Schwenkfelder Hymnology

by Allen Anders Seipt

AMERICANA GERMANICA

New Series

monographs devoted to the comparative study of the

Literary, Linguistic and Other Cultural Relations

OF

Germany and America

---

EDITOR

MARION DEXTER LEARNED

University of Pennsylvania

Title Page of the First Schwenkfelder Hymn-Book Printed in America.

AMERICANA GERMANICA

 

SCHWENKFELDER HYMNOLOGY

AND

The Sources

OF THE

First Schwenkfelder Hymn-Book
Printed in America

Allen Anders Seipt, A.M., Ph.D.

Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Formerly Instructor in German, Ohio Wesleyan University

 

---

 

AMERICANA GERMANICA PRESS

PHILADELPHIA
1909

COPYRIGHTED BY ALLEN ANDERS SEIPT

1909

THESIS

PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF

THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA IN PARTIAL

FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR

OF PHILOSOPHY, 1906

 

BY

ALLEN ANDERS SEIPT

TO

MY MOTHER

IN

GRATEFUL VENERATION

PREFACE.

This work is a contribution to a better knowledge of the activity of the Schwenkf elders in the writing and compiling of hymns, both in Europe and also in America. It is hoped that it will help to rescue from obscurity some of the worthy pioneers whose services in this field have long waited for acknowledgment. To students of the life of the German settlers in America, during the colonial period, it should prove a welcome side-light.

An altogether satisfactory explanation of both the character and the quantity of the religious poetry written by the early Schwenkfelders is furnished by Koch. It runs thus: "They were wholly devoted to a deep susceptibility of the grace of God,intent upon this, in order that they might the better in faith apprehend the inner working of grace. With such spiritual sensibility, and being perpetually the victims of oppression, they had so much the greater occasion for communion with God and for the pouring out of their hearts before Him in prayer and song. Hence it was, that a distinct Schwenkfeldian type of religious poetry developed, quite extensive and not to be undervalued in its importance."

Public acknowledgment is due the following for having rendered assistance during the preparation of this work: Marion D. Learned, Ph. D., L. H. D., Professor of German at the University of Pennsylvania, for directing the author's research; Prof. D. B. Shumway, Ph. D., of the University of Pennsylvania; Hon. S. W. Pennypacker, LL. D., Former Governor of Pennsylvania, for the use of important sources; M. G. Brumbaugh, Ph. D., LL. D., Superintendent of Schools, Philadelphia; Prof. Morris Jastrow, Jr., Ph. D.; Dr. John W. Jordan, Librarian, and Mr. Ernest Spofford, Assistant Librarian, of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Mr. Thomas L. Montgomery, Librarian, Mr. Norman D. Gray, Assistant Librarian, and Mr. Luther Kelker, Archivist, of the State Library, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; C. S. Thayer, Ph. D., Librarian of Hartford Theological Seminary, Hartford, Connecticut; Mr. George Maurice Abbot, Librarian of the Library Company of Philadelphia, and Mr. B. Samuel, of the Ridgway Branch; Pres. Robert Ellis Thompson, D. D., Central High School, Philadelphia; Rev. J. H. Dubbs, D. D., LL. D., Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Rev. C. D. Hartranft, D. D., Wolfenbiittel, Germany; Hon. C. Heydrick, Franklin, Pennsylvania; Howard Wiegner Kriebel, Lititz, Pennsylvania; Rev. O. S. Kriebel, D. D., Pennsburg, Pennsylvania; Rev. E. E. S. Johnson, Wolfenbuettel, Germany; Mrs. Susanna Krauss Heebner, Worcester, Pennsylvania; Samuel A. Anders, Professor of German, Temple University, Philadelphia; and Irene Schumo Seipt, of Philadelphia.

The Author.

Philadelphia, April 1909.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Chapter I. —	Introduction	11
Chapter II. —	Descriptive Bibliography	17
Chapter III. —	The Schwenkfelder Hymn-Writers of the 16th and 17th Centuries	37
Chapter IV. —	Hymns Used by the Schwenkfelders Before 1762	56
Chapter V. —	Caspar Weiss: The Originator of the Schwenkfelder Hymn-Book	61
Chapter VI. —	George Weiss: Writer and Compiler of Hymns	74
Chapter VII. —	Balthaser Hoffmann, Christopher Hoffmann and Hans Christoph Huebner	83
Chapter VIII. —	Christopher Schultz and the Printed Hymn-Book	96
Appendix. —	Bibliography	111