1600-1754: Religion: Publications

William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620–1647, edited by Samuel Eliot Morison (New York: Knopf, 1952)—first published from Bradford’s manuscript as History of Plymouth Plantation in 1856; the complete and detailed account of the founding and early years of Plymouth, including letters of the time, as written by its first governor;

Charles Chauncy, Enthusiasm described and caution’d against. A Sermon Preach’d... after Commencement... (Boston: J. Draper, 1742)—the most sustained condemnation of the revivals in the Great Awakening that expressed the universal sentiments of its opponents throughout the colonies;

Jonathan Edwards, A Careful and Strict Enquiry into... Freedom of the Will (Boston: Printed & sold by S. Kneeland, 1754)—a literary sensation when published and the most seriously analyzed of his works, for it employed the enlightened psychology of John Locke to defend the existence of free will within the bounds of predestination;

Edwards, A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God... (Boston: Printed by S. Kneeland &T. Green for D. Henchman, 1737)—the first detailed and widely read description of a revival he led in 1734–1735 which became the model for other revivals;

Edwards, Treatise Concerning the Religious Affections... (Boston: Printed for S. Kneeland & T. Green, 1746)—an explanation of the conversion process and the role that emotions played in it which became a virtual textbook for revivalists in the Great Awakening;

Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana (London: Printed for Thomas Parkhurst, 1702)—a history of God’s providences toward New England written by one of its foremost intellectuals who gathered documents, letters, biographies, and even myths into this magisterial work;

Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, The Journals of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, translated by Theodore G. Tappert and John W. Doberstein, 3 volumes (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1942–1958)—one of the most complete and informative records of a frontier missionary and church organizer by an acute commentator on the religious pluralism in the middle colonies;

William Penn, No Cross, No Crown (London: Printed & sold by B. Clark, 1682)—sets forth the very essence of the Quaker faith and was faithfully consulted by Friends throughout the colonial period;

Thomas Prince, The Christian History (Boston: Skneeland, 1743)—the most influential evangelical magazine of the Great Awakening, which published ministerial reports of revivals as they occurred throughout the British Empire;

Gilbert Tennent, The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry, Considered in a Sermon on Mark VI. 34 (Philadelphia: Printed by Benjamin Franklin, 1740)—one of the “most abusive and scurrilous sermons ever penned,” this attack on an educated clergy precipitated a division in the Presbyterian Church during the Great Awakening that lasted for seventeen years;

John Tillotson, Sermons, 14 volumes (London: R. Chiswell, 1695–1704)—these sermons by an Anglican archbishop during the Restoration were widely read in the colonies because they celebrated the use of reason to enrich Christianity and advocated a tolerance that downplayed minor differences between denominations;

George Whitefield, The Christian’s Companion: or, Sermons on Several Subjects... (London: Printed & sold by the booksellers in town & country, 1739);

Whitefield, A Continuation of the Reverend Mr. White-field’s Journal, from His Arrival at Savannah, May 7... (Boston: Printed by G. Rogers & D. Fowle, 1741)—the second in a series of three accounts of Whitefield’s awakenings and successes from 1737 to 1741; it spread his fame and elicited angry rebuttals from his opponents.