first edition
1744 · Boston
by MAYHEW, Experience
Boston: B. Green and Company, 1744. Full Description:
MAYHEW, Experience. Grace Defended, in a Modest Plea for an Important Truth; Namely, that the offer of salvation made to sinners in the Gospel, comprises in it an offer of the grace given in regeneration. And shewing the consistency of this truth with the free and sovereign grace of God, in the whole work of man's salvation. In which the doctrine of original sin and humane impotence, the object and extent of redemption, the nature of regeneration, the difference between common and special grace, the nature of justifying faith, and other important points, are considered and cleared. Boston: B. Green and Company, 1744.
First edition. Small quarto (7 5/8 x 5 1/4 inches; 193 x 132 mm). [2], vi, 7, [1, publisher's ad], 208 pp. With woodcut initial, head- and- tail pieces and ornaments. Without the errata slip that is only found in some copies.
Full contemporary speckled, paneled calf. Rebacked with most of original spine laid down. Edges speckled red. Board edges a bit chipped. Some cracking repaired to front and back board. Some very pale dampstaining, mostly to margins. Previous two owner's old ink signatures on front endpapers, dated 1844 and 1744. Still, a very good copy.
Experience Mayhew was one of the earliest missionaries among the Native Americans of Martha's Vineyard.
Congregational missionary, Experience Mayhew "was the great-grandson of Thomas Mayhew (1593–1682), the original patentee of Martha’s Vineyard and the pioneer of the island’s mission to the Indians of the local Pawkunnawkutt federation, an Algonquin-speaking branch of the Wamponoags... Mayhew took up mission work among the Indians on the island in March 1694, soon after his father’s death. Mayhew’s mission was supported by funds from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England (also known as the New England Company), and he labored as a lay missionary rather than as an ordained pastor... Mayhew’s leadership of the Indian congregations on the island was the golden age of the Vineyard mission... In addition to his preaching and pastoral work, Mayhew was also one of three New Englanders (along with Grindal Rowson and Samuel Danforth) employed to translate English-language theological works into Indian dialects. Mayhew translated numerous sermons, tracts, and catechisms and published a large-scale translation of the Psalms, The Massachuset Psalter (1710), for the use of Indian congregations.... [In 1744 he wrote] Grace Defended in a Modest Plea for an Important Truth, a detailed response to Jonathan Dickinson’s A Display of God’s Special Grace (1742). Replying to Dickinson, a New Jersey Presbyterian, Mayhew admitted that he differed 'from most that are in the Calvinian scheme' and questioned Calvinist teaching on original sin, limited atonement, and predestination. His aim, however, was not so much the obliteration of Calvinism as the moderation of its most objectionable features, so that 'such as are disposed to Arminianism among us, would be more inclined to receive our doctrine.'" (American National Biography).
ESTC W12480. Evans 5439. Sabin 47125 (mentioned in).
HBS 69279.
$2,500. (Inventory #: 69279)
MAYHEW, Experience. Grace Defended, in a Modest Plea for an Important Truth; Namely, that the offer of salvation made to sinners in the Gospel, comprises in it an offer of the grace given in regeneration. And shewing the consistency of this truth with the free and sovereign grace of God, in the whole work of man's salvation. In which the doctrine of original sin and humane impotence, the object and extent of redemption, the nature of regeneration, the difference between common and special grace, the nature of justifying faith, and other important points, are considered and cleared. Boston: B. Green and Company, 1744.
First edition. Small quarto (7 5/8 x 5 1/4 inches; 193 x 132 mm). [2], vi, 7, [1, publisher's ad], 208 pp. With woodcut initial, head- and- tail pieces and ornaments. Without the errata slip that is only found in some copies.
Full contemporary speckled, paneled calf. Rebacked with most of original spine laid down. Edges speckled red. Board edges a bit chipped. Some cracking repaired to front and back board. Some very pale dampstaining, mostly to margins. Previous two owner's old ink signatures on front endpapers, dated 1844 and 1744. Still, a very good copy.
Experience Mayhew was one of the earliest missionaries among the Native Americans of Martha's Vineyard.
Congregational missionary, Experience Mayhew "was the great-grandson of Thomas Mayhew (1593–1682), the original patentee of Martha’s Vineyard and the pioneer of the island’s mission to the Indians of the local Pawkunnawkutt federation, an Algonquin-speaking branch of the Wamponoags... Mayhew took up mission work among the Indians on the island in March 1694, soon after his father’s death. Mayhew’s mission was supported by funds from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England (also known as the New England Company), and he labored as a lay missionary rather than as an ordained pastor... Mayhew’s leadership of the Indian congregations on the island was the golden age of the Vineyard mission... In addition to his preaching and pastoral work, Mayhew was also one of three New Englanders (along with Grindal Rowson and Samuel Danforth) employed to translate English-language theological works into Indian dialects. Mayhew translated numerous sermons, tracts, and catechisms and published a large-scale translation of the Psalms, The Massachuset Psalter (1710), for the use of Indian congregations.... [In 1744 he wrote] Grace Defended in a Modest Plea for an Important Truth, a detailed response to Jonathan Dickinson’s A Display of God’s Special Grace (1742). Replying to Dickinson, a New Jersey Presbyterian, Mayhew admitted that he differed 'from most that are in the Calvinian scheme' and questioned Calvinist teaching on original sin, limited atonement, and predestination. His aim, however, was not so much the obliteration of Calvinism as the moderation of its most objectionable features, so that 'such as are disposed to Arminianism among us, would be more inclined to receive our doctrine.'" (American National Biography).
ESTC W12480. Evans 5439. Sabin 47125 (mentioned in).
HBS 69279.
$2,500. (Inventory #: 69279)
(310) 659-3674
