The Gestapo hangs German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, after discovering his involvement in a failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler - April 9

1558 - William Nichol, of Haverfordwest, Wales, is burned at the stake for declaring that Catholics are worshipers of the Antichrist.

1592 - John Robinson, English Separatist, matriculates at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He will lead the group of Puritans from whom the first New England settlers derived.

1761 - Death of English devotional writer William Law. His “Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life” greatly influenced George Whitefield and John Wesley, though they later distanced themselves when Law wrote of the indwelling of Christ in the soul.

1857 - Author and hymn writer Marianne Farningham (Mary Anne Hearne) of Farningham, England, contributes some poetry to the first issue of the newspaper The Christian World and will continue as a regular and beloved contributor for more than 50 years.

1906 - In Los Angeles, Holiness minister William Seymour and several associates experience what they called the “baptism of the Spirit,” marked by speaking in tongues. This launched the three-year “Azusa Street Revival,” considered the first major public event of Pentecostalism.

1945 - The Gestapo hangs German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, after discovering his involvement in a failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Bonhoeffer’s last recorded words were, “This is the end – for me, the beginning of life.”

– Sources: Christian History Institute, christianitytoday.com