Historical Writings

Swiss Anabaptist reformer Felix Manz, 29, was drowned in punishment for preaching adult (re-)baptism. Manz's death made him the first Protestant in history to be martyred at the hands of other Protestants.

Death in Wroclaw, Poland, of Johann Hess, the Lutheran reformer of Silesia.

George Whitefield and Welsh Calvinists Methodists form the first Methodist association at Wadford, Wales.

Death of John Howie, author of The Scots Worthies (1775), biographies of the Covenanters. He had written it to counteract a growing tendency among his contemporaries to disparage their christian ancestors, and he sought to inflame love of Christ by giving notable examples.

Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'There is nothing like a calm look into the eternal world to teach us the emptiness of human praise.'

Kate Youngman and Mary Park open Graham Seminary in Tokyo (named for Julia Graham, head of the Presbyterian's foreign missionary office). They will form networks to evangelize among the Japanese and Youngman will move on to work with victims of leprosy.

Wang Ming-Dao and his companions break the ice on a frozen river near Baoding, China, and are baptized as adult believers. Consequently Ming-Dao loses a steady income with the Presbyterian mission which teaches infant baptism.

Following her sensational divorce, popular American evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, 32, resigned her denominational ordination and returned her fellowship papers to the General Council of the Assemblies of God.

Death of George Washington Carver, after falling downstairs at his Tuskugee, Alabama, home. He had overcome the adversity of being born a slave to become a leading American educator and chemurgist. He had been noted for his deep faith, humility, and lively Bible lessons.

U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall prayed: 'Our Father in heaven, give us the long view of our work and our world. Help us to see that it is better to fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail.'

Following an unprecedented pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Paul VI met with Greek Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I in Jerusalem. It was the first such meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches in over 500 years (since 1439).

The Jewish organization Yad Vashem recognizes the Reverend André Trocmé of the Reformed Church as Righteous among the Nations because of his efforts to rescue Jews in France during Nazi occupation. He and his wife Magda will be remembered with other Righteous Gentiles in the Episcopal Church calendar on July 19. In May 1984, Yad Vashem will recognize Magda for her role. André's second cousin Daniel will also be recognized as Righteous among the Nations, having died in a concentration camp for his role protecting Jews.