The "A True Scholar Tries To Explain Luther And His Writings To Me" Story

Foreword:  I have written a few thousand stories over the past ten years for the blog you are reading, but my story today is one that I'm not sure I am qualified to write.  The minister whom I had visited recently to talk about Bibles and book binding has intelligence that I can only dream about having.  Rev. Adam Morton received me with enthusiasm and was very interested in the family Bible I handed him, but the knowledge he possesses about Martin Luther and his writings, the German language, bookbinding and Christianity in general left me behind as if I had never studied any of the topics before.  He is an amazing young man who made me feel part of the conversation as well as asking me a few times about a variety of topics.  But, I was mostly lost in the dust as we talked!  Therefore, I'm not sure I can do him justice with the following story, but the tale I have to tell might at least make you interested in the topics they will cover.  Let's see...

The family pages on which you can report births
and deaths.  I had found a carnation as well as a
clipping from the newspaper when I first viewed it.

It was an ordinary day.  Just pulled out my old family Bible to see if Adam could help me understand a bit more about the history of the "German Die Bibel" which was printed in 1846 in Philadelphia, PA.  And, why would I ask this associate pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania?  Well, he holds several Master's degrees as well as a start on a Doctorate in Theology, and a recent newspaper article about him made me think he would be the person to answer my questions.  Adam Morton is a very refined young gentleman who appears to be much younger than his reported 40 years of age, but he is a whiz with history and knowledge of Martin Luther and any publications associated with him.  He was able to give me a fair guess at a date for my Bible (I hadn't told him the date inside my Bible cover) by the style and usage of the German used in the Bible.  

Rev. Adam Morton holding a 1518 collection
of writings by Martin Luther.  The book on
his desk is an illustrated collection of
writings about Lutheranism from 1571.
Photo was taken by LNP photographer
Dan Marschka.

I initially called Adam after reading about him in Lancaster's newspaper's "The Scribbler" column written by Jack Brubaker in the August 14, 2019 newspaper.  Jack has been writing stories about Lancaster County and its residents for years in his "The Scribbler" column and when he posted his article about Adam, I knew I just had to make a visit.  Two books which were part of Trinity's archives were featured and after seeing photos taken by staff photographer Dan Marschka, I wanted to see them for myself to see how they may have been bound years ago.  One of the classes I taught in high school included book binding in which my classes made their own marbled paper for the end sheets of the book they folded and bound by sewing the paper signatures by hand with linen thread.  I was hoping to see how these two sixteenth century books had been bound. Well, when Adam and I finished examining my Bible, he pulled out the church's 1518 collection of writings by Martin Luther that they had just gotten back from a local bookbinder.  

The new binding on the right and the old cover that
he had taken off on the left.

The bookbinder did a very nice job of rebinding, but I personally would have chosen a different material and color for the cover of the book.  The book contained some of the very early writings by Luther including "Ad LeonemX", "Pontificem Maximun" and Martin Luther's "Ninety-five Theses."  Wow, just to hold this manuscript in my hands was remarkable.  How many scholars had opened these pages in the past few hundred years.  Rev. Morton found another one of the two volumes on his desk one morning when he came to work at Trinity Lutheran Church in center city Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  

This is the 1571 rare illustrated collection
of writings about Lutheranism.  It was
donated by D. Mellinger Swarr in 1885.

The book had been brought to his office by a church archivist.  It was titled "Corpus Doctrinae Christianae" and was a collection of early Lutheran writings.  It was published in Germany in 1571 which was 25 years after the death of Martin Luther.  In the book was a note dated 1885 which explained that the book was a gift from a Mr. D.M. Swarr.  Adam became interested in the book and began a search of the church's archives and found five more rare books that chronicled the early years of Lutheranism.  The majority of the books he had found were in a box labeled "Luther."  Another book contained the first-ever published collection of writings by Luther.  "Ad Leonem X, Pontificem Maximum" (To Pope Leo X) contained the famed "Ninety-five Theses."  Everything was in Latin and published in 1518 by Johann Frozen.  The book is one of only 15 known to exist.  

You may be able to read what was written in the book
that was donated by Mr. Swarr on February 6, 1985.

Most copies were ordered destroyed when Luther was declared a heretic and excommu- nicated.  Across the end of the book is written in Latin, "Beware."  Just to hold this manuscript was amazing.  A letter that accompanied the book told how Mr. Swarr had ordered the book from Berlin, Germany and had given it to his church in 1883, the 400th anniversary of Luther's birth.  The other books Adam had found were also donations from Swarr.  Seems that Mr. D. Mellinger Swarr was a Mennonite who had limited formal education.  He did know enough to realize the importance of the books he had in his possession.  

These are two illustrated pages of the Ten Commandments.

One of the books, a 1455 book that consisted of an oration of Aeneus Silvius, who later became Pope, was "stagger- ingly rare" according to Adam.  Mr. Swarr died in the early 20th century at the Lancaster County Home and is buried in Quarryville, PA.  So, why and how did this man donate these rather rare and beautiful books to his church.  Maybe Adam will be the one to eventually find the answer to that question.  Adam and I shared a few more stories about bookbinding and after a grateful "Thank-You" to Adam, I departed, relishing the time I had spent with this religious scholar.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
  
Postscript:  My notes from my visit are lengthy, but as I began to write, I realized how much I didn't know and understand that Adam had shared with me.  Therefore, my story is limited to what I was sure were correct facts and not just nonsense that might alter history.