Click the images below for bigger versions:
An Impartial Account of a Late Debate at Lyme in the Colony of Connecticut, (on the three following heads, viz. I. The Subjects of Baptism. II. The Mode of Baptizing. And III. The Maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel) giving a Summary of What was There Delivered, on both sides. Publish'd at the Desire of Some then Present. Together, with a disswasive not to Depart from the Wholesome Truths, which People have Been Instructed in. Also giving some Account of the rise of the Antipedo-Baptist perswasion.
N. London [i.e., New London, Conn.]: Pr. and Sold by T. Green, 1729, first edition, sm. octavo, [1] f., 199, [1] pp. (lacks half-title). A small piece on the margin of pages 3-4 is restored. A printed slip inserted, as an erratum, between pages 16 and 17, supplies an omission in the text. Bound in full 19th century brown morocco, gilt, spine extra, gilt double-fillet border on covers; gilt rule on board edges; gilt inner dentelles; marbled endpapers, a.e.g., front cover expertly re-attached, ex-library with pressure stamp on title-page, bookplate on front pastedown, and rubber stamp on lower edge of closed book. Five digit number in ink on lower blank margin of p. 1. Small book label of George Brinley on front pastedown as well (number 6207).
$ 2750.00 | Contact Us >
John Bulkley (1679-1731) minister and scholar of the Harvard class of 1699, in December 1703 he was ordained as the first minister of the new frontier town of Colchester, Connecticut. He was the son of the Rev. Gershom Bulkley, who was the first minister of Concord, Massachusetts.
Bulkley was in the Calvinist forefront opposing "the new sects"; it was in that role that he defended the Calvinist cause in a debate that occurred at Lyme on June 7, 1727. The Baptists in the vicinity of New London and Lyme had increased to an extent alarming to the Calvinist ministers. Learning that a Mr. Wightman of Groton, Mr. Moses of Providence, Mr. Gorton of New London and a Mr. Hitchcock were about to meet at Lyme for the propagation of their opinions, the Rev. Messrs. Adams of New London, Bulkley of Colchester, Griswold, Noyes and Mather met with them, by agreement, and they had a public "disputation." The present work is Bulkley's firsthand report of the debate. Bulkley has no respect for "Seventh Day, First Day and No Day Baptists, Quakers, Seekers, &c." and their beliefs, especially as regards baptism of adults and children. Bulkley, on the other hand, favors compulsory taxation in support of Congregational clergy, something opposed by those he describes as "certain Persons among us of a various and uncertain Principle & Denomination, and who, perhaps, agree not among themselves in many things besides an Opposing of the Truth and them that stand for it."
The main body of the publication ends with a sort of appendix, entitled: "A narrative of one lately converted from dreadful errors." The book contains some remarks (on p. 174 et seq.) on the theological tenets of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, Samuel Gorton, Roger Williams, etc. The last page contains an errata statement and bookseller's advertisement.
Brinley 2044 and 6207, this copy, who describes the book as "Very Rare," (this copy brought $ 13.00 in 1886). Evans 3142; Trumbull, 419; Johnson, New London, 255; Sabin 9105. See also Sibley IV, pp. 450-53.
