[REVOLUTIONARY WAR] 1748 Tennent "Just War" Sermons

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Day 2: Early & Historic Americana

By Fleischer's Auctions

Oct 10, 2025

Set Reminder 2025-10-10 09:00:00 2025-10-10 09:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Day 2: Early & Historic Americana https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/fleischers-auctions/day-2-early-historic-americana-19250
Day one of Fleischer's 2025 Fall Premier auction includes early American artifacts, documents, signatures, ephemera, and weaponry. Rare material relating to African American history is featured, as well as fine examples of antique photography. Fleischer's Auctions info@fleischersauctions.com

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• Lot Description

  Gilbert Tennent (1703-1764). [The Late Association for Defence, Farther] Encourag'd The Consistency of Defensive War, with True Christianity. Represented in Two Sermons Preach'd at Philadelphia, January 24. 1747-8. Philadelphia: William Bradford, [1748].

   

  8vo, 2 + 28 leaves. Disbound (spine remnants only). Third edition. Hildeburn, C.R. Century of Printing, 1104; ESTC W19008; Evans 6246; Sabin 94696. 

   

  During the 1740s, Benjamin Franklin sensed the vulnerability of Pennsylvania as a then-frontier state. Native American raids and kidnappings were usual events. With no real centralized military, Franklin sought to establish a volunteer Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania militia called the Defense Association. He was met with strong resistance, however, from the pacifist Quakers. 

   

  In response, Presbyterian revivalist Gilbert Tennent (1703-1764), a major figure in the First Great Awakening and an associate of Benjamin Franklin, penned two sermons in defense of "just war." One edition was printed and issued by Franklin himself. Other editions, more scarce than the Franklin imprint, were issued by William Bradford. Both are very desirable, and both were issued by men (Franklin & Bradford) who would play pivotal roles in the upcoming American Revolution (1776).

   

  Tennent writes specifically to aid Benjamin Franklin's "Association for Defense" and rejects the theological and missional claims of Quaker pacifism, asserting that "God was [still] 'a Man of War,' unchanged from the days when he sent the Israelites into battle, and praised all the men who had joined in the mutual defense of the province. ‘Therefore, go on, my dear brethren, in the name of the God of armies,’ he admonished the volunteers, ‘I rejoice to hear of the increase of your number, and to see so much love and unity among you, notwithstanding of your different denominations!’”

   

  In the contentious colonial climate of the fomenting American Revolution, the work and its arguments were revived and brought to prominence once again. The sermons provided theological and explicit permission for Presbyterians to gather public support and participate in the rebellion against England. Indeed, some loyalists even referred to the Revolution as the "Presbyterian Rebellion." 

   

  VERY RARE. Only one copy was sold at auction in 1946. 

   

  [Pamphlets, Publications, Ephemera, Books, Rare Books, Tracts] [American Revolutionary War, American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence, Colonial America, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe] [French & Indian War, Books, Bibles, Great Awakening]

  Condition

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  Cropped, affecting title, text, page numbers, and footnotes.

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