Historical Writings

John Donne is appointed dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, London.

Richard Baxter defies the English law forbidding him to preach, "preaching as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men."

English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in a letter: 'Plead His promises, be much in secret prayer, and never give God rest, till your soul is filled with all His fulness.'

At the suggestion of her minister, abolitionist Julia Ward Howe writes the words of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" to the popular tune "John Brown's Body."

Birth of William (Billy) Sunday, American revivalist. Orphaned during the Civil War, Sunday became a major league baseball player 1883-91, then turned to evangelism in 1893, speaking to an estimated total audience of 100 million before his death in 1935.

Metropolitan Philaret serves the Divine Liturgy for the last time and is found dead in the afternoon. He had struggled to free the church from government interference and had supported the efforts of the Russian Bible Society to translate the Bible into modern Russian that people could understand.

Birth of Haldor Lillenas, American hymnwriter. He penned nearly 4,000 Gospel texts and hymn tunes during his lifetime, including "It Is Glory Just to Walk With Him," Wonderful Grace of Jesus" and "Peace, Peace, Wonderful Peace."

Death of Samuel J. Stone, Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter and hymnologist, who had published five collections of hymns. His best-known hymn will be "The Church's One Foundation."

Swedish Pentecostal missionaries Daniel Berg, 26, and Adolf Vingren, 31, arrived in Brazil. In 1918 they established the first Pentecostal church, from which grew Brazil's largest Protestant body, the Assemblies of God.

The Third Assembly of the World Council of Churches convened at New Delhi, India, during which the International Missionary Council and its work was integrated into the larger ecumenical group.

Jacob Olawale Omoniyi is ordained as a Baptist minister in Nigeria. Despite deficiencies in his education, he becomes a notable educator, pastor, and leader - the first chairman of the Oyo West Baptist Conference.