1556 - Dutch Anabaptist reformer Menno Simons wrote in a letter: 'I can neither teach nor live by the faith of others. I must live by my own faith as the Spirit of the Lord has taught me through His Word.'
1701 - The Carolina Assembly passed a Vestry Act making the Church of England the official religion of the Carolina Colony. (Strong opposition by Quakers and other resident Nonconformists forced the colony's proprietors to revoke their legislation two years later.)
1818 - Birth of Henri F. Hemy, English church organist. Of his several original compositions, best known is the tune ST. CATHERINE, to which we commonly sing the hymn, "Faith of Our Fathers."
1899 - American evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody, 62, began his last evangelistic campaign in Kansas City, Missouri. Becoming ill during the last service, Moody was unable to complete his message, and died a few days later, on Dec 22.
1954 - American Presbyterian missionary Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: 'Loyalty to organizations and movements has always tended over time to take the place of loyalty to the person of Christ.'
[Source: William D. Blake. Almanac of the Christian Church, Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.]
