See the below pay receipt documents from the WallBuilders library. These documents, from 1778, 1780, and 1782, are for three black soldiers who fought during the Revolutionary War.
Categories: Historical Artifacts
Bible Society Reports
The Philadelphia Bible Society, America’s first Bible society, was officially organized on December 12, 1808. By 1816, 121 more Bible societies had been started across the nation. Below, from the WallBuilders library, is a group of reports from various 19th century Bible societies. At WallBuilders, we also have an original Bible published by the Philadelphia Bible Society.
Benjamin Rush Personal Bible Study
Founding Father Benjamin Rush’s handwritten personal Bible study booklet entitled “References to Texts of Scriptures Related to Each Other Upon Particular Subjects.” In it he listed scriptures under various topics and wrote his own notes on those scriptures. We have included excerpts of the booklet below.
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Booklet Cover |
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Rush recorded three pages of scriptures and notes regarding
“Atonement”
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“Universal Salvation” |
Rush cataloged scriptures such as Exodus 32:11-12; Romans
5:3-4; Isaiah 49:6,8-9; Matthew 15:13; etc. under the title “Universal Salvation”
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“Objects of Prayer” & “Influences of Religion on Family Prosperity” |
Rush’s notes on scripture passages related to prayer and
God’s blessings (Note: nail used in book seam)
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“Kindness to Strangers” |
Rush lists Leviticus 19:33, Exodus 12:49, Deuteronomy 23:7
and other verses under the heading “Kindness to Strangers”
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“Efficacy of Prayer” |
Rush’s scriptures on the effectiveness of prayer include
Genesis chapter 18 and 21:17 & 21.
Benjamin Rush
(1745-1813) Rush was a physician, educator, philanthropist, and statesman. He graduated from Princeton (1760) and then studied medicine in Philadelphia, Edinburgh, London, and Paris. He served in the Continental Congress (1776-77) and signed the Declaration of Independence (1776). Rush also: suggested to Thomas Paine that he write Common Sense (1776) and supplied the title for it as well as helped publish it; was Surgeon-General of the Continental Army (1777-78); and was one of the founders of Dickinson College (1783). He was an influential delegate to the State ratification convention for the federal Constitution (1787), and along with James Wilson, one of the principal coauthors of the Pennsylvania constitution (1789-90). Rush served as Treasurer of the U. S. Mint under Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison (1797-1813). He mediated a reconciliation between long time political rivals John Adams and Thomas Jefferson; was a founder of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery (1774) and its president; founder and Vice-president of the Philadelphia Bible Society (1808-13); member of the First Day Society of Philadelphia (1790); and a member of the Abolition Society (1794-97). Benjamin Rush is called the “Father of American Medicine” for his numerous medical discoveries.
Attempted Capture of John Hancock and Samuel Adams
On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere and William Dawes set out to warn militias across the Massachusetts countryside of approaching British troops. These troops had been sent to Concord to confiscate the weapons there and dispatched to “bring back the bodies of Messr. Hancock and Adams.”
Below is a June 15-17, 1775 newspaper from the WallBuilders library with an account by a soldier in this mission.
The relevant letter excerpts are at the bottom right of this newspaper page.
This is the letter as it was printed in the newspaper. Transcript inserted below the picture.
In a letter, dated April 23, from an officer at Boston, who served in the late expedition to Concord, though totally silent about scalping the soldiers, and cutting off their ears, there is an acknowledgment of two extraordinary facts:
1. “Tuesday evening, the 18th instant, the grenadiers and light infantry of the army received private orders to move from Boston at ten o’clock at night. They were passed over part of the harbour in boats; and on their landing proceeded on the road to Concord, a country town at the distance of twenty miles from hence. Our business was to seize a quantity of military stores, and – the bodies of Mess. Handcock and Adams, who are both attainted and were at that place enforcing, by all their influence, the rebellious spirit of the provincial congress.” (emphasis added)
2. “On the road, in our rout home, we found every house full of people, and the fences lined as before. – Every house from which they fired, was immediately forced, and every soul in them put to death.”
Horrible carnage! O, Englishmen, to what depth of brutal degeneracy are ye fallen!
Manumission – Quaker – 1774
Chester County of 23 of Juno 1774
Respected friend, William Nelson altho unknown these few lines comes to inform thee in the first place who I am that is now writing to thee, about twenty years ago I consigned a negro girl named Mary to Anthony Lawrence in Charlestown and by advise from them was informed that thou purchased her from them. Now in the next place I have to tell thee the goodness that is become practicable in our provence to set their negroes free at a proper age and more especially with us that are called Quakers and should be very glad if she is living to have the opportunity to set her free for I never had no other but her and upon reconsidering the matter cannot be satisfied while she is bondage for I thing it is far from doing as we could be done by, I believe if people would seriously consider of it that many would be of my mind in that respect. Now I much believ thou wilt be so kind as to write me word whether she is alive and if she is, at what price, so shall conclude from thy unknown but sure friend.
J. Townsend
Direct for me in Chester
County to of Townsend
Speakman Doggest in
Philadelphia and it will come
Safe to hand
If William Nelson should be dead, I desire some kind hand to whom this may come to comply with of request above, which will be thankfully receive by J.T.
Philadelphia Bible Society Constitution
The Philadelphia Bible Society, America’s first Bible society, was officially organized on December 12, 1808. Rev. Dr. William White was president of the society and Declaration signer Benjamin Rush was a vice president. By 1816, 121 more Bible societies had been started across the nation.
Below, from WallBuilders’ Collection, is the Philadelphia Bible Society constitution, published in 1809. See also this title page from the first Bible printed by the Philadelphia Bible Society.
Benjamin Rush Letter to Elisha Boudinot
Below is a letter that WallBuilders came across from Benjamin Rush (Declaration signer) to Elisha Boudinot, brother of Founding Father Elias Boudinot. Rush wrote this letter on September 8, 1797 in condolence for the loss of Elisha’s wife. Notice the specifically religious content in this letter.
Philad. September 8th. 1797.
My dear Sir:
Permit me to join in the general sympathy your late bereavement has excited in the breasts of all your friends. “Is Dr. Mather still in the land of the living” said one of his friends who inquired after him at his door in his last illness. “No (said the aged saint who overheard the inquiry) he is in the land of the dead, but he is going to the land of the living.” Yes – my dear friend, we live among the dead; and in a valley of human bones. Every newspaper we pick up is an obituary of departed friends, or fellow citizens. At the present awful moment, the passing hearse, the shut up houses, and the silent streets of our city, all proclaim that we are made of the dust, & that we are doomed to return to it. But let us not complain as those who have no hope. The grave shall ere long be robbed of its prey. Even Hell itself shall give up its prisoners. The Conquests & Grace of Jesus Christ extend to the utmost limits of fire & misery, & all all shall in due time be made to partake of the benefits of this infinite Atonement. Your late excellent consort will I doubt not be among the first fruits of his glorious resurrection. Let those considerations comfort you under your present affliction. My dear Mrs. Rush shares deeply in your grief, and joins with me in respectful & affectionate [comforts] to your aged and afflicted parents Mr. & Mrs. Smith. She joins likewise in love to all the children with my Dr Sir your sincere friend.
Benjm Rush
PS: The fever increases, but it is confined chiefly to one part of the city. I have hitherto been preserved, except from a light attack of it, which confined me but one day. “Brethren pray for us.” – Mrs. Bradford continues to mend but slowly.
A Defence of the Use of the Bible in Schools
The following is part of the transcript from a letter written in 1791, which was published by the American Tract Society in 1830. To purchase the whole text of Dr. Rush’s letter, see The Bible in Schools pamphlet that can be found in the WallBuilders store.
Dear Sir:
It is now several months since I promised to give you my reasons for preferring the Bible as a schoolbook to all other compositions. Before I state my arguments, I shall assume the five following propositions:
- That Christianity is the only true and perfect religion; and that in proportion as mankind adopt its principles and obey its precepts they will be wise and happy.
- That a better knowledge of this religion is to be acquired by reading the Bible than in any other way.
- That the Bible contains more knowledge necessary to man in his present state than any other book in the world.
- That knowledge is most durable, and religious instruction most useful, when imparted in early life.
- That the Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life.
My arguments in favor of the use of the Bible as a schoolbook are founded,
I. In the constitution of the human mind.
- The memory is the first faculty which opens in the minds of children. Of how much consequence, then, must it be to impress it with the great truths of Christianity, before it is preoccupied with less interesting subjects.
- There is a peculiar aptitude in the minds of children for religious knowledge. I have constantly found them, in the first six or seven years of their lives, more inquisitive upon religious subjects than upon any others. And an ingenious instructor of youth has informed me that he has found young children more capable of receiving just ideas upon the most difficult tenets of religion than upon the most simple branches of human knowledge. It would be strange if it were otherwise, for God creates all His means to suit His ends. There must, of course, be a fitness between the human mind and the truths which are essential to it happiness.
- The influence of early impressions is very great upon subsequent life; and in a world where false prejudices do so much mischief, it would discover great weakness not to oppose them by such as are true. I grant that many men have rejected the impressions derived from the Bible; but how much soever these impressions may have been despised, I believe no man was ever early instructed in the truths of the Bible without having been made wiser or better by the early operation of these impressions upon his mind. Every just principle that is to be found in the writings of Voltaire is borrowed from the Bible; and the morality of Deists, which has been so much admired and praised where it has existed, has been, I believe, in most cases, the effect of habits produced by early instruction in the principles of Christianity.
- We are subject, by a general law of our natures, to what is called habit. Now, if the study of the Scriptures be necessary to our happiness at any time of our life, the sooner we begin to read them, the more we shall probably be attached to them; for it is peculiar to all the acts of habit, to become easy, strong, and agreeable by repetition.
For the whole text of Dr. Rush’s letter, see the WallBuilders store to purchase the The Bible in Schools pamphlet.
John Hancock – A Brief – 1788
This is a brief issued by Governor John Hancock on June 20, 1788. It includes his request for the people of Massachusetts “to contribute to their abilities, in money, public securities or other property” to the Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians and others in North-America who had originally requested a brief be issued. The transcript below has been changed to reflect modern spelling and grammar.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
By His EXCELLENCY
JOHN HANCOCK, Esquire,
Governour of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
A Brief.
The society for propagating the Gospel among the Indians and others in North-America, lately incorporated by an Act of this Commonwealth, having requested and petitioned that a Brief should be issued to make collections in the several Religious Societies for these important purposes, which request was complied with by the General Assembly:
I DO THEREFORE, in pursuance of the recommendation of the said General Assembly, and with the Advice of Council, hereby earnestly recommend to the good people of this Commonwealth, to contribute to their abilities, in money, public securities or other property, to this benevolent design, a design which early employed the attention of our venerable fore-fathers. I do request that all money or other property collected, may be paid into the hands of JONATHAN MASON, Esq. Treasurer of the said Society, as a fund to be employed the Society for the purpose of propagating the knowledge of the Gospel among the Indians and others in America, and furnishing the means of religious instruction to those places in this Commonwealth, which are now destitute of the same.
And I do further request the Ministers of the several religious Societies within this Commonwealth to read this Brief to their respective Congregations, upon the first Lord’s day after they shall receive the same, and to propose a collection on the Lord’s day next following.
GIVEN under my Hand and the Seal of the Commonwealth aforesaid, this Twentieth day of June, Anno Domini, 1788, and in the Twelfth Year of the Independence of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA.
JOHN HANCOCK.
By his Excellency’s Command,
With the Advice and Consent of the Council,
JOHN AVERY, jun. Secretary.
To the Honorable the Senate and the Honorable House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The Society for propagating the Gospel among the Indians and others in North-
America, beg leave to show, That one design of our venerable Fathers in emigrating to this land, was professedly to extend the knowledge of our Glorious Redeemer among the Savage Natives; that this design was expressed and enjoined under both the charters, granted by the parent state to this Colony, and is, in the opinion of the Society, necessary and suitable at all times to be pursued, by a people who profess Christianity.
That the end for which this Society was instituted by the Legislature, was to attend to this important circumstance, and prove to the European World, who are at a great expense in pursing this object among us, that we were not inattentive to it. It is the desire, the design, and the ambition of the Society, to pursue the ends and purposes for which they were incorporated.
The want of Funds alone prevents them from exerting themselves in propagating the Gospel among the Indians, and extending the means of Christian knowledge among those of the inhabitants of this land, who are now destitute of them.
They humbly request your Honors, to recommend to his Excellency the Governor, to issue a Brief to be read in all the Churches of this Commonwealth, requesting the said of all piously disposed persons, in carrying on this truly benevolent design, and asking their contributions, in Specie, Public Securities, or any other property, to enable the said Society to send the knowledge of our Glorious Redeemer, among those who are now perishing for lack of vision, and to extend the means of instruction to our fellow citizens in the eastern and other parts of the State, who are now destitute of them.
The Society are not insensible of the difficulties and embarrassments of the present day, and they are sorry to ask the aid of their fellow citizens at a time so distressing, but they cannot be easy to remain any longer inactive from pursuing the great objects of their appointment. The collections upon this occasion will be free, and they do not wish them to be so large as to cause distress to any. A mite thrown into the Treasury of the Society by every individual in the State, would amount to a large sum, and would enable them to publish the glad tidings of great joy, among those who are now sitting in darkness and in the region of the shadow of Death.
Your Honors will pardon the Society for addressing you on this occasion, and requesting this favor at your hands; they can scarcely suppose, however, an apology to be necessary for applying to Christian Rulers, upon a subject which relates so immediately to the honor of the Author and Finisher of our Faith. Your Honors will be pleased to observe, that the Society are not asking a favor for themselves, but are supplicating for those, who now suffer in their best interest: They are beseeching your Honors to pursue a design of which our venerable Fathers never lost sight, and to do what may be highly acceptable to that Being, upon whom the welfare of States and Empires essentially depends.
They take the liberty to observe, that the peace and harmony which prevailed in general between the Indians bordering on the northern States of the Union, and the citizens thereof, during the late war, may in a good measure be attributed to the exertions of the Missionaries who were supported among them: And that perhaps it may not now be an object of less political consequence, to continue and encourage their exertions; as the British are practicing every art to induce the Indians to retire from among us, into the more interior parts of the continent, that they may secure to themselves exclusively the benefits of the fur trade, and their alliance in any further rupture.
The Society cannot doubt the attention of the Honorable Court to a subject so important; they hope for a compliance with their request, and as in duty bound shall ever pray.
FRANCIS DANA, ⎬ In the name and by order of the Society.
EDWARD WIGGLESWORTH, ⎬ [In the name and by order of the Society.]
PETER THACHER, ⎬ [In the name and by order of the Society.]
July 4th Prayer
In response to Benjamin Franklin’s call to seek God that was made on June 28, 1787,1 the Rev. William Rogers prayed2 before the service that was held at the Reformed Calvinist Church in Philadelphia on July 4th of that year. The below text is taken from The Massachusetts Centinel on August 15, 1787.
On the 4th ult. the anniversary of American Independence was celebrated at Philadelphia, in the Reformed Calvinist Church, by the Pennsylvania Society of Cincinnati, in presence of the Federal Convention, many distinguished characters, and a most brilliant assembly of ladies and gentlemen – when in Oration, commemorative of the great event, was pronounced by JAMES CAMPBELL, Esq. after the delivery of an Introductory Prayer by the Rev. WILLIAM ROGERS, A. M. – A copy of each was obtained of the Press, and with pleasure we take the earliest opportunity of presenting to our readers, through the medium of this Gazette, the Introductory Prayer, verbatim, not doubting but the sentiments therein contained, will meet the approbation of all the FEDERAL and PIOUS inhabitants of the State of Rhode Island, as expressed by ONE OF HER SONS. –
We, thy unworthy but dependent children, assembled on this joyful occasion, humbly desire to approach the THRONE of thy GRACE, in and through the merit of thy coequal SON, our EVER BLESSED SAVIOUR! For HIS sake, be pleased to pardon our manifold sins, and to blot out all our transgressions! Justify our persons through IMMANUEL’S righteousness, and sanctify our natures by the powerful influences of thy most HOLY SPIRIT! May we wholly be devoted to thy service, and live uniformly to thy praise!
With united hearts and uplifted voices, we render unfeigned thanks to thy name, O THOU SOVEREIGN RULER OF ALL WORLDS, for those numberless mercies wherewith we have been and continue to be visited! We adore thee for thy creating power, preserving goodness, and redeeming love! Suffer us never to forget any of thy favours, as we are altogether undeserving, even of the least! Particularly, O God! Are the inhabitants of these States, on THIS DAY, under the strongest obligations to bless THY NAME, for that Liberty, civil and religious, which they so fully enjoy! We would join the general body, and ascribe praise and thanksgiving to thy ADORABLE MAJESTY, for this AUSPICIOUS Anniversary, a DAY long to be remember by us and future generations! A DAY, whereon this extensive continent was, by the representatives of a numerous and oppressed people, DECLARED FREE AND INDEPENDENT! HEAVEN approved the declaration, our arms were crowed with success, sweet peace hath visited our borders, the soldier once more became the citizen: Retiring, without regret, from stations of command, our military officers returned with cheerfulness to the several duties of domestic and tranquil life! Our ears are not more pierced with the confused noise of war, our eyes are no longer pained with the horrid fight of garments roll’d in blood. – While we thus thankfully acknowledge thy reiterated favours in our political hemisphere, we beg leave also to mention thy providential smiles in crowning the YEAR with thy goodness, and causing thy paths to drop fatness: “Our pastures are cloathed with flocks, our fields are covered over with corn and wheat, our husbandmen shout for joy – yea, they also sing.”
That we may continue to enjoy these important blessing, be pleased, O Lord, to visit all the nations of the earth, and incline their hearts to peace and love; shower down upon them thy heavenly grace; may they know THEE as the KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS! In an especial manner, DO THOU visit our land, graciously regard our country, protect and defend our infant, but hitherto highly favoured Empire, bless our CONGRESS, smile upon each particular State of the UNION: May those who are in authority rule in thy fear, prove a terror to evil doers, and a praise to them who do well! As this is a period, O LORD! big, with events, impenetrable by any human scrutiny, we fervently recommend to thy fatherly notice, that august Body assembled in this city, who compose our FEDERAL CONVENTION; will it please THEE, O THOU ETERNAL I AM! to favour them from day to day with thy immediate presence; be thou their wisdom and their strength! Enable them to devise such measures as may prove happily instrumental for healing all divisions, and promoting the good of the great WHOLE; incline the hearts of all the people to receive with pleasure, combined with a determination to carry into execution, whatever these thy servants may wisely recommend; that the United States of America may furnish the world with ONE example of a free and permanent government, which shall be the result of human and mutual deliberation, and which shall not, like all other governments, whether ancient or modern, spring out of mere chance, or be established by force. – May we triumph in the cheering prospect of being completely delivered from anarchy; and continue, under the influence of republican virtue, to partake of all the blessings of cultivated and civilized society! In tender mercy bless this Commonwealth, the President, Vice President, and Supreme Executive Council, our Legislative Body, and the respective Judicial Departments!
Finally, we commend to thy paternal regard, all orders of men, all seminaries of useful learning, the Ministers of the gospel of every denomination, the Church of CHRIST, and all for whom we ought to pray. – With heart-felt gratitude we anticipate the GLORIOUS ERA, when instead of the thorn, shall come up the fir-tree; instead of the briar, shall come up the MYRTLE-TREE; and WISDOM and KNOWLEDGE shall be the stability of the times, both in church and state.
Prepare us, O LORD, MOST HOLY! For ever dispensation of thy righteous Providence; for life, for death, for judgment, and the joys of Paradise – Humbly intreating THY gracious assistance, in suitably discharging all those enjoined us by thy word, and enforced by thy authority, we close this, our solemn address, by saying, as our Lord and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST hath taught us –
OUR Father, who art in Heaven; hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. AMEN.3
Endnotes
1 See “Franklin’s Appeal for Prayer at the Constitutional Convention,” WallBuilders.
2 “William Rogers,” University of Pennsylvania, accessed December 18, 2023.
3 The Massachusetts Centinel, August 15, 1787, 1.
