1742 - English revivalist George Whitefield observed in a letter: 'It is a very uncommon thing to be rooted and grounded in the love of Jesus. I find persons may have the idea, but are far from having the real substance.'

1760 - Philip Embury (1728-1773) arrived in New York the first Methodist clergyman to come over from England.in America.



1841 - Birth of Mary A. Lathbury, American Sunday School leader and poet. Daughter of a Methodist preacher, two of Lathbury's poems later became popular hymns: "Break Thou the Bread of Life" and "Day is Dying in the West."



1855 - Birth of Frederick J. Foakes-Jackson, Anglican theologian. His numerous publications centered around church history. His best-remembered work is "The Beginnings of Christianity, Part I: The Acts of the Apostles" (5 volumes, 1919-33).



1948 - English apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is good, because it is good; if bad, because it works in us patience, humility, contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.



© 1987-2010, William D. Blake. Used by permission of the author, from

Almanac of the Christian Church