0325 - The General Council of Nicea ended. This first ecumenical conclave in the history of the Church was attended by 300 bishops, who together established the Nicene Creed and set down the lunar formula for celebrating Easter.
1560 - Protestantism was formally adopted at the First General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Scottish Parliament had earlier voted to accept a Calvinist confession of faith, declaring that the pope no longer had jurisdiction over Scotland.
1817 - Joseph Mohr, 25, began serving as pastor of the St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria. (It was Christmas Eve, 1818, when Mohr and church organist Franz Gruber, together, produced the enduring Christmas carol, "Stille Nacht"/"Silent Night.")
1864 - Birth of John Henry Jowett, English Congregational clergyman. In 1918, he succeeded G. Campbell Morgan as pastor of the famed Westminster Chapel in London.
1935 - English Bible expositor Arthur W. Pink wrote in a letter: 'None but the Lord himself can afford us any help from the awful workings of unbelief, doubtings, carnal fears, murmurings. Thank God one day we will be done forever with "unbelief."'
© 1987-2009, William D. Blake. Used by permission of the author, from
Almanac of the Christian Church
