sil, a learned convert from Hinduism, preaches his final sermon. Although never formally ordained, he had preached in streets and in chapels, winning Hindus and Muslims to Christ.

Missionary James Stewart arrives in Cape Town, South Africa. He will found the Lovedale Center.

Death of Elizabeth Prentiss, a school teacher who had written the hymn "More Love to Thee, O Christ."

Death of Ira D. Sankey, 68. He was Dwight Moody's song evangelist from 1870. During their revival crusades, Sankey penned many hymn tunes, of which the most enduring today are HIDING IN THEE ("O Safe to the Rock That is Higher Than I") and SANKEY ("Faith is the Victory").

Birth of Rex Humbard, pioneer radio and television evangelist. In 1958 Humbard established the Cathedral of Tomorrow in Akron, Ohio, from which he afterward based his television ministry.

The Guardian reports charges by a Brazilian prosecutor that Edir Macedo and ten associate leaders in the eight-million-member Universal Kingdom of God, siphoned billions of dollars of charitable contributions on lavish personal expenses.