THE DOCTRINE OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST. A DISCOURSE, DELIVERED AT WELLFLEET. ON CAPE-COD, 13TH OF APRIL, 1785. AT THE ORDINATION OF MR. LEVI WHITMAN, COLLEAGUE PASTOR WITH THE REVEREND ISAIAH LEWIS, OVER THE CHURCH AND FLOCK OF CHRIST IN THAT TOWN. BY JOHN MELLEN, A. M. PASTOR OF THE CHURCH IN HANOVER. PUBLISHED AT THE GENERAL DESIRE OF THE AUDIENCE.
Plymouth: Massachusetts: Printed by Nathaniel Coverly, 1785. 45, [3 blanks] pp, but lacking the half title. Page 42 mispaginated '39' as issued. Disbound with minor spotting, except for a significant blotch at page 43 affecting several words. The blotch is less significant on the two adjacent pages. Otherwise, Good plus.
"In a 1785 sermon on The Doctrine of the Cross of Christ, John Mellen explained to the
people of Wellfleet the importance of Christ's example of military-like discipline: 'If ever this World afforded an instance of real heroism and genuine greatness of soul, it is this of our Lord Jesus Christ, freely and nobly facing Death, from no motive of fame and glory, but in obedience to his Father's Will.' Mellen went on to associate the sacrifice of Christ with
those of American soldiers who had recently displayed similar heroism: 'And such christian Heroes in great multitude there have been, who being supported by their Lord and Captain, and animated by the same spirit, have braved all dangers, and encounter'd death in all its most shocking and dreadful forms, as their Lord had done before them.'
"Once he established the glory of these former soldiers in war, Mellen needed only to transfer that former situation to peacetime and substitute a new set of clerical leaders for the former military ones. He said that those who are God's envoys on earth hold a 'Commission' from the Almighty and should receive proper respect and obedience: 'The ministers of Christ, who hold office under so intrepid a leader [should] be brave and valiant like their great Lord and Master enduring hardness like good soldiers'." [Elliot, The Dove and Serpent: The Clergy in the American Revolution, 31 American Quarterly 187-203. 1979.]
This is one of the earliest Plymouth imprints. Printing began in Plymouth in 1785, the year of this publication. Nathaniel Coverly was the only printer in town. Its first newspaper, The Plymouth Journal and the Massachusetts Advertiser, issued in March 1785. Bickerstaff's Plymouth Almanack for 1786 issued some time in late 1785. Our Mellen Discourse may be the first Plymouth Pamphlet: The other candidate is Cushman's 'The sin and danger of self-love described, in a sermon preached at Plymouth, in New-England, 1621. By Robert Cushman. [Plymouth, Mass.] : London: printed, Plymouth, re-printed by Nathaniel Coverly, [1785].
Evans 19096. ESTC W20247. Item #42028
Price: $750.00