1518 Thomas Cardinal Cajetan (1469–1534) dismissed Martin Luther from the Diet of Augsburg.
1552 Oswald Myconius, Swiss protestant reformer, died (b. 1488).
1644 William Penn, American Quaker statesman, was born in London, England (d. 30 July 1718).
1656 The first punitive legislation in Massachusetts against Quakers was enacted. The new laws decreed that a 40-shilling fine be imposed against anyone illegally harboring Quakers. Other regulations prescribed assorted mutilations for those Quakers returning to the colony after they had been banished.
1703 Thomas H. Kingo, hymnist, died (b. 15 December 1634).
1708 The General Court of Connecticut enacted the Saybrook Platform, later adopted by the colony’s Congregational churches. The legislation instituted a form of church government more presbyterian than congregational in nature.
1735 John (1703–1791) and Charles (1707–1788) Wesley first set sail to America, John to become a missionary to the Indians and later to the colonists, Charles to become secretary to Gov. James Oglethorpe (1696–1785) of Georgia.
1781 Peter Muhlenberg (1746–1807) was named senior commander at the Siege of Yorktown.
1794 William B. Tappan, hymnist and American Congregational advocate of the Sunday school, was born in Beverley, Massachusetts (d. 18 June 1849).
1835 William G. Fischer, American sacred music chorister, was born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 13 August 1912).
1841 John Christian Frederick Heyer (1793–1873), first missionary of the Lutheran General Synod to India and later a pastor in Minnesota, sailed from Boston on this date on his first missionary journey to India.
1874 Emmanuel Frederick Poppen, president of the American Lutheran Church, was born in New Dundee, Ontario, Canada (d. 13 February 1961).
1876 Henry (Harry) A. Ironside, American clergyman and evangelist, was born in Toronto, Canada (d. 15 January 1951).
1890 The Evangelical Alliance Mission was founded in Chicago, Illinois, by Fredrik Franson (1852–1908).
1891 Protestant Episcopal clergyman Phillips Brooks (1835–1893) was consecrated Bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts in Boston’s Trinity Church.
1894 Theodor Näther (1866–1904) and Franz Mohn (1867–1925) were commissioned for work in India as the Missouri Synod’s first foreign missionaries by Pres. Heinrich Schwan (1819–1905) at a meeting of the Western District in Saint Charles, Missouri. Näther sailed for India at once. Mohn followed a year later.
1897 The Synod of Central and Southern Illinois was formed by a union of the synods of Central and Southern Illinois at Hillsboro, Illinois.
1897 William A. Ogden (b. 10 December 1841), American sacred music writer, died.
1905 John Dietrich Severinghaus, president of the Wartburg Synod, died (b. 22 July 1834).
1922 In Detroit, Michigan, the Evangelical Association and the United Evangelical Church merged, forming the Evangelical Church. The combined membership at the time of the merger was 260,000.
1925 Carl Christoph Schmidt, Missouri Synod vice-president, died (b. 8 November 1843).
1943 Johann Michael Reu, Lutheran theologian and professor at Wartburg Seminary (Dubuque, Iowa), died (b. 16 November 1869).
1952 Louis John Sieck, president of Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis), died (b. 11 March 1884).
1961 Marmaduke Nathaniel Carter, longtime African American LCMS pastor in Chicago, died (b. 7 March 1881).