1581 - Scotland's King James VI, who in 1603 would become England's James I, signed the Second Scottish Confession of Faith.
1822 - Birth of William D. Longstaff, English philanthropist. A close acquaintance of Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey, Longstaff is better remembered today as author of the hymn, "Take Time to Be Holy."
1834 - Birth of Sabine Baring-Gould, Anglican clergyman and author. A man of widely diverging interests, he published numerous books on history, biography, poetry and fiction. He also penned the enduring hymns, "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "Now the Day is Over."
1947 - In NY City, a copy of the 1640 Bay Psalm Book was purchased at an auction at Parke-Bernet Galleries for $150,000 --the highest price ever paid to date for a single volume. (The original title of the book was: "The Whole Book of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre.")
1977 - The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith published an 18-page document ruling out the admission of women to the Roman Catholic priesthood because women lacked a "natural resemblance which must exist between Christ and his ministers."
© 1987-2011, William D. Blake. Used by permission of the author, from
Almanac of the Christian Church
