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Updated May 17, 2012, 2:28 pm
On May 18, 1980, the Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state exploded, leaving 57 people dead or missing.
Go to article »On May 18, 1897, Frank Capra, the American motion-picture director whose portrayal of the common man and American democracy endeared him to millions, was born. Following death on Sept. 3, 1991, obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1642 The Canadian city of Montreal was founded. 1804 The French Senate proclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte emperor. 1860 The Republican Party convention in Chicago nominated Abraham Lincoln for president. 1896 The Supreme Court endorsed the concept of “separate but equal” racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson, a precedent that was overturned in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. 1897 A public reading of Bram Stoker’s new novel “Dracula, or, The Un-dead” was staged in London. 1911 Composer Gustav Mahler died in Vienna, Austria, at age 50. 1933 The Tennessee Valley Authority was created. 1951 The United Nations moved out of its temporary headquarters in Lake Success, N.Y., for its permanent home in Manhattan. 1969 Apollo 10 was launched on a mission that served as a dress rehearsal for the first moon landing. 1980 The Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state erupted, killing 57 people. 1998 The federal government filed a sweeping antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. 2003 “Les Miserables,” the third-longest running show in Broadway history, closed after more than 16 years and 6,680 performances. 2004 Randy Johnson, 40, became the oldest pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game, leading the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Atlanta Braves 2-0. 2009 Sri Lanka’s 25-year civil war ended with the government announcing it had defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels and killed their leader. 2011 Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund, saying he wanted to devote all his energy to battling the sexual assault charges he faced in New York. (The charges were later dropped.) Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actress-comedian Tina Fey (“30 Rock,” “Saturday Night Live”) turns 42 years old years old today.
AP Photo/Vince Bucci
Baseball Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson turns 75 years old years old today.
AP Photo/Gail Burton
1930 Warren Rudman, Former U.S. senator, R-N.H., turns 82 1931 Robert Morse, Actor (“Mad Men,” “How to Succeed in Business …”), turns 81 1946 Reggie Jackson, Baseball Hall of Famer, turns 66 1948 Tom Udall, U.S. senator, D-N.M., turns 64 1949 Rick Wakeman, Rock musician (Yes), turns 63 1952 George Strait, Country singer, turns 60 1955 Chow Yun-Fat, Actor, turns 57 1960 Jari Kurri, Hockey Hall of Famer, turns 52 1960 Yannick Noah, Tennis Hall of Famer, turns 52 1975 Jack Johnson, Rock singer, turns 37 1992 Spencer Breslin, Actor, turns 20
Historic Birthdays
Frank Capra 5/18/1897 – 9/3/1991 Italian-born American film director.Go to obituary »
83 Omar Khayyam 5/18/1048 – 12/4/1131
Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer50 Johann Froberger 5/18/1616 – 5/7/1667
German composer, organist and harpsichordist74 Peter Carl Faberge 5/18/1846(O.S.)- 9/24/1920
Russian goldsmith, designer and jeweler69 Elisabeth Cary 5/18/1867 – 7/13/1936
American art critic for the New York Times97 Bertrand Russell 5/18/1872 – 2/2/1970
English philosopher and logician; awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 195086 Walter Gropius 5/18/1883 – 7/5/1969
German architect; helped found the Bauhaus school89 Eurico Dutra 5/18/1885 – 6/11/1974
Brazilian soldier and president; helped restore constitutional democracy64 Ezio Pinza 5/18/1892 – 5/9/1957
Italian-born operatic bass and actor77 Vincent du Vigneaud 5/18/1901 – 12/11/1978
American biochemist; won Nobel Prize in 195579 Richard Brooks 5/18/1912 – 3/11/1992
American screenwriter, film director and producer68 Pierre Balmain 5/18/1914 – 6/29/1982
French couturier71 Dame Margot Fonteyn 5/18/1919 – 2/21/1991
English ballerina84 Pope John Paul II 5/18/1920 – 4/2/2005
264th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church
MORNING
“I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.”
Ecclesiastes 10:7Upstarts frequently usurp the highest places, while the truly great pine in obscurity. This is a riddle in providence whose solution will one day gladden the hearts of the upright; but it is so common a fact, that none of us should murmur if it should fall to our own lot. When our Lord was upon earth, although he is the Prince of the kings of the earth, yet he walked the footpath of weariness and service as the Servant of servants: what wonder is it if his followers, who are princes of the blood, should also be looked down upon as inferior and contemptible persons? The world is upside down, and therefore, the first are last and the last first. See how the servile sons of Satan lord it in the earth! What a high horse they ride! How they lift up their horn on high! Haman is in the court, while Mordecai sits in the gate; David wanders on the mountains, while Saul reigns in state; Elijah is complaining in the cave while Jezebel is boasting in the palace; yet who would wish to take the places of the proud rebels? and who, on the other hand, might not envy the despised saints? When the wheel turns, those who are lowest rise, and the highest sink. Patience, then, believer, eternity will right the wrongs of time.
Let us not fall into the error of letting our passions and carnal appetites ride in triumph, while our nobler powers walk in the dust. Grace must reign as a prince, and make the members of the body instruments of righteousness. The Holy Spirit loves order, and he therefore sets our powers and faculties in due rank and place, giving the highest room to those spiritual faculties which link us with the great King; let us not disturb the divine arrangement, but ask for grace that we may keep under our body and bring it into subjection. We were not new created to allow our passions to rule over us, but that we, as kings, may reign in Christ Jesus over the triple kingdom of spirit, soul, and body, to the glory of God the Father.
EVENING
“And he requested for himself that he might die.”
1 Kings 19:4It was a remarkable thing that the man who was never to die, for whom God had ordained an infinitely better lot, the man who should be carried to heaven in a chariot of fire, and be translated, that he should not see death–should thus pray, “Let me die, I am no better than my fathers.” We have here a memorable proof that God does not always answer prayer in kind, though he always does in effect. He gave Elias something better than that which he asked for, and thus really heard and answered him. Strange was it that the lion-hearted Elijah should be so depressed by Jezebel’s threat as to ask to die, and blessedly kind was it on the part of our heavenly Father that he did not take his desponding servant at his word. There is a limit to the doctrine of the prayer of faith. We are not to expect that God will give us everything we choose to ask for. We know that we sometimes ask, and do not receive, because we ask amiss. If we ask for that which is not promised–if we run counter to the spirit which the Lord would have us cultivate–if we ask contrary to his will, or to the decrees of his providence–if we ask merely for the gratification of our own ease, and without an eye to his glory, we must not expect that we shall receive. Yet, when we ask in faith, nothing doubting, if we receive not the precise thing asked for, we shall receive an equivalent, and more than an equivalent, for it. As one remarks, “If the Lord does not pay in silver, he will in gold; and if he does not pay in gold, he will in diamonds.” If he does not give you precisely what you ask for, he will give you that which is tantamount to it, and that which you will greatly rejoice to receive in lieu thereof. Be then, dear reader, much in prayer, and make this evening a season of earnest intercession, but take heed what you ask.
