Historical Writings

[date derived from her feast day and coins bearing her image] Death in Nicomedia of Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, who had supposedly discovered the true cross on which Christ died, and who had founded many churches in Palestine.

Publication of Luther’s address To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation. It calls the laity, as spiritual priests, to carry out the reformation neglected by the pope and the established church.

Puritan clergyman John Bunyan, 69, preached his last sermon, before dying 13 days later. In 1678 he had authored Pilgrim's Progress, an allegory describing the difficulties encountered in the Christian life, while journeying through this world.

Agapius of Thessalonica, an Orthodox monk and priest, after a life of active service for the Jerusalem church, is tortured to death by Janissaries while returning to his birthplace.

Birth of Charles Gabriel, American sacred music artist. He edited a great number of hymnbooks, and wrote several hymns, including "More Like the Master," "I Stand Amazed in the Presence" and "Send the Light."

Cameron Townsend sets off from home to do mission work. He will found Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics.

Death of American theologian and educator William Porcher DuBose, professor at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.

At age 20, Christian radio pioneer Theodore Epp was converted to a living faith. In 1939 he founded Back to the Bible Broadcast, an evangelistic radio program with outlets today on over 600 stations around the world.

English apologist C. S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'One creeps home, tired and bruised, into a state of mind that is really restful, when all ambitions have been given up. Then one can really for the first time say, "Thy Kingdom come."

Death of John Sung, outstanding Christian missionary in China and Southeast Asia.

Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth wrote in a letter: 'Even if there is cause for great dissatisfaction with one's church, one should stay in it in the hope that new movements will come.... Only in this way could I continue to be a member of the Evangelical Reformed Church.'