first edition
1745 · Boston
by Dickinson, Jonathan, 1688-1747
Boston: Rogers and Fowle in Queen-street, Next to the Prison, and By J. Blanchard at the Bible and Crown in Dock-square, 1745. First Edition. Octavo. v [1], 424 pages. One of the leading Presbyterians in the first half of the 18th century who upheld an English Puritan ideal of informal evangelical communion against the Scottish ideal of strict ecclesiastical order. As revivals broke out in the late 1730s, he welcomed George Whitefield and the fervency of preaching but he feared the tendency where emotion might be declared superior to the requirements of God's law. In this his last work, he appeals for an evangelical piety that may function with the great insights of the enlightenment. He distinguishes between the faith imputed and that oral declaration of faith especially in the closing chapters. Errors in numbering pages 239-240 which are repeated though the text is sequential. Bound in full sheep, lacks front free endpaper, hinges are cracked but hold quite well, small open tear to p. v affecting only ½ of first sentence but still readable, some toning. A very good copy.
(Inventory #: 025979)