362 Emperor Julian the Apostate (331–363) ordered that all professors and schoolmasters must obtain a license before teaching, thus excluding Christians from educating youth.
676 Adeodatus, Bishop of Rome from 672 to 676, died.
1576 Nikolaus Selnecker (1532–1592) was installed as superintendent at Leipzig.
1669 Charles II (1630–1685) granted the right to found a Lutheran congregation in England.
1693 Johann Georg Walch, who edited Luther’s Works, was born at Meiningen (d. 13 January 1775).
1700 A Massachusetts law was passed that allowed three months for any Roman Catholic priest to leave the colony. If he remained, he would be arrested as “an enemy to the true Christian religion.” If found guilty, he could be imprisoned for life or executed.
1703 The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, was born in Epworth, England (28 June 1703 [Gregorian calendar]; d. 2 March 1791).
1719 Joseph Addison, hymnist, died at Holland House, Kensington (b. 1 May 1672, Milston, Wiltshire, England).
1722 The village of Herrnhut was founded on the land of Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700–1760) by Moravian religious refugees, a move that would soon lead to the reinstitution of the Moravian Church, the Protestant ecumenical movement and the beginnings of lay missionary work.
1773 The Orthodox Church in Russia published Catherine’s (1729–1796) edict of religious freedom.
1791 Selina Hastings, Lady Huntingdon of Wales, died (b. 24 August 1707, Stanton Harold, near Ashby-dela-Zouch, Leicestershire, England).
1812 Pioneer America Baptist missionary Adoniram Judson (1788–1850) and his wife, Ann Hasseltine Judson (1789–1826), first arrived in Calcutta, India.
1818 Charles Gounod, composer, was born in Paris, France (d. 18 October 1893).
1821 The Danish Missionary Society was organized.
1822 The first elders were elected in what later became the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church in New York City.
1841 Matthias Henry Richards, Lutheran professor and editor, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 12 December 1898).
1843 Conrad Herman Louis Schuette, president of the National Lutheran Council and hymn writer, was born in Varrel, Hannover, Germany (d. 11 August 1926).
1846 Iowa College was chartered in Davenport, Iowa, under the joint sponsorship of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches. In 1849 the school moved to Grinnell, Iowa, and was renamed Grinnell College in 1909.
1859 J. Wilbur Chapman, U.S. Presbyterian pastor and evangelist, was born in Richmond, Indiana (d. 25 December 1918, New York City).
1926 A Mission to the Blind was established by the LCMS.
1963 Classroom prayer, including recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and Bible verses, and Bible reading in the public schools were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in an 8-1 decision.