FIRST EDITION 4to. [xii], 33, [1]: A-E\u2074, F\u2074(-F4). Without initial blank. Roman letter, some Italic. Title and text within box rule, floriated woodcut initials, typographical headpieces. Light age yellowing, small tear with early restoration to upper outer corner of first four leaves just touching outer rules, light waterstain to lower outer corners. A good clean copy in modern three quarter calf over marbled boards.<\/p>\n
Rare first edition of this sermon preached before the Artillery Company by the puritan preacher Thomas Adams; of great interest in the of a link between puritan theology and the eventual formation of a puritan army under Cromwell. \u201cThomas Adams was a powerful preacher, much-quoted writer, and influential divine. Prominent leaders in church and state, such as John Donne and the earl of Pembroke, were among his friends\u2026 Nonetheless, Adams embraced Puritan theology, polemics, and lifestyle\u201d Joel R. Beeke. \u201cLike Puritans he craved careful observation of the Sabbath and was deeply hostile to Rome, the Jesuits, and the papacy, as well as to idleness, over-indulgence in worldly pleasures, and conspicuous consumption in all its forms\u201d DNB.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us take as a representative early specimen a sermon by Thomas Adams entitled \u201cThe Soldier\u2019s Honour\u201d, preached before the Artillery Company and published (\u201con their second request,\u201d according to Adams) in 1617. The sermon is dedicated to \u201cthe captains and truly generous gentleman, citizens of London, of the society of arms, practising in the Artillery Garden.\u201d Notice here the unembarrassed apposition of the terms \u201cgentlemen\u201d and \u201ccitizens\u201d. Adams, like other \u201cartillery preachers\u201d, is it pains to assert the legitimacy of just warfare, and thereby the honourability of a military calling. This encomium of righteous warfare then serves to justify the rhetorical \u201cennobling\u201d of the preacher\u2019s audience, allowing him to address men who were for the most part mere citizens as \u201ctruly generous gentlemen\u201d. The laus belli of these artillery preachers stressed the essentially conflictual nature of reality. The universe itself was the theatre of a cosmic battle between the divine and the demonic, between the legions of Christ and Antichrist, a battle that would end with Time itself. \u201cWe are all soldiers,\u201d Thomas Adams told the London company in 1617, \u201cas we are Christians: some more specially as they are men.\u201d In the rhetoric of godly warfare, the metaphorical belligerency of all Christians served to validate the literal calling of the terrestrial warrior, assuming, of course, that his cause was just and his character upright. .. Thus the Artillery Company and its fellows came to embody an ideology, elaborated by these puritan preachers, of \u201cgodly gentility\u201d achieved through military service in defence of the true faith, and of the nation conceived as the privileged bastion of the gospel. .. Adams rejects the connection of honor with mere wealth, even landed wealth. \u201cHonor should go by the banner, and not by the barn\u201d .. reputation should be valued by valor, not by the acre.\u201d He rails against the effete \u201ccarpet knights,\u201d who spend their time \u201cdancing levoltos to the lute in a lady\u2019s chamber\u201d instead of \u201cmarching to the sound of a drum.\u201d As a remedy he suggests that ladies, reversing the strategy of Lysistrata, should \u201cforebear their wonted favours\u201d from these \u201cfantastical amorists,\u201d until they rediscover \u201csome difference between effeminateness and nobleness,\u201d and return to the manly business of killing.\u201d Anthony Grafton. \u2018The Transmission of Culture in Early Modern Europe.\u2019<\/p>\n
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FIRST EDITION 4to. [xii], 33, [1]: A-E\u2074, F\u2074(-F4). Without initial blank. Roman letter, some Italic. Title and text within box rule, floriated woodcut initials, typographical headpieces. Light age yellowing, small tear with early restoration to upper outer corner of first four leaves just touching outer rules, light waterstain to lower outer corners. A good clean […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9906441,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[697,260],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9902097","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-philosophy-theology","7":"product_cat-religion","8":"pa_lang-english","10":"first","11":"instock","12":"sold-individually","13":"shipping-taxable","14":"purchasable","15":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"\n