1528 - Martyrdom of Balthaser Hubmaier, 48, German reformer and chief writer for the Anabaptist movement. Arrested in Moravia, Hubmaier was later condemned at Vienna and burned at the stake.
1681 - English Quaker William Penn, 26, received a charter from Charles II, making him sole proprietor of the colonial American territory known today as the state of Pennsylvania.
1748 - [O.S.] Slave-ship Captain John Newton, 22, was converted to a saving Christian faith. Newton later became an Anglican clergyman, and (as the author of "Amazing Grace") a greatly respected hymnwriter as well.
1937 - English historian Arnold J. Toynbee wrote: 'In this really very brief period of less than 2,000 years Christianity has, in fact, produced greater spiritual effects in the world than have been produced in a comparable space of time by any other spiritual movement that we know of in history.'
1987 - The Vatican declared its formal opposition to test-tube fertilization, embryo transfer and most other forms of scientific interference in human procreation.
© 1987-2009, William D. Blake. Used by permission of the author, from
Almanac of the Christian Church
