1747-1748 GILBERT TENNENT. The Consistancy of Defensive War - Benjamin Franklin and American Revolution.

A very scarce item indeed, not offered at auction since 1946. During the 1740's, 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 to defend them, Franklin set about to establish a volunteer Philadelphia / Pennsylvania militia called the Defense Association. Many of the Quakers of Pennsylvania, most pacifists theologically, argued against. As a result, George Whitefield co-laborer in the Great Awakening, and friend of Benjamin Franklin, Gilbert Tennent, penned two works in defense of "just war."

Both were issued in 1748. One by Franklin himself. The other, more scarce than the Franklin imprint, was issued by William Bradford. Both are very desirable, and both 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!”

The work was again brought to prominence in the run up to the American Revolution and provided sort of a "spiritual-revivalist" permission and theological explanation for Presbyterian divines to play the critical role they did in gathering public support for the the rebellion against England. By this time, the divines of the Great Awakening, i.e. George Whitefield, the Tennents, and Jonathan Edwards were viewed as nearly unassailable measures of spirituality by the Gospel preaching churches of New England.

Tennent, Gilbert. The Late Association for Defense, Farther Encourag'd or The Consistency of Defensive War, with True Christianity Represented in Two Sermons Preach'd at Philadelphia, January 24. 1747-8. Philadelphia. Printed and Sold by William Bradford. 1747-8. 56pp.

A good - copy, bound in wraps, generally solid, toned throughout. Pages handled and cropped close with occasional infringement to text [not rendering anything illegible; some text loss at top of title page]; occasional tears without loss.