March 5
310: Adrianus, a Christian witness from Palestine, is thrown to a lion and afterwards slain with the sword.
493: Archbishop John of Ravenna, Italy, ventures out of the town, holding crosses, the Gospels, and an entourage of monks, and falls at the feet of the invading king Theodoric and requests for peace, which the latter grants.
1179: The Third Lateran Council opens under Alexander III. Attended by 300 bishops, Lateran III mandated that popes are to be elected with two-third majority of the papal conclave.
1518: Erasmus sends a copy of Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses to Sir Thomas More, a vehement opponent of the Protestant Reformation.
1526: Zurich authorities start the trial of Anabaptists Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and George Blaurock, who were later sentenced to imprisonment. Two weeks later the three managed to escape from the jail.
1555: John Calvin, French-born Swiss reformer, exhorts in a letter to Philip Melanchthon, “It behooves us to accomplish what God requires of us, even when we are in the greatest despair respecting the results.”
1708: Passing away of Bishop William Beveridge, who will be remembered for his work Private Thoughts upon Religion and a Christian Life. A striking resolution therein states, “I am resolved, by the grace of God, to be always exercising my thoughts upon good objects, that the devil may not exercise them upon bad.”
1743: Thomas Prince, editor, publishes the first issue of his weekly, “The Christian History,” the first religious journal published in America.
1850: Birth of Daniel B. Towner, American music evangelist and an associate of D.L. Moody. Towner composed over 2,000 hymn tunes.
1858: Death of Maria Grace Saffary, who had been a Baptist hymn-writer and who authored hymns like, “God of the sunlight hours!” and “’tis the great Father we adore in this baptismal sign.”
1951: Debut broadcasting of the religious program “Circuit Rider” over ABC television, featuring music selections and biographies of evangelists, produced by Franklin W. Dyson.
1977: Death of James Tanimola Ayorinde, a Baptist pastor and the chairman of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, who at the same time was a very respected and beloved leader of the Baptist World Alliance.
Edited by: T. Chempilayil MCBS
Courtesy: www.studylight.org