The Voice of One Crying in a Wilderness. Or, the business of a Christian, both antecedaneous to, concomitant of, and consequent upon, a fore and heavy visitation; represented in several sermons. First preach'd to his own family, lying under such visitation: and now made public as a thank-offering to the Lord his healer
Boston: Rogers and Fowle, for J. Edwards, 1746. Very Good-. Item #25764
Boston: Re printed by Rogers and Fowle, for J. Edwards in Cornhill, 1746. First American Edition. Small octavo (14.5cm.); removed, remnants of old sheep to spine; xviii,[19]-176pp. (A-L8); decorative head- and tail-pieces. Extremities rather toned, front free endpaper present but rather chipped and brittle, occasional soiling throughout textblock, else a Good to Very Good example.
First appearance in the Americas of the English nonconformist minister's 1666 cris de coeur, a series of sermons composed and delivered to his family after the death of two of his children, as well as a sister, from the plague. The opening address "to the Reader" begins, "It is now more than seven months, since it pleased the holy and wise God, (together with some dear and Christian friends from London) to visit my house with the Plague; whereby he gently toucht and gave warning to my self and whole Family, consisting then of eight souls) but called away hence only three members of it, viz. two tender babes, and one servant" (p. [iii]).
The opening sermon is thus titled "A Welcome to the Plague," perhaps published in this edition in the wake of a series of deaths in Massachusetts from dysentery coinciding with an early crest in the Great Awakening.
Provenance: Signed on title page along with ownership inscription dated 1784 to front free endpaper of David Gelston (1744-1828), speaker of the New York State Assembly later appointed by Thomas Jefferson as Collector of the Port of New York, a position he held from 1801 to 1820.
ESTC W14454; SABIN 79958.
Price: $450.00