A DISCOURSE DELIVERED IN ST. JAMES' CHURCH, IN NEW-LONDON, ON TUESDAY THE 23D OF DECEMBER,1794; BEFORE AN ASSEMBLY OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS, CONVENED FOR THE PURPOSE OF INSTALLING A LODGE IN THAT CITY. BY...BISHOP OF CONNECTICUT AND RHODE-ISLAND.
New London: Printed by Brother Samuel Green, 1795. 23, [1 blank] pp. Stitched and removed. Else Very Good
Seabury was the first bishop of the Episcopal Church in America. He sided with the British during the Revolution and, for a time, was imprisoned in New Haven. After the War he "had little sympathy for the prevailing liberalizing ideas of his American brethren" [DAB].
Secret Societies such as Freemasonry aroused much suspicion and dislike in increasingly democratic America, because their secret oaths suggested a loyalty and an exclusivity that superseded love of country. But Seabury asserts that Freemasons exemplify the pre-eminent Christian doctrine of "brotherly love;" and that their "object is the peace, order, and welfare of the human race; and whose aim is the establishment and cultivation of unity, brotherly love, and benevolence." Opposing the Masons are "the evil propensities of wicked men."
Evans 29481. Johnson 1299. ESTC W38032. Item #23980
Price: $350.00