DURY, John.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

A Case of Conscience concerning Ministers meddling with State Matters in or out of their Sermons resolved more satisfactorily than heretofore. First edition of this impassioned tract seeking civil peace in the early years of the Commonwealth, by the prominent Scottish preacher and ecumenist.The Calvinist John Dury (1596-1680) devoted his life to promoting unity and reconciliation among Protestant factions, an approach he put into practice by first championing the Royalist cause and then accepting positions under the new Commonwealth. This tract is one of several he wrote for the new regime after the execution of Charles I, seeking to defuse tensions between the Independent-dominated government and the Presbyterian factions that vocally challenged its legitimacy. The Case of Conscience argues that religious intervention in political affairs was both detrimental to civil peace and contrary to the spirit of Christian debate. As part of this argument, Dury sets out his conception of the proper guidelines governing debate and discourse among Christians, contending that political engagement lay beyond a minister's proper calling.The 19th-century engraved armorial bookplate of the Gaddesden Library is present, along with contemporaneous pencil shelf marks on the front free endpaper. The bulk of the Gaddesden Library was compiled by Thomas Henshaw (1618-1700), a founding fellow of the Royal Society and a close friend of John Evelyn.

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