1746 - Colonial missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd wrote in his journal: 'Oh, how precious is time, and how it pains me to see it slide away, while I do so little to any good purpose. Oh, that God would make me more fruitful and spiritual.'
1817 - In Hartford, CT, American clergyman Thomas H. Gallaudet, 30, and deaf Frenchman Laurent Clerc opened the first American school for the deaf, called the American Asylum.
1872 - In deciding the legal case "Watson v. Jones," the U.S. Supreme Court declared that a member of a religious organization may not appeal to secular courts against a decision made by a church tribunal within the area of its competence.
1892 - Birth of Corrie ten Boom, Dutch devotional author whose family was arrested by the Gestapo during WWII for hiding Jewish refugees in their home. (Corrie's experience with the Nazis was depicted in the 1971 film, "The Hiding Place.")
1958 - British apologist C. S. Lewis wrote in "Letters to an American Lady": 'I had been a Christian for many years before I really believed in the forgiveness of sins, or more strictly, before my theoretical belief became a reality to me.'
© 1987-2009, William D. Blake. Used by permission of the author, from
Almanac of the Christian Church
