THE VALIDITY OF PRESBYTERIAN ORDINATION ASSERTED AND MAINTAINED. A DISCOURSE DELIVERED AT THE ANNIVERSARY DUDLEIAN-LECTURE, AT HARVARD- COLLEGE IN CAMBRIDGE NEW-ENGLAND, MAY 12. 1762. WITH AN APPENDIX, GIVING A BRIEF HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE EPISTLES ASCRIBED TO IGNATIUS; AND EXHIBITING SOME OF THE MANY REASONS, WHY THEY OUGHT NOT TO BE DEPENDED ON AS HIS UNCORRUPTED WORKS.
Boston: 1762. 118pp, but lacking the half title. Disbound. Clean text. Good plus.
This is a seminal work, not only in Chauncy's long repertoire of publications, but also in Colonial Americans' struggle to prevent domination by the Episcopal Church and to nurture their own democratic religious institutions.
As DAB notes, "Chauncy devoted nine years to contending against Episcopal claims, beginning with his Dudleian Lecture of 1762 [this piece]..." Here he tells his audience, "You are, by this time, at no loss to know the design of the present discourse; that it is to vindicate the New-England churches in their method of ordination..."
Unlike the Church of England, where people "scarce know what it is to have pastors of their own chusing...the New-England churches, blessed be God, possess and exercise the right of electing their pastors in the most ample manner of any in the whole christian world. May they ever 'stand fast in this liberty'...!"
Evans 9089. Sabin 12331. ESTC W29647. Item #42127
Price: $500.00