Signed Jonathan Edwards Sale at Dust & Ashes Publications

I just received the following email from Dust & Ashes Publications and want to help spread the news.

AN EXTRA SPECIAL OFFERING!

Jonathan Edwards autographs are exceptionally rare on the market. Without being melodramatic, this really is an exceptional opportunity for a quality personal collector or institutional collection to pick up one of the most desirable Christian collectibles extant.

Sold individually, we are offering two volumes from Humphrey Prideaux's Old and New Testament History.

Volume 1 is signed by Jonathan Edwards over the frontis, additionally by Samuel Hopkins on the ffep. Very finely bound in sympathetic new best calf.

Volume 2 is signed by Jonathan Edwards and Samuel Hopkins both over the frontis. Again, very finely bound in sympathetic new best calf.

Provenance: Jonathan Edwards, to Samuel Hopkins, to Rev. Otis Thompson (follower of Hopkins and editor of an important Hopkinsian periodical), to Fred Richardson, to Rev. E. C. Bolles, minister and abolitionist in Salem, Mass, to Forbes Library with a late 19th century note of provenance. Deaccessioned from the same.

Detailed images and price available upon request. Priced well-below the going rate for Edwards autograph material on consignment from one of our private collectors.

Contact Dust & Ashes Publications.

While you're looking into this, you will also want to take a look at these:

Featured Publications From Our Store

Muller, George. A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings...

Caryl, Joseph. Practical Observations Upon the Book of Job

Bonar, Horatius. Light & Truth. Bible Thoughts & Themes

Finally, I still have two very old sets of Timothy Dwight's (Jonathan Edward's grandson) four-volume Theology: Explained and Defended in a Series of Sermons. I would be willing to part with one set for a fair offer. let me know if you are inerested. I can provide more photos, if necessary.

See more on these volumes here.

Signed Jonathan Edwards Sale at Dust & Ashes Publications

Timothy Dwight, Late President of Yale

Timothy Dwight
(May 14, 1752-January 11, 1817)
TIMOTHY DWIGHT, American Congregationalist preacher and Christian educator, was born in Northampton, Mass., on May 14, 1752. Dwight was a grandson of Jonathan Edwards, but is known widely for his own service. From his youth he was a quick learner and voracious reader. His mother "began to instruct him almost as soon as he was able to speak; and such was his eagerness as well as his capacity for improvement, that he learned the alphabet at a single lesson; and, before he was four years old, was able to read the Bible with ease and correctness" ("Memoir of the Life of President Dwight" in Theology: Explained and Defended in a Series of Sermons by Timothy Dwight. Twelfth edition. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1867, p. 4).

At the age of thirteen he began his studies at Yale College, and at the age of seventeen, although having been hindered by various illnesses, he graduated at the head of his class. After graduation he served as the Headmaster at Hopkins Grammar School and as a tutor at Yale. Having been licensed to preach, he served for more than a year as a chaplain in the Continental Army.

He shepherded the Congregational Church at Greenfield from 1783 to 1795, when he was appointed as President of Yale College. His biographer recounts that "The people of his parish...heard of his appointment with extreme regret. They loved their pastor, and they were proud of him, and they could not consent to give him up. Never have we known a parish part with their minister with more reluctance" (p. 20). He labored with great success as the President of Yale until his death in 1817.

Other than the hymns he left the church (the most well-known being I Love Thy Kingdom Lord) his chapel sermons were posthumously printed in five (now four) volumes under the title, Theology: Explained and Defended in a Series of Sermons. The sermons contained in these volumes, being a system of theology, were meant to be preached and made effective in convincing men and converting them to the service of God. The design was to preach each of these sermons within the four years of the college curriculum, so that every graduate should have heard the whole of it.

For comments on these sermons see my previous post here.

Timothy Dwight, Late President of Yale

Timothy Dwight's Theology

Timothy Dwight's Theology: Explained & Defended, 4 volumes.
(May 14, 1752-January 11, 1817)

I'm researching the printing history, etc. of a couple sets of Dwight's Theology that I have to sell. One set is an 1836 printing (9th edition). While searching, this evening, I came across Solid Ground Christian Books' recent reprinting of this set. What a treasure this will be for pastors and students of theology.

This set contains chapel sermons by the late president of Yale College and grandson of Jonathan Edwards.

Lyman Beecher, a sophomore at Yale College, left us a stimulating account of the condition of the students, in 1975, when Dr. Timothy Dwight ascended to the presidency. He noted:

“Before he [Timothy Dwight] came, college was in a most ungodly state. The college church was almost extinct. Most of the students were skeptical, and rowdies were plenty. ...[M]ost of the class before me were infidels, and called each other Voltaire, Rousseau, D’Alembert, etc.” (Lyman Beecher, Autobiography, as quoted by Leonard Woolsey Bacon in A History of American Christianity.)

Here is how Dr. Dwight dealt with these hardened students:

“They thought the faculty were afraid of free discussion. But when they handed Dr. Dwight a list of subjects for class disputation, to their surprise, he selected this: ‘Is the Bible the word of God?’ and told them to do their best. He heard all they had to say, answered them, and there was an end. He preached incessantly for six months on the subject, and all infidelity skulked and hid its head. He elaborated his theological system in a series of forenoon sermons in the chapel; the afternoon discourses were practical. The original design of Yale College was to found a divinity school. To a mind appreciative, like mine, his preaching was a continual course of education and a continual feast. He was copious and polished in style, though disciplined and logical. There was a pith and power of doctrine there that has not been since surpassed, if equaled.” (Lyman Beecher, Autobiography, as quoted by Leonard Woolsey Bacon in A History of American Christianity.)

Dwight's Theology: Explained and Defended in a Series of Sermons was meant to be preached and made effective in convincing men and converting them to the service of God. These sermons were designed to be completed within the four years of the college curriculum, so that every graduate should have heard the whole of it.

Considering the cost of an antiquarian set, Solid Ground's price is outstanding!

Purchase at: CBD | RHP | Amazon | Logos

Dr. Joel R. Beeke, President of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, has also added his recommendation for this set:

"Dwight's theological sermons are worthy of careful study. Their clear, scriptural guidelines and experiential warmth promote practical Christianity. Read with discernment, they will still feed the soul today and challenge us to godly living in Christ Jesus."

Timothy Dwight's Theology