Thomas R. McIntosh, a teacher and bibliophile from Harrisburg, has called my attention to an interesting book by John Owen, D.D., which he had recently. It was printed in Carlisle, by George Kline in 1792 under the title, "The Death of Death in the Death of Christ." Actually it is a reprint of Owen's work originally published in England in 1647. Owen (1616-1683), an Oxford professor and a strick Calvinist theologically, wrote "The Death of Death..." in order to counteract a growing interest in the theology of Jacobus Arminus (1560-1609), who challenged Calvinistic dogmatics with respect to predestination and grace. The Arminian view gave rise to what became known as Universalism, namely, that Christ died for all, therefore eventually all will be saved. Calvin, on the other hand, held that Christ died for the elect and only the elect will be saved.
On April 6, 1784, in the county courthouse in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the Board of Trustees of the fledgling Dickinson College met and asked two of its members, John Dickinson and Benjamin Rush, to devise a seal for the college.
A landmark in Carlisle, the “Mansion House Hotel” operated on the south west corner of West High and Pitt streets from the late 1830s until the 1920s. Inns on that site had housed travelers since the days of the Revolutionary War. The first tavern on the site was kept by James Pollock in the eighteenth century.