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Rh recognizes a well-defined Schwenkfeldian type of hymn-writing and cheerfully concedes to it a raison d'etre. But his account of the Schwenkfelder hymn-writers terminates with 1631, the year of Sudermann's death. Wackernagel describes very fully the Schwenkfelder hymns of the period which he treats, but he discusses only the writers up to Sudermann inclusive, and his account is not biographical. Schneider's monograph likewise closes with an account of the hymns of Daniel Sudermann. Indeed, both Wackernagel and Koch frankly acknowledge their indebtedness to Schneider for much of their information concerning the early hymn-writers of the school of Schwenkfeld.

It will be seen thus, that none of these authorities approaches the period with which the present treatise is particularly concerned. It is the purpose of this monograph (1) to present a survey of the entire field of Schwenkfelder hymnology, and (2) to submit the results of an examination of certain compilations of hymns extant in manuscript. The collections in question are those brought to America by the Schwenkf elders in 1734, together with the rearrangements and transcriptions of them produced here. Documentary sources have been employed almost exclusively, and with but one exception, the writer has enjoyed the use of the originals of the several hymn-collections examined. The hymn-book issued from the press of Christopher Saur has, of course, received attention ; but no minute analysis of this imprint has been attempted. It will frequently be referred to as the "Saur edition." The second and third editions of the printed hymnal are merely listed in our Descriptive Bibliography. Each is essentially an abridgment of the edition which preceded it.

In an address delivered before the Pennsylvania-German Society on the occasion of its first annual meeting, October 1891, Hon. Samuel W. Pennypacker, Former Governor of