Foxcroft, Thomas:

$1,500 · Offered by William Reese Company

OBSERVATIONS HISTORICAL AND PRACTICAL ON THE RISE AND PRIMITIVE STATE OF NEW-ENGLAND. WITH A SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE OLD AND FIRST GATHER'D CHURCH IN BOSTON. A SERMON PREACH'D TO THE SAID ... A nice association copy, bearing an inscription in a slightly later hand on the half title reading, "Lydia Abbot's Book the gift of Mrs. Abigail Foxcroft," and in the same hand (presumably Lydia Abbot's): "Lydia Abbot her book." Abigail Foxcroft (d. 1803) was apparently the daughter of the author.First and only edition of this "valuable tract, compiled from original sources" (Sabin). Thomas Foxcroft (1697-1769) was minister of the First Church of Boston from 1717 until his death in 1769. The present sermon was delivered on August 23, 1730, in observance of the centenary of the founding of Boston's First Church. Foxcroft begins by providing an account of the history of the first century of Puritan settlement in New England, recalling "the excellent Character and Spirit of our Forefathers" and "their Errand into this Wilderness." He then proceeds - in the tradition of the jeremiad - to lament the present "visible Decline of Religion" before calling for a return to the "bright Example" of the first generation. Notably, this sermon reproduces the text of the original church covenant of Boston's First Church, marking what is perhaps the covenant's first appearance in print (Walker). Described in an exhibit catalog of 1907 as "our first centennial sermon." Called "very scarce" in the Brinley

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