1530 The Augsburg Confession, an explanation of the position and beliefs of the Lutherans, was being finalized by Philipp Melanchthon into the wee hours of the night for presentation the next day.

1606 The Peace of Vienna granted toleration to Protestants within the Holy Roman Empire.

1683 English Quaker William Penn (1644–1718), an advocate of peace and religious toleration, signed a treaty with the Indians of Pennsylvania. Voltaire said the agreement was “the only treaty never sworn to and never broken.”

1738 Samuel Medley, Baptist clergyman and hymnist, was born in Hertfordshire, England (d. 17 July 1799).

1780 A British advance on Springfield, New Jersey, was stopped by American troops, who had to use hymnal pages from the First Presbyterian Church for gun wadding.

1863 J. E. Renan’s (1823–1892)  Vie de Jesus (Life of Christ) was published. It raised an immediate storm. Atheists said it did not go far enough in stripping veneration from the person of Christ. Believers deplored its denial of Christ’s divinity.

1873 Dan Beach Bradley, pioneer medical missionary to Thailand (Siam), died in Bangkok (b. 18 July 1804, Marcellus, New York).

1886 The United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South was organized by the synods belonging to the General Synod South, the Holston Synod and the Tennessee Synod. In 1918 is merged with the General Synod (1820–1918) and the General Council (1867–1918) to form the United Lutheran Church in America (1918–1962).

1911 Heinrich Hofmann, painter of New Testament subjects, died (b. 19 March 1824, Darmstadt, Germany).

1917 The General Synod approved a plan to unite with the General Council.

1942 Emily D. Wilson (b. 24 May 1865), American Methodist pastor’s wife and talented songwriter, died.

1949 Theodore Engelder, professor at Concordia Theological Seminary (Springfield, Illinois, 1914–1926) and Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis, 1926–1936), died (b. 21 January 1865, Olean, New York).