The great sin and danger of oppression: Two Sermons, Preached During the late high Prices of Corn, to a Society of Protestant Dissenters, at Dob-Lane End, near Manchester.

£950 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

Rare. ESTC records BL , Congregational Library , Chetham’s Library and John Rylands only - no copies recorded in the US. Two rare and powerful sermons on the horrors of poverty and hunger in Manchester by the fiery dissenting minister Robert Robinson. Robert Robinson (1726/7-1791) was educated in London and was later minister at dissenting chapels in Cheshire. Notorious for his “uncertain temper”, Robinson is said to have had a beggar whipped by the constable of Dukinfield which led to him being ejected and appointed as minister at Dob Lane Chapel in Failsworth near Manchester. “At first he carried out his duties conscientiously. The chapel accounts record that the sacrament was regularly administered at monthly intervals between April and November each year until November 1764, when records cease. However, his political views and his orthodox Trinitarian theology, as well as his short temper, appear to have alienated his congregation. In 1774 members of his congregation sought legal advice on the possibility of dismissing him for refusal to baptize and administer the sacrament. The root of the dispute seems to have been financial. Prior to Robinson’s incumbency, fees and collections were donated to the poor. Robinson, however, used the fees to repair his house, only grudgingly allowing small donations to the poor. Legal opinion was that, although Robinson had ‘a mean and avaricious temper which he shews on all occasions’, he had committed no moral offence. Robinson retaliate

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