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Christian History

Today in Christian History

December 27

December 27, 1784: Francis Asbury is ordained superintendent of the Methodist Church in America. He later took the title "bishop," against the wishes of John Wesley (see issue 2: John Wesley and issue 45: Camp Meetings and Circuit Riders).

December 27, 1899: American temperance leader Carry Nation wrecks her first saloon in Medicine Lodge, Kansas.

July 26, 1603: James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England. Among his many acts affecting English religious life (it is he for whom the King James Version is named) was the issuing of the Book of Sports, approving sports on Sunday.

July 26, 1833: Having abolished the slave trade in 1807, Britain's House of Commons bans slavery itself. When William Wilberforce, who had spent most of his life crusading against slavery, heard the news, he said, "Thank God I have lived to witness [this] ...

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