Die Erste Liebe. Das ist Wahre Abbildung Der Ersten Christen nach ihrem Lebendigen Glauben und Heiligen Leben, aus der ältesten und bewährtesten Kirchen=Scribenten eigenen Zeugnissen, Exemplen und Reden, nach der Wahrheit der Ersten einigen Christlich...

Altona, Johann Friedrich Bähr, 1722. 4to. Contemp. full vellum. Last inner hinge loose. The portrait lacks. Engraved emblematic frontispiece. (12),64,1121,(22) pp. A few scattered brownspots. Occassionally light browning to leaves. A few corners with tiny wormtract.

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""Die Erste Liebe"" is Arnold first major work. ""An almost revolutionar book of the new trend that established his fame and brought him an appointment as professor at the University of Giessen in 1697, which he resigned a year later. This book gives a new picture of the primitive church as the ideal brotherhood to be emulated. Its appeal was tremendous throughout the 18th century (six editions appeared up to 1780, latest European edition 1845) and continued also its value as a favorite devotional reader among the Pennsylvania Germans (numerous editions in America). (Robert Friedmann in ""Mennonite Piety Through the Centuries"").