THE GREAT DANGER AND UNCERTAINTY OF A DEATH-BED REPENTANCE, AS IT WAS DELIVER'D IN A FUNERAL SERMON PREACH'D LATELY IN THE PARISH-CHURCH OF CHISWICK, IN MIDDLESEX. PUBLISHED CHIEFLY FOR THE SAKE OF THE ORDINARY SORT OF INHABITANTS OF THAT PARISH
London, England: Printed for W. Crooke at the Green Dragon without Temple-Bar, 1693. First Edition. Pamphlet. Removed from a book of pamphlets, leather remnants on spine. Neatly trimmed edges. Quarto, 8" x 6 1/8." pp. [8], 24. First leaf bears half title on recto and imprimatur on verso. Circular mark 1/4" and small stain on half title, text unaffected. Small stain 1/4" on rear leaf, text unaffected. Top corner lightly thumbed. Thick black border on title page. Pages lightly tanned and clean throughout. WorldCat lists only 4 copies in N. America. (ESTC R24951). Near Fine. Item #81262
Reverend James Ellesby (b. 1644) preaches in typical evangelical fashion, exhorting his congregation to be in a continuous state of repentance, not just on their deathbed. Ellesby warns that their souls are vulnerable to the clutches of Hell should they not heed his advice: "Remember your immortal Souls are in danger every hour, every Moment that you live in any known wilful Sin, and refuse to repent of it: Life is short, frail, and uncertain" (14). The devout must be spiritually prepared for death to strike at any moment. From this pamphlet, one gains a sense of the precariousness of life in the seventeenth-century and the entwinned concepts of faith, death, and illness. -------
Rev. Ellesby also wrote "A Caution Against Ill Company, Or, A Discourse Shewing the Danger of Conversing Familiarly With Bad Men" and "The Sick Christian's Companion"
Price: $150.00