Anniversaries in 2007

Famous books

The Geneva New Testament was published in English (the first English New Testament printed in Roman type, with verse divisions) in 1557.

Richard Baxter’s A Call to the Unconverted was published in 1657.

Isaac Watts’s Hymns and Spiritual Songs (including ‘When I survey the wondrous cross’) was published in 1707, and began the reformation of worship, at first in independent churches and later in all denominations.

Events

The Constitutions of Oxford, drafted by Archbishop Arundel in 1407, decreed that no one should translate the Bible into English or read such translations in private or public. As a result, possession of English Scriptures became regarded as evidence of heresy.

Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to China (with the London Missionary Society), arrived in Canton in 1807.

The Universities Mission to Central Africa (now USPG) was founded in 1857.

The Banner of Truth Trust was founded in 1957, with a commitment to republishing out-of-print Puritan and Re-formed books.

January

28 John G. Paton, pioneer Scottish Presbyterian missionary to the New Hebrides, died in Melbourne in 1907, aged 83.

March

8 William John Fullerton, hymn writer, was born in Belfast in 1857. Converted after hearing Charles Spurgeon preach, he is best known for the song, ‘I cannot tell why he, whom angels worship’, but he was also a regular and popular Keswick speaker.

10 Isobel Kuhn, missionary to the Lisu of China, and author of By Searching and other books, died aged 56 in 1957.

12 Paul Gerhardt, German Lutheran pastor and hymn writer, remembered for ‘O sacred head, sore wounded’, was born in 1607.

25 The abolition of the British slave trade became law in 1807, after 20 years of campaigning, led, in the House of Commons, by William Wilberforce.

May

9 William Bradford, leader of the Mayflower Pilgrims, died in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1657. He had been governor from 1621 and wrote a History of the Plymouth Plantation.

19 Louis Berkhof, Reformed theologian of Dutch extraction, died aged 84, in 1957. His Systematic Theology has been highly influential.

21 John Reynolds, Puritan theologian, died, aged 58, in 1607. He had represented the Puritan interest at the Hampton Court Conference of 1604, and translated parts of the Old Testament for the Authorised Version of the Bible.

August

The Aged Pilgrims’ Friend Society (now called Pilgrim Homes) was founded in August 1807 by a group of young people from Whitefield’s Tabernacle in London to provide for ‘the aged and infirm Christian poor’.

24 Selina Shirley, later Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, was born in 1707. A friend of the Wesleys and George Whitefield, she founded Methodist chapels and a training college for preachers at Trevecca, South Wales.

24 Ronald Knox, Roman Catholic translator of the Bible into English, died, aged 69, in 1957.

September

14 John Chrysostom (= ‘golden-mouthed’) died in exile, aged 62, in 407. A notable and lively preacher, he was appointed Bishop of Constantinople, but fell foul of the Empress Eudoxia, and died on his way to exile on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. The 16th-century Reformers thought highly of him.

October

30 Christopher Wordsworth, nephew of the poet William Wordsworth, who became bishop of Lincoln and hymn writer, was born in 1807. His hymns, ‘O Lord of heaven and earth and sea’ and ‘Alleluia, alleluia! Hearts to heaven and voices raise’, are still sung.

November

13 Francis Thompson, the poet who wrote ‘The Hound of Heaven’, describing his experience of God’s pursuit of him, died of consumption in 1907, aged 48.

29 E.J. Young, Old Testament scholar, was born in 1907 in San Francisco. A professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, he wrote many books and is said to have had a reading knowledge of over 30 languages, ancient and modern.

December

8 Stanley Brown, missionary to the Belgian Congo and leprosy specialist, was born in New Cross, London, in 1907.

12 Benjamin Wills Newton, early Plymouth Brethren leader, was born in 1807. The style of eldership which he developed in Plymouth was later followed in most Open Brethren assemblies, but after being accused of heresy by J.N. Darby, Newton ministered as an Independent.

17 William Thomas, Lord Kelvin, died aged 83 in 1907. He solved the problems of the submarine cable to the USA, invented the revolutionary ship’s compass and formulated the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics. Every lecture he delivered was preceded by the Anglican collect for grace.

18 Charles Wesley, hymn writer, was born in 1707 at Epworth, Lincolnshire, the youngest of 18 children. He wrote over 9,000 hymns, of which about 400 are in modern hymn books, including ‘O for a thousand tongues to sing’, and ‘And can it be’.

18 Dorothy L. Sayers died, aged 64, in 1957. Besides the Lord Peter Wimsey detective stories, she wrote the radio drama, The Man born to be King.

21 John Newton, former slave-trader, hymn writer and influential leader, died aged 82 in 1807. Best known for such hymns as ‘Amazing grace’, ‘How sweet the name of Jesus sounds’ and ‘Glorious things of thee are spoken’, he also played a leading role in Wilberforce’s campaign for the abolition of the slave trade.

Joy Horn's selection