Historical Writings

Death of Josquin Desprez, a Flemish composer transitional between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, who had written a large number of religious works.

Following England's Restoration, books by poet John Milton were ordered burned because of his attacks on the monarchy. Milton had advocated an elder-ruled (presbyterian) church government over that of bishop-ruled (episcopal).

Conversion of Joseph Tarkington, who will become a Methodist circuit rider and the grandfather of the novelist Booth Tarkington.

English churchman John Henry Cardinal Newman wrote in a letter: 'It is our great relief that God is not extreme to mark what is done amiss, that He looks at the motives, and accepts and blesses in spite of incidental errors.'

Baptism of Ganga Narayan Sil, a learned convert from Hinduism, who will become a street preacher to Hindus and Muslims.

Rhenish missionary Ludwig I. Nommensen, 31, baptized four families of the Batak tribe in North Sumatra (Indonesia) the first to be converted to the Christian faith. Nommensen later established a theological training school and in 1878 completed a translation of the New Testament into the Batak language.

At age 13, future English clergyman G. Campbell Morgan preached his first sermon. He later grew to become one of the most famous expository preachers and writers of late 19th century England and America.

Birth of Lloyd C. Douglas, American Lutheran clergyman and religious novelist. Douglas published his first best-seller, "Magnificent Obsession," in 1929, followed later by "The Robe" (1942) and "The Big Fisherman" (1948).

Soviets sentence Ivan Sergeyevich Antonov, an Orthodox priest, to three years' exile. He will be released in 1929 but in 1937 will be re-arrested for "anti-Soviet agitation," and subsequently will be shot.

Evelyn LeTourneau buys the property which becomes Camp Bethel.