This is the seventh of a one week's evaluation of an enlarged and expanded CHI TIH feature. If you wish to comment please contact me or the list owner. Our addresses are at the end of the article. Today in History (December 21): 1620 Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock, when the Mayflower anchored off Plymouth, Massachusetts, and there founded the first Congregational church on American soil; the landing followed a brief exploratory expedition which concluded a 63-day voyage across the Atlantic Ocean; the 102 colonists, including 35 Pilgrims, began disembarking the day after Christmas; following the winter at port in Plymouth, the Mayflower set sail for its return trip to England in April 1621 1672 Benjamin Schmolck, German Lutheran clergyman and hymnist, born at Brauchitzchdorf, Germany; ordained in 1701, he was appointed pastor of the Friedenskirche at Schweidnitz in 1702, remaining there until his death in 1737; because of the Catholic restrictions on the number and location of Lutheran churches in Silesia, Schmolck's Schweidnitz church had to serve 36 villages; nevertheless, Schmolck, found time to pen over 900 hymns; Schmolck was not a Pietist, yet his hymns reveal the warmth of intimate and practical Christianity; his most popular hymn is "My Jesus, As Thou Wilt" 1835 Oglethorpe University was chartered in Milledgeville, Georgia, under Presbyterian auspices; in 1913 the campus moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta 1807 Death of John Newton, Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter ("Amazing Grace"); he outlived his wife of 40 years (Mary Catlett Newton) by 17 years; Newton began his life as a profligate seaman involved in the slave trade; he was miraculously turned toward God during a storm at sea in March 1748; he abandoned this degrading profession four years later to become a port clerk; influenced by Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, Newton began studying for the ministry; in 1764, at age 39, Newton was ordained into the Anglican ministry; his first appointment was the parish at Olney, where he remained 16 years (1764-79); For the current trial and evaluation please direct your comments to me or Mary and not to the mailing list. To do that please do not hit the reply button, but rather open a new e-letter, copy and paste one or both of our e-mail addresses, which are near the bottom of this message, into the address box of your new e-letter [if you use both addresses seperate them by a semicolon and a space]. All we need for your response to this trial is the acronym _ PSA _ in the subject line and your comments in the body of the e-letter. We do not need copies of this message unless you find fault with the message itself. If you wish to use these items, please get permission. Permission to post TIH items on LUTHERAN-ROOTS was received from Marvin A. Huggins, C.A., Associate Director Concordia Historical Institute (314)505-7921 801 De Mun Avenue FAX: (314)505-7901 St. Louis, MO 63105-3168 mhuggins@chi.lcms.org Web Page: http://chi.lcms.org/ for now, contributor John Birkholz brotherjohn@imt.net The list owner is Mary D. Taffet mdtaffet@mailbox.syr.edu