60 BiBliographic Essay William Penn’s Experiment in Religious Freedom: Resources Documenting the Colonial Religious Experience at the State Library of Pennsylvania by Iren Light Snavely N ot long after his arrival in Pennsylvania in late November, 1742, it dawned on Lutheran Pastor Henry Muhlenberg that he was no longer in his native Prussia. The ecclesiastical norms and expectations of the European continent, a state church with prebends and mandatory tithes, had no meaning here. When he arrived at New Hanover, Pennsylvania with an official letter of introduction from the religious authorities of the University of Halle to take charge of the Lutheran congregation there, some parishioners took “offense at the salary mentioned in . . . the letter.” Others complained that “they would not allow themselves to be deceived again. . . . [W]ho knew whether I had not written the letters myself?” He found he could expect no help from the “deacons and elders . . , for in religious and church matters each has the right to do what he pleases. The government has nothing to do with it and will not concern itself with such matters.”1 Muhlenberg’s story illustrates a surprising point made by author Dietmar Rothermund in his book The Layman’s Progress, namely, that William Penn’s “Holy Experiment” actually lacked a “central religious concern.” “The holiness of this experiment rested on the principle of formal and guaranteed religious tolerance rather than . . . any positive and definite plan.” As a result, a diverse mixture of English Quakers, German and Scots-Irish church groups, German sectarians and radical separatists settled freely throughout the province. The abundant “opportunities for work and material gain” without a religious focus seemed to sap the religious fervor of many groups, leading a number of the clergy to complain of “materialism and indifference.” The prevailing tolerance also made it difficult to enforce any discipline on those who strayed. Since the Colony’s various denominations lived in a “competitive coexistence,” the chief beneficiary was the layman, who enjoyed spiritual emancipation in exchange for his “voluntary support” of the church and ministry. 2 Students or scholars new to the field of American colonial religion might find the terrain of Pennsylvania’s eighteenth century religious landscape as strange and unfamiliar as did Pastor Muhlenberg during his first few weeks of ministry here in 1742. Equally unfamiliar, no doubt, are some of the early Pennsylvania authors and titles in the State Library’s special collections documenting the colonial religious experience. An institution over 250 years old, the State Library has special collections of seventeenth and eighteenth century religious books and pamphlets from Pennsylvania publishers, as well as colonial Pennsylvania newspapers and magazines. Veteran scholars can probably navigate these collections with little difficulty, and will doubtless be aware of many of the authors and the issues they address. However, both veterans and novices may be unaware of some of the unique works on Pennsylvania’s colonial religious experience in the Special Collections of the State Library. Consequently, in this essay I will highlight the Library’s unique works on various aspects of Pennsylvania’s colonial religious experience and endeavor to help researchers evaluate that literature.� 1 Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, The Notebook of a Colonial Clergyman, translated and edited by Theodore C. Tappert and John W. Doberstein (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1959), 9. 2 Rothermund, Dietmar, The Layman’s Progress. Religious and Political Experience in Colonial Pennsylvania, 1740-1770 ( Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1961), 11-15. � I wish to express my thanks to Kurt Bodling, Rare Books Librarian at the State Library of Pennsylvania, for his assistance in reviewing many of the Library’s rare books and pamphlets on colonial religion. Iren Light Snavely is Head of Access Services at the State Library of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 61 THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 Special collectionS at the State library of pennSylvania The State Library of Pennsylvania possesses unique print collections of original early modern Pennsylvania imprints. These books, pamphlets, broadsides, magazines and newspapers tell the story of the Colony’s religious experience through the lenses of contemporary issues and from a variety of perspectives.4 Two published finding aids available to help scholars searching early Pennsylvania imprints are Charles R. Hildeburn’s Century of Printing. The Issues of the Press in Pennsylvania, 1685-1784 (Philadelphia, 1885) and Oswald Seidensticker’s The First Century of German Printing in America, 1728-1830 (Philadelphia, 189�) (for early German-American publications). The volume of rare seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Pennsylvania religious imprints in the collection makes an enumeration and description of each impossible in a short bibliographic essay. Instead, I will highlight selected religious titles in the Library’s collection by significant authors and works on critical issues of Pennsylvania’s colonial religious practice. I will also list and describe the Library’s holdings of colonial Pennsylvania newspapers. Since Pennsylvania was a “Proprietary”colony of Great Britain established by a religious dissident as a refuge for other religious dissidents, it makes sense, both chronologically and topically, to begin with the Library’s holdings of publications by its Quaker Proprietor William Penn. An author search of William Penn in the State Library’s online catalog yields no fewer than 44 records of original seventeenth- and eighteenth-century publications— books, pamphlets and collected works—in English, French, Dutch and German editions of Penn’s writings. The State Library owns a number of Penn’s early books and pamphlets. One early tract in the collection that is key for understanding Penn’s religious and legal views and activities on behalf of the freedoms of speech, assembly and worship is Penn’s little book entitled Peoples antient and just liberties asserted in the tryal of William Penn and William Mead ([London], 1670). This short work presents the author’s summary of his arrest and trial for unauthorized street preaching in violation of the Conventicle Act of 1670. The Library has a seventeenth-century edition of Penn’s most famous treatise on Christian discipleship and religious toleration, No Cross, No Crown (London: Benjamin Clark, 1682), but also holds many later editions (1747, 1789, 1797) of this spiritual classic. Although there is no copy of Penn’s Serious Apology for Friends (1672) in the collection, the Library does own multiple editions of Penn’s extended apologetic, A brief account of the rise and progress of the people called Quakers : in which their fundamental principle, doctrines, worship, ministry and discipline are plainly declared, to prevent the mistakes and perversions that ignorance and prejudice may make to abuse the credulous (London: T. Sowle, 1694). Penn wrote the book after the death of his first wife in the wake of the Keithean controversy. Among the holdings most critical for understanding the colony’s origins and constitutional framework are An account of William Penn’s travels in Holland and Germany : anno M.DC.LXXVII, for the service of the Gospel of Christ by way of journal (London: T. Sowle, 1714) and The frame of the government of the province of Pennsilvania in America: together with certain laws agreed upon in England by the governour and divers free-men of the aforesaid province. To be further explained and confirmed there by the first Provincial Council and General Assembly that shall be held, if they see meet (n.p., 1682). The first work sheds light on the reasons for German immigration to Penn’s 4 The rare book and pamphlet collections of the State Library of Pennsylvania are temporarily unavailable to scholars and the public following their move into the institution’s new rare books vault in 2008. They will become accessible to researchers once again after a several month “adjustment” period in the preservation environment. THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association 62 Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 colony, while the second lays out its constitutional structures. The Library owns two copies of the original frame of the government, with two twenty-first century reprints as well. The State Library also owns several original publications by one of Penn’s most prominent clerical opponents, the Quaker apostate George Keith, who later became an Anglican priest. One work from Keith’s Quaker period is The Presbyterian and independent visible church in New England and elsewhere, brought to the test and examined according to the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures (Philadelphia: William Bradford, 1689). This title is an ecclesiastical polemic directed against Increase Mather and other New England Puritan divines. Another publication, entitled A true copy of three judgments given forth by a party of men, called Quakers at Philadelphia, against George Keith and his friends (Philadelphia: William Bradford, 1692 ), is Keith’s response to leaders of the Philadelphia Annual Meeting of Friends, who disowned him for his views in 1692. The Library also owns the pamphlet entitled An expostulation with Thomas Lloyd, Samuell Jenings, and the rest of the twenty eight unjust judges and signers of the paper of condemnation against George Keith and the rest of his friends. And complaint for a publick hearing and tryal before all impartial people (Philadelphia: William Bradford, 1692) in which the Philadelphia Quakers told their side of the story. Among the other seventeenth-century holdings in the State Library’s Special Collections section are pamphlets by German lawyer and schoolmaster Francis Daniel Pastorius, who served as one of Penn’s land agents and founded Germantown, north of Philadelphia. Two of the three Pastorius pamphlets come from European presses. The earliest, Ein Send Brieff offenhertziger liebsbezeugung an die so genannte Pietisten in Hoch Teutschland (Amsterdam: Jacob Claus, 1697), is an open letter by Pastorius that showed his admiration for the Pietist theologians of northern Germany. An English pamphlet by Pastorius is a personal reply to an earlier tract by Henry Bernhard Koster, William Davis: Thomas Rutter & Thomas Bowyer, four boasting disputers of this world briefly rebuked, and answered according to their folly (New York: William Bradford, 1697). A third Pastorius tract is an early geographical description of the province of Pennsylvania based on the observations of Pastorius’s father Melchior Adam Pastorius. The brief pamphlet entitled Umständige geographische beschreibung der zu allerletzt erfundenen provintz Pensylvaniæ, in denen end-gräntzen Americæ in der west-welt gelegen, durch Franciscum Danielem Pastorium ... Worbey angehencket sind einige notable begebenheiten, und bericht-schreiben an dessen herzn vattern Melchiorem Adamum Pastorium, und andere gute freunde (Franckfurt, Leipzig: Andreas Otto, 1704) was published in Germany probably to entice German settlers to Penn’s colony. The State Library’s holdings of eighteenth-century religious books and pamphlets are extensive, although few were published before the late 1720s. A glance at Hildeburn’s Century of Printing . . . 1685-1784 reveals that most of the religious publications from the first two decades of the eighteenth century are Quaker writings, often related to the Keithean controversy.5 While the State Library owns none of these original works, it does have the microfiche copies available in Early American Imprints. Two of the Library’s three rare religious titles dating from the late 1720s seem tailored to the German Anabaptist and Pietist immigrants who arrived in the colony during the first decades of the eighteenth century. In 1727, Philadelphia printer Andrew Bradford reprinted an English translation of The Christian Confession of the Faith of the harmless Christians, in the Netherlands, known by the name of Mennonites. The work probably served to introduce the beliefs of German (and Dutch) Mennonites to other Pennsylvania inhabitants. Two years later in Philadelphia 5 See Charles R. Hildeburn. A Century of Printing. The Issues of the Press in Pennsylvania, 1685-1784. Vol. 1, 1685-176� (New York: Burt Franklin, 1968, 1885), �4-56. 63 THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 a German language devotional anthology was published by an unidentified press. The work includes the writings of the proto-Pietist theologian Johann Arndt and the medieval mystic Thomas a Kempis. Both devotional authors were favorites of German Pietists, whether clerics or lay readers. In the late 1720s the Pietist mystic Conrad Beissel, who founded the German Seventh-Day Baptist religious community at Ephrata, Pennsylvania, first made his voice heard.6 Although the Library does not own either of Beissel’s earliest publications Das Buchlein vom Sabbath (1728) or the Neun und neunzig mystische Spruche (1728), it holds several of his early works of poetry and hymnody from the 17�0s. The earliest is the Mystische und sehr geheyme Sprueche: welche in der himlischen Schule des Heiligen Geistes erlernet (Philadelphia: B. Franklin, 17�0), a collection of Beissel’s mystical poems. Another is the Vorspiel der neuen-welt welches sich in der letzten Abendroethe als ein paradisischer Lichtes-glantz unter den Kindern Gottes hervor gethan (Philadelphia: B. Franklin, 17�2) a collection of Beissel’s hymns without musical accompaniment for the celibate worshipers of the cloister. Another devotional work from Beissel’s pen with �8 additional hymns was entitled Zionitischer Weyrauchs Hugel (17�9). It was published at the end of the decade by the new Germantown press of Christoph Saur. The Great Awakening The Pennsylvania presses of the 17�0s began printing a wider variety of ethnic publications that probably reflected the changing religious landscape of the colony due to the influx of new Welsh, Scottish and German immigrants. The State Library’s Special Collections hold a number of these works that doubtless signaled the beginnings of the Great Awakening in Pennsylvania. In addition to the radical Pietist works of the Ephrata community, more “mainstream” practical devotional and study aids appeared that appealed to lay people in major Protestant denominations among the English and “Church” Germans. A 17�0 Welsh Bible concordance in the collection was prepared by Delaware Baptist minister Enoch Morgan, his son Abel and John Cadwalader and published in Philadelphia by Samuel Keimer.7 A brief devotional broadside by Benjamin Padlin was translated into German for the Saur press and published in 17�8.8 The author “earnestly” warns lay readers, “young and old,” to examine their hearts and spiritual states. An English work by Moses West entitled A Treatise concerning marriage: wherein the unlawfulness of mixt-marriages is laid open from the Scriptures (Philadelphia: Reprinted by Andrew Bradford, [17�8]) was aimed at Quakers, but also as the title stated intended for the “benefit of Christian professors in general.” A published sermon by John Tennent, son of William Tennant the founder of the “Log College” in Neshaminy, Pennsylvania, is the Library’s earliest holding of a work from this famous family of Presbyterian educators and ministers living in the Delaware Valley. The sermon, entitled The nature of regeneration opened, and its absolute necessity, in order to salvation, demonstrated . . .(Boston, 17�5), stresses one of the major Pietist themes that marked the Great Awakening and distinguished it from the sixteenth entury Protestant Reformation and the Protestant scholasticism of the seventeenth century. 6 See Oswald Seidensticker, The First Century of German Printing in America, 1728-1830. New York: Kraus Reprint Corporation, 1966), 7. 7 Abel Morgan, Cyd-gordiad egwyddorawl o’r Scrythuran: neu daflen lythyrennol o’r prif eiriau yn y Bibl Sanctaidd. Yn arwain, dan y cyfryw eiriau, i fuan ganfod pob rhyw ddymunol ran o’r Scrythurau. A gyfan-soddwyd drwy lafurus boen Abel Morgan, gwenidog yr efengyl er lle’s y cymru. Philadelphia: S. Keimer and D. Harry, 17�0. 8 Benjamin Padlin, Eine ernstliche Ermahnung an Junge und Alte: Zu einer Ungehenlichelten Profung ihres Hertzens und Zustandes. Kurtzlich aus Engeland nach Amerika gesandt, und wegen seiner Wichtigkeit ausdem Englischen ins Deutsche treulich ubersetet: Von einem Liebhaber der Wahrheit. Germantown, PA: Christoph Sauer, 17�8. Benjamin Padlin was actually a pseudonym for a female Quaker writer Benjamina Padley. The [E]rnstliche Ermahnung (Earnest Warning) was probably the first publication issued from the Saur Press. THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association 64 Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 If the Library’s holdings are an indication, the 1740s witnessed a torrent of religious publications issuing from Pennsylvania presses. These works documented the height of the Great Awakening in Pennsylvania and flowed mainly from four Pennsylvania presses: Andrew Bradford, at the Bible in Front-Street, Philadelphia; Benjamin Franklin and David Hall, in Market Street, Philadelphia; Christoph Saur, Germantown, Pennsylvania and the Brotherhood Press in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. The State Library of Pennsylvania’s holdings from this period represent a wide variety of religious genres, including Bibles, confessions and catechisms, devotional and liturgical aids, hymnals and psalters, periodicals, published sermons and polemical tracts and treatises. The collection contains works by most (but by no means all) of the prominent advocates and opponents of the Awakening, as well as important sectarian writings from the Ephrata religious community. One of the earliest American magazines, appearing regularly in the colonies of British North America, aimed to chronicle the Great Awakening. The short-lived periodical, owned by the State Library, was entitled The Christian history; containing accounts of the revival and propagation of religion in Great-Britain & America (Boston: N.E. Printed by S. Kneeland and T. Green, for T. Prince, Jr., 174�-1745). It was edited by the Boston Congregationalist preacher Thomas Prince, who proposed to print “Authentick Accounts from Ministers and other creditable Persons of the Revival of Religion.”9 The Library also owns a published local account of the religious revival that broke out near Philadelphia in 1744. A short and faithful narrative of the late remarkable revival of religion in the congregation of New-Londonderry, and other parts of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: William Bradford, 1744) was a first-hand description written by Presbyterian pastor Samuel Blair, another graduate of the Log College. One of the most important Pennsylvania awakeners, whose writings from this period feature prominently in the State Library’s collection, is Gilbert Tennent, another son of William Tennent and a graduate of the Log College. From August 174�, he pastored Philadelphia’s Second Presbyterian Church. Although the Library does not own an original edition of his most famous treatise, The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry (1740), many of Gilbert Tennent’s other published sermons are found among its Special Collections. Tennent’s earliest printed work in the collection is a sermon series entitled The necessity of holding fast the truth represented in three sermons on Rev. iii. 3. Preached at New-York, April 1742. (Boston: S. Kneeland and T. Green, 174�). This publication also includes an appendix, relating to errors lately vented by some Moravians in those parts. This work signals his growing suspicion of the Moravians, whose unconventional beliefs found sympathizers within his congregation. Another work published by Tennent the following year contained Twenty three sermons upon the chief end of man. The divine authority of the sacred scriptures, the Being and Attributes of God, and the doctrine of the Trinity… (Philadelphia: William Bradford, 1744). This text represented Tennent’s shift away from the controversial topic of conversion to more traditional Presbyterian and Reformed themes. For example, four years later he published Brotherly love recommended, by the argument of the love of Christ (Philadelphia: Benjamin Franklin and David Hall, 1748) in which he counseled love and unity as prerequisites to the Lord’s Supper. Another Tennent sermon in the collection addresses an issue unique to the Quaker Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, namely the legitimacy of a provincial militia to defend the inhabitants of the colony’s interior. This recurrent issue would loom larger every year with the growing imperial rivalry between England and France in North America, and the disaffection of some native American groups (i.e. Delawares) and individuals.10 9 The Christian History, March 5, 174�, 1. 10 Gilbert Tennent, The late association for defence, encourag’d, or, The lawfulness of a defensive war. Represented in a sermon preach’d at Philadelphia December 24, 1747. By Gilbert Tennent. Published at the request of the hearers. 2nd ed.. Philadelphia: William Bradford, [1748]. 65 THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 It seems strange that the State Library possesses no original work by Gilbert Tennent’s spiritual mentor, the Dutch Reformed Pietist Theodorus J. Frelinghuysen, who was likewise a major spokesman for the Revival in New Jersey. Neither does the Library own any contemporary copy of a work by New England Congregationalist preacher Jonathan Edwards, whose name is almost synonymous with the movement. There is a late eighteenth century edition of Edward’s classic Treatise concerning religious affections: in three parts (Boston, 1794), as well as an early nineteenth century anthology of Twenty [Edwards’] Sermons on various subjects (Carlisle, PA: George Kline, 180�) in the collection, but contemporary editions of Edward’s works at the State Library are available only on microfiche as they are elsewhere. However, there are numerous early editions of books, tracts and published letters by Tennent’s fellow evangelist, the famous Methodist itinerant preacher George Whitefield. The State Library of Pennsylvania’s rare book collection holds no less than eight original editions of Whitefield’s works published by Pennsylvania presses. Half of these are published sermons, either individual homilies or collections. Whitefield’s popularity as a preacher can be gauged by his homiletical output.11 In 1740, the year after Whitefield’s first American preaching tour, three major Pennsylvania presses: Franklin and Hall, Andrew and William Bradford, and Christoph Saur, all published sermons by the Gloucester evangelist. The Bradfords published his sermon on The Heinous Sin of Drunkenness, while Franklin published a two volume collection of Whitefield’s Sermons on Various Subjects. Saur, the Germantown publisher, printed another collection, Von Georg Weitfields Predigten. The Library also holds several of Whitefield’s most important polemical works from the period of the Awakening. These include A [published] letter to the Reverend Dr. [Charles] Chauncy, on account of some passages relating to the Revd. Mr. Whitefield, in his book intitled Seasonable thoughts on the state of religion in New-England (Philadelphia: William Bradford, 1745),12 as well as a pamphlet that contains Some remarks on a pamphlet, entituled The enthusiasm of Methodists and papist compar’d; wherein several mistakes in some parts of his past writings and conduct are acknowledged, and his present sentiments concerning the Methodists [are] explained. (London printed: Philadelphia reprinted: W[illiam] Bradford, 1749). Autobiographical, rather than controversial, the work is A further account of God’s dealings with the Revrend Mr. George Whitefield, from the time of his ordination to his embarking for Georgia. To which is annexed A brief account of the rise, progress, and present situation of the orphan-house in Georgia. In a letter to a friend. (Philadelphia: William Bradford, 1745). Neither is Whitefield the only Methodist evangelist of the period represented in the collection. The Library owns a German translation of John Wesley’s famous Nature and Design of Christianity, probably translated by Melchior Kriebel for the Saur Press.1� The State Library also has a number of the published writings by Count Nicolaus Ludwig, Graf von Zinzendorf, the aristocrat Moravian bishop and evangelist who influenced the young John Wesley and the Methodist movement. 11 Whitefield preached over 18,000 formal sermons in his lifetime. 12 The State Library of Pennsylvania also owns a copy of Chauncy’s book that inspired Whitefield’s defense of the revival, Seasonable thoughts on the state of religion in New-England, A treatise in five parts... With a preface giving an account of the antinomians, familists and libertines, who infected these churches, above an hundred years ago: very needful for these days; the like spirit prevailing now as did then. The whole being intended, and calculated, to serve the interest of Christ’s kingdom. By Charles Chauncy. Boston, Printed by Rogers and Fowle, for Samuel Eliot in Cornhill, 174�. 1� [Wesley, John]. Die Nichtigkeit der Welt und des Zeitlichen Lebens. Wie auch, die Wichtig-und Nothwendigkeit der wahren Wiedergeburt zur unendlichen Glückseeligkeit und Ewigem Leben. Kürtzlich beschrieben von einem Englischer Autor, und ins Teutsche übersetzt. Germantown, PA: Christoph Saur, 1744. THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association 66 Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 A book and two tracts in the collection date from 1742, during Zinzendorf ’s 14-month residence in America. All were published by Benjamin Franklin. In both tracts, one English, the other Latin, Zinzendorf uses the name von Thurnstein and refers to himself as the pastor and inspector of the Lutheran congregation in Philadelphia, who called him as its minister. He stresses an ecumenical theme, stating his strong desire for Christian unity.14 A short book in German sounds a similar theme, although Zinzendorf ’s aim in this work is to rebut a series of questions raised by the German Separatist Johann Adam Gruber, who opposed the Count’s plan to unify the German churches of Pennsylvania.15 These ecumenical proposals of Zinzendorf, like Gruber’s writings objecting to them were shaped by an ecumenical project known as the “Pennsylvania Congregation of God in the Spirit,” a Pennsylvania-based movement for Protestant union that included Lutherans, Reformed, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Quakers, Mennonites, Dunkers, [Ephrata] Sabbatarians, Inspired and individual Separatists, who gathered at Germantown, Pennsylvania on New Year’s Day, 1742.16 This ecumenical body persisted through seven synods under Moravian influence until 1748, but gradually lost delegates from other (non-Moravian) denominations, and instead resulted in intensified denominational consciousness.17 The Library owns a report of the second meeting of this body entitled Avthentische nachricht von der verhandlung und dem verlass der am 14den und 15den januarii anno 1741/2 im sogenannten Falckner-Schwamm an Georg Hübners hause gehaltenen zweyten versammlung sowol einiger teutschen arbeiter der evangelischen religionen als verschiedener einzelen treuen gezeugen und gottsfürchtiger nachbarn. Nebst einigen beylagen, published by Benjamin Franklin in 1742. The “Beylagen,” or supplements are polemical tracts by participants, who included Gruber and Zinzendorf. The sympathy and antagonism engendered by Zinzendorf are evident in the number of rare books in the State Library’s collection either influenced by the Moravian evangelist or opposing him. Two German Reformed works that reflect Moravian influence are Johannes Bechteln’s Kurzer Catechismus Vor etliche Gemeinen Jesu aus der Reformirten Religion in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: B. Franklin, 1742) and Jacob Lischys Reformirten Predigers zweyte Declaration seines Sinnes, an seine Reformirte Religions-Genossen in Pennsylvanien (Germantown, PA: Christoph Saur, 1748). Johannes Bechteln was a Germantown Reformed lay pastor, who often invited Zinzendorf to preach in his church. When the need arose for a Reformed catechism for the German believers associated with the Pennsylvania Synod, Zinzendorf and Bechteln prepared this brief work based upon the Twelve Articles of the Bern 14 See Zinzendorf, Nicolaus Ludwig, Graf von. The remarks,which the author of the Compendious extract, &c. in the preface to his book, has friendly desired of the Rev. of Thurenstein, [pseud.] for the time pastor of the Lutheran congregation of J.C. in Philadelphia. Philadelphia: B. Franklin, 1742; and Ludovici a Thürenstein in antiqvissima Fratrum ecclesia ad táxin kaì euschemosynen diaconi constituti, et h. t. ecclesiae, qvae Christo Philadelphiae inter Lutheranos colligitur, pastoris, ad cogitatus ingenous pium desiderium, h. e. epistola ad bonos Pensilvaniae cives Christo non inimicos, ob conversationis difficultatem taliter qvaliter latino idiomate conscripta, et dexteritati cordati interpretis, duce providentia, pie concredita. Phildelphia; Ex officina Frankliniana, [1742]. 15 Zinzendorf, Etliche zu dieser zeit nicht unnütze fragen über einige schrift-stellen, welche von den liebhabern der lautern wahrheit deutlich erörtert zu werden gewünschet hat ein wahrheitforschender in America, im jahr 1742: so deutlich und einfältig erörtert, als es ihm möglich gewesen ist; und in folgender klaren und bequemen form herausgegebern von einem knecht Jesu Christi. Philadelphia: Gedruckt . .. bey B. Franklin, [1742]. 16 See John Joseph Stoudt, “Count Zinzendorf and the Pennsylvania Congregation of God in the Spirit: the First American Oecumenical Movement,” Church History 9, no. 4 (1940), �71. 17 Ibid., �76. 67 THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 Synod of 15�2.18 The 1748 work of Jacob Lischy is a theological treatise by this Swiss Reformed preacher, who also had Moravian sympathies. In addition to Gilbert Tennent’s published sermon The necessity of holding fast the truth (1742) mentioned earlier, there are several other anti-Moravian works in the collection. One is a paper by Separatist Johann Adam Gruber, entitled Gründliche an- und aufforderung an die ehmahlig erweckte hier und dar zerstreuete seelen dieses landes, in oder ausser partheyen, zur neuen umfassung, gliedlicher vereinigung, und gebets-gemeinschaft; dargelegt aus dringendem herzen eines um heilung der brücke Zions ängstlich bekümmerten gemüths, im jahr 1736. This work disputed Zinzendorf ’s view of the church (Philadelphia: B. Franklin, 1742). Another is a confession written by a prominent member of the Ephrata brotherhood, Brother Johannes Hildebrand, entitled Wohlgegrundetes Bedencken der christlichen Gemeine in und bey Ephrata von Weg der Heiligung (Germantown, PA: Christoph Saur, 174�). Hildebrand prepared the work by order of Conrad Beissel, who (evidently) also found Zinzendorf ’s motives and beliefs suspect. Neither was Hildebrand the only member of the Ephrata brotherhood to write against the Moravaians. Brother Israel Eckerlin, Prior of the Cloister (who had participated in the Pennsylvania Congregation of God in the Spirit) also produced at least one anti-Moravian tract according to the Chronicon Ephratense, the official history of the Ephrata Cloister.19 Another four volume collection by Johann Philipp Fresenius entitled Bewährte Nachrichten von Herrnhutischen Sachen (Franckfurt am Mayn: Buchner, 1746-1751) carried warnings by individual German Separatists about Zinzendorf ’s “zealous greed.”20 In addition to polemical and expository writings of the great evangelists of the revival, the Library’s Rare Books collection predictably has some of the practical devotional, worship and study aids for lay believers of the period. Pennsylvania publishers like Benjamin Franklin and Christoph Saur, doubtless, found a ready market for such books among the English, Scots-Irish and German immigrants new to the province. Judging from the Library’s holdings, many more of these publications were available in the German language than in English. The Luther Bible was the fundamental resource for most German believers, both sectarian and “Church” Germans, who had emigrated to the colony. The Library has two copies of the Biblia, das ist: die Heilige Schrift Altes und Neues Testaments, nach der deutschen Uebersetzung D. Martin Luthers, ; mit jedes Capitels kurtzen Summarien, auch beygefugten vielen und richtigen Parallelen: ; nebst dem gewohnlichen Anhang des dritten und vierten Buchs Esra, und des dritten Buchs der Maccabaer (Germantown, PA: Christoph Saur, 174�). Strangely, it also possesses two copies of a slightly different Saur edition of Luther’s Bible with “einen Anhang des dritten und vierten Buchs Esra, und des dritten Buchs der Maccabaer.” The only difference between the Bibles was the modifier “einen” [“a”] instead of “gewohnlich” [“usual”] in the title to describe the appendix containing the Apocrypha. The decade of the 1740’s saw several new and traditional doctrinal standards issued from Pennsylvania presses. Aside from Bechteln’s (and Zinzendorf ’s) Kurzer [German Reformed] Catechismus mentioned earlier, the Library’s Special Collections hold a volume of the Church of Scotland’s Confession of faith, the Larger and Shorter catechisms, 18 See John W. Jordan, “John Bechtel: His Contributions to Literature and His Descendents,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 19/no. 2 (1895): 1�7-151. Jordan says that they chose this Reformed catechism, because it was one “in which a tendency towards Lutheranism was manifest, and by some [it ] was claimed to be in harmony with the doctrines of the Moravian Church,” 142. 19 Prior Israel Eckerlin authored a number of works, including Die Regul und Richts-schur eines Streiters Jesu Christi. Von Israel Eckerlin (Ephrata, PA:. Drucks der Bruderschafft, 1745) and Der Wandel eines Einsamen. Von Israel Eckerlin (Ephrata, PA: Drucks der Bruderschafft, 1745). Although these works were written by order of Conrad Beissel, the Superior of the Convent, after Eckerlin’s departure his works, as well as others in which he had a hand, were burned. 20 Stoudt, “Count Zinzendorf and the Pennsylvania Congregation of God in the Spirit,” �78. THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association 68 Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 with the Scripture proofs at large published by Franklin’s press in 1745 for English and Scottish Presbyterians. Although Franklin published a 174� edition of the Baptist creed, the State Library’s first Pennsylvania edition of the Baptist Confession of Faith of 1643 adopted by the [Philadelphia Baptist] association at Philadelphia September 22, 1742; and now received by churches of the same denomination in most of the American colonies was published by the Philadelphia press of Anthony Armbruster in 1765. There are also a number of German hymnals and psalters from Pennsylvania publishers among the Library’s rare books. Two of the hymnals are Mennonite collections from a young sixteenth century German Anabaptist martyr, Thomas Vom Imbroich. The first work, Ausbund, da ist: Etliche schöne christliche lieder, wie sie in dem gefängnüs zu Bassau in dem schloss von den Schweitzer-brüdern, und von andern rechtgläubigen christen hin und her gedichtet worden. Allen und jeden christen welcher religion sie seyen, unpartheyisch fast nutzliche was published by the Saur press in 1742. A second volume attributed to Von Imbroich entitled Güldene Aepffel in Silbern Schalen Oder: Schöne und nützliche Worte und Wahrheiten zur Gottseligkeit was published in 1745 and was the first book printed by the Brotherhood Press at the Ephrata Cloister. The Library also owns a copy of the German Seventh- Day Baptist hymnal entitled Das Gesäng der einsamen und verlassenen Turtel-Taube nemlich der Christlichen Kirche used for worship at the Cloister. The Brotherhood press published this collection of its own hymns in 1747. It was largely composed by Beissel and set to music. Isaac Watts’s famous Hymns and spiritual songs, in three parts, familiar to many English worshipers today, was first published in Great Britain in 1707 and reprinted in the 1760’s by presses in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. The hymnal by the English dissenter Watts was first published in Philadelphia by David Hall and William Sellers in 1767 and 1772. Unfortunately, the State Library has no eighteenth century edition of this hymnal. In 1744 Christoph Saur also published a German psalter, Das kleine Davidische psalterspiel der kinder Zions, von alten und neuen auserlesenen geistes gesangen, allen wahren heils-begierigen sauglingen der weisheit, insonderheit aber denen gemeinden des Herrn, zum dienst und gebrauch mit fleiss zusammen getragen...nebst einem...register ans licht gegeben. Twenty-eight years later in 1772, his son Christoph Saur II would republish a classic German psalter by Ambrosius Lobwasser, who based the work on his translation of Theodore Beza’s Reformed French Psalter. The Library owns both works. By 1750, the revival known as the Great Awakening was largely spent. Despite the millennial optimism of proponents like Jonathan Edwards, Evangelical historian Mark Noll and Catholic historian Gary Wills agree that “the Awakening [seems to have] cooled as fast as it had arisen.”21 In fact, Noll points out that “by the 1750s many churches that had benefited from the revivals were barely adding enough new members to replace those who died.”22 Certainly this cooling off is evident in the smaller number of religious publications in the Library’s Special Collection that issued from Pennsylvania’s colonial presses in the decades that followed. Elsewhere, Noll describes the period from 1745 to the 1770’s as an era in which the Evangelical movement spawned by the revivals internationally underwent “dramatic expansion and diversification.”2� This phenomenon is likewise manifest in the topics and issues addressed in the Pennsylvania publications of the Library’s Special Collection that date from the second half of the eighteenth century. 21 Gary Wills, Head and Heart. American Christianities (New York: The Penguin Press, 2007), 101. 22 Mark A. Noll, America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 162. 2� Mark A. Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism. The Age of Edwards, Whitefield, and the Wesleys (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 200�), 155. 69 THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 A number of voices from the Awakening—Gilbert Tennent’s, Count Zinzendorf ’s and George Whitefield’s— persisted into the 1750’s and 1760’s and can be heard in the words of a few of the Library’s holdings. For example, a published funeral sermon by Gilbert Tennent, now pastor of Philadelphia’s 2nd Presbyterian Church reflected on The good mans character and reward represented, and his loss deplor’d, together with reflections on the presages of approaching calamities. In a funeral discourse, with some enlargements occasioned by the death of Captain William Grant of this city, who departed this life, September 30, 1756 (Phildelphia: William Brdford, [1756]. The Library also owns a series of Sixteen discourses [i.e. sermons] on the redemption of man by the death of Christ. Preached at Berlin, by the Right Reverend and most illustrious Count Zinzendorf ... Translated from the high Dutch. With a dedication to the Archbishops, Bishops and Clergy, giving some account of the Moravian Brethren, published in London by James Hutton in 1760, the year of the Count’s death. A 176� published letter by George Whitefield offers some Observations on some fatal mistakes, in a book lately published and intitled, The doctrine of grace; or, The office and operations of the Holy Spirit vindicated from the insults of infidelity, and the abuses of fanaticism. By Dr. William Warburton, lord bishop of Gloucester. The work, reprinted in Philadelphia by William Bradford, was a defense of Methodism against the bishop of Gloucester, whose attacks also drew fire from John Wesley. Many of the Pennsylvania religious titles in the collection that date from the second half of the eighteenth century offer very different concerns. While some of the authors of these works hailed from older religious constituencies such as the Quakers, they raised new (often radical) concerns of a social or political nature. Among the clusters of issues that occupied the Pennsylvania presses of the period were pacifism and the need for colonial defense, the evangelization of Native Americans and the protection of their rights, and (most radically) the alleged illegitimacy of enslaving Africans. Also, religious groups such as Baptists and Wesleyan Methodists, though by no means new to Pennsylvania, began to make their voices heard as an organizational presence. Doubtless, many of these publications represent the kind of development and diversification mentioned by Rothermund and Noll. pacifiSm and defenSe Christian pacifism and non-resistance based upon New Testament teaching were intrinsic components of Penn’s vision for his colony. These were beliefs shared by English Quakers and German Anabaptist settlers alike, and they shaped the policies adopted by the Quaker dominated colonial assembly. Even though every governor after 1688 was a non-Quaker, who recommended the formation of a colonial militia and military appropriations, such measures were consistently defeated. Penn, in fact, lost his colony between 1692 and 1694, in part, because of its defenselessness in the face of the threat from France. He regained control only after agreeing to accept the duty for military preparedness, but never prevailed upon the Assembly to create a militia. Although the Assembly voted funds for the Crown in 1696, 1709 and 1711 in response to specific government demands, these monies were never commensurate with the requested amounts, nor were they for “direct military expenses.” A quarter century of peace occasioned by the Treaty of Utrecht (171�) made Pennsylvania’s pacifist policies a moot point within the British Empire, but the situation changed in 17�9 with the beginning of the Wars for Empire. 24 Pennsylvania’s policies of pacifism and non-resistance were hotly debated in the eighteenth century press. Authors ranging from the Presbyterian Gilbert Tennent [already mentioned], Anglican William Smith and Deist Benjamin Franklin to the Quaker Samuel Smith disputed the issues of Christian non-resistance and the lawfulness of defensive war in a number of the Library’s rare books and pamphlets. 24 J. William Frost, A Perfect Freedom. Religious Liberty in Pennsylvania (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 29-�2. THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association 70 Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 In the 1747 pamphlet Plain truth: or, Serious Considerations On the Present State of the City of Philadelphia, And the Province of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin drew upon Scripture and reason to make a case for defending Penn’s colony with armaments and a state militia. He declared, “There is no British Colony excepting this, but has made some kind of provision for Defence.” He mentioned most of the usual reasons advanced by Quaker and other opponents of the defense, such as the “Length and Difficulty of our Bay and River” alleged to provide natural security to the colony, but warned that “Our Wealth . . . is one strong Temptation, our defenceless State another, to induce an Enemy to attack us.”25 New Jersey Quaker Samuel Smith responded to Franklin in a pamphlet the following year published by William Bradford entitled Necessary truth: or Seasonable considerations for the inhabitants of the City of Philadelphia, and Province of Pennsylvania. Later that year Presbyterian preacher Gilbert Tennent joined the fray with a published sermon called The late association for defence, encourag’d, or, The lawfulness of a defensive war. But the most spirited polemics were published in London by Anglican clergyman and newly appointed Provost of the College of Philadelphia William Smith. Smith’s first pamphlet published in 1755 was entitled A brief state of the province of Pennsylvania, in which the conduct of their Assemblies for several years past is impartially examined, and the true cause of the continual encroachments of the French displayed (London: R. Griffiths, 1755). In it Smith charged that the Quaker representatives in the Colonial Assembly, who enjoyed a reputation as “honest, sober, and thoughtful” individuals, instead sought to use religion as a “political scheme of power.”26 Smith’s pamphlet prompted An answer to an invidious pamphlet, intitled, A brief state of the Province of Pennsylvania. Wherein are exposed the many false assertions of the author or authors, or the said pamphlet, with a view to render the Quakers of Pennsylvania and their government obnoxious to the British parliament and ministry (London: S. Blandon, 1755), by an obscure clerk named Henry Cross, who, Smith charged, had been convicted of forgery and transported to America. Smith’s final word on the matter appeared the following year in a book entitled A brief view of the conduct of Pennsylvania, for the year 1755 (London: R. Griffiths, 1756). In this book Smith described the disastrous expedition of General Braddock, the Indian incursions and the frontier settlers’ demands for provincial defensive measures. He also suggested several methods for “ridding our Assembly of Quakers,” who impeded defensive legislation. The most humane of Smith’s suggestions was simply to require that every assembly member swear an oath of loyalty.27 Such an action, of course, would contradict Quaker doctrine and practice. In fact, many Quaker members of the Colonial Assembly worried that support for a war with the French, either by legislation or payment of the war tax passed in July 1755, would impugn their integrity and that of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. For this reason, John Woolman and twenty other Quaker members of the Assembly published an open letter, explaining their reasons for opposing the tax and the war. In the months that followed, ten Quaker members of the Assembly resigned rather than compromise their pacifist principles or their ability to carry out their legislative duties.28 25 Benjamin Franklin, Plain truth: or, Serious Considerations On the Present State of the City of Philadelphia, And Province of Pennsylvania. By a Tradesman of Philadelphia, [2nd ed.] ([Philadelphia], 1747. 26 William Smith, A brief state of the province of Pennsylvania . . . ( London: R. Griffiths, 1755), 7-8. 27 William Smith, A brief view of the conduct of Pennsylvania, for the year 1755 (London: R. Griffiths; . Sold by Mr. Bradford in Philadelphia. 1756), 70. 28 Jack D. Marietta, “Conscience, the Quaker Community, and the French and Indian War,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography Vol. 94 (January, 1971): 18. 71 THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 native american iSSueS Closely related to the problem of colonial defense was the issue of the Native American rights and lands. This was a matter of particular concern to the Quakers, but might appear likely to have concerned the Moravians or anyone involved in missionary outreach to the Indians. Unfortunately, this was rarely the case. Jane Merritt’s description of Moravian attitudes toward the Delawares seems typical of white Christian viewpoints outside of Quaker circles. She argues, The Moravians’ sincerity and concern for Indian souls did not always mitigate the impact of their presence in the region. Their methods and attitudes toward Indians sometimes precipitated the displacement of native inhabitants. [Moravian Bishop] Spangenberg believed that Indians would remain true to Christianity only if they lived together in a mission town, closely controlled by Moravians. He agreed with Governor George Thomas that large-scale Indian conversion might come only when “whites are so much increased that the Indians are Cooped up into a narrow Compass and Subdued.”29 Despite such questionable attitudes and motives, the Provincial Government, the Proprietors and many white settlers recognized the importance of negotiating with the Native American inhabitants of the colony while many Christian churches were keen to evangelize them. For these reasons, it is not surprising to find a number of rare publications in the State Library’s Special Collections related to Pennsylvania Indians. In fact, the oldest such publication is a seventeenth century Swedish Lutheran catechism entitled Lutheri Catechismus: ofwersatt pa American-Virginiske spraket published in Stockholm in 1696. The work is an edition of Luther’s Small Catechism translated by Johan Campanius Holm into the Delaware language in 164�, but left unprinted for fifty years. Among the eighteenth century works in the collection related to Native Americans, there are a variety of publications, including travel journals, pamphlets, educational texts and books. Several grew out of the aftermath of the French and Indian War and Pontiac’s War. Several others were the products of missionary endeavors. Two published pamphlets in the Library’s Special Collection stem from the infamous Paxton riots of December 176� in which a mob of Scots-Irish (mostly Presbyterian) frontiersmen brutally murdered 14 Conestoga Indians— men, women and children—being held for their own protection in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania jail. The earliest tract is a defense of The Quakers assisting to preserve the lives of the Indians in the barracks, vindicated and proved to be consistent with reason, agreeable to our law, hath an inseperable connection with the law of God and exactly agreeable with the principles of the people called Quakers... Printed [in Philadelphia] by Anthony Armbruster, 1764. The second work is a published letter by Thomas Barton also from 1764 that describes The conduct of the Paxton-men, impartially represented; the distresses of the frontiers, and the complaints and sufferings of the people fully stated ... With some remarks upon the Narrative, of the Indian-massacre, lately publish’d. Interspers’d with several interesting anecdotes, relating to the military genius, and warlike principles of the people call’d Quakers: together-with proper reflection and advice upon the whole. In a letter from a gentleman in one of the back counties, to a friend in Philadelphia. (Philadelphia: Printed by A. Steuart, and sold by John Creaig, shopkeeper in Lancaster. 1764). A more extensive treatise is an account of Colonel Henry Bouquet’s 1764 expedition against the Ohio (Delaware) Indian tribes that brought an end to Pontiac’s War. This book, written by Anglican clergyman William Smith, was first published in Philadelphia, but reprinted in London in 1766.�0 29 Jane T. Merritt, At the Crossroads. Indians & empires on a Mid-Atlantic Frontier, 1700-1763 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 200�), 96. �0 William Smith, An historical account of the expedition against the Ohio Indians, in the year MDCCLXIV. Under the command of Henry THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association 72 Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 Two final works on Native Americans in Colonial Pennsylvania each come from the pens of missionaries, the first by a Presbyterian, the other by a Moravian. The State Library holds Charles Beatty’s The journal of a two months tour; with a view of promoting religion among the frontier inhabitants of Pennsylvania, and of introducing Christianity among the Indians to the westward of the Alegh-geny Mountains. To which are added, remarks on the language and customs of some particular tribes among the Indians, with a brief account of the various attempts that have been made to civilize and convert them, from the first settlement of New England to this day (London: Printed for William Davenhill and George Pearch, 1768). The second work is an educational textbook by Moravian missionary David Zeisberger entitled, Essay of a Delaware-Indian and English spelling-book, for the use of the schools of the Christian Indians on Muskingum River. Zeisberger had the bilingual spelling book published in Philadelphia by Henry Miller in 1776. abolition Although the Friends’ peace stance and defense of Indian rights could be attributed to traditional Quaker doctrines and political interests, their demand for the abolition of the slave trade was nothing short of revolutionary for the eighteenth century. Several important Philadelphia Friends were in the forefront of the British Abolitionist movement. While they were not the first American Quakers to oppose the African Slave trade in print,�1 schoolmaster Anthony Benezet and Pennsylvania Assemblyman John Woolman were the leading spokesmen for the abolitionist movement in the Colony. One of their greatest accomplishments, according to historian Gary Wills, was to undermine the defense of slavery from Scripture.�2 The State Library owns a number of works by these two early abolitionist allies. Benezet’s antislavery tracts, published at his own expense, influenced John Wesley and would later persuade a young Cambridge graduate named Thomas Clarkson to devote his life to the abolition of the slave trade.�� Benezet’s earliest tract, A short account of that part of Africa, inhabited by the Negroes. With respect to the fertility of the country; the good disposition of many of the natives, and the manner by which the slave trade is carried on. Extracted from divers authors, in order to shew the iniquity of that trade, and the falsity of the arguments usually advanced in its vindication. With quotations from the writings of several persons of note, viz. George Wallis, Francis Hutcheson, and James Foster, and a large extract from a pamphlet, lately published in London, on the subject of the slave trade. 2d ed. with large additions and amendments (Philadelphia: Printed by W. Dunlap, 1762), presents ample evidence of the author’s wide reading and compilation of reports for use in the campaign against the slave trade. A shorter polemical tract from 1766 offers a Caution and warning to Great-Britain and her colonies, in a short representation of the calamitous state of the enslaved Negroes in the British dominions. Collected from various authors, and submitted to the serious consideration of all, more especially of those in power (Philadelphia: Printed by Henry Miller, 1766). But by far Benezet’s most influential pamphlet on both sides of the Atlantic was entitled Some historical account of Guinea, its situation, produce and the general disposition of its inhabitants. With an inquiry into the rise and progress of the slave-trade, its nature and lamentable effects (Philadelphia: Printed by Joseph Crukshank, 1771).�4 Bouquet ... Including his transactions with the Indians, relative to the delivery of their prisoners, and the preliminaries of peace. With an introductory account of the preceding campaign, and battle at Bushy-run. To which are annexed military papers, containing reflections on the war with the savages; a method of forming frontier settlements; some account of the Indian country; with a list of nations, fighting men, towns, distances, and different routs. Philadelphia, printed; London, Reprinted for T. Jefferies, 1766. �1 See the brief section on Benjamin Lay (1681-1759) in Gary Wills, Heart and Head. American Christianities (New York: The Penguin Press, 2007), 1�8-40. �2 Ibid., p. 140. �� See www.brycchancarey.com/abolition/benezet.htm. Consulted 7/17/2008. �4 Ibid. 73 THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 The Library also owns a rare print edition of the second part of John Woolman’s short but powerful antislavery tract called Considerations on keeping Negroes: recommended to the professors of Christianity, of every denomination, published by Ben Franklin in 1762. Wollman had actually written this tract, together with the first part, a published Epistle to the Friends in Virginia, in the 1740’s , but was unable to publish either part until his friend Anthony Benezet became a leading figure on the board of [Friends] overseers of the press.�5 baptiSt and methodiSt expanSion The two American denominations that expanded most dramatically in the latter part of the eighteenth century were the Baptists and the Methodists. Baptists, whether English or German, were well represented in Colonial Pennsylvania by the end of the eighteenth century and were beginning to consolidate their denominational structures. This process was partly institutional, partly historical and, of course, partly confessional. As mentioned previously, in 1765 the Philadelphia Baptist Association published a statement of faith it had adopted in 1742, popularly known as the Philadelphia Confession. Five years later Baptist historian Morgan Edwards published the first volume of his monumental history of Baptists in the American colonies. The 1770 publication, included among the Library’s Special Collections, is entitled Materials towards a history of the Baptists in Pennsylvania: both British and German, distinguished into Firstday Baptists, Keithian Baptists, Seventhday Baptists, Tuncker Baptists, Mennonist Baptists (Philadelphia: Printed by Joseph Crukshank and Isaac Collins, 1770). In addition to this comprehensive Baptist history produced by Edwards, a member of the German Seventh-Day Baptist community at Ephrata known only as Brother Lamech authored the famous Chronicon Ephratense [Ephrata Chronicle], Enthaltend den Lebens-Lauf des ehrwurdigen Vaters in Christo Friedsam Gottrecht, Weyland Stiffters und Vorstehers des geistl. Ordens der Einsamen in Ephrata in der Grafschaft Lancaster in Pennsylvania. This more narrow institutional history was published by the Brotherhood Press at Ephrata in 1786. The Library holds not only these important historical and confessional documents of Pennsylvania Baptists, but also a published transcript of the Minutes of the Philadelphia Baptist Association held at Philadelphia, October 2,3,4, &5, 1792 (Philadelphia: n.p., 1792). The final decades of the eighteenth century also witnessed the consolidation of the Methodist Episcopal Church as a distinct American denomination. George Whitefield’s death in 1770 and the arrival of Francis Asbury the following year represented an important theological and institutional turning point for the movement.�6 The State Library’s Rare Books collection contains several key works related to this development. The foundational work for American Methodism is The doctrines and discipline of the Methodist Episcopal church in America. With explanatory notes by Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury, 10th edition. It is a 187 page document published in Philadelphia [Printed by Henry Tuckniss] in 1798. In addition the State Library owns the first two volumes of the Arminian Magazine (Philadelphia: Prichard & Hall, 1789-1790), the Methodist periodical established by John Wesley that provided testimonies of the faithful. The State Library also holds several publications related to the ministry of German-American evangelist and Methodist ally Philip Otterbein, who helped to found the United Brethren Church. This German Pietist denomination eventually joined another small Pennsylvania German religious group known as the Evangelical Association, later merging with the United Methodist Church in 1968. Among the State Library’s holdings of Otterbein publications are German works by two of the evangelist’s brothers. The earliest is a pastoral reflection on counsel offered to a condemned criminal by Philip’s brother Johann Daniel Otterbein. The work entitled, Jesus und �5 Wills, Head and Heart, pp. 141-42. �6 Noll, Rise of Evangelicalism, p. 191. THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association 74 Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 der kraft seines bluts ganz besonders verherrlichet an Johann Jost Weygand einen armen sunder, der sinen mord begangen; und den 21ten, October, 1785, auf der richtstatte vor Berlenburg, mit dem schwerd vom leben zum tod gebracht worden, was published in Lancaster in 1790. The other work by Philip’s brother Georg Gottfried is a reader for German school children published in Philadelphia by Carl Cist in 1795 for use in the American Charity Schools.�7 eighteenth-century pennSylvania newSpaperS at the State library of pennSylvania Although much of the religious information in eighteenth-century Pennsylvania was disseminated in published books and pamphlets, a great deal (especially at the popular level) was communicated through newspapers. The State Library of Pennsylvania is the major repository for early Pennsylvania newspapers with original rag and pulp, as well as microfilm collections. While original copies of newspapers are available only in Special Collections, service copies of newspapers on microfilm may be used in the Main Library reading room or circulated through interlibrary loan. In addition to the Library’s print and microfilm collections, the Library subscribes to Early American Newspapers, Series 1, 1690-1876, an online newspaper database covering colonial Pennsylvania newspapers.�8 The Library also owns a recent monograph entitled, Debating the Issues in Colonial Newspapers. Primary Documents on Events of the Period (Westport, CT, 2000), that may serve as a sort of finding aid. Most early and colonial Pennsylvania newspapers owned by the State Library were published in Philadelphia. Some of these Philadelphia newspapers are: American Weekly Mercury. 1719-1746. Published by Andrew Bradford and Cornelia Bradford, this was the earliest Pennsylvania newspaper. Chestnuthiller Wochenschrift. October 1790-August 179�. This German language newspaper based in Chestnut Hill, PA (near Philadelphia) was published by Samuel Saur. Freeman’s Journal or The North American Intelligencer. April 1781-May 1792. The newspaper that survived for over a decade was published by Francis Bailey, a Lancaster printer and type manufacturer who moved to Philadelphia. National Gazette. January 1791-December 179� (Superceded by the United States Gazette. June 1, 1794-June �0, 1847). This short-lived newspaper was published by Philip Freneau. Pennsylvania Chronicle. January 1767-February 1774. William Goddard, Publisher. The subtitle indicates its varied subject matter: “Containing the freshest advices, both foreign and domestic; with a variety of other matter, useful, instructive, and entertaining.” Pennsylvania Evening Post and Public Advertiser. January 1775-October 1784. Published by Benjamin Towne, it appeared irregularly, almost always on single sheets. Pennsylvania Gazette. December 1728-September 1828. Published by Benjamin Franklin, it was a continuation of The Universal instructor in all arts and sciences, and Pennsylvania Gazette. A subtitle for issues from 17�5-1777 described the newspaper as “Containing the freshest advices, foreign and domestick.” It suspended publication at Philadelphia with the issue of Sept. 10, 1777, upon the �7 Georg Gottfried Otterbein, Lesebuch fur Deutsche Schulkinder herausgegeben von Georg Gottfried Otterbein. Mit Veranderungen und Zusatzen zum Gebrauch Nord-Americanischer Schulen. Philadelphia: Carl Cist, 1795. �8 Although the Early American Newspapers database produced by the Readex Corporation includes most of the colonial titles in the State Library’s newspaper collection, it omits the Christoph Saur newspapers that are critical to understanding the Pennsylvania German perspective in the pre-Revolutionary era. • • • • • • • • 75 THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 arrival of the British troops, and was published in York, PA, between December 20, 1777-June 20, 1778. It was continued by The Pennsylvania Gazette and Weekly Advertiser published in Philadelphia, starting with the issue of Jan. 5, 1779. Pennsylvania Herald. January 1785-February 1788. This newspaper was published successively by Matthew Carey, Christopher Talbot and William Spotswood and John M’Culloch. Its frequency varied from semi-weekly to tri-weekly. Pennsylvania Journal. December 1742-August 179�. Published by William Bradford, this weekly newspaper was published by Philadelphia’s oldest publishing family. Pennsylvania Ledger. November 1775-July 1785. This weekly newspaper and advertiser served Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia. It was published by James Humphreys, Jr. Philadelphische Correspondenz. October 1790-1800. In its ten-year existence this German language newspaper was published by Melchior Steiner and Heinrich Kammerer; then by various members of the Kammerer family and finally George Helmbold, Jr. Its frequency varied from weekly to semi- weekly. Philadelphische Zeitung. September 1755-December 1757. Benjamin Franklin and Anthony Armbruster, Publishers. This short-lived Franklin German language newspaper was designed to rival Christopher Saur’s Pensylvanische Berichte. Wochentliche Philadelphische Staatsbote. January 1762-May 1779. Henry Miller, Publisher. Next to Saur’s Pensylvanische Berichte, this was the most successful German language weekly, carrying political and religious news stories. The major German language newspapers in colonial Pennsylvania were published by the Christopher Saurs of Germantown, Pennsylvania. Although the newspaper titles changed, the Saurs--father and son--published the most popular German language newspapers prior to the American Revolution. The Saur newspapers published between 17�9-1762 were: Der Hoch-Deutsch Pensylvanische Geschicht-Schreiber. 17�9-1745. This was the first German language newspaper in North America. The frequency varied from monthly to fortnightly. It carried news from “the natural and ecclesiastical realms”. Hoch-deutsche pensylvanische Berichte oder: Sammlung wichtiger Nachrichten aus dem Natur- und Kirchen-Reich. 1745-1746. This Saur newspaper continued Der Hoch-Deutsch Pensylvanische Geschicht-Schreiber. Pensylvanische Berichte oder: Sammlung wichtiger Nachrichten aus dem Natur- und Kirchen-Reich. 1746-1762. This title continued the Hoch-deutsche pensylvanische Berichte. In addition to the earlier Saur newspapers, a short-lived German language newspaper existed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in the late 1780’s. It was entitled Neuf Unpartheyische Lancaster Zeitung & Anzeigs-Nachrichten. August 8, 1787-December 1789. This Lancaster newspaper was published by Anton Steimer, Johann Albrecht and Jacob Lahn. It was continued by Der Deutsche porcupein. The same decade saw the publication of the first western Pennsylvania newspaper in Pittsburgh, entitled the Gazette, published from August 1786-June 1881. The Gazette was the first newspaper published west of the Allegheny mountains. Each of the authors, religious groups, issues and titles in the foregoing essay played some significant role in the religious drama that was Penn’s “Holy Experiment.” In his journals the astute Lutheran observer Henry Muhlenberg • • • • • • • • • THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association 76 Volume 1, Number 2 • December 2008 offers a glimpse of Pennsylvania’s remarkable religious constellation through the lens of the militia controversy at the close of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748. [T]here are two chief parties here among the English and they entered into a violent newspaper war before the Spaniards and the French have come. The Quakers, who are the foremost party in this province, have on their side the German book publisher Christopher Sauer, who controls the Mennonites, Separatists, Anabaptists, and the like with his printed works and lines them up with the Quakers. All of these speak and write against the war and reject even the slightest defense as ungodly . . . . The church party has the English book publishers on its side and they maintain in speech and printed word that defense is not contrary to God’s command, but right and necessary . . . .This party makes use of the preachers of the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches.�9 Locally, this particular conflict only slightly impacted the security of Pennsylvania, a British province thousands of miles away from the military action. However, its political reverberations heightened growing tensions among the colony’s co-existing religious communities. Religious scholars, with some recent exceptions,40 have not always recognized the uniqueness of Pennsylvania’s colonial religious experience, much less the importance of the rich and varied resources that document it. Nevertheless, students in this era of theocratic revival and sectarian strife might learn some valuable lessons from the writings that document the origins of religious freedom and tolerance in colonial Pennsylvania. �9 Muhlenberg, Notebook of a Colonial Clergyman, �0. 40 Several important monographs on various aspects of religion in colonial Pennsylvania have appeared in the last two decades. They include: J. William Frost’s A Perfect Freedom. Religious Liberty in Pennsylvania. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990; A.G. Roeber’s Palatines, Liberty, and Property: German Lutherans in Colonial British America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998; Nina Reid-Maroney’s Philadelphia’s Enlightenment, 1740-1800 : Kingdom of Christ, Empire of Reason. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001; and Craig D. Atwood’s Community of the Cross: Moravian Piety in Colonial Bethlehem. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2004.