The Scripture-Doctrine of Sin and Grace Considered, in Twenty-Five Plain and Practical Discourses of the Epistle to the Romans: In Which the Sinner's Natural State, as Under the Law; The Believer's Deliverance by Jesus Christ; The Christian's Daily Exercises and Conflicts with Indwelling Sing; The Successful and Happy Issue of the Spiritual Warfare; and the Several Genuine Evidences of a Gracious Heart, Deducible from the Subject, are Distinctly Opened and Applied, for Christian Instruction, Edification and Consolation. Adapted to the Use of the Family and Closet. To Which are Annexed, Notes Critical and Explanatory. By John Stafford. London: Printed by J. Johnson: and Sold by J. Buckland, et al., MDCCLXXII (1772).
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FIRST EDITION of the principal published work of the Independent divine John Stafford (1728–1800), minister of the New Broad Street chapel, London, for over forty years. A rigid Calvinist trained under Philip Doddridge and John Conder, Stafford here expounds Romans 7 in twenty-five sermons, addressing the believer’s struggles with sin, the deliverance wrought by Christ, and the evidences of a renewed heart. Intended for both family and private devotion, the volume includes critical and explanatory notes.
Well received in its day, Stafford’s work was praised by John Ryland in Christianæ Militiæ Viaticum and by Edward Williams in The Christian Preacher, though later dismissed by Bickersteth as overly “experimental.” A second edition appeared in 1773. Stafford’s long London ministry, his controversies, and his reputation as a zealous preacher place this book within the vigorous tradition of 18th-century English Nonconformist divinity.
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Provenance:
Ink ownership inscription dated 1772 of Joseph Annoyd (?).
Ink inscription reading "Mrs Williams - June 2nd 1832. From her affectionately attached child - Fanny Williams."
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Size: 140 x 218 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[(2), t.p., 6pp., 555pp., 1pp., (2)]
Full brown calf with a tooled label in a compartment to the spine between raised bands lined with gilt. Binding lightly rubbed and scuffed. Lacking headcap and tailcap. Tooled label partially cracked and slightly peeling with very minor loss. Both boards attached with both joints and front hinge cracked, and wear to the rear hinge, thus fragile. Shelf and edge wear. Board corners turned-in. Page edges dulled with top edge darkened as often. Slight shelf lean but stands upright. No attacked bookplates. Ink inscriptions to front pastedown and ffep. Wax attached to both pastedowns. Text block fairly clean with light toning, occasional foxing, some pencil marginalia, and minor dampstaining to a small number of leaves. Endpapers toned as commensurate with the full leather binding.
[OCLC 1232086426].
