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Christian History

Today in Christian History

November 10

November 10, 1483: German reformer Martin Luther is born in Eisleben, Germany. (see issue 34: Luther's Early Years).

November 10, 1770: French anti-Christian philosopher Francois Voltaire utters his famous remark, "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."

November 10, 1871: After seven months of searching, American journalist Henry Stanley finally finds Scottish missionary David Livingstone in Ujiji, Central Africa, and utters his famous introduction, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume." The relationship between the two men led to Stanley's conversion and decision to become a missionary (see issue 56: David Livingstone).

November 10, 1908: Ten years after Samuel Hill and John Nicholson met in Boscobel, Wisconsin, to begin what would become Gideons International, the organization places its first Bible in a room at the Superior Hotel in Iron Mountains, Montana (see the bonus article "Who Put the Gideon Bible in Your Hotel Room" in issue 31: The Golden Age of Hymne).

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April 27, 1667: Blind, bitter, and poor, Puritan poet John Milton sells for ten pounds the copyright for Paradise Lost—a book that would influence English thought and language nearly as much as the King James Version and the plays of Shakespeare. The theme of the epic appears in its opening lines: "Of man's disobedience, and the fruit / Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste / Brought death into the world, and all our woe, / With loss of Eden.

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