• Marriott Library
  • About
  • Links We Like

OPEN BOOK

~ News from the Rare Books Department of Special Collections at the J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah

OPEN BOOK

Tag Archives: Salem

Book of the Week — The Peril of the Times Displayed, or, The Danger of Mens taking up with a Form of Godliness…

17 Monday Sep 2018

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

≈ Comments Off on Book of the Week — The Peril of the Times Displayed, or, The Danger of Mens taking up with a Form of Godliness…

Tags

1700, Benjamin Eliot, Boston, Concord, demonic possession, Elizabeth Knapp, English, Great Migration, Groton, Harvard College, Increase Mather, Judge Samuel Sewell, King Philip's War, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Bay Colony, New England, Newtowne, Old South Church, piety, Puritans, Salem, Samuel Willard, scabboard, seizures, Simon Willard, Third Church, witch, witchcraft

The Peril of the Times Displayed, or, The Danger of Mens taking up with a Form of Godliness, But Denying the Power of it…
Samuel Willard (1640-1707) and Increase Mather (1639-1723)
Boston: Printed by B. Green & J. Allen. Sold by Benjamin Eliot, 1700
First and sole edition

Born in Concord, Massachusetts, Samuel Willard was the sixth child of the town’s founder, Simon Willard, and his wife, Mary. The Willards were part of what is called the “Great Migration” of English Puritans to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. After first residing in Newtowne, (later Cambridge), the family moved in 1635 to the frontier to settle Concord with the Reverend Peter Bulkeley (1583-1659). Simon Willard died in 1676, serving as a major in King Phillip’s War. As a young minister in the New England backwoods Samuel Willard contended with a notorious case of demonic possession and the destruction of the town of Groton, Massachusetts during King Philip’s War. In 1671, sixteen year-old Elizabeth Knapp, who had been bound out as a servant in Willard’s household, began having seizures. Willard described her fits: “she was scarce to be held in bounds by three or four” and “sudden shriekings…roarings and screamings.”

In 1676 Groton was attacked by 400 natives who burned the town to the ground. Willard moved to Boston. During the next three decades, as pastor of Boston’s wealthy Third (Old South) Church, Willard confronted such threats to the Puritan social and spiritual order as declining church membership, the revocation of New England’s original charter, and the Salem witchcraft trials. Willard argued, regarding the infamous 1662 episode in Salem, that the court’s reliance on spectral evidence, the testimony of accusers who claimed to see the spirits of their attackers, contradicted scripture. Willard was, himself, accused of being a witch, although that charge was never taken seriously. When Judge Samuel Sewell later recanted his part in the execution of the condemned witches, he made his confession to Willard.

Willard published hundreds of sermons and other writings, responding to social, political, and doctrinal controversies by aligning theological rigor with social moderation, attempting to forge strategies by which orthodox Puritanism could accommodate the realities of a changing world. In this sermon, Samuel Willard addresses the decline in religious observance and piety in Puritan New England. This work was printed the same year that Willard was appointed vice-president of Harvard College. A letter by Increase Mather is included in the printing of this work, ironical, perhaps, since following the controversial dismissal of him as president of Harvard a year later, Willard assumed Mather’s duties, although not his official position.

Rare Books copy bound in contemporary American speckled sheep, ruled in blind, over thin wooden boards, called “scabbard.”

Share this:

  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X

Like this:

Like Loading...

Book of the Week/ Donation – Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser

16 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week, Donations

≈ Comments Off on Book of the Week/ Donation – Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser

Tags

"Light-Horse Harry" Lee, A. C. Hanson, Baltimore Federal Republican, Boston, Cambridge, Confederate, Congress, Continental Army, Dr. Ronald Rubin, Ebenezer Rhoades, George Washington, Henry Lee, Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser, John Adams, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Robert E. Lee, Salem, The Essex Gazette, The New-England Chronicle, Uniform Monday Holiday Act, United States, University of Utah, War of 1812, Whiskey Rebellion

Independent Chronicle, 1800Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser
Boston: Ebenezer Rhoades, 1800

“First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life: pious, just, humane, temperate and sincere; uniform, dignified and commanding, his example was as edifying to all around him, as were the effects of that example lasting.”

George Washington’s death, late in 1799, evoked hundreds of funeral orations from all over the United States. Of these, that of Henry Lee, delivered before Congress on December 26, 1799 in Philadelphia, is the most memorable. His eulogy was re-printed in newspapers throughout the nation, and in pamphlets printed on the continent and overseas. The eulogy covered nearly the entire front page of newspapers.

As in many newspapers, this issue included “A Proclamation” signed by then-President John Adams setting aside February 22, Washington’s birthday, for the public to “testify their grief for the death of General George Washington.” In 1885, February 22 was declared a federal holiday. The date was changed to the third Monday of February in 1971 following Uniform Monday Holiday Act.

“Light-Horse Harry” Lee had been summoned by Washington in 1776 to join the Continental Army. In 1778, Washington promoted Lee to the rank of major and gave him command of a small corps of irregulars. Lee’s leadership of these troops earned him his nickname. In 1794 Washington sent him to command the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania. From 1799 to 1801 he served in Congress.

Lee helped his friend A.C. Hanson, editor of the Baltimore Federal Republican which opposed the War of 1812, resist a mob attack. In the melee he received injuries from which he never recovered. Lee served a year in debtor’s prison. He was the father of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

The Independent Chronicle (1776-1840) originated in 1768 as The Essex Gazette in Salem and The New-England Chronicle in Cambridge which joined forces in Boston. In 1820 it had the distinction of being Boston’s oldest running newspaper.

University of Utah copy gift of Dr. Ronald Rubin.

alluNeedSingleLine

Share this:

  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X

Like this:

Like Loading...

Follow Open Book via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 175 other subscribers

Archives

  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • September 2011
  • April 2011

Categories

  • Alice
  • Awards
  • Book of the Week
  • Chronicle
  • Courses
  • Donations
  • Events
  • Journal Articles
  • Newspaper Articles
  • On Jon's Desk
  • Online Exhibitions
  • Physical Exhibitions
  • Publication
  • Radio
  • Rare Books Loans
  • Recommended Exhibition
  • Recommended Lecture
  • Recommended Reading
  • Recommended Workshop
  • TV News
  • Uncategorized
  • Vesalius
  • Video

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
  • RSS - Posts

Recent Posts

  • Book of the Week — Home Thoughts from Abroad
  • Donation adds to Latin hymn fragments: “He himself shall come and shall make us saved.”
  • Medieval Latin Hymn Fragment: “And whatever with bonds you shall have bound upon earth will be bound strongly in heaven.”
  • Books of the week — Off with her head!
  • Medieval Latin Hymn Fragment, Part D: “…of the holy found rest through him.”

Recent Comments

  • rarebooks on Medieval Latin Hymn Fragment: “Her mother ordered the dancing girl…”
  • Jonathan Bingham on On Jon’s Desk: Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, A Celebration of Heritage on Pioneer Day
  • Robin Booth on On Jon’s Desk: Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, A Celebration of Heritage on Pioneer Day
  • Mary Johnson on Memorial Day 2017
  • Collett on Book of the Week — Dictionnaire des Proverbes Francais

Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: Chateau by Ignacio Ricci.

 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.

    %d