Passional and Prayer Book

Pennsburg, PA: The Schwenkfelder Library, 1961. First edition. Hardcover. Fine. 5 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches. xiv + 139 numbered pages with numerous woodcuts. Also includes card noting that the book is a gift as of the Schwenkfelder Library's observances of the 400th anniversary of Schwenckfeld's death. Bound in red half cloth with blue boards and gilt title to front board and to spine. Pages bright and clean, with a little light spotting on the top and bottom edge. Contained in slipcase which is sunbleached. Caspar Schwenkfeld (1489-1561) was a German preacher and one of the earliest promoters of the Protestant Reformation in Silesia. He developed his own principles and fell out with Martin Luther over the eucharistic controversy (1524). His followers became a new sect, which was outlawed in Germany and influenced Anabaptism and Puritanism in England, and Pietism on mainland Europe. Schwenkfeld did not organize a separate church during his lifetime, but followers gathered. In 1700 there were about 1,500 in Lower Silesia and many fled under persecution of the Austrian emperor. These followers became known as Schwenkfelders. A group arrived in Philadelphia in 1731, followed by five more migrations up to 1737. In 1782, the Society of Schwenkfelders was formed, and in 1909 the Schwenkfelder Church was organized. The Schwenkfelder Church has remained small, and currently there are six churches with about 3,000 members in Pennsylvania. Schwenkfeld taught to oppose war, secret societies, and oath-taking, that the government had no right to command one's conscience, that regeneration is by grace through inner work of the Spirit, that believers feed on Christ spiritually, and that believers must give evidence of regeneration. He rejected infant baptism, outward church forms, and "denominations". A scarce and interesting "low church" work of the Reformation.